Can't buy a vehicle if it is going to strand me

[JRT]

I would also highly recommend you take that local advice with actual route experience. If I was going to drive across the US I'd have some pause and probably would just take my ICE Challenger GT, even if it is way more uncomfortable.

The problem with this approach, especially this forum, is there is a lot of miracle m/kwh posting and I tow my travel trailer with my SR and it is perfect don't worry. If you really start looking, there is a lot a charging waste land out there and just because everything is awesome in CA, it is not the same living in many states and areas.

My use case is local and very few long trips. Moving my daughter to Hattiesburg MS is going to be a total pain, that state is a waste land. I'll be hoping for the 2 dealerships, chevrolet and GMC, to have charging available. My daughter and wife will travel in her Altima, I'll be leaving at least an hour plus before them to plan for ridiculous long charging stops and not have an angry SO.

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[marc_hanna]

ANY vehicle can leave you 'stranded', but that's NOT the vehicle's 'fault', it's the DRIVER's fault.

Period.

Not sure what you are concerned about - planning for 'fuel' when driving ANY vehicle is just part of the everyday equation. I'll bet that not a SINGLE Lightning Owner on this forum, or anywhere, has ever been 'stranded'. Low on 'fuel'? Yes. Stranded? No.

I disagree with the absolute nature of your statement. The OP is clearly concerned about the reliability issues and if the truck has some sort if fault while on the road in a remote area, that is not the fault if the driver. This is the truck.
in my case the truck faulted out somewhere between Calgary and Drumheller and I stopped at multiple stations but none worked. Eventually I ran out of charge trying to get back to Calgary. I tried calling Ford Roadside assistance, and after a half hour on the phone with them, they said sorry we can’t find you a tow truck. That was it, they left me stranded on Day 2 of owning the truck.
In a last ditch effort, i located a level 2 charging station about 15 km away. I had no idea if it would work there either and i only had 5 kms of range left. So, i crept the truck there, using my past EV hypermiling experience skills, and successfully made it. And turns out it charged fine on level 2. There was a truck stop across the road so we went over there for a few hours until we had enough charge to drive the truck back to the dealer, which is where it stayed for the next month until they figured out the problem.

 

[speedy123]

ANY vehicle can leave you 'stranded', but that's NOT the vehicle's 'fault', it's the DRIVER's fault.

Period.

Not sure what you are concerned about - planning for 'fuel' when driving ANY vehicle is just part of the everyday equation. I'll bet that not a SINGLE Lightning Owner on this forum, or anywhere, has ever been 'stranded'. Low on 'fuel'? Yes. Stranded? No.

Not concerned about stranded for low battery or not planning charging stops. Much more about getting a HV battery failure or DC charging failure enroute or on future trips. I get all the comments that new cars can break and it is a risk with any vehicle. But this seems like a fairly catastrophic problem that quite a few owners on here seem to have had. THAT’S what gives me pause.

 

[marc_hanna]

Not concerned about stranded for low battery or not planning charging stops. Much more about getting a HV battery failure or DC charging failure enroute or on future trips. I get all the comments that new cars can break and it is a risk with any vehicle. But this seems like a fairly catastrophic problem that quite a few owners on here seem to have had. THAT’S what gives me pause.

The good news is that the problems seem to be less frequent with later build dates. Mine was August 2023.

 

[hturnerfamily]

I would not recommend anyone to buy a ford lightning with a 98kw battery pack because you will not be satisfied with the results

I find your lack of confidence and planning your downfall, at least for your attitude about this excellent MACHINE : over 44,000 miles on my PRO, and not a single issue, and I DC Fast Charge a LOT... but I also plan. Period.

I tow our camper a LOT, over 20,000 miles so far:

I've now debunked your assertion.

 

[kstype]

Hi,

I completely completely understand your concerns and it’s great that this form is providing some insight to your decision-making process.

I took delivery of my lariat, lightning extended range and January 2023 and I have accumulated almost 50,000 miles and have never been stranded due to problems with the truck or due to low battery and charging issues.

And while I have had good luck, these are complicated machines so there’s no guarantee you won’t have problems, but I can contend that the probability that you will have problems with an ICE vehicle is far greater due to the number of components that can fail.

other than wishing I had waited for lower pricing, I wouldn’t change a thing about my purchase decision. The truck is phenomenal.

 

[Barrels]

Long time lurker with occasional questions and posts. Closer everyday to pulling the trigger on an EV truck. Found a '23 untitled dealer demo with 2k kms on it for a pretty good deal. Except it is 3000km from me on the other side of the country. Probably would have it shipped but am entertaining a road trip to get it. (with NACS adapter).

I have followed the high voltage battery issue that a not-small-number of users seem to have developed. I would be excited to be driving an EV with all the benefits and understand the downsides about range/charging/winter. My ultimate issue is this: I can't spend $$ on a new car that is going to run the risk of stranding me. While that is a theoretical risk with any car, I wouldn't be worried if I was going to pick up a Toyota highlander or a replacement honda Ridgeline, or any other ICE car. I do a fair number of road trips through the year, and this would be an excellent family vehicle. But if I end up stranded, in the middle of nowhere, a million miles from home, and have to get towed to a dealer and sit for weeks with parts and all the horror stories I've heard about this. And if it hasn't happened to you yet, a real and uncertain risk of it happening over the life of the battery, even if it is warrantied.

Lots of great stories on here of successful long distance road trips. I'm on a tight leash here, maritally and financially, to buy a reliable vehicle that we will enjoy. I would lose any credit in the marriage bank if we end up stranded roadside in Moose Jaw. (no offense to people from Moose Jaw, I'm sure it is lovely, just making a point).

Am I stupid to buy a Lightning if I am not willing to run the risk of this happening?

As several have said you will see the small percentage that have major problems report them here and elsewhere.

Me? 12K on my ‘23 Lariat ER and no problems. If I did, Ford offers roadside assistance. My other truck is a 2018 F150 I keep to go to Baja in. Its about to undergo a major engine repair at 94K.

 

[Ltron]

Been without fuel with my ICE and EV vehicles, EVs don't jump start well, so planning is your job. It is your fault if you are wrong.

I have two EVs so maybe I am self serving. Ultimately, no one can give you a best solution.
,


,

 

[gmarcucio]

Anything can leave you stranded on a trip. A fender bender can do it, a weather-related storm, a medical emergency with someone in the vehicle, and of course as you mention, the vehicle breaking down. If you can prevent the vehicle from breaking down by not buying the Truck EV how do you prevent the medical and weather related issues that could leave you stranded? Not trying to be a jerk just trying to put things in perspective. Also, visit other vehicle forums and you will find all kinds of issues with them breaking down too. Try the C8 Corvette forum and you will see a ton of posts about transmission failures at very low miles. So, they all have issues.

 

[Joe Dablock]

The problem is there is so much negative publicity that it is hard to figure out what reality is. I own a 22 MME with 48k miles and a 23 Lightning with 19k miles with very little issues. But even when I was at the dealer the guy asked me how my tire wear was. I am having great tire wear performance with both vehicles, yet even the dealer is caught up in the negative publicity.
Or , I’m just very lucky.

Fact is, a certain group of people are worried about their livelihoods once EV’s take hold and are trying to hold back the inevitable! EV’s have no emissions, no exhaust, no belts, no oil changes, no air filters, brake wear should improve significantly, transmissions are greatly simplified. When everyone is charging at home convenience stores won’t have the frequent fuel stops that result in over the counter purchases. Things will be different! It’s going to be interesting!

 

[jdmackes]

I'll jump in with my experience as well. I have a 23 Pro with the standard battery, and I've had nothing but good experiences with the truck. I did have a glitch that a lot of people seem to get; at around 4k miles the truck said that there was a loss of power and it needed to be serviced soon. After I turned it off and on again it was fine and had no more issues. It seems to be a software issue more than anything real, as multiple people have had the same problem pop up, with nothing that happens later or that Ford can find wrong with the truck.

I tow my boat to the river, tow utility trailers around, use the truck for normal truck stuff and have even driven it from Maryland down to Disney World and back. It was honestly a pretty great trip, aside from the one charger being completely shut down that I was planning to charge at (left me with only about 30 miles to make it to the next closest charger which thankfully worked). My wife and kids liked the fact that we could stop every few hours and stretch our legs, and usually by the time we were done eating, going to the bathroom, or shopping in Walmart for snacks, the truck was finished charging anyway. Do I wish I had the larger battery? Sure, but it's not a huge problem. I wished I had it more because there were no DC fast chargers in roughly a 2 hour radius from where I live (although thankfully since the Tesla chargers have opened up, that is no longer an issue), but as long as I took a moment to plan out longer trips it wasn't an issue. I don't think you'll have problems with the truck shutting off or dying on you, but there's always the chance with anything. The good thing is though, you'll probably be near a Ford dealership if something does go wrong and they are supposed to give you a rental if there is something defective (although I know some people have had issues with them actually doing that).

 

[Danface]

Is it time for new word: Rangxiety

 

[ddimit]

Long time lurker with occasional questions and posts. Closer everyday to pulling the trigger on an EV truck. Found a '23 untitled dealer demo with 2k kms on it for a pretty good deal. Except it is 3000km from me on the other side of the country. Probably would have it shipped but am entertaining a road trip to get it. (with NACS adapter).

I have followed the high voltage battery issue that a not-small-number of users seem to have developed. I would be excited to be driving an EV with all the benefits and understand the downsides about range/charging/winter. My ultimate issue is this: I can't spend $$ on a new car that is going to run the risk of stranding me. While that is a theoretical risk with any car, I wouldn't be worried if I was going to pick up a Toyota highlander or a replacement honda Ridgeline, or any other ICE car. I do a fair number of road trips through the year, and this would be an excellent family vehicle. But if I end up stranded, in the middle of nowhere, a million miles from home, and have to get towed to a dealer and sit for weeks with parts and all the horror stories I've heard about this. And if it hasn't happened to you yet, a real and uncertain risk of it happening over the life of the battery, even if it is warrantied.

Lots of great stories on here of successful long distance road trips. I'm on a tight leash here, maritally and financially, to buy a reliable vehicle that we will enjoy. I would lose any credit in the marriage bank if we end up stranded roadside in Moose Jaw. (no offense to people from Moose Jaw, I'm sure it is lovely, just making a point).

Am I stupid to buy a Lightning if I am not willing to run the risk of this happening?

Like you, I did a lot of research on here and saw a lot of Battery issues.

I ordered mine sight unseen from a dealer in the Midwest as local ones were doing ADM's on all of them in stock.

I had it shipped here in December.

It's been on 2 long road trips and I just ticked over 8K on the odometer. No issues at all except that nagging from parking sensor that a lot of us are waiting on a software to be a fix for.

It did its first trip end of December in cold weather with no issues, and just completed a 1200-mile road trip in 100+ temps also doing local driving in record-breaking local temps at +120 only noticed the battery temp was on the warm side but not above the 2/3 mark.


There is always the possibility you can get a truck with issues but more than likely you will get one without any problems

 

[mb0220]

Long time lurker with occasional questions and posts. Closer everyday to pulling the trigger on an EV truck. Found a '23 untitled dealer demo with 2k kms on it for a pretty good deal. Except it is 3000km from me on the other side of the country. Probably would have it shipped but am entertaining a road trip to get it. (with NACS adapter).

I have followed the high voltage battery issue that a not-small-number of users seem to have developed. I would be excited to be driving an EV with all the benefits and understand the downsides about range/charging/winter. My ultimate issue is this: I can't spend $$ on a new car that is going to run the risk of stranding me. While that is a theoretical risk with any car, I wouldn't be worried if I was going to pick up a Toyota highlander or a replacement honda Ridgeline, or any other ICE car. I do a fair number of road trips through the year, and this would be an excellent family vehicle. But if I end up stranded, in the middle of nowhere, a million miles from home, and have to get towed to a dealer and sit for weeks with parts and all the horror stories I've heard about this. And if it hasn't happened to you yet, a real and uncertain risk of it happening over the life of the battery, even if it is warrantied.

Lots of great stories on here of successful long distance road trips. I'm on a tight leash here, maritally and financially, to buy a reliable vehicle that we will enjoy. I would lose any credit in the marriage bank if we end up stranded roadside in Moose Jaw. (no offense to people from Moose Jaw, I'm sure it is lovely, just making a point).

Am I stupid to buy a Lightning if I am not willing to run the risk of this happening?

Speaking as someone who had the HVB issue, I will say in my case the issue did not strand me. Available power output was reduced to 57% and charging would not go past 65% SoC but neither of those factors kept me from getting where I needed to go until I could get it fixed under warranty. IMO the likelihood of having the isssue at the same time as you're on a road trip are low enough - and the awesomeness of the truck is high enough - that it's worth it.

 

[THX1138]

If something happening in an EV would lead to a divorce that wouldn't lead to a divorce if the same thing happened in an ICE, don't get the EV. Example: ending up in a shop for 45 days which is happening to Toyota trucks as we speak.

The most unreliable component of almost all EV's that would get you stranded is... the 12V accessory battery. Keep a jump pack with you!

For long trips, you need to be willing to do a little advance planning like you would do to select a hotel. Even with a NACS adapter which is a big help, you need to map your route and know which of the Supercharger sites actually support the adapter - there are some deserts.

I perceive my EVs to be more reliable than ICE's in the long term. No transmission, belts, or oil to change and keep contained in an engine.

There's a recall the applies to both EV and ICE 12 battery management module in Fords. The module prevented software updates from occurring. Get the VIN and get a report of all maintenance services performed on it.

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