F-150 Lightning's Estimated Driving Range Shows Incredible 472 Miles

[Peter P]

From https://insideevs.com/news/522603/f150-lightning-display-incredible-range/amp/

Pic Of Ford F-150 Lightning Display Shows Incredible Range Estimate

Is Ford sandbagging with its EPA range estimates of the F-150 Lightning?

We recently had the opportunity to visit Ford's Dearborn complex to check out the new Rouge Electric Vehicle Center, the Product Development Center, and take a spin around the Dearborn Test Track in an F-150 Lightning with Darren Palmer, Ford's Global General Manager Of Battery Electic Vehicles.

...one of the most surprising things we saw during the day was buried in the F-150 Lightning's Pro Power Onboard control screen.

Flipping through the screens I noticed that one screen had an estimated driving range display that read an incredible 472 miles. I assume that Ford had removed the range estimate from both the driver's and center display because neither of the F-150 Lightning I saw had any range estimate on any screen. However, scrolling through the controls I found one screen where the range estimate was staring right at me.

472 miles! Could it be? Nah...or could it?



During the day I repeatedly asked Ford representatives (in a few different ways) about the F-150 Lightning's battery sizes and driving range, hoping someone would slip up and share something that they haven't already, but they were prepared and always steered the conversation to another topic.

Like when I was riding with Darren Palmer around the track where he effortlessly took the Lightning to nearly 100 mph in what seemed to be not much longer than what it takes my Tesla Model 3 to reach the same speed. This. Truck. Is. Fast.

Sponsored

 

[Snappy22]

Awesome. Is a truck’s official range (no matter the power train) an SAE standard? Hence the theory that the stated range is with 1,000 lbs payload?
Really going to be killer if standard range battery can push high 200’s for an unladen road trip.

 

[Knickell]

Not bad! That things gotta be nearly completely empty and have a small driver to stretch it that far, though!

 

[Zyvin]

Probably 500 mi if it had a smaller screen, lol. I just don’t understand why electric cars have to have ugly wheels and a tv on the dash.

 

[sotek2345]

Probably 500 mi if it had a smaller screen, lol. I just don’t understand why electric cars have to have ugly wheels and a tv on the dash.

The large screen is mainly a styling choice, but the wheels are designed to reduce aero drag which is very important for an EV to get decent range due to the lower energy density of batteries vs gas. Believe it or not but wheels are a large source of drag - especially at highway speeds.

 

[JimL]

Hmmm….. that means with just one stop to “top off”, I should be able to get me & the family and a bed full of luggage/supplies from SW PA to the outer banks.

 

[EaglesPDX]

It's more the lack of credibility of the two EV media guys making the claim. It all depends on what the vehicle was doing previously. There's a screen on the Tesla called "Projected Range" which will differ wildly from the rated 310 miles (in the case my Model 3 LR AWD) based on the last 30 miles. If I'm cruising down the back side of the Cascade range in mostly regen mode it can show 400+ mile range with 60% charge. If i was going the upside or passing slow traffic at 100 mph, it's going to show an "incredible" range of 120 miles.

That is likely what the two saw on a back screen on the truck and reflects some easy driving in a test vehicles.

More likely is the F150EV will match the MachE in a good conservative rating with results similar to this.

The estimated remaining range was saying the vehicle could go on for another 3 miles. That's an impressive 14.5% farther than the EPA highway range and 5.5% more than the combined EPA range rating.

 

[Kickaha]

We are not going to know for sure until the first one is given to a reviewer and they drive it from full charge to empty - until then, its all conjecture.

 

[sotek2345]

We are not going to know for sure until the first one is given to a reviewer and they drive it from full charge to empty - until then, its all conjecture.

Completely agree, but how else are we supposed to pass the time while we are all waiting for our trucks! Bring on the conjecture!

 

[greenne]

It's more the lack of credibility of the two EV media guys making the claim. It all depends on what the vehicle was doing previously. There's a screen on the Tesla called "Projected Range" which will differ wildly from the rated 310 miles (in the case my Model 3 LR AWD) based on the last 30 miles. If I'm cruising down the back side of the Cascade range in mostly regen mode it can show 400+ mile range with 60% charge. If i was going the upside or passing slow traffic at 100 mph, it's going to show an "incredible" range of 120 miles.

That is likely what the two saw on a back screen on the truck and reflects some easy driving in a test vehicles.

More likely is the F150EV will match the MachE in a good conservative rating with results similar to this.

The estimated remaining range was saying the vehicle could go on for another 3 miles. That's an impressive 14.5% farther than the EPA highway range and 5.5% more than the combined EPA range rating.

Not exactly an accurate comparison between how the "range feature" works on the Tesla 3 vs the Mach E(or Lightning). Ford has been very open and focused on making the range accurate and consistent from beginning of your drive to the end. Ford has said the range estimate takes into account the elevation, speeds it thinks you will be driving(using navigation), winds, temperature, and also load(data from the onboard scales). The goal is to avoid the see-saw range you see in the Tesla(which you described above). Ford has been quoted as saying they expect they expect no more than a 5% error from the start of journey to end in what you get in actual range.

So while I agree that the demo probably was not 100% accurate and based partially upon what it was doing previously...the estimate should have(maybe?) taken take into account temperature, environmental data and load. It wouldn't be entirely accurate as elevation and road speed would not be in the calculation.

While the Mach E system takes in more factors than Tesla and therefore usually performs closer to the EPA range in the real world, I don't think it takes nearly as many factors into account as the updated version that will be in the Lightning. Moreover, the variability will be greater in the Lightning than it was/is with the Mach E.(Lightning is less aerodynamic--more effected by wind, heavier so more drag in hilly terrain vs flat, much more variability of load from nearly zero to 1800lbs, etc)

Ford EV Boss on How F-150 Lightning Conquers Range Anxiety (businessinsider.com)
"Ford's Intelligent Range system creates a profile for each driver and assesses how far they can expect to travel between charges based on their driving habits. It also factors in the topography on a given route to account for any battery-draining climbs or energy-saving descents, Palmer said. Wind speed, weather conditions, and traffic are downloaded from the cloud and added to the calculation, too.

Ford introduced Intelligent Range in the Mustang Mach-E crossover, and Palmer claims he drives his Mach-E down to 20 miles before looking to charge because he's learned to trust the vehicle's estimates.

"It says what it does and it does what it says," according to Palmer.

------------

As always YMMV and none of us know for sure(all conjecture) but it seems like Ford is taking a much more cautious approach making an effort to eliminate range anxiety. I would not be surprised to see a bigger "cushion" in the Lightning vs Mach E with the actual range being much closer to true than Tesla.

I do think the "range" of range is going to be much larger with the f150 as people use them so differently and in so many different conditions.

 

[Zyvin]

The large screen is mainly a styling choice, but the wheels are designed to reduce aero drag which is very important for an EV to get decent range due to the lower energy density of batteries vs gas. Believe it or not but wheels are a large source of drag - especially at highway speeds.

Yea, I used to think it was more about covering up regenerative breaking components, but drag plays a much bigger role.

 

[vandy1981]

Completely agree, but how else are we supposed to pass the time while we are all waiting for our trucks! Bring on the conjecture!

Completely agree. Ford needs to release some more info about the F150L before I gnaw my leg off!

 

[EaglesPDX]

Ford has been very open and focused on making the range accurate and consistent from beginning of your drive to the end.

Which is why the MachE can go a bit better than its EPA rating. Which is also why the 60% above EPA rating speculated in the article for the F150 is most likely a misperception of the excitable authors of a screen that is most likely a calc based on special driving circumstance of the test vehicle they were being driven around in.

It would make no economic or marketing sense for Ford to build in a SIXTY PERCENT cushion. The only thing that gives range is battery and the battery is the most expensive component. Especially with Tesla competitive truck coming out at 500 mile range.

 

[sotek2345]

Completely agree. Ford needs to release some more info about the F150L before I gnaw my leg off!

Unfortunately I doubt we will get anything of any significance before the build tool opens this fall and we can put our orders in.

 

[vandy1981]

I would have 0% range anxiety with 230 miles of range. I'll be very happy if real world range exceeds that figure but would much rather have them focus on charging speed.

My current EV's highway range is about 190 miles, which is more than enough for me to make it to the next 2 EA chargers in most areas of TN/KY/IL. What gives me the most anxiety is the time it takes to charge at each stop because I'm limited to 100kW.

Long-haul towing range is another story, but I'm confident that this will be an edge case for most of the early F150L adopters. I can see this being popular with landscape companies or housing subcontractors who tow shorter routes within a metro area.

Sponsored