Lightning Commuter: 1 year and 26K on the 2023

[RickKeen]

You have to have saved a ton of money not buying gas. Any estimate of electricity costs vs. previous fuel costs?

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[Jseis]

I’ve got 20K in 13 months driving mainly freeway to work, 28 miles each way. I had planned to retire a couple years ago partly for the commute, then I reserved the Lightning and had to wait, thinking this would be my retirement gift to myself. It has made the commute bearable with Bluecruise and the comfort and low cost to drive.

I haven’t towed with it and only hauled a load of dirt and a couple of loads of yard waste. Mostly just haul my bikes in the bed on the weekends.

I take it down to the grocery store a mile away because it is better for the environment with the short trip than driving the ICE Lexus.

Have only done a maximum 1000 mile road trip but it wasn’t an issue with EA. Now that I have the A2Z as a backup I am not worried about going on a longer trip.

When people ask how I like it I don’t try to tell them they should get an EV, but that they need to look at the kind of driving they do and whether it would fit their needs. How many times do they go more than 300 miles from their house? If they do go on a road trip do they stop in that time for food an restrooms? How often do they tow? Can they charge at home? I had range anxiety before I bought the Lightning and found for the driving I do it works for me. And if they go for a ride with me most people forget about the range issues.

My sense as well.. know your “Home Range” and a 50-80 mile daily “radius” very doable.

 

[Scorpio3d]

Long post.

Most those miles are a consequence of my 5 days a week 90-100 mile commute. Since I drive the same route I mess around with speed, tire pressure, driving style, to find a happy medium. One 7 mile section has 3 dozen curves that love a 50 mph power through but that’s 72 tire rounding corners a day so I take easy unlike days of yore with the tire shredding 5.0 GT . The front wheel drive Subie GL 1300 wagon was a hoot.

I’ve laid down 3/4 of a million miles on this commute route in 50+ years from high school through college & 4 decades in various employment, all requiring long drives. Thus I’ve driven 1/2 ton & 3/4 ton trucks, SUV’s, station wagons, pony cars, bug, microbus, convertibles, 1.5 ton & 5 yard hay/farm trucks, with several vehicles accruing 165K, 170K, 220K, many well over 100K. Pushed the limit on a few: Hitting 94 mph in my ‘99 7.3 F250 (6 spd manual), picked up by a trooper for doing 90 mph at midnight in my ‘89 Subaru XT, nearly wiped out in a herd of elk hustling across the road as I drove between them at 70 mph in my dad’s ‘66 Olds 88. I was 18 at the time.

Hit two deer, occasional flat tires, cut & pulled trees off the highway, laid out flares, put brush fires out, fueled out-of gas travelers, waved for years at people I never met, raced more than a few people home.

The Sheriff complained one morning at the courthouse that I drove too slow. I said “Well if I’m in a hurry I can go from Stenlin’s Corner to the courthouse in 35 minutes”, he says “Yea that’s pretty good but my guys do it in 34”… “Well, (I said) your guys have lights!”

Some favorite rigs?The ‘62 bug and microbus were slow. The ‘70 Honda SL 350 was a blast. Then came the ‘89 XT, ‘93 Mustang GT, ‘99 7.3 SD F250 (woke the dead on startup), 2010 4.6 V8 Adrenalin, 2018 Twin Turbo V6 Flex…..

and now the ‘23 Lightning….the most useful, most powerful, quietest, serene, comfortable & charming of them all. And it averages year round ~80 mpge. Stunning.

A GT muscle truck w/IRS, AWD, floats like butterfly & stings like a bee. Hauls 5/6ths of a rack of bodies plus all their gear. Has enough tech to remind me I’m soon hitting 7 decades. Is so intriguing that my crew supervisor always wants to “take my truck”, good old boy contractors driving F450s-650s, bigger service rigs, are intrigued & appreciate & respect the power & sleeper vibe.

With a tonneau, some hyper style slow acceleration and gain speed downhill, bleed some uphill and staying right at 53 mph in this summer like weather I can average 2.7 miles/kWH if dead calm. With tires pumped to 50 I can occasionally push that to 2.8, even 3.0 but that requires 80-90 degree temps, tail wind and 45-55 traffic (like summer travelers in long packs led by the slowest dog). Point being.. driving style really determines mi/kwh. With load range E tires at a teeth jarring 70 psi no reason why 3.0 mi/kwh wouldn’t be in sight. And even at 1.0 mi/kwh the LT is efficient. And for a guy like me with a 50 mile commute-work radius.. the truck is a contender.

So the truck is late spring-summer-late fall efficient. Late fall through early spring the truck averages 2.1-2.4 with cold temps (below 40’s to mid 20’s) and headwinds the biggest obstacles to higher kWh averages.

In reality it doesn’t really matter.. the LT is efficient. More efficient than any computer mapped, variable timed, injected & boosted state of the art ICE.

Locally I’ve towed 3 trailers (car hauler, flatbed, boat & trailer) and.. whoa.. a towing machine. Since there are 25+ boat launches with 50-60 miles, range isn’t an issue.

Two trips to Great Falls last year, each racking up 1800 miles. Definitely a long distance road tripper. Never a problem with EA charging though occasional glitches with 1/4 chargers not working and one modest wait time when I hit the afternoon rush at the Spokane Valley Mall EA site.

My father & grandfather were union electricians that built big stuff (generator installs on hydro-dams) & they knew full startup torque electrical motor power. They’d be so pleased to see the LT at full boil power.

Features I use regularly: Cruise, (no sign reading, no lane centering), defrost w/modest heat, frunk, charge at home (CP Home Flex), tire pressure monitoring (two nails recently in tires..from construction sites), auto play music (reasonably long playlist), speech to text, phone, messaging, pro power around house site & farm, trailer assist, heat seat in winter, tailgate step, Ford installed tonneau (roll back), rear window defrost, nav system, ford pass app- charge monitoring, bed tie downs, trip energy, Google maps, rear window defogger. I occasionally mess with the screen menu to keep familiar with options.

Things I don’t use as much; frunk outlets, rear under seat storage, sun roof open, zone lighting, valet option (and a lot of other choices.. I tend to set & forget).

Service repairs- BMS replacement and frunk button wonkiness (under grill).

Unexplainable observations: I was able to repeat this. Uphill left hand curves, under power-load at say 45 mph appear to slightly unload left rear wheel and that imparts an odd out of balance feeling. It appears that some differential response-torque adjustment related to the AWD system may be at play. But WTF do I know?

Take home message: A serene Pullman car on the backend of a locomotive disguised as a very useful pickup truck.

Nailed it.

Nice write up!
So do you keep your tires over inflated-vs what the door sticker says?
ER or SR?

 

[Jseis]

You have to have saved a ton of money not buying gas. Any estimate of electricity costs vs. previous fuel costs?

Yes, $.0634 per kWh home charging and with a daily burn rate of 28-40 kW, cost went from 4-5 gallons of $4.5 gallon gas ~$18-$22 per day v. $1.80 summer and $2.60 winter…per day. Heck of a savings over the twin turbo Flex at 20-22 mpg. Annually nearly $5K net.

 

[Jseis]

Nice write up!
So do you keep your tires over inflated-vs what the door sticker says?
ER or SR?

~5 pounds over. 40-41. ER. I noticed Ford Service pumped them up to 38-39. When towing my boat ~trailer..50 psi (max rating).

 

[Scorpio3d]

~5 pounds over. 40-41. ER. I noticed Ford Service pumped them up to 38-39. When towing my boat ~trailer..50 psi (max rating).

Yeah, mine were about that 38-39 range when I bought it. I keep them about 36-37 So I was curious if there was much difference going up to 40-41.

 

[Jseis]

Yeah, mine were about that 38-39 range when I bought it. I keep them about 36-37 So I was curious if there was much difference going up to 40-41.

I rolled at 50 psi for a couple weeks.
1) better turn in
2) stiffer ride though barely noticeable.
3) I started seeing 2.8 mi/kWh occasionally. Would not do/use that in winter though.

I had load range E pumped to 75 psi on my ‘99 F250 7.3 and it’d get 24 mpg at 50-55….. one jarring ride!

I got to thinking that the LT has a superior ride and could probably roll with those… heavy truck, IRS, might work. That’d probably push it to near 3.0 if speed average was under 55?

 

[Effonefiddy Lightning]

My 2 cents. 37,490K in 10 months. I wonder what the highest mileage Lightning has.

 

[Jseis]

My 2 cents. 37,490K in 10 months. I wonder what the highest mileage Lightning has.

There’s a ‘22 Light referenced in this site that was just over 90,000 miles with like 2% battery degradation. Unbelievable. Most I ever drove in one year was 55,000 miles. Never again.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

Long post.

Most those miles are a consequence of my 5 days a week 90-100 mile commute. Since I drive the same route I mess around with speed, tire pressure, driving style, to find a happy medium. One 7 mile section has 3 dozen curves that love a 50 mph power through but that’s 72 tire rounding corners a day so I take easy unlike days of yore with the tire shredding 5.0 GT . The front wheel drive Subie GL 1300 wagon was a hoot.

I’ve laid down 3/4 of a million miles on this commute route in 50+ years from high school through college & 4 decades in various employment, all requiring long drives. Thus I’ve driven 1/2 ton & 3/4 ton trucks, SUV’s, station wagons, pony cars, bug, microbus, convertibles, 1.5 ton & 5 yard hay/farm trucks, with several vehicles accruing 165K, 170K, 220K, many well over 100K. Pushed the limit on a few: Hitting 94 mph in my ‘99 7.3 F250 (6 spd manual), picked up by a trooper for doing 90 mph at midnight in my ‘89 Subaru XT, nearly wiped out in a herd of elk hustling across the road as I drove between them at 70 mph in my dad’s ‘66 Olds 88. I was 18 at the time.

Hit two deer, occasional flat tires, cut & pulled trees off the highway, laid out flares, put brush fires out, fueled out-of gas travelers, waved for years at people I never met, raced more than a few people home.

The Sheriff complained one morning at the courthouse that I drove too slow. I said “Well if I’m in a hurry I can go from Stenlin’s Corner to the courthouse in 35 minutes”, he says “Yea that’s pretty good but my guys do it in 34”… “Well, (I said) your guys have lights!”

Some favorite rigs?The ‘62 bug and microbus were slow. The ‘70 Honda SL 350 was a blast. Then came the ‘89 XT, ‘93 Mustang GT, ‘99 7.3 SD F250 (woke the dead on startup), 2010 4.6 V8 Adrenalin, 2018 Twin Turbo V6 Flex…..

and now the ‘23 Lightning….the most useful, most powerful, quietest, serene, comfortable & charming of them all. And it averages year round ~80 mpge. Stunning.

A GT muscle truck w/IRS, AWD, floats like butterfly & stings like a bee. Hauls 5/6ths of a rack of bodies plus all their gear. Has enough tech to remind me I’m soon hitting 7 decades. Is so intriguing that my crew supervisor always wants to “take my truck”, good old boy contractors driving F450s-650s, bigger service rigs, are intrigued & appreciate & respect the power & sleeper vibe.

With a tonneau, some hyper style slow acceleration and gain speed downhill, bleed some uphill and staying right at 53 mph in this summer like weather I can average 2.7 miles/kWH if dead calm. With tires pumped to 50 I can occasionally push that to 2.8, even 3.0 but that requires 80-90 degree temps, tail wind and 45-55 traffic (like summer travelers in long packs led by the slowest dog). Point being.. driving style really determines mi/kwh. With load range E tires at a teeth jarring 70 psi no reason why 3.0 mi/kwh wouldn’t be in sight. And even at 1.0 mi/kwh the LT is efficient. And for a guy like me with a 50 mile commute-work radius.. the truck is a contender.

So the truck is late spring-summer-late fall efficient. Late fall through early spring the truck averages 2.1-2.4 with cold temps (below 40’s to mid 20’s) and headwinds the biggest obstacles to higher kWh averages.

In reality it doesn’t really matter.. the LT is efficient. More efficient than any computer mapped, variable timed, injected & boosted state of the art ICE.

Locally I’ve towed 3 trailers (car hauler, flatbed, boat & trailer) and.. whoa.. a towing machine. Since there are 25+ boat launches with 50-60 miles, range isn’t an issue.

Two trips to Great Falls last year, each racking up 1800 miles. Definitely a long distance road tripper. Never a problem with EA charging though occasional glitches with 1/4 chargers not working and one modest wait time when I hit the afternoon rush at the Spokane Valley Mall EA site.

My father & grandfather were union electricians that built big stuff (generator installs on hydro-dams) & they knew full startup torque electrical motor power. They’d be so pleased to see the LT at full boil power.

Features I use regularly: Cruise, (no sign reading, no lane centering), defrost w/modest heat, frunk, charge at home (CP Home Flex), tire pressure monitoring (two nails recently in tires..from construction sites), auto play music (reasonably long playlist), speech to text, phone, messaging, pro power around house site & farm, trailer assist, heat seat in winter, tailgate step, Ford installed tonneau (roll back), rear window defrost, nav system, ford pass app- charge monitoring, bed tie downs, trip energy, Google maps, rear window defogger. I occasionally mess with the screen menu to keep familiar with options.

Things I don’t use as much; frunk outlets, rear under seat storage, sun roof open, zone lighting, valet option (and a lot of other choices.. I tend to set & forget).

Service repairs- BMS replacement and frunk button wonkiness (under grill).

Unexplainable observations: I was able to repeat this. Uphill left hand curves, under power-load at say 45 mph appear to slightly unload left rear wheel and that imparts an odd out of balance feeling. It appears that some differential response-torque adjustment related to the AWD system may be at play. But WTF do I know?

Take home message: A serene Pullman car on the backend of a locomotive disguised as a very useful pickup truck.

Nailed it.

That's a beautiful F-150 Lightning! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

I charge to ~90% at the Missoula EA site and the trick was charging overnight at the Credit Union L2 chargers near the Staybridge Suites in Great Falls since I had driving to do east near Fort Benton. Worked out pretty well. Never saw anyone else there charging. With the adapter, the Tesla site will make GF a breeze.

That's another great pic! Wow!

 

[Ford Motor Company]

Eh that’s a bummer, my dad scored an XLT ER for a great price and had me thinking but I plan on riding this until it quits I think. Lowered the rear end and powder coated some Lariat wheels and love the look now anyway!

We love to hear that, Joseph! That's a stunning F-150 Lightning!

 

[Ford Motor Company]

My 2 cents. 37,490K in 10 months. I wonder what the highest mileage Lightning has.

That's awesome, Alfred! We'd love to see a pic.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

Hurray for commuters! I've got 29k on my XLT. Was working with a dealer on a trade in for their Lariat ER and was told I have "the 2nd highest mileage XLT in a 2000 mile radius"

Here's to another 29k, Geoff! We'd love to see this XLT!

 

[Ford Motor Company]

Love to see this kind of report. I think my Lightning is the greatest vehicle I’ve ever owned. It just hits the sweet spot of ground breaking tech and traditional comfort and convenience. Plus…fast as heck

We love the F-150 Lightning too! Glad to hear you're enjoying it as well.

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