LIGHTNING CURIOSITY -- Why Did You Choose It?

[MTNMN]

I was curious as to what the draw to the Lightning is and would like to hear feedback on why you chose this truck.

I worked in sales for Ford for years and in my personal experience, found very little amount of people who were wanting these or electric trucks in general.

To all of you who are anxiously awaiting this vehicle, what are your reasons??

I know here in the Yukon there is major issues with EV's due to cold and the distance between towns and charging ability.

Is this just your commuting vehicle for shorter trips and you have another vehicle for extended trips or?

The pricing on the Lightning is significantly more than the normal F-150 and I for the life of me cannot see any advantages to going EV (Besides Eco Reasons)

Curious to hear the feedback.

Am i just missing something?

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[jaykoolzboy]

From day one I resonate F150L with Raptor, always want to get a Raptor, but don't want to deal with the poor MPG and petroleum.

 

[williams]

had a tesla, traded for f-150 when the money was right, miss the instant torque

 

[Sklith]

The pricing on the Lightning is significantly more than the normal F-150 and I for the life of me cannot see any advantages to going EV (Besides Eco Reasons)

This isn't really true. If you configure a regular F-150 with options to match the Lightning's features you get to very similar prices after the $7,500 tax credit.

Edit: For me, I choose to drive EVs for less maintenance requirements and convenience of charging from home every night. Electric power is very cheap where I live so I can expect to save nearly $3,000 a year on fuel.

 

[Nick Gerteis]

Economic reasons: pricing is comparable to gas versions on lower trim levels. Plus huge tax credit. Plus way lower TCO due to less maintenance and much cheaper fuel.
Performance: much better on EV.
Conscience: the less carbon we poison the atmosphere with the better.
I understand your points about it not being feasible in the Yukon, but it’s a great fit for 90+% of drivers.

 

[Ruination]

I have been driving an F-150 for 10+ years. Time fore a new Truck. Looked at ICE first of course.

If I am being honest I wanted the Pro and settled for the XLT.

$3.75 a gallon right now.

At this rate Ill be spending $3,500 in gas a year vs $900 (less really) in electricity. Do you think gas will get cheaper? 20K over 5 years with the tax rebate.

My towing is <60 miles round trip.
My duck hunting is ~160 miles round trip.
My commute is 40 miles round trip.

I guess I could retire my f-150 and buy a commuter.

But damn this thing is cool.

I fly for long trips or there is always the car.

 

[MTNMN]

This isn't really true. If you configure a regular F-150 with options to match the Lightning's features you get to very similar prices after the $7,500 tax credit.

Edit: For me, I choose to drive EVs for less maintenance requirements and convenience of charging from home every night. Electric power is very cheap where I live so I can expect to save nearly $3,000 a year on fuel.

Holy Shit! SAVE $3000 a year?

Im lucky to spend $3000 total in a year on fuel, and thats at $165.99/L

 

[MTNMN]

Economic reasons: pricing is comparable to gas versions on lower trim levels. Plus huge tax credit. Plus way lower TCO due to less maintenance and much cheaper fuel.
Performance: much better on EV.
Conscience: the less carbon we poison the atmosphere with the better.
I understand your points about it not being feasible in the Yukon, but it’s a great fit for 90+% of drivers.

So the just of your answer is cost or $.

Thats a fair reason for sure!

Id have to disagree on performance though. sure it has all the tq off the line, but theres not way its gonna outperform a gas engine towing regularly. Lets see the Lightning with 7500 lbs behind it for a few hours vs say a 3.5 ECOBOOST

 

[Oneand0]

The Lightning is a very expensive vehicle. When I decided to experiment with solar battery and panels it opened my mind to free energy for the taking, if you do it right. Most people tie their solar to the grid. I’m going to make mine off grid so it can power my truck a portion at a time. Then my truck will be able to power my house in an emergency. Or I can power my truck from the grid at night if I didn’t get enough sun. Truly amazing. That’s the first reason.

Second reason, is I went for a ride in a Tesla and ended up buying one because it was so addicting with the torque and power. I can only imagine like the rest of us what it would be like in a truck! Truck that will be able to get free energy and supply it to my house, and help with my many projects in the future. Oh I’m selling the Tesla for the Lightning.

 

[corradoborg]

I for the life of me cannot see any advantages to going EV (Besides Eco Reasons)

Why would there need to be ANY other reason than the environment? We desperately need to stop burning fossil fuels yesterday if we want the planet to continue to be habitable as we know it going forward. And I need a vehicle that can haul things. Hence, I jumped at the chance to reserve an EV pickup.

The F-150 lightning is one of the first on the market, and more practical for my use case than Rivian. More attractive too, IMHO. And, as of yesterday, much more affordable as well.

I have not purchased yet. I came up in Wave 4, but by then the XLTs were all gone for 2022. So I punted to 2023. Hopefully I can get one while the $7500 rebate is still available. If not, I'll get it during the $3750 step down period.

I live on the Central Coast of California, so weather-related range issues aren't a problem for me. I will mostly use the truck around town, as a daily driver, and for short trips (less than 200 miles round trip). But I have no hesitation to use it for long distance, too. It just requires more planning than an ICE vehicle. I do understand how it would be more difficult for you, living in the Yukon.

 

[sotek2345]

Wife and I have talked about going all EV for awhile and the Mach-e (for my wife) and Lightning (for me) were the perfect fit. I use my truck for hauling large (but not very heavy) things to support a robotics team I coach and for around the house projects. No towing. The Lightning will also be our family road trip vehicle (if you usually stop for bathrooms or food every few hours, just charge then and you are all set).

For me the big draws are the performance/acceleration, ease of use (home charging), more capabilities for hauling (the frunk is a game changer!), and the lower cost of ownership allows me to go up the trim line quite a bit. Gas is ~$4.50/gal for the good stuff around here so I will be saving about $200/month.

 

[MTNMN]

Thanks guys!

Some good answers!

It seems most of the Lightning people are kind of tech oriented and also planet/environment conscious.

Ill prolly get roasted for saying this but I personally dont really care much about the environmental aspect of it. What I would care about is practicality and ease of use for my desired applications. And currently it just doesnt suit my needs.

Im actually quite fond of fossil fuel burning, and personally feel like it isnt going anywhere anytime soon. Guess we will see if they can figure out EV's on a full scale premise.

Maybe thats just my time in alberta rubbing off on me haha

We have a few teslas here in the yukon but they are very hard to keep charge anywhere outside of whitehorse as most our towns or cities are >500km apart

 

[Sklith]

Holy Shit! SAVE $3000 a year?

Im lucky to spend $3000 total in a year on fuel, and thats at $165.99/L

Yep! I typically drive 19k miles each year. A truck getting 23 mpg or 4.3 gallons per 100 miles will cost me about that much in fuel. The power company I use at home has free EV charging at night so this saves me a lot of money.

 

[Vorador]

Before my Model Y I had an F150 and before that a Colorado. I like EVs and I like trucks, and F150 Lightning is the best option.

 

[Mr. Flibble]

I already drive an EV, and love it, even though the range is awful (failed battery, awaiting warranty replacement). The cost to drive it is so cheap, and it just performs so well, even for being a "low end" EV.

Having good take-off acceleration is a big plus because our driveway leads out directly to a highway. Sometimes you really have to put your foot down to get safely into the flow of traffic.

We get regular power failures at home, dragging out the generator is a PITA, and we looked at a standby generator, it would cost about $11,000.

We do need a larger vehicle for our family, and the Lightning fits the bill perfectly. We currently use a Jeep Diesel Grand Cherokee. We do use the 4x4. The Lightning does all that and more.

The lightning is not a cheap EV to drive. It is not very efficient when talking about an EV. But when comparing it to any other truck (except Rivian) it is much more efficient.

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