My f150 lightning range is horrible

[TaxmanHog]

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[fhodgdon3]

I've got 10k miles on my 2024 Flash and love it. If I was going to be towing long distances I wouldn't have bought it, clearly not its strong point. This winter the range dropped significantly, down to 230 on the interstate @ 65 mph and 10 to 20 degrees out. As soon as the temps came up (to 30 to 40 degrees) recently it improved up to 270 and I expect it to improve more as temps warm. I was easily getting over 300 miles off interstate and warmer temps.
I also have found at least a .3 mile per kwh drop traveling on the interstate (40-50 mph vs. 65mph).
I am confident the new generations of EVs will improve the battery performance and public charging won't be as ramshackle and unreliable as it is. I'm tired of pulling up to public charging to find its not working!
One more detail, I live in New England and travel hilly areas which definitly effects range negatively.
Charge on!

 

[Grumpy2]

I just got the equal of 69 mpg on a 122 mile trip to HD for a 6'x8' wood fence panel and 10' post, than used the truck as a generator for 2 hours to install the new fence panel, and that cost $0.17.

It is all about the economy, the universal usefulness, the safety, and great ride.

 

[jjupi91897]

It says it's supposed to get 240 miles to a charge. It did that for the first week. Then it dropped down to 222, then 213. If it's cold, it doesn't charge all the way if it's hot. It doesn't charge all the way if I'm pulling a trailer. It's supposed to cut the mileage in half. But in actuality, when I hooked up a trailer for every mile, I drove it took two miles of range off of it.It's been in the shop for them.Trying to fix the range issue along with a number of recalls that it's experiencing i've had the truck for only one year. It has 10000 miles on it. In order to travel 400 miles round-trip, it took 11 hours and 7 stops to charge.

I own the extended range. I travel 500 miles from Maryland to SC. It takes four charges for a total 2.5 hours. I stop charging between 80% to 90% SOC.

 

[hturnerfamily]

I think a lot of 'range' issues for some owners is due to their own driving habits, or characteristics, as driving 80mph for long, long stretches in very low temps will certainly NOT provide the same EPA stated range they 'might' expect... no vehicle will.

I drive conservatively and probably actually get BETTER than the stated 240 mile 'range' my PRO SR is built for... but, that's just me.

 

[Joe Dablock]

As I see it, you only made one mistake. You didn’t sufficiently research the capabilities of the vehicle and compare those capabilities against your real world needs.

Very few people can really tolerate a standard range vehicle. That is why there are so many SR vehicles for sale.

I tow with my Lightning all the time, but I would never go on a 500 mile tow without doing a lot of planning.

At this very moment, I’m getting ready to do a 220 mile trip in mountains with temperatures hovering in the 30s and I know not to leave until my vehicle is fully charged, and even then know there is about a 10 percent chance something could happen requiring a charge, but I know all my options, and I have triggers that turn on these options.

Don’t assume!

That said when I get to my destination, I plug in and re-charge and the cost of the entire round trip will be a fraction of driving my ICE truck that the Lightning replaced. And, things will continue to get better!

 

[Joe.....Montana]

Another example of someone being sold on range instead of use. The whole conversation has to change with the first question being "what is your use for this vehicle?"

 

[jamelski]

So you did no research into an EV truck and it FORDS fault TROLLLLLLLLLLLL

 

[F150ROD]

Cybertrucks sales are in the gutter sounds like someone decided to troll.......

 

[Phineas Magliozzi]

As I see it, you only made one mistake. You didn’t sufficiently research the capabilities of the vehicle and compare those capabilities against your real world needs.

Very few people can really tolerate a standard range vehicle. That is why there are so many SR vehicles for sale.

I tow with my Lightning all the time, but I would never go on a 500 mile tow without doing a lot of planning.

At this very moment, I’m getting ready to do a 220 mile trip in mountains with temperatures hovering in the 30s and I know not to leave until my vehicle is fully charged, and even then know there is about a 10 percent chance something could happen requiring a charge, but I know all my options, and I have triggers that turn on these options.

Don’t assume!

That said when I get to my destination, I plug in and re-charge and the cost of the entire round trip will be a fraction of driving my ICE truck that the Lightning replaced. And, things will continue to get better!

All good, with the notable exception that I believe the overwhelming majority of drivers can peacefully coexist with a SR. Some can not, and many others don't believe they can for whatever reason. Need a Venn diagram of the people who don't believe that A SR is sufficient with those who don't need a truck to begin with. YMMV.

 

[jdmackes]

It says it's supposed to get 240 miles to a charge. It did that for the first week. Then it dropped down to 222, then 213. If it's cold, it doesn't charge all the way if it's hot. It doesn't charge all the way if I'm pulling a trailer. It's supposed to cut the mileage in half. But in actuality, when I hooked up a trailer for every mile, I drove it took two miles of range off of it.It's been in the shop for them.Trying to fix the range issue along with a number of recalls that it's experiencing i've had the truck for only one year. It has 10000 miles on it. In order to travel 400 miles round-trip, it took 11 hours and 7 stops to charge.

Everything depends on how you drive it. Towing is going to cut your range, but it depends on the type of trailer, the shape, everything about it. Drive faster and you'll get worse range, drive slower and you'll do better. Drive all highway and you'll get worse range, drive city and you can go 300 miles on a charge.

I've got 24000 miles on my Pro with a standard battery. I've driven 1000 mile trips and had a good time (even before being able to use the Telsa chargers), I've picked up a travel trailer and towed it back to my house from 450 miles away. I had to charge more often, but I was still getting around 1.4-1.7 miles per KW (after the seized up brakes wore down enough, didn't realize that at first). Now, I wasn't going way above the speed limit, and the travel trailer I bought was a trailmanor (it folds down so it's more efficient to tow), but still, it is all about understanding how the truck works and getting something that works for you. If I had to tow long distances all the time, I don't think I would love the truck like I do. Generally I just tow my boat to the dock, or the travel trailer a few hours away.

You also can't trust the range that the truck gives you, I always keep my current trip information up so that I know what my efficiency is and I base my range off of that. I know that if I'm only getting 1.4 miles per kw, I'm only going to be able to go 130ish miles before I'm empty. It lets me know when I need to adjust my driving to be more efficient, plus whenever you hook up a trailer the GOM cuts it way too much (at least for me). I usually get 1.5-1.9 towing trailers but it'll tell me that I only have a 60 mile range.

 

[CyclopsThere]

All good, with the notable exception that I believe the overwhelming majority of drivers can peacefully coexist with a SR. Some can not, and many others don't believe they can for whatever reason. Need a Venn diagram of the people who don't believe that A SR is sufficient with those who don't need a truck to begin with. YMMV.

Good point. I've "wished" for more battery 2 times so far in the first year, but never had any scares or issue going to a public charger when I needed. SR is perfect for my use case and still packs enough battery to power the house/jobsite for a few days in case of an outage

 

[Newton]

The ford Guess-O-Meter is pretty wild, sometimes it is extremely pessimistic and sometimes it is optimistic. If you are relying on that you are going to be frustrated. I did a trip to the Seattle airport and pulled in with about 65% (from full). On the way back the Gues—O-Meter said that I would run about 30 miles short - on the same route in reverse (more or less at sea level). Needless to say I ignored it and made it home with plenty to spare. (I was tired from a transatlantic trip or I would have gotten exact numbers.)

The SR Lightning has a 96 kWh battery, so the ideal range at 2 mi/kWh is 192 miles - and the truck starts complaining at around 25%. If you are getting less mi/kWh then you will get less range, if you are getting more than that you will get more range. In real life I get about 2.2 to 2.5 mi/kWh, not towing and in decent weather. Realistically I do about 160 miles on the freeway between fast charges. I have not done any long trips in the cold.

It is a different vehicle than other EVs, it is not terrible but in my EV6 I don’t even think about range. Have yet to regret getting the SR because on my longer trips I would still charge just as many times in an ER (which is once or twice). The main thing that I wish for is faster charging, that is where the Kia wins.

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