Using a Lightning for swimming pool routes. Yay or nay?

[Randall Stephens]

I highly encourage everybody to purchase the ER battery. Yes it’s a bit more(or a lot depending on how you look at it), but it makes the vehicle even more useable. Lay off the beer, skip that GPU upgrade, delay the impending divorce or marriage so you can afford the ER. Nobody ever regrets more range.

Sponsored

 

[PreservedSwine]

If it’s the lifeblood of your company, reliability is a MAJOR concern. If you have a readily available back-up service vehicle, the Lightning makes a phenomenal choice. Your major concern lies somewhere in the “we don’t know what we don’t know” realm as the entire vehicle has only a 2 year track record. There’s a gamble with reliability of any service vehicle, but it’s hard to gauge where the Lighting rests on that scale.

I think maverick would be a great choice as well, if it’s not too small.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

Do you rent the ground that double wide is on?
You might want to find out if you can and are allowed to
A: put the circuit in where you park at night and
B: how much it will cost

@SMBJoshy - I don’t know your financial situation.

Some folks on here can afford to build out a dedicated panel, throw in tens of thousands of dollars worth of solar, etc.

Others will struggle to just make the truck payments and will buy this truck thinking it will save them thousands.

I will offer this, if you are the latter - think carefully. If you can not charge this truck at home, you will not save money. This is a situation where the more you have, the more you’ll benefit.

That said, I will make the same recommendation that I made to my neighbor if cost is on your mind. An outdoor “RV Outlet” aka 14-50 is less than $100 in materials. You can get one put in for hundreds vs thousands for a L2 charger.

Especially if you need to go 50 feet. You can easily run 30 feet out from the panel, setup a 14-50 post. And the. Run the rest of the way with the mobile charger connector.

 

[Kev12345]

agreed with yellow buddy. how much is your company offering as a vehicle allowance?

 

[SMBJoshy]

agreed with yellow buddy. how much is your company offering as a vehicle allowance?

I do get a fuel allowance which pays for the fuel and it’s totaled into my pay. The company owner did say she would still pay me an allowance even with the EV since it’s still goes through wear and tear.

We’re not a big company at all. Only four people work here, and a helper or two that never stay, we have three vehicles that during the summer take care of around 180 pool clients in total for the whole company. Last winter we still had 80 running. She charges clients for services on the lower end compared to other pool service companies, but pays us more than the others, because of that she couldn’t possibly afford to buy company service vehicles, so we have to have our own. 12 years ago when I first started here I bought a 97 Ranger. After a few years the work load got to a point where I had to have a full size truck. So been driving F150s since then.

I make pretty much the national average income, the home I live in is paid off and inherited from a parent whom died several years ago from mesothelioma. So other than my current truck and a recently paid off Mustang GT and paid medical bills from a couple dirt bike crashes, don’t have much else to pay for. But in this economy, even average income doesn’t go far at all.

I should’ve mentioned in the first post I am interested in buying one used, preferably a Lariat trim. I don’t think I could afford a brand new truck, especially with the 10 grand increase on the ER battery.

Pics if typical load out with 6.5 foot bed.

 

[TaxmanHog]

Remember the Lightning bed is only 5.5 feet, but you have the Frunk for some storage needs.

 

[Kev12345]

Your truck is packed! You’re going to lose bed space in a lightning so you’ll have to get creative. I’d save the money and go standard range if the boss is covering the cost of fast chargers.

 

[Randall Stephens]

If you’re going used hunt an ER, IMHO. Or if you get an SR invest in a topper with the savings to protect your stuff a bit

 

[DaGriff]

for 100 - 130 miles a day, you should not need DCFC if you can charge at home. In fact if you only do DCFC, there is no cost advantage to ICE.

I would get a Extended range battery so you have peace of mind after a few years if you lose 10-20 percent of range. And you don't have to push the upper and lower limit of the battery. This way you will be OK in winter as well.

Out of warranty, I don't believe Lightning will be cheap for service but there is not as many things that can go wrong and the biggies are covered for 8 years.

I say go for it. You will have a quiet generator with you as well.

p.s. one thing you may want to check on the forum is to see for those that have had their battery pack modules replaced, what was the wait time. Since that time for you is money, you may need a back up plan if wait time is long.

this basically lines up with what I did and how it worked out.

Im a plumbing contractor who dive about 75-150kms a day. I got the Charge station pro and opted for th extended range option. The first week if had it I charged as a local power companies 100wk charger and charged up in about 45 mins. Cost was about double what I pay at home, worst case scenario. So the next week I had the CSP installed at home and have not since used a public charger. I have driven a total of 10,000kms in the past 6 months. The average cost per Km has been about $0.04. Sometimes as high as $0.06 in the winter bit has improved since increased the tire pressure. I have spend at totsl of about $450 on elecyricty. My old gas truck that died on the side ofctje road in December would have cost me $5000 in fuel costs for the same milage. so, I have saved about $4500 in fuel costs. I have taken on a payment in contrast to the savings. An additional $5500. I often spend close to $4000 a year in truck maintinence on my old truck to keep it reliable. So its worked outto be a break even financially. However I have gained productivity with a more functional truck, something that is more tech integrated and was plush and comfortable. I got the lariat ER. It was worth it.

Also I get a loot of positive comments from my customers. They all think its cool.

 

[SMBJoshy]

Your truck is packed! You’re going to lose bed space in a lightning so you’ll have to get creative. I’d save the money and go standard range if the boss is covering the cost of fast chargers.

Yeah I’d be fine with the 5.5 bed. The frunk would allow me to switch some equipment up there for the bed space.

 

[RickKeen]

Maybe consider the Ford E-Transit van? Would allow you to haul more stuff and keep it protected and enclosed. Range would be tighter, but still might be enough for most days.

 

[BuzzLightning2023]

Maybe consider the Ford E-Transit van? Would allow you to haul more stuff and keep it protected and enclosed. Range would be tighter, but still might be enough for most days.

I’m pretty sure pool chemicals have to be outside a vehicle’s cabin. I know from having “sealed” chlorine tablets at home the fumes can be overwhelming and dangerous.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

Maybe consider the Ford E-Transit van? Would allow you to haul more stuff and keep it protected and enclosed. Range would be tighter, but still might be enough for most days.

Significantly tighter, I couldn’t in good conscience recommend an E-Transit with the mileage he’s doing. It would be white knuckles day in and out.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

I do get a fuel allowance which pays for the fuel and it’s totaled into my pay. The company owner did say she would still pay me an allowance even with the EV since it’s still goes through wear and tear.

We’re not a big company at all. Only four people work here, and a helper or two that never stay, we have three vehicles that during the summer take care of around 180 pool clients in total for the whole company. Last winter we still had 80 running. She charges clients for services on the lower end compared to other pool service companies, but pays us more than the others, because of that she couldn’t possibly afford to buy company service vehicles, so we have to have our own. 12 years ago when I first started here I bought a 97 Ranger. After a few years the work load got to a point where I had to have a full size truck. So been driving F150s since then.

I make pretty much the national average income, the home I live in is paid off and inherited from a parent whom died several years ago from mesothelioma. So other than my current truck and a recently paid off Mustang GT and paid medical bills from a couple dirt bike crashes, don’t have much else to pay for. But in this economy, even average income doesn’t go far at all.

I should’ve mentioned in the first post I am interested in buying one used, preferably a Lariat trim. I don’t think I could afford a brand new truck, especially with the 10 grand increase on the ER battery.

Pics if typical load out with 6.5 foot bed.

Don’t dismiss a new one, with some of the incentives and tax rebates, it closes the gap significantly.

That said - United rentals was dumping their F-150 Lightning fleet. Mostly Pros, mostly SR but a couple of ERs. At one point I saw a Pro SR with less than 4,000 miles on it for under $30k. I don’t know if they had any left but it was out of the MD/DE/NJ area.

I think you’ll be fine with space. Your blower, pump, vacuum head, tool bag, hoses can all go in the frunk. That’ll let you out your two red bins in. Worst case, I grabbed a bed extender to get extra length.

If you’re able to, install the 14-50, it’s the way to go in your situation. It’ll pay for itself within the first summer compared to charging outside.

A DCFC in that are is going to be $0.57/kWh compared to $0.12/kWh at home. We’re talking $52/day to charge vs $11/day. If it costs $1,000 to install it, you’ll recoup your cost in 24 working days.

 

[SMBJoshy]

Yeah it’s a no go on a van for me anyways. Chemical fumes will get bad real quick, also wreaks havoc on electronics that share the same air. An open truck bed is best for letting any gases escape and ease of access to whatever I need.

Sponsored