Why can't Ford get it right?

[potato]

I hate to sound like a broken record, but EVs (all of them) if you live anywhere where it gets cold, do not, I repeat, do not buy them. It's not worth
it yet.

My recommendation, get rid of the truck.

One size does not fit all. Everyone's use case is different. I live in northern BC, Canada and park outside. Not quite as cold as North Dakota but it's regularly well below freezing for weeks or months. I've had the Lightning for going on a year now and it's been fine for me BUT I accept that winter trips will be slower and need more planning.

For the OP, if he had the Tesla adapter the range anxiety is completely gone for that trip. Whether or not an EV works is highly dependent on what chargers you have available in my opinion. Unfortunately charging infrastructure isn't really there yet to the point where you can just hop in and drive without thinking about it like gas or diesel.

Everything has its pluses and minuses.

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[RickLightning]

@RickLightning....I'll go back to my title......why cant Ford figure this out? It is just data and a little computing power. Ford has all the data and variables. ?

I don't understand what you're complaining about. There's no vehicle in the world that computes accurate range when it doesn't know where you are going...

The Lightning uses your HISTORICAL DRIVING AND CURRENT CONDITIONS to forecast a range. Then, you put in a destination and it adjusts, because now it knows where you are going and some conditions. Then, a headwind kicks in and reality sets in and it adjusts more. You want it to know the actual windspeed, look at your driving speed, and calculate that you're dumb enough (not you, the driver in general) to be driving 95mph (75 plus 20mph headwind) and not realizing that your killing your efficiency? No vehicle does that.

 

[RickLightning]

One size does not fit all. Everyone's use case is different. I live in northern BC, Canada and park outside. Not quite as cold as North Dakota but it's regularly well below freezing for weeks or months. I've had the Lightning for going on a year now and it's been fine for me BUT I accept that winter trips will be slower and need more planning.

For the OP, if he had the Tesla adapter the range anxiety is completely gone for that trip. Whether or not an EV works is highly dependent on what chargers you have available in my opinion. Unfortunately charging infrastructure isn't really there yet to the point where you can just hop in and drive without thinking about it like gas or diesel.

Everything has its pluses and minuses.

Totally agree. In some places, Tesla is a huge improvement. In others, it doesn't exist. We went across southern Wyoming on I-80. Not a Tesla charger to be found. Just 3 EA stops.

We are planning a trip into Canada to go skiing. Without Tesla Superchargers, the trip cannot be made.

 

[Kit2874]

I don't understand what you're complaining about. There's no vehicle in the world that computes accurate range when it doesn't know where you are going...

The Lightning uses your HISTORICAL DRIVING AND CURRENT CONDITIONS to forecast a range. Then, you put in a destination and it adjusts, because now it knows where you are going and some conditions. Then, a headwind kicks in and reality sets in and it adjusts more. You want it to know the actual windspeed, look at your driving speed, and calculate that you're dumb enough (not you, the driver in general) to be driving 95mph (75 plus 20mph headwind) and not realizing that your killing your efficiency? No vehicle does that.

My Class 8 Volvo VNL 860
It's just within three miles of being accurate... From how much fuel I have in the tank until when I go empty

One size does not fit all. Everyone's use case is different. I live in northern BC, Canada and park outside. Not quite as cold as North Dakota but it's regularly well below freezing for weeks or months. I've had the Lightning for going on a year now and it's been fine for me BUT I accept that winter trips will be slower and need more planning.

For the OP, if he had the Tesla adapter the range anxiety is completely gone for that trip. Whether or not an EV works is highly dependent on what chargers you have available in my opinion. Unfortunately charging infrastructure isn't really there yet to the point where you can just hop in and drive without thinking about it like gas or diesel.

Everything has its pluses and minuses.

one size doesn't fit all, but when you live in a cold climate like North Dakota and the like, then going to lose anywhere between 20 to 40 percent in your range. Yeah, there's no upside all downside.

 

[TMND]

60 percent loss in -10 no wind. Driving 60 in a 65 heater set to 62 degrees. Tested

 

[davehu]

I've found the GOM to be pretty accurate... once you've driven it for a few thousand miles and if there are significant miles on the highway. And IF you use plug in your destination to the Ford NAV.

ABRP works for the same reason but ABRP doesn't have the advantage of knowing your trucks history and is only as good as the efficiency you plug into the settings.

 

[ll214zy]

I find that Apple Maps battery % estimate works very well. Plug in your route and it will tell you what your battery % will be on arrival. In my experience the initial estimate is pessimistic (which is good!) and it usually improves by 3-5% as you get close to destination.

I have not used Google Maps with the F150 but it worked very well in my Volvo EV and I would assume works just as well in the F150 if you have an Android phone instead of Apple.

 

[SpacemanSpiff]

@RickLightning....I'll go back to my title......why cant Ford figure this out? It is just data and a little computing power. Ford has all the data and variables. ?

Honestly, it's probably because their software team has bigger fish to fry. Granted, it's likely a very simple calculation, but if you don't have the resources to allocate due to higher priority items, it's never going to get changed.

 

[Kev12345]

60 percent loss in -10 no wind. Driving 60 in a 65 heater set to 62 degrees. Tested

damn. we really need a side by side comparison test soon with the new heat pump truck.

 

[Sky Soldiet]

Who drives 34MPH for more than a few miles? Speed limit is 60-65mph minimum. Factor in all the other BS of wind speed, barometric pressure, wind resistance, air temperature and the fact that charging stations are few & far behind I will bet you a lightning truck you can't drive a MN winter 190 miles on any freeway without a charge.

I definitely would buy an ICE model if I live in MN.

 

[MADequipment]

This is a case of bad expectations for a product. I live in MN as well. 320 is based on epa methods and not specific to our climate. Based on multiple YouTube videos of various EVs, I was expecting a range hit of 33-50% of max assuming the same mix of highway/city.

Unfortunately, I think you got the wrong vehicle for your needs.

 

[CD4TNF]

I'll remind folks of this resource another Lightning owner here made to calculate range based on battery %, mi/kWh, and other factors. It spits out range that you can drive to 20%, 10%, and 0% battery.

I use it as a distance gauge of how far I should drive to reach 20%. I then plan my charging stop based on the distance this calculator spits out for 20%.

https://lightningcalcs.pages.dev/?battery=131

 

[TMND]

Sounds like the op just would like the range to read accurately based off current power draw and not some convoluted average that’s constantly over optimistic at first and ever changing. Pretty simple and would be nice if Ford would listen and give us that as an option. And to those that say that nothing does that. I call BS my wife’s 10-year-old Mazda can give you on the fly MPG or average as OPTIONS. Both damn accurate and I’m guessing the computer in that, though Japanese, not nearly as advanced as these.

 

[chl]

Who drives 34MPH for more than a few miles? Speed limit is 60-65mph minimum. Factor in all the other BS of wind speed, barometric pressure, wind resistance, air temperature and the fact that charging stations are few & far behind I will bet you a lightning truck you can't drive a MN winter 190 miles on any freeway without a charge.

Maybe the solution is to put some sled dogs in the back in case of emergency battery depletion?

But seriously, if it were me and I lived in MN (which I wouldn't) and chargers were few and far between, I might consider putting a gasoline generator in the back as an emergency for when the dang L2 charger I was counting on is out of service.

The lack of charges out on the road is the real problem.

I have driven an ICE vehicle in sub-zero temps heading back and froth from Colorado and had my gas line freeze. Had to be towed to a garage and put an additive in my tank to deplete the H2-0.

Even ICE vehicles are subject to problems in the frigid north. Some people pre-condition their ICE vehicles by having them in the garage with the second furnace. Preconditioning the Lightning makes sense as others have said.

Anyone besides me ever run out of gas in an ICE vehicle? When the snowmageddon hit in 2010 and thousands of cars were stuck on the highway around here, many ICE vehicles ran out of gas and had to be towed. Except for one very suspect report, no EVs seemed to get stranded.

https://www.fox5dc.com/news/snowmageddon-2010-dc-regions-unprecedented-snowfall-struck-14-years-ago

But I agree that Ford (and the EPA) should publish cold temperature driving range for EVs as well as extreme high temp driving (like in Phoenix, AZ) as well.

Until then, it is Caveat Emptor.

 

[chl]

Sounds like the op just would like the range to read accurately based off current power draw and not some convoluted average that’s constantly over optimistic at first and ever changing. Pretty simple and would be nice if Ford would listen and give us that as an option. And to those that say that nothing does that. I call BS my wife’s 10-year-old Mazda can give you on the fly MPG or average as OPTIONS. Both damn accurate and I’m guessing the computer in that, though Japanese, not nearly as advanced as these.

Our Prius hybrid does the same.

Having the current kWh per mile number would be helpful...but how accurate is the remaining kWh capacity in the battery? Still a guesstimate.

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