Why isn’t the Lightning getting more of the gas F150 market?

[HOTAS]

So much mis-information. And mis-understanding.
And misguided ”principle”, and stupid politics. And worry what their bubba buddy will say.
There are also so many a-holes on YouTube that have posted nonsense and misinformation, it’s ridiculous.
My wife has an uncle and cousin (same family) that have such strong and unsolicited opinions on EV’s it shocking.
Yet they’ve never owned, driven, or looked at one. Where does that come from? What influenced their minds?
And everything they think they know is WRONG!

The average pickup truck driver is going to be the hardest to convince otherwise, for a variety of reasons.
Every single “hater“ I’ve ever taken for a ride, or let drive my EV, has changed their mind.
Thanks FORD for making this outstanding truck!
I hope more people catch on and you sell tons of them.
Keep on keeping on.

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[HOTAS]

Bottom line, they’re all pissed they’re spending a fortune every 3 days at the gas pump!! Lol.
Don't miss that one bit.

 

[Scorpio3d]

So much mis-information. And mis-understanding.
And misguided ”principle”, and stupid politics. And worry what their bubba buddy will say.
There are also so many a-holes on YouTube that have posted nonsense and misinformation, it’s ridiculous.
My wife has an uncle and cousin (same family) that have such strong and unsolicited opinions on EV’s it shocking.
Yet they’ve never owned, driven, or looked at one. Where does that come from? What influenced their minds?
And everything they think they know is WRONG!

The average pickup truck driver is going to be the hardest to convince otherwise, for a variety of reasons.
Every single “hater“ I’ve ever taken for a ride, or let drive my EV, has changed their mind!
Keep on keeping on.

I Agree…
There is a ton of misinformation and disinformation on Fakebook and the like. My good friend is very anti-EV(Mainly for political reasons whatever that is supposed to mean) But he was telling me the other day he would not buy an EV because of the children that are used as basically slave labor to mine lithium and… It was Christmas Eve and I was just enjoying the time with friends so I didn’t really want to get into it, but it did bother me. I have seen some of that as well and yes, some of it is true, but a majority of the mining is taking place in first world countries without such things as children, being used, etc.
I have taken him for a ride and he liked it, but… he is too far down the anti-EV rabbit hole.
I am just waiting because in a few years they will probably end up getting one as they become more and more prevalent and better.

 

[Maineiac12]

It’s a combination of EVs needing more range, and needing more DC fast chargers available

The people on this forum aren’t the same as the general public. The average shopper wants an ICE-like experience and isn’t willing to use multiple apps and plan out their trips with precision.

I love my truck, but even I can see the limitations of road tripping it, especially in the winter.

 

[Scorpio3d]

The people on this forum aren’t the same as the general public. The average shopper wants an ICE-like experience and isn’t willing to use multiple apps and plan out their trips with precision.

I think in general this is where Ford got it right with the Lightning! It is a bad ass F150 with a Frunk!

 

[Maineiac12]

I think in general this is where Ford got it right with the Lightning! It is a bad ass F150 with a Frunk!

Agree! I just wish it had another 50-75 miles of range in the battery.

 

[HOTAS]

My good friend is very anti-EV(Mainly for political reasons whatever that is supposed to mean) But he was telling me the other day he would not buy an EV because of the children that are used as basically slave labor to mine lithium and…

Lol,
I’ve heard that excuse many times, and despite how true, or not, it is……it hasn’t stopped their shoe purchases or iPhone or underwear purchases, etc !
Then there’s the (emissions) argument that electricity comes from fossil fuel anyway, so why bother.
Well that may true, but I’d much rather reduce tailpipe emissions around our cities & communities, and have the power plant emissions concentrated in a singular remote area away from people.
Vs. tailpipe emissions being concentrated in city centers and urban areas where all the people are exposed all the time.
That’s just common sense.
Just like no-smoking in public places cleaned up that decades old problem, right quick, but never stopped anyone from smoking.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Interesting post cbowe. Here's how I see things. We don't have 700 miles of range, but the trucks that do get that range don't have the speed, power, smoothness, quietness, acceleration and so on that we do. They can't wake up with a full tank every day, they can't be fueled at home, and they can't take advantage of the operating cost savings that we enjoy. I've never had a range issue, I've never had an issue charging on my longer trips (~500 miles or so) and the Tesla chargers opening up to us has, by and large, taken away the only reasonable concern which was that you can't rely on EA. Granted, my perspective is a bit skewed as I live in CA and it never gets even remotely cold here, but I find the Lightning meets pretty much all of my needs as is.

I don't need 700 miles range. With about 33,000 miles of road tripping in our Lightning and Mustang Mach-E, we've only ever run into a single place we'd like to be able to go that's outside of our 320 mile range.

We live near Flagstaff, AZ and our favorite camping spot is near the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, 410 miles round trip. There are no DCFC stops between there and home. There's a L2 charger about half-way. There aren't any electrical hookup RV campsites except in one spot that's usually very crowded.

Other than that, we've explored 10 states, camped, hauled heavy loads, towed tractors, and done 3,000+ mile road trips without incident.

I'll never go back to gas for any reason.

 

[B177y]

I love my Lightning. I loved the Mach-e and the V-10 F350 that I traded and sold to get into my Lightning.

I tow a 25' travel trailer during summer vacations with my family. Most of the towing we do is forecast with ABRP to be within a 100% charge from home, but we have an annual trip that is forecast to be 2 or 3 charge stops in each direction to an RV park 335 miles away. These trips are all forecast with ABRP using summer temperatures when we do our RV travels. I have only pulled my trailer as a quick test with the Lightning before I put the trailer away for the winter, since I purchased the Lightning at the end of Sept. The towing performance was astounding.

My old F350 needed one fuel stop while towing for the 335 mile trip. It was easy enough to pull through to a gas pump at most any truck stop/travel center/gas station. 5 minutes maximum time spent at the pump. The performance of the F350 was far behind the performance of the Lightning. The F350 also rode like an old horse buggy with solid axles and leaf springs and guzzled gas, but that is for a different thread....

The Lightning will most likely require me to unhitch the trailer to charge at the forecast chargers based on what I have been able to find in PlugShare and ABRP. I have been spending time planning for this trip, even though it doesn't happen until summer. The unhitch and hitch will likely have to occur at a different place than where the DCFC's are located, making this even more inconvenient. I am basing this on the ABRP/PlugShare descriptions and satellite views of the locations in Google Maps. Most DCFC are in shopping centers, malls, restaurants, etc., and don't have the pull up or pull through convenience of a traditional gas station that allows a trailer to stay attached.

I knew what I was getting into with my Lightning, and 95% or more of my annual miles are not towing. I will put up with the inconvenience of the multiple charge stops and likely unhitching to enjoy the benefits of the Lightning during the 95%. The towing performance of the Lightning is another reason that I will put up with the "disadvantages".

In my opinion, gas F150, and other gas or diesel trucks will still be an easy sell to the average consumer. We Lightning forum participants are not "most" people. We are in the minority. It's not good or bad, it's just who we are. I would love to have the ease of travel that I did with my F350 in an electric truck. I don't think that will happen for a while until physics and chemistry can be manipulated better, or until DCFC is available and set up like current gas pumps that allow a pull-up or pull-through with a trailer. There are a few of these types of locations starting to arrive, but not nearly enough to make EV towing convenient or easy.

I also agree with previous posts in this thread that salespeople aren't helping with EV sales because an ICE sale is just so much easier to complete and make that commission. A writer in a different recent thread made the argument that the current dealership model is a root cause of EV sales' failure to thrive...I must agree.

All that to say, I don't ever see myself going back to an ICE vehicle, even for towing, but I understand why it is not popular with most people that are in the market for a truck. It is a difficult sale to make travelling in a more expensive and less convenient vehicle sound like a win, even though it is.

 

[broncoaz]

I tried to go to my local small town dealer to lease my new Lightning. They told me it was a specialty vehicle for them and I was better off going to Boston to get one. The pool allocation means they could’ve gotten me the same truck I ended up with in the same amount of time as the next closest dealer 15 miles away did. For some reason they didn’t want to do a small amount of work to get a sale. They didn’t try to sell me anything else, they know me well enough to know I‘ve already made a decision before I walk in the door. I’ve purchased three other vehicles from them including my 2022 Lightning Pro.

The Lightning is great for me, but still a quirky vehicle for most people. In my area with expensive electricity the Lightning is more expensive to fuel than ICE.

As for the politics of EV’s, I consider myself a right leaning moderate. Many of my friends are anti EV for dumb political reasons, some of them even have solar on their homes. The idea of a government mandate to eventually select a specific product is offensive and easily utilized to manipulate people’s opinions. I’m probably the only person they know with one EV, much less two. If they ask I inform them about my experiences with kindness and actual experience. If they don’t ask I don’t proselytize about it. I also realize EV’s aren’t for everyone or every situation. It wouldn’t surprise me if in five years most of them have an EV in the driveway, but the product will also improve in those five years.

 

[Ragman]

The sales staff are the #1 cause, more so then dealers themselves - some very uneducated and downright hostile to EVs.

Basic sales they play on existing prejudice to get their sales. I've bought all of ours basically online sight unseen below MSRP from these types of places.

In middle of a 4500 mile road trip with our Lariat - total F150s seen - 1... In South Dakota of all places doing 60 on Interstate.

Over a dozen Cybertrucks, 100s of Model 3/y/x, one Mach-E, one Kona and an Ioniq...

If I judge by the first 2100 miles the "only" EV company is Tesla - which doesn't have dealers... coincidence?

 

[Cvh8601]

So much mis-information. And mis-understanding.
…. …
Thanks FORD for making this outstanding truck!
I hope more people catch on and you sell tons of them.
Keep on keeping on.

100% agree - the lightning is an excellent machine in its own right. Unfortunately, the cultural discourse today requires everyone’s “team” to choose a “side” on every topic which ultimately clouds the transfer of any objective information.

Anyone who I’ve run into who is able to objectively evaluate a lightning for what it is, comes away impressed. EV’s aren’t for everyone today, it’s still early adopter time at least for road trips. For in-town daily driving, EV’s are already far superior to ICE. For road trips, definitely not to ICE equivalence yet. IMO, once EVs are reliably more Tesla-like in that you can just get In and go and you can trust the car to make a good plan and the infrastructure will reliably support the plan, then the average consumer will be a lot easier to convince.

Also on the efficiency / “youre still causing emissions at the power plant” topic, these graphics are great:

 

[csukoh78]

I got this STX loaner while my Lightning was getting fixed and with it 700 miles of range for $50k this is where I think our trucks need to get eventually to capture more of the 700k+ gas F150 sales. My original post on X / Twitter hit 75k+ views, so I went deeper with this video! Why do you think is holding back the Lightning from capturing more of those huge gas sales?

They are everywhere here. More every day. The good ole boys are coming around.

 

[srvethelord]

I LOVE my Lightning, but would NEVER own soley EVs. I have a Platinum (obviously ER) and the range during the winter is a joke. The heat kills the range, I mean kills it. I'll drive a round-trip 30 miles, no faster than 65mph (mostly driving under 50) but with the heat on. Sorry, my wife wants to be comfortable in the car and shouldn't have to rely on a seat heater and thick jacket to stay warm. That short drive with those conditions will easily use 15% or more on the SOC. This is why we keep an ICE for road trips. I can drive almost 400 miles, 75 mph+ in perfect comfort and take less than 10 mins to fill the car back up. That's laughable in the Lightning.

We use the Lightning for driving around town, running errands, etc. It's great around town EV and perfect for the occasional dump trip, or helping someone move. I wouldn't trade it, but I'm not going to act like it's superior to an ICE. In some conditions (e.g., only around town in moderate to warm climates) it is, but most it's not.

 

[21st Century Truck]

Had I not had a wonderful 75,000+ miles with our Mach E Mustang, with cross-country trips etc., I would have never ever considered the Lightning. I worked out all my HOW TO tricks and hacks of living with an EV while driving the now-gone Mach E. Once our Mach E started to mechanically shake apart, then the Lightning became the obvious choice.

With this practical experience as a guide, I think that for the foreseeable future (3 - 5+ years maybe?) most new Lightning owners will come from upgrading from their 1st, other, less well-rounded, more single-focus EV.

Once a driver / owner / user understands the adaptations necessary to be comfortable with an EV, the Lightning becomes the clear upgrade path in terms of utility, multi-use, etc. etc.

I also base this opinion on seeing several current and former Mach E Forum members, here on this Lightning forum (you know who You are haha).

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