Ford Survey Results: Lightning Owners Use Their Trucks Differently (Even More Truck Stuff!) Than ICE Owners

I saw the article from my Apple News/Stocks feed, which is another way to get the full article.

Some interesting tidbits from a Ford survey of 3,500 potential buyers.

" How the truck is used

• These are key highlights of Ford truck buyers, based on survey data and follow-up phone calls:
• Lightning owners say they are using the pickup bed more frequently than the ICE owner.
• 74% of the Lightning owners are using their vehicle once a month for home projects — moving things such as mulch, dirt and flooring and drywall — once a month whereas 51% of the ICE owners say they're using the truck that frequently for such projects.
• 27% of the Lightning buyers are using the truck bed for home project hauling once a week versus 14% for F-150 buyers.
• 48% of Lightning owners go camping once a month, hauling bikes, tents, kayaks and cooking stoves. About 40% of the F-150 (ICE) owners camp as frequently. Both vehicles are available with Pro Power outlets in the bed that can supply electricity.
• More than half the Lightning buyers are coming from a non-pickup, compared with roughly 33% for F-150.

....

Who buys Lightning versus traditional F-150

• More than 60% of the Lightning buyers are Millennials or GenX — under 50.
• 70% of Lightning owners have a bachelor's degree versus 42% for ICE owners.
• 33% of the Lightning owners have graduate degrees versus 14% for ICE owners.
• A majority of Lightning owners use Apple versus Android phones.
• Lightning buyers tend to be early adopters of technology.
• 90% of Lightning buyers are coming from a non-electric, non-hybrid, non-plug in vehicle."

....

'Hard to believe'

Karl Brauer, executive analyst at iseecars.com, a car listing and data site, said, "If you're buying an electric truck like the F-150 Lightning, my thinking is, you're probably not as serious of a truck person. You're not pulling or hauling heavy loads regularly."

Michelle Krebs, executive analyst for Cox Automotive, initially told the Free Press she found it "hard to believe" that Lightning owners use their truck beds more often than traditional F-150 owners. But then she said the Ford survey data seemed to answer the big question about whether the Lightning appealed to truck owners who decided to go electric or a whole new group of pickup buyers attracted by an electric option.

"Maybe if they've never had a truck before, maybe (the survey responses) shouldn't be surprising," she said. "It's like, 'Oh wow, look what it can do! Look at all the stuff I can haul around!' "

An electric option does appear to be drawing new pickup buyers making new discoveries, Krebs said. "We know that, traditionally, truck buyers lean more red politically and are more in the middle part of the country, including Texas, and yet electric vehicles appeal to the opposite and tend to be more liberal-leaning politically."

In my experience, the only thing my Lightning can't do that my ICE could is get me to my mothers home in Wyoming. and that isn't the fault of the F 150, it is the lack of charging infrastructure. which will either improve dramatically, or EV will become the next beanie baby or Funko Pop.

luebri said:

I saw the article from my Apple News/Stocks feed, which is another way to get the full article.

Some interesting tidbits from a Ford survey of 3,500 potential buyers.

" How the truck is used

• These are key highlights of Ford truck buyers, based on survey data and follow-up phone calls:
• Lightning owners say they are using the pickup bed more frequently than the ICE owner.
• 74% of the Lightning owners are using their vehicle once a month for home projects — moving things such as mulch, dirt and flooring and drywall — once a month whereas 51% of the ICE owners say they're using the truck that frequently for such projects.
• 27% of the Lightning buyers are using the truck bed for home project hauling once a week versus 14% for F-150 buyers.
• 48% of Lightning owners go camping once a month, hauling bikes, tents, kayaks and cooking stoves. About 40% of the F-150 (ICE) owners camp as frequently. Both vehicles are available with Pro Power outlets in the bed that can supply electricity.
• More than half the Lightning buyers are coming from a non-pickup, compared with roughly 33% for F-150.

....

Who buys Lightning versus traditional F-150

• More than 60% of the Lightning buyers are Millennials or GenX — under 50.
• 70% of Lightning owners have a bachelor's degree versus 42% for ICE owners.
• 33% of the Lightning owners have graduate degrees versus 14% for ICE owners.
• A majority of Lightning owners use Apple versus Android phones.
• Lightning buyers tend to be early adopters of technology.
• 90% of Lightning buyers are coming from a non-electric, non-hybrid, non-plug in vehicle."

....

'Hard to believe'

Karl Brauer, executive analyst at iseecars.com, a car listing and data site, said, "If you're buying an electric truck like the F-150 Lightning, my thinking is, you're probably not as serious of a truck person. You're not pulling or hauling heavy loads regularly."

Michelle Krebs, executive analyst for Cox Automotive, initially told the Free Press she found it "hard to believe" that Lightning owners use their truck beds more often than traditional F-150 owners. But then she said the Ford survey data seemed to answer the big question about whether the Lightning appealed to truck owners who decided to go electric or a whole new group of pickup buyers attracted by an electric option.

"Maybe if they've never had a truck before, maybe (the survey responses) shouldn't be surprising," she said. "It's like, 'Oh wow, look what it can do! Look at all the stuff I can haul around!' "

An electric option does appear to be drawing new pickup buyers making new discoveries, Krebs said. "We know that, traditionally, truck buyers lean more red politically and are more in the middle part of the country, including Texas, and yet electric vehicles appeal to the opposite and tend to be more liberal-leaning politically."

Click to expand...

If I was under 50, I would be at 100%. Maybe my birth certificate is wrong

So somewhere around 15,000 F150L owners use their truck beds more frequently than the other 5,000 and 8 million F150 owners use their truck beds more frequently than the other 8 million.

Cool...I guess. It's fun to play with numbers but this survey seems like garbage in, garbage out.

I use Android and I came from a Model 3. I am in a very small percentile I guess

Android here, owned many electrics before, use my bed at least 3 - 4 times a week for hauling. (mulch, dirt and flooring and drywall) all of the above for me. Towed a dozen times or so but not far distances.

Haven't yet made it out to the desert for camping or off roading.

luebri said:

• 70% of Lightning owners have a bachelor's degree versus 42% for ICE owners.
• 33% of the Lightning owners have graduate degrees versus 14% for ICE owners.
• A majority of Lightning owners use Apple versus Android phones.

Click to expand...

These are closely related to income.

A summary of the Detroit Free Press article is also available on a Teselerati web page: Ford F-150 Lightning has found a unique niche of consumers (teslarati.com)

A couple things not explicitly brought up in the article or any summary are MILEAGE and MAINTENANCE.

Many times in the past, I've been frustrated trying to fit stuff into a sedan, worrying about crapping up the upholstery and things like that. I've always wanted to get a truck (or a big SUV) but didn't want to support a gas guzzler because most of my usage would not be hauling stuff. It would just be normal day trips, etc. With the Lightning, I can own a vehicle that can haul just about anything I'm likely to buy, and, in regular driving, it gets an effective EPA mileage of 63 mpg combined city and highway, better than a Prius, IIRC, in terms of "fuel" cost. According to Ford, it will also cost about 40% less to maintain over 100,000 miles.

So, it's not just the rich and liberal indulging themselves in high-tech toys, but there are some advantages springing for an EV truck as opposed to the gas-guzzling, more expensive-to-maintain ICE version.

And as far as the politics of who buys an EV truck vs. the "good-sense" ICE version, if you live in a red state, many of low-population density and spread out small towns or modest-sized cities, EV charging stations are relatively few and far between. If you live in a typical blue East Coast or West Coast state, there's a much higher population density supporting a much higher density of charging stations. So, I think any political association of buying an EV vs. an ICE vehicle is, to a great extent, a spurious side effect of who's red or blue to begin with and the social and political structures of those states that evolved for various cultural and geographic reasons long before there were EVs (or maybe even many automobiles!).

Apparently Krebs forgot about the ZEV state incentives that drive Ford to supply more Lightnings to states that aren’t in the middle of the country.