Farley believes he knows how to beat the Chinese on EVs

[RickKeen]

The Lighting is a GREAT at these usages which are the most common usages of F150s:

Kid-hauling & Soccer-mom/dad duties.
Grocery-getting
HomeDepot Runs & Suburban House Maint.
Daily Commute / 2nd Vehicle.
AWD for on-road winter driving, gravel roads & parking.

Plus the following which it is good for as long as constrained to local range:
Light Towing within local towing range.
Recreational / Lifestyle to local locations
Trade / Fleet with local territory.

OK for occasional usage:
EV-style road trips.
Back-country trips to destinations with available charging (RV parks, cabins, etc).

What people wish it was that it is NOT:
3/4- ton, or 1-ton "Truck" payload, towing, and road-trip range and refueling convenience:
Cross-country RV tow vehicle.
Back-country trips plus toy hauler / towing
Snow plow truck.
Full-sized bed work truck.
Off-road / Jeep trails / rock crawler.
Trade / Fleet with large territory (across state or multi-state).

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[NW Ontario Ford Lightning]

I truly believe that the lightning didn’t sell well, because, they originally said it would be $39,000 starting price. I don’t think any new truck has ever sold for that amount. Instead, it was released during Covid when dealers were tacking on 10 grand. People were paying over $100,000 for a truck. Historically pick up trucks were an economical way for a family to have a second vehicle which was utilitarian. A husband could drive to work and leave the sedan for his wife and kids.
It was the price that led to poor sales. People can’t afford 15 and $1600 a month on a vehicle.

They definitely hyped the truck during the release, and the early adopters plus the low quantity available lead to shameless over-MSRP pricing.
Now the tables are turned, and we the buyers' are in the Drivers' seat (finally) and with all the over supply sitting in plain sight on the dealer lots - and Ford cutting the MSRP 10,000 off the top, we can finally get the truck at well under MSRP - maybe not for long, with the production cuts. If you know someone interested in a Lightning - tell them to check it out quick !!

The other half of the equation, wages have not kept pace with costs, people are seeing the consequences.

 

[NCevGuyF150]

They definitely hyped the truck during the release, and the early adopters plus the low quantity available lead to shameless over-MSRP pricing.
Now the tables are turned, and we the buyers' are in the Drivers' seat (finally) and with all the over supply sitting in plain sight on the dealer lots - and Ford cutting the MSRP 10,000 off the top, we can finally get the truck at well under MSRP - maybe not for long, with the production cuts. If you know someone interested in a Lightning - tell them to check it out quick !!

The other half of the equation, wages have not kept pace with costs, people are seeing the consequences.

All of that is very true. One other thought that I had was if they could get a basic pro into the city garages for use on reading electric meters, water, meters and all of these trucks that just kind of sit on the road and idle for hours on end. It would save the cities tons of money in fuel cost. Also idling a vehicle is really hard on a transmission because they get hot without air coming through the coolant. Not to mention the money they would save on oil changes and disposing of used motor oil, etc.. I still think Ford should’ve perfected a basic F150 BEV. And then started adding all the bells and whistles.

 

[NW Ontario Ford Lightning]

A friend of mine lives East of my area, he told me his City has purchased a bunch of lightnings for use of city employees doing city-job things. Seems like some places are taking advantage of the low operating costs, and as you say, better use of energy than ICE idling all day sitting still - just to keep the cab warm/cool. I don't know if they bought basic models or what they got though.

Our cost of gasoline is high up here, but electricity is super cheap (lots of water running down hill) I have had the truck a bit over a week and already notice the huge difference in NOT buying gas every week. The cost per mile/km travelled is 20x higher with gasoline here than overnight-electricity charging.

 

[NCevGuyF150]

A friend of mine lives East of my area, he told me his City has purchased a bunch of lightnings for use of city employees doing city-job things. Seems like some places are taking advantage of the low operating costs, and as you say, better use of energy than ICE idling all day sitting still - just to keep the cab warm/cool. I don't know if they bought basic models or what they got though.

Our cost of gasoline is high up here, but electricity is super cheap (lots of water running down hill) I have had the truck a bit over a week and already notice the huge difference in NOT buying gas every week. The cost per mile/km travelled is 20x higher with gasoline here than overnight-electricity charging.

I totally agree. I was spending about 800 a month in fuel for my F150 5.0 4 x 4. Now I’m spending less than 200 a month on my power bill.

 

[Scorpio3d]

I think Ford got it right… for their first try at a F150 EV! I love my truck I have road tripped from Maryland to Georgia and then home to Texas on day one!-No problems charging 11 months ago and things have gotten better since. It is definitely one of my favorite vehicles that I have owned. ‘66 Mustang, ‘89 GT convertible, six or so expeditions and 2010/2018 Ford fusion hybrids.
I looked into getting the hybrid F150 as well as the Maverick hybrid, but as others have said, you still have to deal with all the maintenance, oil changes, etc. and the F150 is not very efficient so why would I buy a non-efficient hybrid?
Battery technology should get lighter and more dense… hopefully in the near future, and this would make it almost the perfect vehicle! They do need more processing power in the Sync system and possibly just in general!
Hopefully, they can succeed where the others have failed. I.e. become a technology company when you’re a legacy dinosaur, but it is all about profits and making the shareholders and dealers happy so they can make money too. It is not about the consumer(well I guess you could say they just want us to consume more!) this is the downside of our economic system. Don’t get me wrong. It is the best system, but it does have its downsides.
Ford (Farley) I hope you read this I think you were on the right track and hope you get back on it but don’t kill this vehicle. Just make it better!!!

 

[MotoGary]

The Lighting is a GREAT at these usages which are the most common usages of F150s:

Kid-hauling & Soccer-mom/dad duties.
Grocery-getting
HomeDepot Runs & Suburban House Maint.
Daily Commute / 2nd Vehicle.
AWD for on-road winter driving, gravel roads & parking.

Plus the following which it is good for as long as constrained to local range:
Light Towing within local towing range.
Recreational / Lifestyle to local locations
Trade / Fleet with local territory.

OK for occasional usage:
EV-style road trips.
Back-country trips to destinations with available charging (RV parks, cabins, etc).

What people wish it was that it is NOT:
3/4- ton, or 1-ton "Truck" payload, towing, and road-trip range and refueling convenience:
Cross-country RV tow vehicle.
Back-country trips plus toy hauler / towing
Snow plow truck.
Full-sized bed work truck.
Off-road / Jeep trails / rock crawler.
Trade / Fleet with large territory (across state or multi-state).

You nailed it Rick. In the process, you also highlighted my point on how Ford missed the target when marketing the truck. They should have targeted the customers in the top half of your list, instead they targeted those in bottom half.

 

[HOTAS]

So the Scout Prototype just hit Leno’s garage for a review.
The EREV version is stated to have 150 mile full EV range, and 350 ER. (500 total range).
What a joke.
Its gonna have a 4 cylinder gas engine hanging on the rear axle, and a 15 gallon gas tank.
That calculates out to about 23 mpg. Sounded noisy.
Can’t imagine what access to the engine must be like.
And what the handling must be like !

Just like I said, PHEV with all the drawbacks. Chevy Volt 3.0 that buyers never embraced. Who wants all that ICE hanging on the back axle sitting dormant unit you tow.…

No thanks, full electric for me. Long live the Lightning !
If I wanted/needed a gas truck, I’d buy a gas truck

 

[NW Ontario Ford Lightning]

It may be good for us (the ones with a Lightning already) to show the truck and what it does do well to other interested potential buyers - after all if the trucks don't sell well enough, then Ford will not keep making them...would be bad for us in the long run.
I can't tell you how many people have asked me about the new truck - in just the two weeks I have had it. There are a lot of people interested, they just have this idea that the Lightning is too expensive to buy.
I show them a quick set of costs: over a 5-year period an ICE or EV F-150 would cost me the SAME $$, and over a 10-year period the Lightning is HALF the cost of an ICE in my area (expensive gas, cheap electricity). Even with differences in insurance, tires, etc taken into account.

I think as Lightning owners, we should promote this vechicle to others - to ensure Ford supports it long term and keeps working on batteries and features long into the future.

 

[22legit2quit]

Weak hands get shook ladies and gentlemen. Everyone here is definitely on the right side of history and the projected future of passenger vehicles. Remember it took time for Tesla to really become something other than a celebrity pet cause. Anyone remember the Tesla Roadster? The thing was cool, but absolutely not a long term fix. Just like the impossible burgers, if you look at them and the people that made them they always were like these are as close as we can get to meat without it being meat but it’s still not that good for you.

The technology will advance or be collaborated on by other car makers. I’m honestly surprised that someone here on this forum hasn’t gone to tractor supply and purchased a 10-15 hp Briggs and Stratton motor, mounted it to a drip tray and taken on a trip with some sort of retrofitted charging plug. Does it have to be me to do something like that? I’m a retired soldier with nothing to do but pretend I’m Tony stark all day?

Y’all get a vote going with 50 percent or more of this forum and I’ll do it, what do you say?

 

[22legit2quit]

Maybe I'm not understanding how a range extender works or what it does, but it seems to me it should run on diesel rather than gasoline.

Yes, right you are sir. Completely won’t happen. Read up on the Chrysler esx1 and 2 which surely predates a lot of the current EV owners dates of birth. Great concept and proven to work but automakers and oil companies alike paid to have it buried.

 

[Grumpy2]

Read up on the Chrysler esx1 and 2

Thanks for posting this, learned something I didn't know.

 

[Bills R Electric]

Kind of a shame because the Lightning really is an awesome truck. I suppose I’ll end up getting a Rivian next if they are still in business. Hopefully I won’t replace the Lightning for 6+ years, and who knows, maybe by then Tesla will make a normal truck looking truck.

Right there with you.

Love my Lightning. Crossing my fingers and toes there will be a Gen 2 Lightning. Maybe in 2027?

 

[NW Ontario Ford Lightning]

Weak hands get shook ladies and gentlemen. Everyone here is definitely on the right side of history and the projected future of passenger vehicles. Remember it took time for Tesla to really become something other than a celebrity pet cause. Anyone remember the Tesla Roadster? The thing was cool, but absolutely not a long term fix. Just like the impossible burgers, if you look at them and the people that made them they always were like these are as close as we can get to meat without it being meat but it’s still not that good for you.

The technology will advance or be collaborated on by other car makers. I’m honestly surprised that someone here on this forum hasn’t gone to tractor supply and purchased a 10-15 hp Briggs and Stratton motor, mounted it to a drip tray and taken on a trip with some sort of retrofitted charging plug. Does it have to be me to do something like that? I’m a retired soldier with nothing to do but pretend I’m Tony stark all day?

Y’all get a vote going with 50 percent or more of this forum and I’ll do it, what do you say?

But the issue - the truck will not allow charging while moving. A safety measure I am sure, so you don't move the truck while the cord is plugged in.
If crusing down the hwy is using 20kWh per hour (say) then you need at least a 20kW genertor to keep up, or you go smaller and it extends range until the main battery SOC drops to minimum. Then you need to stop and let the generator catch up again.
A 10-15 Hp (7400 W to 11000 W) is too small to keep up with hwy power consumption, but would certainly extend the range - if only we could figure a way (or Ford added a feature) to allow charging the battery while in motion.
It may be simpler to fit the engine to a chunk of steel the fits into the hitch receiver - one single tire driven by the engine with some cab controls to use the engine to reduce the load on the battery drive system. Lets call it a range-extender and EV pusher - keep it light enough to man-handle out of the box and connect to the hitch as a rescue device if needed.

 

[22legit2quit]

But the issue - the truck will not allow charging while moving. A safety measure I am sure, so you don't move the truck while the cord is plugged in.
If crusing down the hwy is using 20kWh per hour (say) then you need at least a 20kW genertor to keep up, or you go smaller and it extends range until the main battery SOC drops to minimum. Then you need to stop and let the generator catch up again.
A 10-15 Hp (7400 W to 11000 W) is too small to keep up with hwy power consumption, but would certainly extend the range - if only we could figure a way (or Ford added a feature) to allow charging the battery while in motion.
It may be simpler to fit the engine to a chunk of steel the fits into the hitch receiver - one single tire driven by the engine with some cab controls to use the engine to reduce the load on the battery drive system. Lets call it a range-extender and EV pusher - keep it light enough to man-handle out of the box and connect to the hitch as a rescue device if needed.

Absolutely, I know that would be insufficient but merely indicating a low cost option. The motor needs to be closer to a 75-100kw to be a paralleled system, if you will. Now, charging in motion would be much easier to do by looking at how the software diverts the reclaimed energy from braking or one pedal drive. Some sort of working pulsed and phased system would be all that someone would need to figure out to make it work as a DIY.

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