New to EV. Trying to decide between SR and ER to keep 200k+ miles with 100 mile daily commute.

[hturnerfamily]

just came home from a 240 mile, 2.5kwh average, travel day... with 6% remaining... PRO SR

didn't need to stop... perfect weather....no wind.... some 60mph highways, some 55, some city... a little Climate...

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[pullinggs]

Interesting thread. My subjective summary after four pages: "People with ER think you should get an ER, while SR people think SR is plenty." Sounds like there might be some built-in bias here. And I agree with all of them, as I have one of each.

You face neither extreme winter temperatures nor elevation changes. The SR absolutely will get the job done. The ER will allow meaningfully more flexibility with less (maybe not truly valid) range anxiety. So maybe look at other things like color or ProPower or tow package as the more impactful options to influence your choice?

You are going to LOVE your new truck, either way.

 

[WaterboyNorCal]

Most likely due to the trim level, being the Pro it was meant for job sites thus having the 240v and SR battery where other trims like XLT, Flash, Lariat, Platinum are geared towards the general public.

Or I was lied to, lol.

Yeah, if you were told that by a salesperson/dealer, you were straight-up lied to. I have a 2023 XLT SR with ProPower - not only is it available, but it is a very common option. No matter at this point - you have the ER truck and can drive a little faster on the highway for the same range as my SR.

 

[PreservedSwine]

It was someone in this forum.

One other thing that has been touched on numerous times, but no one has said it out right, if you plan on keeping this as long as it sounds like you do, you want to keep your battery between 80% and 20%.
So even though you have a "240 mile range'" realistically, you're only dipping into 60% of that.
Don't think of it like a gas automobile will you refill the tank to 100% when you fill up. You never fill it all the way up and you never run it empty, if you're trying to keep the battery degradation to a minimum.
You're really only at about 145 mile range with the standard range. You could go more, you could go less, depending on conditions. This is something I overlooked and didn't put enough emphasis when making my decision. That, and the cost was over 20 grand more to get an extended range battery when these things first came out.
I'm able to make it work, but this truck stays in the driveway on road trips.
Apologies in advanced for any syntax or spelling errors, this was done voice to text

 

[WaterboyNorCal]

One other thing that has been touched on numerous times, but no one has said it out right, if you plan on keeping this as long as it sounds like you do, do you want to keep your battery between 80% and 20%.
So even though you have a "240 mile range'" realistically, you're only dipping into 60% of that.
Don't think of it like a gas automobile will you refill the tank to 100% when you fill up. You never fill it all the way up and you never run it empty, if you're trying to keep the battery degradation to a minimum.
You're really only at about 145 mile range with the standard range. You could go more, you could go less, depending on conditions. This is something I overlooked and didn't put enough emphasis when making my decision. That, and the cost was over 20 grand more to get an extended range battery when these things first came out.
I'm able to make it work, but this truck stays in the driveway on road trips.
Apologies in advanced for any syntax or spelling errors, this was done voice to text

Look- I plan on keeping my truck for 250k miles or more, but I think it’s a little overly conservative to put it this way. For HIGHWAY road trips, yes, you are realistically looking at 10% - 80% (it’s totally and completely acceptable to go below 20% SOC, especially when it’s occasional), which on an SR is ~145 miles at 70mph, assuming not driving uphill, into a headwind or below 50 degrees F. I have gotten 190 miles of range (95% to 5%) in 30-40 degree temperatures, driving into the mountains (and then back down) but my average speed was closer to 50mph due to snowy road conditions at elevation and traffic.

Everyday range (charging to 90% at home, which is really closer to 82% actual SOC due to the relatively large top buffer) assuming a mix of in-town and highway driving is more like 2.5 miles/kWh, which would give you about 175 miles. I often average over 2.8 miles/kWh in mixed summer driving, which is more like 200 miles (90-20%).

…just saying (and agreeing with you) that “it depends”. Not everyone is driving at highway speeds most of the time (though obviously some are), and ambient temperatures/wind can make a HUGE difference.

 

[hturnerfamily]

Most likely due to the trim level, being the Pro it was meant for job sites thus having the 240v and SR battery where other trims like XLT, Flash, Lariat, Platinum are geared towards the general public.

Or I was lied to, lol.

my original Aug 2022 '22 model PRO SR, I ordered on May 2022, has the optional 9.6kwh ProPower, Max towing package, and the TowingTECHnology option.... you could order any of these 'back in the day'.... but, with later model years, the options list may have changed...

 

[flyct]

You're definitely barking up the wrong tree with me, my commute is 4 miles round trip. I feed my truck with solar when able. Suburban cruiser.

Heck even at my age of almost 80 years old I would walk that distance instead of driving.

 

[wescravinshocker]

Hi new to everything. New to forums, looking to be new to EV’s. Currently have a 2025 Ram1500 bighorn hurricane. Came from a 2016 ram1500 eco diesel that got 202k miles in 8 years.
I am considering 2024 or 2023 XLT SR or Lariat ER. I drive 100 miles a day for work mostly highway. 50 miles at 70 mph, 40 miles at 60 mph and then 10 miles of 35-40 mph. I plan on keeping the truck for 10 years hopefully and usually put 22k-25k miles on it a year. I prefer the non large screen of the XLT over the massive vertical one but also want rear sliding window so that leaves me with the large screen lariat from my research.
My internal debate with the SR vs ER is battery degradation over the 10 years but also some what range anxiety being new to EV. SR look to be $10K -$12k cheaper but really with going from my current Ram ( 22mpg) i will make that price back in a couple years. I also live in south florida and FPL has 30 month unlimited charging off peak so electric is almost free. Has anyone had experience with the fpl program. Has anyone gotten the ER and said man I wish I just got the SR?
Im looking at a couple different options but for the most part 2023-2024 Lariat ER gold certifed 10-15k miles there around $56-$58k is that about right? Is one year better or more sought after than the other? They also show as commercial vehicle use on carfax from Michigan any concerns with that?
Thank you for any help
Sean

I wish I could have bought an XLT ER or Flash ER, but the price was awesome on a 2023 XLT SR, I bought a 63k truck for 53k, so I settled for the smaller screen, and SR, but the payment was just not good enough on an XLT ER. I just have to charge more often on longer trips, so I would recommend the ER if you can afford it.

 

[Throne]

The answer is simple if you got range anxiety ER is a no brainer if you can afford it!!!

 

[Newton]

Just for some real life info:

I left a town near Bellingham with 94% range and drove I-5 to Vancouver, WA in temperatures ranging from 72 to 83 degrees. One stop at a Tesla station for 21 minutes to get to 82% ( 38.4kW ). with a visit to the nearby REI for a quick talk about bicycles. Now in Vancouver showing 31% with 74 miles of range (but I think it is really about 90). Total efficiency was 2.7 mi/kWh, total trip was 257 miles.

It wasn’t a great freeway test (maybe it was…) because there were a lot of backups, at one point I was getting 4mi/kWh.

The total trip was 6 hours of drive time (longer with other stops). I would have stopped anyway, in fact I stopped several times.

 

[derelict]

Get an ER, level lift, bigger/wider AT tires/wheels and viola you have an SR+!

 

[NW Ontario Ford Lightning]

Advice for the OP - A Few points:
If you don't need ER, you can spend less on the SR and still do what you want, keeps the truck a bit lighter, less weight seemed barely noticeable when I test drove both trucks, but I figured no sense to carry extra weight on the tires if not needed.

Model year - I picked the 2024 (I purchased in Jan 2025) to get the rear locking diff, heat-pump cooling/heating, pro-power available while truck is off, a few other features that have been discontinued in 2025 MY. Shop around, and be picky, I was able to get a new XLT with a lot of nice options included (keypad entry, Ford Lightning mud flaps and running boards, 360 cameras etc) that were not part of the standard XLT package.

Members complain that resale prices are too low for the Lightning = should mean you can get a good deal on used.

Welcome to the Lightning Forum - a lot of great members and helpful comments will be found here.

 

[Tabasco2]

Thank you for everyone that weighed in. I ended up getting a new 2025 flash with the pro power option. So far its an outstanding truck. Plenty of power, no transmission hunting for gears for best mpg. Just have to get the 240 plug set up over the weekend. I needed something to do anyways for the holiday weekend.

 

[K6CCC]

Don't forget to update your profile to show your new truck. Include trim level and battery (ER vs SR).

 

[Newfoundland]

I don’t know about the cost for lariats but if you’re looking for a one year-old Ford used 2024 XLT, there’s some amazing prices for the standard range battery. I think there were some substantial upgrades for 2024 and so I would not look at older than that. My experience on 100% charge is that it shows 220+ miles but I easily get over 250 by limiting my speed to 60 mph. By your way of driving from what you said, you should easily have enough with the standard range battery. These batteries are known to maintain their capacity for a very long time and come with the eight year 100,000 mile warranty so you should have no problem if you wanted the standard range. I was fortunate to find a very gently used 2024, which was put into service in 2025 by Ford corporate and only used for 3000 miles. This was a 2024 XLT with very basic features but everything I needed and I got it for 42,000 from the dealer after they advertised it for 44,000. There is quite a difference between lariat and the models below it so I don’t know about the price level for the lariat. If you absolutely don’t need that high level range, it may not be worth it to pay for it. On the very few occasions, you do want to do a longer road trip, I have found in my first week of use that the Tesla chargers work fantastic and you just need to bring the adapter with you.

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