Maybe scrapping the Lightning is a good thing

[RickLightning]

I’ve been saying to every on who would listen for the last 10 years that The Key to the electric vehicle success wasn’t the vehicle vehicles because they are all good it’s the charging stations and the availability and what they charge so when I heard that the Biden administration had $1 billion allocated for new charging stations I thought yeah this thing‘s gonna take off in a big way but then they only built 60 of them, and if you dig into the wedge a little bit and look at the contracts, you’ll understand why they only built 60 of them. That was a big deal that hurts once the charging stations get developed and charge at a competitive price because now they’re getting a premium premium dollar then the EV market will be terrific again as it was in 22 and 23 as a sidenote, I had to use one of the brand charging stations last winter on my then cyber truck and I could’ve driven my V 10 2002 Ford cheaper than what they were charging me

Fact- "they only built 60 of them" is simply wrong. Totally WRONG. Not accurate. BS.

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[FirstF150InCasco]

I’m just going to drive mine for 8 or so years. By then there will be other choices and I’ll pick one that suits my needs at that time.

Sounds like a good plan. I think I'll adopt the same plan. I have 10 year warranty, so after 8 years there will be stiill two years on the warranty for the next owner.

 

[FirstF150InCasco]

Fact- "they only built 60 of them" is simply wrong. Totally WRONG. Not accurate. BS.

How many were built?

 

[RickLightning]

How many were built?

https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...went-wrong-and-right.33515/page-2#post-621200

 

[FirstF150InCasco]

https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...went-wrong-and-right.33515/page-2#post-621200

So 121, not 60.

 

[rdt7]

I was so proud of Ford for building the Lightning and committing to EVs but I don't blame them for shifting course. I fault our broken political system. How can anybody run a huge capital intensive company without being able to make long term projections? Who knows who will be in office in 5 years or what the policies will be? Our political system is broken and the US is falling behind. If we can't get our government working again we are toast.

 

[RickLightning]

So 121, not 60.

So far, with many in process as the map clearly shows.

 

[Schupbach]

So 121, not 60.

Cost per unit hmmmmm

 

[jwrezz]

This is her second Subaru. The first one took us on long trips in snow storms and good weather for 200,000 miles. Doubled as a truck with all the crapped we moved inside and on top. Brakes and a rubber boot were the only unexpected repairs we had, both at over 100K. Neither of which left us stranded. We are at 70K with this one with zero issues. I would buy another one in a heartbeat.

Agreed. I got my 2006 Outback Sedan new. This was to get a new vehicle from my 1996 Ford Explorer. My son "needed" a car so I got the Lightning and he's still driving my OBS. 180000miles and still kicking. Only real issue was a rusted trans cooler line, and maybe the 3 or 4 exhaust replacements but they were all due to NJ salt in the winter. I bet he gets another 100k out of it easy.

 

[On the Road with Ralph]

I simply will never understand people who are reluctant to take their Lightnings on road trips. They are roomy, comfortable, quiet, and well mannered on-and-off the highway. I’ve done 16 road trips of 1500+ miles each, and enjoyed every one of them. My bladder decides when to stop, not the battery (and I have an SR Pro and am 71 years old). Just yesterday I made a short - 210 miles - trip that included a 151 mile desert stretch with NO SERVICES without recharging (but several rest stops). And as for the cost of charging on road trips, I’ve monitored this several times and NEVER has the cost of electrons been more than the cost of gas. Pro tip: Spend the night on long road trips at hotels/motels that offer free charging. Nobody gives away free gas.

My willingness to take the Lightning to remote locations and charging deserts lets me enjoy scenic places that are inaccessible to those who refuse to leave their driveway without a long extension cord. I saw this on my desert trip just yesterday near Amboy, California.

 

[luebri]

Cost per unit hmmmmm

Silver lining… At least they are slow to waste taxpayer money!

121 in 4+ years is painfully slow.

 

[RickLightning]

Cost per unit hmmmmm

If one cared to, you could easily find the cost per unit in particular states for particular sites. It varies widely, as one would expect, given the infrastructure that does/does not exist at each site, coupled with the buying power of the state, as compared to other options.

 

[chl]

Back to the article, while it makes some valid points I think it is a bit distorted and overly negative. And it should have put the current state of affairs into context, the context of a pandemic supply chain shut down, a long recovery with high inflation, both of which raised the price of the building blocks of EVs and affected consumer sentiment.

I think if Ford had been able to produce the Lightning an sell it at the starting MSRP of about $40K as initially promised, it could have been a different story. But the pandemic came along and stopped the world-wide supply chain and the steady drop in battery prices that we had seen for over a decade.

And it should have talked about the political head winds now in effect.

Along came a new congress and administration with anti-EV pro-oil bias, and tariffs on Canada and Mexico that cost US auto companies billions in lost profits, cancellation and delay of the charging station money (NEVI and CFI) passed by congress in 2021 as law suits by states to release the money made their way through the courts.

"... the thinking went, so electric versions of our existing iconic products must work ... shoppers spending $50,000-$90,000 ...The Lightning had middling highway range and slow charging performance...."

COST: So I waited to buy my Pro until my out-of-pocket price was down in the mid-$40k's with the up-front tax credit. As close to the promised $40k as I could get. Price theory at work.

EXISTING ICONIC PRODUCT: I didn't need a large F-150, a Ranger sized pickup would have done nicely, cost less, and could have had better range.

HIGHWAY RANGE: A redesign of the boxy shape to make it more energy efficient would have been a good idea as well.

SLOW CHARGING PERFORMANCE?: What, 30 minutes at a fast DC charger to get to 80% is too slow?

Well, basically, Ford suffered from group-think in their design and marketing.
The Lightning is not that bad at all, but there is room for improvement as we all know.
Some quality control issues rear their ugly head now and then.

Some quirks that most EV suffer from were not solved: the 12V battery failures issue.

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Simple fix EV makers: build into the EV a trickle charger function that tops off the battery whenever it is plugged in to an EVSE using grid power at a current rate that will prolong battery life - duh!
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The new Ford Universal EV Platform Announced in August is what should have been done from the on-set, and I hope Ford follows through with it but also looks at newer better battery technology, like solid state batteries (SSB) for example.

So my bottom line on the article is "meh."

The premise sounded good: "If we want to win over skeptics, we're not going to do it with overpriced, uncompetitive EVs"

But the writer gives no examples of any "good" EVs in this opinion piece, despite saying in the title "I Love EVS."

So my takeaway is the title is pretty much a lie, the writer doesn't personally love or understand the current EVs on the market, which aren't perfect but what is?

NOTE: he also wrote this article which talks about the 2026 EVs I guess he "loves:"

https://insideevs.com/features/782016/breakthrough-ev-finalists/

 

[davehu]

So 121, not 60.

whatever the number it's short of what's needed by 10's of thousands.

 

[Effonefiddy Lightning]

Ditching the Lightning was a Bad thing, not for shareholders or for corporate Ford, but for the public and future.

That article over looks what are the driving forces elsewhere in the world towards ditching combustion vehicles.
Just a week or so ago there was an emergency briefing in the UK about tipping points and why the climate change forecasts are wrong. There is evidence that in as little as 25 years England may have the same winters as Hudson Bay while having hotter and dryer summers.

https://www.youtube.com/@nebriefing

I have no idea if China believes in climate change, but the government has decided since they have limited natural energy resources and, they want to develop as much electric energy as possible. The people played no role in this decision.

In the USA we believe we have independent power to decide: where we go for news, whether to believe in science, who are experts as well as who will be our public servants.

One chart from this hearing:

By the way I think there are many that like the current EV9 as a good people mover.

In the 70s, scientist thought we were supposed to be in an ice age today. Nobody knows nothing for sure, but for sure people are making lots of money from the climate change theory including politicians. Also while we are told to cut back on fossil fuels, China is building tons of coal burning plants. It's all a con job.

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