Driving Lighting on ICE

[Adventureboy]

Ford’s official recommendation for drive modes is not “don’t use 1-PD.” It is to consider two pedal so you have a familiar experience. For me, with more experience driving a manual than an automatic, 1-PD is more familiar and I do not like driving on icy roads with 1-PD off; the vehicle behaves very poorly IMO. But then, I have been driving on ice every winter for 17 years and haven’t panicked when driving on ice in almost 40 years.




https://www.fromtheroad.ford.com/us/en/articles/2025/winter-electric-vehicle-driving-tips

Agree, this is certainly not a "recommendation". This is a consideration if you haven't made the adjustment.

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[SpaceEVDriver]

This is certainly not a "recommendation". This is a consideration if you haven't made the adjustment.

I agree.

 

[Altivec]

There is certainly no recommendation from Ford on this topic. This is personal preference. 1PD is perfectly fine on slippery roads provided you drive accordingly. You simply have to remember not to take your foot completely off the pedal in a slide situation. It is similar to driving a truck with a manual transmission so if you aren't used to that, there is an adjustment.

This is my 4th winter in Ontario in 1PD (lots of ice here from November to April) , and it is far more controllable than traditional drivelines. Traction control and ABS both work as intended if you do remove your foot fully from the pedal and regenerative braking kicks in.

As stated by others, Ford does in fact "recommend" using Slippery mode on ice and snow and disables the use of 1pd in that mode. If 1PD is superior, they would have surely allowed the option to enable it at the very least.

1PD is either accelerating or decelerating, which removes the ability to coast. Coasting is the best choice in many instances to control a sudden loss of traction. Saying ABS and traction control work as intended while you are trying to figure out the sweet spot and in the process allow too much deceleration, is the equivalent of saying, that slamming on the brakes in 2PD and letting the truck handle it, is working as intended. Yes, the truck is working as intended and trying to control the skid but sometimes its better to just coast and not get into a skid in the first place. 1PD eliminates that extra choice you have in 2PD.

I am not saying it is bad or that you didn't perfect the ability to drive in the winter in 1PD. go nuts and enjoy. My problem is people telling others that 1PD is the best mode to drive in slippery conditions, which is false. I would hate for someone to get in an accident because of this type of mis-information.

 

[Wendy]

I personally would not want to be in 2PD on Ice. When driving on ice you want to be constantly in control and correcting, either slightly decreasing or slightly increasing your speed. Coasting just gets you no control!

The minor adjustments the truck makes are great. I think I have only noticed it twice, when going through an icy patch at highway speeds and I feel "oh that was weird" kind of a little dance, but immediately feeling back in control.

Have to have good Winter Tires with 3 peaks and snowflake. I have slammed on the brakes on ice and it stopped immediately. The tires are built to soften in colder temperatures and grab the ice. I stopped driving on Studs at least a decade ago and have much better control. Would you rather wear a good pair of soft rubber boots, or put some steel shoes on?

 

[Granger Ford]

We are having an ice storm here in Charlotte, NC. I took the lighting out and this truck is awesome on solid ice! It tracked perfectly and the Anti skid brakes work great!. Also the truck puts down some serious torque on solid ice. Hats off to the Ford engineers. Going to miss this truck when I have to turn it in on the end of the lease.

That is awesome to hear. More people in Iowa need to try out the Lightning with all of the snow and ice we get!

 

[Adventureboy]

As stated by others, Ford does in fact "recommend" using Slippery mode on ice and snow and disables the use of 1pd in that mode. If 1PD is superior, they would have surely allowed the option to enable it at the very least.

1PD is either accelerating or decelerating, which removes the ability to coast. Coasting is the best choice in many instances to control a sudden loss of traction. Saying ABS and traction control work as intended while you are trying to figure out the sweet spot and in the process allow too much deceleration, is the equivalent of saying, that slamming on the brakes in 2PD and letting the truck handle it, is working as intended. Yes, the truck is working as intended and trying to control the skid but sometimes its better to just coast and not get into a skid in the first place. 1PD eliminates that extra choice you have in 2PD.

I am not saying it is bad or that you didn't perfect the ability to drive in the winter in 1PD. go nuts and enjoy. My problem is people telling others that 1PD is the best mode to drive in slippery conditions, which is false. I would hate for someone to get in an accident because of this type of mis-information.

To start - I didn't say 1PD is the best mode to drive in. I will, however, push back on false claims that Ford does not recommend 1PD in slippery conditions because it is simply not true. You can drive in whichever mode you are most comfortable with. It is a personal choice, and neither is dangerous or better/worse than the other. TCS and ABS work in both.

I agree with Ford, that 2PD/slippery mode may be better for new EV drivers who haven't adjusted to regenerative braking in 1PD and slippery conditions.

 

[Mal106]

Coasting just gets you no control.

Unless you're hooning around, coasting gives you maximum control.

 

[Jseis]

1PD is not recommended for winter driving....

Totally agree. While in One Pedal, took foot off accelerator and whoops… accidentally slid our Mach E through a frozen intersection ‘cause carrying too much momentum from 55 mph, downhill to a stop sign !.

 

[Firn]

I personally would not want to be in 2PD on Ice. When driving on ice you want to be constantly in control and correcting, either slightly decreasing or slightly increasing your speed. Coasting just gets you no control!

The minor adjustments the truck makes are great. I think I have only noticed it twice, when going through an icy patch at highway speeds and I feel "oh that was weird" kind of a little dance, but immediately feeling back in control.

Have to have good Winter Tires with 3 peaks and snowflake. I have slammed on the brakes on ice and it stopped immediately. The tires are built to soften in colder temperatures and grab the ice. I stopped driving on Studs at least a decade ago and have much better control. Would you rather wear a good pair of soft rubber boots, or put some steel shoes on?

"Coasting" is in fact what you WANT to do, very frequently, at least in the lightning. The standard slight slow down in normal mode is more than enough when its really bad out.

Any sudden inputs are bad bad things in the winter. There are lots of times I have just let off the accelerator and let wind and drag slow me down enough to prepare for an upcoming situation.

Coasting is the control you want, its not accelerating or decelerating, its putting all traction into steering and stability

 

[Altivec]

"Coasting" is in fact what you WANT to do, very frequently, at least in the lightning. The standard slight slow down in normal mode is more than enough when its really bad out.

Any sudden inputs are bad bad things in the winter. There are lots of times I have just let off the accelerator and let wind and drag slow me down enough to prepare for an upcoming situation.

Coasting is the control you want, its not accelerating or decelerating, its putting all traction into steering and stability

Exactly right... I thought anyone that is familiar with winter driving knew this. You can look up just about any source you want for reference, they will all say, in the event you feel that you are about to lose control or starting a skid, you want to avoid any input (ie, no accelerating or braking). No matter what your reaction is in 1PD, you will be doing exactly the opposite of what is recommended in basic winter driver training. Even the slight regen you get in normal mode has the potential to put you into a skid. This is the reason they added slippery mode in the 2025 and got rid of even that small amount of regen and "recommends" using that.

 

[Rice_classic]

LOL... I too thought that.... I was thinking, What the heck. Did he stick an engine in the frunk or put a lightning body on an ICE F150..

Customs enforcement driving a combustion engine in freezing temps.
ICE in an ICE on ICE.

ok.. time to get off the internet..

 

[Adventureboy]

Totally agree. While in One Pedal, took foot off accelerator and whoops… accidentally slid our Mach E through a frozen intersection ‘cause carrying too much momentum from 55 mph, downhill to a stop sign !.

That has absolutely nothing to do with 1PD and everything to do your speed with slippery conditions. You would have slid through the intersection in 2PD as well.

 

[Adventureboy]

No matter what your reaction is in 1PD, you will be doing exactly the opposite of what is recommended in basic winter driver training.

100% disagree. My reaction is the same as the hundreds of thousands of miles I have on standard transmissions. Move the accelerator to a neutral position. Should I need to add input because of snow or slush drag, or decelerate, my foot is already on the right pedal.

Pick the pedal mode you like and drive it, but don't say 1PD is bad just because you haven't learned how to use it.

It is a misconception that 2PD gives you coast with no pedal input. There is regeneration on 2PD with your foot off the pedals. It is much lighter than in 1PD, but it is still there and can be proven if you monitor the HVB parameters. To truly coast, you need to have your foot on the accelerator in either 1PD or 2PD.

 

[Pod]

Okay so to recap…

• Stay in Normal Mode ( pre 2025 ) not Off Road
• Turn 1 pedal drive off
• Go slow and break cautiously

 

[bmwhitetx]

Okay so to recap…

• Go slow and break cautiously

So you’re saying it’s okay to hit something and break it as long as you do it carefully?

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