Recent content by Texas Dan

On one of my father’s construction jobs a crane operator decided to use a c-clamp to hold down the up travel button and then fell asleep. The spot light he was lifting traveled to the top, the cable broke and the spot light fell killing a construction workers. There’s a reason why the Lightning...

I found the dead man switch! By accident I hit the button that adjusts the adaptive cruise control following distance when the “Put hands on wheel” message popped up and the message turned off. I started hitting the following distance button when the warning message comes up and the message...

This could work for me if it has a half way decent tow rating. If the charging speed and range are significantly improved over the Lightning I might really be tempted. I’m going to be taking a close look at the specs when they come out.

The TXDOT NEVI website indicates that they are accepting bids for Phase II EV Grants. Phase II includes 148 County Seat and 24 MPO locations. Bids are due by June 12, 2026. Grant Agreements should be signed in January 2027. Construction for the rural NEVI sites is scheduled for mid to late...

Here is the link to the Insideevs article that I got the 1% from, https://insideevs.com/news/720398/study-battery-replacement-rates-evs/. Here is also a link to where battery pack longevity was discussed extensively...

I guess you have made your opinion clear. To counter, I would refer to the analogy of used aircraft. The value of used aircraft is very much related to how many hours on the aircraft since the last major engine overhaul with the plane reaching maximum value right after the engine overhaul and...

As our Lightnings age, we need to be thinking about what we are going to do when the high voltage battery packs need to be replaced. I am probably going to hit the 100k mile warranty limit in less than three years. With a statistical failure rate for all EVs requiring pack replacement of 1% per...

I just replaced my original tires with 54k miles on them. I did get a couple more leaks that I also plugged. I was planning to wait until 60k miles to replace the tires and I still had plenty of tread left but I got a new leak in one of tires near the sidewall that didn’t look like it would take...

In ‘75 I was a pump jockey and gas was $0.26/gal. When the oil embargo hit my gas station started limiting hours and there would be a quarter mile long line of cars waiting for me to open up the pumps. That experience started a lifelong goal of removing my dependence on gasoline, which I feel I...

The life expectancy of the battery packs in our Lightnings is 40+ years. I expect the battery pack in my Lightning to outlive me by several decades. The chance of me needing a new battery pack when these higher capacity solid state batteries become available as a retrofit is pretty remote. I...

Who says I want a Cadillac ride? But if a smoother ride would tone down my wife’s complaining, that would be a plus.

Maybe a plastic water tank would work. You can buy 100 gallon plastic water tank from Home Depot and strap it down to the bed. Then you could dump the water wherever you needed the extra payload or when you didn’t care about the smoother ride, like when your wife is not in the truck.

I have been VERY tempted to do the same. The Silverado EV has greater range, charges much faster and has some other features that I really like, like the column shifter and the pass through rear seat. But the Lightning is 3,000 lbs lighter, has faster acceleration, is more efficient and costs...

Looks like I’m going to be abandoned Ford products for at the foreseeable future but this won’t be the first time. I bought four Fords in a row; a Fusion hybrid, Fusion PHEV and two Focus BEVs. But then I bought a 2nd Gen Nissan Leaf and a Kia Niro EV because Ford was not keeping up with EV...

I just sold my Ford stock because of this announcement. My values and Ford’s values definitely appear to be diverging.