Alex On Autos F-150 Lightning Review from Ford Event

[greenne]

Alex on Autos does a short, but informative review of the Lightning from a Ford Lightning tour event. Really good video of the Pro version and what appears to be a Lariat trim.

 

[F150ROD]

361 miles at about 90% charged….. hmmm

 

[greenne]

361 miles at about 90% charged….. hmmm

Yes..I saw that too.

 

[metroshot]

Love the video - Alex does a great job with all the vehicle reviews.

I'm now liking the Pro model after watching the video.

May skip on the XLT trim if I can get the standard range Pro.

Mostly looking to get the CA HOV sticker on my daily commute.

 

[Vulnox]

Yes..I saw that too.

At some point there has to be something to the story there. People keep saying Ford rating it at 300 with 1000lbs payload, so it's higher unloaded. At this point in the game, Ford is either being super lazy on fixing their pre-prod programming to show accurate mileage, or the truck is capable of as much as 100 or so miles range in unloaded form, and Ford is just playing a long game before reveal.

If they get it up to 400 miles with a family of four and luggage, it will be a killer EV. People can complain about charge times and that, but in 400 miles you will need to make enough of a stop to get the 20 minutes of charge to get you back to 70 or 80% and another couple hundred miles and so on.

Wait and see though, could be other things happening with the pre-prod trucks like larger battery or something that they decided not to go with due to cost and continue just to use for press events because it allows more time in the open without charge. It's entirely possible Ford has 400 mile trucks out there, but when they found it would add another 5-10k to each trim level in cost and that moved it out of their hard price target, they downsized the battery for production.

 

[F150ROD]

At some point there has to be something to the story there. People keep saying Ford rating it at 300 with 1000lbs payload, so it's higher unloaded. At this point in the game, Ford is either being super lazy on fixing their pre-prod programming to show accurate mileage, or the truck is capable of as much as 100 or so miles range in unloaded form, and Ford is just playing a long game before reveal.

If they get it up to 400 miles with a family of four and luggage, it will be a killer EV. People can complain about charge times and that, but in 400 miles you will need to make enough of a stop to get the 20 minutes of charge to get you back to 70 or 80% and another couple hundred miles and so on.

Wait and see though, could be other things happening with the pre-prod trucks like larger battery or something that they decided not to go with due to cost and continue just to use for press events because it allows more time in the open without charge. It's entirely possible Ford has 400 mile trucks out there, but when they found it would add another 5-10k to each trim level in cost and that moved it out of their hard price target, they downsized the battery for production.

Or they have these pre-production batteries unlocked to their fullest potential meaning they are using the full batteries capacity but will lock the battery capacity to 300 miles for the public. As times goes by and they get more data they can unlock the battery for more range.

 

[Vulnox]

Or they have these pre-production batteries unlocked to their fullest potential meaning they are using the full batteries capacity but will lock the battery capacity to 300 miles for the public. As times goes by and they get more data they can unlock the battery for more range.

Ahhhh, very good point! Ford and other manufacturers have been doing that in other vehicles. My wife's Focus Electric has a portion of the pack locked out. With Tesla, they recommend only charging to 80% except on a road trip and most of the pack is available. With the approach Ford took on the FFE as an example, they locked you to 80% at all times and to the owner it looks like 100%. Arguments can be made for either direction for sure. The FFE batteries have been incredibly reliable for owners, even on old 2012/2013 FFEs, so Ford may not have been wrong to do it. At the same time, there is probably another 50 miles of range locked out on the FFE if you were on a road trip and found yourself almost out of range and 5 miles to the next EVSE. With the Tesla approach, you would charge to true 100% before the trip and have less chance of the same issue.

Guess time will tell. I am hoping that Ford is just sandbagging their early announcements to reveal a surprise range at launch. The problem I see with that approach is actual order banks are opening soon, and trucks are going to start building soon. If Ford wanted to do a "Just one more thing..." reveal, I feel we are past that window.

 

[F150ROD]

Ahhhh, very good point! Ford and other manufacturers have been doing that in other vehicles. My wife's Focus Electric has a portion of the pack locked out. With Tesla, they recommend only charging to 80% except on a road trip and most of the pack is available. With the approach Ford took on the FFE as an example, they locked you to 80% at all times and to the owner it looks like 100%. Arguments can be made for either direction for sure. The FFE batteries have been incredibly reliable for owners, even on old 2012/2013 FFEs, so Ford may not have been wrong to do it. At the same time, there is probably another 50 miles of range locked out on the FFE if you were on a road trip and found yourself almost out of range and 5 miles to the next EVSE. With the Tesla approach, you would charge to true 100% before the trip and have less chance of the same issue.

Guess time will tell. I am hoping that Ford is just sandbagging their early announcements to reveal a surprise range at launch. The problem I see with that approach is actual order banks are opening soon, and trucks are going to start building soon. If Ford wanted to do a "Just one more thing..." reveal, I feel we are past that window.

Yup, when I had my Model 3 the range changed about 3 times from software updates. I bought with a range of 325, it was then dropped to a stated range of 310 and then Tesla gave a bump up to 315. Then take into account summer and winter. Those who are venturing into the EV world for the first time with the Lightning are going to have a hard time the first couple of years with the fluctuation in range. I can almost guarantee half the threads will be about inconsistent range.

 

[Vulnox]

Yup, when I had my Model 3 the range changed about 3 times from software updates. I bought with a range of 325, it was then dropped to a stated range of 310 and then Tesla gave a bump up to 315. Then take into account summer and winter. Those who are venturing into the EV world for the first time with the Lightning are going to have a hard time the first couple of years with the fluctuation in range. I can almost guarantee half the threads will be about inconsistent range.

Yeah, but at least that won't be much different than the gas engines. I lost count of how many times I was responding to threads of people that got their 2021 F-150 in Jan-March and were complaining their fuel mileage was 2-3 MPG lower than they expected. But winter hurts mileage on ICE vehicles also.

Will be interested to see how winter impacts the wife's FFE. We got it in July I think, and she has been driving it so well that the mileage estimate has been 130 or so, so above the original range claim. So I know her driving has been getting the most out of it. So in the winter we will get a good idea of what kind of impact to expect.

We had a C-Max Energi, and it also suffered mileage losses in the winter because the heater and all that is electric driven and it is high load. But it was never like, 50% loss or anything. I think it was about 2-3 miles range loss (on a vehicle that only had about 20 miles all electric range to begin with, but still). The FFE will be a much better test to see how it does.

 

[F150ROD]

I just used the heated seats and bypassed the heater. The heated seats were enough to keep me warm. I never really had an issue with range, but there were a couple of times that I needed to drop off the Tesla at home and take an ICE to get somewhere else fast, pretty much didn't have more than 5 minutes to charge because of appointments.

I mean nothing really beats 250+ miles for $10

 

[Vulnox]

Yeah, helps if you have the vehicle in a garage too. Part of the issue as I understand it is a cold battery pack doesn't like to charge to the same level as a warm one. If you can precondition the car in a moderately warm garage in the morning before heading out, it can help.

 

[Sgt Beavis]

Or they have these pre-production batteries unlocked to their fullest potential meaning they are using the full batteries capacity but will lock the battery capacity to 300 miles for the public. As times goes by and they get more data they can unlock the battery for more range.

I think that's a good point, but that doesn't explain Ford being so coy about it.

I'm not saying this is the case, but I think Ford is doing that on purpose. They are officially stating that they have at least 300miles of range but not doing anything to correct or qualify the battery readings for all these vloggers reporting on this greater range. Ford is also staying quiet about the battery's actual capacity.

I think it's obvious to everyone that Ford is taking the position of under promising and over delivering. They did that with the Mach E. The question is, how much are they under promising for the F150..

It's gonna be interesting.

 

[metroshot]

Yup, when I had my Model 3 the range changed about 3 times from software updates. I bought with a range of 325, it was then dropped to a stated range of 310 and then Tesla gave a bump up to 315. Then take into account summer and winter. Those who are venturing into the EV world for the first time with the Lightning are going to have a hard time the first couple of years with the fluctuation in range. I can almost guarantee half the threads will be about inconsistent range.

Ah winter months and people complaining about the range is 100% certain.

I drive a PHEV and my range does not vary (southern California); but others in the colder parts of the US, reports loss of up to 50% of range on their EV drive.

Using climate control (cabin heater) drains the most from the EV battery so combined with the cold weather, exacerbates the range.

Wonder if Ford will install a heater for the battery that turns on when it gets cold?

 

[greenne]

Love the video - Alex does a great job with all the vehicle reviews.

I'm now liking the Pro model after watching the video.

May skip on the XLT trim if I can get the standard range Pro.

Mostly looking to get the CA HOV sticker on my daily commute.

Alex is one of the better auto reviewers out there..I watch all his videos as I am a car nerd. The Redline guy(Sofyan?) is pretty good and for stuff from Korea I get a good scoop on it from Asian Petrolhead(as Hyundai/Kia stuff debuts in Korea most of time before it is released here)

 

[sotek2345]

Ah winter months and people complaining about the range is 100% certain.

I drive a PHEV and my range does not vary (southern California); but others in the colder parts of the US, reports loss of up to 50% of range on their EV drive.

Using climate control (cabin heater) drains the most from the EV battery so combined with the cold weather, exacerbates the range.

Wonder if Ford will install a heater for the battery that turns on when it gets cold?

I am setting my expectations conservatively to avoid disappointment. If I can get 100 miles in the winter on the ER battery, without pre-conditioning, I will be happy (Wife's Mach-e will be plugged in most nights - she has a longer commute).

As for a heater - it is effectively certain that some kind of battery heater will be there. I think the only question is if it is resistive, a heat pump, or some combination.