Canadian Winters (Dealer told me F150 Lightning not the truck for me)

[jimfigler]

I agree with dealer

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[Kev12345]

what's the issue with charging before you head back? get the lightning! your dealer wants you in for oil changes and other ICE maintenance.

 

[columbiaskier]

I may be too late on this response but I mean at below -20 I can’t make it back to the Canmore charging station. Meaning yes I could make it to Louise without stopping, but I wouldn’t make it back. So yes two stops on the Canmore charge station or risk it and hope to get lucky and score one of the two level two destination chargers at Louise.

In regular conditions I would do one stop at the charging station on the round trip from Calgary. I have pushed it and made the full 360 km trip but this means coming back at below 15% battery. I usually opt for the fast charge cause with a 10-20 minute stop I can easily add the juice I need to have a good buffer.

 

[columbiaskier]

In summer I get 400-430 highway. So yes could easily do the trip back and forth. Like I say normally in winter I do one stop but below -20C the range starts to really hurt. 2022 Lightning doesn’t have a heat pump so that’s holding its winter range back a bit. Although I’ll defer to more knowledgeable people on the forum when it comes to heat pump effectiveness as really cold temps

 

[columbiaskier]

EPA highway range for lightning is around 430 km. However due to its aerodynamics the Lightning’s efficiency goes down a lot if you drive at the speeds most people drive at. Lot’s in the forum about this.

I’d say my summer highway range is more like 400 km if I drive 110-120 km/h.

The distance being talked about is 260 km or 65% of the “real” highway range. 35% efficiency loss for extreme cold to me sounds typical for an EV.

Like some people have said on the forum it’s theoretically possible if you precondition, drive slow, don’t have a headwind etc.

In other words if the stars align and you’re comfortable barely making it back to the house in frost bite conditions then yes it is doable. But for me I’ll stick to an extra charge to keep a buffer.

 

[Markip]

Hi everyone I'm a recently new lightning owner 2025 xlt love the truck anxious to see the affects of winter I commute from Barrie to Toronto up to 3 times per week.

 

[21st Century Truck]

I've tried the local Petro Canada fast chargers many times over several months. They are terrible and more often down than working. Until they improve, I would not count on them in the dead of winter. I'd recommend checking the reviews/comments on Plugshare for real world results of the actual chargers you'd need to rely on if selection is minimal. You can also check reviews on Google maps searching "Charging Stations". Range anxiety sucks, especially when you buy such an expensive vehicle.

I just LOVE Your TinTin avatar! It made me smile thru my morning coffee

 

[NW Ontario Ford Lightning]

Hi everyone I'm a recently new lightning owner 2025 xlt love the truck anxious to see the affects of winter I commute from Barrie to Toronto up to 3 times per week.

welcome to the Lightning forum, and congrats on the new truck.
That 120km run will be a joy in the Lightning (well, depending on traffic) and don't worry too much about "Winter" since you live in the 'deep South' of the Province, and your truck (unlike the 2022/2023's) has the heat pump system.

My advice for you:
Plan to leave the truck plugged in overnight during winter, if you can.
Set the departure times you typically use, and climatic controls,
Enjoy the nearly instant heating you get (unlike the ICE that need to come up to operating temps before you get heat.)
Set your charging times so the truck is just reaching full charge about an hour before your departure time.
I use 80-85% as 'full charge' during summer, and 90% during winter with the above timing set so the truck is only at the highest SOC for about an hour prior to departing.
Don't put non-OEM sized tires on it, or wheel spacers etc since these don't help your range and the heavy truck doesn't need any of these things. But do consider a set of dedicated winter tires if you see the need, I recall Barrie to Hunstville getting a lot of heavy wet snow. That said, you're in for a pleasant surprise at how the Lightning handles snow and ice compared to any ICE pickup.

Now get off the internet and go drive somewhere !

 

[21st Century Truck]

I stopped in to speak with a dealer on Saturday and told him that 3 times a week I make a 260km round trip to coach volleyball. He told me that the Lightning was not the truck for me. He told me in this cold weather I would have to charge after the 130km one way just to make it back home (with the extended range battery). He said that is with the temperature just below freezing and the colder it got out the worse it would be. This really put a damper on what I was thinking. Everything I read and all the reviews I watched did not indicate that the F150 Lightning was this bad. Can you all let me know about your real life Canadian winter experiences with your trucks? I was looking at an F150 XLT with the extended range battery.

This might or might not apply to Your decision, but here's one more bit of Winter EV info... EVs by their nature lack an internal heat source i.e. a gasoline / diesel engine water jacket to draw heat from for the cabin.

I learned this the hard way with my high-trim Mach E Mustang with its huge pano roof. That glass roof worked well to reject Summer UV rays and its cabin did not heat up as much as I had feared, BUT in Winter all the lower infrared (i.e. "heat") cabin energy radiated right up through that pano roof and out into space. And when the seat warmer and the steering wheel warmer just wasn't enough, I had to use the big traction battery juice to heat the cabin via resistonce heat circuits, not an efficient way to gain heat... which again, would quickly dissipate through that nice pano glass roof out into the frigid air of Minnesota and Wisconsin and the high Rockies and northern New England (yes I do travel a lot).

The Mach E forum has a bunch of threads on installing silver closed-cell insulation on the inside of the glass roof in cold seasons, and even a big layer of purpose-cut Plexiglas to create a sealed air pocket. People wouldn't focus on adding such things if their Winter range wasn't affected...

When I switched from the Mach E Premium to the Lightning, I made sure that I got the highest trim
available with a solid metal roof and a regular cabin headliner, just because of the Winter heat loss through the glass roof. This eliminated the BlueCruise option for me, yet IMHO this is a worthy trade-off so that I and the dog and the occasional Winter long trip passengers don't freeze despite wearing our sweatshirts.

I mention this factor as another, important Winter range-reducing variable to remember.

Good Luck on Your decision!

 

[Markip]

So far I have experienced -4 and snow and the range loss over 200km was about 12% average 32kwh/100km at a speed of 115km/h

 

[TimmyZR1]

Im looking at buying a 2023 Lariat ER, and after reading this, im not sure anymore!! I mean really!!??, From 515KM range to barely 215KM range!!?? that is less than half!!! I frankly start to second guess this whole idea of EV truck!! GM EV trucks are more than 10000lbs so that means inspection and etc!! I also wont have that !! I currently have a 2024 Denali ultimate HD, and no longer hauling anything, beside the sled in the bead few times in the winter. So lightning made sense!! but now??!!!

 

[Firn]

Im looking at buying a 2023 Lariat ER, and after reading this, im not sure anymore!! I mean really!!??, From 515KM range to barely 215KM range!!?? that is less than half!!! I frankly start to second guess this whole idea of EV truck!! GM EV trucks are more than 10000lbs so that means inspection and etc!! I also wont have that !! I currently have a 2024 Denali ultimate HD, and no longer hauling anything, beside the sled in the bead few times in the winter. So lightning made sense!! but now??!!!

So there are a lot of different factors here and how that number comes to be.

First, the rated range is NOT at true highway speeds. Kick it up to 75mph and that range will be a lot less, even in perfect weather. Aerodynamic drag is a killer, increasing exponentially (2x the speed = 4x the drag).

Air temp also affects drag, and cold air is far more dense than warm air.

And obviously you have to run the heater, which uses energy.

Plus, you dont run it from 100% down to 0%, so real world usable range is less than measured range.

But charge fully, charge right before leaving (to warm the battery), precondition the cabin while plugged in (from house power), and keep your speed from getting too high and range will be much closer to the rating. However, cold soak overnight then jump in and do 80mph, and yeah range can take a big hit.

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