Sponsored
Deleted member 21405
Guest
Perhaps they cracked the code on resolving that
LiteNing
Active member
Nope! That’s why Volts have “mountain mode”. It sets the engine run target SoC to 50% instead of ~5%. You’ll burn down a couple/few bars of battery if you drive fast up a steep grade (say, the Tejon pass). Try the same thing in normal mode (with a depleted battery) and you’ll hit a speed limit before you hit the speed limit.
Deleted member 21405
Guest
Yeah that’s easy to temporarily get over a tough spot like a mountain. Towing is very different. You’re essentially only on mountain mode the whole time. Maybe they’ll prove me wrong.
Sponsored
Jseis
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2023
- Threads
- 55
- Messages
- 687
- Reaction score
- 1,211
- Location
- Washington
- Vehicles
- July 2021 SR MME, July 2023, Lightning Lariat
- Occupation
- Retired
As I vaguely recall, yes. My 4.6 Sport Trac Adrenalin was a body on frame truck about Maverick sized and it would tow 7500 with an equalizing hitch. I liked the size of the smaller truck.
If Ford won’t produce a full sized BEV, maybe a smaller one? A Maverick sized BEV would be sweet. One that could tow a 20’-22’ boat, 18’-20’ 20 travel trailer.
Might be 10 years before we see a full sized truck BEV (F150 sized).
chriserx
Well-known member
It's apparently 5-10k depending on equipment, I couldn't remember what thread I posted in. I definitely would've considered, and likely chose a Maverick and/or older Ranger sized BEV had one been available.
Cvh8601
Well-known member
Keep in mind that an EREV F-150 will have access to the route planner (read: elevation, weather data, etc).
it should be trivial for the future truck to plan to run the generator at a sufficient clip to keep sufficient battery through whatever the route plan is. Or, telling you if your route plan is not doable with the inputted variables.
that’s an advantage prior EREVs wouldn’t have had one would imagine.
it should be trivial for the future truck to plan to run the generator at a sufficient clip to keep sufficient battery through whatever the route plan is. Or, telling you if your route plan is not doable with the inputted variables.
that’s an advantage prior EREVs wouldn’t have had one would imagine.
Sponsored
Deleted member 21405
Guest
OK
sysop1
Well-known member
Tell me you don’t actually own a Lightning without telling me you don’t own a Lightning.
The current nav absolutely does not do that, and honestly I don’t have much faith Ford could pull it off even if they wanted to. They still haven’t managed to bring back basic stuff the phone app had back in 2022, like zone lighting. Hard to believe advanced route planning is suddenly around the corner when they can’t even restore features they already shipped.
Last edited:
ZeusDriver
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2025
- Threads
- 9
- Messages
- 239
- Reaction score
- 206
- Location
- East Coast, USA
- Vehicles
- 2022 Lightning
There are edge cases (such as needing to tow 14,000 lb over a long distance) and then crazy edge cases (such as hooking up a trailer and having no idea at all where you are going, and failing to check if you have any charge.)
Thinking back to my ultra simple EREV prototype from 15 years ago: It took about 5 seconds at the start of any trip to decide whether to start up the engine or just use the battery alone. While driving, I'd spend about 2 seconds every 5 or 10 minutes deciding whether or not to start up the engine. Even without any automation at all (other than auto-shutdown of the engine if charging reached too high a level) making sure that I did not get to the base of a mountain with a too-low charge, took essentially zero brain power. There was never the case "Once the battery is depleted..."
This would be the equivalent of driving an ICE vehicle, and seeing that fuel is low, with the readout telling you that you have 30 miles range left, and then saying, "it's only 50 miles to home, I'll just drive on without filling up".
Neither of these trucks (the RAM or the Ford) will allow the battery to become "depleted", unless the driver takes aggressive steps to mismanage things.
When I had my Volt, I could loan it to anyone, without every mentioning anything about how it works. They knew, without my having to say a word, that when the gas gauge was low, get gas. The wife of the owner of the dealership was a long term driver of my Volt before I bought it. She never charged it... she just ran it on gas. The 120 v portable charger that came with the car was never used, despite the fact that it could be plugged in anywhere.
Cvh8601
Well-known member
No one would disagree that ford nav leaves something to be desired. Doesn’t change the fact that an EREV could greatly benefit from route planner integration to address many of the issues raised in this thread.
ZeusDriver
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2025
- Threads
- 9
- Messages
- 239
- Reaction score
- 206
- Location
- East Coast, USA
- Vehicles
- 2022 Lightning
I certainly hope not. The last thing I would want Ford software doing is deciding when to re-enable the trailer brakes in an emergency. BTW: I have not had this happen with the Ford, yet, but my Tesla would have disconcertingly weak regen if the battery was topped off (and especially if the temperature was low) It felt like brake failure, and the friction brakes would come into play on even moderate decel. This could add a .1 delay in breaking performance: 9' at 60mph, potentially putting my Tesla 9' into the car in front of me, if they did a panic stop.
Towing brake controllers will modulate the trailer brakes according to the deceleration rate, so in the gentle decel of maintaining speed on a decline, they are not, generally, operating, but if you need them, they kick in instantly. In my controller all this stuff is adjustable -- I don't have the built-in Ford controller.
Sponsored
