Introductions & Welcome Thread 👋

[Doctors Do Little]

I follow the rule of ABC - Always Be Charging. When I get home, unless I plan on leaving again shortly, I plug in.
Now that we have 2 EVs, we flex a little on that since we're sharing the charger, but I have bought a second charger and plan to install it sometime in the next couple of weeks.

GOOGLE:

For a 2023 Ford F-150 Lightning, it's generally recommended to charge the battery to 90% for daily use and up to 100% when you need the full range for a trip. Charging to 90% regularly helps prolong the battery's lifespan. It's also a good practice to plug in your Lightning whenever you're parked at home, especially overnight, to top off the battery.

Here's a more detailed breakdown:

• Daily Charging:
  Plug in your Lightning when you get home, even if the battery isn't completely depleted, and charge it to 90%.
  
  
• Occasional 100% Charging:
  For road trips or when you need the full range, charge to 100%.
  
  
• DC Fast Charging:
  When DC fast charging, it's recommended to stop at 80% to help preserve battery health.
  
  
• Cold Weather:
  In cold temperatures, the vehicle may warm the battery even when plugged in, which can consume energy.
  
  
• Extended Parking:
  If you plan to park your Lightning for an extended period (30 days or more), aim for a 50% state of charge.

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[Tree RX]

While I'm sure that the coasts and more densely populated areas have better charging infrastructure available, we're doing ok here in the Midwest. To be clear, I'm relatively new to EVs. My wife got a Bolt in January, and we love it so much that I just bought a lightning a couple of weeks ago. We've done a few 3-4 hour (each way) trips in her bolt, and she did an 8 hour road trip just last month. There are chargers available, though you do want to plan your long trips with charging in mind. It sort of reminds me of the days when Grandma and Grandpa would plan a long road trip, breaking out the atlas at the kitchen table, choosing the routes to take, where to stop for gas, and so on. Opening ABRP, entering your destination, and choosing charging stops is our modern equivalent.
Could charging infrastructure be better? ABSOLUTELY. But people compare it to gas stations on every corner, and I don't think fast charging ever needs to be that ubiquitous. If you charge at home, you get in the car every morning with a full tank. For daily driving, that's an improvement over having to fill up once a week or whatever. It's only going to matter for longer road trips.

I agree with you on all accounts…Just meant around me I could just “wing it” and look for a charger when the battery starts getting low. I only need to plan charging stops when traveling to more remote areas such as the Adirondacks in NY.

 

[NeighborGeek]

I agree with you on all accounts…Just meant around me I could just “wing it” and look for a charger when the battery starts getting low. I only need to plan charging stops when traveling to more remote areas such as the Adirondacks in NY.

Yeah, I get it. For me, a big part of planning the trip is probably just a comfort level thing. If I were to just wing it and tell the truck to search for a charger when I got to 25-30% left, I think I'd probably be fine for the most part, I'm just not personally ready for that yet. Of course, fast chargers being more common would make getting to that comfort level easier.

 

[hutchman]

Morning! I've been lurking since the purchase of my new Lightning Flash in January of this year, which was my first EV. I am a hard core gearhead so the jump to the Lightning was a stretch for me. I've got 7000 miles on the tgiruck now and really can't find too much to complain about other than Ford Corp issues....more later.

The truck has been almost flawless. I absolutely love the way it drives and handles...best of all the trucks I've owned. It is quiet, smooth, powerful, and very inexpensive to operate. Howver, it does not give me the same rush/feeling that my Hellcats did....nor any of the other real performance cars I have owned. But like I said it has been most nearly flawless and I will probably have an EV DD for the rest of my life.

Over the first 6 months and 7,000 miles since new, it has averaged 2.2 mi/kw. Our electric rate at home is about 8 cents/kw, and I do not DCFC much, results in cost/mile overall of $0.05/mi. It amazes me that we can get this kind of overall performance, comfort, and luxury for such a low cost. For me, with my type of driving and useage, this truck is closed to the perfect vehicle.

My experience with Ford Customer service has not be good however. I purchased the truck on Jan. 16 of this year and it took until the middle of March to get the charger ( I know it's not a "charger," but much easier for me to remember thant the correct acronym) installed. We live in a rural area of NE Oregon, so I expected the install to take a bit. No issues with the install at all...the tech did a clean job, was here early for the apt, and was done in a reasonable amount ot time. By the middle of April, I started haveing issues with the charger faulting and causing a charging error message. This happened constantly when I wouild bring the truck in on a low state of charge, <20% and try to charge back to 80%. They have now agreed to raise my case to a higher level , but they seem to be moving at glacial speed.

Enough whining.... I really love the truck!

Now if it just made the same noises as a TRX makes, and would give me the same economy, it just might be the perfect truck! But.........that is just not going to happen! LOL!

 

[NW Ontario Ford Lightning]

I got my Lightning around the same time line. no issues with the charger - sorry no idea what would be causing your charger to mess up. Hope they fix it for you soon.
I put 12,000 km so far (7500 miles) and legit agree hands down the best truck I have ever owned - even the factory tires in deep snow this truck out did any combination of truck and winter tires, just due to the weight and where that weight sits. I have ordered some winter tires on Rims for swapping fall/spring - interested to see how the Lightning does with actual winter tires on it.

Hope you let us know what they find out about your charger,

 

[BigBearBrian]

That begs a question (for me): Are we best to charge to 80-85% every night, or weekly when the ol batteries get down to 30% or so (home charging and local travel)? I started out recharging daily and now have slacked off to recharging from 11p-6a on Friday night/Sat Morning.

I'm too lazy to AI Google this. What's the right answer?

Well, until I get the fast charger installed, it's Always Be Charging.

Last time I drove was Tuesday, the battery was down to 60% (oh noes!). I decided to use the slow charger to top it up.

It's been on the charger, with the exception of 2-3 hours where I was using power tools on that circuit, since Tuesday evening... and says it's finally up to 99% right now (it would finish that last 1% in about three hours).

 

[NW Ontario Ford Lightning]

I like to charge to 85% overnight (we have very low overnight utility rate) and use whatever I use during the day. Repeat.
I don't normally charge above 85%, unless I have a long hwy trip planned, and even then I time it to just reach the higher SOC at about my departure time, so it's not sitting at high SOC for long periods of time.

The recommendations seem to be -normally operate your battery between 20-80 %, don't leave it at high state of charge for long periods of time (ie while you are away say on a va-ca if you flew) and especially so if the days are hot. If your away for weeks, best to leave the battery close to 50% SOC while idle.

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