My First 60 Days - Lightning Owner's Review

[obxckw]

It’s been about 60 days since I got my 2023 Lightning Platinum. While I think I’ve broken it well enough, I’m still learning. If any of you have a different opinion or found something great or annoying that I missed something, please pile on. In no particular order...

Overall – There are some things Ford needs to improve, but I can see why these Lightnings are so high in demand. This is my 3rd F-150, and I love it. Ford hit a home run by keeping the purists happy.

Buying Experience – It could’ve been better. I learned about a few features that were removed when I got my sticker (before I got the truck). It didn’t change my mind, but considering what I paid, I’d expect to be informed throughout the process itself.

Seats – The seats are comfortable, but they could be a lot more comfortable if they offered more leg support. Ford removed the “multicontour seats” option, so am not sure if this has anything to do with it, but I’d like the seats to come up to the back of my knees.

Wheels/Tires – I thought I’d hate the 22” wheels/tires combination and had spent time looking at alternatives thinking I’d swap them out. However, I like them- they’re not for everyone, but I was surprised at how beefy they look. I might get new ones at some point, but not for awhile.

Ford Pro Charger – it shipped to my house 2-3 weeks after I purchased my Lightning. At first, I thought it would be a must-have. My initial thought was to skip the whole house/truck generator thing and just do fast(er) charging since it’s capable of 60amps. But, now I’m not sure why I’d bother. If I install it, I won’t be able to charge non-Ford vehicles. I use a Level 2 3rd party charger and it works just fine, a bit better than the Ford mobile charger that comes with the truck.

Range Anxiety – I made my first long trip and stared down the barrel of my range anxiety. Everyone goes through it but unfortunately, my worst fears came to light. I traveled from Raleigh to Boone to Asheville and needed to juice up in Boone. Boone only has ONE fast charger available via ChargePoint. I planned on arriving with about 100 miles left, but the mountains took it’s toll and I arrived with ~40 miles remaining. I had to wait 30 mins for another EV driver to finish. I then plugged in tried to initiate the charge. I kept getting a hard error that indicated something was wrong with the truck. I called Ford Customer Support and they were not helpful- they put me on hold and didn’t have an answer saying that it should work. After sitting there for about an hour on hold and trying everything, I tried something different. Unlike Electrify America, ChargePoint makes you pay FIRST, then plug in. I should’ve realized that but that’s a mistake I won’t make again. Dah! Once I got the sequence right, I was fine.

Another thing about range. Range is worth stressing over for trips greater than 200+ miles in my opinion. Also, think about the terrain- I probably lost 20% going through the mountains but the Ford App/trip planner doesn’t seem to account for that so I didn’t technically have to stop to recharge. On my next trip, though, I’ll plan it differently and will manually insert Fast Chargers into my planned trip. Unless I’m missing it, you can’t ask Ford to ensure you have a minimum charge when you arrive. Does anyone know a fix to this?

After my long trip, my expected full charge range was not good- maybe 240 miles vs a normal 300+ previously. That’s because my prior trips where not great going through the mountains. A simple charge reset (in the vehicle) fixes that.

Charging – If you’re an F150 and/or an EV lover and think you can just buy a Lightning and not learn about the characteristics of range vs power, perhaps you should reconsider. I’ve long known I wanted this truck but underestimated the fact that I should learn about different charging capacities. You don’t need to be an electrician, but take time to watch a YouTube video or two on the characteristics of different charging levels, adapters, etc.. After all this, you might want to take some of this forum’s advice on building up a small bag of connectors, EV cables and the such so you can be more prepared for the longer trips.

Apple Connect – this may be a bug, not sure. I like to use Ford’s navigation for long distance travel since it connects with the FordPass app and helps with planning for charging stations. However, I like to use Apple Connect/Spotify for music. If you’re using Ford navigation and get a text, it automatically switches to the Apple Connect screen. That doesn’t sound like a big deal, however, my wife gets a ton of texts and it kept popping over to Apple Connect vs keeping us on Ford’s navigation page. It’s annoying. If you know of a fix, please advise.

Software – I’ve previously owned a Porsche Taycan and while I loved the driving experience, the software was buggy- so bad that I sold it a couple of months after purchasing it. Ford seems to be solid so far. I did have one issue where the dash wouldn’t come on but after turning it off and back on after 10 mins, it reset itself. I’ve not had any issue since.

My Wife – I thought this truck would be MY primary vehicle. My wife loves it so much, that it’s become HER primary vehicle as well. Oh well- maybe we’ll get a 2nd?



Thoughts/Comments ?

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[Oafy44]

It’s been about 60 days since I got my 2023 Lightning Platinum. While I think I’ve broken it well enough, I’m still learning. If any of you have a different opinion or found something great or annoying that I missed something, please pile on. In no particular order...

Overall – There are some things Ford needs to improve, but I can see why these Lightnings are so high in demand. This is my 3rd F-150, and I love it. Ford hit a home run by keeping the purists happy.

Buying Experience – It could’ve been better. I learned about a few features that were removed when I got my sticker (before I got the truck). It didn’t change my mind, but considering what I paid, I’d expect to be informed throughout the process itself.

Seats – The seats are comfortable, but they could be a lot more comfortable if they offered more leg support. Ford removed the “multicontour seats” option, so am not sure if this has anything to do with it, but I’d like the seats to come up to the back of my knees.

Wheels/Tires – I thought I’d hate the 22” wheels/tires combination and had spent time looking at alternatives thinking I’d swap them out. However, I like them- they’re not for everyone, but I was surprised at how beefy they look. I might get new ones at some point, but not for awhile.

Ford Pro Charger – it shipped to my house 2-3 weeks after I purchased my Lightning. At first, I thought it would be a must-have. My initial thought was to skip the whole house/truck generator thing and just do fast(er) charging since it’s capable of 60amps. But, now I’m not sure why I’d bother. If I install it, I won’t be able to charge non-Ford vehicles. I use a Level 2 3rd party charger and it works just fine, a bit better than the Ford mobile charger that comes with the truck.

Range Anxiety – I made my first long trip and stared down the barrel of my range anxiety. Everyone goes through it but unfortunately, my worst fears came to light. I traveled from Raleigh to Boone to Asheville and needed to juice up in Boone. Boone only has ONE fast charger available via ChargePoint. I planned on arriving with about 100 miles left, but the mountains took it’s toll and I arrived with ~40 miles remaining. I had to wait 30 mins for another EV driver to finish. I then plugged in tried to initiate the charge. I kept getting a hard error that indicated something was wrong with the truck. I called Ford Customer Support and they were not helpful- they put me on hold and didn’t have an answer saying that it should work. After sitting there for about an hour on hold and trying everything, I tried something different. Unlike Electrify America, ChargePoint makes you pay FIRST, then plug in. I should’ve realized that but that’s a mistake I won’t make again. Dah! Once I got the sequence right, I was fine.

Another thing about range. Range is worth stressing over for trips greater than 200+ miles in my opinion. Also, think about the terrain- I probably lost 20% going through the mountains but the Ford App/trip planner doesn’t seem to account for that so I didn’t technically have to stop to recharge. On my next trip, though, I’ll plan it differently and will manually insert Fast Chargers into my planned trip. Unless I’m missing it, you can’t ask Ford to ensure you have a minimum charge when you arrive. Does anyone know a fix to this?

After my long trip, my expected full charge range was not good- maybe 240 miles vs a normal 300+ previously. That’s because my prior trips where not great going through the mountains. A simple charge reset (in the vehicle) fixes that.

Charging – If you’re an F150 and/or an EV lover and think you can just buy a Lightning and not learn about the characteristics of range vs power, perhaps you should reconsider. I’ve long known I wanted this truck but underestimated the fact that I should learn about different charging capacities. You don’t need to be an electrician, but take time to watch a YouTube video or two on the characteristics of different charging levels, adapters, etc.. After all this, you might want to take some of this forum’s advice on building up a small bag of connectors, EV cables and the such so you can be more prepared for the longer trips.

Apple Connect – this may be a bug, not sure. I like to use Ford’s navigation for long distance travel since it connects with the FordPass app and helps with planning for charging stations. However, I like to use Apple Connect/Spotify for music. If you’re using Ford navigation and get a text, it automatically switches to the Apple Connect screen. That doesn’t sound like a big deal, however, my wife gets a ton of texts and it kept popping over to Apple Connect vs keeping us on Ford’s navigation page. It’s annoying. If you know of a fix, please advise.

Software – I’ve previously owned a Porsche Taycan and while I loved the driving experience, the software was buggy- so bad that I sold it a couple of months after purchasing it. Ford seems to be solid so far. I did have one issue where the dash wouldn’t come on but after turning it off and back on after 10 mins, it reset itself. I’ve not had any issue since.

My Wife – I thought this truck would be MY primary vehicle. My wife loves it so much, that it’s become HER primary vehicle as well. Oh well- maybe we’ll get a 2nd?



Thoughts/Comments ?

I tend to agree with you on software. I’ve had the FordPass App for 5 years or so and now that I got the lightning and use it for Paak , it seems even more responsive. Almost wonder why I can’t use paak for my super duty. It obviously lets me remote start/stop ect. But the Paak for the lightning was a nice addition

I know what you are talking about with the ford pro charger. Thought it would be a must and will eventually install at my shop but at home I think a 48 amp will be perfectly fine. Plus I live 1 mile from my citys power company and they have a nice ChargePoint that is free . It’s running around 55-62kwh so if I need a huge boost I just go over there for free.

Apple car play- seems like the CarPlay chose your wife’s phone? - you can change it to your phone then silence text so that it doesn’t interfere with your navigation and you would get calls but not bothered by text. Or she can silence her text through the settings menu I believe if you want to keep her phone onApple CarPlay and not yours.

My wife as well has pretty much stolen the car- she has a Yukon Denali and rather drive the lightning now. We have a Rivian SUV on order but that could be another year and honestly if an expedition Ev came out in an other year I would probably buy that over the Rivian

what’s going to be interesting is how GM and Ram is going to set up their ford like fordpass app.
The gms use on star connections and we just got a ram 4500 work truck chassis 6 months ago and they want everything run through Sirius Xm.

seems to me ford is going to be way ahead of the game before these others catch up and when they do ford will be 3 years into the lightning and just keep improving on top of what they have done.

I do have range anxiety but I also have been driving it just as we started to get this cold weather and over all not too bad. My super duty even dropped 20 miles in range after I took it for a 4 mile loop yesterday to keep the fuel flowing.

anyone who is on the fence right now about ordering / purchasing their lightning now with rates and prices going up- if you can afford it and won’t put you in a bind , I would do it. First time EV owner and my dad has had a Tesla for 4 years so I’m kind of aware aboutEVs in general….. it’s an amazing truck. I took him for a ride in it and thinks ford did a great job on it. Vary rarely can you get the performance of a raptor (on road- with suspension ect- obviously not off-road ) or sports car- and the utility of a truck, and the storage of an Suv. I was really on the fence about completing my purchase but did anyway and am glad I did. I may never go back to an ICE vehicle unless something major happens. I’m not one of those green energy guys (not against it either) but I do enjoy and love performance /technology and I think the lightning has that. And in 2 years I know the lightning will be even better and range will eventually not even be a consideration.
My lariat seats are fine and comfortable. Feel relatively the same as my super duty king ranch seats, but think the king ranch seats have a thicker / plusher leather then my lariat Ev. Either way it’s still comfortable enough for me. I have had multi contour seats in two super duty’s and used them only a handful of times but I’m still bumbed about my heated steering wheel delete. The steering wheel is thicker/more comfortable than my heated super duty wheel so it’s not the worst.
Also the climate control of the lightning cabin is amazing compared to my ice vehicles . It’s instantaneous how comfortable it can get everything is hardly any time vs my super duty.

 

[rdr854]

I finally got my charge station pro installed after having my truck for 4 months (first one was broken). While I enjoy the free charging at the local Ford dealership and the County government center, I am able to top off quickly at home (and spend time with her at home rather than being elsewhere - which makes her happy). I have my charger set for 80 amps. While I do not have a precondition schedule set, I have been leaving the truck plugged in due to the extremely cold weather.

I try to keep my truck charged between 70 and 80 percent and have done a road trip from Washington, DC to Roanoke, VA down I-81. I made stops in Manassas for a quick too off and then in Woodstock at an EA station. From there, I was able to make it to Roanoke with 30% remaining. I found an EV Go DC Fast Charge at a Sheetz station, which really was not that fast - but that is what was available. For the return, it was rinse and repeat with stops in Woodstock and Manassas and only charging up to 80%. So far, my average usage in 4200 miles is 2.7 miles per kilowatt hour.

I have the Lariat trim with the extended range battery. While my seats are not the Platnum seats, they are comfortable nonetheless. I have had some fit and finish warranty issues, but no worse than the 2019 Suburban that it replaced - which btw was a very nice truck.

 

[MillieChliette]

I did have one issue where the dash wouldn’t come on but after turning it off and back on after 10 mins, it reset itself. I’ve not had any issue since.

If it happens again, you can hold (I think) the volume down and seek forward buttons on the steering wheel for (again, I think) 10 seconds to reset sync. It'll pop right back up.

It's whichever buttons are on the bottom and far right + far left.

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