POLL: trade your frunk for a generator?

[Landscaper]

I've never used the frunk once, but a gas generator would be a great thing to have.

Based on your name and profile you don’t even have a Lightning so of course you’ve never used it.

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[ctuan13]

I could live without the Frunk.

I wonder if they could squeeze a small ICE/DC-GEN in the transmission hump section, while moving the thermal management systems elsewhere under the chassis? This could preserve all or some of the Frunk capacity!!

Thats what I was saying, that transmission tunnel housing space is not insignificant. There's definitely space there for an engine. Now what size engine, I'm not sure.

 

[Jseis]

Keeping the frunk. I’d take another 10-15 kWh battery that fits in the frunk! That’s another 24-35 miles.

Possibly push my 335 mile summer range =359-370 miles.

 

[Cvh8601]

Keeping the frunk. I’d take another 10-15 kWh battery that fits in the frunk! That’s another 24-35 miles.

Possibly push my 335 mile summer range =359-370 miles.

At the size of the lightning battery, we’d probably be better served by some efficiency gains than more battery. Another 0.5mi/kWh (~+25%) would add 80 mi epa range, more or less.

Tesla managed some monster efficiency gains between generations, if Ford could learn how that was done that would be a big win.

 

[Landscaper]

At the size of the lightning battery, we’d probably be better served by some efficiency gains than more battery. Another 0.5mi/kWh (~+25%) would add 80 mi epa range, more or less.

Tesla managed some monster efficiency gains between generations, if Ford could learn how that was done that would be a big win.

Yes. Silverado sales already pretty much proved that just adding more batteries doesn’t result in better sales

 

[Jseis]

At the size of the lightning battery, we’d probably be better served by some efficiency gains than more battery. Another 0.5mi/kWh (~+25%) would add 80 mi epa range, more or less.

Tesla managed some monster efficiency gains between generations, if Ford could learn how that was done that would be a big win.

I can dream. I do pretty well averaging 2.38 lifetime. Getting to 2.5 takes slower speed (say 45-47 mph), warm days (above 58-60 degrees), tires at 48 psi, calm weather. I can average 2.5 late April through early October. I’ve been stuck occasionally in rush hour traffic coming west from I-90 to Federal Way/south to JBLM… great kWh/mile as traffic crawls at 15-25 mph!

Now that I think about it, portable battery pack(s) might really be useful for multi site work (drop off a pack, relocate truck to another site.

Truck could certainly be more aero.

 

[Newton]

The Frunk is a pretty important part of the experience of the Lightning because it gives you more weather-tight space to store things. My single cab long bed T-100 is great for carrying dirt but even with a canopy, the back fills up with water (and is dirty) so you don't want to carry nice stuff back there. You really notice the lack of space to put things that can't get wet, like luggage.

However, the frunk is nowhere near as important as not having to deal with a toxic, explosive, and smelly liquid whose price skyrockets when somebody decides to go to war in the Middle East. If you ever have done your own oil or fuel filter changes, you really appreciate the "no oil change" thing a lot more. Tomorrow I'm probably changing oil and fuel filters on a big diesel that I own and I'm not looking forward to it, before I had an EV it was just part of life but now I wonder...

 

[Newton]

Yes. Silverado sales already pretty much proved that just adding more batteries doesn’t result in better sales

Or perhaps that range isn't the issue when the MSRP is north of $80,000. I don't think that adding a motor to a truck that already has a battery the size of my (perfectly adequate) standard range Lightning is going to make it any cheaper. Let's face it, the "pandemic free money and six figure tech jobs for doing nothing" era is coming to a close. It is being replaced by the "Systems designed by confidently incorrect AI agents while humans starve" era.

 

[RLXXI]

Give up my frunk?

 

[VAF84]

Yes. Silverado sales already pretty much proved that just adding more batteries doesn’t result in better sales

That doesn't mean those sales weren't taken from Ford. I'm a perfect case of this, as I got out of my Lightning and into a Sierra EV primarily for range; and others who participate in the Silverado EV forum have said the same. I found 440mi of range with super fast charging speeds to be ideal to tackle a variety of truck tasks.

Silverado/Sierra EV sales have been gaining on Ford. Personally I lump the two together, they're basically the same. Further, they just recently added mid-trims and more variety of entry level trims that haven't begun affecting their sales numbers yet. I guess since Ford has left the scene, we'll never really know how it would have played out.

Discount the range concerns at your own peril. After having the Lightning and the Sierra, there's many people that I work with to whom I would not recommend the Lightning strictly because of the range. Great commuter, in-town car. IMO big trade-off for anyone who can't plug in at night, or needs to tow well beyond the city limits. Otherwise the LER is great, and I wouldn't touch an EREV with a ten foot pole.

Oh, and no, I wouldn't give up the frunk in a truck (maybe a car). I'd rather go back to gas, but don't have to as Ford has competitors who offer them.

 

[Landscaper]

That doesn't mean those sales weren't taken from Ford. I'm a perfect case of this, as I got out of my Lightning and into a Sierra EV primarily for range; and others who participate in the Silverado EV forum have said the same. I found 440mi of range with super fast charging speeds to be ideal to tackle a variety of truck tasks.

Silverado/Sierra EV sales have been gaining on Ford. Personally I lump the two together, they're basically the same. Further, they just recently added mid-trims and more variety of entry level trims that haven't begun affecting their sales numbers yet. I guess since Ford has left the scene, we'll never really know how it would have played out.

Discount the range concerns at your own peril. After having the Lightning and the Sierra, there's many people that I work with to whom I would not recommend the Lightning strictly because of the range. Great commuter, in-town car. IMO big trade-off for anyone who can't plug in at night, or needs to tow well beyond the city limits. Otherwise the LER is great, and I wouldn't touch an EREV with a ten foot pole.

Oh, and no, I wouldn't give up the frunk in a truck (maybe a car). I'd rather go back to gas, but don't have to as Ford has competitors who offer them.

That’s great. Enjoy it. It’s on borrowed time too

 

[Quibbs]

I can dream. I do pretty well averaging 2.38 lifetime. Getting to 2.5 takes slower speed (say 45-47 mph), warm days (above 58-60 degrees), tires at 48 psi, calm weather. I can average 2.5 late April through early October. I’ve been stuck occasionally in rush hour traffic coming west from I-90 to Federal Way/south to JBLM… great kWh/mile as traffic crawls at 15-25 mph!

Now that I think about it, portable battery pack(s) might really be useful for multi site work (drop off a pack, relocate truck to another site.

Truck could certainly be more aero.

Yes. Silverado sales already pretty much proved that just adding more batteries doesn’t result in better sales

Well to be fair, the price to get into a 200+ kwh battery was close to 100k...now you can get one in the upper 80s-90k. That obviously limits sales.

 

[Wattsgas]

Edison Pickup Kit | Edison Motors

 

[Newton]

Life with an EREV might not be what we are imagining it to be. This is a review of Ford's new EREV Bronco in China ($32K with a 750 mile claimed range) - which although it looks like a Bronco is actually made by the Chinese company that will own Ford in the future:

Zhou’s time with the Bronco EREV did include some off-road bits. Zhou was a little less positive on that front, partially because his time started with the battery at a low state of charge. This meant the Bronco’s engine was constantly on, trying to keep the battery topped up and the vehicle moving. Thus, the Bronco EREV's output is limited to however fast it can sustain the car’s demand for electric power. And a 150-horsepower engine just can’t give all that much power to the car’s 415-horsepower twin electric motor setup.

Zhou also felt let down by the Bronco EREV's refinement when driving on regular roads. In EV mode the crossover is generally good, but in range extended mode, the noise, vibration and harshness is a lot more pronounced than other models.

“If you’ve been exposed to cars like the Li Auto range extended SUVs…I consider them world-class and unbeatable, but this [Bronco EREV] is a significant distance from that,” he said.

In my standalone comment on this I rated against the journalist because the EREV is not "topping up" the batteries, it is just trying to keep up with the load from the motors and doing nothing for the batteries -- and the 150 horsepower on the engine greatly overestimates the amount of power that that engine can produce when hooked up to an alternator.

So EREV life from Ford appears to be that you will only get truck performance for 105 miles, and after that your truck turns into an economy car. This would not be a good thing to discover in the middle of Washington Pass while you are pulling the 30-foot airstream that people from the flatlands imagine they can tow with an F-150.

Meanwhile, a vehicle like the Silverado gives you 460 miles at full performance almost to the point that the thing stops moving, which is how we expect our trucks to work.

 

[Henry Ford]

No frunking way!

What the frunk are you talking about!

We want the frunk, gotta have that frunk!

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