Upgrading F-150 Lightning Battery Pack [VIDEO]

[25StarWhiteLightning]

This just reinforces how well of a designed truck this really is. Easy to service. Will be a shame if I can't find a pack in 8 years when my warranty expires.

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[PJnc284]

He had a second set of hand helping on mine and I had the truck back in less than three hours.

Guess he was right when he said he could do it in about 3 hours the next time.

 

[OMO7]

Where is he sourcing these batteries? This feels like a no brainer for vehicles out of warranty.

 

[ajbessinger]

Howdy folks! Alex from the video here, happy to answer any questions. I see that Thomas has already chimed in here, haha.

But yeah, about 3 hours of labor for a typical swap (assuming the connectors aren't damaged as they were in this case). Cost of the pack itself is going to vary a bit depending on availability, but I would expect to pay $8-10k for a low mileage pack, and that includes a one year warranty that I provide.

I'm happy to do installs with customer provided packs (as I did for Thomas), but of course, no warranties on customer provided parts...

 

[PJnc284]

Howdy folks! Alex from the video here, happy to answer any questions. I see that Thomas has already chimed in here, haha.

But yeah, about 3 hours of labor for a typical swap (assuming the connectors aren't damaged as they were in this case). Cost of the pack itself is going to vary a bit depending on availability, but I would expect to pay $8-10k for a low mileage pack, and that includes a one year warranty that I provide.

I'm happy to do installs with customer provided packs (as I did for Thomas), but of course, no warranties on customer provided parts...

Now we need a Lightning Limo with dual ER packs.

 

[25StarWhiteLightning]

Now we need a Lightning Limo with dual ER packs.

Can we just install another ER pack in the bed??

 

[Lightning Rod]

Howdy folks! Alex from the video here, happy to answer any questions. I see that Thomas has already chimed in here, haha.

But yeah, about 3 hours of labor for a typical swap (assuming the connectors aren't damaged as they were in this case). Cost of the pack itself is going to vary a bit depending on availability, but I would expect to pay $8-10k for a low mileage pack, and that includes a one year warranty that I provide.

I'm happy to do installs with customer provided packs (as I did for Thomas), but of course, no warranties on customer provided parts...

Well done video, you made it look easy. This gives me hope in the future if I ever decide to do a swap.

Thanks

 

[Maxx]

Howdy folks! Alex from the video here, happy to answer any questions. I see that Thomas has already chimed in here, haha.

But yeah, about 3 hours of labor for a typical swap (assuming the connectors aren't damaged as they were in this case). Cost of the pack itself is going to vary a bit depending on availability, but I would expect to pay $8-10k for a low mileage pack, and that includes a one year warranty that I provide.

I'm happy to do installs with customer provided packs (as I did for Thomas), but of course, no warranties on customer provided parts...

I am not sure if this is in your wheelhouse but I ask anyway since you know about batteries more than I do; by the time my battery is out of warranty, we probably have solid state, or other techs more widely available. Would you say it is doable to swap the pack with those? Too difficult with regards to BMS or other tech limitations? Or feasible to do in 5-6 years if the $/Kwh of the new tech is the same or lower?

I know you don’t have the Christal ball but your guess is better than mine.

and have you had any customers from east coast?

 

[Maxx]

The pack & modules have serial numbers ..... if they don't match the VIN manifest I would expect a denial on warranty claim.

That should not be an issue because I can’t see why anyone would take it to 3rd party for module swap under warranty. However we have had owners that have had modules going bad twice during warranty. I am not sure if it was the same module. Are you saying when they put in a new module, they make sure to update a database somewhere that list the new module for that VIN?

 

[ajbessinger]

I am not sure if this is in your wheelhouse but I ask anyway since you know about batteries more than I do; by the time my battery is out of warranty, we probably have solid state, or other techs more widely available. Would you say it is doable to swap the pack with those? Too difficult with regards to BMS or other tech limitations? Or feasible to do in 5-6 years if the $/Kwh of the new tech is the same or lower?

I know you don’t have the Christal ball but your guess is better than mine.

and have you had any customers from east coast?

Impossible to say... The Lightning seems at first impressions to have a pretty "simple" BMS system, but I don't know the specifics on how sensitive it is to certain things. However if there's a significant chemistry change, then working around BMS limitations could be a real challenge (calculating for discharge curve, LVC, etc.). No matter what, a CAN bridge would almost certainly be needed to do any sort of increased capacity. There are very few aftermarket battery options in general, but they do exist for the Nissan LEAF, BMW i3, and a small handful of other older EVs.

I have had a few customers send cars over from the East Coast, but I am actually planning on relocating to the northern edge of North Carolina here in a few months so I'll actually be out that way soon!

 

[RLXXI]

Did he say he didn’t want to put a new module in a used pack because there will be out of balance? If I heard it right, then how is Ford dealing with warranty issues When replacing these modules?

With this. Costs about 6 grand or so.

 

[TaxmanHog]

That’s probably true about the warranty but in this case the truck was at 143k miles and well out of warranty anyways. It’s amazing this pack is so plug and play. Huge bonus points to Ford engineers on this one. And what a cool step by step video.

That should not be an issue because I can’t see why anyone would take it to 3rd party for module swap under warranty. However we have had owners that have had modules going bad twice during warranty. I am not sure if it was the same module. Are you saying when they put in a new module, they make sure to update a database somewhere that list the new module for that VIN?

My comment was focused on trucks that receive performance update ie. SR to ER conversion, and the model year & mileage age still qualify for warranty work, I speculate without factual proof that the MoCo would not pay for the repairs.

Not certain about logging of replacement module S/N's but I'd think a component this valuable would be tracked.

 

[Mike G]

Wow. I would call that very reasonable.

Officially in the ‘Ridiculously reasonable’ class actually, labor-wise.

 

[Effonefiddy Lightning]

Time for some popcorn.

 

[PJnc284]

I have had a few customers send cars over from the East Coast, but I am actually planning on relocating to the northern edge of North Carolina here in a few months so I'll actually be out that way soon!

That may be the best news I've heard in a long time. Guessing you'll be close to the track? I'm about 90min from there.

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