USNews and World Report Ranks F150 Lightning as No.1 BEV Pick Up Truck

[rdr854]

USNews and World Report has ranked the 2025 Ford F150 Lightning as the No. 1 battery electric pick up truck.

The link is below.

https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/rankings/electric-pickup-trucks

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[Henry Ford]

The cons listed for the next three lower ranked trucks include no Android Auto or Apple Car Play. I 100% agree with this take.

 

[hturnerfamily]

like Henry Ford's photo, above:

I'm an 'old' '66 Mustang Convertible 6cyl owner, at age 16, then traded up to a '66 Convertible v8 289 4brl 4-on-the-floor model, both in Wimbledon White, and both to impress the 'ladies', of which none were, really... oh well...

and now, over 40 years 'later', having owned the gas version F150 Supercrew back in the early 2000s,
and another 'mid-life crisis' '65 Mustang Convertible v8 289, born on my birthday in 1964, in Cherry Red...

and, then, well, a time when I went rouge to 'Jeep', ordering the brand new 2007 Jeep JK 4-door version,

and then, well, deciding to go full-time diesel pusher Cummins isb6.9L motorhome around the country, and Alaska, and Canada, towing our '14 Ford FIESTA(wow!), and then, well, 'upgrading' to a '14 FOCUS(oh wow!),

and the well, deciding after planting our roots back on solid soil for several '14 Nissan LEAFS, as our first trial entry into the 'EV world', and loving' it... learning that, well, even a 70 mi max range can still be used to 'travel', and that's even BEFORE Tesal options, and, well, dealing with CHadeMO, too...

past a short time with a PHEV '22 Kia Sorento(beautiful car),

to now this AMAZING machine, the '22 LIGHTNING Pro SR, towing our 3,800lb camper around the southeast,

and then topping it off by trading her up to a '24 Kia EV9 PURE electric three-row seater....

fantastic history, when I think back. I'm old. : /

back to the topic: All these electric truck versions are great, in their own ways - trying to 'compare' is always fraught with biases, personal preferences, and sometimes the inability to simply compare apples-to-apples.
We all know that 'which' trim the company provides can be a separate issue, and even how each trim within each model can even have more/less 'options' at the time of order.

As to range, or battery size, after 62,000 miles with just my PRO SR LIGHTNING, alone, and much of those miles towing, I've ...
A)never run out of power
B)never found myself without a place to charge, and, frankly ...
C)with the much increased CHarging INfrastructure locations growth, and with Tesla Superchargers, don't have any range-anxiety or charge-anxiety, either, no matter 'which' battery size vehicle I would own...

I just drive, and go anywhere I wish.

 

[The Weatherman]

Something we here already knew. But it isn’t going to mean squat, if we can’t people to step up and give EV’s a look.

I am convinced that if folks would just take a loaner home for a few days (with a L1 charger) they never look back. Just my opinion, not that of staff and management.

 

[Citizen0]

Something we here already knew. But it isn’t going to mean squat, if we can’t people to step up and give EV’s a look.

I am convinced that if folks would just take a loaner home for a few days (with a L1 charger) they never look back. Just my opinion, not that of staff and management.

I share the same opinion with one addition. Ford needs to mandate dealership staff (sales people, mechanics, etc) actually drive and use them too. Make them live with an EV (Lightning or Mach E) for a month to actually understand these amazing vehicles and all they have to offer. Once they "get it" they will be much more likely to suggest one to a new buyer.

 

[The Weatherman]

I share the same opinion with one addition. Ford needs to mandate dealership staff (sales people, mechanics, etc) actually drive and use them too. Make them live with an EV (Lightning or Mach E) for a month to actually understand these amazing vehicles and all they have to offer. Once they "get it" they will be much more likely to suggest one to a new buyer.

Great idea. I think you are absolutely right.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

I share the same opinion with one addition. Ford needs to mandate dealership staff (sales people, mechanics, etc) actually drive and use them too. Make them live with an EV (Lightning or Mach E) for a month to actually understand these amazing vehicles and all they have to offer. Once they "get it" they will be much more likely to suggest one to a new buyer.

And give salespeople an incentive to sell the Lightning instead of redirecting people to a gassy truck. I’ve known several people who went to buy a Lightning and were talked down to by the salesperson trying to get them into a gas vehicle instead. In the end, they didn’t buy a truck from Ford.

 

[Maxx]

I share the same opinion with one addition. Ford needs to mandate dealership staff (sales people, mechanics, etc) actually drive and use them too. Make them live with an EV (Lightning or Mach E) for a month to actually understand these amazing vehicles and all they have to offer. Once they "get it" they will be much more likely to suggest one to a new buyer.

I have a feeling Ford slapped together some parts to get Lightning out fast to protect its turf until they have the chance to design something better (T3, ….) using feedback they collect from Lightning. They may not want to push Lightning too much not knowing how much the recalls may cost them.

In the meantime, the EV prototypes other manufacturers are putting out makes me really curious what T3 will be like. Especially knowing Farley is looking at everything out there. Look at this Hyundai:

 

[fhteagle]

And give salespeople an incentive to sell the Lightning instead of redirecting people to a gassy truck. I’ve known several people who went to buy a Lightning and were talked down to by the salesperson trying to get them into a gas vehicle instead. In the end, they didn’t buy a truck from Ford.

Dealers are absolutely a problem. My local dealer screwed me over on my original reservation. After promising me I could order at MSRP and no markups, the tried to pull the sell my order to themselves so now it's a used truck with a massive markup swindle. I laughed in his face when the sales guy dropped a 50k over sticker price bomb. Swore off Ford and waited to see how the Cyberturd and GM twins came out. But the Lightning was better equipped for my use case, so I finally bought one used.

Then, when it was in to get a warranty fix on the frunk latch, I was casually looking at a new Flash near the service entrance. Sales person descended on me like a hawk and before even introducing himself said "Oh you don't want one of those, the gas *I stopped listening about this point* are better...". I looked him straight in the face and said "I have a Lightning, you're full of _expletive_, and I'll be happy to let your manager know you've cost them an upgrade sale." The last part was a bit of a fib but I wanted to make sure to make my point.

I've seen less red stop signs than that sales guy's face.

But the point remains. The dealer network, in my experience, has been the biggest reason the demand for Lightnings slacked off so fast. They got greedy when the people with more dollars than sense had to have the new thing, and they haven't caught up with reality since.

Been through the owning a vehicle that's treated like a red headed step child already with the Volt platform. Amazing engineering absolutely fumbled by GM corporate and dealers. At least this time there's the rest of the F150 parts / accessories to draw from.

 

[ka-chow]

Absolutely!! 100%!!!!!

Great idea. I think you are absolutely right.

 

[RLXXI]

I share the same opinion with one addition. Ford needs to mandate dealership staff (sales people, mechanics, etc) actually drive and use them too. Make them live with an EV (Lightning or Mach E) for a month to actually understand these amazing vehicles and all they have to offer. Once they "get it" they will be much more likely to suggest one to a new buyer.

If you're buying, I'm flying, hell yeah I'd ride that machine but who's paying the bill?

 

[Scorpio3d]

I would probably drive the Hummer before the cyber truck, but neither are really “trucks“ I think that’s why the lightning wins is because it’s a truck.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

If I had too much money, I would consider buying an R1T. But there's no other truck worth considering. Any mid-sized BEV pickup will be interesting.

 

[bmwhitetx]

If I had too much money, I would consider buying an R1T. But there's no other truck worth considering. Any mid-sized BEV pickup will be interesting.

Same here. Been looking at the Gen 2 R1T that came out in ‘25. Better cameras and computer, ‘26 added native NACS port. And the LFP for the standard range dual model is intriguing.

 

[Citizen0]

I want to add that the dealership network needs to be incorporated into the EV future we all see and believe in. I'm not exactly sure what that looks like. EV adoption will take much, much longer and buyers will be hurt if there is an adversarial relationship between dealerships and buyers.

I understand some of the fear the dealerships have. They have had the best of both worlds (sales and service) for a century. EVs are likely to interrupt most of the service revenue side of the equation. That's probably more of the income for a dealership than the sales side.

I could see Ford building out their charging network (as originally envisioned) at the dealerships. That would get at least some (though likely very small) revenue flowing into the dealerships. It would give sales people the opportunity to talk new EV technology and "what's coming next" for customers who are charging. What Ford Corporate cannot do is expect the [relatively] small dealership to flip the entire bill on DC fast chargers. The expense is simply too great and the payback period would be too long.

Of course this all hinges on Ford's overall EV plans. I have to say as much as I love my Lightning and my husband loves his Mustang, the fact is that Ford has systematically made the vehicles "worse" by removing features since the first few model years were introduced, especially the DC charging speeds in the truck. I understand why. Ford is losing money on every one of these vehicles because their cost is extraordinary. They introduced a very expensive platform with all the bells and whistles to make the first few model years incredible buys, then started gradually reducing features to try and reduce per-vehicles loses.

The real question is what comes next. There is no upsale for the next EV if there is no next EV. As much as I dislike Chevrolet's lack of CarPlay and Android Auto, they area really knocking it out of the park with the sheer number of models on offer for potential buyers. They are giving people numerous options that Ford just hasn't delivered... yet. I'm very hopeful that will change with the next-gen platform, but the clock is ticking.

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