I’m about to drive Ford’s first-ever all-electric F-150, and I am excited — mostly to see cool hardware and hang out with geeky engineers, but also to drive the thing. Five hundred and eighty horsepower and 775 lb-ft of torque should be epic. I have many questions about this truck, and I’m sure you do, too. So hit me with them in the comments.
The Autopian’s first-ever press trip will involve me flying to Texas to drive the Ford F-150 lightning. It’s going to be cool, though I do have some concerns about what will happen to this website when it’s being 100% run by Jason Torchinsky. I’m just going to preemptively apologize for whatever happens or doesn’t happen tomorrow and Wednesday.
Anyway, let me know what questions you have about the Lightning. Do you have technical questions you’d like answered?
Are you curious about off-road performance? What questions do you have on that front?
What do you want to know about the cabin? Should I ask what this little digital dog’s name is?:
Tell me what’s on your mind re: towing:
Are there things you just MUST know about the F-150 Lightning’s ride quality?
Spill your curiosities in the comments, and I will do my best to satisfy them.
As something of a Ford EV Truck driver myself, I’m curious what improvements they’ve made in the last 22 years, I assume the column shifter still goes to E?(no really the 2000 Ranger EV has E for Economy after D for drive….).
I guess the questions of if they’re looking to implement things like crab walk or tank turn, or a mid-gate like the Silverado will have, or accessories for all the available power like the Rivian gear shuttle items. Maybe solar options for camping/overlanding and what not. Will they offer a more street oriented version like the original Lightning, with a proper single cab short bed layout?
BTW, a million page views, and now manufactures are recognizing Autopian!!!
Congrats guys!
Well, I was going to ask if I could browse the internet while my wife sleeps and a dog keeps watch for vagabonds but their press pictures seem to have addressed that.
David, thanks for asking. I need/want to know:
1) What’s the maximum tire size without a lift and no rubbing?
2) What will be different about lifting the Lightning versus the ICE F-150? What is modding the suspension going to entail?
3) While I’m not at all about bro-dozer lifts, it’s going to happen to this thing. Just a matter of time. How much of a hit will range take from, say, a 3 or 4 inch lift?
4) What’s the range going to realistically look like on relatively slow-speed trails and forest roads?
5) I know the tires play a huge factor, but how well does the traction control system handle slippery slopes? Muddy hillsides and the like.
6) How long could someone power a corded electric chainsaw with the available truck bed outlets? How long for a welder? Could you charge an electric mower in the bed of the truck while driving?
7) What’s the water fording depth like?
8) In what ways is the drivetrain and suspension setup similar or exactly the same as the e-Transit?
9) How many Pro trim level trucks were allocated for the ‘22 model year? (I had a very early reservation and was at the beginning of the second wave of orders, but was told that the Pros were already sold out. I think that maybe they just allowed for a small percentage of the first model year to be Pros, because when I asked Emma Berg about it point blank I got a non-answer in return. So I pushed my reservation to a ‘23 model year truck, because I can’t afford anything beyond the Pro trim level.)
Hope you have a blast. Wish I could be there. Thanks again!
You could run a 2200W electric chainsaw for 44.5 hours on the standard range and 59.5 hours on the extended range.
Nice math skills, sir. Thank you.
Unfortunately those runtimes won’t be nearly long enough for my personal needs.
Could you please do a sick burnout with it? If not could you do a super-sick burnout?
I don’t have any specific questions about the Lightning, but I do have a general EV question. Would a two speed transmission substantially increase range at highway speed? I’m curious since the Taycan’s range at 70 mph beats its advertised range, which is the opposite of most EVs (i.e. a Tesla Model S range at 70 mph is ~20% shorter than its advertised range). If a two (or more) speed transmission actually increases range, why do most EV manufacturers use a single speed transmission?
My biggest frustration about EVs is that highway ranges are often 30% lower than advertised ranges. I only care about range when considering long trips at highway speeds. A 400 mile range at 25 mph is kind of useless if that range drops to 270 at highway speed.
How many whole bodies can you fit in the frunk? Asking for a friend named Barry…
How long does the charge last when towing the max weight during winter, in rush hour traffic?
How far can you back the thing down a boat launch in salt water before ruining the battery and systems?
How the hell do you jump start the thing?
Can you get WJR down in Florida using just the antenna like you could in the 60″s?
Does the Changli fit in the bed?
I, too, am most critically interested in towing range. My scenario is towing a 6,000 pound boat 90 miles each way to the lake. I don’t think it can do it, but would be very pleased to be wrong.
BTW the Autopian vs. Firefox broke Autopian in my news reader 🙁 (Newsblur). Now, I can only use it when I have time and screen to open the browser and find the article I’m interested in.
Does it feel like a “real truck” or an EV masquerading as a truck?
Torch wants to know how many compartments can hold a body, and if it’s possible to escape if locked inside those compartments.
Does it do totally mean ass burnouts?
How many Davids fit in the frunk?
Which part of Texas are you coming to?
Firstly have fun but stay safe.
In order of most likely to least likely to happen/be answered questions for the Ford employees there:
How do you open the Frunk when you have a dead 12 volt battery? (which can easily happen in very cold weather)
Will there be a Manual Frunk latch option?
When will it get a 3 seat front row? (which is an option for basically every other F-150 in production)
When will it get a 6.5ft Pickup Bed? (which is an option for 5 different models of Super Crew ICE F-150s currently)
When will we see single cab and extended cab Lightning variants?
How will you guys stop massive dealer markups and dealers taking people’s orders and holding them for a dealer markup ransom?
AWD e-Transit?
Questions for you:
How much do you feel the weight in corners (especially in the snow and ice)?
Does it come with a factory car jack?
Manual seats?
Manual Locks?
Manual Mirrors?
How trash is the infotainment system?
Ford has been mentioning the Lightning can output power to your home during outages. Will that happen directly through a specialized breaker panel (ie: solar ready panel that can accept grid-tie vs solar panel and switch as needed). Or Will it require a combination of the 80A Ford Charge Station Pro and specialized breaker panel?
Is the current Fast DC charging rate limited to 150kW even though Electrify America stations can handle up to 350kW?
Apologies, I realized after submission, “bearddevil” already asked about V2G power.
I’ll echo the questions about towing & range. I’m also curious about how regenerative braking integrates with towing, and if it is capable of more “engine braking” than the combustion counterparts. I’d also like to know if max regen braking power changes with battery state of charge.
For offroad driving, I’d like to know actual power splits across wheels when in limited traction events, and if it differs significantly in performance from the combustion counterparts (a combustion 4×4 with lockers all around could send full engine power to one wheel. A multi-motor electric vehicle may be limited by powertrain layout.).
Like others, I’m pretty interested in real world towing. Having had a Volt for 5 years, I pretty much know what the answer is. My Ram will get about 21-22mpg on the interstate at 65mph. Towing our 23′ Airstream, I get around 11-12mpg. So I expect about half the range when towing. It will probably do much better than that with the regen to pull a trailer around town, but for interstate travel, I would expect the range to be around half. It shocks me with the number of people who want to get these to tow a camper.
I’d buy a PHEV truck in a heartbeat, but not a full electric. I think the full electric is perfect for someone who is not doing long distances with towing, but I don’t think long distance towing is the right application. The other key thing that people won’t understand if they haven’t had an EV before, is that charging stations are not set up for cars with trailers. There’s a good chance you are going to have to drop your trailer and disconnect every time you want to charge up.
The rumor is that RAM is doing an electric truck with a gas range extender. This is what I’m waiting for. I don’t even need a huge electric only range. Put 50-60 miles of battery in it, and I’d only be using gas on long trips.
I also would like a PHEV truck, but so far, most PHEVs have been kind of a joke. I want the majority of my in-town driving to be EV only. My daily driving needs are about 40 miles, so a 10-15 mile EV only range doesn’t cut it. If Ford came out with a PHEV Lightning with a 40 mile range, I’d absolutely buy it. I currently drive a Leaf in-town and use an F250 for longer trips and towing; it would be nice to be able to trade both in for a single PHEV truck. PHEVs seem like almost the ideal way to transition from fossil fuel to electricity; I’m surprised they haven’t caught on.
I think PHEV is the best way to go. A 150ish mile electric range and a small gas powered generator would be great. Ideally, you could set when the generator kicks on. If you know you will be close to home, let the battery get to 20% before starting the generator. If it’s going to be a longer trip or when towing, have the generator come on at 50-60% charge to keep the batteries at a good state. Maybe when accelerating, you would use more capacity than the generator is making but then when coasting or stopped, the generator would really fill it back up.
I like the idea of allowing the battery to run lower in some situations. You could add a button to the dashboard that prevents the engine/generator from coming on before reaching the 20% state of charge. If you don’t push the button, the generator maintains the battery between 40 and 60. That seems like the easiest solution.
I’m curious how the Volt was programmed to charge the battery (i.e. at what point did the generator come on, and at what state of charge did the generator maintain that battery).
For the Volt, from 2013 and up, there was a “Hold” button where you could force the engine to run at any time and it would keep the battery held at the current level. From 2011-on, there was a “Mountain Mode” which would maintain or charge the batteries to about 1/3 of capacity to give the engine more power to climb large inclines. You were supposed to engage mountain mode about 10 minutes before the mountain, so you could build up enough reserve. This was because the gas engine would only put out about 66kw, but the battery could provide about 100kw. There was always some capacity in the battery for short bursts of power assistance, but for a long period, like a mountain, you needed more battery reserve. There was also “Sport” which did nothing but remap the pedal so the first part of the pedal had a faster response (seemed faster, except you had the same peak acceleration… you just got there with less pedal pressure). The Volt was a really well engineered car.
As the family car recommendation sounding board that is too often ignored I would like to see you get one as a presser during the middle of a harsh winter week in Troy. My family are all still tied to ICE but some forward thinking ones have begun asking me about electric vehicles for their next ones. They all think a Tesla would be great in socal but how they would fair in a Cleveland winter is another story entirely.
I’m curious how the power generator that will supposedly run your house for a given number of hours work. What size house for how long with what running? What does the ride feel like with the low center of gravity compared to a normal f150? Then there is the obvious: How much towing affects the range. I know it will vary depending on the weight, but some approximate numbers would be nice.
I was about to skip over this, as I’m interested in reading the report but as a not-a-truck-person I don’t have much in the way of good questions to ask.
But! Your first press trip for Autopian! What was that like getting that set up as a new publication – did you lean on your prior credentials, or on your own massive success in your first month?
How powerful is the Tracy jinx? (kidding, kidding)
Okay, I’m really most interested in cold-weather performance, but that doesn’t seem likely on a May trial. Contingency: how does it handle on rough roads (potholes, dirt roads, rumble strips)? How quiet is sound dampening from outside the cab?
I’d really like to know how towing effects this thing. I get half of my mileage on my ’21 Powerboost when towing; should we expect the same here? Also, how many of the “standard” F150 tow toys are available in the lightning?
Can I come?
How much upgradedable is this thing? I mean, it would be possible to upgrade suspension parts without messing/affecting/destroying with the electrical powertrain?
How badly does towing affect range? Say with a 25 foot bunkhouse camper and a 15 foot popup.
Where is the charging port? And is head-in or rear-in better for charging?