Ford F-150 Lightning

[LordMortis]

If I had the money, I'd love a smaller version, like an F-050 Lightning...

[Zaxxon]

If I had the money, I'd love a smaller version, like an F-050 Lightning...

Or a Ranger Spark.

[LordMortis]

If I had the money, I'd love a smaller version, like an F-050 Lightning...

Or a Ranger Spark.

If they make a Ranger with the perks of lightning and the toughness of a 150... at a price I could afford... I'd be interested. Even better, a small Bronco.

[Carpet_pissr]

(they're not made for comfort)

Have you ridden in or driven a premium truck lately?

My Dad buys a new F-150 about every 3 years, and gets the top trim. It's insanely (and absurdly IMO) luxe - both the trim quality and bells and whistles (heated AND cooled seats FFS), and ride quality as well. You can easily, comfortably ride in his trucks for hundreds of miles, very much in comfort. Still built on a truck frame of course, and everything that comes with that, but they have refined the ride amazingly well. Hell, my first impression when he started buying these about 10 years ago, was "they've ripped the heart out of these trucks". One could easily assume they designed these for comfort and bells and whistles first, and TRUCK, second.

These are not your Dad's 80's Silverados.

[pr0ner]

(they're not made for comfort)

Have you ridden in or driven a premium truck lately?

My Dad buys a news F-150 about every 3 years, and gets the top trim. It's insanely (and absurdly IMO) luxe - both the trim quality and bells and whistles (heated AND cooled seats FFS), and ride quality as well. You can easily, comfortably ride in his trucks for hundreds of miles, very much in comfort. Still built on a truck frame of course, and everything that comes with that, but they have refined the ride amazingly well. Hell, my first impression when he started buying these about 10 years ago, was "they've ripped the heart out of these trucks". One could easily assume they designed these for comfort and bells and whistles first, and TRUCK, second.

These are not your Dad's 80's Silverados.

A friend of my dad's has a top of the line Ford truck. That thing is super comfortable and luxurious inside, and it easily sits four adults.

[FishPants]

I've had an F150 as a family vehicle (super crew) for about 8+ years.. maybe even longer, and our current lease is up next year. I wonder if they can bridge it until the Lightning is available (i.e. lease a lightning, but with the for sure long delivery time bridge this one over). Or maybe I just buy this one out and wait, my company just got bought out by another which is a super eco-focused org -- I get Xplan and apparently some sweet discounts on any vehicle that's "green"... Hope the lightning counts!

[LordMortis]

As far as I know, no dealerships around here (aka in and around Detroit) are honoring employee discounts. They are charging above sticker for everything for everyone. Lots are still largely barren and used cars are also still very expensive. Pricing could have changed in the last the few weeks but I drive by lots every day and those lots remain sparse.

Latest google could find me but it's still three weeks old

https://www.carsdirect.com/automotive-n ... d-shortage

The report claims that more than 45% of new vehicles that arrive at dealerships will only sit on the lot for 10 days before being sold.

The average transaction price in July hit an all-time high of $41,044. Compared to July 2020, new vehicles prices are 17% higher.

Car shoppers do have a way to make the process a little more straightforward. Vehicle orders, which are a way for consumers to place an order for a new vehicle straight from the factory with everything they want, has started to gain traction. Once an official order is placed, the automaker may take roughly 2 to 3 months to fill the order and ship it to a local dealer. Some dealers may request a deposit on a new vehicle order, but there may be incentives available for doing so.

[stessier]

For the Mach E, we got x-plan pricing when we ordered the first week of August. Other people had trouble finding a dealership without ADM and there was a Ford Exec on Twitter you could contact to help find one without the added cost (or he'd convince a dealership to order without it). Said it was to prevent turning off people to their electric plans. I assume they would have the same expectations for the Lightening.

[Zaxxon]

[Isgrimnur]

That will be one hell of a beta test.

[Isgrimnur]

Electrive

Ford is to have doubled production targets for the electric version of its F-150 pickup truck ahead of the market launch in spring 2022. According to a news report, the second-largest US carmaker is now aiming for annual production of more than 80,000 vehicles in 2024.

Referring to information from insiders, Reuters writes that the increased production targets are quite simply due to the strong demand for the electric model – especially from commercial customers. According to the news agency, the new production targets for the coming years are as follows: Ford aims to produce 15,000 units of the F-150 Lightning in 2022, a total of 55,000 in 2023 and the aforementioned 80,000 in 2024. Until numbers were increased, the production of only 40,000 electric pickups was planned for 2024.
...
In addition, the unnamed sources told Reuters that following the market launch of the second generation of the Ford F-150 Lightning at the end of 2025, the target for annual production is to rise again just under 160,000 units. This second generation is expected to be the first pickup on Ford’s new TE1 platform.

[Zaxxon]

Yes. Definite yes.

[Kasey Chang]

Most commercial pickup trucks spend the night at "homebase" anyway. If they can build up the recharge stations at homebase then they can save a LOT on gas (or diesel). So, no, not surprised at all. Most trucks don't go very far to work so range is usually not a problem. I can see Ford Transit cargo vans taking over delivery routes and get recharged at night.

[Zaxxon]

This is cool - Ford demonstrates charging another EV from the Lightning at 7 kW.

[Carpet_pissr]

Most commercial pickup trucks spend the night at "homebase" anyway. If they can build up the recharge stations at homebase then they can save a LOT on gas (or diesel). So, no, not surprised at all. Most trucks don't go very far to work so range is usually not a problem. I can see Ford Transit cargo vans taking over delivery routes and get recharged at night.

I'm still shocked/not shocked that the USPS didn't or hasn't pivoted to at least hybrid vehicles, if not fully electric since they have been trying to upgrade the 80's era trucks for 10 years now. The new "jeeps" that are in theory coming out in the next two years are just regular old ICE's.

USPS uses about 200 million gallons of gas a year on their fleet, and the older (and by far most common) mail trucks you see around everywhere get 16MPG (if running well, which they usually aren't in my very limited experience and based on a lot of hearsay from others).

Apparently, according to their own OIG, they have no organizational plan to even consider reducing reliance on petroleum fuels. Nice.

[The Meal]

This is cool - Ford demonstrates charging another EV from the Lightning at 7 kW.

Lots of utility in one’s ability to pull power out of the Lightning. I dig it.

If I was the kind of guy to purchase a pick up new (ewwwww…) it’d be pretty tempting to see the high value EV options come on the market.

[LordMortis]

This is cool - Ford demonstrates charging another EV from the Lightning at 7 kW.

Lots of utility in one’s ability to pull power out of the Lightning. I dig it.

If I was the kind of guy to purchase a pick up new (ewwwww…) it’d be pretty tempting to see the high value EV options come on the market.

If I had the money and the desire/room for a truck, I'd be looking at the Rivian. Of course I don't need the bed nor even the cab of a 150.

[Zaxxon]

Ford doubles Lightning production target.

Still not nearly enough, but as I've been saying, expect more of this as reality sets in.

And again. Still not nearly enough, but as I've been saying, expect more of this as reality sets in.

[Kasey Chang]

Chevy Silverado EV Trail Boss is throwing shade that Ford hadn't made an EV Raptor (yet)>

[stessier]

I really enjoy Out of Spec Reviews and here is his first look at the Lightning.



Edit: I liked the "it can hit triple digits...in kmh....allegedly..."

[The Meal]

Out of Spec convinced me I should road trip to Michigan this summer.

[Zaxxon]

Can't wait until they start making these in volume.

[LordMortis]

Can't wait until they start making these in volume.

I'm sure Ford can't either. First to market and all.

[telcta]

I would love the ability to power my condo in the case of an extended power outage.

Just in the past week we’ve had two outages of more than 4 hours. Last year we had a longer outage and I used the 12 volt auxiliary power socket to run the hot water heater fan (it’s natural gas so the electricity was just for the fan)… and that worked, taking about 30 minutes to provide hot water for us.

To be able to use that for our AC or heat would be so cool (or warm).

[Zaxxon]

Solid interview with Jim Farley and Linda Zhang over at Munro's Youtube channel:

[Zaxxon]

And I can't believe I left Doug Field off that description--formerly Tesla's engineering head through the initial Model 3 launch, now Ford's 'Chief EV Officer.'

[Zaxxon]

Verge review.

[Zaxxon]

Another price hike.

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos- ... 022-10-05/

[Scraper]

The lightning is awesome and i would want one, UNTIL I factor in that I actually use my truck for truck purposes. For instance I'm driving to Erie PA in the morning and I'm towing my boat. This is a 150 mile trip. The Lightning is not capable of making that trip on a full charge. Sure it gets 230+ miles per charge, but once you tow even the lightest load it drops to about 90 miles a charge. Ford and everyone else has to fix the towing problem before electric trucks are viable for peope who actually need trucks.

[Daehawk]

[Scraper]

Yeah i hadn't seen that youtube but take out the political backlash that he got and he's 100% right. Anyone using it to tow things better either not be going far or have a ton of time on their hands to stop and charge every 90 miles.

[LordMortis]

He didn't get the bigger charge battery but that's no excuse for not having a clear communication of the loss of mileage for towing. Ford should know a range of how things work at various weights and communicate that clearly, especially when advertising a tow package of up to 10,000 pounds.

Also when you get to 18:00 or so (and alluded to earlier in the current state of battery technology) in the second video, you get to the meat of my concerns with our current technophilia. The cost of long term maintenance vs disposability and the implications of disposing vs maintaining and reselling. Then what do second hand drivers and young/lower income people and apartment housed people do for automobiles? Hoping those concerns will be somewhat lessened by the time it's time to buy my next car.