Ford Lightning- Build/Living with Thread

I was lucky enough to drive one of these for a few minutes last night. It was pretty damn awesome!

Norma66-Brent said:

In reply to frenchyd : well checking engine oil isn't something you need to do in this truck lol. I'm 6'3" and it feels as high as a normal ice f150

 

My wife is 5'1"  with very limited mobility.  With 1 foot on the running board  it's as high as her knee.  She is also limited by the diabetics and her weight. (68 years old) 

  I'm 5'9" and nearly 75.  I don't have a problem. But my wife  sure does. 
  The truck is a 2016 reg cab 4x4. F150 
     I check oil every fill-up . I know but I'm required to check the oil on my bus daily and I've always been careful about things like that.  
  What I hate is how hard it is to get into the bed.  Lately I've left the trailer hitch on  and use that as my first step the bumper as the second then I raise the leg over the tailgate. 
  I park under apple trees and when they are ripe I'll get several falling in the bed every day.    Rumble rumble thump. Rumble rumble thump. As they roll back and forth. 
    My 1997 Chevy I used to be able to reach over the side and grab them out.   Same basic truck. 

About the tires - if the truck only does regen on one end, it's going to work those tires a lot harder. I learned that one the hard way on our car, turns out the rear tires have to deal not only with the higher power motor but also doing all of the braking if you're one-pedal driving.

frenchyd said:

Norma66-Brent said:

In reply to frenchyd : well checking engine oil isn't something you need to do in this truck lol. I'm 6'3" and it feels as high as a normal ice f150

 

My wife is 5'1"  with very limited mobility.  With 1 foot on the running board  it's as high as her knee.  She is also limited by the diabetics and her weight. (68 years old) 

  I'm 5'9" and nearly 75.  I don't have a problem. But my wife  sure does. 
  The truck is a 2016 reg cab 4x4. F150 
     I check oil every fill-up . I know but I'm required to check the oil on my bus daily and I've always been careful about things like that.  
  What I hate is how hard it is to get into the bed.  Lately I've left the trailer hitch on  and use that as my first step the bumper as the second then I raise the leg over the tailgate. 
  I park under apple trees and when they are ripe I'll get several falling in the bed every day.    Rumble rumble thump. Rumble rumble thump. As they roll back and forth. 
    My 1997 Chevy I used to be able to reach over the side and grab them out.   Same basic truck. 

The main issue with new trucks and suvs is the taller metal sides and laid back windshields and shorter side windows.  The overall height of the truck isn't changing that much, but the bed sides rise up higher to match the door/glass beltline.  Doors used to be 50/50 glass-metal, now its 30/70.

Keith Tanner said:

About the tires - if the truck only does regen on one end, it's going to work those tires a lot harder. I learned that one the hard way on our car, turns out the rear tires have to deal not only with the higher power motor but also doing all of the braking if you're one-pedal driving.

Interesting, the tire wear on the Bolt is front heavy, but no more than a typical FWD hatch despite using regen braking nearly 100% of the time.

I'm not using one pedal driving. I have been beating on the truck pretty hard. With the independent rear this truck drives so great day to day, like driving a big pillow around. couldn't be happier other than the huge range loss im seeing. Fully charged only seeing around 150 miles. 

Is that temperature related or battery degradation?

huge range loss in winter is likely related first and foremost to cabin heating, and then secondly to battery temperature. My car has lost probably 25% of its range in freezing temps, but the heater also isn't working very well, and its a small cabin to heat too. 

Norma66-Brent said:

I'm not using one pedal driving. I have been beating on the truck pretty hard. With the independent rear this truck drives so great day to day, like driving a big pillow around. couldn't be happier other than the huge range loss im seeing. Fully charged only seeing around 150 miles. 

but how accurate is that?   have you tried to drive the 150 miles to see what it will actually do?   its quite obvious that cool and cold weather freaks out the system, but is the actual battery life degrading that quickly?

In reply to onemanarmy :

Its pretty right on honestly. Im liberal with the heat in the truck and dont really try and baby it when it comes to getting more range. The days when it warms up to 50 degrees I see a immediate improvement in MI/KWH 

I was curious if the readout of life left was really accurate with the battery pack itself in cold weather.

lots of rabble about how quickly the range goes down (on the readout) in cold weather, but is it a reality?  I;ve not seen anyone drive it until 'empty'

On a fresh full charge on a cold day and the screen says 150 miles of range, how far can you actually drive it? Would it adjust once the truck is traveling and all systems 'warm' up?  

Have you seen 0 miles of range and still driving?

In reply to onemanarmy :

I can't speak to the Lightning, but in my old Nissan Leaf I once ran it all the way to zero. The mileage estimate was not terribly reliable in that thing and it went from 4 miles left to zero abruptly. Gave a bunch of warning lights and told me to charge soon.

I made it home before running out, but I was a quarter mile from home and only drove like 20 mph. Typically when you are extremely close to empty, an EV will protect itself by limiting speeds severely, turning off climate control, etc. It's not like a gas car where empty means you have another 40 miles. 

Here's a video where they test a Lightning down to zero battery.

I had one cold weather "long range" trip  in this thing. 
started with 163 miles at 100% charged. Trip was 75 miles both ways. So started with 13 miles of buffer. Outside temp -5. 

Way up I lost 8 miles to the estimate, fudge. So at this point was going to be negative miles to home. Started cycling the heat on and off and made it home with 7 miles left to spare. 

This EV thing is different but really not that bad. 

the lighting rescued my gmt400 today! 12 volt auxiliary jumped her right up. We got 12 inches of snow here

The Prius prime we had would do up to 32 miles on a full charge in summer and down to 20 miles in the cold winter. There is a big swing based on temperatures. 

Norma66-Brent said:

I'm not using one pedal driving. I have been beating on the truck pretty hard. With the independent rear this truck drives so great day to day, like driving a big pillow around. couldn't be happier other than the huge range loss im seeing. Fully charged only seeing around 150 miles. 

This could be where some of the range went :)

Never mind the acceleration, one pedal driving is the most efficient way to drive. Every time you use the friction brakes, you throw away energy. Regen puts (some of) it back in the battery. 

In reply to Keith Tanner :

You are for sure right. I haven't given 1 pedal driving enough of a chance

maschinenbau said:

In reply to Norma66-Brent :

Looks like a pretty standard semi-trailing arm to me. A heckin' chonker of a trailing arm, but nothing revolutionary there, other than the application being a full-size pickup.

I'm less familiar with the spring and shock sitting behind the axle in a seni-trailing. 

did my first mod today. Light up ford emblem

First long trip in the truck tomorrow. Doing Iowa city, Iowa to Madison. Pray for me.

trucks at 9,500 miles and just kicks ass

I should have 40 miles of range buffer for this trip. I have never dc fast charged so this should be interesting 

I'm looking forward to hearing about your experience on the road trip tomorrow!

In reply to Norma66-Brent :

From what I read the batteries that GM and Ford use are more sensitive to cold. 
 While the battery used by Tesla isn't as sensitive.  
  It has something to do with the adhesive used in production.    There were several articles a week or so ago on the subject.  
    Plus I've got to be careful because some Tesla's use Batteries made in China while others use American made batteries. 

Quick stop at the dc charger to see what it was all about. The dealership salesmen were nerding. Free to charge. Have 70 miles of cushion now after that quick hitter.