Is an Electric Pickup Truck A Terrible Idea? (My 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning Build Thread)

It probably boils down to people who buy electric vehicles wanting their new trucks to look like electric vehicles. Ford is going to have to give those people a nod with parts to make the Lightning stand out in a parking lot full of F150s. 

In reply to Tom Suddard :

If I'm not mistaken doesn't your Ford have self driving?   
     How long did it take for you to relax and actually let it drive itself?    Or haven't you yet? 

It has lane centering and adaptive cruise, but does not have BlueCruise, which is lane centering and adaptive cruise but also you can take your hands off the wheel. The basic system is plenty for my needs, and especially good while towing--it does a great job of keeping the trailer centered in the lane even with cross winds, semis, etc. 

frenchyd said:

In reply to Tom Suddard :

If I'm not mistaken doesn't your Ford have self driving?   
     How long did it take for you to relax and actually let it drive itself?    Or haven't you yet? 

Despite some vehicles (Ford, Lincoln, and GM products with BlueCruise or Super Cruise) having hands-free GPS-guided driver assistance software, it is important to remember there are no self-driving cars on the road today. Everything is some variant of Level 2 driver assistance, which requires eyes on the road and the driver ready to take over control at any time.

Tom, congrats on the truck. I was able to review one last year and really, really loved it.

Tom Suddard said:

The Lightning had a busy weekend, so it's time for an update. 

On Friday, I towed the Miata over to the FIRM for a test day, and was again blown away by how much more relaxing it is to tow with a new truck than with one that's 20 years old. I know that's not a huge surprise, but it's so nice riding around in a silent, easy to drive truck after a day in the sun. I pulled into the track with 62% battery remaining/101 miles of range indicated on the dash.

While there, I plugged into their Tesla charger for free for a few hours, and I finally tried out the ProPower (120V outlets in the bed) to run a big fan all day. I arrived back home with somewhere around a 40% full battery. Success!

I charged the truck back up at home overnight, then left on Saturday for another adventure: A trip across the state! I drove over to Brooksville and back, a 264 mile round trip with lots of highway involved. And... it was a non-issue. I left with full battery and arrived at home with just under 20% remaining. Did I mention how relaxing it is riding around in a silent living room that drives itself?

On Sunday, I squeezed six people into the truck, proving it's the ultimate family vehicle, too. Overall, succcess! Current mileage is just about 9500.

Not really related, but can you give more information on the trailer your pulling, and the the toolbox in the frunk??

Tom Suddard said:

It has lane centering and adaptive cruise, but does not have BlueCruise, which is lane centering and adaptive cruise but also you can take your hands off the wheel. The basic system is plenty for my needs, and especially good while towing--it does a great job of keeping the trailer centered in the lane even with cross winds, semis, etc. 

Thank you Tom.   

Hoppps said:

Tom Suddard said:

The Lightning had a busy weekend, so it's time for an update. 

On Friday, I towed the Miata over to the FIRM for a test day, and was again blown away by how much more relaxing it is to tow with a new truck than with one that's 20 years old. I know that's not a huge surprise, but it's so nice riding around in a silent, easy to drive truck after a day in the sun. I pulled into the track with 62% battery remaining/101 miles of range indicated on the dash.

While there, I plugged into their Tesla charger for free for a few hours, and I finally tried out the ProPower (120V outlets in the bed) to run a big fan all day. I arrived back home with somewhere around a 40% full battery. Success!

I charged the truck back up at home overnight, then left on Saturday for another adventure: A trip across the state! I drove over to Brooksville and back, a 264 mile round trip with lots of highway involved. And... it was a non-issue. I left with full battery and arrived at home with just under 20% remaining. Did I mention how relaxing it is riding around in a silent living room that drives itself?

On Sunday, I squeezed six people into the truck, proving it's the ultimate family vehicle, too. Overall, succcess! Current mileage is just about 9500.

Not really related, but can you give more information on the trailer your pulling, and the the toolbox in the frunk??

Sure. The trailer is from TrailerWorld.com, and the toolbox is covered in my toolbox thread here. 

onemanarmy said:

Keith Tanner said:

In reply to onemanarmy :

Ford changes the headlights and taillights (and sometimes f/r quarter panels) all the time on F150s. Start watching and you'll see all sorts of variations. I agree that most of it is change for the sake of change, but that's what you have to do to let the American media and consumers know that a new model year is out. 

I have a friend who worked on the Lightning development. He was frustrated by how many F150 carryover parts they had to use - he feels they could have made it a better truck without those limitations. So your statements about how they spend their time changing parts needlessly don't quite line up with what the dev team felt. 

I'd LOVE to have a sit down with a inside Ford team member and ask questions.  What ROI/gain for the end user is there in a unique bespoke tailgate and headlights over using the current 2023 items?  I was just reading an article this morning where Ford themselves are saying  "EVs are too expensive" while they create new P/Ns and ALL that infrastructure to add unique items to EVs that don't add to range, dependability, or lower cost.  I bet they had 10 meetings to decide on what the wheels and taillights should look like....then they had to hire super expensive designers to mock them up....then they had to find a supplier....then they had to hire a team to keep track of all the new parts....then they had to update all the catalogs and databases...then they had to build a seperate storage section and have a manager for that.   Multiply that by 30 unique-to-Lightning items....many millions of dollars.

and exactly what carryover F150 parts made the Lightning worse.

The ROI is marketing. It's not logical from an engineering standpoint. But you can spot a Lightning on the road and in the showroom and that's the benefit. 

I haven't quizzed him on exactly what parts he wanted to change, but he's made it quite clear that he feels it is compromised by some of that reuse. Iirc his statement was that it's a good EV but not a great EV truck because of it. I suspect it's mostly packaging constraints forced by the ICE-centric frame and body. 

The Lightning went on its first scrap run today! Only $23 worth, but I needed to get my yard cleaned up for hurricane season. The tin pile manager dude walked up and couldn't believe it was electric, then started talking about how awesome it smelled inside (still some new car smell left). Other than that, it was a pretty uneventful trip. Weight as pictured with me in it: 7480 lbs.

Rons said:

In reply to Keith Tanner :

also the F 150 misses out on $42,500 rear enders that can happen to Rivians. Sorry but I read the article about it a few weeks ago and don't have a proper citation.

My friend's Rivian was tagged in front by an Accord blasting through a red light.  The Accord rolled but young man driving it was mostly OK.  He was able to drive the Rivan home and it didn't look that bad from the few pics I saw.  Totaled!  I don't any additional details.

The camera system was awesome, BTW.  The next morning, he was able to watch video showing the Accord running the light.

Insurance came through with enough to buy a new one, despite prices having gone up considerably.

Any feel for how it would do on sand or mud? I know it's not it's primary use case, but could it handle a vacation with some aired down beach driving, or some edge of the field driving during hunting season?

I haven't really tested that yet, aside from one muddy backyard, but I would be comfortable with edge of the field driving or a beach trip, as long as you paired either one with careful driving and limited stops.

Here're the pros and cons to draw your own conclusions:

Pros:

• Recovery points front and rear
• Locking rear differential 
• Very good traction control 
• Flat underbody with skid plates
• Fairly wide tires
• Infinite power

Cons:

• Extremely heavy
• Low front air dam
• Low running boards
• Limited articulation

For what it's worth, I did drag a forklift around with the truck on real soft wet grass, but that's not a great test. I'll update the thread if I ever do any real off-roading. 

Tom Suddard said:

I haven't really tested that yet, aside from one muddy backyard, but I would be comfortable with edge of the field driving or a beach trip, as long as you paired either one with careful driving and limited stops.

Here're the pros and cons to draw your own conclusions:

Pros:

• Recovery points front and rear
• Locking rear differential 
• Very good traction control 
• Flat underbody with skid plates
• Fairly wide tires
• Infinite power

Cons:

• Extremely heavy
• Low front air dam
• Low running boards
• Limited articulation

For what it's worth, I did drag a forklift around with the truck on real soft wet grass, but that's not a great test. I'll update the thread if I ever do any real off-roading. 

Thanks. My current work truck ('21 F150 XL) does excellent on soft beach sand when tires are aired down, and handles job site mud/muck without issue...pondering making the long shot request for them to swap me into a Lightning Pro model (order whenever they can...and wait?), but might limit some of the personal uses I've enjoyed over the years in the corporate whip. 

But then again, pretty sure driving on the beach in the company ride is on the fringes of a fringe benefit... 

Time for an update! I hit 10,000 miles, which means the truck is due for its first service.

What gets serviced? Actually, nothing: Ford says to do a tire rotation and a thorough inspection. So I called my local dealer's service department and asked what they charged and how long it took. I was hoping they'd charge $200 and take an hour, meaning they actually inspect the truck.

Instead, they said they didn't know about Lightnings, and would have to call me back. Then they called back and said that wasn't something the service department did. Instead, I'd have to go to the "Quick Lane," but it should only take a few minutes and be cheap or free, though I'd have to call them for an exact price. This is basically the dealer's in-house Jiffy Lube, at least according to the job posting I saw offering a pittance per hour but promising the techs rack up WAY more than 40 hours each week.

At this point I decided this wasn't going to get my truck a thorough inspection, a coolant strength test, carefully torqued lugs, etc. I bought the truck with a broken 12v battery cover from the last dealer that tried to inspect it (replaced with a new part when I got home), and expected either more broken trim or just skipping steps from the Quick Lane.

So I decided to do my own 10,000 mile service, and documented everything in order to answer any warranty questions down the road. The truck does (barely) fit in the garage and on my lift.

This was an easy job, and everything looked really good. The hardest step is pulling the plastic frunk trim to access the coolant and brake fluid, but even that is only a 2-minute job. 

Ford specs a refractometer, so I'll run this sample through that too, but this coolant still looks brand new. 

Brake fluid is looking good, too!

If you've ever wondered how hard EVs are on brakes, here's what the rotors look like after 10,000 miles:

I wanted to document as much as possible, so I printed out the OEM inspection sheet and service list, filled them out, signed and dated them. I think this should be enough for future warranty claims. I also entered this service record in the truck's service history online. 

I really wish they would build an extended cab, long-bed, work truck version of this. I would really prefer an 8' bed. I could squeak by with 6' but the 5'6" bed is a deal breaker. 

In reply to frenchyd :

I need a work truck frenchys, not an EV statement. The diagonal sides make the Cybertruck useless as a truck for work. 

In reply to Toyman! :

I wonder if they stashed any drivetrain-related parts under the cab in such a way that they have to keep the crew cab? Looks like the batteries live exclusively under the cab, I wonder if that's to prevent someone from dropping a big heavy thing into the bed, puncturing the battery and having a very exciting time.

Long bed would be easy enough. That's just an extended frame.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

I just looked at that same picture and thought that the extended and standard cab would never happen due to the layout of the batteries. They have to build the cab to meet impact standards so the crew cab gives them a nice protected area to put a battery.

I don't think a smaller cab is that tough to engineer--the battery should be well protected if it's under the bed or under the cab. I'm pretty sure Ford just picked the most popular configuration to simplify production, since this pickup configuration outnumbers anything else 10:1, at least in my area. 

Ideally I would have a 6.5' bed, but I've been surviving just fine so far with the 5.5'. 

I'll see if I can corner my Ford friend and ask him about cabs and batteries.

The 5'5" bed would have been a specific design choice. Maybe they wanted to keep overall length down to make it more car-like, or that's just the one that sells like crazy.  Also, TIL that is known as a "styleside" bed in Fordspeak. And that's a Supercrew (tm) cab, an extended cab is a Super Cab.

Even my El Camino has a 6.5 ft bed.

In reply to maschinenbau :

Yeah, but how's the back seat?