Ford etruck F-150 Lighting - Opinions?-

nicobie

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Aug 7, 2008
Messages
4,421
Location
Central Coast CA, USA
This could be a winner for Ford. Looks like you can get a barebones, 1ton, 4 wheel drive, 230mi range, short bed for a bit over $30k after credits. Has a 8 hr charge time (w/220v home charger). Comes with a dc/dc converter large enough to be useful. Even has a frunk. :D

If their electric power system is at least average and their QC is at least as good as Tesla, I think that they will do good. If they put that package in a commercial type van, I can see all kinds of businesses being interested. Their lg dealership network should allow volume sales and easy service nation wide. IF they can keep their head out of their ass.

Finance wise, it easily pencils out.👍

The Electric Ford-150's Price Alone Could Change Everything

https://flip.it/qKLpqF
 
CURB WEIGHT 6,500 lb (mfr)
WHEELBASE 145.4 in
L x W x H 231.7 x 79.9 x 77.2 in
0-60 MPH 4.5 sec (mfr est)

History will judge us unkindly. Whoever gets one of these monstrosities, I will judge unkindly first.
 
Chalo said:
CURB WEIGHT 6,500 lb (mfr)
WHEELBASE 145.4 in
L x W x H 231.7 x 79.9 x 77.2 in
0-60 MPH 4.5 sec (mfr est)

History will judge us unkindly. Whoever gets one of these monstrosities, I will judge unkindly first.

Specifically what about it bothers you?
 
dequinox said:
Chalo said:
CURB WEIGHT 6,500 lb (mfr)
WHEELBASE 145.4 in
L x W x H 231.7 x 79.9 x 77.2 in
0-60 MPH 4.5 sec (mfr est)

History will judge us unkindly. Whoever gets one of these monstrosities, I will judge unkindly first.

Specifically what about it bothers you?

I listed four objectionable things.

It's a gluttonous, wasteful bully vehicle that embodies callous indifference at best.
 
6500 is lightweight :)
hummer EV is 8500 :shock:
 
Ford F250 crew cab 4WD is 7200-lbs. I see them frequently where I work.

I would guess some people don't like the entire category, rather than the Lightning EV itself.
 
Chalo said:
dequinox said:
Chalo said:
CURB WEIGHT 6,500 lb (mfr)
WHEELBASE 145.4 in
L x W x H 231.7 x 79.9 x 77.2 in
0-60 MPH 4.5 sec (mfr est)

History will judge us unkindly. Whoever gets one of these monstrosities, I will judge unkindly first.

Specifically what about it bothers you?

I listed four objectionable things.

It's a gluttonous, wasteful bully vehicle that embodies callous indifference at best.

If it's a suburban commuter, ok, you could make that argument. Personally if I wouldn't waste my anger on the tiny minority of people who buy EVs, but I understand what you're saying.

But for company fleets there are many, many industries where this is a massive opportunity. I used to drive a company truck which towed 7500lbs 50 miles on a daily basis, there was no way around it. When it was time to buy a new truck the only thing to do was to buy a $40k V8. This was a 'green' company but I did not feel very green idling away in traffic. If there was an electric truck available at that time, we would have bought it.
 
I dont know if the Lightning is a good idea or a bad idea, but...the truck/SUV assembly lines use many of the same components.

Trucks and SUVs are one of the most profitable segments of the auto industry, needed for auto maker survival. If they convert to electric, I think its a good thing.
 
The overwhelming majority of the time, I see this category of vehicle carrying one person and no cargo. Ford knows this. An automaker that depends on selling trucks and SUVs as personal vehicles for its survival, doesn't deserve to exist.

If someone feels he needs well over three tons of truck and over 500 horsepower to haul his deeply mistaken self-importance, he needs treatment rather than a truck.

It's true that for fleet use, an electric truck makes more sense than a gasoline powered one for a number of reasons. Fuel and maintenance costs top the list, I think. If that was the intention of this new truck, their marketing would reflect it. Also, it wouldn't be so dangerously fast.
 
Chalo said:
I listed four objectionable things.

It's a gluttonous, wasteful bully vehicle that embodies callous indifference at best.

You listed specifications and then stated you would judge people who bought it poorly. I'm concerned that you don't seem to see switching from ICE to an electric vehicle as an improvement. It's published specs out perform the current 5.0L V8, which I would argue is a about as big and fuel hungry as it gets (setting aside the F250, 350... etc). However it has its place: construction, ranches & farms, towing, and as a cross-functional family vehicle (i.e.- it can do work, travel and play). To take that section of the american vehicle market, and make it electric at a price that's not obscenely astronomical for the middle-class seems like a progressive move to me.

I've not seen any support for it being gluttonous (if there is a niche in which it is so, then explain that), nor would I describe it as wasteful (within the contexts I mentioned), bully-ish (?), and there's no support for your claim that its specifications = the embodiment of callous indifference. It's large, relatively heavy, and powerful, yes. There are places these qualities are needed. You're statements suggest you'd admonish a lawncare business owner purchasing one of these instead of just keeping their old gas-guzzler, or a carpenter, concrete worker, etc that would use it for related tasks. Is that the case?

*EDIT*: I didn't see the quote below while writing the above, so in addition:
What you see daily is a microcosm of American life. It can no better be applied to describe the entire nation than the devoted lycra-wearing aggressive cyclist on a 3lb carbon fiber wonder of engineering can be used to describe all bicycle users.

People don't haul self-importance, they haul materials, tools and animals. This comment has no grounding in practical terms.

I agree that fleet use is an excellent use-case for this vehicle. The effects of its release to the market has little to do with Ford's marketing. Intention doesn't disqualify it's potential effects overall. I personally see this as a move in the correct direction, a way to bring gassers around to the position that "hey, maybe electric vehicles aren't dorky after all".

And as to the dangerously fast comment, literally all of the Tesla models are this fast or faster, to my knowledge.

Chalo said:
The overwhelming majority of the time, I see this category of vehicle carrying one person and no cargo. Ford knows this. An automaker that depends on selling trucks and SUVs as personal vehicles for its survival, doesn't deserve to exist.

If someone feels he needs well over three tons of truck and over 500 horsepower to haul his deeply mistaken self-importance, he needs treatment rather than a truck.

It's true that for fleet use, an electric truck makes more sense than a gasoline powered one for a number of reasons. Fuel and maintenance costs top the list, I think. If that was the intention of this new truck, their marketing would reflect it. Also, it wouldn't be so dangerously fast.
 
I think it's pretty good by Ford standards but the Tesla Cybertruck will whoop it due to better range through aerodynamic and drivetrain optimization.

The Ford truck could have had a 50 mile longer range if they bothered to stray from the 'make it look like a brick' chassis design and probably compete with Tesla.

Tesla's downfall would be putting in too many failure points in the name of 'look at this cool technology', which i'd bet many truck owners would reject.
 
People rarely use the full range an EV is capable of, so the battery size is scaled to "worst case scenario". There are two ways a big EV is better than ICE.

EV drive trains have better torque, especially from a dead stop, regardless of published HP ratings. Its not even close.

Many of the new EVs are allowing the vehicle battery pack to be used as an emergency power backup, like a Tesla wall on wheels. This is good. I live in tornado country. A tornado direct hit is rare, a power outage is common.

If I had a big truck, whether EV, ICE, or hybrid...I would still commute in my small vehicle, and only use the big truck on big truck jobs. I want the battery to last the rest of my life.
 
When you need a truck to do truck stuff with, a Chevy Bolt isn't going to do the job. Many people can't afford to buy a $40K truck to just park in the driveway and use on weekends, so they also use it for their daily driver.
 
I want one, in 5 years as an ex fleet vehicle. I don't even like driving trucks but trying to do everything with my 16 year old wagon is tiresome. It'll last until these become available used.
The short range is a concern. I'd have to charge at least once on my usual weekend trip and it definitely won't do for many of the longer journeys my current vehicle handles all the time but I'm sure I can modify my approach to road trips as the infrastructure improves.
 
IMG_20150318_193541.jpg

Here's a picture from my last move.

This bike with two trailers is carrying infinitely more than the whole lotta nothing I see being carried in >90 percent of pickup trucks. It doesn't belch out pollution locally or remotely. It makes almost no sound. It will never kill anybody in a collision. It doesn't hog up hundreds of feet of roadway when it's rolling. It contains no toxic materials and doesn't present disposal issues. Its maximum payload weight is many times the vehicle weight. Its useful service life is indefinitely long. It doesn't demand any dedicated parking.

It isn't an arrogant squandering of resources, nor a hostile imposition on the people around it.

It does require the willingness to not be an unethical, self-serving jerk. I guess that puts this vehicle off limits to many people.
 
I recently moved and had 10 loads of stuff to take in my little Yaris, 10 miles away.
My car averages 50.6mpg but the extra trips back and forth required a use of more fuel and a LOT more of my personal time than if i were to say, rent a u-haul.

So my little vehicle is at a huge logistics and efficiency disadvantage..
But only in those 0.01% of situations where i require a truck or van.

In 99.99% of my driving needs, my car is 3x more efficient than a truck/van/etc.
I agree it's very opulent and stupid to use such a vehicle as a daily driver.

This is why i root for the cybertruck. It should be much better at being a car with the capability to occasionally be a truck. I hope consumers agree with me on that.
 
Lol! I don't think my furniture would fit in a Yaris or on that bike trailer. But that is what moving vans are for. And as a bonus, they come with young guys with strong backs to do the heavy lifting.
 
100% of my furniture breaks down to fit inside a small car. Including my bed frame.
It was all purchased specifically as such.
I once had to haul a couch in a little suzuki wagon with a 1.6 liter engine.
other than that, no need for a large vehicle here.
 
Here's Doug DeMuro's take ( i agree with him )

[youtube]kXd8NqwmL2E[/youtube]
 
neptronix said:
100% of my furniture breaks down to fit inside a small car. Including my bed frame.
It was all purchased specifically as such.
I once had to haul a couch in a little suzuki wagon with a 1.6 liter engine.
other than that, no need for a large vehicle here.

Interesting, but I don't move often enough to worry about that and my wife wouldn't agree to it anyway.
 
Again, you're showing a microcosm from your own life and applying the context and implied morality of it to the world at large. That's a false equivalency.

To your last comment, it seems to me as if anyone who doesn't share your values on transportation is a jerk to you. Let's see you haul a horse or 1000lbs of cement on that thing, and then do it on a daily basis. Most people use vehicles to reduce time lost and effort made, not to make ideological statements. A single trip in a truck would do what many trips on a bicycle would carry in a tenth of the time. I am not devaluing bike moves, I'm saying they work for some people in some situations, and not the majority of both.

It really seems as though the message you are trying to get across is that trucks are an abomination, and that anyone who purchases one is therefore unethical and morally questionable. Perhaps you could just come out and say it if that's the case?

Also, your statement that the F-150 Lightning is "off limits to most people" because most people aren't self serving jerks is erroneous, and based on nothing concrete whatsoever. Keep your blanket statements and false implications. I think it's a positive step for FoMoCo. You don't think they deserve to exist, but based only on your worldview. The lion cares nothing for the opinion of the antelope; what I mean by that is Ford exists, whether you like it or not, and perhaps you could appreciate that they are changing direction at all.

Chalo said:
Here's a picture from my last move.
...
It does require the willingness to not be an unethical, self-serving jerk. I guess that puts this vehicle off limits to many people.
 
When I worked at a water plant, our service truck had to have the ability to transport steel 55-gallon drums of chemicals, and it had a one-ton-cargo suspension based on experience. The Chevy Bolt converted to an El Camino would not work.

I've seen people with an expensive 4WD at the mall, and the underside had never seen mud, so...I get that some people buy large vehicles as a status symbol. You can hate it all you want, but the $100K Tesla Roadster is not a Chevy Bolt. I am happy that both exist. The market will sort itself out. The fact that the Ford Lightning will exist is not a bad thing...
 
I live in the mountains of Southern California at 7000 feet elevation. Four wheel drive means not having to chain up most of the time when it snows. Unless there are R3 road conditions. They have chain control when it snows because of all the tourists that head up the mountain with their two-wheel drives whenever it snows.

I do have an old pickup truck. It is no longer my daily driver, but it has four wheel drive like all my cars do. I have taken it off road a few times, but that isn't what I bought it for. I originally bought it for my wife's cleaning business, but it was too big for her and she never liked driving it. It then became my daily driver for a number of years until I semi-retired it for a smaller car. I now use it to tow my utility trailer, for dump runs, and other stuff that is easier to do with a pickup truck. Lots of people up here own 4X4 trucks. My Subarus are great snow cars, but they won't get you out if the plow hasn't showed up and there is over a foot of fresh snow on the ground.
 
Chalo, If nothing else, getting a electric vehicle in the hands of some of our redneck brothers so they can experience an alternate mode of transportation will be beneficial to our planet's wellbeing in the long run. It's one way to show them what they are missing. They might be slow, but at least some of them aren't stupid.

I'd love to see one of those "rolling coal" assholes getting blown away by a stock etruck in a ¼mile or tractor pull.

:mrgreen:
 
With a cheap (yes they are cheap now) back yard (no permits needed) solar set up, you can charge an ev for free and with the Lightening you can maybe power some or all of your house too. 8)
Try that with a bicycle :lol:
And i ride my bike to the store for groceries, so i know what a bike can do :thumb: :lol:
 
Back
Top