Haters will believe any spin.

EPA and Ford have not published economy numbers for the Lightning yet so we have to extrapolate numbers from what little Ford gives us: https://media.ford.com/content/dam/f...Tech_Specs.pdf

"32A/240W (sic) Mobile Charger 15-100% 14 hours" should be 240VAC. 32 * 240 / 1000 = 7.68 kW. 14 hours is 85% of battery capacity, then guess 95% efficiency results in a 120kWh battery. Am probably high but that will increase the cost.

120kWh is to move the Lightning 230 miles. Lets say it is a nice even 0.5 kWh/mile. This is a very reasonable number when compared to other EVs.

Unlike Tesla, Ford is a wimp in not building a charging network. Expects someone else to do it for them. In this case, Electrify America, the sorry excuse which was formed to spend VW's diesel fines. This government funded (not just tax credits) vendor charges $0.43/kWh. Or you can pay $4/month and get $0.31/kWh rate.

Furthermore, EV haters assume that just because they have to buy gasoline at a gas station then everyone must acquire fuel at gas stations such as Electrify America where at $0.43/kWh we find it costs $0.215/mile to drive a Lightning. At $3.00/gallon that works out to 14 MPG. Not very good. If an ICE truck can get 23 MPG then the Electrify America-charged truck would cost the same per mile as if one paid $5.00/gallon.

At home I pay under $0.10/kWh. That works out to 5¢/mile. Or 60 miles for $3.00.

 

The Rivian is about 430Wh/mile so 500Wh/mile is in the ballpark. I pay 9¢/kWh so I could drive 300 miles for 300mi X 500Wh.mile = 150 kWh and 150kWh X $0.09/kWh is $13.50
At $3 per gallon to go 300 miles your vehicle would have to get $13.50 / $3 per gallon is 4.5 gallons. 300 miles / 4.5 gallons is about 67 mpg.
And probably no oil changes very little brake wear, just tires and windshield washer fluid.

Note that I only charge outside my home when on a trip. Trips are about 20% of my miles so far. I'm retired though.

 

Indeed.

Home rates are the most relevant for most people most of the time, of course, and even in stupidly expensive areas (where gas is also stupidly expensive) there will be variable rates and you can charge your Lightning or other EV off peak or super off peak, late at night, to get the best rate.

 

Yeah the $5/gallon equivalent thing is another cool way they are trying to trick people, but at least based on how it's talked about, simple logic should show an EV is a better deal even at $8/gal equivalent. Why? Because EVs get EPA MPGe numbers, that means Miles Per Gallon Equivalent. I have seen few EVs in recent years that weren't at least 100 MPGe or thereabouts. 100 MPGe @ $5/gallon is still a way better equation than even 25 MPG (F-150 PB) @ $3/gallon. Or even $2/gallon.

As mentioned above, nobody is paying $5/gallon in daily use. We charge my wife's car in the garage every time since she got it. Every day when she pulls it out of the garage, it is full. We pay $0.11/KWh if I recall correctly for the time of use when we charge it. Even if charged from dead, it costs us about $4 to go another 130 miles. Gas would have to be around 73 cents/gal for my F-150 to hit that level of fuel cost for equivalent mileage traveled. And we don't even have our solar panels installed yet!

 

You can bet Ford will have the initial torque delivery dialed back considerably for safety, tho hopefully more aggressive than the EB's due to the full time AWD setup to better manage the traction.

 

The natural time to charge an EV is overnight at home. This is also when the power grid has a 50% surplus, negating the haters' deceitful claims of insufficient capacity. Utilities offer massive discounts for nighttime power because there is a surplus at night. If they can get paid anything it is better than nothing, and if you can shift consumption to night then they can postpone building more generating facilities to meet daytime peak demand.

A 240V 50A circuit with a NEMA 14-50 is plenty for home. Depending on length of wire this is under $100 in parts. The L2 (AC) charger is built into the EV. An EVSE (Electric Vehicle Service Equipment, commonly wrongly called a "charger") safely makes the connection between the wall and the vehicle. The EVSE is nothing but the safest extension cord we know how to make. GFI, over current, plus it sends a signal to the EV informing it of how much current it is allowed to draw.

 

meh work has free plug ins

Beat that price for fuel

 

Good for you. While it lasts.

A 120V outlet should put 2 miles of range in the Lightning every hour connected.

 

That's the kind of thing you need to take advantage of ASAP, because as EV adoption increases, freebies will be taken away and more and more taxes and fees and surcharges will be assessed. That's the way all things are, especially with .gov involvement, though.

 

Ford installed EVSEs at most of their buildings around SE Michigan, but at Ford LL6+ (management) get special lease vehicles and Ford offered the Fusion Energi for a while to them at a steal. When we had our C-Max Energi, I used to hook up there and charge it and then move it to an open parking spot once charged. Well the managers with their new Energis took over the spots and about half of them just left the car there all day, despite numerous reminders from building management they have to move when done charging.

More and more, public EVSEs are charging "idle" fees to get people to move, but like many fees, they can be disregarded by those that don't worry about 50 cents or $1/hr if they get to keep their, usually, nicer parking spot. I see that kind of thing being a bigger issue for companies that offer EVSEs, and especially apartment complexes. I am grateful I haven't lived in an apartment in many years, but when I did, it was constantly clear that a good portion of the tenants didn't care at all for general courtesy rules in everything from parking to noise. So there will no doubt be EV owners that get a charging spot and leave the vehicle there overnight without a care in the world.

Idle fees just need to be something like $5/hr. If you try to unplug and leave your car in the spot, put a number on the sign next to the EVSE with the local towing company. People need to learn now and not when EVs are more commonplace.

It's obvious it will be a problem too. I can't count how many times on a road trip I have stopped into a busy gas station and saw a few people parked at the gas pump. They might be intending to get gas, but they first go inside and browse for ten minutes then come out and start pumping, while a line of cars wait for open pumps. Those types in EVs will be equally terrible people.