My experience is the exact opposite. My Leaf shows some minor capacity loss, and it is the first gen, almost 10 years old. The Volt, no battery capacity loss, at almost 100k miles. The only problems with that car were with the gas engine 😀 (it is a plug in hybrid).

There are comprehensive studies on this now, one case or another may just be exceptions. Recall reading in the custom order wait thread on someone’s 2.7 dying a few months after delivery… Happens with any piece of engineering. The vast majority run well.

 

You might very well be the exception. In addition to how we ALL have been using lithium batteries in our cell phones and toothbrushes, I use and have been using lithium ion and lithium polymer batteries in flashlights and RC car and aircraft hobbies for a while now. They are great for the first few years (except in the cold). In fact I have some that are 6 or 7 that still work but not even close to how they did when they were new. What I DON'T have are any that are 10 years old and it doesn't matter if you're using them or not. As long as they're not abused or WAY overworked (as in always fully discharged, always fully charged all of the time) they'll all last around the same amount of time. The scariest part of all of this is they use the same 18650 cells that I use! Those are also the same that are used in laptop batteries. How's your 8 year old laptop battery doing?

I'm thrilled with electric cars and they're definitely the future but for me a hybrid is as far as I'll go until they improve the battery tech.

 

Apart from packaging formats, your reference to 18650 cells, there are big differences between what automakers use and the commodity industry for things such as tools, toys, flashlights etc. You can see better battery and battery management quality even on the electronics side once we step up to a smartphone. I keep my Iphones for 5 years or more, and I use them far more intensively than any car.

Modern EV’s have cooled and heated battery packs, with reserve capacity that protects the pack from fully discharging. The battery management system is sophisticated, in how it charges, balances, monitors the packs etc.

The Lightning has liquid cooling for the battery thermal management, which flashlight, computer etc. can claim that one? 😀

As to battery tech overall, it is really mature. If we could make submarines in WW1 with 100 miles of submerged electric range, we should be able to build some cars 100 years later.

This industry is at a maturity stage now. Early adopters were people like me who took a gamble on the first generation EV’s. My first gen Leaf has air cooling. Even with that it has lasted a decade. The Volt has a stressed pack (frequent cycles due to the gasoline engine charging it during driving). It is 6 years old, has liquid cooling, I still get the same 50 miles of battery range with it as when it was new.

 

Quick question.
i got my invite to order yesterday and wondering if Im nuts if I do not order one?
Not really convinced it will work for me right now and my ‘20 has been a great vehicle so far.
I think I just have FOMO at this point and wonder if I will be able to flip or trade it in for a gas F150 if needed. I would be ordering an XLT with the standard range battery.
Would you order one if you weren’t 100% convinced???

 

Depends on your use case. I am a big proponent of EV’s, they are better cars, quicker, quieter, instant torque etc. I have two electrics already. Plus, one could easily be energy independent with a small solar install of a few thousand dollars.

I am waiting on a delivery for a good old 2.7 Lariat (six months from order and counting). My issue, frequent long drives (over 300 miles), often in winter, very cold conditions, to my cabin. Need a bigger battery or better infrastructure on the way (only Tesla has the last point handled).

Think of how you use your truck. Do you drive far often, do you tow heavy loads often? Do you live in a cold climate? These factors will drop your range. But if you drive daily for commuting to work, job sites etc. an EV works brilliantly.

For the great majority of people, an EV covers 99% of cases, yet we buy for the 1% once a year long drive. And we pay dearly for it in gas costs and maintenance. Just rent or borrow when needed.

And if you haven’t, test drive an EV, you’ll be convinced 😀

 

You should not order..

You may not be able to flip it for a year, if your dealer adds a clause suggested by Ford.

Pro is sold out for MY 22.

 

Flip it, maybe not, but trade it in to a dealer, absolutely.

 

Of course you can "flip the truck", you just have to be smart about it. Not sure if it would be worth the headache in this case, probably not enough $ to make it worthwhile. Now if we were talking about a GT....

Unlike Rick, I would place the order. No money changes hands if your dealer is playing by the "rules" until you take delivery, and you still have control. Don't order, and all of that moves to someone else. Regardless, like others have said here, how will you use the truck? I say keep control until the last minute, you have nothing to lose.

--Bo

 

Thanks for the advice folks. Will talk with my salesman.

 

Bad analogy. The charge circuits for laptops are cheap, and that cheapness necessitates a tradeoff. Instead of using the batteries to their actual capacity, the charge capacity is degraded by the circuitry each charge cycle to ensure the batteries cannot be charged to the point where more expensive monitoring would be required to prevent overcharge states.

During the first few generations of Li-Ion laptops, you could reset the counter in the battery packs, do a full drain/charge cycle to let them re-calibrate, then start over again with whatever capacity your pack actually had left at that time. After 2-3 years of use, you could often bump your capacity by 80-100%. Battery pack health is controlled more tightly now, but you still have an intentionally degraded capacity with each cycle that will constrict useful battery life to about 5 years.

Battery packs in cars have much better monitoring and charging. Cooling is used to limit max temperature (reduced thermal stress increases life), they aren't discharge to the actual shutoff point, and they don't charge to 100% of capacity. If you've been reading new EV reviews, you'll note some of them are now listing the mfg's stated capacity along with a calculated probable actual capacity. This is how Tesla is able to state 16 years to 80% SOC. The capacity of the batteries is probably 20% greater than the capacity the vehicle will actually use, and the batteries are charged and discharged at rates that ensure they will last a long time.