After much hair pulling and deliberation, I just placed the email to my dealer to cancel the Lightening that was ordered a couple of months ago. After the excitement of the new tech began to get tempered by the reviews of actual users in real life situations, it became apparent that an EV truck at this point remains too much of a compromise for my use case.

The idea that I would only get 150-200km of towing before needing to charge for hours with a questionable infrastructure (here in Canada), meant that there would be tons of times I’d still need to rely on a gasser to get the job done. This would mean keeping two trucks in the stable and that just doesn’t make financial sense given my build was $125k CAD.

I wish the charging times were shorter, that the truck was built on a more forward-looking 800V infrastructure, and that the charging infrastructure in my area was more robust and reliable.

That said, the Lightening sure looks like an amazing truck if the numbers work for your needs. The torque and driving experience seem stellar and it would make for a great family vehicle (if towing were not a part of those requirements). Can’t wait to see where Ford and the other manufacturers go with this game-changing tech.

For the day-to-day grind, I’ll remain jealous of the low cost of ownership and low operating expense of the electric crew while I choke back an enormous amount of fuel in my, admittedly entertaining, ICE daily driver. Looking forward to seeing owner’s experiences on here and watching the platform evolve. It was a tough call to make, but seemed the only option for my needs.

 

Over the hype eh?
Buddy lives in LA ...saw a new Audi EV, pulled over beside the road, with a gas generator charging it. Bet he's wondering now as well.

GL, have loved my 5.0 Screw.

 

All this hype the last few years about "the future is EV" and our government bending over to the EV makers have proven that WE ARE NOT READY FOR EVs yet. The infrastructure is not there (as proven by Texas last year, Commiefornia a few months ago, and currently with Hurricane Ian) and people are flocking for these EVs with reduced mile range. I will keep my gasser as long as humanly possible. The future may be with EVs, but we are YEARS from that...besides the Lithium battery technology is outdated for vehicles. Need to find better electric alternatives than Lithium...which is far worse for the environment that fossil fuels.

AK4wheeler

 

Okay, good to know.

Unrelated to the Lightning . I bought a car a few months ago (since we're sharing).

 

It's too bad more people don't do what you did and analyze their use case. My work trucks haven't had a day in their service life that wouldn't be better served by an EV.

 

I ended up getting one before they jacked the prices and started dropping things cause of chip issues. Traded in my 19 f150 3.5l eco boost. I need a truck a lot for personal property work, don’t tow a ton but need the capability, and don’t tow far usually less than 200 miles round trip with power at both ends.

it is not for everyone but I couldn’t be happier. Even at 35 degrees outside I still get about 200 miles of range out of a recharge to 85%. Power is 0.20 $/kwh so it is less than a third of the cost of driving my old 3.5 at 5$ gas. Other than that It’s just and F150 with nearly 600hp and 800ftlbs of instantaneous torque that is super quite.

the best part is not having to go to the gas station every week. Have to find other ways to get my culture in now.

 

Funny enough, my time to order just came up, and I am torn but only for one reason: The 5.5' bed because I have a rack and tool boxes and am already almost limited by my 6.5' bed.

• For work, since 2010, I've only driven more than 120 miles in a day once or twice and average almost exactly 50 miles.
• I live in a mild climate.
• While I do actually use my 2500 pounds of payload on occasion, I can live without it.
• In reality I rent something that I tow myself like once a year. Material delivery is free, I don't know why people waste time and money doing it themselves.
• My electric rates put me at equivalent of $1.50 gas, and I hate going to gas stations (they always take more than 10 minutes here).
• The Pro cost is only about $40,000 with the $7500 tax break and the $7000 Ford is offering for early reservation holders. Hard to pass that up.

 

I think you would be a poster child for reasons to get an electric truck.

2 problems. The bed is 5.5 if you need more then that is deal breaker. But the space you lose in the bed you get in the frunk.

Biggest problem is you likely can’t order a pro or xlt which puts you in the lariat trim. At 75k base might be a hard sell. Pros are never gonna be 40k again so take that into consideration.

 

Good point about the frunk, which is actually extremely valuable for me. Lockable storage for hand tools and misc stuff. And for a work truck for me, it's gotta be the pro. They are $54k or so now but the $14,500 in discounts does apply, so still $40k for me for now.

 

Not meant as an attack.
Please be fair to yourself and your readers. The sentence I quote is not cost to drive. It is cost to refuel.
Cost to drive includes cost of truck, insurance, maint.,fuel, everything.
If you got one of those Pro's for 40 grand you are one of the lucky ones. I could have made that work. 50 grand nope.
I have been driving the same F-150 for five years and 85k miles. Everything including truck, all extras (not much) 10 grand in gas, I am just now getting close to fifty grand for the cost of this transportation.