[Mack]

I picked up the truck on June 10, and today I hit 4000 miles. So I thought I’d write up my experience so far. Its a Lariat Extended Range with no other options.

I drive almost only on the highway, and my range sits around 250-270 miles on a full charge without a trailer. With a trailer it drops a lot, but that's expected. Towing this trailer, I can do about 150 miles. Not great, but not terrible. I wouldn’t consider going on a trip towing with this truck. But… when you tow, it is amazing. Towing a trailer, it’s still faster than any truck I’ve ever driven. My 4000 mile average is 1.5 miles per kwh. Without a trailer driving 75+, I get 1.9 to 2 miles per kwh.

It’s the smoothest, most comfortable, and fastest vehicle I’ve ever driven. I kept my old truck in case I needed to drive somewhere without a charger. And I’ve driven it once. The lightning is so much more fun to drive that I will change my routes or plans so I can drive it instead.

I almost only charge at home on a Clipper Creek 60 amp charger. (I couldn’t wait for the Ford charger that I finally received on Friday.) Charging time is good, and I have no complaints. It’s always ready to go in the morning. I tried a EA charger, and it was seamless with the lightning. I plugged in, and it started charging immediately. I wish there were more chargers in rural Texas.

As much as I like the truck, there’s a few things I don’t like:
-The truck has to be running for the Pro Power to work. Seems silly.
-The air conditioner fan. In the texas heat, it’s louder than my old truck. The noise doesn’t bother me as much as the dust it kicks up. It blows on the ground below the truck. I spend a lot of time on dirt roads, and it kicks up a lot of dust.
-I absolutely HATE the reverse brake assist. If I back up in grass, it locks up the brakes because it thinks I’m about to hit something. You can turn that off, but it comes back on by default every time. Anybody know how to permanently disable that? I may put duct tape over the sensors…

Is it the best truck I’ve owned? Yes
Is there room for improvement? Yes
Would I trade it for anything else- including the Rivian? No

 

[KreekerVet]

Great review, im at 2900 miles and got my truck on 6/27. So far I love my truck but there are two things that I thought could of been better.

The first one which is super minor. I have 3 kids and when theyre all in the back on a trip their feet are where there charge ports go. now theyre younger so i can see them breaking the chargers off into the ports by accident.

The second is my truck is governed at 107mph. My wifes Mach-e is governed at 115. Not sure why the difference in speed but I figured the lightning would be governed at 115 as well.

 

[Voltz]

The second is my truck is governed at 107mph. My wifes Mach-e is governed at 115. Not sure why the difference in speed but I figured the lightning would be governed at 115 as well.

Kind of like those old cartoons with Caveman chasing Jane. 🤩 👧
It may have to do with traction motor gearing and motor rpm.

 

[KreekerVet]

Kind of like those old cartoons with Caveman chasing Jane. 🤩 👧
It may have to do with traction motor gearing and motor rpm.

yeah its just kinda frustrating. heres this amazing truck, faster than most vehicles on the road and it can just get walked down haha

 

[Voltz]

Don't quote me, IIRC, my VW ID.4 was routinely spooling up to 9200 rpms at normal speeds. I was surprised. Somebody here can probably find the specs for Ford motors. Count me among the people who would like a nerd stats display screen built into the infotainment system.

 

[Mack]

8500 Mile update... Drove the Lightning on a 2500 mile road trip, and it did great. Stopped at almost only Electrify America chargers. But I also stopped at two Francis Energy chargers in Oklahoma. I wont make that mistake again. Those were worthless turds. I only got 33kw on "200 kw" chargers.

The plug and charge feature on the EA chargers was nice. But I wish there was a way to get the Pass+ charging price.

The Lightning continues to be the best truck I've owned. I wouldn't go back to a gas truck.

Here's an interesting screenshot from my trip:

 

[btreece]

8500 Mile update... Drove the Lightning on a 2500 mile road trip, and it did great. Stopped at almost only Electrify America chargers. But I also stopped at two Francis Energy chargers in Oklahoma. I wont make that mistake again. Those were worthless turds. I only got 33kw on "200 kw" chargers.

The plug and charge feature on the EA chargers was nice. But I wish there was a way to get the Pass+ charging price.

The Lightning continues to be the best truck I've owned. I wouldn't go back to a gas truck.

Here's an interesting screenshot from my trip:
View attachment 3866

To get the pass + pricing use the EA app and select the station you are at. Then do the swipe to charge. After that connect the charger to your vehicle. It took me a charge or 2 to figure this one out.

 

[Mack]

To get the pass + pricing use the EA app and select the station you are at. Then do the swipe to charge. After that connect the charger to your vehicle. It took me a charge or 2 to figure this one out.

I'll try that. My Ford account kept taking over when I tried using the app. So I turned off the Plug and Charge. But then I only got errors from the station.

 

[BK1]

@Mack with the 250-270 range you mentioned on a “full charge”…are you typically starting at 90% and going down to 20%? Or what’s typical for you?

 

[Mack]

@Mack with the 250-270 range you mentioned on a “full charge”…are you typically starting at 90% and going down to 20%? Or what’s typical for you?

that’s from 100% and I rarely run it down past 20.

 

[ChasingCoral]

The plug and charge feature on the EA chargers was nice. But I wish there was a way to get the Pass+ charging price.

You will soon get the discounted charging price during Plug & Charge sessions by signing up for the Blue Oval Charging Network on the Ford website. Rather than $4/month and only working with the EA app, you pay $50/year and it will work during P&C.

Ford rolled this out for the Mustang Mach E a while back but had issues. They are testing it again and I'm in the test group. I've had two successful discounted P&C sessions in my Mach E. Ford should be rolling this out to the public in September.

Now I hope they can configure the system to P&C my Lightning at a discount as well!