[Atomicstorm]

Just picked up my new lightning. Have been excited but reserved because.. I live in an area of few charging stations between where I bought it and getting it home. Oh the fun!

However, given standard range of the battery is 230 miles, I am distraught to find that I barely made it to the first charging station at 148 miles (with 18 to spare). No heat was on, 92% of the charging was driving, and top speed was 72mph. 5% of charging was external Temps. It was 36F.

Is this expected behavior for highway?

This drive time was 148 miles, 78kwh used. Before I left the dealership, drive range was 211 miles. On Saturday, when we decided to buy it, it was 217 miles at 98% charge.

Normally, I would think this is a sign of a decayed battery but before I took it to a dealer, wanted some owners thoughts. Thank you!

 

[ChasingCoral]

Welcome to the forum!

That sounds very normal. 148 miles / 78 kWh = 1.9 mi/kWh

The standard range battery has a combined city/highway range of 230 miles. EPA highway range is over 10% less, just over 200 miles.

Ford F-150 Lightning EPA Range And Efficiency Officially Listed

The all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning pickup has just entered the US market this month. Meanwhile, the EPA listed a little bit more range and efficiency data.

insideevs.com

It appears you are a new EV driver. That gauge you see on the dash in front of you is known in EV circles as the Guess-o-Meter. It doesn't know what speed you will go. It doesn't know if you might be climbing a mountain. It doesn't know if you might have a 40 mph headwind.

I encourage you to read up on how to really estimate your range:

Don't trust the GOM! Best ways to calculate how far...

In EV forums there are always lots of new threads popping up from first time BEV drivers who are all worried or worked up because their Guess-O-Meter (GOM) is showing much less range than they think it should. This will especially happen in colder weather when the range drops. For new EV owners...

www.lightningowners.com

1.9 mi/kWh x 98 kWh (battery capacity) = 186 miles estimated range.
High speed driving will kill your range.

There are lots of discussions on here about real-world range, the impact of driving fast in a brick (sorry pickup truck), and what other drivers have found. I encourage you to do some reading on the forum.

 

[Leaf to Lightning : )]

MY SR PRO is typically 2.5m/k, with me driving conservatively - I don't do 72mph, anywhere. Yes, I've seen it say 265 miles when starting, but, I don't believe it.
MY SR PRO is typically 1.3m/k, while towing our 3,000lb camper, with me driving conservatively. Yes, I've seen it say 135 miles when starting, but, I don't believe it.

Those are a combination of 70% highway and 30% 'town'...

This is after almost 5,000 miles since Aug 23rd, with 2,000 of that while towing...

yes, the infrastructure for charging will grow over time, and you'll see new options along your travel paths that will start to remove the jitters and nervousness that surrounds our current environment. You have to change you driving habits to be in line with an EV powertrain - it's not about speed anymore. It's amazing what the 'guessometer' tells you when you've driven 55 for a while, after having driven 70 before... your m/kwh status number is the REAL story.

 

[Atomicstorm]

Thank you for the replies.

It is very helpful. I had a 2018 prius PHEV previously and enjoyed it but that also means I had the gas safety net. Now it is a new world. I got the lightning because we needed a truck for the farm AND we are putting up a large solar system up next month. Woop woop!

At this point, I'll see what it gets me when I do city driving. This road is really the only time I drive 70+. Most anywhere is less than 60.

I just wondered if I had the wrong settings or someone had a power drain on somewhere from the test driving etc but doesn't really seem like it.

 

[Leaf to Lightning : )]

on another note: I stopped in Dothan AL at the two Chargepoint chargers. As I was charging, sitting there with my window down on a beautiful evening, a brand new Hyundai Ionic 5 backed in. Nice. I then noticed something strange... what looked to be an 80+ year young man jump out and saunter quickly back to the charger. He paused for a moment, as though confused. No buttons. What to do??
I then laughed. He pulled out his 'phone' and started waiving it frantically in front of the screen, as though thinking that it would just automatically start for him... hmmmmm. I was starting to understand that he might have never parked at a Chargepoint unit. They don't have buttons. They don't take credit cards.... so....

He then ran over to me, and asked, as though out of breath, if I knew 'how' he could charge his car. Interesting.
I took pity on him, and certainly helped him.
First, I told him that Chargepoint only provides for using their 'app' to activate the charger(except for those few poor folks who had one of those 'original' Chargepoint Access Cards, I guess before 'apps' where a thing!)... well, no, he didn't know about any 'app' or anything, couldn't he just use his card, he said hopefully. I said, well, yes, and no... you can't just use it at the machine, you must use it within your 'app'. He looked down and shook his head, as though realizing that he was in a big pickle.
Then, he looked up, and asked politely if I WOULD LET HIM CHARGE USING MY ACCOUNT... well, no, it doesn't work that way, I said. I would have no way of knowing how 'much' he'd be charging until I am already 50 miles down the road, in the opposite direction, while he still sat there charging.

So, after seeing that he had a phone, I asked him if he could just download the Chargepoint app - he asked "what do you mean?" I see I was getting no where. I took his phone, helped him use GooglePlay to download the app, added his credit card info, and his email address(which, he says, he never uses!).. and we got his charger activated.
Good timing, too, as his car was VERY low, and he stated that he had driven 40 miles out of his way just to get to THIS charger - three others he had tried did not work, one of which was a Tesla Supercharger : /

Wow. I left right after he started charging. I hope he made it somewhere safely. I have NO IDEA how he ever purchased such a vehicle. Oh well, what do I know!

 

[Leaf to Lightning : )]

and yes, my Wife's new KIA SORENTO PHEV is wonderful, although it might be the 'best' of both worlds. AND the worst. You see, having a hybrid gives you the maintenance and issues as with any legacy 'gas' vehicle, and yet can only hold a 'minor' sized battery pack. It makes us all feel good on long trips, yes, but it's the fact that most of us travel very few major miles on any daily basis - meaning that while the battery pack in her car can do most of that travel all by itself, it has to carry around all the weight and 'technology' of the gas generation while it does.

 

[Wiseguy]

and yes, my Wife's new KIA SORENTO PHEV is wonderful, although it might be the 'best' of both worlds. AND the worst. You see, having a hybrid gives you the maintenance and issues as with any legacy 'gas' vehicle, and yet can only hold a 'minor' sized battery pack. It makes us all feel good on long trips, yes, but it's the fact that most of us travel very few major miles on any daily basis - meaning that while the battery pack in her car can do most of that travel all by itself, it has to carry around all the weight and 'technology' of the gas generation while it does.

My wife just got the Kia Sportage PHEV fully loaded even with roof racks and tow package she will never use haha I’m just jealous because since she got an EV I installed a new JuiceBox 48 level 2 charger yesterday in my garage and it went from charging her 13.8kwh battery in 23 hours with the provided level 1 charger (0.6kwh) down to under 2 hours with the new charger (7.6kwh at 32amps). My lightning XLT SR should (from going through the charger manual) charge at the full 48 amps for 11.5kwh to charge the 98kw in just over 8 hours. Ill keep the Ford mobile charger in the truck for emergencies. You can get rebates for federal, state, and utility incentives on specific level chargers so they end up free or near close to it.

 

[THEsocalledfan]

MY SR PRO is typically 2.5m/k, with me driving conservatively - I don't do 72mph, anywhere. Yes, I've seen it say 265 miles when starting, but, I don't believe it.
MY SR PRO is typically 1.3m/k, while towing our 3,000lb camper, with me driving conservatively. Yes, I've seen it say 135 miles when starting, but, I don't believe it.

Those are a combination of 70% highway and 30% 'town'...

This is after almost 5,000 miles since Aug 23rd, with 2,000 of that while towing...

yes, the infrastructure for charging will grow over time, and you'll see new options along your travel paths that will start to remove the jitters and nervousness that surrounds our current environment. You have to change you driving habits to be in line with an EV powertrain - it's not about speed anymore. It's amazing what the 'guessometer' tells you when you've driven 55 for a while, after having driven 70 before... your m/kwh status number is the REAL story.

I love you Leaf, but folks need to be driving at least 70 mph or:

1. You will never get widespread adoption.
2. You will get run over on a freeway. (our speed limit is 80, so even 70 is crazy slow)
3. You won't get anywhere is a reasonable amount of time.

I've seen some encouraging folks to get an SR. Well, if you want to drive a reasonable speed for any kind of distance, you need it. (and I think 70 mph is slow) This story is exactly why I think that is very foolish for most folks except for folks using it truly as a city/farm based work truck.

 

[Atomicstorm]

Luckily for me, in the UP of Michigan, there aren't any places around that are 70mph+. Would I like the extended battery? Yes. But that's how it is right now. Having more 60kw+ chargers would help but I suppose it'll get better from here. There are tesla charge stations but can't use those. There are J plug stations and that will not get ya anywhere lol.

You are correct though. You have to go the speed limit and sometimes a bit more or it becomes a serious safety hazard, especially if single lane.

This last leg I managed to get to the 2nd charge station and had 2.1mi/kw. It started off at 1.3mi/kw for a good 20 miles though and I panicked. I'm hoping the Wheel of Doom will be a bit more accurate in time.