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Revisiting: F-150 Lightning-Surprising Test Results. Is it better than the gas version?
117 Plays2 years ago
In this episode the guys get their first look at the 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning and discuss their test drive, capabilities and range testing. Join us for some insight and evaluation of this hot truck. Also, theres some unexpected comparisons, and some expected ones as well.
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Transcript
Introduction & F-150 Lightning Enthusiasm
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome back to the plug-in for more podcasts. This episode is a replay from July of 2022 after the three of us got our first look at the F-150 Lightning. This truck was pretty anticipated at the time and we were really excited to get our hands on it and we just want to share again our insights into the vehicle.
00:00:17
Speaker
But first, please make sure to like and review our podcast on whatever platform you're listening to us on. It does make a big difference for the algorithms and boosts us up higher in the rankings. Also, if you haven't got a chance yet, evuniverse.com is up and running. There's lots of parts and accessories available for sale, as well as thousands of electric vehicles that are for sale in the listings. The site is also packed full of insights and educational points that we hit on the show here.
00:00:44
Speaker
Also, plugin for more is now on YouTube as well alongside its sister channel of Eevee Universe. We would love it if you were to get over there and give us a like and subscribe on those platforms. We hope you're enjoying your spring. Please enjoy the show.
00:00:58
Speaker
Welcome to Plug In For More, brought to you by evuniverse.com.
Educating on EV Transition
00:01:04
Speaker
EV Universe is your one-stop shop for all things related to the electric vehicle. Here on this podcast, our goal is to educate, inspire, and hopefully make your transition into the electric vehicle marketplace a lot less intimidating. And now, here are your hosts, Mike, Tom, and Bryant.
00:01:25
Speaker
All right. Good to go. Mike's levels are good. Hey, Brian's are good. All right. So cool. We're going to talk today about the F one 50 lightning. We all got our first look at it here this past week. And, uh, I don't know about you guys, but I was pretty excited about it.
00:01:48
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I thought that was really cool that they took the standard F-150 and made the usability just better. I mean, they didn't make it crazy looking or do anything out of the ordinary. And after driving that thing and experiencing how it works, I think it's going to be a huge, huge hit. I mean, it already is, but it's really functional.
F-150 Lightning Features
00:02:13
Speaker
I thought the same. I had an experience last night at the local parade
00:02:17
Speaker
The Chevy Bolt came by and everyone's like, Hey, Brian, look, it's an electric vehicle. They didn't realize the car right after it was an EV was a lightning pulling a flow. It looked just like a normal F-150, like all the other F-150s. And when I pointed out like, Hey, by the way, that's an EV too. They're like, what? That's an EV? Like they didn't, to your point, it doesn't stand out as an EV. It looks just like an F-150 and it doesn't look like a bolt or something else. It's like, okay, that's clearly an EV. So I think that's cool.
00:02:46
Speaker
That's what I ran into with the BMW i4, too. Same deal. I mean, people have no idea versus if you're driving a Tesla or your EV6, Bri. I mean, you stand out like a sore thumb, which is good and bad. So anyways. Yes. So this particular truck we got as a demo from the dealer was one of their mannequin trucks we had. I had it for 24 hours.
00:03:11
Speaker
I was glad I got to share with you guys for the few minutes while we did have it, but it was the first and probably the longest time that I've actually had to drive in an electric vehicle aside from normal test drives. So we put about 130 miles on it that day, which used just over about half the battery. This particular truck was the standard range Lariat model. So it has the 98 kilowatt hour battery, which gives you a total range of about 230 miles is where they're projecting for that.
00:03:40
Speaker
I was pleasantly surprised. Um, I haven't always been a Ford guy when it comes to trucks. I've been. Down the Ram rabbit hole quite a bit, but there's a lot of the creature comforts of that truck that aren't exclusive to it being an EV, but it, it was really nice. And once you're inside of it and moving down the road, you don't know the difference. It feels like a normal truck.
Driving Experience & Range Insights
00:04:03
Speaker
Yeah, I thought it rode better than a lot of the F-150s I've driven just because of the way the suspension was set up. And I mean, the rear is coilovers, and the weight of the battery sort of evened out the weight distribution. And to me, it was very, very smooth, not only from an acceleration standpoint, but just the ride feel. And that was the biggest takeaway for me, besides obviously the massive frunk and the
00:04:30
Speaker
the different ways you can charge other appliances off the vehicle, power tools, et cetera. I mean, just from how it drove, I was thoroughly impressed. And there was some of the no more nuts and bolts of it. And I kept track of the miles. And not being an EV owner yet, I was skeptical of the mileage range.
00:04:51
Speaker
not that I have a ton of anxiety about it, but I had 235 miles when I jumped into it. I had about 20 minute drive down to where we did our little photo shoot and 20, probably another 25, 30 miles back to my house where we hung out for a little bit and went through the truck, played some of the stuff. My kids loved that you can draw on the touchscreen and there's games on there they could play and I had fun with that.
00:05:14
Speaker
But keeping track of that miles, I wasn't nice to it. Like I exploited that four seconds here to 60. Any time I got a chance, like it wasn't like I was taking it easy. And we did a trip from Traverse City to Frankfurt for the fireworks and going to do that. I had the crew set at 65 and just kind of held it there the whole way. And when I dropped that truck off at the end of the driving time, there was a hundred miles of range left, you know,
00:05:44
Speaker
I drove 130, and it's true to its word, even though it wasn't being kind. Yeah, I think I was impressed the most by the frunk. A lot of space up front there. You could literally sit in it. I think you can fit quite a few groceries in the thing. I was really impressed with that. I was also really taken back and really impressed with Ford Continues. I think doing an awesome job of blending
00:06:13
Speaker
kind of your first EV experience into a normal car experience. I think besides the touchscreen, the F-150 Lightning is the exact same truck. The touchscreen is not intimidating. It's a little bit more than my RAM has to Tom's point, but it's not crazy.
00:06:32
Speaker
Zero to 60 acceleration in the truck was out just literally outrageous in a pickup. I've never felt it in a pickup before so I thought overall That truck is going to bridge the gap if you listeners if you if you have any anxiety about moving to an EV I think Ford's doing a great job right now with the Mach-E and with that 150 Lightning I both felt like these are very very easy cars to get into
00:06:59
Speaker
There's nothing super nuts about them. Besides the charging, it's the same experience or similar experience as you're going to get with the normal F-150. The towing is awesome. Now I think the range drops quite a bit on the towing, but it can tow a lot. We're going to tow across the country.
00:07:16
Speaker
There's some probably things around going to a charger with a trailer on, which I think a lot of people have never done before. I think that might be an issue.
Towing Limitations
00:07:25
Speaker
But if you're just going to tow your boat locally, tow it 50 miles, it's going to be no problem for you. So I think hats off to Ford for really, I think, taking the best-selling car and truck.
00:07:38
Speaker
in America and making an EV, I think it's going to feel very comfortable to a lot of people. So I had a really good friend of mine who has a Ford F-150 and he tows a lot. And so I was just talking to him about my experience in the Lightning, what his thoughts were. He hasn't driven one, but he's driven other EVs in the past. And with the boat that he tows and how much that is, and he was looking at upgrading to a Ford F-250,
00:08:03
Speaker
because of how much he's towing and all those things. And when we were talking about the lightning and the range for him, I think he falls into the subset. And I think it's a pretty small subset of people where it probably isn't the best fit for them because he tows a massive boat very frequently and for long distances. And so I think if you're one of those people
00:08:26
Speaker
It might not be quite ready yet, you know, to make the transition to an EV for that particular use case. But I think it's coming. And also for the typical truck driver or, you know, person who's driving a pickup, those folks, this is going to fit right in because most people are not carrying, you know, a huge boat routinely across the country. It's going to be those short stints if there are if they are even towing.
00:08:52
Speaker
And a lot of trucks you see out there that are resold three, four, five years later have never even towed or had much in their bed, frankly. So it's more of the weekend warriors. And I think for that buyer, this truck is more than capable than anything we'll ever need.
00:09:08
Speaker
you're listening to the plug in for more podcast. If you're looking for information on electric vehicles, electric vehicles, components or information on how to reduce your carbon footprint. Look no further than ev universe.com ev universe.com is your one stop shop for all things related to electric vehicle.
Frunk Utility
00:09:27
Speaker
So the front like, I get it, the front is there. But like, I kind of saw it as gimmicky. Like I know what storage and storage is good and all that kind of stuff. But like, I was like, Okay, whatever.
00:09:38
Speaker
So I'm on my way home. We stop at our, our Meyer to do our grocery pickup. You know, you order online, you pull up and they come and deliver your groceries out to you. And I purposely back into the spot that I'm supposed to be into. And when the guy comes up to deliver the groceries, I pop the Frank. He didn't know what to do. Like it was really funny watching his reaction. It was like, Oh my goodness. I can put the food in here. And then like,
00:10:05
Speaker
He didn't know what to do with it. So I'm opening and closing the trunk from inside the truck or the front from inside of the truck. And I guess it was pretty funny and people are walking by and double taken and I don't want to think of it because up here, I think that's the only lightning right now in Northern Michigan. So it's kind of unusual to see.
00:10:25
Speaker
But that was fun, but then at the same time we're going to the beach for the fireworks and this particular truck doesn't have a tonneau cover on it and I don't want to put my stuff in the back of the truck and worry about getting stolen without having it covered. So I was really pleased that my Yeti cooler fit into the frunk. And all my stuff went in there and we packed stuff for the beach outing and it all was self contained in a locked storage area and I have to worry about it.
00:10:52
Speaker
I agree, Tom, I think I had a conversation this morning at Cars and Coffee with a Maki owner, and we're talking about the frunk, and I was walking through my EV6, which has a very tiny frunk, literally not bigger than a laptop bag, fit in it, and he was saying he never uses his on a Maki because he's got the back, and I said, yeah, same, it's not a big deal, but I think you just highlighted
00:11:15
Speaker
The things that make a lot of sense on a truck is you don't put groceries in the bed usually because there's a roll all over the place and gets smashed. To your point, I'm always concerned about putting something very valuable even though I've got a tonneau cover. It's a very quick cut away from, hey, what's in here? The front on a pickup truck I think actually will utilize a lot. I think I always put the groceries, I don't know about you, in my backseat.
00:11:40
Speaker
or if I go to Costco and get bulk stuff I throw in the bed. But I'm not putting bags of groceries back there, because by the end, you're picking up thousands of items out of your bed. They're rolling all over the place. Your milk's going to smash your eggs. So I think the frunk in a pickup truck is going to be extremely useful, rather than if you have a Mach-E or another hatchback, or just a normal car. And then, Mike, I think
00:12:03
Speaker
Your BMW doesn't even have a frunk. I was shocked. It's the first EV I'm aware of that does not have a frunk. So the i4, you can open the hood, but there's just mechanicals in there. So there's not much you can really do as far as a frunk, storage-wise. In the iX, you can't even open the front.
00:12:22
Speaker
It just won't allow it. Um, if you do, apparently avoids the warranty or that's what BMW is trying to say, the local dealerships. So that's something to
Ford's EV Evolution
00:12:30
Speaker
be aware of. So in the, uh, F one 50 lightning charging point is a tribute to. I think a 1913 kind of electric car that Ford had out time. I'm not quite sure you, you, uh, saw more than I did, but we were able to take it out and see your dad's, you know, he has a classic, you know, model a what stood out for you around the lightning versus your dad's car.
00:12:52
Speaker
Well, I mean, we're talking about like 93 years of evolution here over the good life of these trucks. But my dad's is a 1929 Model A pickup. I mean, in their shape, they're similar. I mean, but that's about it. When you look at the overall size of the lightning compared to the Model A, the lighting is huge. The Model A is really pretty basic with everything that it has. I mean, it's a completely
00:13:22
Speaker
completely different vehicle as you would expect. But it was really cool seeing those two side by side and kind of the idea of heritage from where Ford has come to where it is now. Because that Model A in its time was cutting edge. That was one of a kind. That was a pioneer. And now they're doing it again with the Lightning. And I think it's pretty symbolic in that sense.
00:13:50
Speaker
We'll have some videos of this up on our YouTube channel you can take a look at to see exactly what we're talking about, but it's pretty cool to see. I know the same. It always impresses me how much bigger things are. The Model A is half the size of the Lightning, but what actually surprised me the most was it's viewed as, I know it was an aftermarket part in your dad's truck, but he has this step up into the bed.
00:14:21
Speaker
And we were all marveling over like, Oh my gosh, this lightning has to step up into the bed. And I know newer trucks have that. It's not a big deal, but it's pretty funny that I was just marveling that your dad's aftermarket step up into the bed, you know, a hundred years later is now like a novel thing on a new truck.
00:14:41
Speaker
Yeah, kind of funny. Yeah, I think I believe, and we'll cut this if I'm wrong, but the Model A is a six volt battery system. It's not the 12. I think you're right, Tom.
00:14:53
Speaker
there's conversions that people do and they convert them to 12 volt. I don't think he's done that with this particular one, but he did get six or he did get led headlights for his model a that go inside, you know, the ball so he can have a brighter headlights. Cause otherwise driving on the road in the dark, it's pretty scary. It sounds like in the model lakes, they don't bite very well.
00:15:14
Speaker
Yeah. Interesting. And then of course the acceleration and top speed of the Model A is a little bit different too. It's, uh, I think the top speed on us right around 50. You go much faster than that. It's scary. We should have raced the, uh, golf cart with the Model A. Ooh. The golf cart would have been a good one. I don't know. See EV all the way. It might've. Well, on the, on the topic of Model A, there's, there's a quick story.
00:15:41
Speaker
A friend of mine at Hagerty, Jonathan Clinger, this was probably 10 years ago, he wanted to show people that Model A's in classic cars could still be reliable. So most people would never do this, but he drove his Model A every single day for 365 days in Northern Michigan. So he drove it through the winter, doesn't have a heater. So he wore a snowmobile suit.
00:16:05
Speaker
He drove it downstate to Chicago. I mean, he drove it everywhere. And I think it's kind of cool, though, just still seeing the kind of like, hey, the Model A, still very, very cool, classic, iconic. But then probably the same questions that people might have of like, wow, how would you drive a Model A to Chicago? They might have for the Lightning. How would you drive a Lightning to Chicago? Like, how would you charge it?
00:16:30
Speaker
Can you drive in the winter? The battery is going to degrade. Like, I think it's just interesting parallels with the same questions that he might've faced an almost a hundred year old car. Probably going to get in a brand new car, but I mean, some of those questions I get at my car, I think it's just common sense that people don't understand what it might be. They, they ask those questions because they're, they're really trying to figure it out, but I thought it was kind of a parallel, parallel idea around that. And then, uh, I guess lastly,
Driver Assistance Technologies
00:16:59
Speaker
Tom, what was your biggest takeaway from having an EV for the first 24 hours? What did you kind of learn? What surprised you, I guess, anything? I expected to like it. I really did. And some of the things that really stuck with me the most were things that maybe aren't exclusive to EVs, but the Lightning has the adaptive cruise control and the lane assist while you're doing that.
00:17:28
Speaker
And I messed around with your lane assist on your EV six. And we brought it back from Detroit. And it kind of felt like we've talked about before in prior episodes, kind of like a pinball, like where you're just, it bounces you back and forth. That wasn't the case with the lightning. This we're on curvy country roads and it kept it pretty locked in tight. And you have to have your hands on the steering wheel, but the trucks steered for itself and the adaptive cruise control that was new to me, but.
00:17:56
Speaker
I thought it worked really well. And it really made me fall in love with that truck. And in the prior episode, we talked with Aaron about how he arrived at his destination, feeling more rejuvenated, more awake. I get that. When you have these creature comforts that are built in and these driving assist features, it takes some of that burden off you as the operator. And Mike has talked about this before, too. I think that's important.
00:18:24
Speaker
You know, and I was talking to my, my partner while we're driving and you know, she's saying how like, which is more of a purist, she doesn't want all this technology in her cars. If she could go back to having a vehicle with analog dials and, and no electronics, she'd be happy. You know, from a purist standpoint, but, and I know that'll be a complaint of some people, but for me, like it does make life a little easier and it was intuitive and it didn't feel intrusive, which is, I think are important aspects of it.
00:18:52
Speaker
Yeah, for me, when I took, I mean, I just came back from Northern Michigan. When I saw you guys, we filmed there. And then I came back down to North Carolina. We did that trip in 16 hours, one shot. And the reason we originally were planning to split up into two days on the way back, just because it's a long drive, especially with two little kids. But because that driver assist in the Tesla, the autopilot, I was
00:19:20
Speaker
Very surprised, even though I shouldn't be surprised at this point, because I've had them for so many years now. But just, again, reminded of how far you can go and how much more relaxing it is having those driver assistance features.
00:19:34
Speaker
an aggravation that I have driving on any road. You set your cruise at 60 miles per hour, or 65. Whatever it is you pick, it doesn't much matter. Invariably, if there's someone else on the road in front of you, they're going to be going two miles per hour slower than you. So you are trying to figure out where to put your cruise. You can stay behind them. But that adaptive cruise control, it senses that vehicle in front of you. And it just keeps you at that safe distance. And you don't have to worry about paying that close of attention
00:20:03
Speaker
to sneaking up on them or not, but obviously you're going to know if they stop suddenly, you can break and you're aware of what's going on, but you don't have to be focusing on that little part of it, which is cool. I agree. I think you're right. The lane assist, I'm not a fan of it. I use a tiny bit on the highway when it's a straight shot and that helps. Otherwise I don't use it, but I will admit yesterday on the way into work,
00:20:26
Speaker
I use the adaptive cruise on my EV6, and I love it for two reasons. One, maybe you've all had this experience. I've found it on Toyotas, where they have that radar. But it's way too out. The car is like a mile ahead, and it slows down. It's like, that car is so far out there. So on the EV6, you can change that.
00:20:44
Speaker
range and so I can get really actually close to cars before it reacts, which I like. And number two, I set it to 65 and I was just for fun, tested all the way into town when it went from 55 miles an hour to 25. And granted there was cars in front of me, but it stayed, it did 25 miles an hour. I didn't have to touch the accelerator.
00:21:06
Speaker
for 10 miles out of my 11-mile commute. It just did it for itself, varying between 25 miles an hour to 65 miles an hour, staying fairly close with traffic. We're not talking a quarter mile or anything. So I really, I actually like that part. And I'm kind of like your significant other. I kind of like not using that stuff. But when you're commuting and you're kind of not really wanting to drive for fun, I actually use that more than anything. I was surprised.
Supply Chain Challenges & Conclusion
00:21:36
Speaker
You know, I, we drove, like I mentioned, we drove it down to Frankfurt, which is about 33 miles from where I'm at. So it was, you know, 66 miles round trip. I didn't touch the brake pedal once. I was completely using the one pedal driving and there were generative braking and.
00:21:51
Speaker
Like we've talked about, it takes a little bit to get used to it, but maybe after about the first 10 miles, like I felt like I had it down pretty well and I was able to bring the vehicle to rest and slow down and do all that kind of stuff. And it was smooth and he really couldn't tell a difference. Uh, and that I think is pretty cool knowing how that works.
00:22:10
Speaker
I mean, to me, the takeaway on it is the range is significant. The truck rides really well. It accelerates really well. There's a there's more storage than you'd get in a typical lightning. What's not what's what's not to like about that? You know, I know they're going for a premium. A lot of people are selling them over sticker. But if you take kind of that factor factor that out, there's a lot of cars, you know, gas or electric vehicles are going for more than sticker anyways.
00:22:40
Speaker
I mean, I don't see why you wouldn't get into this unless you're in that small subset of people that really needs to tow a large amount of weight for a long distance. Other than that to me, it's very easy reason to get into this, this particular truck. It really is. Yep. And I've got a reservation for the lightning. I don't have, I haven't had the offer to build an order yet, but I anticipate taking advantage of that when that time comes, obviously we're going to get the Machi here first.
00:23:10
Speaker
because that's already on order, but the lightning, when that comes, that'll be the next one. I have no doubt in my mind. Yeah, Tom, I was going to ask you if the dealer that gave you the lightning had any idea if you wanted to put a reservation in an order. What kind of timeframe were you talking about here? Did they mention anything? Do you have a guess? They didn't mention anything, but I just know from our outside reading and research that they've closed the order banks for 2022.
00:23:39
Speaker
and depending on where your reservation falls, you may not even be able to be eligible to order for 2023 because they're so backed up. They hit it a lot about supply chain issues. In fact, I got an email from Ford about the Mach-E last week just letting me know that they're having supply chain issues and that they're just going to keep us updated with emails every 45 days. Let us know that my car still isn't ready.
00:24:08
Speaker
Interesting. So all in all, guys, one, it was really cool to be together and make a few videos. And I hope people get up to our YouTube channel and check out the social media pages. And they can see some of the content we created. We'll be releasing that over the next few weeks here as that comes. Had a good time hanging out and sharing that truck with you guys. And can't wait to do the next podcast with you. Likewise. Sounds great. Thanks, guys. Have a good day.
00:24:35
Speaker
Thank you for listening to plug in for more. Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss any future episodes. In the meantime, check out the one-stop EV Marketplace, evuniverse.com. Until next time.