⚡️🔋Current Events 1/23/22: Lightning Has Struck (Redux)
Re-examining the aftershock of the Ford F-150 Lightning, updated for January, 2022.
If this is a dream, don’t wake me up. In May 2021, Ford, the multi-decade kingmaker of the entire US auto market, finally unveiled their response to the futurist upstart we all know as Tesla and their Blade Runner-esque Cybertruck. While that truck was by intention NOT for everyone, Ford opted for a time-tested approach to the vital question, “What makes a great electric pickup truck?” Enter the F-150 Lightning - a familiar behemoth designed for maximum electric utility.
Ford knows their customers well, and it shows with this vehicle. On paper, it seems like an excellent option for a wide range of folks looking for a great car and a more discrete transition to electric transport. In person, it looks staggeringly large and downright glorious.
As of December 2021, Ford had received over 200,000 pre-order reservations for the all-electric truck. In response to such intense demand, Jim Farley, CEO of Ford Motors, announced he had doubled production targets not once but twice; going from 40,000 to 80,000, then to 160,000 trucks built per year by 2023! That’s a statement and a half from the classic OEM. Since I’m (still) yet to drive this vehicle - despite getting a rare chance to see it during the 2021 Chicago Auto Show - the following can be considered my thoughts on its unveiling updated with more recent announcements from Ford along with what I gleaned from the show. Let’s jump in.
From first glance, it’s clear that Ford’s engineers have targeted seamlessly converting their customer’s favorite truck to an electric drivetrain without producing an aesthetic that too quickly becomes a public statement. While competitors beg for attention with provocative designs, the brilliant white light bar adorning the front of this truck proudly lets onlookers know this thing is both as serious as its brethren and built for the future. The Lightning comes in four trim levels, with Platinum being the highest and the most affordable “Pro" trim designed for commercial and government buyers. The vehicle standing prominently before us at the auto show was a fine example of the mid-level Lariat variant adorned in Ford’s energetic Atlas Blue color selection.
This vehicle's overall design will greet previous Ford customers like an old friend. From afar, the Atlas Blue seems deep and almost solid, but, as you approach close enough to put anything in the bed, suddenly, its blue metallic shines like a shallow sea on a clear summer day. In a design choice that surprised absolutely no one, the lines and window frames of the truck are absolutely indistinguishable from the gasoline-powered predecessor. The side profile stretches far with a length of 232.7 inches from tip to tail and a ground clearance of 8.9 inches. The charge port is available to owners directly ahead of the driver's door. This positioning alone means that Ford customers will be pulling into charging spaces going frunk first.
The black spackled bed of the truck features two driver-side 120v outlets and a 240v outlet for higher power tools. While the utility power is available from seemingly dozens of places around the truck, it does not feature an onboard air compressor, a feature offered by a few notable competitors. There are four standard anchor points for tying down cargo positioned around the bed.
Interestingly, the Extended Range Battery Option’s bed is rated to hold up to 1800 pounds max payload, whereas the Standard Range owners will benefit from the possibility of adding another 200 pounds for a full 2000 of max load. This difference is likely due to the extra battery pack weight of the higher range variant. I guess Ford can call it a unique case of getting slightly more functionality out of the more affordable car. Quite literally, that’s an extra person that can jump into the bed of the truck to get to the beach.
The wheels are possibly the most subtle part of the exterior. The shape is an aerodynamically beveled design that Ford will offer in 18, 20, and 22-inch sizes. The tire profile on the Hankook all-season tires adorning the truck at the show appeared to be 20-inch wheels, but much uncertainty remains.
Now onto the preposterous maw that is the “frunk” or the front trunk, a typical EV feature. The Lightning’s frunk is just plain huge at 14.1 cubic feet, supports a max of 400 pounds of cargo, and represents exactly the type of design that will make people fall in love with EVs even more. It opens on its own, has enough storage for two full-size golf bags, ample lighting, includes a few 120v outlets, and encompasses nearly all the physical space under the hood.
The inner tub is weather-sealed, insulated, and – this is my favorite detail – contains a water-release valve at the bottom, allowing it to be filled with ice and used as a cooler for beach days or trips from a farmers market. Whether you’re going fishing, to a barbecue with family, or taking your bounty from the wilds to the kitchen, you will find something to love underneath the hood of this truck.
Moving on to the interior, Ford’s deep experience with pickup customers plays a key role in their decision-making. The best example? There is a button at the top of the gear shift that folds the gear handle down flat. Once it’s folded, the armrest in the center is able to unfold toward the dash to produce a large, solid countertop where work computers and papers can be laid for productive office time even while on site or charging on the go.
On the dashboard, there is a 120v and 12v output available for charging any device. While this may all sound a bit redundant to long-time truck owners, for Ford novices like myself, it’s heart-warming to see brilliant features that make life easier for EV owners at their charging stops and worksites. Well done, Ford.
The screen interface of the Lariat – the same one as in its Mustang-branded cousin, the Mach-E – is pretty simple. It can navigate customers easily to nearby charging stations whenever the system senses the need and even has an intuitive On-Board Scale feature that tells drivers the exact weight of the payload and how it will affect range. It’s a perfect tool for commercial users that want to speed up their workflow. It allows the user to accurately measure their payload’s weight right from the cabin while getting a better estimate on their available range accounting for the added weight.
In terms of its announced performance, to call this vehicle uncompromising isn’t enough. This truck exceeds nearly all the performance standards of even the Raptor variant. It has an independent rear suspension with 4-wheel drive via two independent motors. The over 425 horsepower of this truck is almost excessive for its starting price point of around $39,900. The Platinum version boasts an acceleration that takes it from zero to sixty miles an hour in a preposterous 4.5 seconds.
F-150 Lightning has its battery pack sitting with at the bottom of the truck. This translates to huge reductions in roll-over risk for everyday drivers, even at the most harrowing high-speed turns. Physics does not lie. Driving this truck might be the most fun anyone has ever had in an F-150.
To wrap up the positives, let’s turn to the Vehicle-to-Home capability that comes with the Extended Range battery selection. Ford calls it Pro Power Onboard. By adding an extra inverter into the truck, Ford has allowed owners to use their vehicle as a massive power storage unit for their homes or work sites. If your area experiences a blackout, F-150 Lightning gives customers the capability to deliver 9.6 kW of power from its battery pack back into their house. That’s more than enough power for keeping the basics going for long stretches of time in any emergency blackout situation. This is, of course, dependent on the family’s definition of “basics” as well as on the efficiency of their appliances and devices, so results may vary.
For reference, an average fridge takes 350 to 780 watts to power, while a space heater takes roughly 1.5 kilowatts. Ford has noticed the increasing issues with grid resilience like what was experienced by our neighbors in Texas in February, 2021 and has also clearly been listening to the wish lists of current EV owners begging for this capability. This truck wasn’t just made for transporting material and thrills on the way to work – it’s a mobile power plant that gets work done.
With the good stuff out of the way, let’s consider the things that Ford could improve. The most pressing issue I had mentioned with the truck’s initial unveiling back in May was the lack of information on the total capacity of the battery pack. I stated that usually sparse battery details were a big red flag for EV presentations in the current age. When customers buy an electric car, what are they really paying for?
Since the most expensive component, the battery, can account for up to half the cost of the vehicle, potential customers have to understand some key metrics to determine whether an EV is truly good value for money or if it is simply an expensive stereo that can transport them a few miles quickly without directly polluting the environment (not the worst idea for a Kickstarter, to be fair). One of the considerations should be the dollars you will spend per kWh of energy capacity (price per kWh). Another less simple but useful metric would be the overall energy efficiency of the drivetrain itself (watt-hours per mile driven). For the scientifically-minded, you could even look deeper and consider things like the amount of energy held per unit of volume or per unit of weight of the battery pack (volumetric and gravimetric energy density, respectively). An accurate estimate for those would require very precise specs about the pack itself.
After nearly 7 months of speculation on this topic, last December a Ford spokesperson somewhat cleared up part of the mystery. Ford would offer a 98.0 kWh Standard Range pack and a massive 131.0 kWh Extended Range pack. Ford claims that the F-150 Lightning will provide up to 300 miles of range with the Extended Range battery and 230 miles with the Standard Range. Still, no information is available about the weight, mass, and volume of the vehicle. For cost reference, the Extended Range battery option would start at a minimum of $74,169 MSRP from your local Ford Dealer.
A quick back of napkin cost calculation would indicate that based on this capacity an Extended Range customer would be paying about $566.18/kWh at the vehicle level. For quick comparison, the Tesla Cybertruck would possess a comparatively low cost of $311.07/kWh if their specs and pricing targets are hold true when production begins. It may be the case that Ford has some serious catching up to do.
Moving on to this vehicle’s charging capabilities. Ford states that at its fastest charge power of 150 kW, it will take roughly 45 minutes to get from 15% to 80% charge. Notably, there is a difference between the gross capacity of the pack and the car’s net, or usable, capacity. In other words, 131 kilowatt-hours is the pack’s gross capacity, but less energy may actually be available for the car to use for propulsion. For the sake of simplicity in the calculation, let’s continue using the stated capacity of 131 kWh.
The F-150’s announced capacity of 131 kilowatt-hours implies that between 15% and 80%, a customer would receive 85.15 kilowatt-hours in 45 minutes, which extrapolates to a charging speed of 113.53 kilowatt-hours per hour of charging. Dividing out the time unit leaves us with an average charge power of 113.53 kilowatts per hour across the charge window, significantly less than the 150-kilowatt max charging power that Ford advertises for the truck. Customers should be aware that a max charging power does not mean the car will be accepting that power all the time. Depending on the vehicle and available chargers, you may never reach that charging power at any point during your ownership, and the automakers need to be clear about this. Ford needs to improve its vehicles’ charging capabilities. Customers will certainly demand it.
In spite of the charging characteristics, this vehicle is still highly useful for customers that do a few long-distance trips with no rush and regular short-distance commuters that happen to like trucks and have a garage to charge it. It will, without question, be saving them thousands of dollars per year in fuel and maintenance costs compared to the experience with an ICE truck. However, for a 2022-launched electric truck with such a massive battery, higher starting price, and aiming to lead in sales, the F-150 Lightning’s charging capability is simply not good enough.
While fast charging isn’t necessary for everyone, if this vehicle competes with the largest class of pickup trucks, having low charging power and no proprietary charging network will be a significant obstacle for adoption. Not to mention towing at max capacity, which will usually cut your range in half as a rule of thumb. Since 250 kW charging is already available at many charging stations around the country for smaller vehicles, there is no technological excuse for this limitation. Hopefully, this issue will be resolved in further design iterations as Ford continues investing in and improving its EV manufacturing capabilities. But as Zen Master often likes to say, “We’ll see.”
And so… I’m still without a verdict. The Ford F-150 Lightning is a beautiful truck that has more than enough range for a vast majority of drivers even at its lowest range. It comes packed with convenience features that show it’s not just Silicon Valley that can produce a user experience that enhances a customer's life. Nonetheless, I still remain without a test drive and somewhat underwhelmed by some of the more crucial EV specs that have been revealed. I hope that once I finally get a demo my expectations are thoroughly shattered. Building a great experience is about more than targeting crazy numbers on paper.
So what do you folks think? Is the F-150 Lightning convincing you to switch to electric? Given the updates regarding specs and production, do you think it will deliver the smackdown that the folks unimpressed by the Cybertruck have been looking for? Only torque will tell! Stay tuned for the next Ronin Dispatch.
Many thanks and stay safe,
Renato
Renato A. Amboss is the Founder and First Pilot of Ronin EV. The thoughts and opinions expressed here are his own. None of the views expressed are intended as investment advice of any kind and should not be taken as such. Cars are not investments, but we would love to show you what electric ones can do! Have a lovely day!