New EV F-150 Lightning

[81f100custom]

So anybody here got one reserved yet? What do you all think after watching some of the videos out about this new truck. Just reading through the comments seems most like it for the most part. A lot like where it states it looks like a truck because that what it is statement guessing that is toward the Tesla cyber truck. Also talks about how it can power your home up to 3 days with the 9.6kw available power and can haul up to 400 pounds in the all new Mega Frunk (where the engine used to be). Tow up to 10,000 pounds I believe it was. There are quite a few videos out there. Here are a few of them Starting a $39,947 or close to that I believe it was and up to about $90,000.

https://www.autoweek.com/news/green-cars/a36463000/ford-f-150-lightning-video/

https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/builtfordtough

 

[Jstas]

Me and my 2001 Lightning hate it.

They should have called it the "Mach T" or something else equally stupid.

The "Lightning" name already has history as a sport truck that was more than just fast in a straight line.

This feels like Ford just trying to capitalize on name recognition.

Like when that Korean company bought Advent and started rebranding Namsung garbage as Advent. Now everyone thinks Advent is bottom shelf Walmart junk and have no idea what the history behind the name actually is or what kind of pioneers they were in the loudspeaker world.

I guess it doesn't matter though. Younger kids today see my Lightning, have no idea what it is and think I'm just having a mid-life crisis or something. Until I romp on it, that is, and my taillights get real tiny real quick.

Can you still have a midlife crisis vehicle if you bought that vehicle in your 20's and have been the only owner for 20 years? Maybe it's a quarter-life crisis truck?

[FuzzFace2]

Me and my 2001 Lightning hate it.

They should have called it the "Mach T" or something else equally stupid.

The "Lightning" name already has history as a sport truck that was more than just fast in a straight line.

This feels like Ford just trying to capitalize on name recognition.

Like when that Korean company bought Advent and started rebranding Namsung garbage as Advent. Now everyone thinks Advent is bottom shelf Walmart junk and have no idea what the history behind the name actually is or what kind of pioneers they were in the loudspeaker world.

I guess it doesn't matter though. Younger kids today see my Lightning, have no idea what it is and think I'm just having a mid-life crisis or something. Until I romp on it, that is, and my taillights get real tiny real quick.

Can you still have a midlife crisis vehicle if you bought that vehicle in your 20's and have been the only owner for 20 years? Maybe it's a quarter-life crisis truck?

I did see adds on tv for it, at least it looks like a PU truck un-like the EV Mustang where they were just using the name for an ugly looking SUV thing in my book.

As for the lighting name I also though the same but can also see why because of the EV side.

Besides anyone who would buy this EV truck would they know what the first lighting's were unless they had one or were into the first ones? I dont think they do and maybe not the people at Ford that started to draw this up (to young).

I wonder how stripped down the $40K truck is and what the cost is to install a charger at your house if you can? Up north around NYC & lower CT come summer they have brown outs because the power CO. cannot keep up to power demand now put on all the EV's whats going to happen?

And if you dont think thats not a big deal, I worked at a hospital and the power Co. would tell us to cut back on power we use or go to gen set and off the power grid! Yes a hospital!

Now if the tree huggers are buying the EV's have they thought what happens when the batteries have to be replaced? I dont think so and they are worst for earth I think than gas.

Just my .02

Dave ----

[Gary Lewis]

I did see adds on tv for it, at least it looks like a PU truck un-like the EV Mustang where they were just using the name for an ugly looking SUV thing in my book.

As for the lighting name I also though the same but can also see why because of the EV side.

Besides anyone who would buy this EV truck would they know what the first lighting's were unless they had one or were into the first ones? I dont think they do and maybe not the people at Ford that started to draw this up (to young).

I wonder how stripped down the $40K truck is and what the cost is to install a charger at your house if you can? Up north around NYC & lower CT come summer they have brown outs because the power CO. cannot keep up to power demand now put on all the EV's whats going to happen?

And if you dont think thats not a big deal, I worked at a hospital and the power Co. would tell us to cut back on power we use or go to gen set and off the power grid! Yes a hospital!

Now if the tree huggers are buying the EV's have they thought what happens when the batteries have to be replaced? I dont think so and they are worst for earth I think than gas.

Just my .02

Dave ----

Personally, I think EV's are the coming thing. But, I stress COMING as I don't believe they have "arrived". I see two major problems with them at the moment for the kind of driving I tend to do, which is long trips with many days of ~600 miles/day.

The issues I see are:

• Batteries: At this point in time driving 600 miles will require at least one recharge, and that assumes that there's a recharging station at exactly the mid-point of the trip. Otherwise you'll have to recharge more than once, and recharging takes a lot of time. But, if the manufacturers were to standardize the batteries and be able to swap them out in 20 minutes for fully charged ones, that would be a game changer.

• Recharging Stations: There is no standardization of the stations nor connections to the vehicle. And until we have standardization I don't think there will be a charging station at the point in your trip where you need it.

Again, I think EV's are the coming thing. But "the system" isn't in place for my kind of driving.

[81f100custom]

Personally, I think EV's are the coming thing. But, I stress COMING as I don't believe they have "arrived". I see two major problems with them at the moment for the kind of driving I tend to do, which is long trips with many days of ~600 miles/day.

The issues I see are:

• Batteries: At this point in time driving 600 miles will require at least one recharge, and that assumes that there's a recharging station at exactly the mid-point of the trip. Otherwise you'll have to recharge more than once, and recharging takes a lot of time. But, if the manufacturers were to standardize the batteries and be able to swap them out in 20 minutes for fully charged ones, that would be a game changer.

• Recharging Stations: There is no standardization of the stations nor connections to the vehicle. And until we have standardization I don't think there will be a charging station at the point in your trip where you need it.

Again, I think EV's are the coming thing. But "the system" isn't in place for my kind of driving.

I am no engineer but why is it that we can charge batteries on our vehicle now but there is no way to incorporate that into these new EV vehicles? Is there no kind of alternator or generator that can be designed to be put on the moving part of the vehicle that would at least give some amount of charge while you are moving? Must be something I am not seeing or overlooking since I know they have some of the worlds best engineers working on them.

[Gary Lewis]

I am no engineer but why is it that we can charge batteries on our vehicle now but there is no way to incorporate that into these new EV vehicles? Is there no kind of alternator or generator that can be designed to be put on the moving part of the vehicle that would at least give some amount of charge while you are moving? Must be something I am not seeing or overlooking since I know they have some of the worlds best engineers working on them.

What you are talking about is perpetual motion - being able to charge off the motion that you currently have to keep on going. But everything has loss in it, so you cannot generate as much power as you are using.

So, let's say you put an alternator on that can crank out 130A to charge the batteries. But due to losses it'll take maybe 150A from the batteries to turn the motor to turn the alternator to generate that 130A. In other words, you lose 20A.

However, there is some "regeneration" built into many of today's EV's. When you are at speed and drop the throttle, acting like you want to slow, some actually use the motors to generate some power to put back in the batteries. And when you tap on the brakes lightly they generate more power, causing you to slow.

So while perpetual motion doesn't work due to the losses incurred, when loss is acceptable, like in braking or slowing down, they already use regeneration to charge the batteries.

[ArdWrknTrk]

I did see adds on tv for it, at least it looks like a PU truck un-like the EV Mustang where they were just using the name for an ugly looking SUV thing in my book.

As for the lighting name I also though the same but can also see why because of the EV side.

Besides anyone who would buy this EV truck would they know what the first lighting's were unless they had one or were into the first ones? I dont think they do and maybe not the people at Ford that started to draw this up (to young).

I wonder how stripped down the $40K truck is and what the cost is to install a charger at your house if you can? Up north around NYC & lower CT come summer they have brown outs because the power CO. cannot keep up to power demand now put on all the EV's whats going to happen?

And if you dont think thats not a big deal, I worked at a hospital and the power Co. would tell us to cut back on power we use or go to gen set and off the power grid! Yes a hospital!

Now if the tree huggers are buying the EV's have they thought what happens when the batteries have to be replaced? I dont think so and they are worst for earth I think than gas.

Just my .02

Dave ----

I think Ford is justified in using the Lightning brand.

They own it, and it does have history as a truck.

No one complained about Crown Victoria being used for their Panther platform fleet vehicles.

Dave, it's not only summer cooling around here.

There are plenty of times that existing energy infrastructure can't keep up.

I used to be friends with the facilities manager at SUNY Purchase, and in winter cold snaps they were often told to switch from natural gas to oil because of the tremendous volume they used.

Systems installed 50-100 years ago are not going to have a tremendous amount of headroom.

Besides, electric vehicles are most often charged overnight (when demand is lower)

But that definitely is a problem for those who don't own a home and have to park in the street.

I wouldn't be too concerned about battery life, though I'm not sure what kind of warranty Ford is offering.

New Tesla's have an eight year unlimited mile warranty (against degradation, not just failure)

75% at 400k is being reported. But that is anecdotal. Only time will tell.

And we are already seeing the rise of recovery and recycling centers for these chemistries.

Plus new (faster charging) chemistries are being developed all the time.

Maybe we have finally found a good use for graphene?

https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/05/eternally-five-years-away-no-batteries-are-improving-under-your-nose

Electric motors are WAY more efficient than Internal Combustion. And energy cost per mile is a fraction of gasoline or diesel.

Electric vehicles don't need brake service and oil/coolant changes nearly as often because there are no contaminants.

They don't need tune-ups, transmission, fuel or exhaust service at all.

Think of all the energy an ICE throws away as heat through the radiator, exhaust and brakes.

So, shocks and tires.... the same as any other vehicle I'd imagine.

 

[ArdWrknTrk]

Personally, I think EV's are the coming thing. But, I stress COMING as I don't believe they have "arrived". I see two major problems with them at the moment for the kind of driving I tend to do, which is long trips with many days of ~600 miles/day.

The issues I see are:

• Batteries: At this point in time driving 600 miles will require at least one recharge, and that assumes that there's a recharging station at exactly the mid-point of the trip. Otherwise you'll have to recharge more than once, and recharging takes a lot of time. But, if the manufacturers were to standardize the batteries and be able to swap them out in 20 minutes for fully charged ones, that would be a game changer.

• Recharging Stations: There is no standardization of the stations nor connections to the vehicle. And until we have standardization I don't think there will be a charging station at the point in your trip where you need it.

Again, I think EV's are the coming thing. But "the system" isn't in place for my kind of driving.

Gary, there is definitely standardization of chargers.

It is a mandate.

Though you have different levels of charging.

And Tesla continues to hold on to a proprietary plug in this country, that's not the case anywhere else in the world.

I can hope that CCS-2 sees universal adoption (by mandate if necessary) just like USB-C has.

Norway is over 50% electric adoption at this point. (and their winter climate isn't conductive to EV's)

I think Europe will lead in this case.

Roads, cars and distances are typically smaller.

Nations like Germany have 400v three phase to the home, so less converter losses there.

 

[Gary Lewis]

Gary, there is definitely standardization of chargers.

It is a mandate.

Though you have different levels of charging.

And Tesla continues to hold on to a proprietary plug in this country, that's not the case anywhere else in the world.

I can hope that CCS-2 sees universal adoption (by mandate if necessary) just like USB-C has.

Norway is over 50% electric adoption at this point. (and their winter climate isn't conductive to EV's)

I think Europe will lead in this case.

Roads, cars and distances are typically smaller.

Nations like Germany have 400v three phase to the home, so less converter losses there.

Jim - After you said that I did more reading and found this that I thought was helpful: Electric vehicle (EV) charging standards and how they differ.

And here are some takeaways:

• Level 1 - 110v: So if the battery capacity of your 2021 Mustang Mach-E is 88kWh, you’re looking at days to charge, not hours. Nearly 63 hours by our count.

• Level 2 - 240V: These chargers are the most common type found at public charging stations. ... So if you’re boasting around 7.7 kW max power at 240V, you can charge that Mach-E significantly quicker. 11.5 hours sounds a lot better than 63 hours, no?

• Level 3 – DC rapid/fast/super chargers: Depending on the power available, a Level 3 charger can fully replenish your EV in twenty to thirty minutes.

And then there is Tesla, which is doing its own thing.

What I didn't follow up on is how many Level 3 chargers there are and where they are placed. That would be critical.

Anyway, as said, I believe EV's are the coming thing. And apparently they are getting closer to arrival than I thought.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Jim - After you said that I did more reading and found this that I thought was helpful: Electric vehicle (EV) charging standards and how they differ.

And here are some takeaways:

• Level 1 - 110v: So if the battery capacity of your 2021 Mustang Mach-E is 88kWh, you’re looking at days to charge, not hours. Nearly 63 hours by our count.

• Level 2 - 240V: These chargers are the most common type found at public charging stations. ... So if you’re boasting around 7.7 kW max power at 240V, you can charge that Mach-E significantly quicker. 11.5 hours sounds a lot better than 63 hours, no?

• Level 3 – DC rapid/fast/super chargers: Depending on the power available, a Level 3 charger can fully replenish your EV in twenty to thirty minutes.

And then there is Tesla, which is doing its own thing.

What I didn't follow up on is how many Level 3 chargers there are and where they are placed. That would be critical.

Anyway, as said, I believe EV's are the coming thing. And apparently they are getting closer to arrival than I thought.

Tesla is 'doing it's own thing' only because they legally can in this country.

They aren't allowed a proprietary plug in Europe or Asia.

Level one is what you do with an extension cord when there is no option.

Level two is what many people do, as it's no more complicated than putting a dryer or welder outlet in your garage.

Level three is what you get if you use most public spaces around here (with the fallback to level two if your five year old Leaf won't support faster charging)

I must say the Supercharger network at every highway rest stop here in Connecticut is impressive.

At both north and southbound plazas in Darien (the one I pass every day) there is one bank of 16 in the main parking lot and another set of six or eight off on the other side of the building.

Maybe it's just that we have a lot of Tesla's driving around???

VW Electrify America is in the midst of their US charger buildout (as atonement for their diesel cheating)

There are over 600 locations and 2,600 individual fast chargers today.

I personally feel the entire Volkswagen C-suite should be behind bars.