F150 Lightning

[vijil]

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2021/05...htning-pickup/



Image kinda says it all. 400 litre lockable frunk (so much better than putting groceries in the tray), $40,000-$90,000 per options, 230-300 miles, charge in your garage every night, run your house off it for a week if there's a powercut. Oh and has standard sockets in the frunk so you can use it for a silent generator. Kinda like a Cybertruck, but cheaper and more mainstream. Towing capacity same as any F150, but only goes about 5-10 miles with a full load per charge (I joke but I bet it's naff AF and worse if you're using a braked load, you'd need it unbraked to get the regen from its mass)

Will not ever be available in RHD countries, which sucks for me. I only hope they make one in Ranger guise. I'm sure there'll be conversions available but probably looking at minimum $100,000 NZD which I certainly wont be up for.

Photo shows people using it for camping lol. Clearly within 100 miles of a charging station. Get real, nobody does that with the camping and the things and the make believe happy life. Is that an electric BBQ? Like anyone buys those.

[Tinybear]

I really like it. I really wanted one of the powerboost hybrid models in xl trim. Went as far as contacting the dealer (who didn’t actually listen to what I wanted I may add). But just can’t justify another car when my current trucks in great shape and paid for.

[vijil]

[Mr. Hick]

GARBAGE.

I have a mountain of things to say about EV's in general, but the whole EV truck thing is straight trash. However that's all my opinion, and like tine-holes they aren't that important.

[SignOfZeta]

No matter how much money you throw at a bad idea it will always be a bad idea.

You cannot have a 9000lb truck and fuel efficiency at the same time. Gas, diesel, or electronic. You can’t do it. No, you can’t. No matter how much hard work and “genius” and capital you throw at it you cannot defeat the laws of nature. More weight means more fuel...PERIOD, ALWAYS. Any tech gains made will go massively further in something that isn’t 9000lbs. In the battle of man vs God the winner never ever changes. If you want a vehicle to be “green” then it’s simple...don’t drive something that’s 9000lbs. The very nature of driving around in something that huge is wasteful. Forever. You cannot pay a technology penance to get rid of one’s pollution.

Similarly, if you want a huge trunk then why buy a type of vehicle that is normally associated with having zero trunk at all? Talk about manufactured wants...

This is simply Ford using the electric car boom to market what is already their most profitable machine. It’s exactly what the old F-150 Lightning was, expensive, powerful, not practical, a toy for dudes with too much cash and not enough taste, very few will ever do a lick of work and many will be wrecked.

Car companies who are serious about the electric car transition have made their intentions clear and then there is this nonsense.

[Tinybear]

So your saying you can’t make something that’s inherently inefficient more efficient? That’s just incorrect.

Electric is a more efficient form of transportation. Additionally it is far superior for heavy applications.
Maximum thermal efficiency of a ICE engine is under 50% and generally nearer to 30%. Where the electric is over 80%. That means with gas your getting less than half the potential energy of the fuel you put in transformed into actual work. Where with electric your getting most of that energy back into work. Additionally. Your getting that efficiently with less complexity and fewer moving parts and thus more reliability.

The f150 lightning is not as “green” as a Tesla model 3 sure. But it’s far more green than the v8 powered truck all the while offering more power torque and less complexity. How is that a bad thing?

In time battery tech will improve range and speed of charging. Additionally cost will drop. The future like it or not is electric. And I for one will welcome the change.

And for reference I’m. A life long gear head who’s had more cars trucks and motorcycles than years on this earth. Additionally I have made my living fixing internal combustion cars and trucks for the past 20+ years.

[Cdn_Cuda]

Will be interesting to see how the range will vary with temperatures. Heat and cold aren’t friends of batteries. The best configuration for this would be if it had an onboard gas generator, also referred to as a range extender. Lots of room for one in the frunk.

It’s a good first step, but only good for running around locally without towing, which is what most people use them for. Suffers the usual problem for charging time on long distance road trips. They have no released any mileage info for towing yet, but it will not be pretty.

[vijil]

Agreed, it's very much a use- case thing. If you're using it like 90% of F150 owners, you'll be fine. Charge overnight, occasional short distance towing, mostly just dropping the kids at soccer. Great. Kinda dumb, but better than a V8.

Long haul with a fifth wheeler? Nope. Unless (and this would be cool) it's a fifth wheeler with a full solar roof and it's own regen braking, both of which help top up the truck and trailer batteries as you go to reduce the range penalty, and top up about (guess) 30 miles a day if you're in sun while also powering the trailer. But those don't exist yet. I'm sure they will.

As for EVs, here in NZ we're 80%+ renewable grid, so we don't have the coal issues you all do. Also, new batteries are something like 99% recyclable and don't contain near the amount of conflict and rare minerals they did. That and charging times are rapidly dropping close to the magic five minute mark. EVs will win in the end.

For reference, I'm a Bible thumping conservative. I still think EVs are the future. Not fool cells.