Truck Tow Vehicle

[suke]

In my view with all the bells and whistles and electronics on the truck it is worth every penny. I added 1st day rental and enhanced rental.
So if truck is at the dealer I still have something to drive.

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That's likely what I'll be going with.

 

[HangOutdoors]

I tell you. I don't so much care about the Hybrid portion of the vehicle in general. However, I REALLY like the premise of having a 7.2kW generator on board with you if you opt for the "Pro Power Onboard" option (doesn't look like this one has it). Especially now that I've moved somewhere that gets snow that's measured in feet, and the grid takes a beating each time that happens. Would be really nice to just plug the truck into the house and keep going like normal

The Hybrid really drive quicker and snappier. Also the generator would be cool but couldn't find one.

 

[Oafy44]

The powering the house is more of a marketing tool. Are there people who have done it.yes. Does it cost a lot. Yes. You basically need an electrician / sunrun to come out and install everything, and in some states takes several months because you have to have an engineer come out and then once they deem it’s feasible they have to pull a permit.

I personally have a ford lighting for about 1.5 years with 25k on it and love it. On our lightning forum many owners talk about this set up. Some revel in the opportunity to figure it out and succeed and some are incredibly frustrated in what it takes to accomplish it. The on board generator is a legit power source and I’ve run some nice things off of it but it’s probably cheaper to just get a nice generac.

 

[HangOutdoors]

That is probably the best bet. If I do go F-150 I will probably get the Powerboost (Hybrid) I have never had a need for a portable generator but thought it would be cool idea.

 

[Oafy44]

Just remember …the power boost will hesitate slightly changing from electric to gas ….not a big deal as most/all hybrids do. My next door neighbor has one and we travel occasionally to the store /ect. He loves my lightning set up and says his truck will be a lightning. But again , if your towing more then 100 miles / or traveling over 300 - then the lightning will take some planning.

Also the hybrid f-150 isn’t a savior for gas consumption. He travels mostly city and it’s around 17 mpg with stock tires and bedcover. Still great for a truck but the ecoboost I think is around 15 in town

 

[HangOutdoors]

I drove several as I was looking and didn't see the slight hesitation. Thought about the Lightening a while ago, but it doesn't work for us especially with towing and trips. Have a friend whom has one and he is getting 3-5 more mpg than an ecoboost in suburbia. I just liked it and also there was additional incentive for one here in Michigan.

 

[Oafy44]

I’m not saying the powerboost isn’t a good set up. They will sell a ton of them. Ford is pumping a lot of money into that platform.

 

[2kwik4u]

The powering the house is more of a marketing tool. Are there people who have done it.yes. Does it cost a lot. Yes. You basically need an electrician / sunrun to come out and install everything, and in some states takes several months because you have to have an engineer come out and then once they deem it’s feasible they have to pull a permit.

I personally have a ford lighting for about 1.5 years with 25k on it and love it. On our lightning forum many owners talk about this set up. Some revel in the opportunity to figure it out and succeed and some are incredibly frustrated in what it takes to accomplish it. The on board generator is a legit power source and I’ve run some nice things off of it but it’s probably cheaper to just get a nice generac.

Gotta think a Gnerac will require the same planning/installation/etc headaches.

With that said, I helped my Aunt put in a manual transfer switch for a generator plug in. Was really quite easy and was only around $500 all in from the electrician. Granted, that's a KY installation and might be far less complicated than a CA/NY/FL installation where codes/costs are much more stringent.

 

[BlkGS]

Gotta think a Gnerac will require the same planning/installation/etc headaches.

With that said, I helped my Aunt put in a manual transfer switch for a generator plug in. Was really quite easy and was only around $500 all in from the electrician. Granted, that's a KY installation and might be far less complicated than a CA/NY/FL installation where codes/costs are much more stringent.

They're kind of a pain in the ass dealing with the utility here. I've often thought about doing it, what I would REALLY want to do is a solar roof and battery storage, but that's ungodly expensive, with no real chance of a payback on it.

Truth be told, they keep moving more and more power lines underground here, power outages are kinda becoming something you prepare for but don't really see. We haven't lost power in our neighborhood in the 4 years we've been here. We have a gas generator that we just basically test every year. If we were to lose power, it'd probably mean the big one hit, and even as far inland as we are, we would probably bail out.

 

[2kwik4u]

They're kind of a pain in the ass dealing with the utility here. I've often thought about doing it, what I would REALLY want to do is a solar roof and battery storage, but that's ungodly expensive, with no real chance of a payback on it.

Truth be told, they keep moving more and more power lines underground here, power outages are kinda becoming something you prepare for but don't really see. We haven't lost power in our neighborhood in the 4 years we've been here. We have a gas generator that we just basically test every year. If we were to lose power, it'd probably mean the big one hit, and even as far inland as we are, we would probably bail out.

Situation is a little different up here. Lots of exposed lines, and lots of heavy snowfall. Just "old" infrastructure and old trees/etc to contend with.

Heck, the first week I was up here, the Airbnb house had a power failure that lasted ~10hrs.

With that said, everything is natural gas powered except the fridge. I really just need to run the fridge, and the electronics and blower on the furnace, and the electronics on the water heater. With a generator, I could likely just string a bunch of extension cords into the house and be like 99% back up, even without a whole home transfer switch.

 

[suke]

What a wild couple days this has been. This thing is nuts. Also kinda wild a 70k truck doesn't have leather. Oh well it'll get katzkins like my other truck had. Also I found out the 2023+ 5.0 now have Ford's version of cylinder deactivation. So if I would have gotten new that probably could have had similar issues to the GM/Ram trucks. Like we've said before in this thread they're all basically trash. Mechanic buddy of mine who I thought was a Nissan fan as he had a frontier said the trans are just as bad if not worse than the fords. Gat dang! Can't win now a days.

 

[BlkGS]

Yeah, I forgot about the coyote coming with cylinder deactivation now. You really can't win on reliability anymore, the EPA and CAFE have ensured that.

A conspiracy theorist would say it's part of the plan. Make ICE so expensive and unreliable you're forced to switch to EV indirectly.

 

[suke]

This truck is the literal definition of excess. Honestly my last XLT was probably the perfect amount of tech. I'm going to be spoiled with this dang thing.

 

[2kwik4u]

A conspiracy theorist would say it's part of the plan. Make ICE so expensive and unreliable you're forced to switch to EV indirectly.

Of all the things to have a conspiracy about......that one doesn't pass the sniff test for me. I don't think all conspiracies are false, but I think most of them are. Plus the engineer and businessman in me won't let that one through.

Anywho.......I fell asleep on the couch last night, and woke up to videos about the Lightning charging with Tesla charging stations. If that's happening, and the Tesla network is really that great, I can see that easing a lot of woes along the way. Still don't think I'll get one, but who knows, the discounts are HUGE on them right now. I'm seeing Reddit threads every other day or so with sales orders in the mid-low $50k range for ER Lariats. It's an acceptable deal at that level. $80k, not so much, but $55k and I'll give it another look.

 

[BlkGS]

Of all the things to have a conspiracy about......that one doesn't pass the sniff test for me. I don't think all conspiracies are false, but I think most of them are. Plus the engineer and businessman in me won't let that one through.

Anywho.......I fell asleep on the couch last night, and woke up to videos about the Lightning charging with Tesla charging stations. If that's happening, and the Tesla network is really that great, I can see that easing a lot of woes along the way. Still don't think I'll get one, but who knows, the discounts are HUGE on them right now. I'm seeing Reddit threads every other day or so with sales orders in the mid-low $50k range for ER Lariats. It's an acceptable deal at that level. $80k, not so much, but $55k and I'll give it another look.

Honestly the only way Lightning makes any sense is if it's substantially cheaper than the regular f150, because it's substantially less useful. The ER is 300ish miles of range getting best case, so 150 towing. Any f150 you buy with the 36 gallon tank will do 700+ miles on a tank normally, so more like 350-400 towing.

The other problems with lightning is the interior is garbage vs the regular trucks, the brakes are woefully inadequate, they're new trucks that look like last gen trucks, and the resale is (predictably for an EV) crap.


Regarding the conspiracy theory... I tend to agree. But on the flip side, my recent experience with lawn equipment makes me consider it semi feasible. If you go to buy a mower, a basic self propelled model is $500 now. That's a bare bones, probably last you 3 years one. They'll have probably 3-4 gas mowers at the store, a $300 push one, the $500 self propelled, and then a really expensive one or two that I dunno who buys them. They'll have a whole section of electric ones, like 4-5 brands with multiple models each. You can get one that's top of the line with batteries and charger for $750-800, or one that's really close for $500-600 with batteries and chargers. And then you're in an ecosystem where you can get more tools for cheaper than you could get a gas version, and you can get bare tools way cheaper. You've got to have a very unique use case to need a gas mower, or be a real curmudgeon. The same isn't true for cars though, you have to have a unique situation for an EV only vehicle to work. It's not a big deal to slap a new battery in to finish mowing or edging, less so to slap a new battery in on a road trip.

 

[zpaul]

The prices are sure getting there.
$49K or $63k. Pretty nice discounts for Lightning.
Still worried about long trips and towing on long trips.
Per Lightning forum Ford is still going through initial Tesla problems like buggy software, difficulties to make appointments to fix minor stuff, "yes, we know it, the fix is coming", people report that software updates have similar effects of installing Windows updates - the interface slows down.

 

[zpaul]

Even Tesla Model 3 costs more


Loaded to the max

 

[HangOutdoors]

Still I can't justify a 150 mile range on my tow vehicle. Not going to break up my trips for stopping and charging. If it could crack 300 or there abouts, that would be great. Also some the charging stations I have seen in areas where we boat, just are not set up conveniently to get into charging with a boat in tow.

I really want to like it and the price point is getting in line, it just won't fit yet.

 

[zpaul]

Still I can't justify a 150 mile range on my tow vehicle. Not going to break up my trips for stopping and charging. If it could crack 300 or there abouts, that would be great. Also some the charging stations I have seen in areas where we boat, just are not set up conveniently to get into charging with a boat in tow.

I really want to like it and the price point is getting in line, it just won't fit yet.

Works only for local driving to Home Depot or towing to local ramp.
No way I will try to go on a long trip unless I am fine getting there a week later

 

[Oafy44]

Honestly the only way Lightning makes any sense is if it's substantially cheaper than the regular f150, because it's substantially less useful. The ER is 300ish miles of range getting best case, so 150 towing. Any f150 you buy with the 36 gallon tank will do 700+ miles on a tank normally, so more like 350-400 towing.

The other problems with lightning is the interior is garbage vs the regular trucks, the brakes are woefully inadequate, they're new trucks that look like last gen trucks, and the resale is (predictably for an EV) crap.


Regarding the conspiracy theory... I tend to agree. But on the flip side, my recent experience with lawn equipment makes me consider it semi feasible. If you go to buy a mower, a basic self propelled model is $500 now. That's a bare bones, probably last you 3 years one. They'll have probably 3-4 gas mowers at the store, a $300 push one, the $500 self propelled, and then a really expensive one or two that I dunno who buys them. They'll have a whole section of electric ones, like 4-5 brands with multiple models each. You can get one that's top of the line with batteries and charger for $750-800, or one that's really close for $500-600 with batteries and chargers. And then you're in an ecosystem where you can get more tools for cheaper than you could get a gas version, and you can get bare tools way cheaper. You've got to have a very unique use case to need a gas mower, or be a real curmudgeon. The same isn't true for cars though, you have to have a unique situation for an EV only vehicle to work. It's not a big deal to slap a new battery in to finish mowing or edging, less so to slap a new battery in on a road trip.

My lightning brakes are great. And I have a lift / big tires. Remember 1- pedal driving makes a big difference.

Interior isn’t bad at all but does lack options of color pallet.

Agree with price but I think it all depends on how much you drive. If you are driving 100-200 miles a day checking up on jobs ect - charging at home for $3.50 is a no brainer if it’s anywhere close to the same price as ICE

where it doesn’t make sense is $20k more than ICE AND you charge outside of your home.


it truly is a great platform. I also like how it isnt flashy and just looks like a regular truck for the most part. And it floats on air vs a regular f-150

not trying to sell anyone on one- I also drive a big f-350 around so those have their benefits as well.