Ford Lightning (or general EV) Experiences? Looking at Buying.

[andersonjk4]

Looking at purchasing a Ford Lightning and looking for some first hand reviews. Never had an EV before, but have a 20 mile commute and will be finishing up our off-grid house this spring/summer and will have plenty of excess solar power from April-October, so charging will be essentially free for those months.  My wife only has a 2 mile commute, so we will be keeping her Expedition and I will also be keeping my F250, so we have options for road trips and backup.  Does anyone own(ed) a Lighting? 

[brew]

We have a couple at work (I work at a State agency).  They're comfy-- I'm 6'2" plus.    Instant heat  in winter but battery life is approx 180 miles.  Never towed or hauled anything heavy in them

[scotsman]

Son in law got a Lightning about 6 months ago. That thing値l sure pin yer ears back when he stomps on the right pedal. He loves it but hasn稚 put a bunch of miles on or done any towing. Send me a pm and ill get you in contact.

[jackelope]

Lightnings have been pretty good and pretty reliable. Like mentioned, they値l flat scare you when you drop the hammer. Biggest thing I値l add is the range that they say they値l get is not the range they値l actually get.  Learn about pre-conditioning to maximize battery range. Sounds like you have a very perfect world scenario to own an EV.
They will no longer producing Lightning. Going away from full ev to hybrid.

[Stein]

If you are looking at charging it both at the home and cabin, you'll either need an L1 charger for the cabin or a second L2 charger.  The L1 charger won't get you much charge unless you leave it constantly plugged in for a long time.  2 L2 chargers would be ideal.  I'm not too familiar with Fords, last I heard they give you 1 L2 plus installation. 

You can install them pretty easily yourself if you have done some electrical work.  If you hard wire the L2, you are good to go, if you use a receptacle, Google it up, most receptacles aren't designed for continuous loads and you will have problems.  I believe there are two that will work great but I don't remember the exact make and model.

[pianoman9701]

Because of the elimination of dams, nukes, and clean coal-burning plants in this state, estimates are that we'll begin having brown outs as early as the end of the year. Just make sure you have alternate transportation available. I'd be very cautious about purchasing full EV here in WA right now.

[andersonjk4]

Because of the elimination of dams, nukes, and clean coal-burning plants in this state, estimates are that we'll begin having brown outs as early as the end of the year. Just make sure you have alternate transportation available. I'd be very cautious about purchasing full EV here in WA right now.

Within the next 6 months I will be fully off-grid. We bought 90 acres 2-miles from the nearest power.  We had meetings with the power company and budgeted to bring grid power to the property, but when it came time to do the work, every aspect of the install shot up in price.  Instead of spending $90-110k to bring power in, I am putting the original power budget into solar and redundant generators.   

[andersonjk4]

Lightnings have been pretty good and pretty reliable. Like mentioned, they値l flat scare you when you drop the hammer. Biggest thing I値l add is the range that they say they値l get is not the range they値l actually get.  Learn about pre-conditioning to maximize battery range. Sounds like you have a very perfect world scenario to own an EV.
They will no longer producing Lightning. Going away from full ev to hybrid.

Thanks for the input.  From everything I have been researching, seems like they are pretty solid vehicles.  I'm definitely going to make sure I have an extended warranty though, because I have heard repair costs can be astronomical.  Range isn't much of a concern, because this will be a commuter and I only need to go 40-50 miles per day and I will have my F250 to fall back on when range is needed.  Because my power will mostly be free, "efficiency" isn't really a concern, so driving a big inefficient EV that is actually useful as a pickup is ideal.     

[andersonjk4]

If you are looking at charging it both at the home and cabin, you'll either need an L1 charger for the cabin or a second L2 charger.  The L1 charger won't get you much charge unless you leave it constantly plugged in for a long time.  2 L2 chargers would be ideal.  I'm not too familiar with Fords, last I heard they give you 1 L2 plus installation. 

You can install them pretty easily yourself if you have done some electrical work.  If you hard wire the L2, you are good to go, if you use a receptacle, Google it up, most receptacles aren't designed for continuous loads and you will have problems.  I believe there are two that will work great but I don't remember the exact make and model.

Good info.  The vehicles I'm looking at come with the Ford L2 Mobile cord, but it doesn't have any amp limiting features, so like you said, I have also looked into aftermarket options that can be adjusted to match the amperage of the outlet being connected to. 

[Stein]

I'm pretty sure you can set the max charge current, probably through the app.

[andersonjk4]

I'm pretty sure you can set the max charge current, probably through the app.

I think you are correct for the newer models.  I am looking at a 2023 used one. 

[jackelope]

Lightnings have been pretty good and pretty reliable. Like mentioned, they値l flat scare you when you drop the hammer. Biggest thing I値l add is the range that they say they値l get is not the range they値l actually get.  Learn about pre-conditioning to maximize battery range. Sounds like you have a very perfect world scenario to own an EV.
They will no longer producing Lightning. Going away from full ev to hybrid.

Thanks for the input.  From everything I have been researching, seems like they are pretty solid vehicles.  I'm definitely going to make sure I have an extended warranty though, because I have heard repair costs can be astronomical.  Range isn't much of a concern, because this will be a commuter and I only need to go 40-50 miles per day and I will have my F250 to fall back on when range is needed.  Because my power will mostly be free, "efficiency" isn't really a concern, so driving a big inefficient EV that is actually useful as a pickup is ideal.     

The problem with the "expected range" and the "actual range" is the same as the gas mileage on the monroney saying the car will get 25mpg's but it really only gets 19mpg. Those estimates are perfect world scenarios and they never come to fruition...because you have to use wipers and the heater or the AC and the radio and the seat heaters and whatever else you want to use...it all sucks the juice. You can precondition them to warm or cool the cab while they're still plugged in, defrost the windows, etc.  That will save you a bunch of range. Connect it to the FordPass app when you get it. It controls all that stuff.

[jackelope]

I'm pretty sure you can set the max charge current, probably through the app.

I think you are correct for the newer models.  I am looking at a 2023 used one. 

Pretty sure you can do that with the 2023's....not 100%. I didn't spend a lot of time learning all the in's and out's of the EV's as an advisor so I might be wrong.

[Stein]

I would be really surprised if a L2 charger was fixed for a 50A circuit.  There would be a lot of problems out there, many homes can't support a new 50A circuit and many others are using existing garage 240 V receptacles.  I ended up using an extra 40A circuit.

I even use the control when we are charging on 120, some circuits are 15 and others 20.