Driving the new Ford Lightning in the cold (5 degrees) was a disappointment and many surprises. All my cameras have lithium Ion batteries. Yes, not as good in the cold, my camera’s had the same problem as Lightning. I attach at lease one camera outside to shoot trucks driving thru the mountains. This time the GoPro action camera would not stay on in the cold so I had to attach it inside the Lighting’s window. This truck even with it’s optional extended range battery in this Ford F150 Lightning Platinum ($93,000) got less than 1/2 the miles on the road than it’s rated for. I knew I couldn’t tow a trailer in the cold from other reviews of the Lightning’s range. I charged the Lighting 3 times in Greeley. The high speed charging stations would still take almost an hour to charge. Luckily 3 charging stations there at a Village Inn in Greeley. Since you can’t run the Lightning while charging, I couldn’t set in the truck and at 5 degrees I naturally went to Village Inn for pie and coffee. So add that cost to the Lightning and much to my surprise, I also had to pay a parking fee while charging the Lightning to whomever owned the parking lot. Where the chargers were located. The good thing about this particular charging station was I could park there with a trailer attached. Most charging stations are made for cars and a trailer would block 3 or 4 stations. Imagine driving a couple hundred miles, stop to charge for a hour, and not be towing a trailer. In town, this could work, but not towing trailers over 100-200 miles.
Fun to drive the Ford Lightning, it’s scary fast. Very scary, like being in a dragster. Top model Platinum came with all the options, it can weigh the trucks payload, tongue weight and help adjust a weight distribution hitch if you know the trailer weight. And it’s very quite. The Frunk, up front trunk is it good place to store things out of the weather. Up Rockies, at Poudre Canyon, was fun handling great with the 4 corner independent suspension with rear coils. Of course with a $93k MSRP, all the high-end features with a 15.5 center tough screen, all wheel drive, with rear differential locker. Yes it will charge your house in a storm, maybe not if it’s real cold. And after you charge the house how to you charge the truck. I would suggest lightly apply gas pedal, this Ford wants to run, even had one pedal drive, but not sure I would take it off-road. The warmer it got in December, the more miles per kilo watt hour it got. After charging 3 times without a trailer, this truck cost more to drive than a gas truck with a trailer on the same route. I know it would be different in July. Which is the only way to review this “not ready for prime time” EV. There’s hope, need more powerful batteries, need more inferstructure and it could be a real option.
