This has got to be one of the best reviews I’ve seen.

I also have a 2023 Ford Lightning Lariat, it is antimatter blue, and I have put a little over 17,000 miles on the truck since July when I bought it. I absolutely love the truck, I traded in a Model Y , I really liked, but needed a truck for work. I am amazed at how well the truck drives, I think it drives a little better than the Model Y, I hated to give up the Tesla, but I haven’t lost a thing in comfort with the Lightning. I also had an issue with my tires wearing on the edge, the dealer said my truck was out of alignment, I had snow tires put on the truck for winter since I am in New Hampshire, The tires haven’t shown any wear at all at 7000 miles, my factory Hankook tires shows wear on the edge at 10,000 miles. I did not get the truck aligned as the dealer suggested since I saw no signs of misalignment while driving. I wasn’t aware of the improper tire pressure on the trucks. Thanks for informing us of that.

This is a breath of fresh air from all the vitriol out there on these machines Just placed my order for 2024 antimatter blue lariat Very excited!

No bad turbos, no bad transmissions, no bad transfer cases, far easier check outs as simply put far less to check out very impressive first start for what is a first of its kind battery electric full size truck market for Ford, Rivian and now Tesla. Lots of improvements now no doubt en route so be interesting to see if at one point you decide to trade and upgrade how that experience plays out as now there really are choices big time. As far as towing i think for short hauls under 100 miles this a game changer.

Great reveiw👍👍👍👍♥️♥️♥️♥️ I just bought a 2023 Ford F-150 lightning Lariat and absolutely love it best truck I've ever owned, I too would buy another one again no questions asked.

Was at the dealership today and have been watching/reading reviews for months. This is the best video by far. I think I will got one and even post a video on my channel about how to wire the charger. Thank you!!!

Finally someone with sense thank you! I love my lighting

got a lightning 2months ago, absolutely love it. ICE owners need to understand that. EV owners love these vehicles because they drive awesome and are super smooth, not because we are saving money on gas or they are 'environmentally friendly' or lack of maintenance, all that stuff is great but it that's not why the majority of EV buyers buy them, it's because they simply drive WAY better. The whole waiting to charge is such a stupid argument from ICE owner that don't know anything, 99.999% of your charging will be at home, you'll wake up with a 'full tank' every morning. yeah, if you take a trip you might have to spend a few extra min at a charging station...but that's what, 1-4 times per year ? it's not even an argument. Anyways, at the end of the day, too each their own, love the vehicle you have, whether it's EV or ICE, I love mine, and I know every Ford Lightning owners love theirs.

Fantastic review! Thanks for making it

Before I retired,I was a TV broadcast engineer. I really enjoyed your point of view.

Thanks for a great review on your Lightning. Well done Mike. Regards, Lindsay

I really enjoyed this video. Great video

You deserve more subscribers! Great detailed video

One of the best reviews, really got me thinking on the Lightning.

I like the useful information, and I really like that you’re living in Colorado Springs and wearing a Dallas Cowboys cap.

Just picked up a 23 lariat er and love it. Also, love seeing the Springs behind you. I live very close to i25 and GOG

Hi Mike, thanks for the review. I'm pretty sure I've seen you on the highway, I also live in Colorado Springs and have a 23 Lariat antimatter blue standard range. I bought it in November and love it so far, I've only charged at a fast charger twice and it was at the phil long chapel hills dealer. The rest of my charging has been at home.

Great video! I’m picking up my brand new XLT antimatter blue lightning this week!

We have one with nearly 20k mi and we love it as well. Great review!

Great review man. I have a 2021 Ford Maverick and it’s awesome. I graduate this semester and have a job lined up where their office has 8 free ChargePoint chargers to use for their employees (and there’s only 2 Teslas taking advantage of it). I’m really tempted to get a F150 Lightning as a graduation present and your videos have been a tremendous help. I still live at home with my parents, can install a charger at home, and help take over all their bills soon after I start working. I still want a truck and for my commute a F150 Lightning makes sense to me. My little sister turns 16 in September too so I can give her my Maverick.

Thank you for your review Mike. I love my lightning lariat ER black. It’s comfortable and perfect for my needs. Finally something nice about the lighting.

Loved this review! I do video production as well and have always wanted more reviews from people who do too bc the Lightning seems to be perfect for that profession. I'd love to see what a load-in or load out looks like using the lightening! Thanks for posting this

Thank you for this review. I just bought a 2023 XLT Lightning extended range, and so far, I'm loving it. It's a solid truck. I test drove several trucks, including the gas version of the F-150, but nothing compared. I did lots of research and watched several videos from people who tested them. It just made the most sense for me.

Great review man. I have a 23 Lariet as well. It is so much fun to drive and looks even better. Absolutely in love with its I’m glad everyone is enjoying them too!

Hi Mike - Great review! I also have a 2023 Lariat ER in Antimatter Blue (and I also do not have the camera washers 😢 ). I just crossed a year as well on 1/6/2024 with 31,000 miles - no regrets and the truck has been phenomenal. I wish I had tracked the “fuel” as closely as you did but I believe I’m in the same range as you, for October we racked up 3,300 miles - only charging from the home Ford Charger Station Pro at 5 cents a KWh and the cost was about $120 for the month. Build quality as you mentioned is great - no rattles, no “panel gap” issues - the truck is the smoothest, fastest and quietest vehicle I have ever owned. It rides like a luxury sedan, accelerates like a super car and tows and hauls like a truck. My daughter rides horses and when our barn hosts the 4H horse show - it’s all powered from the ProPower Onboard - no more running 300’ extension cords from the barn to the arena. I also have not towed yet with it but I have zero doubt it would handle the horse trailers for our local shows without issues - but long hauls may be less desirable - but doable - as several people on our NE Lightning Club can attest since they haul 36’ campers all over with them. I also did not initially have the heated steering wheel - they took it off the price when I purchased - but then when the parts were available they notified me and we scheduled the install when they replaced the rear light bar (my light bar was not showing any signs of a leak but they replaced anyway) and that cost me nothing. I brought it in for all three of the 10,000 mile services where they rotate tires and checked the brakes (which I rarely use), CV boots etc. I chose to pay $78 for a wheel balance and $250 for a 4 wheel alignment when I noticed a bit of wear on the outside edges so all in for maintenance for me was $328. Our first trip in the truck was from SE PA to West Palm Beach, FL - had no issues finding chargers - some sites had a dispenser with issues but never once was close to stranded or ever concerned and the 30-40 min break time was needed. Since then we’ve done trips to VA, NY, OH, MI - again - no issues on road trips. Negatives - From July to about September the on-board modem was having strange connectivity issues - I mentioned some of these on the Forums (which Ford Model E Engineering monitors) and they reached out to me and I was able to install some remote diag tokens for their team and within a month they figured out what the root cause was, deployed to my truck and advised they used my experience to correct code for other customers and prevent it from happening going forward. Other than that - the only other negative was the skid plates seem to collect a LOT of snow which is not a bad thing unless you park it in the garage like I do - lol. My next long haul with be to drive out to the Chicago Auto Show to meet our fellow club members from the MidWest Lightning Club and Ford at the show. Watching the weather closely but if it’s good I should be there!

Love the Lightning. Great video, maybe slightly over-edited, for example regarding tire pressure. It was stated the recommended 36 psi apparently contributed to wear on the edges of tires. What psi was it changed to? Was the ride negatively impacted? Did it seem to stop the excessive tire wear? Perhaps specific guidance is a liability issue. Very informative video overall.

I almost bought one after finding some around $10,000 under msrp at local dealerships, but I live in CA and am getting charged $0.48-$0.51 kWh for energy use at home, so the savings just weren’t enough for me at this point. Ended up going with a 23 PB which I love so far.

Eine sehr schöne Vorstellung des F150😊 mir gefällt der Wagen auch sehr gut.

I really wanted a lightening and had a preorder. But the dealers were jacking up the price with market adjustments. I ended up buying a Rivian R1t and I have no regrets

For someone who’s been in the Tesla camp could you expand on what you meant that the lariat current pricing can be at or equal to the gas versions? I haven’t contacted dealers yet but want to do a test drive and have heard there are enough of the lightings on the lot wheee they’re generally trying to make deals. Lovely truck, excellent review, really like it!

I got almost 33k. Use it for hauling construction materials & large furniture, Runs Amazing. I love it. Max load I did is 2000 lb and hauling doesn’t effect the range. Game changer.

I have had mine a year. About 12k on it. And have taken a few trips. Blue cruise is such a game changer for long drives and its super quite inside. No issues yet and i also just got the heated steering wheel a few weeks back. I dig it

Just bought a BRAND NEW 2022 Lariat Std battery for $51k, nearly $25k off MSRP. Love the deal, love the truck

Nice video- good information. I almost bought a Lightning a few months ago but got anxious about the road trip range in winter? Heard some bad experiences of people running out of range due to cold temps and headwinds and then being stuck at chargers for a long time. Do you have any experience with this? I would love a lighting but can’t get past the winter road trip range shortfall? Thanks for your input.

All the videos are great I did try to buy one but the dealer was manipulating the price as we were going with the sale when they just came out so I back out and really making the deal difficult for me I'll give it another chance later this year 😅

I been wanting this truck but I’m afraid of running out of juice. That the price might just shock me. So I’ll be putting this on my next car list!

Hi Mike, thanks for your insight on your Lightning! I also own a 2023 Lightning since September and am loving it. One thing that bothers me and you all might have the same issue. When a single sensor fails the vehicle will not start. I had a "Pedestrian Sensor Failure" notice come up and the truck would not operate. I think for a simple sensor failure there should be an override feature allowing the driver to still use the truck. I had to get the truck towed to the dealer to fix. I've owned many F-150's without a "Pedestrian Sensor", and never hit one. Don't treat the drivers like children and let us choose what sensors should disable the vehicle. BTW, I Like your hard top where did you purchase it?

You rock. Rather, really appreciate it, wish there was a 2nd gen coming in 2025 but I don’t think there will be.

I love my lightning. I only use it locally and only charge at home. I'm just starting to charge from my solar system. But even off the grid, I only pay $.08/kwh in winter and $.12/kwh in summer. Not many talk about this, but I connect my bed 240 volt receptical to a generator receptical located on my main service power panel and run all the essentials in my home for several days. It's also nice having a gas free nearly a 10k generator wherever you go

Hey! Im also a Sienna/Lightning Lariat owner. Good combo for families!

Nice review. I’m very interested in an electric truck. Currently I drive a 2019 Ram 1500 Laramie and I love it but really need a bit more towing capacity. I’d consider getting your truck but I don’t think it would meet my needs with my specific camping trip. It’s about 200 miles in October in Michigan. I’d really like to try it in your truck. I just think my usual 4 hours would be much longer or I’d get stranded. The range would probably by at put in half towing my trailer.

I think an umbrella should be standard equipment for EVs. I would also suggest Plug Share to look at your charging route options.

Great video Mike! Got my '23 Lariat last month and am absolutely loving it.

In Denver, I got 1.8 mi/kWh over the winter. You must be almost 100% city driving.

Enjoyed the honest review. My son calls the exhaust window the "Fart" window. I think he is a little more on the nose. LOL.

The storage space is the big advantage of this vehicle. I’ve taken it on family vacations with the beach stuff in the back and luggage in the front. If you plan your trip, charging is no big deal - I have to stop every couple of hours with the kids anyway! Still loving my 2022 Platinum after a year and a half - I know the resale will be lousy but I plan to keep it until it’s dead.

Thanks for the video Mike! I've been watching your videos for a while even though I've had a Lightening Lariet since June. Best truck ever hands down. I live near COS up in Park County and the Lightening takes the trip to the springs or Denver several times a month. The range is great. I'll mention it does fantastic in the mountains going up and down highway 24. It does excellent in the deep snows we have on unplowed roads, and is great when you set the depart times and the truck is nice and warm when it's 0 degrees outside. I travel 30 miles of dirt roads in my trips to and from the Springs, and it is very smooth on dirt and wash board roads. As compared to an ICE vehicle with 4 wheel drive, the Lightening is so much better in the ice, snow, and mud. I charge off the excess power from my solar panels so my charging power is free and I still sell several hundred kilowatts back to the grid each month. Saves huge amounts of money compared to gas trucks I've owned. These trucks are just the best. Thanks for the great content and reviews!

This was a great review. Only one thing missing, Insurance costs.

I have been looking at these in the long-range version the thing I don't understand is the trucks I have seen have a stated range of 134 miles on the dash guage at 55 percent battery that is only 243 miles total range. This was on the Lariat trim. Any thoughts? Thanks

I'm looking at this truck to replace the gas truck but worried about battery failures. Have a Ram 1500 now, and it's been flawless over the last 11 years I've owned it. The EV truck is a lot of money for unproven technology, and I keep my vehicles for a long time. Might just wait to see Ram's EV truck. Your video was great though.

Great Review - I run a landscaping and mowing business, and I'm considering getting an electric vehicle (EV). But here's the thing: I tow around 3500 to 4000 pounds every day. Do you think this would impact the EV's range? Any insights?

The only thing that makes it tough to buy any EV right now is the depreciation....you have to keep a min 5 years or just lease it

Beautiful truck

I have a question. I seem to not find the answer online. When you do the hands free, 1 does the truck slow down for with the car in front of you and 2 if so does it stop and go if you in crazy traffic hands. If not hands free, at least in Bluecruz. Love the vid thanks for the entertainment.

My understanding is the heated steering wheel parts were not available when made so they made it a recall item… likely not Ford’s fault. More likely vendor couldn’t produce in time.

Mike, I have a 2023 lightning ER as well with less mileage, have you lost any range at 100%?

Pikes Peak 👍🏿

One thing you left out though is with that many miles you definitely charged on the road plenty at around .45/kwh so you probably spent another $1k. Still a savings though. And I say this as a lightning owner. On the road charging is basically the same cost as gas.

Great update 👍 Trying to convince my wife, have your wife do a vid😁 Cheers

I love driving by gas stations and plugging in at home. In Washington state it costs me a nickel a mile to drive. It's very comfortable very fast and pulls my 25' boat like you wouldn't believe!

I own an 2015 Nissan Leaf EV. It has a battery health indicator as well as a state of charge indicator. The battery health indicated 12 bars when it was new but dropped off 1 bar around 38K miles (typical for most Leaf owners that I've researched). My range dropped about 10% (50 miles in winter, 60-65 summer time if I don't run the AC). Does the Lightning have a similar battery health indication? I'm thinking of buying a used Lightning next year as they more of them come on to used market at lower prices.

I have a Ford Lightning with a 98kwh battery and a 30 amp output in the bed that I'll use to power my Go Play 26BH travel trailer (which comes with 200 watts of solar). What is a good way to charge the truck adequately off grid (will 120 volts be adequate, or do I need 240 volts?)? I will be using the 15,000 btu a/c. TIA

You've got to take residual value into account. And as you know, batteries are very expensive to replace and the value of a nice truck with an out of warranty battery is lower than an ICE.

In Colorado you can also qualify for a commercial EV credit of up to $12K because of the weight.

How does your truck have the sunroof, I see most online don’t

EV maintenance includes changing (or cleaning) the cabin air filter every 7500 miles and replacing the wiper blades every spring (because winter is brutal on wiper blades). Thanks for sharing!

Does the 2023 Lariat ER have a heat pump?

Just a little over a year with nearly 26,000. I agree with everything you said. I will add that I tow my boat, a 17’ Boston Whaler at about 3,500 lbs. It is a fantastic tow vehicle for short to medium range towing. Boats have less wind resistance than campers so I don’t get too much of a range penalty; about 1.55 to 1.65 m/kWh. Towed 235 miles each way to Lake Chelan last Summer and only needed to charge one time coming back (stoped and charged three times going over as we did shopping and eating on the way as well as topped off charging for free at Rocky Reach Dam). With Ford Pro Trailer Backup and the great cameras unhitch and rehitch is a snap if you can’t find a pull through. I took my boat over and back across the Cascade Mountain Range and I couldn’t even feel the boat back there. Instant torque, effortless smooth acceleration for passing RV’s and better efficiency than I expected. Would I tow across the country with it? No, I wouldn’t but I will tow across my state and into neighboring Oregon any day of the week…

Does the HVAC and how it defaults to turn recirculation off and how it turns recirculation off after 5 minutes (when you just turned it on) not bug you? My cabin is constantly getting filled with other cars’ exhaust, cold outside air when I want it warm or hot outside air when I want it cold because the HVAC is always turning recirculation off. There is no getting around it because there is no manual mode, you have to turn the HVAC completely off.

Really nice.. I have SOLAR so my "fuel" cost is basically 0 -zero....😂 I ALMOST NEVER drive long distance anymore and i don't have any need for the FULL cab but ill take it.. I wonder why they aren't offering a simple xtra cab version?? Also, how about ditch the sunroof and put a SOLAR panel up there to "charge as you drive" feature..?? I'm also curious about Used models..?

How many miles are you getting out of a full charge? With AC.

Mine been in shop for 29 days now, bad battery pack. Gonna get rid if it. Range in winter was terrible, too. Going back to the Powerboost I think. EV life not for me. More cons than pros

What tire pressure are you running now?

If you had solar on your home, the use of an EV makes your pay back faster for the cost of PV system, it snowballs. I payed myself back for my 41 panels in three years. Granted, I’m in California and electric is crazy expensive but the math makes sense. I have two EVs and I’m looking to replace my truck with a lighting.

I got my 2023 Lariat for 54K 😉

Does it have the gps map to show the supercharger locations on the trip ?

As far as EV trucks go...yes they aren't great if you're towing long distances regularly but most truck owners rarely or never tow...I think it's something like 80 or more percent of truck owners don't tow. The Silverado EV with the big 215kwh battery is probably the way to go. Kyle from Out of Spec has done a bunch of testing lately and it seems quite capable of towing long distances and it can charge at over 350kw pretty deep into the battery pack (with the right charging station).

How much did you pay, if you dont mind me asking?

It’s just crazy how cheap the gas is in the US. A F-150 with a gas engine would be extremely expensive to buy and run here in Sweden, Europe. Gas is about 9 dollars per gallon and the tax for a F-150 is around 3000 dollars per year. And the gasoline truck would cost about 100 000 dollars to buy new. It’s really a millionaire only vehicle here. For an EV, 1 kWh costs about 10 cents and the tax for the all EV:s regardless of the model is 36 dollars. The F-150 Lightning however costs 150 000 dollars for the base model… 50 000 dollars more than the gasoline version. You can buy 7 Toyota Corollas for one Lightning.

This weekend I will drive from Minneapolis to Fort Collins. 13 hours, 920 miles. ICE for the win and lack of drama. At home I’m a contractor pulling a 6000 pound trailer daily. There’s no way a Lightning could work for me. Last week my Ford dealership said they don’t even recommend towing with a Lightning and he also mentioned that a new battery is $45,000. The resale on Lightnings and most EVs will be horrendous. Having said that, I’m grateful for all of you early adopters.

Can you use the Tesla superchargers yet? I was told that Ford and Tesla had worked out an agreement.

Cyber truck on the way.. what state are you in?

Where can I get that shirt?

People don't understand how much time you actually save owning an EV (if you have charging at home). Day to day you don't have to go out of your way to fuel your vehicle. You don't have to leave work early to fuel up or spend an extra 10 minutes getting fuel before getting home to your family after work...Yes it takes longer to road trip but if you add up the time you save the rest of the year you either save time with an EV or break even...this is assuming home charging and that you don't road trip monthly. You also have to look at how long you actually spend just sitting in your while charging. As fast as most cars charge now you're usually done charging by the time you've gone into go to the bathroom and get food. My car is usually done before I'm ready to leave and I need the break after 2-3 hours on the road. I love EV road tripping and EV life in general.

Nice, even, to the facts. Eventually, we’ll get through to the naysayers. We built a 3.6 kW solar array to charge the lightning. (Checkout the build)That wouldn’t be enough for your level of miles, as it can only out back 20-30 miles per day in the winter. But we’re bumping the battery backup up to 20kW in a few months and we’ll be able to put back 50-60 miles per day which would be enough, on average to fill up a truck, driven the average number of miles, which is around $14k/year. That system should pay itself off in around 5 years at our current electric prices of $.17 per kW, which is also the national average. Who had a gas station in their back yard? We do. It also provides backup power to the house, even if we need to use the truck in a power outage.

Comparing leg room between the F150 and a Tesla is like comparing a yacht and a kayak. Like, yeah, no kidding there’s more leg room in the pick up. Come on, who doesn’t know that!

Compare the lightening with the Rivian R1t . Sorry buy the Rivian is a superior electric truck hands down

What about insurance?

Bro there’s a platnium lightning near me has 2,024 miles and they want 66k

Go Cowboys!

Just imagine if you had solar panels on your roof.

why did they make the design so god dam boring? look how much more exciting the cybertruck is?

Um the f150 is best selling because of the back seat? Haha there are other manufacturers that offer a crew cab aren’t there? Also you kinda breeze over the fact that towing any real world weighted load is kinda impossible because of the terrible effect it has on the range? 😬

What’s the resale value, $100.00? FEVs and FJB. 🥶🔥🖕🇨🇳

Please do a video when you go trade it in and it's not worth anything. 😂

I need this truck!!