Also, at a gas price of $3.50/gal my 2006 V8 Suburban would have cost $6 more to make this trip but would have done the entire trip on a single tank without having to refuel once. I think that’s worth my 6 bucks.

I’m surprised the charging costs so much! Flash forward 20 years the power companies will be gouging the consumers instead of the oil companies……

I was very open to the idea of an electric truck until watching your video(s). Thank you for an honest portrayal of this technology. There are so many huge obstacles and limitations I can no longer consider it. Much appreciated.

I'm a Colorado Springs resident, so the trip characteristics are very familiar to me. Your video is very honest and open. I was very open to getting a base level Lightning until I watched this and realized how many "stops" would be required to cover the same distance. It's clear that neither the technology or infrastructure is ready for this at a greater % of EV's traveling the road right now. The base level F-150 fully charged is equal to 4 DAYS of my home electric use with full July air-conditioning on-going. Imagine a significant road trip where you are in a hurry. Not possible. This 81K truck can't be your only vehicle or you travels are effectively geo-fenced if time is a concern.

For people that have any kind of anxiety disorder these vehicles will trigger you constantly! I was losing it just watching this. Thanks Andre & Cole👍

it seems the worse thing about the lightning is the unreliability of the charging infrastructure

Wow. I am so underwhelmed by the efficiency. My wife's Sequoia gets 18MPG and would have spent only $89 in gas for the same amount of distance driven. Plus I would have not have to deal with the hassle of charging. Yikes. 😬

A while back Myth Busters did an experiment testing tailgate vs against down. If I recall correctly the tailgate up test got better mileage because the turbulent air in the bed creates an aerodynamic zone that reduces wind resistance.

To me the real downside would be how much weight I'd gain if I ate a meal every 200 miles while waiting for the truck to recharge! Regardless of what I"M thinking, you never said exactly why YOU think it "sucks" at road trips.

The one test I would love to see is a 1000 mile trip a regular half ton vs the lightning start at the same time and see the arrival time difference with normal driving also showing the cost difference between the two . It is the test that has been not done yet

None of these sites are being honest about range, every manufacture out there wants you to stay within 20% and 80% when it comes to the charge of the battery to combat premature battery degradation, so all these advertised ranges on all these electric vehicles are lies, you really only have a 60% capacity you can use from the battery if you want to protect the battery from premature degradation. So that 320 mile advertised range is really only 192 miles. Sure you can charge to 100% and use the battery all the way down to 0% but when you do that you are causing premature battery degradation.

Thanks for showing us your everyday experience and some issues that are not considered by anyone until you actually go down this road... or what society could expect if our society used EV-TRUCKS to do roadwork, cable repairs, etc. The lack of consideration/planning/thinking from our government concerning these things is STUNNING.

I'm not trying to be a Tesla snob here, but MAN is it so much easier to charge a Tesla...

Man electrify America is shaky as hell!! Great video boys

Ah, the good ol' days when all you had to do was load up the cold drinks, snacks, and fill up and go. Planning this trip was more complicated than doing a flight plan for an Airbus going halfway around the world !!!

Always good reviews... Another new thing is the COST INCREASE of the same exact Lightning Lariat that I had signed up for 5/20/22 (day after announcement). Anyone who buys one now, it is going to be WAY WAY More expensive! So not ONLY does a Lariat w/Panoramic Glass Roof have a $8,900 price increase from Ford…but now also NO more $7,500 Federal Tax Credit which makes this truck $16,400 MORE than the first Lightning I'd just gotten a few weeks ago!!! YIKES!!!😬 Soooooo all the media reviews (and owners like me too, who were able to get a 2022 Lightning Lariat with all the options)... it is now clear the extended battery models are doing really great if we can even reach about 250 miles at highway speeds with the aerodynamics. Plus also, realistically towing is out of the question, unless pulling a utility trailer across town. So basically, even with fuel prices at $5 a gallon a road trip makes Zero sense (sorry to say) as I’ve owned 34 vehicles (9 trucks) and my wife’s current Honda Ridgeline gets 24.8 to 26.6 MPG on the highway (calculated at the pump)…so with the HIGH... VERY HIGHT cost of charging while away from home… and what a person’s time is worth… really a person can only go about 125 miles from home, in order to return home to charge for another 10 hours!

Mythbusters proved years ago that covers or leaving the tailgate open do not help, the most efficient way to leave the back of the truck is exactly how it was made.

I hope you guys plan on keeping this truck for a while, because I really want to see how good or bad this truck will be in the winter

For everyone who might be afraid of charging issues: I always had them with my VW e- golf until we bought a Tesla.....

$80.25 equates to what I get with my 2017 Ford Expedition getting 18.7 mpg and gas at $3.20 a gallon. I fill up on Mondays and today I paid $3.20 for mid grade and got 22.7 mpg. Gas Expedition EL ecoboost seems cheaper than the Lightning.

About the three steps to read charge percentage… enable the “Calm” screen on the dashboard, that always shows percentage. I hope a future update will add percentage to all dashboards, but for now I find the calm screen an easier way to see it.

I hope you show testing with the Ligntning during the winter months....would be very interesting. I have a couple of co-workers that drive teslas and they tell me on average here in Canada during the winter months they loose 30 to 40% of battery capacity to the cold.

Amazing - it’s almost like you couldn’t predict a 3 tonne brick wouldn’t be efficient at speed 😅

Absolutely ridiculous. Who in their right mind would pay a huge premium to buy into this kind of madness. Boy o Boy Ford has to make this about 100% more efficient and faster charging in order to catch my attention. Great video Andre, thanks so much for putting up with this madness for us.

30-ish years ago, when I was in engineer school, Gale Banks came to my university and gave a talk about some of his superfast trucks. He said that when making truck bodies for speed runs (at places like Bonneville), they discovered that a full tonneau cover was not necessarily aerodynamically advantageous over no tonneau cover. Instead, what worked best, from an aero standpoint, was covering the rear 2/3 to 3/4 of the bed, and leaving the front bit open. Counterintuitive, but he had the data to back it up.

they always think it's a miracle when the charging works..i'm all for ev's but the unreliable charging is a big no for me

I have a suggestion for a roadtrip. Drive from Denver down to Pueblo and drive east to Wichita, Kansas along US and state highways, US 50 and US 54 specifically, both major US highways. The distance is only 427 miles. Take the Lightning and get back to us with your experiences. It is time for you folks to get off the Interstates and do some testing along US and State highways. Get away from the Tesla SuperChargers and the Electrify America stations and give a look at what driving an EV is like for those of us who do not live along an Interstate highway. I will await this test, it should be pretty interesting.

As a long time EV driver, I should point out that although fast charging can be expensive, it costs virtually nothing when you charge at home, especially when you charge off-peak. In NYC, Con Edison gives me more back in rebates via PayPay than they charge me for the power itself, so I went from spending $100 per week to charge my gas powered F-150, to paying close to zero. 1100 miles per month in my Mustang Mach-E cost me about $50 on average per month, with rebates of $70, I actually earned $20 per month.

If everybody drives electric vehicles, we need a significant improvement in charging infrastructure

It would be cool if you took the truck to Alaska on the same roads in the winter and see how the cold affects the battery.

One question: Isn't the altitude in Colorado higher than New Mexico? So to New Mexico it's mostly down, while the other direction is mostly uphill. That would make the miles/kwh useless unless you do an opposite test...

Great video. Thanks for the info. I remember doing a road trip back in the 70’s when gasoline was in shortage. One never knew if there would be gas at the next gas station or even how far away the next gas station might be. It was a little hectic. At least today technology is able to help us locate the next EV fueling station but there are problems with the EV fueling network having problems and not working properly extending EV fueling times. I think EV’s are great, but I don’t think the world is going to end in 30 years if we are 100% EV. Hopefully, battery technology will improve and battery prices will decline. Otherwise, the cost of moving into EV technology for transportation will be difficult for many. Can be a headache wondering it you are going to make to the next charging station.

I like the real world nature of these episodes. Andre. Just set up one of your favourites buttons for the percentage reading that you’re looking for. This way you just press one button to get to the screen you want.

For $80.00, that is more that 20 gallons of fuel. It doesn't save much over many vehicles. If you got 24 mpg that would be the break even, and probably wouldn't have to stop. Gas in CT is $3.65 now a gallon, $4.39 for 93 octane.

A more interesting experiment than a bed cover would be a rear cab spoiler. You're probably getting more drag from vortex generation behind the cab than drag from the bed. A spoiler to deflect air slightly upward and away from the negative pressure behind the rear window to prevent vortices from forming would do more to reduce drag, probably. Depends on how low the pressure is in that area, if you could come up with a spoiler with enough deflection to work. Either way, the space over the top of the bed is mostly a low airflow zone, and what there is will be pretty turbulent, so a cover isn't going to help much.

Enjoyed the video. Thanks for sharing

Time is money.! this electric truck just don't cut it

Since electric charging slows as the % gets high (80%ish), the best way to road trip an EV is more quick stops versus fewer longer stops/charges. For me, EVs really are best for local use rather than road trips until the charging system is improved dramatically.

Is the buzzing heard ex. 24:30 the charging station or at the truck? And is this typical upon recharging elsewhere? Thanks for the real world tests.

Really informative video. Thanks. Subbed and liked.

I was going to suggest putting the stock tires back on until it snows, but I suppose keeping the more aggressive tires on now will let you give us more apples to apples comparisons on how the range fares this winter when it gets cold.

Every time you do a video with the lightning I'm more convinced that it is a major pain in the ass not worth dealing with. It's more unreliable computer than it is a vehicle. And waiting around to charge, what a headache, even when it works smoothly and apparently it doesn't always do that. My 1.7 litre Jetta would have done that trip for about 32 bucks and no stops, no waiting around, and I wouldn't be required to use an app on my phone to refill my tank which I wouldn't have to do because I have 600 plus miles of range. This technology is still far from ready.

A Tesla supercharger popped up near me a few years ago. I enjoy watching the owners try to entertain themselves while waiting to charge.

Don’t occupy a 350kW station when your truck can’t accept the power! You can probably pull over 150kW on the 150kW station. But you are blocking valuable towers for EV6 and IONIQ 5 and Taycan owners (which is terribly frustrating on road trips).

StateOfCharge did an interview with the head of ford's electric division, he said if you change the instrument cluster to "calm" I believe it was that it actually shows the battery % on the dash. On the left side under the range

Three updates I'd like Ford to add to the Lightning, 1) Battery % on all screens, not just Calm. And 2) several favorites button on top of the screen next to the profile button. I'd add Auto Hold and Camera as a favorite buttons. 3) Auto Parking Brake as a constant on option when the vehicle is in Park.

One thing I love about my Tesla is I pull up to a Supercharger, plug-in and I am good to go. After this experience, I can't Imagine having to go through the gyrations you did to get the station to charge.

Great videos. Thanks for doing this.

spent 80 dollars to go 470 that's the exact same as my truck I'm all for the electric vehicles but for now I see no upside to going electric at this point

The likely reason for the difference between the charger % and the truck display % is that the charger can see the entire battery size (145kWh gross), while the truck is showing the usable battery size (131kWh net). Your truck has a buffer where it won't charge above a certain % and won't go below a certain %, but the charger doesn't know that. So if you have 97kw charged, that's 67% of the 145kWh full capacity, and about 75% of the 131kWh capacity. Depending on where the top limit and bottom limit of charge are, that could explain the difference. The app, not sure what you're using, but likely either gets info from the charger or the truck. Probably a little slow to update. Basically: use the truck's reading. It's giving you the % of usable battery, which is the most relevant figure. If you want to test this: plug in and check the level when you're near empty. If there's a minimum charge level, you'll see ~0% on the truck and ~20% (for example) on the charger.

@6:50 jamming a lot of power in. It’s so fast he went to have dinner. 😂😂😂

Where did you get those cool State Stickers? When I was a kid (1950s) all the family station wagons, vans, and camper trucks (and trucks) had decals of what states the family had visited. That has been a part of American Culture. So nice to see it making a comeback!

I am just NOT seeing enough charging stations on I95 between South Carolina and New York the time is a minor issue compared to stressing on locations and the RISKS of sitting in a Walmart parking lot at 4am to beat the traffic through Washington DC

Lithium is NOT the answer. Period. The charging time issue is a MAJOR problem.

Thank you very much for your very informative video.

TFL, Can you charge and plug while you are driving on the road, with a gas generator in the bed of the truck? I would like to see that to be test, is the computer would permit you to do that?

Andre really makes TFL what it is, By far his content is always the best IMO. Keep up the good content!

To be that preoccupied with range, charging locations and apps all the enjoyment of a road trip is lost. Andre's truck is much more desirable and efficient. The Lightning cost over $30k more than his truck and for a 25 dollar energy savings ain't worth it. As more EV vehicles are on the road the more time spent at the charging stations.

So what does your hybrid's owner's manual suggest to use for fuel, octane wise?

Can’t wait to see how this will pan-out in the middle of COLD winter road trip… Bob in USA.

There's a reason Nissan Leaf owners call their range meter the 'Guess-o-meter' !😄

Maybe I missed it but what was the comparison of price when it came to filling up with gas and charging the lightning?

A two day trip to Padre Island Tx at Corpus Christi and back took me a week!

The lightning was fun to test drive when I went last month but I am glad I went with the hybrid instead.

I don't think I have seen a charging session go right yet. Too many aggravations for me.

Everything I’ve seen indicates this truck would be an almost perfect vehicle for me. Sufficient towing and range, just lacking in bed length. I live on Hawaii (Big Island), so it’s range works

Thanks for the trip and the experiment. EVs at this point in their development, are pretty much useless in my opinion. I think that I will stick to my old '91 F250 4x4 7.3 IDI diesel with 830,000 miles on it (still going strong). Not luxurious at all, no air even, but I never have any issues with it, I keep it in good shape. I don't know how much that lightening battery will cost you when it needs replacing, (warranty only 8 years), but I can guess at $15,000- $20,000 including the labor for installation. Fueling up takes me a max of 15 min to fill both tanks from almost dry, that's 40 gallons. Yeah I know, that's about $150 for all that peace of mind, including a 500 mile range 😁, which of course I can extend significantly by carrying a few jerry cans of diesel...or I could use my Tidy Tank if I so choose. I can also take it into the bush hunting, for extended periods of time. Which is one of the principle uses of a 4x4, taking it off road. EVs are great IF there is the infrastructure to support them, if not, I can see them being nothing but a headache...and then an expensive boat anchor. I know I wouldn't want to have to pay for a new battery all in one go. That's a big, big bill! AND...the absolute joy of way too many electronics that seem to constantly screw up. HAVING to fill up at every chance you get must be a pain too. Driving an EV will give anyone PTSD eventually. Now, load the trucks bed or tow a full trailer and do it all again. Oddly enough the mileage on my diesel changes almost not at all with a load. The same goes for my '96 F350 4x4 460 big block long bed crew cab. The mileage capability doesn't really change, loaded or unloaded.

the truck they were supposed to meet was running late from charging lol this vid is over the top funny

470 miles at 18 mpg = 26.11 gallons @ $3.59 = $93.74 in ICE F150 that would take around 8 hours total. I fail to see the major advantage of this electric truck. All that messing around to save $13.49, no thanks.

Also factor in food everytime you stop for charging aswell. Meaning you actually spent close to the same as your hybrid since you said you didnt have to stop. Everytime you guys stop to charge your grabbing food. Must get expensive. I can go close to 700kms with as little as taking a quick weewee on the side of the road especially on our 19 hour plus road trips in Northern Ontario where you are at times your lucky to find a gas station.

I am also waiting for a true winter test. Where I live it can be 30 degrees below zero at times. Wonder what that would do to your range?

Great video. I think the creators know this, but air resistance is exponential. Ford has made a reasonable design decision to keep standard body for the lightning. They are not targeting road trip buyers. All that is to say, you can be sure the future ev trucks will not look the same.

The towing range feature is not a glitch. It is operating as designed. You must deselect any active trailer. It entirely possible to tow or haul without tow/haul mode activated. Historically that only changed the transmission shift map. Also in my 2018 Expedition when you tell it you have an active trailer attached it automatically recalculates the remaining mileage. When you are done towing and deactivate the trailer the truck takes 2 fueling cycles to return to the standard mileage calculation. My suggestion (I promise I’m not being mean) is just to read your owner’s manual. You’ll probably learn a LOT, especially with an electric truck.

Cart before the horse. I keep having to remind myself this is first gen, things will improve eventually. These are city runners, not road trip vehicles.

Curious what happens during an internet outage and your phone can't connect to the charging station? Is there a manual way to charge?

"It's watching my eyes..." That's just great.

Is it more uphill/downhill depending on the way you're going? That could impact the fuel economy too.

The chargers is one of the many reasons Tesla wins. Good video, enjoyed till the end

Electric vehicles are nice to drive in my experience. It’ll be interesting to see where we are in 10 years. Can prices come down and charging infrastructure come up?

Watched this again, still enjoy the ride and info.

They do suck (electricity). Got my Lightning 3 weeks ago and absolutely love it. I have 2800 miles on it and have saved about $500 in gas.and yes I have spent $100 on electricity, the first 250 where compliments of Ford /EA

Thanks for your over the road charging feedback. Headwinds, towing, elevation change has always been known that it would reduce range. It does it on ICE vehicles. There's no surprise there. Ford is almost first to the EV pick-up market. That's fantastic. The other legacies are not far behind. Not including the cyber truck, Ford has a chance to really improve on the items that they can act upon right now. From viewing others post about the truck, there seems to be a common thread about the driver's information screen and touchscreen being cumbersome. A huge portion of the EV experience are the screens. I don't know but that seems the lowest hanging fruit to easily improve. That false charge door on the passenger side could be made functional so you have the option to charge from either side and if available, use both ports simultaneously to charge which should lower your charge time in half. I think all these EVs are in lockstep with batteries and charge time. Things will improve but do the stuff now that doable.

Just to keep it simple, I'm still ambivalent about the whole EV thing. For example, if you have to go through this many hoops just to charge and still end up with inconsistent results, what happens when someone who doesn't know which end of the hamburger to start from pulls up in front of you? I can see in the near future people at charging stations saying, "man, I'm stranded here, my girlfriend ran off with my phone. Can I borrow yours for 5%?"

I put a leveling kit and 35" all terrain tires on mine. Looks awesome. Range dropped about 15%.

Man i had no idea these public charging station cost a good amount. Obviously not close to what it would cost in gas but still for sure didn't expect this. I guess the best price is if you charge it at home.

I enjoy your videos but I have a hard time saying it’s time to buy an EV for road trips. For a in city driving back and forth from home to work getting groceries then charging at home they may work. I will say road rage will be a thing at the charging stations. 😜

Did he have a/c on or stereo wind blowing? Plus 81,000 did company buy it.. what about heater on during cold weather how far can you drive then?

Hi, I like your videos. After watching your video on the Ford F-150 Lightning truck I decided to do some computations and comparisons of it and other vehicles. (1.) From your reported "cost of charging" and your reported "kWh of charge", a cost per kWh can be computed. ---> $80.25/237kWh = $0.34/kWh My electric bill shows I am paying $0.12/kWh, which is about 1/3 of what you paid at a public charger. (2.) From your "miles of travel" and your "cost of charging" you can compute, "miles of travel" per dollar. ---> 470 miles/$80.25 = 5.86 "miles of travel" / $1.00 (3.) Compare a typical gas vehicle for "miles of travel" per dollar. A vehicle that gets 20 mpg and pays $3.60/gal (the national average as of 9-20-2022). ---> 20 mpg / ($3.60/gal) = 5.555 "miles of travel" per dollar. (4.) From your "miles of travel" and my cost for 237 kWh of power we can compute a typical home owners "miles of travel" per dollar. ---> 237 kWh x $.12 / kWh = $28.44 ---> 470 miles / $28.44 = 16.526 "miles of travel" per dollar for a user who charges at home with $0.12 per kWh rate from the utility. The Tesla Model 3 gets up to 34.75 "miles of travel" per dollar. So even though the Ford F-150 Lightning does not have good numbers, other EVs do and charging at home really helps.

My 2012 Subaru Outback could do it cheaper and it’s been paid off since 2014.

Roman you keep forgetting to mention under all you range estimates and Kw avg estimates that thats for your particular truck with the tires you put on it. Didn't you loose 10% efficiency with the more aggressive tires?

Thanks for the video. It reinforces why I LOVE my GASOLINE ⛽️ engine driven car! No way am I going to waste time "recharging" when I can refuel in minutes and be on my way. When you look at the higher initial cost of an E vehicle it's a no brainer, GAS ENGINE!!!

I can't imagine being nervous all the time worried you're going to run out of juice.... I fill up when I get to a quarter tank because I don't like that feeling of constantly checking the gauge

So 4 hrs driving with 1 hr of charging (if it worked like it was supposed to). Perfect for people who need to stop and stretch their legs, go to the bathroom, eat lunch and take a nap. As for me I’ll gladly pay extra for fossil fuel until 800V architecture is the standard in trucks. 400V is 😴

Since some charging stations are the only ones available on road trips, a charger not working could be a major problem. SO I think bringing a gas generator with you ss a must. So you can just find a gas station and keep filling up the generator as it charges your car

Does the Lightning precondition the battery before reching a supercharger?

What I like about the TFL crew is you all do not sound like fan boys, fan boys have become soooo exhausting, I can't listen anymore. Thank you.

First off, I’d love to see transportation evolve to something that pollutes less and is cost effective. Unfortunately, we aren’t there yet. The cost benefit of BEV for charging comes when you are charging at home, I get that. But, as you can see in this video, if you are road tripping (for whatever reason, leisure or work) and needing to use public charging, you’re paying more for electricity than gas. For close comparison, it is cheaper (and much faster) to fill a F150 hybrid - which gets 26 MPG highway, than the lightning. To go 470 mi cost $80.25 on electric. The hybrid would cost about $70 to cover that same distance at $3.88/gal (which is the national average for gas today). Things are improving, but we’re not there yet from a cost perspective.

Any issues with the EA stations? I've heard from many doing this route that over 50% of the chargers are not working at each EA station. Curious to hear your experience?

My 2017 f250 when I plug in my trailer it automatically connects but when I unplug it I have to select no trailer connected. So I’m not surprised that the lightning does the same thing

still a lot of bugs to work out on both ends. Thanks for the video.