The F-150 Lightning Platinum Extended Range is a wonderful truck with – pardon the trim name – not enough highway range
Article content
It’s be pretty hard to find a more newsworthy vehicle than Ford’s F-150 Lightning. The first of the serious all-electric pickups to hit the market, the Lightning has revitalized the Ford nameplate; raked in copious deposits; and, Lordy, who cannot possibly be seduced by a four-second sprint in a (more-than-)full-sized truck that weighs in at a pavement-crushing 3,127 kilograms? As pickup trucks go, the new F-150 Lightning is a rock star.
Advertisement 2
Article content
But does it fulfill the fantasy? Is it everything an electric vehicle should be? More importantly, is it everything a pickup should be? Range Finder hit the road to find out, and here’s what we learned.
This truck really is Lightning-quick
Never mind that 4.0-second sprint to 100 kilometres an hour. Sure, that’s incredibly impressive, especially for something that, again, weighs six-thousand eight-hundred and ninety-three freaking pounds. But even that stellar figure still doesn’t really capture the sheer urge that accompanies a Lightning’s lunge off the line.
Advertisement 3
Article content
Thanks to the traction of all-wheel-drive, able to put all its 778 pound-feet of torque — available at zero rpm — to the ground, this thing is a rocket to 30 kilometres an hour. Not that it’s slow after that, but the jump right from the get-go is positively stomach-churning. We North Americans have always been infatuated with straight-line acceleration, and this top-of-the-line Lightning delivers. If you need a faster truck than this, you really need to seek professional help (that would be both talk therapy and driving instruction). Nor is that the end of the Lightning’s performance bona fides.
This EV F-150 also handles a treat
No truck, certainly not one standing 1,962 millimetres tall, riding on 275/50R22 tires, and stretching 5,885 mm from stem to stern, is going to be lithe and gazelle-like. Physics will be given its due.
Advertisement 4
Article content
But the Lightning tries. Thanks to the (relatively) low centre of gravity that 700 or so kilograms of lithium-ion built into the floor affords it, there’s a lot less roll than an equivalent ICE-powered F-150. That same spreading of weight also means the Lightning has a far better weight distribution front-to-rear than typically nose-heavy gas-powered pickups. Rounding off all the goodness is a rear double-wishbone suspension system.
See how the Lightning compares to gas-engined pickups
Combine it all and you have a pickup truck that likes to carve corners and doesn’t roll nearly as much as you expect when doing so. Second to that Warp-Factor-7-Mister-Sulu acceleration, the forsaking of the traditional solid axle and leaf spring is perhaps the electric’s best foot forward. Truly, the Lightning’s handling is a revelation compared with gas-powered trucks.
Advertisement 5
Article content
Nor is there a sacrifice in ride. Again, those archaic “live” rear axles that traditional truckers do so claim to love are not much good in the ride department. So, the double wishbones — just as they do for the best of sport cars and luxury sedans — help tame the bumps.
Note that that I said “help tame,” as opposed to simply “tame.” As much as the F-150’s ride is much improved in its transition to battery power, the Lightning still rides on a body-on-frame chassis. And no matter how stiff of beam that ladder frame may be, a unibody would be far superior from a platform rigidity point of view. So, the Lightning is much improved, but it could probably be better still.
This Ford features an interior truly luxurious
Advertisement 6
Article content
Oh, the portrait-framed 15.5-inch infotainment touchscreen looks like it was lifted from the Mustang Mach-E, itself a pretty straightforward copy of Tesla’s tablet. And, yes, recent gas-powered F-150 interiors — indeed, all full-sized pickup interiors — have been hedonistic enough to make Mercedes owners jealous. Nonetheless, it’s pretty special inside a Platinum Lightning.
For one thing, it feels like an entire herd of bovines sacrificed themselves for interior hedonism, so vast is the acreage of cowhide. For another, it’s all top-quality stuff, no naugas — as in -hydes — to be found. The audio system is good (not excellent); Ford’s Sync system passably logical; and, OMG, don’t those seat-warmers toast your tushie (God save me from wimpy, lawyer-certified heating elements).
Advertisement 7
Article content
The wireless smartphone charging system is plenty powerful and well-hidden, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are both standard, and there’s a full suite of driver aids, including Ford’s Blue Cruise hands-free adaptive cruise control (this last, it should be noted, is not quite as adept as GM’s Super Cruise). You can even fold the “gear” shift lever over so you can turn the centre console into a work bench.
So far, so good. Fast, comfy, and stylish, not to mention emissions-free and quick around corners. What’s not to like, right? Well, as it turns out the Lightning’s main issue is that—
Your Home, Home on the Range better not be too far away
First the (relatively) good news. At low speeds — say, creeping around town and not exceeding 75 kilometres an hour on its main thoroughfares — the big Lightning can eke out adequate range. Oh, I never saw anything close to its 483-kilometre Transport Canada-certified rating, especially when it was cold out. But 350 kilometres is attainable, and, in one spurt of environmental enthusiasm — as in, I tamed my lead foot — I saw efficiency that might have seen me get close to 375 klicks on a single charge.
Advertisement 8
Article content
But that’s about it for good news. For one thing, range doesn’t matter in the city. The number of people who drive more than 300 kilometres in a day of urban crawl can be counted on the fingers of one hand. No, the only place where range matters — and anxiety heightens — is on the open road.
And here the Lightning does not excel. Hitting Ontario’s 407 for Range Finder’s cruise-controlled 125 kilometres an hour, the big F-150 burned through its 131 kilowatt-hours of lithium-ion in 306 kilometres. That works out to 42.8 kWh/100 kilometres, by far the most of any EV we’ve tested so far — though we have tested no other battery-powered pickups — and very much whatever the battery-powered equivalent of gas-guzzling might be.
Advertisement 9
Article content
-
Ford’s CEO says upcoming electric pickup truck will drive itself
-
EV truck buyers can’t wait for an electric Toyota pickup: survey
That said, I think the expectations for electrified pickups are pretty low. Oh, sure, Ford claims up to 515 kilometres (for the plain-Jane Extended Range F-150) while Rivian says the R1T (with 21-inch wheels) will be good for 528 klicks. And God only knows what phantasm Tesla might conjure up for the Cybertruck’s range. On the other hand, the automotive blogosphere has been replete with tests decrying BEV pickups’ lack of range while towing (Motor Trend managed but 160 kilometres when towing a middleweight camper) so it’s hard to know what the intended audience expects out of the Lightning.
Advertisement 10
Article content
It’s also worth noting that cold weather also affects the F-150’s performance, perhaps more than most EVs, given the immensity of its battery and interior, both of which require heating. It hadn’t been very cold this winter in Ontario’s heartland, but even the modest -5C we saw during our test had the Lightning consuming close to 50 kWh/100 km — which would have predicted a 280-km range — while directing a large percentage of the battery at keeping the cabin and lithium-ions toasty. If you want the definition of “range anxiety,” it’s an F-150 Lightning towing a trailer in -20C weather down a wide-open Canadian highway.
Dreaming of better range, if not quite Lucid
Advertisement 11
Article content
So, a little context about range. By comparison, the longest-range and most efficient BEV that Range Finder has yet tested was Lucid’s Air Touring, which squeezed an impressive 462 kilometres out of its 92-kWh battery. Do the numbers and that works out to 19.9 kilowatt-hours per 100 kilometres, more than twice the efficiency the Lightning “boasts.”
So what, I hear you saying, the F-150’s a truck, and it’s expected to get poorer efficiency than some dinky sedan.
Except that the Lucid ain’t so dinky. In fact, it’s freaking huge, stretching 4,975 mm stem to stern. It is, for lack of a better metaphor, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class of battery-powered sedans, and I can assure you that no gas-powered S-Class — especially one with the Lucid’s 620 horsepower — has ever doubled the fuel economy of a pickup.
Advertisement 12
Article content
Lightning doesn’t charge very fast either
Just as important to this contextual discussion is that F-150’s 400-volt battery architecture can’t charge very quickly. Ford’s official figures claim a 45-minute charge from 15 to 80 per cent (it takes another whopping 50 minutes to get that last 20 per cent done). That means it can add about 200 real-world — not manufacturer-claimed — highway kilometres in those 45 minutes. On the road, that means that, having left your home, you can expect to stop after about 255 kilometres; after that, you’ll have to stop for 45 minutes to recoup another 200 klicks. If it gets really cold out, expect fewer kilometres and slower charging.
At least this Ford’s metering is accurate
Ford’s efficiency readouts, on the other hand, are among the most accurate in the biz. Our real-world 42.9-kilowatt-hour/100 kilometres efficiency, for instance, was matched by the 43.0-kWh/100-km numbers that the Ford’s “This Trip” gauge was reading. Ditto for the range estimator which, unlike so many other EVs’, is not based on an average of lifetime efficiency, but only your most recent trips. So, after my Range Finder cruise down the 407, the Lightning stopped extrapolating a “best-case” scenario and started giving real, attainable ranges. Point to Ford!
Advertisement 13
Article content
Even when charging, the Lightning refuses to exaggerate. For instance, during one charging session at a 125-kW outlet, the Chargepoint’s readout was claiming we had added some 380 kilometres, while the Lightning said we had added but 212 km. In fact, the 380 km the station was reading was more than the total range the truck was claiming possible, and we had started charging with 30 per cent still in the “tank.” Gotta love these EVs.
The bottom line on the F-150 Lightning
Save for the constant threat of running out of lithium-ion, I loved the Ford F-150 Lightning. It was probably the most enjoyable of pickups I have ever driven. Scintillating-ly fast and possessed of a comportment far beyond traditional pickups, its on-road behaviour is a revelation. Ditto for its comfort and cabin. Other than its $110,000 MSRP, what’s not to like?
Advertisement 14
Article content
Of course, the answer would be the range. Simply put, for anyone other than suburbanites using their pickups as butch minivans — and those landscapers and other workies with set routes — it’s hard to see how to get around its range limitations. Cold weather and towing kill it, and, even in ideal conditions, its slow charging would make long-distance hauling a tedium.
Nor is it a simple answer to just put in a bigger battery. There’s already 131 kilowatt-hours on board. Yes, you could eke out a few more klicks if there were 20 per cent more lithium-ion, but then that would require longer charging. Solid-state battery technology will help, but even if that offers a 40-per-cent energy density and charging improvement, towing range will still be grossly wanting.
Before signing off, it should be noted that these frailties — save for the slow charging — are not unique to Ford. All electrified pickups are likely to suffer the same failings. The bigger the truck, the larger the batteries it needs, and the more expensive and heavy it will be. Battery improvements will moderate those shortcomings, but not minimize them. Of all the vehicles that need zero-emission-ing, full-size pickups would appear the most difficult to electrify.
Check out details about the Ford F-150 Lightning on our online shopping tool.
Stay connected with us on social media platform for instant update click here to join our Twitter, & Facebook
We are now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@TechiUpdate) and stay updated with the latest Technology headlines.
For all the latest Automobiles News Click Here
Comments
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.
Join the Conversation