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Regardless of who's reporting on it, what do you think of the electric F-150? Looks like roughly the same towing capacity as the gas F-150 (for heavy loads, wou

Regardless of who's reporting on it, what do you think of the electric F-150? Looks like roughly the same towing capacity as the gas F-150 (for heavy loads, wouldn't you want a tractor anyway?), and by nature of being electric it's going to have way higher torque than basically all the current gasoline trucks. What's not to like? Honest question.

someguydave 5y ago
Availability and price would be my issues.
- mahogany 5y ago
  That's fair -- looks like the base model F-150 starts at ~$30k and the base model electric F-150 starts at ~$42k. I didn't compare any features though.
massysett 5y ago
Range of 320 miles. After that, how long do I have to sit to charge it? How is that going to work on a long road trip? Or even on a moderately short trip if where I am going has no chargers? What about if I am going somewhere away from home - now I have to make sure I can charge it? Gas stations are everywhere and after a few minutes pumping I have hundreds more miles. Until these issues get sorted out, electric will remain niche. What I don’t understand is why all-electric gets all the hype, while hybrid avoids most of these issues while still polluting less. It’s similar to the hype around 100 percent self-driving, when lesser solutions like front-collision avoidance are proven and ready to go right now. They’re just not as sexy.
- chrisseaton 5y ago
  Most farm vehicles I know spend their lives pottering around on a farm. They don’t need the range you’re talking about.
  - xeromal 5y ago
    If 90% of the time, you're puttering on the farm, but 10% of the time, you need to haul your horses somewhere or you need to go buy and haul some equipment back, it negates the truck. It needs to work for all cases or you need two trucks.
    - chrisseaton 5y ago
      But farms already have many vehicles for different purposes. If almost all of them could be electric that’s progress.
      - xeromal 5y ago
        They do, but they usually only have 1 truck which is what we're talking about.
        chrisseaton 5y ago
        > they usually only have 1 truck Not even remotely my experience with farms. Maybe you’re only visiting lifestyle farms and dude ranches or something.
        xeromal 5y ago
        Probably a regional difference but I grew up in rural North GA and the farmers that I lived near had tons of farming equipment like a tractor with a shitload of attachments (usually pretty old), a worktruck used for hauling, a fourwheeler or sidebyside for getting around on the farm, and a bunch of other odds and ends. They might have another truck that's really old that's for a project, but I'm imagining one of these guys buying a Ford lightning and I don't see it. Yeah, they usually are just hauling their goods up their dirt road to a stand on the side of a road, but they do occasionally make a long trip to sell some cows, pigs, or horses and I don't think they want to deal with midtrip charging. I'm not sure what kind of farmer you imagine this is called, but these guys are just called farmers in my neck of the woods.
        5y ago
- mahogany 5y ago
  Yeah, it looks like range is the biggest complaint. That's fair. I don't use my truck for long trips because of poor gas mileage. I just use it for hauling things like wood, and I'm fortunate enough to have a good mill and multiple hardware stores within 20 miles of me, so range is basically a non-issue. But I get where you're coming from. This would be more attractive in the future when there are more charging stations (if they are fast).
- gameswithgo 5y ago
  I have had a lot of people explain how stuff like this is a problem but it just hasn’t actually been a problem. Not with a Tesla in Texas anyway. Charges quickly, chargers are pretty plentiful and in a pinch you can plug into any rv site or regular wall outlet
  - tomcam 5y ago
    When you’re not waiting 45 minutes for a charger to free up
    - seanmcdirmid 5y ago
      That’s one of the problems that people were worried about that have turned out to not actually be a problem.
    - gameswithgo 5y ago
      Hasn’t happened to me yet, and also you have to remember that the occasional road trip hassle is offset by about 30+ gas station trips you don’t make every year, because you usually just charge at home
bluedino 5y ago
The range. An F150 can be ordered with a 30-something gallon gas tank. So 500-600 miles is nothing. Pulling a heavy trailer (say 8,000lbs) will take that down to 10mpg but the electric model might not even break 100 miles towing.
- easton 5y ago
  Ford said that their range estimates were all made with a bunch of stuff in the bed, of course that’s not comparable to towing but I’m willing to bet that it’s not going to be as bad as 100 miles.
  - bluedino 5y ago
    Bed capacity isn't towing
    - travisb 5y ago
      More specifically, when it comes to cargo on highways, weight almost doesn't matter at all with respect to fuel economy. Adding weight to the bed has nearly zero aerodynamic penalty and so doesn't change mileage much at all as long as the road is level and is not start and go traffic. Towing on a highway, is primarily an aerodynamic concern because most trailers have the aerodynamics of bricks and are (partially) outside the designed aerodynamic envelope of the rest of the vehicle. ICE vehicles take a noticeable hit on range when towing, even considering ICEs become more efficient when under moderate loads. There's no reason to hope that EVs won't suffer at least as bad, and 50% range loss is normal in an ICE when towing something large like a camper.
  - zdragnar 5y ago
    Bed weight isn't remotely close to the same weight range as towing capacity- rather than engine strength, the limiting factor is suspension. Driving while towing will take the same amount of extra power, whether you have a gas engine or electric motor. Higher load on the motor = less range. I think cutting the range in half would be pretty surprising (in a good way).
- 5y ago
tomcam 5y ago
It looks absolutely amazing, of course. Seems like a ridiculously good work truck for a contractor. I think the $70,000 model with the generator and all that looks like tremendous fun. Someday when my van dies at the 300,000 mile mark and I don’t feel bad about recycling it I will almost certainly get a monster like th F-150, assuming the power grid issues have been worked out.

someguydave 5y ago

Availability and price would be my issues.

mahogany 5y ago
That's fair -- looks like the base model F-150 starts at ~$30k and the base model electric F-150 starts at ~$42k. I didn't compare any features though.

massysett 5y ago

Range of 320 miles. After that, how long do I have to sit to charge it? How is that going to work on a long road trip? Or even on a moderately short trip if where I am going has no chargers? What about if I am going somewhere away from home - now I have to make sure I can charge it? Gas stations are everywhere and after a few minutes pumping I have hundreds more miles. Until these issues get sorted out, electric will remain niche. What I don’t understand is why all-electric gets all the hype, while hybrid avoids most of these issues while still polluting less. It’s similar to the hype around 100 percent self-driving, when lesser solutions like front-collision avoidance are proven and ready to go right now. They’re just not as sexy.

chrisseaton 5y ago
Most farm vehicles I know spend their lives pottering around on a farm. They don’t need the range you’re talking about.
- xeromal 5y ago
  If 90% of the time, you're puttering on the farm, but 10% of the time, you need to haul your horses somewhere or you need to go buy and haul some equipment back, it negates the truck. It needs to work for all cases or you need two trucks.
  - chrisseaton 5y ago
    But farms already have many vehicles for different purposes. If almost all of them could be electric that’s progress.
    - xeromal 5y ago
      They do, but they usually only have 1 truck which is what we're talking about.
      - chrisseaton 5y ago
        > they usually only have 1 truck Not even remotely my experience with farms. Maybe you’re only visiting lifestyle farms and dude ranches or something.
        xeromal 5y ago
        Probably a regional difference but I grew up in rural North GA and the farmers that I lived near had tons of farming equipment like a tractor with a shitload of attachments (usually pretty old), a worktruck used for hauling, a fourwheeler or sidebyside for getting around on the farm, and a bunch of other odds and ends. They might have another truck that's really old that's for a project, but I'm imagining one of these guys buying a Ford lightning and I don't see it. Yeah, they usually are just hauling their goods up their dirt road to a stand on the side of a road, but they do occasionally make a long trip to sell some cows, pigs, or horses and I don't think they want to deal with midtrip charging. I'm not sure what kind of farmer you imagine this is called, but these guys are just called farmers in my neck of the woods.
      - 5y ago
mahogany 5y ago
Yeah, it looks like range is the biggest complaint. That's fair. I don't use my truck for long trips because of poor gas mileage. I just use it for hauling things like wood, and I'm fortunate enough to have a good mill and multiple hardware stores within 20 miles of me, so range is basically a non-issue. But I get where you're coming from. This would be more attractive in the future when there are more charging stations (if they are fast).
gameswithgo 5y ago
I have had a lot of people explain how stuff like this is a problem but it just hasn’t actually been a problem. Not with a Tesla in Texas anyway. Charges quickly, chargers are pretty plentiful and in a pinch you can plug into any rv site or regular wall outlet
- tomcam 5y ago
  When you’re not waiting 45 minutes for a charger to free up
  - seanmcdirmid 5y ago
    That’s one of the problems that people were worried about that have turned out to not actually be a problem.
  - gameswithgo 5y ago
    Hasn’t happened to me yet, and also you have to remember that the occasional road trip hassle is offset by about 30+ gas station trips you don’t make every year, because you usually just charge at home

bluedino 5y ago

The range. An F150 can be ordered with a 30-something gallon gas tank. So 500-600 miles is nothing. Pulling a heavy trailer (say 8,000lbs) will take that down to 10mpg but the electric model might not even break 100 miles towing.

easton 5y ago
Ford said that their range estimates were all made with a bunch of stuff in the bed, of course that’s not comparable to towing but I’m willing to bet that it’s not going to be as bad as 100 miles.
- bluedino 5y ago
  Bed capacity isn't towing
  - travisb 5y ago
    More specifically, when it comes to cargo on highways, weight almost doesn't matter at all with respect to fuel economy. Adding weight to the bed has nearly zero aerodynamic penalty and so doesn't change mileage much at all as long as the road is level and is not start and go traffic. Towing on a highway, is primarily an aerodynamic concern because most trailers have the aerodynamics of bricks and are (partially) outside the designed aerodynamic envelope of the rest of the vehicle. ICE vehicles take a noticeable hit on range when towing, even considering ICEs become more efficient when under moderate loads. There's no reason to hope that EVs won't suffer at least as bad, and 50% range loss is normal in an ICE when towing something large like a camper.
- zdragnar 5y ago
  Bed weight isn't remotely close to the same weight range as towing capacity- rather than engine strength, the limiting factor is suspension. Driving while towing will take the same amount of extra power, whether you have a gas engine or electric motor. Higher load on the motor = less range. I think cutting the range in half would be pretty surprising (in a good way).
5y ago

tomcam 5y ago

It looks absolutely amazing, of course. Seems like a ridiculously good work truck for a contractor. I think the $70,000 model with the generator and all that looks like tremendous fun. Someday when my van dies at the 300,000 mile mark and I don’t feel bad about recycling it I will almost certainly get a monster like th F-150, assuming the power grid issues have been worked out.