CT range be better than F150 Lightning owners' reports

[Cybertruckee]

F150 Lightning forum on owners' experience are saying drop by 60% on chilly weather.

And 1/3 real range when towing.

Some said they are selling their unit pronto.

Just came from my Ford dealer yesterday, the Lariat trim is priced at $111,544. From $69,000 when I signed up. Definitely a deal breaker.

Now am in dreadful apprehension on Cybertruck as I'll be using these on double-jeopardy situations of pulling an RV (or having a truck camper) and traveling in snowy climes (thinking even of Alaska all National Park road trip and camping).

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[MEDICALJMP]

Range always decreases in towing or cold, even with Internal Combustion engines. The only benefit ICE has is it creates waste heat we use to keep us warm.

As far as Cybertruck goes, expect a towing/cold weather loss. How much it will be is unknown for now. Just don’t give up your dreams or your reservation.

 

[Cybertruckee]

I'm not but I'm about to cancel on my F150 Lightning Lariat with these deal-breaker price (and, of course, reported real-life performance).

Ford (corporate) keeps on e-mailing to do my order even when I told my dealer to put me into year-end 2023.

 

[Ogre]

Ford’s cold weather performance with the Mach-E is not great either so this isn’t too surprising.

Gotta keep in mind this is Ford’s 1.5st generation EV. Tesla is on their 4th Or 5th generation depending on how you count. Arguably more like 10th generation since they cycle technology so fast.

Ford‘s next generation truck will be a lot more interesting. In 2-3 generations they will start getting close to Tesla on a lot of these metrics.

 

[Cybertruckee]

Ford’s cold weather performance with the Mach-E is not great either so this isn’t too surprising.

Gotta keep in mind this is Ford’s 1.5st generation EV. Tesla is on their 4th Or 5th generation depending on how you count. Arguably more like 10th generation since they cycle technology so fast.

Ford‘s next generation truck will be a lot more interesting. In 2-3 generations they will start getting close to Tesla on a lot of these metrics.

So I can't hope to get a 5th generation Ford Lightning Lariat by the time I plan my purchase by year-end 2023???

 

[Ogre]

So I can't hope to get a 5th generation Ford Lightning Lariat by the time I plan my purchase by year-end 2023???

Good luck with that.

I suggest wintering in Phoenix or Florida.

 

[Cybertruckee]

Good luck with that.

I suggest wintering in Phoenix or Florida.

Nah, I'm afraid of contagion.

Incidentally yesterday, I was reading about BLM long-term campsites in SoCal and it's border states.

 

[WildhavenMI]

I'm not but I'm about to cancel on my F150 Lightning Lariat with these deal-breaker price (and, of course, reported real-life performance).

Ford (corporate) keeps on e-mailing to do my order even when I told my dealer to put me into year-end 2023.

Do yourself a favor and wait a little longer before cancelling. The prices of those are cratering at the moment, and dealerships are finding a once rich market now remarkably dry. If you're not signing and taking delivery for a bit, hold that reservation.

 

[Cybertruckee]

Do yourself a favor and wait a little longer before cancelling. The prices of those are cratering at the moment, and dealerships are finding a once rich market now remarkably dry. If you're not signing and taking delivery for a bit, hold that reservation.

Thanks! I will.

Someone floated a bid of $95,000 on a used Lariat on that neck of the F150 Lightning forum woods.

 

[cvalue13]

F150 Lightning forum on owners' experience are saying drop by 60% on chilly weather.

And 1/3 real range when towing.

Some said they are selling their unit pronto.

to be fair, those few selling their units “pronto” were probably fairly characterized as uninformed buyers

I don’t own a tesla so I can’t vouch for their present performance in cold weather (as @Ogre points out, it may be much better than Ford’s), but I suspect a few things are confounding the “data” here:

• many Ford EV buyers are first-timers, unaware of EV range effects of cold weather TO THE BATTERY (conversely, long-timers here on this forum and the Lightning forums over the past mo the have often commented to be prepared for the forthcoming seasonal deluge of first-timers taking to the forum to say they were sold a lemon when they realize the cold weather range hits)

• cold air being significantly more dense, the EV range effects of cold weather TO AERODYNAMICS would be expected to be more pronounced on the icecream-van shape of the Lightning

• finally, as many Lightning buyers are first-timers, I would not be so certain that they are properly making all the best practice adjustments to their winter behaviors, such as pre-conditioning the battery while plugged in, etc.

As for towing, that’s a whole other ball of wax - here, people (Lightning owners out in front) are just barely learning the nuances and differences of towing with an EV. even with a Tesla, a mere bicycle rack can hit range upwards of 20%. Meanwhile, one can make that range hit go up or down exponentially based merely on whether they are choosing to drive 55mph or 75mph.

towing “normal” objects with EVs is going to drastically effect any EV (especially at higher speeds) - I don’t think the CT is going to find any way to bend those results of physics. The CT may have greater battery capacity/range, and so tow further, but it too will experience significant %-of-range hits when towing any normal object

 

[Ogre]

many Ford EV buyers are first-timers, unaware of EV range effects of cold weather TO THE BATTERY (conversely, long-timers here on this forum and the Lightning forums over the past mo the have often commented to be prepared for the forthcoming seasonal deluge of first-timers taking to the forum to say they were sold a lemon when they realize the cold weather range hits)

Lots of good points, wanted to touch on this a bit.

This is a really good point. Simple things like preconditioning while plugged in make a big difference to battery life. If people are hopping into their truck on a 10F day, without preconditioning their vehicle for a bit, they are likely to take a 30 mile hit just getting to the end of their block and getting their truck up to temp. Raising 3+ tons of truck from sub-freezing to a temperature where batteries are happy takes a lot of juice! Also raising cabin temperature and deicing the windows is expensive too.

 

[Crissa]

Yeah, expect the same flood of FUD articles for each model and season, be it Lightning or Cybertruck or whatever.

There will be lemons, either from brands unwilling to put the work in, or from just too little experience, this is still a new tech. First adopters always find the bugs.

-Crissa

 

[Ogre]

Just got off the phone with my wife. We’re still working on the piece of driveway where my Model Y (and eventually Cybertruck) are parked and that patch of ground is currently bare dirt. So for the moment we’re on the slow/ no charger at home. She got to work and was surprised she’d burned nearly 20 miles of range driving 7 miles to work. It wasn’t even freezing here, it was in the low 40s.

 

[Crissa]

Just got off the phone with my wife. We’re still working on the piece of driveway where my Model Y (and eventually Cybertruck) are parked and that patch of ground is currently bare dirt. So for the moment we’re on the slow/ no charger at home. She got to work and was surprised she’d burned nearly 20 miles of range driving 7 miles to work. It wasn’t even freezing here, it was in the low 40s.

Especially surprising when it was so warm before so you were used to the summer peak range and boom, hey, winter range!

There's probably a sharper drop when you get to 40F and the car starts having to deal with the phase change of the dew instead of the air doing it from motion.

-Crissa

 

[Ogre]

Seeming like Fall and Spring are getting shorter and shorter in the Willamette Valley. Within a 3 week period we went from balmy 80 degree days to non-stop rain for 2+ weeks. Apparently we have snow forecast in the valley next week…. I was riding in shorts last week.

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