In the last couple years, electric vehicles have flooded the market from nearly all of the major car manufacturers. Consumer demand is hot for these new vehicles, perhaps people are seeking to jump on a trend and experience cutting edge technology. However, these new EV’s are proving to be riddled with problems not seen in conventional gas-powered vehicles.
The latest failure on the electric vehicle front comes from the Ford F-150 Lightning. The F-150 Lightning is a battery electric full-size light duty truck which began production in April of 2022. According to Ford, the truck has an estimated 240 mile range and can tow up to 10,000 pounds with its 775 pound-feet of electric torque. However, Motortrend has discovered that the Lightning is not necessarily living up to these bold claims as one might expect.
Motortrend conducted several tests on the electric truck to examine its towing capacity and the results were disappointing at best.
According to Motortrend:
Before you hitch an Airstream to your electric truck and set out to circumnavigate the country, you need to understand this: With the largest available battery pack, a fully charged 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning electric truck has less energy onboard than a regular F-150 with four gallons of gas in its tank.
Consider how far a combustion-powered F-150 would tow at max capacity on four gallons of regular unleaded. Thirty five miles? Maybe 40 if you drive slowly?Now that you understand where we’re starting from, you won’t be as surprised to learn that the towing range of the electric F-150 is dismal. In MotorTrend testing, an F-150 Lightning Platinum saddled with a camper that nearly maxed out its 8,500-pound towing capacity couldn’t even cover 100 miles. Range improved when we hooked up a significantly lighter trailer, but not by as much as you might expect.
“In June I received one of the first 2022 Ford F-150 Lightnings in Canada.”
“Since then my disappointment in this EV has reached critical mass. I’ve dedicated this channel to showcasing all of the Lightning’s faults for all to see…”
“Here I am in Canada, first snowfall of the year. And I figured I’d take this opportunity to tell you why you shouldn’t buy one of these. So, why should you not buy Ford Lightning? Let me show you. Power on, 112km (range) with 40% battery life left? I don’t know how that makes sense on an extended-range battery. But, what’s happening here? No power to the display screen. It’s been 3 months, Ford installed a new screen still doesn’t work and I can’t access any features of my truck including turning off my air conditioning. It’s cold.”
"*" indicates required fields