Driving an all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning in rural America

You’ve likely heard or read that most automakers are transitioning many of their new vehicles to electriconly models over the next 10 years. Regardless of the type of car you drive today, the electrification of the transportation sector is underway.

We regularly receive questions about electric vehicles from North Central Electric members, so we thought it would be helpful to address driving an all-electric vehicle in rural America.

In early February, the co-op picked up the showroom model Ford F-150 Lightning from a local dealership. Since then, we have driven it as a test case to share with you, the members, about what it means and what it is like to have a fully electric vehicle. As full EVs become popular options for everyone, understanding the pros and cons of ownership in rural communities is important to members and the co-op alike.

Charging

All EVs come with a 120V-compatible (Level 1) charging unit, which can be plugged into any standard household outlet. But the question that is important to consider is: Can your house take it? Would the transformer on the road require an upgrade to handle the 80-amp charger that comes with the F-150 or the slowest Level 2 charger (7kW)? That would be a whole additional investment to install.

Driving the truck 45 miles, for example, used almost 20% of the battery. And it took about four hours to regain that 20% back. So, for this vehicle, we can assume that a one-hour drive requires at least four times as long to charge.

However, charging depends on the level of the charger being used. Most public spaces host a 7kW Level 2 charger. The higher the kW, the faster the charge. A Level 2 charger can range from 7 to 19 kW. A charger operating at the 7kW charge rate equates to about 15 to 20 miles per hour of charge. However, your vehicle must be able to accept that charge rate. For example, the Ford Escape Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) only has a small battery of about 40 miles allelectric with a combustion engine. These vehicles can only accept a 3.7 kW charge rate. So, they will charge much more slowly on these chargers because of the vehicle, not the charger.

Miles

After driving the Ford F-150 Lightning, we noticed a few things: It is rated for 320 miles but that does not mean it will get 320 miles; 50% charge left does not mean 160 miles remain; and traveling 10 miles in real life does not subtract just 10 miles from your remaining total.

After a 45-mile trip, we arrived with 37% of the charge remaining. Doing some math, we would expect for more than one-third of the miles to still be available (1/3 of 320 = 107 miles). However, the truck said there were only 68 miles left.

We are attributing this variance in numbers to several factors:

The truck is still learning our driving. The longer it is driven the more accurate the modeling is “supposed” to be.

Cold weather. You can expect to lose anywhere between 5% and 10% of your miles depending on how cold it is. If you need to wear a coat, expect the miles to go by more quickly and to have less capacity.

Battery use

One of the biggest factors you have to remember with an EV is that everything uses electricity, including the heating, AC, dash screen, seat movements, radio, and even turn signals. The more you use, the more you lose. After reading and discussing with the dealership, we learned that Ford recommends to not use the main blower heating and cooling system unless absolutely necessary. Using the heated and cooling seats and the heated steering wheel, instead of the forced-air climate control will greatly decrease electricity usage and increase range. This is the same reason why Ford recommends not using seat covers, because they interfere with the heating and cooling capabilities of the seats.

We look forward to continuing to share with you what we learn about driving an all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning in rural America. If you have any questions about electric vehicles, give us a call at 419-426-3072 and we would be happy to discuss the pros and cons with you.