We’re a two BEV household (not counting the 24’ Sea Swirl and ‘41 9N) since ‘21-‘23. The Lighting came on board in ‘23 and between the two, we’ve rolled 100,000 electric miles. That includes three trips to Montana (Mach E 1, Lightning 2) as well trips to Seattle & Portland, up the Gorge, etc. 90% of those miles are commute & roughly split 50:50 between vehicles. Both have new tires and with a few bumps (Mach E-rock shattered windshield and Lightning needed a BMS which then resulted in OTA updates coming in) they’ve run flawlessly. The commuter Mach E is now used for local errands and charges on 120V with a Ford mobile charger. The Lightning commuted & charges on a Charge Point Home Flex and typically recharges 35-40 kWh S-M-T-W-T nights a week with daily average distance of 96 miles. The Mach E is maybe 1/10th of that.

Our net savings in gas is about $20,000 Based on electricity at $.0634/kWh and regular gas at $4.50 and average of 2.7 miles/kWh between the two vehicles. The gas vehicle (the hilariously mad & deranged, freaky-fast twin turbo Flex) averaged 20 mpgs. The truck averages a tad over 2.4 Mi/kWh lifetime with the Mach E about 3.0+, possibly 3.1/3.2 (S.O. likes her heat). Of course I’m not including 5,000 mile oil changes, radiator service, power steering and auto tranny fluid, & amortized brake costs so the savings are more, like probably $21,000-$22,000. The Mach E is driven so little around town that I doubt it will see 100,000 miles this decade, or the next decade. The Lighting will likely muscle at 24,000 a year till ‘26 or so then fall back to say 7,500-10,000 per year and possibly reaching 100,000 early in the next decade.

Our friends consider us “early adopters”, more like tail-Enders in my book.

Big picture & little picture thoughts.

Big-Possibly the last cars we own as we’ve 7+ decades under our belts. With the dealer a handy 20+ miles away, “maintenance” is easy and service is good.

Continuing a little thread.. Technology simply doesn’t bother us as desktops-laptops-smart phones trained all decently on GUI and internet based comms. Including weirdness that some have suffered (not us) no different than water in the gas or a bad condenser ruining your whole day in an ICE vehicle. I did many a “field repair” on flat four VWs and I don’t miss my salad years as the family child that drove the beater car because he never had a breakdown he couldn’t wrench himself out of.

Charging station use is simple with the NACS adapter and overall improvement in EA stations (I’ve noticed that) + Tesla (maybe I should protest?) makes interstate trips a piece of cake. The Lightning’s ride makes it the go to freeway hauler.

Oddly both vehicles are very stealth but as we are pretty well known locals, all know what we drive and they are curious, ask intelligent questions with cost $$$, charging, range being the big three. I’m clear that charging at home =‘s best value. Range, including towing is being solved by more charging opportunities. At home charging can be a challenge as most aren’t willing to pay the $$$ on wiring in a new sub-panel/240V plug or direct wire. The styling is pretty normal now and that’s fine by us. Both slot into their respective markets very well.

I can’t help but compare my prior ‘99 7.3 SD F250 with the Lightning on towing. With a couple of exceptions, the Lightning is the better towing rig but lack of overload spring capacity/tongue weight capacity and range capacity means I won’t be towing an articulated ag tractor 500 miles and rolling at 20,300 lbs. all up. Other than that, local towing with a two axle flat deck cargo trailer is a dream. We don’t miss fuel stations, gas stink on startup, hot engines, forever warmups on freezing mornings. It’s more like plug and play.

We’re entering our 5th year of BEV ownership and couldn’t be more pleased. The small issues are like no power lift on the Mach E hatch, and the S.O. also dislikes the Lightning’s girth. Her daughter always wants to borrow her mom’s rig to the “big city” as it’s nimble whereas the son-in-law (who drives a gas F150) wants a Lightning because it’s cool and totally a stealth BEV.

I do hate subscription services (as all auto makers want to sell) then look at all the media crap we pay for! Nonetheless programs like ABRP, offer better nav so I’m ok with targeting the subscriptions I find useful and dump those I don’t. BlueCruise is particularly useless as I need to drive 2.5-3 hours east to freeways where it might be useful and that’s so rare I’ll just continue to self steer, thank you, when the subscription is up.

Other issues like range anxiety, range, GUI “newness” or “Sport” mode, (needs to be”OK’d” on startup) aren’t worth any brain cells worrying about them.

As we approach the end of the decade it’ll be obvious on probability of battery cell failure, power transmission failure, or software crap-out. But we are saving serious $$$ per year, and year over year.. that maybe it’s ultimately we “win” or worst case zero sum or less in the game. With TLC a 7.3 was bound for 300,000 miles and it maybe not unsurprising if a Lightning hit 200K w/o a brake job but will need 4 sets of tires and shocks?? The electric motors on our farm ran for decades and only failed (usually) to intermittent use and moisture. Maybe the screen goes blank but the truck still starts, shifts, drives with only Ford Pass the tell all. Maybe BEVs on average are freaking energizer bunnies. Giving them to grand children becomes a “thing”, FIIK.

For now, we are fortunate to afford the rigs and it’s a cool sweet glide into the future.



131+ 68 =199 kWh!

Missoula juice.

Montana sunset.

 

Subscription... gross.

 

Powerful, efficient, & quiet interstate cruiser. Local hauler. Very inexpensive to operate. No DEF either. Loved my ‘99 7.3 SD but it might as well been powered by coal.

 

Wow, excellent well written review from a farmer who has worked, owned so many trucks and who also puts 24,000 miles yearly on a Lightning.