In the Ford F-150 Lightning trim hierarchy, the Professional product is the standard operate truck: vinyl seats, hose-it-out flooring, plastic steering wheel. I really like it, probably because it is really the Lightning that’s the most conceptually identical to my personal wizened Ram, an additional member of the no-ground-mats club. It is really an trustworthy pickup—and hell, it nonetheless has A/C and cruise management, longtime luxuries now taken for granted. And if you’re eyeballing a Lights of any stripe, I say you want the prolonged-vary design, which provides a better-ability battery that boosts the EPA assortment figure to 320 miles. Even much better, the significant battery will come with extra horsepower, 580 horses instead of the typical-assortment truck’s 452. Which is my dream truck, appropriate there: vinyl seats, 580 horsepower, and a $51,769 foundation price. The only problem is, you are unable to get 1.
Just a pair of EVs filling up.
Automobile and Driver
I never imply that in the sense that you are not able to get anything at all these times, what with the offer chain shenanigans—I imply you cannot order a Lights Professional prolonged-variety. When you go to the configurator on Ford’s web-site, the little slider that allows you pick out the typical-selection or prolonged-selection battery is absent on the Professional. It can be regular-assortment only. So how did I stop up driving an extended-vary Professional? Was this a hot rod hacked together by rogue Ford engineers to examine the possibilities of super-swift operate trucks? Nope. Ford does develop an prolonged-assortment Lightning Pro, but it only sells it to fleet clients. No Professional for you. At the very least, not with the major battery.
The frunk is clutch.
Automobile and Driver
Which is a shame, for the reason that an prolonged-array XLT—the upcoming-least expensive path towards a 580-hp Lightning—costs $74,269. And to help you save $22,500, I can are living without a electrical power seat, a heated steering wheel, and a electrical power tailgate. I know I can are living without floor mats. If I lawfully alter my name to Fleet, can I purchase one particular of these?
I did not get to exam 1 of Ford’s more hilarious promises for the extended-selection Pro—that its battery has “enough energy to rip up to 30 miles of 50 percent-inch plywood on a single charge”—but I did do some towing. The outcomes of which underscore the point that towing with an electrical truck introduces a great deal of guesswork, due to the fact trailers differ so considerably in terms of pounds, rolling resistance and aerodynamics. The truck’s unladen selection is informed by demanding tests, but as quickly as you plug in a trailer wiring harness, it’s all lifeless reckoning.
Towing an empty boat trailer is a wonderful way to get fellas to say, “Hey, you forgot a thing!”
Auto and Driver
My approach was to tow an vacant boat trailer (tandem axle, metal, about 1000 lbs .) 130 miles or so to the coastline, and then return with 3000 lbs of boat aboard. But it turned out I did not will need to tow the boat, so I just drove about with a thousand kilos of vacant trailer. Which bothered the Lightning extremely little—even with the trailer connected, it could accelerate hard plenty of to bark its entrance tires at 25 mph. Off the line, you could certainly shock the Mustang GT in the next lane. With your do the job truck. Even though towing a tandem-axle trailer.
The standard rule with EVs and towing is to hope a 50 per cent reduction in assortment, which was mirrored in the truck’s array prediction when I plugged in the trailer. But an empty boat trailer will not current substantially aerodynamic drag, and the truck’s personal figures proved pessimistic. Chugging electrons at an indicated rate of 1.8 miles for every kWh, I could be expecting more than 200 miles of range while towing this certain trailer. And in actuality, I begun with a not-quite-entire cost and towed for additional than 170 miles (I took a detour to check out the Megarexx MegaBronc) and continue to experienced about 75 miles of variety remaining at the time I detached the trailer. For the community towing that an actual contractor would likely undertake, a Lightning would function wonderful. Probably even a regular-selection a person. This truck also had the Max Tow package deal and hence a 10,000-pound tow score.
The flip side of that significant battery, even though, is that regular Degree 2 charging takes a prolonged time. Parking the Pro at a general public ChargePoint station, the Lightning necessary 16 several hours and 35 minutes to soak up 111.38 kWh. So you can see why purchaser Lightnings with the extended-variety battery appear with Ford’s 80-amp house charger, which, at the time you get your property wired to accommodate it, can cost nearly 3 occasions quicker than my ChargePoint. Or study course, the Lightning can also handle DC rapid charging, but I did not check that because all around my location, the only DC speedy chargers are at Harley-Davidson dealers, for the LiveWires.
But hey, that is a minor difficulty for a silent, swift, discount-priced truck with a electricity-operated frunk. But, you know—fleet shoppers only. Which bought me wondering about how a lot of vans represent a fleet, so I questioned Ford. And the answer is five. If you obtain five Lightning Professionals at as soon as, you’re a fleet purchaser. Who needs to go in on a Groupon?
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