Ford's electric pickup truck isn't ready for the heartland

[PeteS in CA]

Ford's electric pickup truck isn't ready for the heartland

https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2021/05/25/fords-electric-pickup-truck-isnt-ready-for-the-heartland-n392312

Ford’s launch of its new electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck received a serious boost when President Joe Biden became the unwitting spokesperson for the new “green” vehicle this week. The ethics of a sitting president providing free advertising for one company over its competition is a serious question, but there are other issues with the new brand that Ford will need to address. Pickup trucks remain popular in America, even among people who rarely do anything that would require that sort of carrying capacity. But the trucks doing the real work tend to be located in rural, agricultural areas. How well will the F-150 lightning perform out on a ranch? It sounds like they can haul heavy loads well enough, but many in the target market aren’t so sure that the restrictions imposed by the vehicle’s recharging requirements will make the practical. (NBC News)

The technology “isn’t quite there yet,” said Tim Esterdahl, a long-time pickup owner in Nebraska who frequently posts about trucks on YouTube.

“My problem with a truck like Lightning is the trade-off you have to make in rural areas where there’s no real infrastructure,” he told NBC News. The more weight loaded into the bed, the bigger the trailer you’re towing, the more the range drops.

While Esterdahl said he likes electrification and owns a Ford F-150 PowerBoost, a conventional hybrid version of the truck, he said taking the Lightning to “the family’s favorite camping site” would likely mean detours and hours of charging. That’s not going to work with a young family onboard, he said.

Gee, what farmer doesn't want to has his/her pick-up battery go dead when a quarter or half a mile away from any sort of building (let alone a charging station!)?!

This is the stupidity of goobernment subsidies. Inferior products get built because gooberment makes it profitable. Meanwhile, the money needed for research that might lead to an economically viable product got diverted into producing inferior crap.

[roamer_1]

Gee, what farmer doesn't want to has his/her pick-up battery go dead when a quarter or half a mile away from any sort of building (let alone a charging station!)?!

A half mile ain't so bad. The last time I broke down hard, it took me three days to get back to pavement.
Pickups, bikes and snow machines, you just can't mess around. All of em take you far, far beyond a comfortable walk back.

[Wingnut]

What will happen is this.  Ford will see an early sales frenzy to your "Urban Cowboy's" and green wienies. These are people who never set foot out in the country much less ever leave the paved roads 35 miles from their homes.   Ford will think this will spell sales like they haven't seen since Lee Iococa convinced Hank Ford to build the Mustang. 

The real buyers of Ford trucks, people who actually get their hands dirty and work for a living are going to stay away from the POS in droves.   Biggest winner here will be Ram Trucks and maybe Chevy.  But knowing GM...they will e'f it up royally.  Because if anything is true about GM it is they will fix anything that isn't broken.

[Bigun]

What will happen is this.  Ford will see an early sales frenzy to your "Urban Cowboy's" and green wienies. These are people who never set foot out in the country much less ever leave the paved roads 35 miles from their homes.   Ford will think this will spell sales like they haven't seen since Lee Iococa convinced Hank Ford to build the Mustang. 

The real buyers of Ford trucks, people who actually get their hands dirty and work for a living are going to stay away from the POS in droves.   Biggest winner here will be Ram Trucks and maybe Chevy.  But knowing GM...they will e'f it up royally.  Because if anything is true about GM it is they will fix anything that isn't broken.

GM f'd themselves with me with the Obama bailout that screwed stockholders royally and rewarded the UAW.  I'll walk before I drive a GM product.

[thackney]

The entry model starts at $39,974 MSRP (commercial-oriented). More-equipped mid-series (XLT) starts at $52,974 MSRP, offering additional comfort and technology. MSRP starting at $39,974 up to around $90,474.

https://www.ford.com/trucks/f150/f150-lightning/2022/

[sneakypete]

The entry model starts at $39,974 MSRP (commercial-oriented). More-equipped mid-series (XLT) starts at $52,974 MSRP, offering additional comfort and technology. MSRP starting at $39,974 up to around $90,474.

https://www.ford.com/trucks/f150/f150-lightning/2022/

@thackney

Their desiginated market is Urban Cowboys that like to play "Dress up" on a Sattidy Night and go visit cowboy bars.

[thackney]

@thackney

Their desiginated market is Urban Cowboys that like to play "Dress up" on a Sattidy Night and go visit cowboy bars.

I think so.  There is a very large market buying trucks that never leave pavement, unlike mine, every day, at home and at work.

[Fishrrman]

I wonder how far one of those electric F-150's will go towing a full-sized 5th-wheel RV behind it...?

[Wingnut]

I wonder how far one of those electric F-150's will go towing a full-sized 5th-wheel RV behind it...?

About 150 mile with a tail wind.

[sneakypete]

I wonder how far one of those electric F-150's will go towing a full-sized 5th-wheel RV behind it...?

@Fishrrman

Not to mention towing an equipment trailer with a backhoe on it.

[GtHawk]

@Fishrrman

Not to mention towing an equipment trailer with a backhoe on it.

No problem, just find room on the back hoe trailer for the generator.

[sneakypete]

No problem, just find room on the back hoe trailer for the generator.

@GtHawk

Or maybe get a pair of VERY long heavy gauge jumper cables made,and fire up the backhoe and let it recharge your truck as you drive?

Kinda turn it into a perpetual motion machine until you run out of diesel fuel.

[roamer_1]

@Fishrrman

Not to mention towing an equipment trailer with a backhoe on it.

Well that's where I went too... But technically speaking... Nobody is pulling a backhoe around with an F150 

[Smokin Joe]

GM f'd themselves with me with the Obama bailout that screwed stockholders royally and rewarded the UAW.  I'll walk before I drive a GM product.

Nah. I drive GM, but they were all built before Obama, 2000 or earlier.

[jmyrlefuller]

@thackney

Their desiginated market is Urban Cowboys that like to play "Dress up" on a Sattidy Night and go visit cowboy bars.

If you had any idea how successful that gambit was with picking up chicks... me? I'll stick to my old beater cars.

I used to haul almost anything that could be hauled in a pickup truck in my station wagon, back when it worked a few years ago. (Eventually it wore out.) But the ladies were never all that impressed.

[thackney]

@GtHawk

Or maybe get a pair of VERY long heavy gauge jumper cables made,and fire up the backhoe and let it recharge your truck as you drive?

Kinda turn it into a perpetual motion machine until you run out of diesel fuel.

The electric vehicles are not using a 12V battery.

[Wingnut]

Nah. I drive GM, but they were all built before Obama, 2000 or earlier.

"Cash for Clunkers"  killed the supply of those golden oldies!

[Lando Lincoln]

GM f'd themselves with me with the Obama bailout that screwed stockholders royally and rewarded the UAW.  I'll walk before I drive a GM product.

Same.

[sneakypete]

The electric vehicles are not using a 12V battery.

@thackney

Oh,well,I am certain there is some sort of device that can be connected between the two to create the juice you need. Yeah,it might cost more than your pu,but you can't  have everything,right?

[sneakypete]

"Cash for Clunkers"  killed the supply of those golden oldies!

@Wingnut

Not as much as buttholes,mostly uptight women,and their GD zoning laws.

Young people looking for their first cars,or young couples needing a second car for the wife used to have no problem finding affordable used cars in their neighbors back yards they could use,but those days ended with the appearance of the yuppies.

Back when I was able to work only off and on,I had no trouble finding several good running cars for free by looking into back yards as I rode around,or just asking friends if they knew anybody that had a car in their backyards they wanted to get rid of. Back then LOTS of people would rather give their old car away to someone that needed it than to sell it for junk.

That is no longer an option for most people. Your Homeowners Organization own your house,your land,your cars,and your freaking soul,and you have nobody to blame for this but YOU.

[thackney]

@thackney

Oh,well,I am certain there is some sort of device that can be connected between the two to create the juice you need. Yeah,it might cost more than your pu,but you can't  have everything,right?

It is just too great a difference in the power output.  You could get something to increase the voltage, but it would be like trying to jumpstart your car with a couple double AA.

[The_Reader_David]

Another example of the urban provincialism that adds stupidity to the already foolish economic program of the left.  Electric vehicles are great in urban areas where travel distances are short, adequate infrastructure to easily build convenient charging facilities exists and tail-pipe emissions are actually a potential health problem.  Out here in the Great Plains, not so much. 

The same for that other enthusiasm of the American left, light-rail.  I enjoyed walking from my apartment to the station, taking SEPTA to the University station and walking to the math building at U.Penn on my second sabbatical.  I could work on research, read a novel, get through my e-mail on the train, rather than devoting my attention to driving.  Would there be any point in building a light-rail system in Kansas?  Nope.  It needs urban population density to make sense.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

I wonder how the automakers would figure the best way to charge me when my 4x4 is stuck out in the middle of a muddy pasture when the batteries emptied the charge?

[Smokin Joe]

"Cash for Clunkers"  killed the supply of those golden oldies!

It hurt. It sure messed up the used parts market, too (not so much as a license plate bolt could be salvaged and sold from vehicles sold as clunkers, and they were crushed).
As an aside, the program meant valuable space in salvage yards was taken up by vehicles that could not have any parts removed, like filling store shelves with stuff that could not be sold. Of course, the Gubmint took their sweet time getting around to buy up the stock from the yards, and it drove at least one I know of out of business, because they were not allowed to stack the vehicles that were doomed to be crushed.

[Smokin Joe]

I wonder how the automakers would figure the best way to charge me when my 4x4 is stuck out in the middle of a muddy pasture when the batteries emptied the charge?

About $100 to roll the wheels, $2.50 a mile, and then hourly to charge it....