Is this your new tow?

[Tford]

Interesting….but man that touch screen is HUGE, distracted driving, ya think?

https://www.hagerty.com/media/news/r...96d72aa72356b4

[kavm]

You need some distractions while the truck is self-driving you to your destination

Actually, the screen in our 2021 F150 is already quite big. That size comes in handy with maps and some of the cameras.

[Perry Butler]

I wonder if the front trunk is large enough to hold one of our trikes?

However I'll bet it could hold both our folding Tern ebikes, so we could haul 2 bikes AND two trikes!

Enjoy,

Perry

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by kavm

You need some distractions while the truck is self-driving you to your destination

Actually, the screen in our 2021 F150 is already quite big. That size comes in handy with maps and some of the cameras.

Hi: kavm... I think I just felt the price of camping with full hookups rocket skyward!!! Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[Craiger]

I like the idea, the horsepower and torque is off the chart. But it comes back to the range they're looking at a standard range of 230 miles an extended range of 300. I have to assume that's not towing a trailer. The question would be is what would be the range of towing a 21 or 5 wheel. On the safe side be somewhere between 150 and possibly 175 miles, POSSIBLY. I think I'll let somebody else buy this and try it and see what the results are three years from now:

[wackyburggeezer]

The idea of powering your house from the truck during a power outage is cute. If the text is accurate, electrical utility companies across the country are going to freak out. Electric utility companies are rather retentive about allowing any external source to potentially tie into the grid. I speculate that Ford will tell owners to open the main breaker before connecting the truck, but someone, somewhere will try to save a little time, and reenergize his local residential grid during an outage. Pray that no linemen are working on the system when the truck owner powers up!

[oldwave]

I expect the customers for this initial will be contractors or business owners that live in an urban area with the bulk of business in a 100 mile radius, exactly the target that would help with urban air quality, which is the worst emissions concentration, ie sitting in traffic or slow speeds. I’m glad to see the beginnings of this and my kids and grand kids will see the tide turn to cleaner energy. There’s plenty of haters popping up on some of the truck boards, but eventually they like us will pass and technology will march on, how many of use use horses etc. Trailer towing for our little community would be limited, until there’s a robust charging grid, likely not for 20 years or so. However, I did just put a 50 amp outlet in my garage for the coming cars. We have a Prius prime and most of our driving in the local area is gas-less , 25 or 30 mile range, then it still gets 50 mpg when the battery exhausts. I was hoping the f150 hybrids would available at the lower trim level, I’d consider one.. Tundras will be out this fall with a new hybrid option. One of these will eventually temp me to replace the old 2004. Exciting times, Lithium solar and moving ahead for lessor emission vehicles.

[Iowa Dave]

We had a solar array installed late last year. My wife was talking to the neighbor who from all appearances keeps up with the times. She said our next vehicle would be either all electric or a hybrid.
He asked, as to infer that we were stupid, “Where are you going to charge it?”
Then he looked stupid when she said “in the garage” I have one 50 amp service in my shop now and a rec vehicle 30 amp in the Trailer garage. We started generating more electricity than we’re using in March. By November we will have enough in the “bank” to carry our shortfall through the winter. We have the framework to add four additional 390 watt panels if needed. I gotta live another 6 years to break even.
Trying to stay up with the kids I am:
Iowa Dave

[oldwave]

Originally Posted by Iowa Dave

We had a solar array installed late last year. My wife was talking to the neighbor who from all appearances keeps up with the times. She said our next vehicle would be either all electric or a hybrid.
He asked, as to infer that we were stupid, “Where are you going to charge it?”
Then he looked stupid when she said “in the garage” I have one 50 amp service in my shop now and a rec vehicle 30 amp in the Trailer garage. We started generating more electricity than we’re using in March. By November we will have enough in the “bank” to carry our shortfall through the winter. We have the framework to add four additional 390 watt panels if needed. I gotta live another 6 years to break even.
Trying to stay up with the kids I am:
Iowa Dave

Nice, our house we built in Kent 6 years ago doesn’t have the required sun exposure to do it right. However it was constructed with RCS and had a pressure test upon completion and was a show house for energy effective construction. I think the highest gas bill in the winter was 65 bucks. moving forward

[JeffreyG]

Originally Posted by wackyburggeezer

The idea of powering your house from the truck during a power outage is cute. If the text is accurate, electrical utility companies across the country are going to freak out. Electric utility companies are rather retentive about allowing any external source to potentially tie into the grid. I speculate that Ford will tell owners to open the main breaker before connecting the truck, but someone, somewhere will try to save a little time, and reenergize his local residential grid during an outage. Pray that no linemen are working on the system when the truck owner powers up!

This is the same as powering your house with a generator. You have to install a switchover breaker to lock out the house from the line when it is on the generator.

The Ford is a nice truck, but clearly not intended for people towing RV's. This is a truck for contractors, or people who haul utility trailers etc. over short distances regularly. Taking a long vacation with an RV using this truck would be miserable, as I doubt it would be able to make it over 125 miles per charge.

[oldwave]

Originally Posted by JeffreyG

This is the same as powering your house with a generator. You have to install a switchover breaker to lock out the house from the line when it is on the generator.

The Ford is a nice truck, but clearly not intended for people towing RV's. This is a truck for contractors, or people who haul utility trailers etc. over short distances regularly. Taking a long vacation with an RV using this truck would be miserable, as I doubt it would be able to make it over 125 miles per charge.

Exactly

[wackyburggeezer]

Perhaps Ford Motor Company will include a "Break before Make" switch and the cost for installation with every Lightning purchase. And that still will not keep the backfeed to the local grid if the truck owner fails to open his main house circuit breaker before connecting his truck and its' battery bank to his house. Of course, it may not pose a risk to electrical workers trying to correct the outage, if the electrical demand by the neighbors (also still connected to the grid) is sufficient to overload the current output of the battery bank. Time will tell.....

[HABBERDABBER]

The auto analysts are gaga over this rig. It is thought to be very popular with fleet truck buyers and users. Contractors, landscape service, HVAC, repair folks. Their drives are shorter, local typically, and they return to the fleet yard when done for recharging.


I attended a talk of a local fellow who drove his Tesla, on a bucket list adventure, from Madison WI to Augusta Maine to bag visiting another state capital. No big thing, except he did it during a January Polar Vortex event, with -20F temps. Cold temps effect battery capacity & range. He did it, with no issue or events, but did have to plan his route for recharging. 1st Stop for lunch in a Chicago suburb, which had a fast charge station...and then off again. The Tesla has a system to show the different types of charging stations on maps.


He was an early adopter, and had solar panels slathered over his home roof, recharged his earlier Nissan Leaf and Tesla with them.



A new world is in the making. I just hope it's better than the old ones.


And yes, the range on this truck would be severely limited towing a travel trailer distances.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Craiger

... But it comes back to the range they're looking at a standard range of 230 miles an extended range of 300. I have to assume that's not towing a trailer.

Absolutely - all published range and fuel consumption values (for electricity, gasoline, or diesel) are not towing, and not even loaded.

[JeffreyG]

Originally Posted by wackyburggeezer

Perhaps Ford Motor Company will include a "Break before Make" switch and the cost for installation with every Lightning purchase. And that still will not keep the backfeed to the local grid if the truck owner fails to open his main house circuit breaker before connecting his truck and its' battery bank to his house.

I'm not sure how you are picturing this.....you can't just plug the F150 back into the charger or an outlet or something and power the house. You have to install a dedicated port to power the main circuit box. Any qualified electrician installing this for you will put in a switcover that forces you to disconnect the house from the main line when you change the power source to the generator/truck. It's against code to do this any other way.


If a shade tree DIY homeowner installs their own generator line and does not disconnect from the grid, they can expect a knock at the door at the first power outage. The power company will detect you backfeeding the downed line and they will come and find you.


This electric truck doesn't change anything. It's literally no different from somebody who goes to Home Depot and buys a 7kW standby generator. This truck is very convenient as compared to a generator, but you still have to have the wiring in your house updated to allow for backup power. Done to code, this presents no risk to utility workers.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by wackyburggeezer

The idea of powering your house from the truck during a power outage is cute. If the text is accurate, electrical utility companies across the country are going to freak out. Electric utility companies are rather retentive about allowing any external source to potentially tie into the grid. I speculate that Ford will tell owners to open the main breaker before connecting the truck, but someone, somewhere will try to save a little time, and reenergize his local residential grid during an outage. Pray that no linemen are working on the system when the truck owner powers up!

They won't freak out, but they do have valid concerns. The use of both backup generators and home solar power systems has led to the establishment of standards and procedures for this sort of thing.

Exporting power from the EV while utility power is live (or "Ford Intelligent Power") is just like a typical on-grid solar system - no problem. Exporting power from the EV while utility power is off is just like a backup generator - different situation, and an interlocked disconnect (or transfer switch) is called for, but again not a problem.

Since the articles (this one and others) mention "Ford’s special 80-amp charge station" (or "Ford Charge Station Pro"), and another article includes a "home management system", I suspect that a transfer switch is incorporated in the complete installation.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by JeffreyG

The Ford is a nice truck, but clearly not intended for people towing RV's. This is a truck for contractors, or people who haul utility trailers etc. over short distances regularly. Taking a long vacation with an RV using this truck would be miserable, as I doubt it would be able to make it over 125 miles per charge.

I agree. And I would add commuters to the target market, as that's what most F-150's are actually used for, most of the time, and the range is adequate for that purpose.

While most pickup owners in this forum own the pickup specifically for towing a trailer, most pickup owners in general almost never tow. There is a substantial market for trucks like this, but it isn't long-distance vacation travellers.

[Brian B-P]

The article says

An EV’s performance and range are easily tweaked through simple software changes

That's a massive over-simplification. While some changes can be programmed, range is fundamentally limited by the energy in the battery.

[Brian B-P]

As the article mentions, battery capacity has not been revealed. They say

That said, a quick extrapolation from charge rates would suggest that the standard-range Lightning battery sits around 140 kWh, and the extended-range pack around 180 kWh.

... but apparently this extrapolation was done too quickly - it's wrong.
32 amps at 240 volts for 44 minutes to add 85% of capacity implies 126 kWh capacity, not 140 kWh... and since the full charge rate won't be maintained right to 100%, actual usable capacity will be less than that. For the larger battery, it's less than 172 kWh.

These capacities and the claimed ranges suggest almost twice the energy consumption per distance as a typical battery-electric car, which is not surprising.

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by Iowa Dave

We had a solar array installed late last year. My wife was talking to the neighbor who from all appearances keeps up with the times. She said our next vehicle would be either all electric or a hybrid.
He asked, as to infer that we were stupid, “Where are you going to charge it?”
Then he looked stupid when she said “in the garage” I have one 50 amp service in my shop now and a rec vehicle 30 amp in the Trailer garage. We started generating more electricity than we’re using in March. By November we will have enough in the “bank” to carry our shortfall through the winter. We have the framework to add four additional 390 watt panels if needed. I gotta live another 6 years to break even.
Trying to stay up with the kids I am:
Iowa Dave

Hi: Iowa Dave... Why not just use your "Charge card"? Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie