Posted on 03/24/2022 5:51:19 AM PDT by Red Badger
Ford shared new videos about the towing capabilities of the upcoming, all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning pickup.
The vehicle can tow up to 10,000 lbs (4,536 kg) in the case of XLT and Lariat trims with Extended Range Battery and Max Trailer Tow Package. The Platinum can tow up to 8,400 lbs (3,810 kg), while the versions with the Standard Range Battery (Pro, XLT, Lariat) are rated at up to 7,700 lbs (3,493 kg).
See more about towing and hauling here.
VIDEO AT LINK...........
The manufacturer has tested pre-production vehicles in very challenging conditions to make sure that customers will be able to use the electric F-150 just like the conventional one.
Two particular tests were highlighted in specific:
TFLTruck’s Ike Gauntlet™ in the winter Davis Dam in the summer
In the case of the winter test, the Ford F-150 Lightning was tested towing 10,000 pounds up Colorado’s I-70 on the coldest February day in Boulder in 123 Years, at temperatures below 0°F (-18°C).
Last month, Ford engineers took preproduction F-150 Lightnings to what some call the world’s toughest towing test — TFLtruck’s Ike Gauntlet™ towing test — with windchills registering below zero degrees Fahrenheit. The Ike Gauntlet is an 8-mile stretch of I-70 in Colorado that ascends at a 7% incline to a maximum elevation of 11,158-ft. above sea level around the Eisenhower Memorial Tunnel.
VIDEO AT LINK...........
The Summer test included towing 10,000 lbs (4,536 kg) in the extreme heat of 118 °F (48°C) and at the extreme grades of Davis Dam.
"With ground temperatures reaching a high of 118-degrees Fahrenheit during testing, F-150 Lightning preproduction units towed the same 10,000-pound trailers for multiple loops across the dam. Davis Dam, located on State Route 68 between Las Vegas and the Hoover Dam, ascends from 550 feet elevation to 3,500 feet in 11.4-grueling miles.
Between the two locations, their steep continuous inclines, expressway speeds, and trailers in tow – in this case the truck’s targeted maximum 10,000-pound trailers – make them extremely grueling for EV and gas trucks alike."
VIDEO AT LINK...........
According to Ford, those are two examples of the hundreds of hours of rigorous towing testing that the F-150 Lightning has endured during development.
It sounds very encouraging that Ford carefully checked towing capabilities, which should be pretty good on short trips. On longer trips, range might be a limiting factor (see the Rivian R1T towingtest here) as it might be cut in half or more (compared to the nominal EPA values).
To minimize issues of towing and hauling, Ford developed special software that estimates the impact of various factors on the range in real-time. We are eager to see independent reviews of this system.
Too bad Abner Doble is no longer with us. A bit of a mad scientist, he was one of the great minds for steam power. His few cars have no transmission, instant torque, and great fuel economy, all of which the EV fan club adores. They also set all sorts of speed records during the 1920's.
The final paragraph of your post is what most are missing - the ultimate loss of freedom with full control by Big Brother.
Batteries = 16x 12V 100Ah @ ~$290 ea. Expect to replace every 5 ys. or so. OUCH!!
Wind and current excluded it should push the launch @ ~6kts for ~6hrs
How many 100s of thousands of dollars
*********
Good question. But if it is in the 100s of thousands of dollars
it won’t be bought by many people. JMO
Electric drive motors are common. It’s just the process of
blending them into use where combustion engines are now
used. The transition will take place but it will be over many
years. It took Henry Ford many years to get the gasoline
powered vehicle into public use. Keep in mind we’ve got
vehicles going to locations out in the solar system. Time
moves on and so does development.
There are easier ways to,wash a vehicle lol. I was always nervous about being yanked down the steep launch ramps with smaller vehicles.
Ramps are usually covered in slime algae................
I am giving the 10 minute mark as a realistic yardstick.
Traveling, you go 300-400 or more miles to a tank of gas on the highway... You fill up, the wife/kids etc go to the bathroom then you do... maybe they grab snacks, and you get back on the road. 10 minutes is a reasonable time frame.
Yes, if its just me in the car, I can refill and be back on the road in 5 or less, but 5-10 minutes would be acceptable for most people in a traveling situation.
I do agree if recharge is 10 minutes for everyone then you will have logistical issues, but you just lay it out as a parking lot, rather than the current drive through model... and every space has a charger, much like a drive through movie and the old wired speakers.. or twist it 90 degrees so the chargers are in the middle of two spaces that are pull in.
I don’t think the logistics are impossible for electric from that stand point. The power generation, and the distribution etc, are bigger overall problems if EVERYONE goes to electric... but before any of that matters, you need to get charging times down and ranges up... otherwise they are just relegated to being viable as commuter vehicles and toys.
At present the closest I could see myself even contemplating would be a hybrid if I felt any desire to go that direction (which I don’t)... the added cost of a Hybrid isn’t justified to me.
Purely electric, not even under consideration with my lifestyle. No I don’t drive long distances daily, but I do many times and I know no matter what back road I am on, I am going to find a gas station if I need one, and in a few minutes of time will be on my way for another 300-400 miles if I need to.
Not to mention. That batteries tend to lose staying power as they age- they don’t hold charges as long as new ones, so what will the distance be in say 5 years? Less that 150 miles? in 10 years?
I,woild also imagine there is a boatload of wiring which will give fits every now and again, but of course even gas vehicles have wiring issues from time to time.
Sure, you get regenerative braking going downhill - but on the way up you have to hit the bottom of the hill with enough capacity to get to the top. Maybe doable westbound, because the big passes are just west of Denver and you'd hit them with a relatively full battery. From there on out you're following the Colorado River valley. Eastbound that run would be a problem. You'd drain your battery on the long slog up the river valley, only to hit the passes. While you might have enough range to get home, you probably wouldn't have enough range/capacity to get to the top.
No, this is not a contrived scenario. We use our truck as an actual truck - to tow and haul stuff. Most of the time that means there are several mountain passes between where we are and where we want to be. Our diesel pickup can get anywhere in the state carrying/towing anything we have without needing to stop for fuel. An electric truck almost certainly cannot do the same without requiring at least one fairly significant charging stop.
Nice idea, and I'm sure they'll make sense for some uses. Not us.
Across town?
They sound like the Biden admin, just telling folks what they want to hear opposite test parameters.
Ditch the battery for some kind of onboard -e generator that can be refueled in under 15 minutes and make it all cost less than your average kidney transplant...
Then come talk to me. I’m not taking out a second mortgage just to afford a battery powered toy.
“...accommodate all of the vehicles just sitting there for 30 to 45 minutes. You would need hundreds of chargers at each location to make the throughput even slightly reasonable.”
That does it. I’m going to open an EV-charging plaza with a massage parlor attached. These jokes just write themselves.
In my EcoDiesel truck I get 30 mpg with no load. With an 8,000 pound load it is 13 mpg Denver to Florida through Texas. In the mountains of Denver to Grand Junction, it is 8 mpg. I can only imagine that physical load would curtail a 100 mile electric truck to 10 miles.
For me it depends. I'm not saying everyone should run out and buy an EV. But when considering charging times it's probably wise to consider gas fill-up times too.
Basically, if you're on long trips a lot, a gas car takes a lot less time to fill up than an EV takes to charge, both in the # of times to fill-up/charge and how long each fill-up/charge takes to do.
If, however, you rarely use the car for long trips, then consider that it takes virtually zero of your personal time to recharge your EV because you do it at home when you park it and plug it in for the evening, then forget about it while you go inside, eat dinner, have fun with the wife, and sleep. Yes it might take a couple of hours to charge back up to account for the 50 or so miles you drove that day, but it's time that the car is sitting in the garage or driveway anyway while you completely ignore it like you would a gas car sitting all night. Contrasted to a gas car taking maybe 5-10 minutes of your time once or twice per week when you fill it up. Say 5 minutes each fill-up, twice per week, is 520 minutes in the year. (Obviously much longer gas fill-up time for larger trucks and/or more commute miles.)
Looking at the 600-mile round trip weekend excursions my wife and I sometimes take, if I had an EV I probably would average 2 recharges per round trip (not counting the initial charge at home before heading out and the final recharge after arriving back home). If it takes 45 minutes for each charge while on the trip, that's 90 minutes of charging time per round trip. If I had a gas car I might fill it up only once on the road, taking 5 minutes, plus a 5-minute fill up both we left to make sure the car is ready for the trip, then another 5 minute fill up when we get back (a total of 15 minutes spent for gas fill-ups for the trip). That means the EV took up 75 minutes more of my time for the trip. I'd have to make 7 trips like that in an EV before my charging time for the year is more than the total time spent standing at the gas station filling-up a gas car.
And that's not even getting into the fact that gone are the days of starting your gas fill-up, flipping a lever on the nozzle, and walking away from it to do other things (restroom break, etc.) while it fills up. Contrasted to charging an EV is unattended (go get a bite to eat, buy groceries or firewood to supply the vacation cabin, etc.), though it does confine you to the area longer than a gas fill-up.
Every EV dealer should be made permanently responsible for the inevitable battery disposal.
I’m on board for the steam powered generator. Some WWII US steam ships were steam/electric.
A steam/electric vehicle could be powered by any hydrocarbon.
Including coal:)
What will be the per mile Federal and State tax be. They are not talking about that. I wonder why?
How much battery is remaining after such stunts?
Battery explosion on I95 film at 11:00
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