Up next in 10
One of the most award-winning trucks out there, the Ford F-150 Lightning seems to be improving as it matures. We dive into all the numbers, incredible innovations, and FUD-busting facts since its launch, along with time-tested attributes that make the Ford F150 Lightning not only the top all-purpose EV truck currently available for the money, but one of the best overall pickup trucks on the market today!
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0:00
Hey trucked up guys and gals! In this video we're going to go over 10 of the most compelling reasons
0:06
to consider an F-150 Lightning truck as your next pickup. No, Ford isn't mailing me commission
0:13
checks or any kind of affiliation perks or any of that kind of stuff at all. I'm not a secret
0:18
operative for auto unions, Joe Biden, or tree-humper leftists. And no, I don't get paid by
0:24
a major battery manufacturer, although that would be really nice and I am open to bribery. But come
0:30
on, I mean really, who in their right mind would throw serious ad dollars and sales efforts at a
0:35
little YouTuber gig like this? Please send me money! Okay, everything's fine. I'm fine. I'm
0:40
going to focus on the F-150 Lightning exclusively because, well, that's what I own and I can speak
0:46
from first-hand experience. Isn't it irritating when people jabber on like some kind of authority
0:52
on a product they've never even experienced in any significant way? Okay, but I'm turning a new
1:01
leaf. What's really surprising is how many of these incredibly positive truck features are
1:06
never considered by potential owners. What's more shocking is how many people mention these as the
1:12
reasons they avoid buying an electric truck. So let's dispel the FUD chuckers, get totally trucked
1:18
up and celebrate these top 10 reasons to own an F-150 Lightning right now
1:32
We kick off number 10 with what might come as a bit of a surprise, and that's price. Since the
1:39
F-150 Lightning came to market, we've heard about how these trucks are only for the rich
1:45
and that the automakers, and more notably the dealerships, have cranked prices so high that
1:50
no working class folk could ever hope to own one. I would agree with the skeptics regarding
1:56
vehicles like the GMC Hummer and the Rivian R1T, since the products were originally tailored to
2:01
the more affluent buyer and were never designed as standard pickups, but instead to showcase
2:07
how extreme and insane and amazing an electric truck could be. But the narrative has shifted
2:14
What we're hearing from naysayers now is that no one is buying Lightnings, demand is plummeting
2:19
and dealer lots are full of unsold units stacked on top of each other ready to self-combust
2:27
Overlooking the fact that February 2024 sales of the Lightning went up 91% over the previous
2:34
February. But let's look at these claims because it can't be both. Are they outrageously unaffordable
2:39
and way more expensive than their gas counterpart? Or has demand crashed so badly that you can buy
2:44
one of these things for the same price as an auto wrecker special with missing parts
2:51
The latter would be freaking awesome actually. As I pointed out in a previous video
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I'll provide a link near the end, I want demand to fall or dealers to panic because
3:01
I want a good deal. So I went on both Ford.com and Canada's Ford.ca sites and I did a build in price
3:08
For convenience, I'll use the US example and look apples to apples with all the same packaging and
3:15
using the more powerful 5 liter V8 gas variant to try and at least come within a moonshot of
3:22
Lightning's power and torque, which it doesn't even touch, but we'll get to that. The Lightning
3:27
is actually cheaper in a standard range than the gas version. And if you step up to the fully
3:33
outfitted extended range, then you're looking at about $14,000 more, but that doesn't tell us much
3:39
about how much cash actually comes out of your wallet for either of them. Factor in just the
3:46
federal incentives. In the United States, we have some in Canada, but let's focus on the US incentives
3:51
along with Ford's current offering of $7,500 cash back on the extended package. And either version
3:57
becomes the same or less than any available XLT gas trim you can configure. And until now
4:05
I haven't even mentioned the base trim Lightning Pro, which absolutely blows the doors off of all
4:12
of these and has no comparable gas version in the base gas XL trim. Not even close. Let me know in
4:20
the comments below if you would like me to do a video exclusively on the Pro. But that still isn't
4:24
the end of it. Depending on which US state or Canadian province you live in, there's even more
4:30
money available. In Canada, you got that federal incentive of about $5,000 and a lot more in most
4:36
provinces on top of that. Where I live in British Columbia, it's an additional $4,000 for that truck
4:42
So for me, $9,000 in the pocket before you buy. No matter how you slice it, currently it's cheaper
4:49
to buy a Lightning XLT than a gas XLT in any motor configuration that is comparable. That's a
4:57
pretty attractive reason to add the Lightning to your truck shopping list. But just for added fun
5:03
let's play on the tropes, okay? On that narrative that these things aren't selling. Is Ford suffering
5:09
on these things? I sure hope so. All the better for you and me, the buyer. Anecdotally, many dealers
5:16
are willing to sell these things at discounts in the US. We're not seeing that in Canada. But
5:20
supposedly long gone are the cursed market adjustments slapped on your EV truck purchase
5:25
on top of an already inflated MSRP. So there's a good reason why people still think these things
5:30
are expensive. And the first adopters that were willing to pay absolutely stupid amounts of money
5:36
to be the first at everything are well now officially first at everything. And no one
5:41
gives a crap. So now the reality is here. Maybe you can knock that price down even further and
5:47
bag yourself the cheapest EV truck ever sold. Score! If you succeed in wrangling some kind of
5:53
coup d'etat, I want to hear about it below. Let me know in the comments. Number nine. I got a
5:59
question for you. When's the last time you fueled your gas XLT at your house? That's a lot of
6:03
jerry cans. The amazing convenience of basically having the equivalent of a gas station at your
6:09
house cannot be overstated. If you get the extended range, it comes with an incredibly
6:16
fast level two charger that pumps out a whopping 80 amps via the Ford Charge Station Pro. That's
6:23
faster than almost any consumer AC level two charging unit on the market today. Even faster
6:29
than many so-called DC fast chargers in my region. Again, we hear about how long these things take to
6:35
charge. That's not how most people drive their trucks, gas or electric anyway. But at this rate
6:40
even if you are close to drained, you'll wake up every morning with a full truck if you so choose
6:45
I don't have this thing at my house since my Lightning is just a standard range. And yet
6:49
even with my 30 amp level two charger from Ford, there has never been a morning where I haven't
6:54
woken up to a full truck and been ready to go to work. But some of you are probably saying
6:59
yeah, but what about the power outages? We'll get to that later. And again, I think you'll be
7:04
pleasantly surprised. Home charging is not only about incredible convenience, it's way cheaper
7:10
than filling up that gas XLT with flammable go-go juice at the local pump. That leads us to the
7:16
number eight reason to own a Lightning. I mean, are you as sick of being bilked at the pump as I
7:21
was? By a limited number of oil and gas giants who seem to always have their prices, oh, kind of
7:27
around the same rates as if the price is almost coordinated some way, you know, in a so-called
7:33
free market economy. Strange, funny, bizarre. In any case, I don't seem to miss it. Based on
7:40
your area and many regions are different, but for the most part, the savings over gasoline by home
7:45
charging, especially if you are in an area with non-peak overnight rates, it's massive. Our
7:51
utility is going to go to an overnight rate of eight cents per kilowatt in June of 2024. Let's
7:56
just work out what that means. Typically it's a 20 to 80% charge that most people do. I have
8:03
only required jacking mine at home to a hundred percent several times since buying the truck in
8:08
October of 2023, but let's just say you do. Heck, let's go even further. Let's say you drain your
8:15
batteries to zero because you're some kind of crazy nutcase and you love to live on the edge
8:20
and you just make it up your driveway and you just, just, you know, run out of power as you pull up to
8:27
your, your charging unit at your house and you need a hundred percent the following morning. So
8:33
just doing a rough calculation with 131 kilowatt hour battery in the extended range XLT, we're
8:39
looking at eight cents times 131 for a total of $10.48. That same 320 miles or 515 kilometers in
8:49
a gas XLT is going to cost you at the average US gas price today, which as of this recording was
8:55
$3.47 US, works out to the following. 5 liter V8 at 17 miles per gallon at $3.47 US per gallon
9:04
equals 20.4 cents per mile. Well over 320 miles, that's $65.28 US versus $10.48 US for the same
9:16
distance via home charging your lightning. And that's every single time you fill up. It doesn't
9:23
take a mathematician to see how this is a huge savings. In Canada, my savings are even higher
9:29
since gasoline is more, but it gets even better. Can your gas bail you out if the power goes down
9:36
As I mentioned earlier, we often hear about these things as a problem during a power outage. In
9:41
actuality, this is number seven reason for owning one because in practice it is quite the opposite
9:47
On top of the huge benefits of waking up every morning to a full truck at home
9:52
there's the option of hooking this thing up and powering your house right back again in the case
9:57
of an outage. Moving a truck through the air and uphill etc. requires a lot of electrons
10:03
but charging a house is actually less. Based on the average household use of electricity in North
10:09
America, the extended range lightning could power your entire house for three freaking days and
10:14
still drive another 50 miles when the power comes back on before even having to charge up. Ford
10:19
claims that by limiting use, one could technically keep a household up and running bare basics for
10:25
10 days. Also, in major power outages, gas stations have issues themselves keeping their pumps running
10:32
and have resorted to many of these places having to have generators to keep things going. Some
10:37
charging stations such as Tesla do something similar which means that when the power is out
10:42
at least a number of chargers will still be online for hours or even days. Some systems even
10:47
incorporate solar roofs over the charging stations to self-power a portion of the charging capacity
10:53
and this is just in its infancy. These are just baby steps. In other words, one could even find
10:59
a charging station during the middle of a power outage and extend their range and also the charging
11:06
of their house even further. But what about all those deep freeze traffic jams we hear about
11:13
Always cited as a negative, this is number six reason for owning an electric truck if you live
11:18
in a cold area. In every test, EV trucks far outlasted an internal combustion truck if left
11:26
idling in extreme cold. Why? A motor has to be continually running through the combustion cycle
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whereas an EV doesn't. Along with around 90% efficiency for EV trucks and only 30% efficiency
11:38
for ICE trucks from the energy it contains and stores, it doesn't take much grey matter upstairs
11:43
to run the odds. And that leads to number five. With Ford making a bit of a breakthrough that
11:49
totally changes the 2024 Lightning lineup. In fact, I'm kind of jealous. But before I get there
11:55
I'm working around the clock in addition to my full-time job to get this channel to a thousand
12:00
subscribers and I can't believe the outpouring of support already. You trucked up guys and gals
12:06
Only a few percentage, unfortunately, of YouTube viewers ever click the like button and even less
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subscribe. But that is how channels like mine survive. If you'd like more trucked up videos
12:17
there's a lot of content already in the works. Please like, subscribe, and click that bell
12:23
notification icon below. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Back to number five. Say goodbye to
12:27
resistive heaters and electron gobbling HVAC systems. Ford has added what is called a vapor
12:34
injection heat pump. Sounds like something one might find in a dimly lit pole dancing pit in
12:39
Amsterdam's red light district. But I digress and I wouldn't know anything about that anyway
12:46
You can feel a lot easier about that winter range since this invention dramatically improves the
12:52
management of heating and cooling throughout the cabin, the electric motors, and the battery packs
12:57
Here's what Ford had to say about these amazing additions. We are continuously working to improve
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the energy consumption of our electric vehicles. When we launched the Lightning, we balanced what
13:07
was technically ready, could be optimized, and deliver the best value while developing the truck
13:14
Our engineers are chasing every mile to enhance efficiency and they've been hard at work since
13:20
we launched the F-150 Lightning in 2022 to bring a heat pump to market that fits the needs of our
13:26
customers. Ford's vapor injection heat pump or VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
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when I spoke of flammable gogo juice at gas stations, and a few of you went
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hey, hold on. EVs are catching fire and burning down entire villages and women and children are
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running in the streets on fire, going off like landmines and burning in the streets for months
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because no one can put them out. So hide your children from their evil carnage, etc, etc
14:19
Number four is about owning one of the safest trucks ever made. Yeah, you heard that right
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First, internal combustion vehicles are eight times more likely to catch on fire
14:29
and cause an injury or death than these things. The F-150 Lightning, along with the Rivian R1T
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are a couple of the safest trucks, both electric trucks, ever tested. Unlike gas trucks and SUVs
14:42
these things are incredibly difficult to roll over. Even better, the huge space under that frunk
14:48
well, that lacks an engine, right? It also provides for advanced crumple zones. Because of this
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and other advanced features, the 2023 F-150 Lightning, the last one tested, received the
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highest possible five-star overall safety rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety
15:05
Administration. That's the n-s-t-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s
15:35
Number three is the F-150 Lightning's comfort and ride. Man, you've never driven in a pickup
15:42
truck like this before. It's a huge plus that just doesn't get the attention it deserves
15:47
Especially, like, for me. I came from a 2007 Ford Ranger that, you know, was starting to
15:53
lose parts at high speeds to this. It's just mind-blowing. Not only is this Ford's first
15:59
F-150 with a fully independent rear suspension, but the almost perfect 50-50 weight distribution
16:06
between front and back makes this truck a dream to drive. With four drive modes, excellent
16:12
one-pedal driving that's just perfect. It's sensitive and it also makes electricity, whenever
16:17
you take your foot off the gas, added bonus. Oh, what am I doing going down this hill right
16:21
now? I'm making fuel. It's got a very low center of gravity and almost complete silence
16:27
in the cabin. I can't believe it, how amazing this thing is. I sometimes feel like I'm in
16:32
a Cadillac instead of a truck. It's responsive and agile, especially for a truck that weighs
16:37
this much. You know, you'd never know it. Even with its hefty weight, I'm just not noticing
16:42
it in the corners. This thing is a pleasure to drive on any short or long haul trip. It's
16:48
just impossible to ignore the next advantages over a gas XLT and a great reason to own an
16:54
F-150 Lightning. Each one of these could be in the top 10 list on its own, but we're
16:59
going to group them all for number two. The frunk is insanely useful and cavernous and
17:06
turns a pickup into everything that you would usually find in an SUV or crossover, along
17:11
with the flip up seats in the back, a full size bed with the auto drop down tailgate
17:17
and step for convenient access and loads of room in the center console and in each door
17:22
But there's so much more. Having power everywhere. You don't realize what it's like until you
17:28
have it and then you don't. It's just fantastic. I've yet to use the 220 outlet plug in the
17:34
back bed, but I will be in several future episodes, but often use the frunk and interior
17:39
plugs. They're just so handy to have there. You just can't get that kind of versatility
17:44
power and insane user applications out of an internal combustion pickup truck. Oh, here
17:50
you are again. Number one is by far the feeling of its capabilities. That sounds really vague
17:58
but it's not. If I just talked about capabilities, it doesn't do it justice. Tapping that accelerator
18:04
pedal and feeling the instant torque of two electric powerhouses front and back launch
18:10
you forward in such harmony is a feeling I've never experienced in any gas truck, even modded
18:18
out performance variants. Yes, there's the insane speed. We've all heard about this ad
18:23
nauseam from electric vehicles. This is Ford's fastest truck, even putting the Raptor to
18:28
shame, but that goes without saying. It's the combination of these things that you're
18:33
in a truck that is so capable, but Ford has impressively married all these electric elements
18:38
and that's what's truly impressive. There is a sense of quiet, powerful confidence in
18:43
its road creds. And once you've driven one for any period of time and you get back into
18:49
a gas truck, I'm sorry man, but for me there's no going back. Sure, there are negatives
18:55
lots of them, and every potential owner should weigh it all in. They should know about every
18:59
positive and every negative that they can find. And if you'd like to learn about the
19:05
10 boo-boos that I found or why diesel truck guys think EV trucks absolutely suck, click
19:12
the links here. Thanks for watching
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