Tow No! The Ford F-150 Lightning Struggled in Our Towing Test
We towed 3100-, 5300-, and 7200-pound travel trailers with Ford’s electric truck and didn’t get very far from home.
Tow No! The Ford F-150 Lightning Struggled in Our Towing Test (Motor Trend)
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90 VW Corrado, 96 BMW 318ti, 03 VW GTI 20th, 21 Jeep Gladiator, 21 Jeep Wrangler
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I think that towing will still need to be handled by ICE vehicles until battery energy density gets closer to gasoline/diesel. Swapping batteries would have way too much overhead and would need way too much cooperation between manufacturers to work.
And ideally you'd have to do it without unhooking the trailer.
Sure, but Ford's pitch is that this can replace your ICE F150. But if you are towing, it cannot (at least not very well).
I still like it, but this isn't great.
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Can ALL of the 700k/year F-series buyers replace their ICE F150's with Lightnings? No. Can the 100k Gen X Dads that just use their trucks to cart their kids to school, go to the office and the gym and have never towed anything a day in their lives? Yes.
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I don't think this is a black and white "it can tow" or "it can't tow" situation.
The way I look at it, this is a Tesla Model S with a bed. If you want to use it as your daily vehicle, and towing is limited, then I see no issues despite the egregious range drop.
In my particular case, I would tow a boat with it, and I am about 45 minutes from the lake. I could easily see hauling it up there and back using a Lightning.
You have to make the call on whether this will suit your needs or not. I hope they have some tech changes coming that will increase the towing range.
The way I look at it, this is a Tesla Model S with a bed. If you want to use it as your daily vehicle, and towing is limited, then I see no issues despite the egregious range drop.
In my particular case, I would tow a boat with it, and I am about 45 minutes from the lake. I could easily see hauling it up there and back using a Lightning.
You have to make the call on whether this will suit your needs or not. I hope they have some tech changes coming that will increase the towing range.
It probably also sucks on a race track. More at 11.
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I had wondered if not having a transmission was gonna kill the performance on the highway with a load. This answers my question.
Agreed.... I'm in truck country; the newer + more expensive the truck the less likely it's gonna be towing anything. Still idiotic that people are buying these 6000lb bricks to commute and buy groceries but electrification is a step forward.
No transmission has a lot less to do with that than these being 6000lb bricks. At highway speeds fuel consumption is damn near all aero.
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curious why you feel gearing would have helped?
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Lower gears multiply power?
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Anything that is very energy intensive is going to wreck current gen EVs. They simply don’t have that much energy to work with compared to any ICE fuel tank. Most of their range is related to the EV machine’s inherent efficiency rolling down the road. This won’t change until price per KW and energy density improves several more fold and then you’ll have an unladen vehicle that will go absurd distances when not towing.
You can charge these vehicles to 80% before you'd be done removing the old battery pack.
Such an antiquated thought.
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It depends on how far you're towing. If your towing is in-town, or say you store your boat 10 miles from the lake, you get your best range driving to the boat storage, then just tow the boat to/from the lake, and drive home without the boat again. "Towing" doesn't automatically mean you are driving from L.A. to Sacramento every day.
I view these as perfect for landscapers, plumbers, and other types of trades who have a 4000 pound trailer but might only cover 60 or 70 miles when going from house to house or home to the worksite in their local area over a full work day. Plenty of other uses are no doubt just like that.
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clearly, but i think theres only so much (so little?) relative energy density onboard compared to the ICE, that that might buy you some more at the margins but my hunch is that it wouldnt be enough to avoid some of these headlines
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Yes. I said the same thing in a thread about the Rivian towing. They state the weight of the travel trailer and act like that's all that matters. It's literally an empty shell acting like a sail. Put 7k lbs of steel plates on a flat bed and repeat the test. I bet results will be much better.
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