My excitement over EV trucks died down a bit. I saw the teaser videos. Of course, I wanted one. It’s the truck of the future! But my excitement was replaced with disappointment. I know it’s early innings with EV trucks. The first batch just came out. Fine, I don’t usually buy anything first-gen. I’m more of a “let them build 1 million first to see if the wheels don’t fall off” kinda guy. Let them wrinkle out the bugs first, then I might buy one.
Q2 2023 hedge fund letters, conferences and more
Anyway the problem is not with the technology or the truck itself. They look awesome. I think you can guess. It’s the range! (And the price too.) It’s a massive bummer. I know you are not supposed to take manufacturer numbers at face value. And you shouldn’t. Especially if you are in Canada where the cold can snap your range 40%.
Let me get to the point. I was reading an article on Driving.ca on EV trucks. They tested the Ford-150 Lightning with the biggest battery pack. According to Ford, you should get 515 km of range driving on the highway (basically perfect conditions, no traffic, great weather, and flat, so not Canada). Driving.ca tested it and got 306 km. Ouch! That’s not much for perfect conditions. Imagine regular everyday driving plus the cold weather. And forget doing truck things, like pulling stuff. Car & Driver got 160km pulling 6,100lbs with the Lightning. And where do you charge if you are traveling with a camper? It’s hard not to block every charging spot.
It was good to hear Ford CEO admitting that there’s a lot of work left to do. He took his family on a road trip with a Ford Lightning. Here’s what he had to say after test driving the F-150 Lightning.
“It was a really good reality check of what challenges our customers are going through.” There’s videos out there where he documents his experience.
It’s WIP (Work-in-Progress). Now we can tackle the problems and improve. Charging will get better. Batteries will get better.
