Ford F-150 Lightning first drive: quiet storm

I am driving through Texas. The buzzards are circling overhead, the road is empty, and all is right with the world.

At least it should be. There is no engine noise coming from my truck. That is because there is no engine, only empty space. Ford calls it the Mega Power Frunk, which is a very dumb name for a cool feature, and one truck owners have been clamoring for for years: secure storage space.

The F-150 Lightning, Ford's eagerly anticipated electric pickup truck, has many advantages. The most important electric vehicle yet to arrive is the F-150 Lightning. I'm pretty sure you've heard all the reasons why this plug-in pickup is so important for Ford.

There were a few things that surprised me and I was disappointed about this truck. The F-series is popular and beloved. The good outweighs the bad, and there is nothing about the Lightning that makes me feel less optimistic about the shift from dirty, gas-powered vehicles to zero tailpipe emissions.

Most people who buy a Ford F-150 Lightning won't have many opportunities to drive it up near-vertical rocky paths, or through knee-deep puddles of mud, or even on twisty surface roads while towing an 8,000-pound truck. I had to do that over the course of two days in and around San Antonio, Texas, where Ford invited members of the media to experience the F-150 for the first time.

The experience was enlightening.

Photo by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge

Drive impressions

The F-150 Lightning is a very sporty truck. The joke was that Ford missed out on the chance to revive the original Lightning as an electric pickup. It's easy to forget you're driving a 6,500-pound vehicle because of the truck's low center of gravity. The pouch-style battery cells on the floor of the truck are not unique to electric vehicles, but it feels unique for a pickup truck.

The standard range of I've driven a lot of electric vehicles but not a lot of trucks, and the combination of power, acceleration, and size of the F-150 Lightning was thrilling.

The V8 diesels that Ford puts in its Super Duty trucks top out around 475hp. The engines make 1,050 pound-feet of Torque, which is more than the Lightning can do. The ability of the F-150 to jump from 60 mph to 0 mph in less than four seconds is amazing. It never got old over the course of two days of driving.

While it was a blast rocketing along the Texas back roads, I was a little worried about how F-150 owners will handle the instant acceleration in denser settings, like the suburban communities where most F-150 owners live. First-time EV owners can be shocked by that Torque. The brakes seem to be able to bring the F-150 to a full stop with enough room to spare. It was perfect on both curves and roads.

The F-150 Lightning is 35 percent heavier than its gas-powered equivalent, thanks to the 1,800-pound battery. Things get tricky for the F-150 Lightning here. Lighter vehicles emit less tailpipe emissions than heavier ones. Non-exhaust emissions come from a variety of sources, including rubber tires, road dust, and brakes. Electric vehicles have added weight from their batteries.

We don't know how much non-exhaust emissions the F-150 Lightning will create, but we're likely to find out soon enough.

Photo by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge

Photo by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge

Photo by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge

Photo by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge

Battery capacity and charging

I found that I was using 2.3 miles per kilowatt-hour of battery usage on surface roads and highways. The base version of the truck, which starts at $40,000, is 888-282-0465 888-282-0465 888-282-0465 888-282-0465 888-282-0465 888-282-0465 888-282-0465 888-282-0465, which is 888-282-0465 888-282-0465 888-282-0465 888-282-0465 is the EPA's unit of measurement for an EV's energy consumption level to compare with. If you want the bigger battery pack with 300 miles of range, Ford makes you buy a bunch of other options that add up to $74,000.

Load up the truck bed with cargo or attach something heavy to the hitch and the range numbers will go down. More on that later. I found the range and energy usage to be adequate for most driving scenarios.

Range anxiety is giving way to charging anxiety for most EV-curious consumers. Ford didn't give us any opportunities to charge the F-150 Lightning, so I can't speak to the time it takes to repower the battery. It's a sore spot for most EV's. Unless Ford invests in building out its own dedicated network, there is only so much the company can do to make the public charging experience better.

The band-aid solution that Ford has is that it has coalesced a handful of disparate independent public charging networks into what it calls the FordPass Charging Network. Ford is working with some of the chargers so that owners don't need to create new accounts or download other apps to start charging, because all of them show up in the FordPass app as if they are one large network. It is a great idea in theory, but needs more work.

A 120-volt outlet will trickle 3 miles per hour into the battery, while a 240-volt outlet can add 14 miles per hour. Ford is selling a new 80amp home charging station that will fully charge the F-150 in eight hours, but only for three days, or even up to 10 days.

The ability to draw power from the battery pack isn't limited to extreme scenarios. The base trims of the F-150 are capable of putting out 2.4 kilowatts of onboard power, while the more expensive trims offer a total of 9.6 kilowatts of onboard power. The more expensive F-150 Lightnings have built-in power sockets in the cab and bed, as well as a 240V outlet in the front trunk.

The idea of turning a vehicle into a mobile generator of sorts with the F-150 hybrid, but the higher trims of the F-150 Lightning will offer even more onboard power, and they won't use gas to generate it. It's a great feature for anyone who needs power on the go, but it could be a huge benefit for fleet operators or small businesses looking to go green.

Photo by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge

BlueCruise

On my first day driving the F-150, I was able to use the BlueCruise system. This feature is standard of the Platinum trim level and will cost more to upgrade to the Lariat trims. BlueCruise can be purchased for an additional $600 for F-150 owners who opt for the Co-Pilot 360 Active 2.0 package.

I was excited to try out this feature because it was Ford's long-awaited answer to Super Cruise, which is the gold standard for Level 2 advanced driver assist systems. The Full Self-Driving beta system does not allow for hands-free driving.

There are a number of different features in these systems, like adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking, lane-keep assist, blindspot detection, and stop sign detection. F-150 Lightning drivers can take their hands off the steering wheel and feet off the pedals on certain divided highways, as well as have their eyes monitored by a sensor in the dash.

When you enter an approved area, a notification on the gauge cluster informs you that BlueCruise is available. I found the system very easy to use and disengage from, which wasn't always the case with other Level 2 systems. After you get over the urge to slam on the brakes, you can sit back and enjoy the convenience of the system.

Ford markets BlueCruise as an active safety feature, but I think it's more of a convenience feature designed to take some of the stress out of long highway trips and stop-and-go traffic.

I used BlueCruise for about an hour and only had to disengage it twice: once when the system seemed to be steering toward a row of yellow barrels that mark the barrier between the highway and the off- ramp and another time when another vehicle merged dangerously in front of me. It worked well if it wasn't a charm.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

User experience

Many truck owners will be familiar with the inside of the F-150 Lightning. The gear shift that folds down allows for an expanded workspace in the center console with enough space for a laptop, a pad of paper, or even your lunch, is a delightful feature that F-150 owners will recognize. People who spend a lot of time in their trucks can fold back the two front seats. I didn't attempt a nap, but I was tempted.

The heart of the interior is the center stack touchscreen, which is a standard 12-inch landscape or optional 15.5-inch portrait style. The portrait-style touch screen found in the Mach-E will likely be an optional feature for all F-series trucks in the near future.

The latest version of Ford's in-car entertainment system, called the Sync 4A, is on the screen. It operates in a two-tiered layout, with the top two-thirds dedicated to navigation and media controls and the bottom third for climate and other vehicle functions. If you prefer not to use your phone for work, it also has wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. When you switch between menus, Sync 4A works well.

Normal, sport, tow/haul, and off-road are the drive modes. I switched to sport occasionally on surface roads. The display in the instrument cluster let me know how much power I was sending back to the battery, which was useful information. The heads-up display on the F-150 is not available, but Ford's engineers said it could be coming to future models.

Photo by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge

Photo by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge

Towing/Hauling

I will come out and say that I don't like driving large vehicles. My skills are questionable when those large vehicles are attached to other large vehicles. While towing a speedboat out of a winery parking lot, I almost destroyed a metal and plastic sign outside the entrance. I'm fine admitting this. It is good to know your limitations. I was reassured by the security guard who told me I was not the only one to do this.

Maybe I was paying too much attention to the information on the gauge cluster and didn't notice that the sign was being crushed under the wheels of the boat behind me. Ford went the extra mile in taking a lot of the guess work out of towing, allowing owners to create a profile based on the object being towed. In the case of the 8,000-pound boat, I could see that it would shave 100 miles off my range, from 250 miles on a full charge to 161.7 miles.

The experience of driving the F-150 was choppy. Pun intended! I felt the weight on the steering wheel as I accelerated along the road. It wasn't easy, nor should it be. It's important for drivers to know the weight of the vehicle they're towing.

Hauling less than a thousand pounds of plywood was easy. I almost forgot that the wood was in the bed of the truck. The standard range versions of the Pro, XLT, and Lariat trims can tow a maximum of 7,700 pounds, while the extended range versions can take up to 10,000 pounds. Depending on the trim level, the payload is either 1,850 pounds or 2,235 pounds.

Off-roading

It was fun to off-road in the F-150. I drove over large, beach ball-sized rocks, down extremely steep loose-gravel roads, and through several deep puddles. Each challenge was dispatched with ease by the truck. Ford's spotters made sure I didn't drive off a cliff.

I was directed to steer the truck through two large holes on the course. I thought I was stuck. The F-150 Lightning's electronic-locking rear differential, which is housed in the rear axle and allows both wheels to turn at the same speed, did the trick. I tried it without the rear differential activated, and it still made it out. In the old F-150, ELD is a physical knob, and in the Lightning, it is located in a submenu of the touchscreen.

Normal driving is more energy efficient than off-roading. Ford's off-road driving mode offers real-time range estimates and independent front and rear suspension. The software factors in weather and traffic conditions, but also uses an onboard scale to measure the weight of any cargo.

Photo by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge

When can we ride the lightning?

The F-150 is a great truck. It handles well, features a lot of cool tech, and will exceed the expectations of anyone who likes towing, hauling, or off-roading. Ford insists that 80 percent of its customers are included. Most people won't get to experience the F-150 Lightning's unique charms this year.

The number of electric F-150s Ford planned on making in its first few years of production has been a bit of a shifting target. Initially, the company only intended to target 40,000 vehicles annually, but later told suppliers it expected the capacity to increase to 80,000 by early 2023. It's unclear how many will reach customers this year, but the number of trucks has risen to 150,000 by mid-2023.

To inform customers when they can go online to spec out their Lightnings, the company is using a wave-by- wave reservation process. Ford stopped taking reservations earlier this year after collecting 200,000 deposits for the Lightning. As of this article, reservations are still closed.

The challenges of ramping up production on an EV are not unique to Ford. The auto industry is struggling to meet demand for electric vehicles as consumers look for more affordable options. Materials for batteries are in short supply. If Ford can just make enough trucks, it will be in a good position to take on that demand.

While stopped at a traffic light north of San Antonio, a man in a Ford Escape pulls up next to me and asks how I am liking it. I will show you, and as soon as the light turns green, I will blast ahead to the next light. The man lets out a whistle of approval as he catches up.

He wants to get his hands on that truck.

Good luck to you, Buddy.