Range anxiety has been a term tossed around in the electric vehicle (EV) community for a while now. The idea of running out of juice mid-drive and waiting for a tow truck to take you to the nearest charge station, or a new F-150 Lightning to usher you more power, has brought on severe anxiety for some. This resulted in many people staying with their internal combustion engine. However, there are a few people who decide to push the limits, and ironically enough literally end up pushing their vehicle, to see just how many miles a particular one can go. One such person is Kyle Conner who decided to check the highway range on his new F-150 Lightning.
Electric vehicles work inversely of its gasoline counterparts when it comes to where the most mileage can be attained. An EV will enjoy a short burst of energy, such as seen when running around town versus the continuous current draw of maintaining highway speeds for extended periods. That being said, it didn’t damper Ford Motor Company’s plans for producing an F-150 Lightning with extended range battery pack that can still achieve approximately 260 EPA proven highway miles.
To test Ford Motor Company and the EPA, Conner decided to take his 2022 F-150 Lightning Platinum from a full charge to completely drained. Since the Platinum edition includes a set of 22-inch wheels and a much heavier overall package, the numbers were thought to be lower than the EPA had vouched for. After several hours of driving the battery was completely drained and it coasted to a stop. Unfortunately for Conner, this meant it was pushing time to get that last 100-feet towards the charge station.
The results, 260.1 miles with minimal time spent under 70 mph and climate control on. Not bad for the least range spec’d F-150 Lightning with the big battery. While this proves what Ford and the EPA had stated were true, it also enhances what the XLT, Lariat, and Pro package might be able to offer in terms of highway mileage. Now we just have to wait for Conner to hit the drag strip and show us some quarter-mile times!