The Ford F-150 Lightning and the Future of EVs for Your Business
New Generation EVs Solve Range Anxiety and Recharging Concerns
Lower costs and winning customers are the two reason your business will buy an electric truck. Today’s electric vehicles (EVs) cost less (even including higher EV sticker prices) than fossil fueled vehicles. They also attract the attention and loyalty of millennial and Generation Z customers. This demographic now makes up the largest number of work associates and consumers. They seek to work for and buy from businesses that demonstrate they are “cool with a purpose” by adopting technologies that deliver solutions.
Cost less, means more is a business formula as old as McDonalds and as recently successful as Amazon. That same formula now defines clean technologies like solar and EVs. Your business can’t afford not to begin investigating and investing in EVs.
All Electric Ford F-150 Lightning
The just announced all electric Ford F-150 Lightning is proof of concept that EVs deliver on cost less, means more.
In terms of cost less, the base Lightning starts at $40,000 before federal and state incentives. It is likely that after adding in these government incentives the base Lightning truck will cost $30,000 or less.
And the economics only get better. Re-charging the all-electric F-150 will be equivalent to refueling a fossil fuel vehicle for 75 cents per gallon. Plus, there are zero oil change costs. Brakes will last much longer. Fewer parts means lower repair costs. With more EVs on the road we are seeing a growing number of studies that compare EVs to fossil fueled vehicles. They find that EVs can be half as expensive to operate as fossil fueled vehicles over their service life.
What you get for your money is a truck that can do everything your fossil fueled truck can do and more. Trucks are built to haul stuff. The F-150 Lightning has a standard size bed and can seat five big people. But it also has a front frunk, or front storage area, located where the giant fossil fueled engine was located. This frunk is like having a second truck bed with a lockable cover! Put the day’s job materials in the back bed and keep the tools in the lockable frunk.
In terms of hauling capability, the four-wheel-drive, all-electric F-150 can haul a million pounds. And it accelerates at the speed of electrons as President Biden found out when he test drove the F-150 Lightning. His observation: “These suckers are fast!”
New Generation EVs Solve Range Anxiety and Recharging Concerns
Range anxiety and vehicle recharging are major reasons businesses are not thinking about EVs. In terms of range, the Ford F-150 Lightning offers two range choices of 250 or 300+ miles per full charge. To optimize battery life, EVs typically limit recharging to 80% of full charge unless specifically instructed to charge to full capacity. So, the typical daily range for the Lightning will be 200 to 240 miles. On average, most business trucks drive less than 160 miles per day. On most business days a Lightning will make it back to the business location with 20% of its original charge.
Recharging is slow compared to the 15 minutes to refuel a fossil fueled vehicle at a filling station. But recharging is a “walk away” process for EVs. You plug them in at the end of the business day and they are recharged for the next day’s work. If real time recharging is needed, it typically takes about 30 minutes to add an additional 50-80 miles at the growing number of LEVEL 3 commercial recharging stations. Having been one of the first to drive an EV from Oceanside, California, over the Santa Rosa mountains into Palm Springs I can attest that range anxiety is really just unfounded fear and not a reality. I left Oceanside with a full charge. I arrived in Palm Springs with sufficient charge to cruise the town’s amazing mid-century homes. Then, after a 30-minute recharge at a commercial recharging station, the trip back had no range anxiety with a good safety margin of charge remaining upon arrival back in Oceanside.
EVs Win Competitive Advantage
EVs generate zero tailpipe emissions. If you live in California, buying an EV will be mandated as part of California’s climate change mitigation plans. In this case, the state is doing its businesses a favor. California will force them into a technology that costs less and wins customers. If you live outside California, being one of the first businesses to buy EVs offers real competitive advantages by delivering lower costs and attention-grabbing brand identity compared to your slower moving (in terms of technology adoption and the speed of your EV truck) competitors.
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