The Ford F-150 Lightning has enjoyed tremendous success since its launch, and remains in such high demand to this day that FoMoCo is still working to fulfill all of its initial orders for the EV pickup. Aside from winning universal praise from critics and some pretty prestigious awards, the F-150 Lightning is also a strategically critical vehicle for The Blue Oval itself as it pivots more toward electric vehicles and away from gas-powered models. However, Ford F-150 Lightning owners must rely on third-party charging networks while on the road, and one of them – an Electrify America station – reportedly bricked one person’s pickup while it was charging recently.
That person is Eric Roe, who was on a road trip in his Ford F-150 Lightning when he stopped at an Electrify America station in Newport, Oregon for a charge. Roughly 1,000 miles from home with his family and two dogs in tow, Roe plugged his truck in, only to hear a loud boom shortly after it began charging. After that, the charger went dark and a series of error codes were displayed inside the Lightning. The truck unfortunately wouldn’t restart or move at that point, and Roe couldn’t even shift into neutral.
Roe called both Electrify America and Ford before ultimately relying on roadside assistance to tow his pickup away, and making matters worse, a dealer informed him that they wouldn’t be able to look at the truck for a couple of weeks. However, Ford stepped in and escalated the issue, and Roe notes that the 12-volt battery must be replaced before diagnostic work can be completed. Regardless, Roe notes that both Ford and Electrify America are involved and trying to figure out what went wrong.
It’s worth noting that some commenters claim that this issue isn’t totally isolated – in fact, there are owners of other EVs out there that have apparently had the same thing happen to them. Many speculate that the problem is related to Electrify America’s newer chargers, and claim that they supply more current than the vehicle is requesting. It’s unclear if that is the case, but we’ll certainly be keeping our eye on this story to see what happens with Roe’s pickup.
Some Ford Authority readers have reached out to share what could be some additional details on what caused this to happen. Those readers note that it’s impossible for this damage to be caused by overcurrent from the charger, as current is a “pull” function, not a supply function, except in the event that current demand exceeds the supply’s upper limit – which means that charger cannot supply more current than the pulling circuit at the other end. If overcurrent was indeed the cause of this issue, it would be the truck’s fault, while the charger could be at fault if the damage was the result of incorrect or uneven voltage.
We’ll have more on this soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for the latest Ford F-Series news, Ford F-150 news, F-150 Lightning news, and comprehensive Ford news coverage.
To include additional SUVs from another model year.
It's a story straight out of a video game.
Perhaps more than one might expect.
As it continues to tweak its business in that market.
A small, nearly universal increase.
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I have not charged my Lightning except at home yet. I plan to use the Lightning for driving that is within it's round trip range. Fortunately I have another dinosaur fuel vehicle for the long travel trips. At least until everyone gets these type problems worked out.
I have a Mach-E and have changed outside my home only a few time just to test it out not out of necessity. For long trips we are still using my wife dino fuel SUV. But that only 5% of our miles.
Dinosaur fuel- very sophisticated! Dinosaur fuel is used to make electricity today in part. You guys bought this early stupid crap with 80 miles tow range - congrats on going nowhere. I love electric and so the future is, although because of you guys- paying to be lab rabbits a fortune and financing future solid state battery or whatever will be research- very altruistic! It’s a compliment, by the way
I guess you never heard of hydro-electric, wind, solar, or nuclear power. The vast majority of truck owners never tow anything. Most never haul anything more than a few hundred pounds. Those that do, should be smart enough to know the capabilities of the vehicles they purchase.
This is just one more of the plethora of charger problems. So, who is responsible for the tab? Owner, manufacturer, charging station owner, charging station operated outsourced by the station owner, electricity provider if it is power surge? All these things and more can be sorted out by the early adopter guinea pigs who buy into (literally) the EV pipe dream. Y'all can sort it out for the next 20 years and then I'll give it a try. Have fun with all the headaches you don't need but are willing to endure.
This is just the EV equivalent of when there is excessive water in the gas at a gas station, and it kills cars. The gas station and/or insurance pays for the damage.
I wouldn't say they are comparable but, in the electronic world, how do you prove anything without expensive forensics? All the actors will finger-point at someone else and the poor owner is going to get stuck as everyone else tries to pass the buck.
It should be pretty clear after assessing both pieces of equipment exactly what happened. Both the truck and charger have SIGNIFICANT event logging info, and depending on the specific damage to which circuit you'll be able to determine what happened and why
You got to be joking
I'm not opposed to electric vehicles in concept, but there is no way I would entertain getting one right now. The absurd price differences between an ICE F-150 and a comparably-equipped Lightning is the first show-stopper for me. The lack of a reliable, widespread charging network is second. And issues like this, until the technology matures, is another.
Who Didn't See This Coming?
Now the blame game starts and our insurance rates increase to cover the costs :/
The nice thing about having chargers designed, built, installed and maintained by the car manufacturer is that they work. That's why I bought a Tesla.
Couldn't agree more
I’m towing a travel trailer it’s 24’ plus the length of my crew cab 4x4 truck, I’m out of battery and need a charge. Do you recommend disconnect the trailer and anti-sway hitch or drive straight into the charge station connected and block the parking lot in all directions?
Concerned Dino fuel user.
No one should buy a Ford lightning to tow a 24' travel trailer. The people that buy them (myself included) know the limitations of the platform. I tow a 14' 7000 lb box trailer daily with mine for my business and it is awesome. It's silly to see the negative comments. If you don't want one don't buy one. I've had diesels for the same job for the last 20 years and unfortunately they aren't what they used to be.
Except it isn't so simple. State and federal governments are pushing or mandating that we all buy these by pie in the sky drop dead dates. EVs are a niche market and very immature. Most of us want the reliability, convenience, and affordability of ICE cars. Let the market decide.
The reason you see negative comments, is because morons in power want to push this on everybody as if it's ready for prime time, and it's far from that. it's realistically minimum 10 years away but more, probably 20 years.
This is exactly why I will never own an EV.
There is no way that a danged auto-mobile is gonna replace a good team of horses. No way!
People constantly make this stupid comparison, this is not anywhere near the same.
Electric vehicles have a problem with not enough rare earth materials, there's not a power grid to be able to support it, the grids can't even support current demand. There's a problem with weight of battery versus power, the weight of power ratio doesn't come anywhere near fuel such as diesel or gasoline.
There's going to have to be serious improvements before this can be a viable option realistically. Hydrogen makes more sense than electric cars.
There's a poethra of problems that EVs are facing that don't come close to comparing to the small amount of hurdles horseless carriages faced at the turn of the century.
It's a pipe dream people! Not enough electric can be produced for all electric cars! I'd rather drive a dinosaur then an electric eel!
In my view, it's better to have one in a million break down and need a tow, than to have one in a million send Jay Leno to the ICU thanks to a gasoline fire.