The Car Connection Expert Review
Likes
- Awesome acceleration
- Zero tailpipe emissions
- On-board power
- Roomy interior
- Lockable front trunk
Dislikes
- They want how much money?
- The big battery pack costs even more
- Maybe too much touchscreen
- Questionable delivery time
- Competition is finally here
Buying tip
features & specs
The 2024 Ford F-150 Lightning charges up with impressive capability, though its price can be shocking.
What kind of vehicle is the 2024 Ford F-150 Lightning? What does it compare to?
The all-electric version of Ford’s F-150 pickup truck finally faces mainstream competition from electric trucks such as the Rivian R1T or GMC Hummer EV truck, plus forthcoming electric versions of Ram, Chevy, and GMC full-size trucks.
Is the 2024 Ford F-150 Lightning a good truck?
It won our Best Car To Buy 2023, beating out dozens of other new or redesigned vehicles. Large price swings cooled our ardor, but the latest starting price of about $52,000 has stabilized that volatility. Though it might not satisfy long-distance towing needs, the 2024 Lightning drives like a faster and quieter version of a standard F-150, with as much capability on a single charge.
It earns a TCC Rating of 8.0 out of 10. (Read more about how we rate cars.)
What's new for the 2024 Ford F-150 Lightning?
The 2024 Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck charges into the new year with a new mid-grade trim called Flash that replaces the XLT with the larger battery pack. A heat pump comes standard across the lineup to more efficiently warm the battery and the cabin in cold weather, as well as keep the battery pack at optimal temperatures while charging. Lightning owners can get an adapter to access more than 12,000 Tesla Superchargers for a broader DC fast-charging network.
For the most part, the F-150 Lightning looks just like a regular F-150, which is part of the reason it beat Detroit rivals to market. Its three-box shape with only a crew-cab and 5-foot-6 bed configuration has been tweaked with a unique front end and strips of LED running lights front and back across the tailgate on most trims, as well as a charge port in the driver’s front fender.
The Lightning’s interior is largely identical to gas trucks down to its vertical touchscreen.
Underneath, the F-150 Lightning has its own independent rear suspension compared to the standard trucks’ leaf-sprung solid axle. Weighing in at a massive 6,600 pounds, the F-150 gallops over bumps with little interior disturbance.
Ford offers standard and extended-range versions that can lug up to 10,000 pounds when properly equipped. Base models with the standard range 98-kwh battery pack check in with around 240 miles of range. The extended range 131-kwh battery pack can cost up to $20,000 more for its 320-mile range; consider your real-world needs first.
Electric motors on the front and rear axles provide all that thrust, plus all-wheel-drive traction.
The F-150 has big battery packs that take a long time to charge. A standard-range truck depleted to 15% of remaining battery power will need around 13 hours of juicing up at a Level 2 home charger to be back to 100%. Level 3 DC fast-chargers are much faster, though, charging from 15 to 80% in 41 minutes.
The big crew cab means plenty of interior space. Vinyl, cloth, and leather options reveal your truck’s place in Ford’s hierarchy. The F-150 Lightning’s front trunk, or frunk, serves up weathertight storage where the engine would normally go.
Standard models have a 12.0-inch touchscreen that grows to a massive 15.5 inches as you work your way up the lineup, too.
The automaker’s optional BlueCruise driver-assistance tech allows for stints of hands-free driving on mapped highways, though it’s not as sophisticated as GM’s Super Cruise.
How much does the 2024 Ford F-150 Lightning cost?
The base Lightning Pro with the standard range pack costs $52,090 this year, including the $2,095 destination fee. For retail customers, the Pro and the better equipped XLT can only be fitted with the standard range pack. That makes the $72,090 Lightning Flash the least expensive way for retail customers to get the 320-mile extended range battery pack, with the Lariat costing about $80,000. The F-150 Lightning Platinum Black tops the range at more than $100,000.
Where is the 2024 Ford F-150 Lightning made?
In Dearborn, Michigan.
2024 Ford F-150 Lightning Styling
The Lightning looks like an F-150, except for the charge port door and frunk.
Is the Ford F-150 Lightning a good-looking truck?
Built on a modified platform of the gas F-150, the Lightning looks like an F-150 except for the light bar stapling the front end. The hood dips low into the front bumper, so when opening the front the fake grille rises with it as one piece, light bar and all. The running lights squinch the headlights a bit more, and the lower grille and the 18- to 22-inch wheel designs are different, but from the windshield back, the Lightning looks like any other F-150, front window kink and all.
It earns a point for maintaining its truckiness on the outside and another point for doing the same on the inside.
Blocky shapes fill the dash, from the vents to the 12.0-inch touchscreen or available 15.5-inch screen that appears tacked on to the center instead of integrated within it. Climate dials and other buttons underscore the smaller screen just like the gas F-150, and the Lightning adopts the split glovebox, American flag icons, and other F-150 design cues.
2024 Ford F-150 Lightning Performance
Clean, quiet, and capable, the 2024 F-150 Lightning redefines the pickup truck.
The Lightning’s powerful but quiet and clean powertrain earns a point along with its off-road ability and 10,000-pound towing capacity, but the big difference between the Lightning and other F-150s is its independent rear suspension. Those unique traits add up to an 8.
Is the Ford F-150 Lightning 4WD?
All Lightnings use one permanent magnet motor on either axle for standard all-wheel drive.
How fast is the Ford F-150 Lightning?
It depends on the battery pack setup. The two motors with the 98-kwh Standard Range pack make 452 hp and zip from 0-60 mph in 5.0 seconds, but the dual-motor setup with the 131-kwh pack turns out 580 hp and a 0-60 mph time in the mid-four seconds. A hefty 775 lb-ft of torque remains the same with either pack, and that’s more than any gas or diesel F-150.
Even with that prodigious output, the Lightning moves with a quickness and quiet unlike any other full-size pickup truck. That’s true off the road, too, where the steel skid plates protect the packs and their waterproof casing to enable nearly 24 inches of water fording. A surround-view camera system, as well as a bed camera, add eyes where you can’t see so its boxy ends don’t get damaged, and an electronic locking rear-differential offsets tire slip and negotiates mud pits and tire ruts alike.
On the road, the quiet of the motors and the independent rear suspension lend the Lightning a composed ride more in line with car-based crossover SUVs than a full-size pickup.
What’s the payload and towing like in the F-150 Lightning?
Payload maxes out at 2,235 pounds with the Standard Range pack, while towing reaches 10,000 pounds on XLT and Lariat grades with the Extended Range pack. Both of those capacities will eat into range far more so than with a gas or diesel engine, but towing with the Lightning never strains uphill or feels like it’s getting bullied downhill.
On the upside, a towing range meter that collects real-time data and can be attached to trailer profiles provides an accurate range estimate to ease anxiety. Also, the optional onboard scales that reflect the payload weight in the taillights or project an exact measurement in the touchscreen is a must-have for regular haulers.
2024 Ford F-150 Lightning Comfort & Quality
The crew cab with the lockable frunk makes the Lightning a utility vehicle as much as pickup.
The 2024 Ford F-150 Lightning comes in one configuration: with a crew cab roomier than most SUVs, a versatile 5-foot-6 bed, and a lockable waterproof front trunk. That adds up to an 8.
The base Pro keeps it basic with vinyl upholstery on manual seats, but the XLT adds cloth and power adjustments. The Lariat teases what’s next with heating, cooling, power, and memory, but Platinum grades get massagers and a full recline option. Like the gas model, a stowable console gear shifter and fold-out work table are options.
The Lightning still has flip-up rear seats with a lockable storage unit, and with the seats down there’s plenty of legroom at 43.6 inches, but the seats aren’t as comfy as crossovers.
Behind the standard crew cab sits the same short bed as gas models so F-150 owners can interchange their accessories and maintain the same spatial dimensioneering in the 52.8 cubic feet of space. In addition to tiedowns and bed lighting, each Lightning has an onboard generator running from 2.4 kw to 9.6 kw, and the gate can fold down into a work surface with cup holders, clamp pockets, a bottle opener, and ruler. Like the gas model, a retractable tailgate step with pull handle can be had, but bed steps are better.
The lack of an engine opens up the neatest trick on the Lightning in the form of a 14.1-cubic-foot waterproof front trunk. The hood dips down to the bumper, making loading and unloading it easier than in the bed or cab. It can store two sets of golf clubs—take that, Corvette—or carry 400 pounds. It might make for a better tailgate party, too, doubling as a cooler and waterproof with four 120-volt outlets and two USB ports.
2024 Ford F-150 Lightning Safety
The NHTSA gives it five stars, but the IIHS has yet to test the 2024 Lightning.
How safe is the Ford F-150 Lightning?
The NHTSA gave it a five-star overall rating, though the front and rollover protection earned four stars. It’s worth a point on the TCC scale, but the IIHS has yet to crash-test the truck. Weighing about 6,600 pounds, it should withstand crashes with other vehicles.
Ford equips it with enough driver-assist tech to avoid crashes, including automatic emergency braking, active lane control, blind-spot monitors, automatic high-beams, and rear parking sensors, while options such as a surround-view camera system come standard on XLT and above. The standard and optional content each earn a point, as does the NHTSA grade. It’s an 8, for now.
Standard on Platinum but optional elsewhere, the latest version of BlueCruise, Ford’s semi-autonomous hands-free driving system, includes lane changes with the tap of a turn signal and lane centering that moves the truck away from vehicles in neighboring lanes that seem too close. In our testing, it can have trouble discerning on- and off-ramps, and it can pinball in the lane.
2024 Ford F-150 Lightning Features
The new Lightning Flash replaces the XLT extended-range option.
The base 2024 Lightning Pro with the standard range pack costs $52,090, including a $2,095 destination fee, which is the highest in the industry. Retail customers can only get it with the standard range pack, but a heat pump now comes standard.
The price includes all-wheel drive, a trailer hitch, a 12.0-inch instrument cluster and 12.0-inch touchscreen with wireless smartphone connectivity, power windows and locks, 18-inch wheels, vinyl upholstery and manual seats, as well as four 120-volt outlets and a 2.4-kw generator. The good standard features and easy-to-use touchscreen earn it a point each, as does a luxury-like list of options, but its high price and basic 3-year/36,000-mile warranty prevent it from a perfect 10. It’s an 8.
Which Ford F-150 Lightning should I buy?
It’s a question of range, really: Can you get by with 240 miles or are 320 miles a better insurance? That insurance costs you about $20,000. Ford still offers a $59,590 XLT to upgrade to cloth upholstery and a power driver’s seat, as well as a surround-view camera system, but it only comes as a Standard Range.
To go the extra distance, step into the new Flash for $72,090. It comes with a 15.5-inch touchscreen oriented vertically (we prefer the better integrated 12.0-inch screen by look and functionality), a wireless smartphone charger, a power tailgate, and a tailgate step. A 90-day trial of the latest iteration of BlueCruise is included.
That would be the most we’d spend on the long-range Lightning.
How much is a fully loaded Ford F-150 Lightning?
Too much. The 2024 Ford F-150 Lightning Platinum Black with the extended range battery pack good for 320 miles now exceeds six figures at $100,090, with destination. It rolls on 22-inch black wheels that eat into range, an 18-speaker B&O sound system (the Lariat has an 8-speaker one), heated and cooled seats with a finer grade of leather over the $79,590 Lariat, BlueCruise, and Ford’s Tow Technology Package. It bundles a Smart Hitch feature that automates the hitch meeting the receiver and the on-board scales.
2024 Ford F-150 Lightning Fuel Economy
With a 320-mile range, the 2024 Lightning is relatively efficient for an AWD truck.
Is the Ford F-150 Lightning good on gas?
The Lightning don’t need no stinkin’ gas. The EPA has not rated the 2024 model yet, and the addition of a standard heat pump could marginally increase the Lightning’s efficiency rating. The standard range battery pack has a usable capacity of 98 kwh, good for an estimated 240 miles of range. That translated last year to an EPA efficiency rating of 2.04 miles per kwh, earning it a TCC Rating of 9.
The extended-range Lightning’s 131-kwh battery pack, goes farther (320 miles) and does it more efficiently, at a rate of 2.08 miles per kwh. With all its extra features, the top Platinum grades exclusive with the extended-range pack bog down the range to 300 miles, and dip the efficiency rating to 1.96 miles per kwh.
Ford F-150 Lightning charging
Top charging times for the F-150 Lightning are 44 minutes for the Standard Range and 41 minutes for the Extended Range to go from 15-80% state of charge on a Level 3 DC fast-charger pumping out 150 kw.
Next year, F-150 Lightning drivers will have access with an adapter to more than 12,000 Tesla Superchargers for a broader DC fast-charging network.
At home, Level 2 charging times vary based on amperage. On a basic 240-volt outlet rated at 32 amps, it will take about 13 hours to charge the standard pack from 15% to full, or 19 hours with the larger pack. The Standard Range pack charges from 15% to full in 10 hours on either a 48-amp or 80-amp circuit, but the Extended Range reaches that same state of charge in 13 hours on the 48 amp, but just eight hours on the 80 amp. This is why Ford and the TCC recommend the 80-amp circuit.
To have the Lightning charge up your house and serve as a backup generator, it will require two separate pieces of hardware, including the Ford Charge Station Pro and the Home Integration System that incorporates an inverter, disconnect switch, and battery pack. It’s sold and installed by Sunrun.
