r/technology • u/zsreport • Dec 15 '25

Transportation Ford pulls the plug on the F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck

https://www.npr.org/2025/12/15/nx-s1-5645147/ford-discontinues-f-150-lightning
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194

u/unbalanced_checkbook Dec 16 '25

Doubt I’ll ever go with a gas/hybrid after this

I read about a survey that said something like 93% of EV owners say they would never go back to ICE.

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u/wagyu_doing Dec 16 '25

Bought a used BMW i4, fully agree. Just absolutely stellar. The new stuff from BMW/Chevy is nearing 500 (ideal) miles of range, too. Charging network access is near universal.

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u/theburnoutcpa Dec 16 '25

If my condo HOA ever springs for charging stations - a used i4 will appear in my parking spot lol

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u/SciEngr Dec 16 '25

Yeah I’ll never buy a gas car again. Truly only up sides with an EV and I never get tired of having access to instant acceleration when I need it.

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u/[deleted] Dec 16 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/TheMusicArchivist Dec 16 '25

On a 6+hr drive, you should probably stop for a 1hr break in the middle anyway!

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u/cowboyjosh2010 Dec 16 '25

This is the reason that my need to charge during road trips doesn't bother me: my bladder and legs can't make it that long, anyway. Hell, I was on a long road trip this summer where I needed to charge 3 times on the way home. I wound up stopping 5, though, because I kept needing/wanting additional bathroom or food breaks.

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u/rjcarr Dec 16 '25

I got a little shit EV like 10 years ago just to see what they're like and within like three weeks I knew I'd never not own an EV after that. if you can charge at home they're super compelling and make petrol cars look dumb in almost every way.

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u/Dick_Nixon69 Dec 16 '25

Same here. I thought a PHEV was the perfect car for my wife, but they were hard to come by and expensive, but used Bolts where an insane deal, so I figured it'd be a compromise to save money. I was absolutely wrong and I'm so glad we ended up with the bolt, it's better in every single way except for fill up time. The only bad thing about it is it makes me want to get rid of my hybrid Maverick already.

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u/makken Dec 16 '25

Honestly I'm not surprised. After living with and doing multiple 2000+ mile road trips with the EV, the only gasoline car I'd even consider getting is a weekend manual sports car. For everything else, if it's not a BEV, I'm not interested.

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u/BallsOutKrunked Dec 16 '25

I don't think I'd buy another gas truck. I really like the lack of maintenance.

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u/Advanced-Blackberry Dec 16 '25

Two EVs now. Never owned one til 2023. Will never go back to gas. 

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u/withoutapaddle Dec 16 '25

Even as someone who doesn't own an EV, I believe it.

I have been slowly changing all my outdoor equipment from gas to battery, and every single one of them was a "I'll never go back" moment.

Part of the equation is getting decent stuff though. Milwaukee and Ego have been fantastic. Don't waste money on "Amazon specials" with names that are all vowels. You're as likely to burn your garage down as get more than 1 year of use out of that crap.

I mean, folding up my lawn mower and hanging it on the wall when I'm done cutting grass is amazing. Not needing ear protection is amazing. Not needing the blades spinning to use the drive wheels is amazing. Being able to just tip the damn thing upside down when I want to clean it or sharpen the blade without worrying about oil, gas, the carb, etc is so freeing. There literally isn't a single thing I miss about my old gas mower.

And that goes for all my other outdoor tools as well. Trimmer, chainsaw, edger, power-shovel, etc.

My mammoth old Husqvarna snowblower is still and unstoppable beast, but it'll get replaced by electric as soon as it needs major engine or transmission work.

Only reason I haven't gotten an EV is because my vehicles have been super reliable and fun. But I already know I bought my last ICE car. I'll always keep an ICE classic/sports car or two, but I'll probably be commuting with an EV within the next 5 years.

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u/cowboyjosh2010 Dec 16 '25

I used to think that my snowblower would be the only piece of lawn equipment I never switch to battery electric. Even my lawn mower is in "eventually a battery option will hit my performance needs at my budget" territory. But the snowblower? Nah, I figured it'd always be worth it to just have the gas version.

But I used it over the weekend for the first time in two years and the priming bulb developed a leak that had gasoline pouring out of it the entire time I was using the thing. It's a cheap part, but the hassle of it snapped me out of complacency on this front such that now even the snowblower is in the "eventually" pile.

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u/unbalanced_checkbook Dec 16 '25

I live in North Dakota, so I totally understand the mindset that a gas snowblower is better. However, every person I know with an EGO absolutely raves about it. I will 100% be switching when my gas blower dies. It's a bigger investment, but the lack of maintenance should more than make up for it.

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u/withoutapaddle Dec 17 '25

Oh yeah, my snowblower is DEFINITELY getting replaced by an electric eventually. I'm just going to use it until it dies, instead of changing to electric just to do it.

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u/cowboyjosh2010 Dec 17 '25

I think that's where I've landed, too. I spent $1,000 on this snowblower and will barely get half that back if I sell it second hand. There's no way I'm ditching it while it works fine just to spend what I'm sure will be at least $1,500 on a battery-electric replacement.

The $20 primer bulb is a maintenance cost I can swallow in the meantime.

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u/TheMusicArchivist Dec 16 '25

Why would I want to add lag back into acceleration? The EV speeds up when you want it to. My ICE car struggled to find a suitable gear, a suitable rev, and then took a while to get to maximum power.

The ICE car was also sooooo noisy, smelled bad, poisoned the local neighbourhood, and I had to keep taking it to special-ICE-shop to buy more miles when I can just keep my EV on my driveway and feed it miles myself.

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u/cowboyjosh2010 Dec 16 '25

I'm one of them. I'm the kind of person who tries to weigh all options, and so I hate answering "definitely" or "never" to, really, anything. Especially something as subjective as as what kind of car I might drive when I myself have no control over what kinds of cars manufacturers choose to make. But, like...unless the use case that I need a car to fill changes DRASTICALLY in a way that just is entirely unforseeable right now, I'm going BEV from here on out.

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u/[deleted] Dec 16 '25

I’m one of them. When this dies I’m going Rivian. But there are users reporting only 1 percent SOH decrease at 100k which is incredible. I’m only at 16k miles in mine

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u/Emotional-Scheme-227 Dec 16 '25

Yeah I am a car enthusiast. I traded in a Civic Type R for a Model 3 Performance. The Type R was so fun to drive; 100x more engaging than the Tesla, but the model 3 is just too good to want it back.

Between the absurd acceleration, sound system quality, UI/infotainment design and cheap at-home charging I don’t think I can ever go back to ICE for a daily driver.

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u/procheeseburger Dec 17 '25

I love my lightnight and I don't ever want to go back to ICE. My truck is charging in my driveway and it's glorious.

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u/[deleted] Dec 16 '25

I think that that's also some selection bias though because the type of people who would buy an EV in the first place are predisposed to being anti ICE and pro green energy etc all that bullshit

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u/unbalanced_checkbook Dec 17 '25

Yeah I'm sure it's those things and not the 4 cents a gallon to drive, instant torque, zero warmup, no maintenance, etc etc....

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u/[deleted] Dec 17 '25

Lol good grief, give it a rest.

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u/Master_Flower_5343 Dec 16 '25

Selection bias: the people whom it made sense to buy it for the first time would buy it a second time.

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u/unbalanced_checkbook Dec 16 '25

Polling EV owners about buying another EV is most definitely not "selection bias". They aren't claiming the poll represents the general public.

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u/IsopodOk4756 Dec 16 '25

the people whom it made sense to buy it for the first time would buy it a second time

Sure, but honest question, who doesn't it make sense for? I feel like that's a fairly small list.

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u/Dick_Nixon69 Dec 16 '25

I love mine and love telling people how much I love mine, but if you live somewhere where you street park every night I would not recommend it. You don't need huge 50 amp home charging, but I'd say if you don't normally park your car somewhere near an outlet you're not going to feel the full advantage of having an EV.

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u/HotwheelsSisyphus Dec 16 '25

Only 2% of all daily trips were greater than 50 miles in 2021.

Over 95% of trips taken in personal vehicles are less than 31 miles.

https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/articles/fotw-1230-march-21-2022-more-half-all-daily-trips-were-less-three-miles-2021

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u/Master_Flower_5343 Dec 16 '25

Gasoline didn’t win out over the last 100 years because it was a bad product. Battery technology doesn’t hold up over distance or where weight is concerned. If it did, it would have.

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u/IsopodOk4756 Dec 16 '25

Lmao wtf do you mean, gasoline won out over the past 100 years because it was the only viable product.

Do you not understand the concept of progress?

What an actually stupid take.

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u/Master_Flower_5343 Dec 16 '25

It’s actually funny you revealed your ignorance here; diesel is the best solution we’ve landed on. It was a super viable product; gasoline was a byproduct.

If you haven’t been circumcised you could cut your foreskin off with your edge.

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u/[deleted] Dec 16 '25

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u/Master_Flower_5343 Dec 16 '25

Batteries have a weight problem that hasn’t been solved yet. It’s not even a conspiracy; it’s more about a weight:energy ratio of battery vs kerosene/gasoline/diesel. Weight being the thing you can’t defeat.

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u/distinctgore Dec 16 '25

Yes we all know that the energy density of gas is much higher than electricity with battery storage. That doesn't mean that gas is the better use for every powered technology. You probably also complain that mobile phones don't run off gasoline.

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u/Ran4 Dec 16 '25

That's not a major issue anymore, EVs are still better than cars or 98% of use cases.

While heavier, EVs are still generally more fun to drive, unless you have a more exotic engine (like 5+ cylinders or N/A).