Electric vehicles bring about a few uncertainties, one of which is their long-term durability, especially under high mileage conditions. However, one owner of a 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning has provided some reassuring insights.
Despite driving nearly 93,000 miles or close to 150,000 kilometers in less than two years, he reports a highly positive experience. Impressively, the Dearborn electric truck’s battery is holding up quite well with a 97 percent state of health.
That’s important because battery health is largely akin to engine health. When it’s not near optimal, it can pose significant drawbacks. Maintaining 97 percent of battery health at nearly 100,000 miles (160,000 km) could be an extra reason to convert more to EV ownership. It represents a resilient drivetrain and reliability not always associated with EVs.
More: Ford Halts F-150 Lightning EV Shipments Over Unspecified Quality Issue
Reduced battery health is most often related to reduced overall range. Combustion engines also experience degradation and losses of efficiency over time, but they don’t have the same fuel constraints that EVs do. The owner of the F-150 Lightning in question is a F150LightningForum user named Helium and they’ve allegedly put the truck through the wringer.
Over the course of more than 93,000 miles they’ve taken several road trips, climbed over mountains, driven at sea level, and tested various charging stations. Most of the charging happened at home and they also avoided charging to 100% or allowing the truck to drop below 10% whenever possible.
With good planning, he reports making a “profit” via selective free charging whenever it is available. Despite all of that, his battery health says it’s at 97 percent and the truck can still charge to 99 percent of its original capacity.
Battery Health Opinions Vary
Interestingly, other forum users have reported reaching the same battery health degradation with far fewer miles on the odometer. That said, Helium believes those drivers need to see Ford about their battery health. The automaker specifically says that it’ll warranty the battery to retain at least 70 percent of its original capacity (different from overall health) to the 100,000-mile mark.
Notably, Helium might be the first Lighting owner with this kind of mileage, but his example isn’t automatically a guarantee. That’s the only big issue with this sort of anecdotal evidence. For all we know, the battery health may deteriorate over the next 10,000 miles and then this success story won’t look so rosy. Only time will tell but hopefully, this is a positive omen.
