“I’m 1,000 miles from home, the EA charger [went] black, and my Lightning won’t move. I’m screwed.”
Lightning Strikes
Ford’s F-150 Lightning is meant to be the automaker’s flagship electric pickup truck, and for the most part has been heralded with glowing praise from across the industry. But as more Lightnings hit the streets and accumulate miles, the more we’ll get to see of their reliability — or lack thereof.
Take Eric Roe, a Ford Lightning owner and a fan of electric vehicles. In a tweet spotted by MotorTrend, Roe claims that after plugging his truck into an Electrify America charging station he heard a “loud boom,” after which the truck was bricked like a giant, ill-fated smartphone.
“The charger went dark and the Lightning threw up a bunch of error codes and wouldn’t start,” Roe wrote. “Couldn’t even shift into neutral.”
The Lightning’s untimely demise has left Roe in a tight spot, too, stranding him far from home.
“I’m 1,000 miles from home, the EA charger [went] black, and my Lightning won’t move,” Roe said in a follow-up tweet. “I’m screwed.”
Blame Game
As of now, it’s uncertain as to what exactly caused the Ford Lightning to drop dead, and who or what’s at fault. It could be an issue on the Ford end of things, or it could be chalked up to bad chargers on EA’s part.
At the very least, Roe’s plight has not gone unnoticed. A Ford spokesperson has already tried to reach out in the replies of his tweet. Meanwhile, EA told MotorTrend that it’s “investigating the unfortunate issue experienced by Eric Roe and have reached out to him.”
Hopefully engineers can quickly get to the bottom of the issue to prevent further incidents, blame aside. Either way, it’s not a good look for EVs built by legacy automakers, or the infrastructure that powers them.
It’s definitely strange seeing a whole car getting bricked the same way a dodgy Walmart laptop might — but if this is the future of cars, pain points will be inevitable.
More on the F-150 Lightning: Ford’s EV F-150 Lightning Pickup Truck Sucks At Trucking, Critic Says