Overview

This post talks about my choice to buy a Ford Lightning EV pickup over the Silverado EV, the actual purchase, and long trip back home over several states. A Ford truck? Really? What’s the big deal? For most people, nothing. Ford makes a great truck, and until recently, it was the best selling vehicle for over 4 decades. (The Toyota RAV4 recently took that crown in early 2025- which is ironic considering I sold a 2021 RAV4 Prime to buy this truck.)

Background

After having owned a 2003 Chevy Avalanche with the AWESOME midgate for many years, I was very excited when I heard that GM was making an electric Silverado and was bringing back the midgate in higher end trims. Having owned an electric-powered vehicle since 2016 with my Chevy Volt, I was pretty much convinced that I wanted a Silverado EV in top tier RST trim… that was until I discovered that sticker price and the lack of Android Auto and Car Play. I simply couldn’t justify spending $100K USD on a truck that would get used “sometimes”.

Over the past few months when the urge for a “new to me” vehicle had taken hold, I stopped by my local Ford dealer and took the F150 Lightning for a test drive just for fun and I really liked it a lot, but it was still $80K USD and the value just wasn’t there for me personally.

I typically keep my vehicles for 2-3 years (not planned, it just happens naturally on its own- I yearned for something different), So even though my 2021 RAV4 Prime did everything well including towing my tent trailer and hauling pinball machines effciently, I yearned for something pure EV instead of something with a petrol engine. The fact that I already owned multiple pure EVs (2024 Chevy Equinox and 2023 Bolt EUV) probably fueled this desire very well.

Get a Lightning?

I noticed that the prices of 2022 Lightnings had started to hit the under $50K USD mark private party and several listings caught my eye. To me, a sub $50K EV truck is a much better value proposition than a $80K+ truck. Especially for something that wasn’t going to get used everyday and considering the huge EV depreciation curve, it was definitely smart money to buy used. Not only did buying used yield a better value proposition, but it also allowed me to avoid sales tax by buying private party. In Nevada, buying a vehicle from a private party vs. a dealer, allows you to skip paying sales tax on a used vehicle purchase- even if buying out of state.

I knew I wanted a 2022 with low miles and Lariat trim. Mainly because of the lack of deletions of later years (hitch scales, heated steering wheel, interior monitoring alarm, etc.) I wanted factory warranty still in place so if I ran into issues, they would be handled without a problem and the fact that I could easily and cheaply add factory Ford OEM extended warranty online before the factory bumper to bumper coverage ended.

I found one- a bit far away…

So after months of looking and doing research, I ran across this ad on Facebook Marketplace…

Andrew who owned the truck was very responsive and forthcoming. When asked why he was selling, he said he purchased a Sierra Denali EV. After a ton of questions back and forth, it was settled that I would fly up to Spokane, WA and drive it back.

After booking flights, a buddy and I hopped on the plane about 1.5 weeks later and got in really late on Thursday night (March 13, 2025 – yes, this post took almost 7 months to write- bad!). We walked to the hotel from the airport and pretty much went straight to sleep.

Andrew picked us up the next morning in the hotel in the F150 and took us to one of his favorite breakfast places in Spokane.. Frank’s Diner. This gave me a chance to check everything out on the drive and I was immediately put at ease as everything was exactly as described. No issues, stories, or explanation. Here we are enjoying breakfast together in the diner that was an old rail car…

After breakfast, we headed to the credit union to get Andrew paid and paperwork signed. I ended up paying his asking price as it was fair and honestly with the exception of a small paint chip on the tailgate and 17K miles, was like new. Andrew even paid for an inspection and tire rotation before my trip to make sure everything was great for the trip home. He even replaced the cabin air filter and made sure the NACS to CCS1 adapter that Ford sent him was in the frunk. Thanks Andrew! And here it is right after purchase…

Sightseeing!

After dropping Andrew off at his home and checking out his Sierra EV (he actually mentioned that the Ford F150 rides MUCH BETTER than the Sierra EV), my buddy and I started our trek back home to Reno, NV. However, we had to check out the local sights in Spokane first…

Roadtrip!

After leaving Spokane, WA, we decided to check out Coeur d’Alene and then head back home to Reno, NV over 900 miles away… lots of charging stops will be required.

It decided to snow the following day and the start of the drive back home. Needless to say the efficiency numbers went way down. Around 1.4 miles per KWH while driving 65 mph.

Luckily the snow ended and I was able to get some great pics of my new-to-me truck and some local wind turbines along WA127…

As expected, cellular reception away from interstates was spotty at best… and a lot of times, non-existent. Luckily I brought my Starlink Mini with suction cup mount that worked fantastic on the huge glass moonroof.

We stopped in Walla Walla, WA and charged overnight at a La Quinta inn. Luckily it was a Tesla 10KW charger, so we woke up to a nice and charged to 100% full truck the next morning.

Of course, a lot of charging stops were needed for the drive home. Here are some pictures of some of them including a critical Tesla Supercharger that was the only one around for miles! And charging at a local community center in Walla Walla, WA using the Ford travel charger for a few extra miles while poking around town.

Of course we had to stop at that world-famous Pendleton Woolen Mill in Oregon…

Basically after Oregon, the drive home got real boring. Luckily we had starlink and an CarlinKit TBox that allowed us to watch videos on the main screen while the other person drove. This come in really handy while charging and having lunch at the same time…

After charging in Winnemuca,NV at the GM Energy station (the most expensive on the trip- 0.79/KWH), we were on the final stretch home. We pretty much went straight to bed after arriving home.

….And Home!

Luckily I was able to get an appointment at the NV DMV the next day to get my truck registered and got my personalized plates installed as shown below:

Final Thoughts

I think my buddy who went with me said it best.. “This is the most comfortable road trip vehicle I have ever been in… and probably the fastest one too”. And he owns a dual motor Tesla Model 3 and is currently an all-EV household as well, so he in no stranger to fast EVs.

For me, not only am I impressed with how comfortable it is, but how fast and well thought out Ford made it. I have a lot of mods planned, so stay tuned.