The Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck’s “kryptonite” is a road trip, according to the Detroit News review of the vehicle. Auto critic Henry Payne explains that the electric truck got him “170 miles of range” on a trip up interstate 75 in Michigan, while its gasoline-powered counterpart gets drivers “600 miles and 22 mpg.”

“I’ve got the turbo-6 cylinder. I’m getting 600 miles and 22 mpg — I don’t think I’ll ever get one of those electrics,” an owner of a gas-powered F-150 told Detroit News auto critic Henry Payne while he was at his third fast-charger of the day during a road trip in a 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning EV tester.

James Farley, president and chief executive officer of Ford Motor Co. Photographer: Emily Elconin/Bloomberg

Payne, who was on his way to Charlevoix, Michigan, had informed the owner of the gasoline-powered vehicle that the electric truck was only getting him “about 170 miles of range on this trip up I-75.”

The auto critic explained that he had charged the vehicle overnight to 100 percent, giving it a 320-mile range. He then ran a few errands the following morning, and started his road trip with 281 miles on hand.

But by the time he got to Saginaw, “the Lightning was getting just 60% of estimated range and it was becoming clear to the trip computer that we would not make it to Gaylord,” Payne said, adding that the “281-mile range looked more like 168 miles.”

The system then rerouted Payne to a charging station, but when he arrived, the only two chargers there were already occupied. So he drove to another facility that he knew had four charging stations. When he got there, unfortunately, two were occupied and the other two were being worked on by technicians.

Then, one of the electric vehicle owners said that his charger wasn’t working and went to wait behind the individual who was charging at the sole remaining charging station. So Payne headed back to the original charging station, where he planned on waiting for a charger to become available.

“I arrived in Charlevoix after 6 hours, 40 minutes for what’s normally a stop-free, 4-hour trip by gas-fired pickup,” he concluded. The odyssey led Payne to label the road trip as the electric truck’s “kryptonite.”

Payne is not the only electric vehicle driver to disclose how long a road trip takes in an EV, or how much range is lost during that trip.

Last week, an EV owner who takes road trips between Cheyenne and Casper in Wyoming revealed that his first trip of 178 miles took a staggering 15 hours to complete in his electric Nissan Leaf.

Last month, a YouTuber with 1.4 million followers attempted to tow a 1930 Ford Model A truck with his brand new 2023 Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck, but it ended in “a complete and total disaster.” The electric truck “towing 3,500 pounds can’t even go 100 miles,” he said.

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