NLPRacing

Building an identical engine to the 7.3 except making it a 6.8 doesn't make much sense. But if the block is aluminum or made stronger for boost, that would make more sense. An EcoBoost 6.8 with Port & Direct injection and cylinder deactivation would be interesting.

Do we know if the 6.8 will have an aluminum block?

It would make production a lot easier. I bet they didn't sell many 2.0L trucks and probably won't sell many with the "entry-level" 2.7L engines either.

https://www.autoblog.com/2022/07/01/ford-trademarks-thunder-name-for-f-150-ranger-and-maverick/ I would like to speculate that this means we will get a performance street version of the F150 Thunder w/the 5.2L V8 from the Raptor R, Ranger Thunder w/the 3.0L EB HO from the Bronco Raptor and a Maverick Thunder w/the 2.3L EB from the Focus RS.

That makes the most sense considering the Ranger and the Ranger-based Amarok will be due for replacement once it's ready.

If you plug in every day when you get home from work, you could back feed what's left during peak when rates are higher and then re-charge off-peak when rates are lower. Not many people are discharging 100% of their EV battery daily.

That's where EV's like the F150 Lightning can actually help that problem by feeding back into the grid during high demand times and re-charge during lower demand times.

I always find it a little funny that people that don't like EV's for "environmental issues" don't typically care how dirty it is to find, extract, transport, refine, transport again & burn petroleum. EV's aren't the silver bullet solution to any problem. But they are a stepping stone. As batteries transition from Lithium to Solid State, they will get cheaper, lighter, and cleaner. And going forward, they will be charged from sources that will only get cleaner such as solar, wind, nuclear, etc. Oil production will never get "cleaner", so anything that transitions from it, the better. Obviously, there will always be a need for oil for things like medical, plastic, fertilizer, etc., but if we can burn less oil by going to EV's, Hybrids, ICE on synthetic fuel, Fuel Cell, etc., then that will be better for everyone. The advancements on Solid-State batteries and Fuel Cells are pretty exciting. And if I can keep driving my Raptor for years to come by using clean burning synthetic fuel, that would awesome too. Progress is a good thing.

There you go Dean. Lithium mining is not good, but neither are oil sands, leaky pipelines, oil tanker spills, drilling rig explosions, etc.

Most of the vehement disdain propaganda against electric cars comes from groups that are heavily influenced by oil & gas companies. I wonder why that is? History will look at these types of articles the same way tobacco companies used to advertise the health benefits of smoking. I will often drive 300+ miles at a time for work making an electric vehicle a bit more of a challenge for me, but it would still be doable. I would just have to plan my trips around charging while eating meals and at hotels. But for many people, like my wife, kids, my employees, etc. Could easily live with an electric car. As long as you plug in every night you don't even need a fancy charger. My brother-in-law had a Tesla Model S and then a Model 3 that he used for years for commuting and would just plug into a 120V outlet at home at night and would use superchargers while traveling. Never had a problem.

The electric vehicle is not for everybody. It can only meet the needs of 90 percent of the population.

I've seen pictures of EV's pulling trailers at charging stations. An 1800 mile trip pulling a trailer with an EV would be tough. One of these: https://www.airstream.com/air-lab/concepts/estream/ towed by a Lightning could be a game changer.

I love it. Will Ford get a version of it? A new take on the Ford Econoline Falcon would be really sweet.

Just curious, how often and how far do you tow? When I had my travel trailer, most trips were less than 100 miles away. Once every 2 years or so, we would go on a 1000+ mile road trip. For most trips, the F150 Lightning would have been just fine. But the long road trips would probably not have been possible.

I'm not sure why range is such a big deal. If you're driving 300+ miles per day or go on frequent road trips throughout the year, then it's may not be right for you. But for most people that can plug in and charge while sleeping and maybe even have chargers at their places of work, it shouldn't be an issue. I often have to drive for work on trips that are 200 to 300 miles away. Even with that, since it can charge from 15% to 80% in just 41 minutes with DC fast charging, it still wouldn't be a problem. I would just have to plan my trip around having lunch near a DC fast charger and stay at hotels with EV charging. In my early twenties, I worked as a courier for a while. Most of the gas I burned was sitting around idling. An EV uses very little energy when not moving. An F150 Lightning Pro would have been perfect.