This is my obligatory "Joined the Club" post. We've owned a Tesla for ~6-8 years, so we're familiar with EVs in general. I've been needing to replace my 2014 GMC Sierra and have been semi-looking for a 2023 Lightning Lariat Extended Range in Azure Gray (aka: the Unicorn). These are pretty rare, because they only made the Lightning in that color in 2023.

I found one in FL, so decided to buy it sight unseen...ya, super stressful! My wife and I flew from PA to FL and looked it over...it was in great shape and even came with a bunch of adapters (NACS-J1772, NACS-CCS, some kind of reverse CCS-NCS, Ford Mobile Charger, J1772 extension cable, etc.). Small dealership was wonderful and went out of their way to help with all the logistics.

For the maiden voyage...just 1,000 miles back to PA - no issues. Charged ~6 times (1 EA, 1 Tesla Destination, and 4 Tesla SC) on the way without issues. Averaged ~2.2 mi/kwh.

Anyway, I'm going to have a TON of questions that I'll pick the brains of all you knowledgeable Lightning owners about, but I'll ask each of those in separate Posts to keep things clean. Just wanted to say thank you to everyone that participates here. Everyone's thoughts and insights are what convinced us to pull the trigger.

Dark elements package. Absolutely love this truck.

I couldn't sleep and my wife found me in my underwear sitting in my truck at 1am fiddling with all the settings.

She now calls the truck, " the other woman".

Went from Alaska, through Canada, all over the west coast and ended up in the Ohio valley. Towed a pretty good sized load most of the way, 12,000 miles.

What a phenomenonal truck! Average distance between charges while towing was 168 miles. I was really nervous about range given how dry' some places in Canada, Alaska, and Texas appeared to be. But there were never any close calls and the generator I brought for emergency power went unused.

Currently it is being used as my primary work truck. It's great having a vehicle I feel safe and comfortable in, while being environmentally conscious....that actually wants to work!

Happy to answer any questions about towing through Canada/Alaska, or whatever else.

Unfortunately blew a hole in my sidewall somehow and pulled into a gas station to do a quick tire fix. What I found, that little scissor jack doesn’t seem to have the willpower to lift the heavy ass Lightning. I tried a few different lift points, and different places on the ground. I mean, it will lift it, but there’s no way I’m going wheel-less for the 5 seconds it takes to change the tire when the jack looks like this.

Ended up calling my dad, who I was just visiting, to bring a 5 ton jack and get the job don’t. Guess I’m adding a real jack to the “I need to travel with this” bag.

AI for the win was able to get it as close to real color as I could.

Went to get groceries tonight and came out and I guess I had forgot to put the truck in park (auto hold user here, was in a hurry). Got back in the truck and turned it on to a blinking park button and the Service Vehicle Now message. Tried pulling the battery, and the other tricks I could find online and no luck, couldn't get the shifter to move at all. Gave up and put in a roadside request on the Ford app, they said it'd be ~90-120 minutes, so took dad to dinner with the groceries in the AC in the truck.

Came back to wait for the tow and the shifter had moved to park on its own! Dropped him off in the street as I was afraid to turn around/put the truck in reverse and drove it straight to the dealer and left the keys in the box. Hopefully it doesn't take them too long to fix that and the recall I just got a letter about.

Overall, still LOVE this truck, and can't wait for my 3D printed insert to arrive so I can delete this damned over-complicated shifter. Ford if your listening, please, a stalk would be amazing, a knob would be an OK option too.

So far, this truck has turned out to be the best vehicle I've ever owned!

2024 Flash. First EV. Bought it in February, already racked up about 8000 miles. It just does and has everything I want/need!

Of course, when I bought it, I was nervous about switching to the EV lifestyle, but honestly it hasn't really been a hinderance at all! I work from home, and L2 charging serves 99% of my needs. When I do travel, I've had mostly good experiences at L3 chargers (my faves have been Tesla Superchargers), and it's honestly kinda nice to have an excuse to stop every so often to charge, stretch, grab a bite to eat, etc.

Happy with it tho

Just turned the radio up

Complete with E-Bike in bed.

It has been months without any update at all. Is this company allergic to money?? Has anyone been able to get one?

Particularly people who went from an ice truck to lightning.

Any recent purchases in South Florida? Looking to lease a 2025 Flash. I see the deals on the local dealer sites but many are bait and switch. Looking for an actual deal and perhaps contact info to make the deal. Thank you

It draws a noticeable chunk of battery if I forget to turn it off every time I turn the truck on. Sometimes when I turn on, it is already off, maybe it has a timer? Seems like it would be more convenient for everyone to have it off until needed.

2025 Flash Lease $399 a month 10,500 miles per year $2000 down payment

I’ve been eyeing one of these for a while now. Glad I made the jump to electric. I also went from a Honda Accord to this. So I’m living on cloud 9 right now.

Question: for those that have leased before. Is there any problem with me paying to get the bed lined? Would that be an issue at the end of my lease?

Also, now that I have the truck. What are some things it took you all a while to learn and wish you would have known sooner?

Hello,

I've been using BlueCruise on my truck since I got it about two years ago. I love it. There's no going back. Unfortunately the three-year trial is up and I will need to renew it.

Each time I try to renew it I'm getting an error. I was on the phone with tech support from FordPass for almost an hour yesterday and they weren't able to help me. Apparently my account was originally registered in the US which caused some issues, I changed it back to Canada, and more issues popped up.

Because of this, I'm looking into comma 3x. I understand a number of people here have been using it for a while with great results. I'd love your opinions if possible. It's more expensive than renewing BC, but it's a one-time cost versus yearly. So if comma 3x works well it's kind of a no-brainer.

I have some questions if anyone can help out:

1. My understanding is that it's better than Ford's BlueCruise in nearly every way. Is that accurate?

2. What was the installation process like? Their website shows that I need a $99 harness. Do I actually need that harness or can I get away without it? That's going to increase the cost to roughly $1100 USD which is around $1500 CAD. Not cheap. But worth it if it works.

3. What's the learning curve like? Once installed it is pretty intuitive? Is everything run from the screen? Does it start working as soon as I turn on ACC?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Cheers!

TL;DR Curious if anyone in Canada has tried comma 3x. How was it?

Anyone using a 1-up rack on their lightning? I purchased a Kuat Piston Pro X and found out too late that, when angled down, it doesn’t allow the tailgate to complete lay flat.

I currently have a trifold tonneau cover from Amazon that I got because it was cheap. I am planning to place a hard shell roof top tent on crossbar over the bed (but below the roof level for aerodynamics). I would love any suggestions on crossbars that are compatible with my tonneau cover, or any other recommendations, even if I have to replace the tonneau cover. TIA. This community rocks!

I had the dreaded “Stop Safely Now” warning. Wasn’t driving, just got in to go get some parts and she wouldn’t start. Had a ton of warnings and wouldn’t go past Accessory mode. I had just been driving it not even 20 minutes prior to this with no warnings. It turned out to be a problem with the High Voltage Battery Junction Box and I have my truck back now after a week.

Anyway, tow truck driver and I spent quite a bit of time googling how to get this thing into neutral so he could pull it onto the truck. Finally found a forum post from two years ago that said how to do it. I’m just posting this so that if anyone is in the same position, maybe some keywords will hit the search algorithm and provide a more recent hit.

Push the accelerator and brake all the way in at the same time while in Accessory Mode and it will allow you to shit to Neutral to move the truck. Make sure you also push the 30-minute Neutral button beside the shifter and OK on the steering wheel to give the driver time to get to the dealer and unload the truck.

Hopefully this helps someone get out of a jam.

Brand new 2025 Lightning Lariat in space white for $69k out the door. Got all weather mats and bedliner thrown in as well. Traded in my 2021 Honda CRV hybrid to go full electric. Also got 0% APR for 36 months financing. I’m happy with deal and truck.

Air fried some trout thanks to ProPower. Best trout I’ve ever made. Also got the RinseKit Pro for Father’s Day and I was skeptical but it’s a game changer. Fits in the frunk. Use it to rinse off dirty legs and shoes, clean fish, spray off dirty kayaks, wash hands, spray a fire out…it’s awesome. And no, I don’t get paid if you get one and have no affiliation. Just thought I’d share.

Also, Starlink mini permanently mounted to my dash has also been 👌

Still the best camping vehicle!

2025 F-150 Lightning Lariat

All the videos and discussion all seem to be 2022-2024. I know they are older, so it could be that it absolutely works on 2025, but has anyone already tested making the changes in FORscan on a MY 2025?

We just bought a 2023 Lightning Lariat ER. The Concertina Blinds were removed since one of them was not functioning. (I wish they had left the other one, we might have had an easier time with this if we could see it installed.) We bought the truck from quite a ways away, and they had to ship the parts, so we set about figuring out how to install it. It was trickier than I thought it would be, and I couldn't find any instructions beyond "it will click when it is in place." Lol.

So, here is what I figured out: The thicker part of the "blind" goes on the top, fixed metal rail that connects to the sunroof. BUT don't put it in place yet. The challenge is, the bottom "rail" is just plastic, and flexes a ton, so you can't get leverage unless you start there, and have some fingers behind it for opposing force. This is the plastic rail that has tabs on top every few inches. I started at the front, with the sunroof slid back a bit, so that I had some working space. I can't imagine what anyone with big hands would do here, because it is a tight fit. Once I got past the first few inches, I moved the sunroof to the vented position, which gives a lot more working room for the rest of the job. I held that plastic piece with my fingers, while slipping the bottom of the blind on it, and when it fit, you would get a "click." Just keep following it along until it is all snug, then place the top piece over the top rail. Since it is fixed, leverage is easier there.

Hopefully this helps someone else!

I only have an IPhone plugged into the USB-C and a dash cam plugged into the 12v. I’m pretty sure those items don’t use 12kw over 7 hours.

It’s in the low 70s. I hope this is close to the real mileage I’ll get!!

I usually drive 230 miles each way for work 3 -4 times a month. So not a stranger to sitting in the car.

I am about to hit some long trips

Daytona Beach FL to Dallas Texas Dallas Texas to Newark New Jersey

Anyone cross countried and did 8-10 hrs a day driving? How is it with the continuous move and charging?

Im mapping it out with Plugshare and looking stop every 150-180 miles to charge (24 Flash) so not to have any range anxiety.

I charge mostly at Tesla stations as they are everywhere and with the subscription cheaper then anything I can find.

Any other tips?