A Renewed Ford "Lightening"

The Karmann Eclectric has been rather dismayed by shallow and fawning media coverage of Ford's upcoming F150 Lightning, as most of it claims that this is Ford's first electric pickup, entirely ignoring the impressive 1998-2000 Ranger Electric, which was produced with great skill and at great cost before Ford foolishly followed GM into electric oblivion for nearly two decades, crushing about 800 of the 1200 Ranger EVs before valiant leaseholders prevailed in their protests.  By removing 2000 lbs of dead lead and replacing it with lithium batteries, the 'Lightening' of these EV Rangers makes them feel very peppy, while of course also improving their miles/kwh efficiency.  This truck has a very light pack, so can smoke the tires at will on damp pavement, while also having a 1-ton payload capacity!  

Karmann Eclectricians may know that the Ford Ranger EV we revived with Sumner High students was surplused by the school district after they cancelled the Auto Shop program (and the conservation program), so I purchased it at auction and then sold it to best buddy and EV Expert, Tim Ritchey.  Tim's currently applying upgrades to that Ranger, mainly an Orion BMS.  In the meantime, I've been stuck using a gas pickup due to no alternatives.  Well that old Chevy is now for sale, as I've acquired an EVen Rarer Ranger!   This'un also ran only 7000 miles on its original lead-acid pack, which was about par for the course, but then it sat in dry storage for 20 years in California before being resurrected by EV Ranger guru Lanny Thomasen in Eugene, Oregon.  Lanny put in 104 cells of 60 Ah LiFePO4 (now usually referred to as LFP).  This is the most long-lived battery chemistry, the least toxic, and the only one contianing no exotic materials.   LFP is the reason I bought my i-MiEV, and also the reason that the original pack provided 106,000 miles of service before degrading below 80% of original capacity.  

So thank you to George for a fair deal on this truck, and also for allowing a fellow Ranger Resurrector to produce a video test drive before I purchased the truck!  Here's that video by Eric Way, otherwise known as the "News Coulomb".   It shows the snazzy Torque display of EV data on the aftermarket Android Pumpkin head unit, as well as the simple analog original gauges that were just reskinned from the gas version. 

The video is right on, as this truck does get one good full-power 300 amp acceleration before the pack voltage sags and the truck enters "Power Limit" mode, limiting battery amps to 100.   Surprisingly, 1/3 power is still acceptable, as I only slow down on steep highway grades.  Otherwise it can still leave red lights faster than traffic and merge normally onto the highway.  The truck will do fine for my 21 mile one-way commute with charging at Tacoma Power, where I now work and administer the EV charging services.  

Meanwhile, Lanny and Nathan at Ranger Restoration and repairs (rangerelectrictrucksllc.com) are still breaking new ground, currently working on a 108 cell pack of 230 Ah cells, which should provide a solid 230 miles of range!  EVen though 104 or only 100 LiFePo4 cells could power the Ranger EV, 108 cells yields not too many volts when fully charged, while keeping the voltage high enough near end of charge to keep the truck out of Power Limit mode.  That's my current goal for the long term pack upgrade of this truck.  Adding DC Fast charging would be icing on the cake, and it appears that a CHAdeMO port would fit behind the original fuel filler door, which remained empty in the Ranger EVs.  Though CHAdeMO is apparently a dead standard walking, it's the only one currently possible for DIY installation (supported by Orion BMS) and it'll be supported for many years to come due to the many such vehicles on the road.  I also expect that an adaptor for CCS will EVentually emerge.