Ford electric truck abandoned during family road trip

author: FutureCar Staff    

A Canadian man and his family recently encountered charging troubles with their electric truck, leading them to finish their road trip in a petrol-powered car. This experience has caused the man, Dalbir Bala, to refer to eco-friendly vehicles as 'the biggest scam of modern times'. Bala was traveling from Manitoba, Canada to Chicago in his six-month old 2023 Ford F-150 Lightning Lariat with an extended-range battery, which he purchased for $115,000 (around £90600) excluding tax.

During the trip, Bala's wife and three kids joined him, and they initially had a fully-charged battery and three planned stops for recharging. However, their troubles began in Albertville, Minnesota, where they encountered a 'faulty connection' error message from the fast charger. They continued to Elk River, but the charger there also didn't work. Frustrated, they were forced to abandon the electric truck in Minnesota on July 27th.

Bala described the situation as a "nightmare frustration" for his family. With only 15 kilometers of battery life remaining, they had the truck towed to a local Ford dealership and rented a Toyota 4Runner to reach Chicago. Interestingly, other customers successfully charged their electric vehicles at both stations that day, so the reason for the charging failure remains unknown.

It is worth mentioning that Bala had previously experienced delays in getting his truck repaired after a minor accident, which required "light assembly" on the front bumper. This took six months to fix. Bala had purchased the Ford F-150 Lightning Lariat to offset his fuel costs, which had reached up to $1.5K per month (around £1180).

Bala had installed chargers at both his office and home, and even upgraded his domestic electric panel. However, his frustration with the electric truck has led him to use it only for his daily commute and not for other purposes such as trips to his lake cabin or off-grid camping. He believes that electric vehicles are a scam and can only be driven in the city.

In response to the situation, Megan Joakim of Ford of Canada stated that the actual driving range of electric vehicles varies depending on various factors, including external conditions and vehicle maintenance. She also mentioned that the public charging infrastructure is continuously developing as electric vehicle sales grow. Ford claims to have a charging network that includes 10,000 fast chargers, as well as 12,000 Tesla superchargers and 4,000 fast chargers at dealerships.

James Hart, the President of the Manitoba Electric Vehicle Association, shared a different perspective. He mentioned instances where individuals had to contact the charger operators to reset the chargers, similar to Bala's situation. Bala believes that the government should provide consumers with accurate information regarding electric vehicles.

FutureCar Staff