As an aside, the invoice price on an F150 Lightning is........ $10 more than MSRP.

Ford pays dealers very differently on this than on regular F150 trucks. There are multiple conditions and requirements that trigger payments, it's not a traditional invoice with a discount from MSRP model. And Steve is right, most of the "dealer incentives" come from Ford.

Putting aside someone who tows long distances, if a regular F-150 owner that just loves trucks were to test drive a Lightning, they would be blown away. Completely blown away. I would dare to say they would want to buy it over a regular F-150

Yep, and I know you've actually driven one, so your observations are more than just an opinion ;)

I think it is very very difficult to go against decades of tradition, or even call it bias. I've had people drive my Y that are 100% convinced EVs are polluting machines (you read that right). I could tell they loved how it drove, the instant response. But once they were out of the car the biases came back.

Now consider people that only buy the F-150 over and over, it's their religion for lack of a better word. I don't think they will accept the Lightning will have to be mostly first time buyers.

I don't see how anybody can drive an EV and not come away loving the way an EV drives.

I've posted this before but it shows that Lightning buyers do have some overlap with traditional F150 buyers but some key differences too:

Per Ford survey with responses from 3500 F150 buyers:

• Lightning owners say they are using the pickup bed more frequently than the ICE owner.
• 74% of the Lightning owners are using their vehicle once a month for home projects — moving things such as mulch, dirt and flooring and drywall — once a month whereas 51% of the ICE owners say they're using the truck that frequently for such projects.
• 27% of the Lightning buyers are using the truck bed for home project hauling once a week versus 14% for F-150 buyers.
• 48% of Lightning owners go camping once a month, hauling bikes, tents, kayaks and cooking stoves. About 40% of the F-150 (ICE) owners camp as frequently. Both vehicles are available with Pro Power outlets in the bed that can supply electricity.
• More than half the Lightning buyers are coming from a non-pickup, compared with roughly 33% for F-150.
• More than 60% of the Lightning buyers are Millennials or GenX — under 50.
• 70% of Lightning owners have a bachelor's degree versus 42% for ICE owners.
• 33% of the Lightning owners have graduate degrees versus 14% for ICE owners.
• A majority of Lightning owners use Apple versus Android phones.
• Lightning buyers tend to be early adopters of technology.
• 90% of Lightning buyers are coming from a non-electric, non-hybrid, non-plug in vehicle.
• Lightning buyers are better looking than their ICE counterparts

lol, what? Who decides that? Did you drop that in to see if people are paying attention?

EV's are going to end up selling themselves. All the preconceived notions people have about them will fade away once you get them behind the wheel and experience how they drive. I was literally in the market for a new IS350 F-Sport (which is an excellent driving car), and decided on a whim to test drive a Polestar 2. Today I have 4 EV's at home. As charging infrastructure improves and prices come down more, more people will be at least willing to give them a fair shake

I think you are way more open minded than most. It took me 25 years to convince a family member to stop buying crap and buy a Toyota instead. They wasted so much money needlessly.

He is open minded, and glass-half-full. And in California, EVs are ideal because the weather is so mild.. The infrastructure there is the best in the country. (I think?)

But I was by an Exxon station today, just an average gas station not huge not small and I thought about it and counted. More gas pumps at one gas station than Superchargers in all of Knox County.

There's a long way to go for people who can't charge at home.

I'm in the same boat, what charging infrastructure. We just got a Tesla charging outlet in the last year this is a city of 1.3 million. For people here to only own an EV, I can't recommend that.

I always say just own both ICE and EV, that's what I'd do. Solved. Say it's a married couple, pick an awesome EV and ICE and just enjoy both for their plusses and minuses.

A big part of the IRA infrastructure bill was to build out the EV charging network across the country. So they are coming. With that said, Plugshare shows 368 locations in Knoxville alone.

https://www.plugshare.com/directory/...ssee/knoxville

I agree, they are not ideal for everyone at this point. Eventually like gas stations though, there will be charging infrastructure everywhere. It's easier to add chargers than gas stations. Long story short, when I got out of college, I worked for a company (as a temp) that was digitizing documents for Exxon going back to the 1960's. They were environmental studies conducted on land where gas stations are located, and each gas station has to dig up the tanks every few years and replace them, which is extremely expensive. There was other stuff in some of the reports that was eye opening....to say the least

Without getting into specifics aka the forbidden topic, it looks all but certain that emissions standards are going to be rolled back. And by extension less requirement for legacy auto to move into EVs.

Legislation was benefiting pure EV makers too much. Funny how the most most urgent matter of our time gets dialed back when companies shall we say, pull some strings.