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When I finally got the chance to spend a week with the Ford F-150 Lightning all-electric pickup truck, I was well-prepared for the wonders of driving such an EV, having taken brief drives in early versions, and been careful to keep up on all the assets and liabilities of the Lightning for two years.

The Lightning’s performance was beyond any evaluations I had read or heard about. The truck is quick, agile, rides with surprising comfort — whereas the normal F-150 rides better if its box is loaded with stuff you’re hauling — and its acceleration and power is fantastic.

I was not prepared for two big strikes against it, but in World Series week, it is not only the New York Yankees who self-destructed under pressure and fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

For those who avoided watching the Series, the Yankees were leading 5-0 in Game 5, signaling a comeback from a 3-0 deficit in games was possible. Then, inexcusably, the Yankees — who had given up only three unearned runs in all this fall’s playoff games combined — gave up five unearned runs in one horrible inning that turned the game around and led to the Dodgers winning Game 5 and the Series 4-1.

As for the Ford Lightning, the biggest strike against it is the challenge to find adequate charging stations that will allow you to recharge its battery packs for more of that phenomenal performance. 

The test vehicle I had was stunning in black, with the neat little emblems all outlined in white on blue, raised from surface level. 

It also was the two-battery pack model, with electric motors front and rear to make it all-wheel drive. It also has a 1,952-pound payload, and a towing limit of 10,000 pounds.

In Duluth, there are a lot of charging stations listed in various charts and maps, but a lot of them are out of service, or owned privately. The guys delivering the Lightning couldn’t get it charged adequately, and finally brought it to my house, where our household electric (120) took overnight to get it up enough to go downtown and try to find a better spot. 

Most of my week with the Lightning was spent trying to get the thing adequately charged so that we could enjoy driving it like a normal pickup — only faster. We couldn’t ever find a Level 3 high-powered charger, so we settled for parking the Lightning at public charging Level 2 public charging stations.\

That was sad, because the Lightning with two batteries will get you more than 300 miles of range when fully charged, and when you only get it half-charged, you feel it’s not worth the hassle. 

Of course, if you bought a Lightning, you would also buy the ingenious home-charging station, which can be switched over to power your whole house from the charged Lightning for up to three days. 

So we swung and missed on that one, or rather Duluth as a contemporary site for adequate charging stations did most of the missing.

But the second strike is another that nobody could have anticipated.

We know that demand has wavered on EV purchases, mostly because of the range anxiety described above, and because of the costly purchase price of various EVs. 

But Ford forged ahead, taking the lead in building a fully electric pickup and getting it out there before the public. Ford anticipated buyers swarming into the dealerships to buy Lightnings with the same verve they were coming after Broncos and Mavericks.

Ford’s estimates faltered, when demand from buyers faltered.

And on Thursday of this past week, Ford announced that it was going to shut down production of the F-150 Lightnings in mid-November, idling the plants until January 6. 

Now, that covers a planned holiday shutdown, but it also hit with startling force when the word came down.

Ford dealerships have 100 days of Lightnings on their lots, unsold and unsought. That’s a lot. Unsold cars and trucks are unrealized profits. 

Halting production of the Lightning will allow some of that supply to be sold on a more casual basis, and by the time production starts to roll again, there might be some demand.

EVs are facing that difficulty as we make what appears to be an inevitable transition from gas-engined cars to EVs, and while China, Japan and Europe make strong moves toward that objective, we don’t want to be falling behind in our willingness and ability to go electric. 

The Lightning is big and needs more power, but it has covered all the challenges and is an exceptional vehicle from every aspect. Truck buyers will be the last to accept EVs, but we need to have more availability, not less.

Ride quality and comfort are outstanding in the Lightning, as are the features. A power switch opens the hood up front, and when you investigate you are surprised to see nothing mechanical, just room to haul stuff. You can stuff luggage and everything else in there for trips, so you aren’t limited to stashing your worldlies in the bed behind the cab, or in the spacious rear seat of the cab.

When you climb back inside, push the button, or use the remote on the key fob, and the “frunk” closes smoothly and tightly. 

Of course, all the electronic gadgets inside operate flawlessly and efficiently, and the giant center-dash information screen tells you all you need to know. And you have to like the LED light bar that rises up alongside the headlight stacks and wrap around the top of the grille, announcing your arrival.

All of those features are worth examining, and the surprisingly smooth ride benefits from independent rear suspension and a high road clearance of about 9 inches. There is a skid plate underneath to protect the batteries, as well. 

Price for the front-drive Lightning start in the mid-$50,000 range, and for the loaded, dual-battery, all-wheel-drive model, it’s in the mid-$80,000 range. But who knows? After the production shutdown causes inventory to drop a bit, some Ford dealers might start offering sale prices on the new and high-tech Lightnings.