Report: Ford Electric Truck Battery Replacement Costs Over $35,000

A month or two ago I had to replace my car. I bought a 2019 Ford F-150 XL with slightly higher-than-average mileage for its age and an impeccable service record. The truck is in great shape, and, supply chains being what they are in 2022, I paid more than I wanted to for it.

It still cost less than a replacement battery for an electric vehicle.

OK, maybe not every replacement battery for every electric vehicle — but Tim Edterdahl of “Pickup Truck Plus SUV Talk” fame looked into the costs of battery replacements for an F-150 Lightning, which he’d been driving for a week to review, and he found some pretty startling numbers.

There are two possible batteries for the Lightning, the standard, designed to give the driver about 230 miles of range, and the extended range version, which increases that to about 300 miles, Esterdahl said.

Esterdahl is clearly the kind of guy who wants to get the bad news out of the way first, as he showed a screen shot of the price for the extended range battery to start.

It was $35,960.

That’s not a typo; the decimal point is in the right place. If you’re first thought was, “That’s more than I paid for my whole car!” you’re not alone.

Esterdahl said that was for the battery only, though he estimated that labor to install it would be “fairly inexpensive.”

If that seems high, you could always opt for the standard range battery for a mere $28,556.47. (I bet the dealership would spot you that 47 cents if you asked really nicely.)

For comparison, the Platinum edition of the F-150 Lightning Esterdahl had been driving all week retails around $96,000. Add the cost of a replacement battery