The Ford F-150 Lightning electric truck is equipped with a large battery pack with either 98 kWh or 131 kWh usable capacity. We tested the larger pack and found out it can power the Lightning Platinum for 255 miles, and the Lariat for 266 miles. Besides providing energy for propulsion, Ford also allows owners to use the large traction battery as a "generator" with 240V and 120V sockets while emitting no tailpipe emissions and no loud generator noise.

One benefit of EV is that wherever there's electricity, you can charge it with the right plug. We did not hesitate to attempt to charge our our long-term Rivian R1T with the Ford F-150 Lightning . First, we hooked up the Rivian R1T to a 120V three-prong socket from the Ford F-150 Lightning, and the Rivian immediately started charging at 1 kW. Although that helps in an emergency, at that kind of rate it will only be good for 1-2 miles of range per hour of charging.

We didn't stop there. We found a NEMA L14-30P to 14-50R adapter and then switched to using the 240V L14-30R socket on the Ford F-150 Lightning's truck bed to charge our Rivian R1T. It didn't work at first because the R1T is capable of drawing more power than the socket can provide and easily tripped the circuit.

After lowering the "charging amperage" setting to 30 amps on the R1T, it was then charging at 7 kW—about seven times higher than using the 120V socket. We also had a Tesla Model 3 in hand so of course we also tried to plug it in to the F-150 Lightning. As expected, after adjusting the amps setting in the Tesla, charging worked just fine at 7 kW.

So in an emergency, the Ford F-150 Lightning can easily rescue a depleted Tesla. As Ford's CEO says "Not trolling. Just helpful". Although we'd say it would be even more helpful if Ford could include a NEMA L14-30P to 14-50R adapter along with the electric truck. It's an essential adapter to connect the onboard 240V socket to an EV mobile connector. 

While our long-term Rivian R1T doesn't have a 240V socket, it still has a couple of 120V outlets. Which got us thinking, can we use an EV to charge an EV, and then use that EV to charge another EV? With three EVs on hand, there's nothing to stop us. Since the Tesla Model 3 doesn't support any 120V/240V output, this selfish jerk has to be the last on the receiving end. So we had the Ford F-150 Lightning charging the Rivian R1T through the 240V outlet, and then hooked up the R1T to charge the Tesla Model 3 through the 120V outlet. They all connected and worked. Voila, we present the very first MotorTrend EV centipede.

As seen above, when we attempted to use the F-150 Lightning's 240V socket to charge our Rivian R1T, the process was not just a simple plug-and-play operation. And here's how to set up to use the 240V circuit to charge other EVs and create your own EV centipede.

First, you need an L14-30P to 14-50R adapter or to whatever type your EV mobile connector is. The end that connects to the F-150 Lightning's 240V socket is L14-30P, and it's a twist lock male plug. You push it into the socket and then you twist to lock it in place. The other end is 14-50R and it connects to our NEMA 14-50 EV mobile connector. This depends on your cord so double check before you buy an L14-30P adapter, but 14-50 seems to be the most common type. And again, the L14-30P side has to be a twist lock type; a 14-30P won't work. 

Once the adaptor is connected, turn on the F-150 Lightning—it has to stay on to power the circuit. Go to the ProPower Onboard tab and turn on the circuits. Its 240V circuit maxes out at 7.2kW (30 amps) in total. So before plugging in an EV, make sure it doesn't draw more than that 30 amp/7.2 kW maximum. If it does, look for a charging power limit setting in the EV and adjust accordingly.

After that, you are good to plug-in the mobile connector's J1772 end to the EV. You can see the power load from the F-150's center screen under the Pro Power Onboard tab. (You can also set an energy reserve level under this tap.) The rear circuit is split into two sub-circuits (A and B), and each can handle 3.6 kW (3,600 watts). When charging an EV at 7.2 kW, both are maxed out at the same time, so don't plug in anything else to the rear circuit. However, there is still a front circuit capable of 2,400 W to power the 120V sockets in the front trunk. That's some extra power you can draw while the rear circuit is maxed out. You could even charge more EVs off of those front sockets; if you're not picky about charge rate, you could plug an EV into every available socket on the Lightning.