Ford fans have been electrified by the F-150 Lightning's incredible performance for several years now. From gearheads who are fascinated by electric vehicles to diehard Ford fans and even everyday truck enthusiasts, there’s room in the circle of Lightning Lovers for everyone. No one is proving that to be the case more than Joe Sholtes, the driving force behind the involvement of many people in Lightning Clubs of America and the club’s neighborhood meetings and events.
Like his father and brothers, Sholtes was once a devoted Chevy fan, but after he drove an EcoBoost-powered F-150 in 2017, he never went back. The performance of the truck drew him in. Sholtes was eager to try out Ford’s first electric truck as soon as he learned that the company was developing one. “I really didn’t know that having that quick a truck was an option,” he said.
When Sholtes received his F-150 Lightning early on in its debut, he discovered that it was much more than just a fast truck. The entire Sholtes family wound up having to rely on the truck during a winter blackout, using its Pro Power Onboard feature to keep their electronics charged and functional, and even allowing the neighbors to charge up as well.
Even with a full-time job and two young children, Sholtes managed to find time to share his enthusiasm for the F-150 Lightning. In order to provide other Lightning owners a place to talk about their experiences, support one another, and enjoy working together while sharing their passion, Sholtes started Lightning Clubs of America. The organization soon grew into nine regional chapters.
“The enthusiasm in this EV community really blew me away,” Sholtes said. “The clubs grew at enormous speeds – it was clear that these social groups really filled a previously empty area in the EV space.”
The club currently has around 900 members in North America. Together with Sholtes, a few of them participated in a record-breaking electric flight– the first to be powered using just electric cars. With its Pro Power Onboard function, the formidable F-150 Lightning turned out to be the ideal truck for this experiment. To enable the plane to land and be charged by their trucks during the flight, club members set up a chain along the flight path and helped to organize the charging stops. A subset of the club's members are also a part of Ford's "early access" group for software updates, which enables them to test new releases ahead of time and act as Ford's first review panel, offering input to the company's engineers prior to the update being received by the rest of the ownership base.
Sholtes, known by some of his fellow truck enthusiasts as "Joe Lightning," soon came to the realization that the clubs were growing too quickly for a single organizer to maintain alone. He is now in charge of the search for additional F-150 Lightning owners who are capable of organizing local groups and fostering unity among those who share a passion for the F-150 Lightning!
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