We’re Paying $650/Year to Subscribe to Our Ford F-150 Lightning

The world is currently rallying to figure out how to keep sharing Netflix accounts and determine whatever "Max" is, proving our battles with subscription services are far from over. Prepackaged meals delivered to your doorstep and monthly clothing boxes seem easy to dodge, but if the 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning Lariat that MotorTrend owns is any indication, the consumer battle with subscription services is only just heating up.

As automakers pivot to software defined vehicles, they're increasingly looking for opportunities to monetize frequently updated software by way of subscription, such as BMW South Korea charging owners a monthly fee to use heated seats, or Mercedes "letting" EQ EV owners subscribe monthly to a power boost. Our Ford is no different.

It started exactly 30 days after we purchased our F-150 Lightning. "Your Ford Streaming service is coming to an end for 'MT's Lightning' and will expire if you choose not to renew," the email said. Soon after, Ford's emails were followed up by those from SiriusXM concerning our satellite radio free trial, and from AT&T about our Wi-Fi hotspot trial. That led us to dig into the whole suite of subscription services Ford offers on the F-150 Lightning. Some we ended up paying for, others we opted out of, and a handful we'll inevitably be on the hook for in a few years when additional trial periods expire. Here are the subscriptions on offer, and Ford's pitch for more of our money:

The Pitch: "With Ford Streaming, you can stream your favorite music, podcasts, and audiobooks, as well as your local and global news right from your vehicle."

Is It Worth It? No. Not yet, at least. We subscribed to Ford Streaming back in February 2023 after our Lightning received an over-the-air (OTA) update, adding YouTube, NBC News, and Today, as well as a handful of new games. We definitely appreciate the ability to watch YouTube when charging, but paying $10 a month for the luxury seems a bit silly, considering a phone can do the same thing as part of a monthly fee already in our lives. We also haven't touched the NBC apps or games more than once since the update. Nevertheless, we'll keep shelling out a Hamilton each month to see if Ford sweetens the pot.

The Pitch: Turn your F-150 Lightning into a Wi-Fi hot spot.

Is It Worth It? To us, it is. After making much use of the Wi-Fi hotspot during the trial period, we subscribed to a 2 GB, $15/month plan. The Wi-Fi is generally pretty fast, and the connection strong, even when joining Zoom calls from out in the middle of nowhere.

The Pitch: Satellite radio, which lets you listen to music, news, sports, and more pretty much anywhere you can drive your car with little to no worry about outdistancing the signal.

Is It Worth It? Sirius' satellite radio is perhaps rivaled only by GM's OnStar safety system as the original automotive subscription service. Given our penchant for long road trips and the fact that we pretty much live out of our cars, we ponied up for Sirius' top Platinum plan once our free trial expired.

The Pitch: "BlueCruise is an advanced in-vehicle driver-assist feature that lets you enjoy and experience hands-free highway driving on pre-qualified sections of divided highways in North America."

Is It Worth It? In its current form, BlueCruise is worth exactly as much as we're paying for it right now—nothing. We use BlueCruise quite often while on road trips, but given its inability to automatically change lanes and its tendency to ping-pong between lane markers, we can't imagine paying a monthly fee for it at the moment. (BlueCruise 1.2, which is slated to be OTA updated to vehicles with the system later this year, promises to add that feature.) Frustratingly, Ford won't tell us how much it plans on charging F-150 Lightning owners after our three-year BlueCruise trial expires, but reps have told Mustang Mach-E owners that they'll be on the hook for $75 per month or $800 per year to use the service once their trials expire. At that price, and with the current product, we'd rather just use our truck's radar cruise control and lane keep assist features instead.

The Pitch: "We can help make it easier for you to get to your destination, whether you're driving across the country or just across town. Quickly input destinations and search for points of interest. Easily find your way with audible turn-by-turn instructions. Plus, enjoy an array of additional navigation services, including live-traffic information, nearby parking availability, customer ratings, alternate route suggestions, weather reports, and much more."

Is It Worth It? It's tough to say, as Ford won't tell us if this is the only way to use the truck's route planner, which automatically routes us to chargers and tells us how much charge we'd need to continue a road trip. If this feature is unavailable without the subscription, then count us in as reluctant subscribers. Considering the surprising number of competitors that're missing this killer app, and the unreliability of alternatives, this is one we'd likely pay for despite Ford's refusal to tell us how much it's going to cost.

The Pitch: "Your favorite at-home voice service is available behind the wheel! That's right, now you can take the benefits and convenience of Alexa on the road. Find the nearest gas station, call mom, purchase those last-minute ingredients for dinner tonight, even access smart home features—right from the driver's seat, all with the sound of your voice."

Is It Worth It? For an Alexa power user? Sure, maybe. We, on the other hand, turned Alexa off before we even left the dealer lot.

The Pitch: "Our network combines multiple charging networks, giving you hassle-free pay-as-you-go access to more than 19,500 public charging stations—all through a single sign-up—and access is complimentary for two years. That includes Electrify America DC fast chargers, where charging your all-electric vehicle takes minutes, not hours. Plus, use the Plug & Charge feature to automatically activate charging by simply plugging into a public charging station."

Is It Worth It? We can't see at this juncture why it would be. Most of our experience with the Blue Oval Charge Network comes at Electrify America stations, where the sole benefit of the Ford connection is the ability to plug-and-charge (meaning we don't have to fuss with credit card readers or apps, making for a Tesla-adjacent experience). That's a convenience feature, but not one that's make-or-break for us, considering rival charging networks, such as EVGo, are also plug-and-charge compatible. Now, if Ford somehow rolls out a reliable charging network of its own in the next 24 months, we'll see … but we're not holding our breath.

Update: On 5/25/23 Ford announced it was adding the Tesla-style NACS plug to its future EVs and adding Tesla's Supercharger network to its Blue Oval Charge network. It also said it would be supplying existing F-150 Lightning, Mustang Mach E, and E-Transit owners with an adapter to charge at Superchargers. This likely would encourage us to subscribe to the above feature once our trial is up.

So, we're currently spending $54.12 per month (or $649.44 per year) on subscriptions for our F-150 Lightning, the bulk of which is going to Wi-Fi and Sirius. We're fine with that—for now. Given how many Mustang Mach-E owners have been surprised by looming steep subscription costs for features like BlueCruise after their trial periods end, we're a bit apprehensive to see what the future holds. Despite Ford's insistence that many of our Lightning's features, such as BlueCruise, are in "trial" periods, we still paid for the feature when we bought the truck. Though Ford is hardly unique in this regard—Toyota, Tesla, GM, and many others are actively embracing this model in both internal combustion and electric vehicles—charging us later to use it feels a bit disingenuous.

Regardless of what our F-150 Lightning's subscriptions end up costing, for new-car shoppers, there's little chance things will be easier or less complicated—or cheaper—in the months and years ahead.