A Kansas F-150 Lightning owner built a hitch-mounted Ford generator that charges his truck at about 18 kW while he drives. It just towed a Tesla home through sleet, and he says it gives the Lightning Silverado EV range.
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Look closely at the photo above, and you will see what makes this Ford F-150 Lightning different. Between the tailgate and the car trailer carrying a white Tesla sits a big Ford generator, strapped to a custom hitch carrier and feeding power to the truck as it drives. Lightning owners who tow know why someone would try this.
One Lariat owner whose F-150 Lightning towed a 6,500-pound camper 2,500 miles at 0.8 mi/kWh spent about 18 hours charging along the way.
Ford says it plans to create a range-extended
Ford says it plans to create a range-extended F-150 Lightning EREV that Ford says will go 700-plus miles, but Ford has not said when it will arrive. Martin Meek Jr., the Kansas owner behind the Martin Rebuilds YouTube channel, didn’t want to wait, so he built his own system and named it Everdrive.
The truck stays a pure EV for daily driving and gets charged at home like any other Lightning. Owners who drive this way, like the Lightning owner who says he is saving $500 a month on fuel with his F-150 Lightning, would give up nothing. When a road trip or a long tow comes up, and you don’t want to hunt for DC fast chargers, you slide the generator into the receiver and charge the truck while you drive.
How Everdrive Works
The build is “pure Ford.” The generator is a Ford-branded tri-fuel unit, built under license by Pulsar, rated at 28,000 peak watts and 20,000 continuous watts. It has a 1-liter engine and a big tank, and it runs on gasoline, propane, or natural gas. It rides on a custom heavy-wall receiver carrier that sticks out about 32 inches, so he relocated the license plate to keep it legal.
The generator feeds a Ford Charge Station Pro,
The generator feeds a Ford Charge Station Pro, the 80-amp, 19.2 kW wall charger Ford sold for the Lightning. The builder says the truck sees about 18.3 kW after losses. His test truck is a 2023 Lightning Lariat Extended Range with the Max Tow package, and the model year matters here. According to Ford, 2022 and 2023 Extended Range trucks accept 19.2 kW on AC power, while 2024 Lightnings are limited to 11.5 kW.
He measured cabin noise at about 76 dB at 70 mph, up from 73 dB without the generator.
Leveling the Field With the Silverado EV
The Lightning Lariat Extended Range carries 131 kWh of usable battery and an EPA range of 320 miles. Chevy’s Silverado EV Max Range Work Truck is rated at 493 miles. Everdrive tries to close that gap. The builder’s goal is about 500 miles at a real 70 mph, and a bit more at 65 mph.
My rough math says that is plausible
My rough math says that is plausible. At 70 mph, a Lightning getting about 2 mi/kWh uses something like 35 kW. Subtract the generator’s 18 kW, and the battery drains at about 17 kW instead of 35. That stretches 131 kWh to roughly seven and a half hours of driving, or well over 500 miles. The builder hopes the generator burns two to three gallons per hour, so you would likely top off its tank once on a trip that long.
At about 40 mph, the builder says the Lightning uses about the same power the generator puts in, so the battery holds steady. As long as you keep gasoline or propane in the generator, the truck can keep going more or less forever.
Towing Is Where Everdrive Earns Its Keep
On the highway, towing cuts EV range drastically. A Lightning owner who towed 400 miles at about 1 mi/kWh was looking at a theoretical full-pack towing range of 98 to 131 miles, and long tows like that are what Everdrive is really built for.
The builder’s best real-world data so far comes
The builder’s best real-world data so far comes from his winter towing test. He drove about 150 miles each way in central Kansas to pick up a Tesla with a bad battery. On the way out it was in the mid-40s with a 25 to 30 mph headwind, and he held 65 to 70 mph. He left at 100 percent and arrived 155 miles later with 25 percent left while the generator pushed about 18 kW the whole way. The truck’s dash showed 1.1 mi/kWh. At that rate, 131 kWh with no generator gets you about 144 miles, so Everdrive added roughly 50 miles of cushion on that leg in poor conditions.
On the trip home with the Tesla on the trailer, a leaking fuel pump diaphragm flooded the carbureted generator, and it took him about half an hour in hail and rain to get it running again. He then slowed to about 55 mph because the only charger on his route was a slow 50 kW unit. He made it home with the Tesla without stopping, for 329 miles total. He said the trip would have taken a two-hour detour to a charger without Everdrive, and that these generators really need fuel injection.
It Works in a Power Outage Too
Off the truck, a tri-fuel generator this size is a serious home backup unit. It could also refill a Lightning set up to power the house through Ford’s backup system.
Ford Thought of This Once The builder’s position
Ford Thought of This Once
The builder’s position is that Ford should have made its EREV removable instead of building it into the truck. Ford apparently had the same thought at one point. InsideEVs reported on a Ford patent for removable range-extending generators and said such an option “could answer all of a potential buyer’s range anxiety-related questions.”
The builder targeted spring to summer of 2026 for Everdrive kits and estimated $5,000 to $6,000 for the whole setup, including a generator he says sells for about $2,800 at Lowe’s and an $800 charger. As of this writing, I did not find Everdrive listed for sale on the Martin Rebuilds online store.
My Take
As a recovering engineer, I love everything about this build. EVs have some great advantages, and for now, they also come with some compromises. It feels to me like any serious truck owner would give this two thumbs up. It just makes sense. Ford should copy the idea and build in the charger neatly so the owner needs only “plug in the generator.”
What do you think
So what do you think? Is a generator on the hitch of an electric truck malarkey, or is it a practical way for EV pickups to get past their range limits on the few trips a year when it matters? Would you own a Lightning this way? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
John Goreham is a 15-year veteran of Torque News. An accomplished writer and a long-time expert in vehicle testing, Goreham also serves as the Vice President of the New England Motor Press Association and has a growing social media presence. He’s also a 10-year staff writer and community moderator for Car Talk. Goreham holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and an undergraduate Certificate in Marketing. In addition to vehicle and tire content, he offers deep dives into market trends and opinion pieces. You can follow John Goreham on X and TikTok, and connect with him on LinkedIn. He can be reached at [email protected]
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