Emily Jaehnert usually drives an all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning pickup truck greater than 400 miles spherical journey together with her 13-month-old daughter to Seattle for appointments with a neurologist and others who deal with untimely infants.
“I will be trustworthy, when my husband stated we might be getting a truck, I stated, ‘We do not want a truck. What are we going to do with a truck? We do not have a farm,'” Jaehnert advised the Free Press. “However it’s like a front room on wheels.”
For many years, Ford has promoted its pickups as “Constructed Ford Powerful.” New mother and father are tweeting a special promoting level with the Lightning — diaper adjustments. Jaehnert and her husband of Richland, Washington found early on they will change the child privately and simply in a spacious, protected entrance trunk, referred to as the frunk.
That is the spot that might maintain an engine if a large battery weren’t tucked below the electrical truck physique as a substitute.
“Having that area in that automobile, particularly with (MacKenzie) being untimely, and avoiding any public areas and having the ability to do it within the truck on the go, it isn’t solely peace of thoughts however tremendous handy and slightly bit enjoyable,” Emily Jaehnert stated. “We pop the trunk, individuals anticipate to see an engine and we’re altering a child. We get individuals asking concerning the truck and seeing it as a household automobile.”
Dad and mom in a pinch have at all times modified diapers whereas balancing youngsters on backseats — not often in trunks.
But nobody thought to market the all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning to oldsters as the reply to germ-covered altering tables in relaxation areas, gasoline stations and fast-food eating places. The entire world has grown extra apprehensive about taking youngsters into extremely trafficked unclean areas, particularly for the reason that pandemic started.
“It has been enjoyable seeing how our prospects are utilizing their frunks” — for every thing from powering instruments to altering infants, stated Emma Bergg, a Ford spokeswoman who drives her F-150 Lightning together with her son to Costco and places groceries within the frunk. She not often shopped within the outdated gasoline-powered F-150 pickup as a result of groceries would both slide across the truck mattress in again or get squished on the ground beneath her son’s toes.
The big entrance trunk, and its potential for child altering, is a characteristic the Jaehnerts exploited shortly after the truck arrived within the driveway, beside their Ford Mustang Mach-E.
Electrical shops within the entrance trunk additionally enable for bottle warming on highway journeys. And the realm, which some truck house owners use to carry ice and drinks for tailgate events at soccer video games, has a plug to permit fast drainage for straightforward cleansing.
“We had the (truck) order positioned earlier than she was an thought,” stated Mac Jaehnert, who works in digital communications for a nationwide laboratory. “We knew it was coming earlier than she was coming. However this could be an ideal alternative to place our concepts into motion. We even joked about having a child wipe hotter. We need to make the child’s journey expertise as snug as doable.”
As well as, there is a ruler stamped into the tailgate for building employees to measure wooden that the Jaehnerts have utilizing to measure the expansion of their youngster since her delivery. Final examine: 28.4 inches.
For Emily Jaehnert, the peak of the truck is definitely extra handy than altering her daughter on a sofa or one other floor at house.
“I really feel my again straining,” she stated. “If it had been so simple as strolling out to the frunk each time we wanted to vary diapers? I am going to simply say the peak makes it a way more snug expertise for me.”
The entrance trunk was designed to carry two units of golf golf equipment. It formally measures 14.1 cubic toes.
Mac Jaehnert tweeted a picture of his spouse altering MacKenzie on Dec. 29, 2022 whereas operating errands on the town from his account @macjaeh. Responses have been candy and humorous:
- “We used to examine the oil. Now we examine the poop,” tweeted @FCoy69 on Dec. 31, 2022.
- “Heck yea! Mother win!” tweeted @jason_tsla on Dec. 31, 2022.
- “I’ll do it with each boys when the climate warms up,” tweeted @EZebroni on Dec. 30, 2022.
A dad with twin boys
Ethan Zebron, a army officer from Carrollton, Virginia, who tweeted about his twin boys, advised the Free Press that he and his spouse view themselves as electrical automobile ambassadors.
They’ve a Tesla Mannequin Y SUV and traded their Tesla Mannequin 3 for the Ford Lightning.
The entrance trunk of the Lightning has the area wanted to vary diapers, particularly two infants without delay.
Twins Lucas and Liam Zebron got here into the world on Oct. 26, 2022.
“In the event you’re taking the truck out, which we truly desire, there’s extra room and it is a greater journey and simpler for the infants to sleep,” Zebron advised the Free Press. “Sometimes you have got the mattress of the pickup however that is type of rugged and the mattress liner shouldn’t be as handy to place infants on. This electrical truck has a large entrance trunk, there is a gentle that shines down, area for each boys, and we’ve a transportable mat we put right down to make it softer (to vary diapers). It is good.”
Not worrying about taking infants into Lowe’s or House Depot for altering is a aid, he stated.
“The Tesla design is totally different. It is extra of a storage compartment the place it sits type of deep within the properly,” Zebron stated. The Ford area is flat and it does not dip down just like the Tesla.”
Andrea Zebron stated the entrance trunk is water tight and clear. The couple traded the Tesla Mannequin 3 for a Tesla Mannequin Y as a result of the sedan was simply too small and the all-electric SUV was extra sensible. However the entrance trunk within the F-150 pickup, for brand new mother and father, is essential.
“I grew up dancing my complete life and being a nurse, I am always on my toes. My physique takes a toll each day,” Andrea Zebron advised the Free Press. “The Lightning is larger up, chest excessive for me, so I do not actually should bend over a lot. And you may put the twins subsequent to one another.”
As a security subject, she additionally talked about the truth that their Lightning can recharge their all-electric Tesla if for some purpose it runs out of battery cost in an emergency, or present energy to the home after a storm. The Lightning is actually a generator on wheels.
Extra:Ford F-150 Lightning to accomplice with PG&E, present electrical energy throughout storms, wildfires
Extra:Stick determine man will free you from F-150 Lightning frunk
Childcare specialists weigh in
Anxiousness about younger youngsters and their security could be a critical subject for folks, specialists say.
Jeff Gardere, a scientific and household psychologist who teaches at Touro College in New York, has 4 youngsters over age 19 and two youngsters below age 8. He has seen a shift in what’s doable for folks.
“We went by means of the trouble of bringing children into gasoline stations and relaxation stops or pulling off to the facet of the highway and altering diapers,” he stated. “It’s essential and might be very inconvenient. In the event you’re a guardian like me, you are involved about cleanliness. For the reason that pandemic, mother and father are discovering alternative ways to do issues.”
Gardere wouldn’t have modified diapers in a conventional trunk with its conventional makes use of, and spare tire, he stated.
“That is selling a brand new type of ingenuity. Necessity is the mom of invention,” he stated. “Full disclosure: We’re in line to get a Ford F-150 Lightning. We’re on the checklist.”
Potential answer for folks with older youngsters
Sarah Douglas, a guardian of three youngsters who teaches youngster growth at Michigan State College, stated the Lightning could even assist the numerous mother and father whose youngsters have developmental points that require toileting help at an older age.
“Take a look at it from the angle of households who’ve youngsters with disabilities, who help toileting and altering for generally their whole life,” Douglas stated. “What I’ve witnessed … is mother and father who’ve to put their youngster on the ground of a public rest room. To have the ability to change them in a (truck) could be means higher. That is all very nerve-racking.”
Kids with autism, for instance, could have delayed bathroom coaching or sensory points, the place flushing sounds can create discomfort. Many of those youngsters have restricted communication expertise, she stated. So that they have wants that this type of area can deal with for a household which may in any other case be compelled to remain house, Douglas stated.
“I’ve associates who struggled to journey with a toddler who has complicated wants,” Douglas stated. “In the event that they do journey, it is a big subject. They go to a relaxation cease and everybody else can go to the toilet however how do I alter this youngster? That is about privateness and humane therapy and essential to caregivers’ psychological well being. I feel that is large.”
Extra:First consumers of Ford’s F-150 Lightning reveal what impressed their buy
Extra:Ford F-150 Lightning and I took on the Bomb Cyclone. The way it went
Extra:She is chief engineer of all-electric Ford F-150, main a revolution
Contact Phoebe Wall Howard: 313-618-1034 or phoward@freepress.com. Observe her on Twitter @phoebesaid.
Comments 1