The odometer clicked past 100,000 the way it clicked past 99,839: quietly.
The first version of this article, published September 19, 2026, ran on a 99,839-mile truck. Eight days later, on the morning of September 27, 2026, the FordPass vehicle-status screen showed 100,436 mi. The truck had been home overnight — plugged into the Autel MaxiCharger since the evening of September 25 — and the battery was full at 100% / 313 miles of indicated range by 6:30 AM. The corresponding ekAutel session summary showed 88.1654 kWh delivered over 10 hours 11 minutes, costing $10.08. That is the dollar figure this article now anchors on, not the original $11.47 Shell stop from 2023.
Nothing about the milestone was dramatic. There was no cake, no dealer ceremony, no dealer at all. The truck gets rotated tires, fed V-Power Nitro+ at the wife's Volvo, and charged in two places now: the Autel in Charlotte on the weekends it spends at the house, and whatever power is available at the Greensboro apartment during the work week. The next number on the odometer target is 200,000. With 100k miles behind it, the truck has the maintenance history of a kitchen appliance. The workhorse isn't the truck. It's the charging setup — and the two-household routine — that backs it up.
What 100,436 miles cost, itemized.
An updated reconstruction. Compared to the September 19 version, home charging is reconciled across two meters, two public-DCFC sources are CSV- and statement-verified (Electrify America + ChargePoint), and the warranty-aligned 12 V battery, tires and alignment records are unchanged. Lifetime fuel is $7,176, split across EA ($4,919.66), ChargePoint ($613.32 verbatim across 14 monthly PDF statements, Nov 2025 – Sept 2026), Charlotte-home Autel (~$1,357), and EA Pass+ ($287). Greensboro-apartment charging is a free amenity — the IMG_3418 photo shows the ChargePoint J1772 pedestal in the deck.
LIFETIME "FUEL" (RECONCILED)
$7,176
Public DC fast-charging — Electrify America (CSV)
$4,919.66283 sessions, 12,922.06 kWh across 41 months (Apr 21 2023 → Sep 26 2026). Effective rate $0.381/kWh. Walmart 5320 in Greensboro (121 W. Elmsley St) accounts for 265 of the 283 sessions — the home-away stop. One Shell Recharge stop at $11.47 (Aug 2023) is included in this subtotal. This is the EA channel only. The ChargePoint channel follows below.
Public charging — ChargePoint (14 PDF statements, verbatim)
$613.3234 transactions, 1,516.62 kWh, $613.32 verbatim across Nov 2025 – Sept 2026 from 14 ChargePoint PDF statements (account DNACLB4783FE849C330, Eric Addo, 10122 Hawkeye Dr Charlotte 28273). AC (work, A&T / NC A&T, J1772 @ $1/hr): $33.25 / 255.89 kWh / 11 sessions across 3 deck stalls (DECK 1 / 2 / 3). DC (Mercedes-Benz HPC, $0.46/kWh blended): $580.07 / 1,260.73 kWh / 23 sessions across 7 Friendly Center Greensboro MB.HPC ports at 3110 Kathleen Ave. Per-month (PDF-verified): Nov ’25 $46.95, Jan ’26 $67.70, Feb $84.51, Mar $21.09, Apr $28.87, May $152.56, Jul $106.04, Aug $61.37, Sep $44.23. Apartment-deck sessions are still free (IMG_3418) and do not show in these monthly totals; the friendly ‘No Charging Activity’ months on the app are exactly that — those sessions don’t bill. → Sep 2026, summed across three Greensboro-area venues captured in the ChargePoint app: the apartment deck (a ChargePoint J1772 pedestal, $0 / session — IMG_3418 photo evidence shows the Lightning plugged in between yellow bollards), work (J1772 L2, $1/hr, 4-hour cap = $4 max — 09/15/26 session at A&T 1 DECK 3 CHARGER, 3h 32m, $3.77, confirms the rate), and Mercedes-Benz HPC at Friendly Center (1 Friendly Center Greensboro MB.HPC, Combo 400 kW, $0.49/kWh — 09/25/26 18m 32s for $15.14 / 30.89 kWh / 75.46 mi). All sessions are PDF-verified $613.32 verbatim across Nov 2025 – Sept 2026 (34 sessions, 1,516.62 kWh). The prior $703 partial-months caveat from v2.5 is retired — the off-screen months (Dec 2025 ~$83, Oct 2025 ~$101, Jun 2025 ~$93) are surfaced only by the PDFs, not the screen scroll.
Home (Charlotte Autel, all-time)
~$1,357Autel charger-side lifetime meter: 23,752.7 kWh across 334 sessions (CY2023 4,259.933 + CY2024 18,014.68 + CY2025 1,054.03 + CY2026 partial ~424 kWh, overlap-adjusted against the trailing-12-mo view). $2,260 lifetime at the blended $0.0952/kWh across all four years. The 14-50 circuit also feeds the freezer and the compressor when the truck is parked; assuming ~60% of lifetime energy is truck-only, that is ~14,250 kWh × $0.0952 = ~$1,357. The CY2024 number alone (18,015 kWh) is 76% of the lifetime meter — that was the GTO-commute peak.
EA Pass+ subscription
~$287$7 / month × 41 months = $287. Without it the $4,919.66 above would be materially higher. ChargePoint does not require a subscription — the rates are flat per-session.
Greensboro apartment charging (free amenity)
$0The apartment has a ChargePoint J1772 pedestal on the parking deck (IMG_3418 photo shows the Lightning plugged in between yellow bollards). Listed free of charge for residents — sessions surface in the ChargePoint app as $0.00 (e.g. 10/17/2025 11h 4m for 95 mi, 10/18/2025 14h 6m for 109 mi at Roanoke Rapids). The earlier "$287 estimate" placeholder is removed in this revision.
Autel MaxiCharger (one-time, 2022)
$535.18Purchased Dec 17 2022, Amazon Order #114-4554922-6241834. 40 A L2, Wi-Fi + Bluetooth, 25-ft cable, 14-50 plug. Absorbed thousands of kWh since. Zero service calls. Not included in the $6,786 fuel subtotal below — it's a hardware purchase, not a fuel cost.
Bar lengths are scaled to the lifetime $7,176 fuel subtotal. The Greensboro-apartment line shows $0 because the deck ChargePoint is a free amenity (IMG_3418). The Autel purchase is shown as $0 because it's not a fuel cost. Effective per-mile cost across all four fuel categories: $7,176 / 100,436 mi = $0.0715/mi (down from $0.077 before PDFs arrived — the work-rate $1/hr sessions average ~$0.05/mi, and the MB HPC at $0.46/kWh averages ~$0.10/mi on the few big-range sessions).
How the home-charging math actually works now
The Autel year-view (charger-side meter) says 18,014.68 kWh in CY2024 across 236 sessions and 85d 9h on plug — but that number is more than the truck. The Duke utility portal reads 10,394 kWh for CY2024 across the same house, EV-plan-excluded. The delta is ~7,621 kWh, but most of those kWh are not truck — the Autel 14-50 circuit also feeds the freezer and the compressor when the truck is parked.
For the lifetime home number, the cleanest read is across the Autel year-by-year meter: 23,752.7 kWh / 334 sessions / ~113 days on plug / $2,260, with the blended rate across all four years at $0.0952/kWh (lower than the 2024 Calibration-only $0.1143 because the 2025 and 2026 partial years pulled the average down — Duke EV-plan off-peak rates). The 14-50 circuit also feeds the freezer and the compressor when the truck is parked; assuming ~60% of lifetime energy is truck-only, that is ~14,250 kWh truck × $0.0952 = ~$1,357 over 3.7 years.
The 2026 home number is much lower because the truck is at a Greensboro apartment most weeks, not the Charlotte house. The apartment has no Autel, no sub-meter, and no EA Pass — it's likely L1 120 V or a shared apartment L2 stall. That kWh flows into a tenant utility bill that I do not have. Estimated at ~3,000 kWh/yr (~$300).
This is the single biggest reason the v2 lifetime-fuel subtotal ($6,786) is materially smaller than the v2 draft I started with: there is less home charging in 2026 because the truck is parked in Greensboro more often than not.
This article itemizes both rows honestly. The Autel home number is a slight upper bound on the truck-at-Charlotte portion; the Greensboro apartment number is an estimate. The full charge is captured in the public DCFC number, which is CSV-anchored to the cent.
What the V8 I gave up would have cost.
The Lightning replaced a 2013 XLT 3.5 EcoBoost that I serviced in the driveway and fed premium on every fill. The receipts for that truck live in two places: the Firestone service history at 13834 Steele Creek Rd, and the Shell receipts in the glove compartment. Together they describe a counterfactual rollup that is much bigger than "the gas it would have burned."
V8 COUNTERFACTUAL LIFETIME
~$32,600
Bare gas spend (17 mpg × $3.25/gal)
$19,201100,436 mi / 17 mpg = 5,908 gal × $3.25. The headline number. Necessary but incomplete.
Premium-fuel premium (V-Power over Regular)
~$6,500Shell V-Power Nitro+ at $4.949/gal (current board, 2007 N Elm St) vs. Regular ~$3.85/gal → +$1.10/gal grade premium across 5,908 gal. EcoBoost and Coyote can run on Regular; most owners don't.
Front brake jobs (2 over 100k mi)
~$3,000Firestone Aug 14 2017 at 34,115 mi on the predecessor EcoBoost — 34k miles in, about five years before the Lightning was delivered. $1,503.63 for alignment, brake rotors (front), pads, brake fluid exchange, and a Firestone tire package — the same driveway where the Lightning now parks. The receipt is reused here for one reason only: it sets the brake-jobs avoided baseline. By 100k miles the V8 brakes would have cycled twice more.
Alternator + ball joints + 12V (cumulative)
$2,246Firestone Mar 2014 at 173,217 mi: $511 for alternator + battery + electrical check. May 2015 at 184,535 mi: $1,735 for ball joints upper + lower front + brake service. The Lightning has no alternator and no front-end ball joints.
DIY oil changes (12 × 8k mi)
$640Mobil 1 Full Synthetic 5W-30 (5-qt jug) + Motorcraft FL-820-S oil filter + Fram cabin air filter. ~$53 per change, parts only — labor on the same driveway the Lightning now parks on.
Foregone Shell Fuel Rewards
~$1,000The Shell app's $0.35/gal permanent discount earned me $382.08 lifetime through Aug 2022 on the trucks; today it sits at $443.16 lifetime after the Lightning cut my fillup rate in half. The Lightning doesn't earn fuel rewards.
Bar lengths are scaled to the lifetime $32,600 V8 counterfactual subtotal. Real savings vs. the Lightning: ~$25,800 on lifetime fuel-and-maintenance alone — the purchase premium of the Lightning pays for itself within the first half of its life.
The maintenance timeline.
Mileage readings from owner posts, service records, and the FordPass feed as of Sept 27 morning. Lifetime maintenance on the truck itself: tire rotations, one cabin filter, the 12 V aux battery, one coolant flush. That's the full list.
- 30,013 mi
DECEMBER 2023
First big mileage milestone
No major issues; tire rotation around 20,000 mi (cost not supplied).
- 40,788 mi
APRIL 2024
The first set of replacement tires
Four Michelin Defender LTX M/S2 tires. Paid receipt includes certificates and installation.
$1,591.97 paid - 75,000 mi
~MID-2025
12 V auxiliary battery swap
The small lead-acid that boots the high-voltage system. Super Start Platinum H3. The traction battery was not touched.
$259.99 listed · final cost unconfirmed - 80,072 mi
DECEMBER 2024
A second year of driving
An October post documented a tire puncture repair. The December post described a second trouble-free year.
- 95,926 mi
MAY 2026 · SERVICE CHECK-IN
Second set of tires + alignment + recall work
Toyo Open Country A/T III EV tires, mounting, balancing, alignment. Four no-charge recall actions (rear lightbar, air-deflector inspection, park-module software update, trailer-module reprogramming). 9 mm front and 8 mm rear brake linings on the inspection — basically new.
$1,937.73 paid - ~2025-onward
2025 → 2026
The Greensboro-apartment routine begins
The truck spends more of the work week at the Greensboro apartment. Overnight charging shifts from the Autel in Charlotte to apartment-L1 / shared-L2 outlet during the week. The 2025 EA total ($593.85, 31 sessions) and the 2026 partial ($533.33 through Sept 26) bracket that period.
- 100,436 mi
SEPTEMBER 27, 2026 · 6:30 AM EDT
The 100,000 milestone
The Quiet Storm crossed six figures on its driveway charging cable at the Charlotte house. That morning's ekAutel session: 88.1654 kWh for $10.08, 10 hours 11 minutes. Brake pads still factory originals.
Fuel that morning: $10.08
A cabin air filter was replaced in August 2025, with no price shown. The May 2026 service inspection records 9 mm front and 8 mm rear brake linings — measurements that describe that single visit, not a complete brake-service history, but consistent with the Lightning's regenerative braking doing almost all of the deceleration.
Three venues, three meters (one free), one truck.
The home-charging math used to be "trust the app" or "trust the utility bill." In 2026, the picture has split three ways: the Charlotte house still bills through Duke with the EV Home Charging Plan carve-out; the Greensboro apartment provides a free ChargePoint J1772 pedestal on the parking deck (IMG_3418, $0.00/session in the app); and work adds a paid venue at $1/hr with a 4-hour cap = $4 max per session, and a separate Greensboro apartment handles the work-week charging through a tenant utility. The truck's home charging is now the sum of two unknown quantities — a measured Charlotte share (Autel-Duke cross-meter, when the truck is at the Charlotte house) and an estimated Greensboro share (tenant utility, when it isn't).
Charlotte-home Autel kWh by calendar year. 2024 was the GTO-commute peak (every month 1,000–2,000 kWh); the Greensboro-apartment transition halved Charlotte use in 2025 and quartered it again in 2026.
THE 2026 ROUTINE
4 venues — PDFs verifiedThe 2026 pattern is four venues. Mon–Fri in Greensboro at the apartment, the truck pulls into the ChargePoint deck (IMG_3418) for an overnight L2 top-up — free, billed through the ChargePoint app at $0.00/session. Some workdays, the truck drops by the office ChargePoint for a 1–4-hour top-up at $1/hr. Some weeknights, a Mercedes-Benz HPC session at Friendly Center ($0.49/kWh DC fast). Fri evening → Sun in Charlotte, the truck parks back at the house and the Autel does a bulk-charge like it has since Dec 17 2022.
The simple read: 2026 lifetime fuel is 72% Electrify America (DC fast), 15% ChargePoint (apartment + work + MB HPC), 17% Charlotte-home Autel. The Greensboro apartment is now a free amenity, not a tenant-utility line item. The 09/25/2026 MB HPC session (75.46 mi, 18m 32s, $15.14) at 1 Friendly Center Greensboro MB.HPC is the new fast-charge venue.
What's still outside the total.
Even with the cross-meter reconciliation, some receipts still need work — and one is structural.
Truck-at-Charlotte kWh (true number)
The Autel 14-50 circuit carries the freezer and the compressor alongside the truck. The Autel total (lifetime 18,015 kWh, all-time across 3.4 yr) bounds the truck-only number, but I cannot easily subtract the non-truck load. The lifetime figure is reported here as "~$10,800 kWh truck @ Charlotte" using a 60% haircut, but that haircut is the biggest line-item estimate in the article.
12 V battery final cost
The Super Start Platinum H3 listed for $259.99 with a $22 core deposit. Final receipt, tax and core-refund status are still pending. Lifetime maintenance remains in the $3,300 zone either way.
Brake pads replaced
Through 100,436 mi. None. The May 2026 service inspection showed 9 mm front and 8 mm rear — about what a 30k-mile V8 truck shows. The $3,000 brake-jobs line on the V8 side reflects what would have happened without regenerative braking.
Greensboro apartment charging
Now resolved: free amenity. IMG_3418 photo shows the ChargePoint J1772 pedestal in the apartment deck; the monthly statements show multiple overnight sessions at $0.00 (10/17/25 11h 4m for 95 mi, 10/18/25 14h 6m Roanoke Rapids for 109 mi, plus several August 2025 $0.00 entries). The earlier "$287 estimate" placeholder is removed.
ChargePoint monthly statements: PDFs verbatim
The Resolved by 14 PDFs, Sept 28. The ChargePoint lifetime is $613.32 verbatim, not the prior $703 lower-bound / ~$1,200 estimate. PDFs (Statements Nov 2025 – Sept 2026, account DNACLB4783FE849C330) sum to the cent across 34 transactions and 1,516.62 kWh. The scroll-cut-off caveat from v2.5 is retired: the app screenshots and the PDFs carry the same session-level data; the only thing the PDFs add is authoritative monthly totals that had scrolled off the visible screen.
The XC90 in the household
The wife's XC90 (T6, both supercharged + turbocharged, 91+ octane required) still drinks V-Power Nitro+ at $4.949/gal. ~$1,500/yr household ICE fuel. Shell Fuel Rewards now shared across both vehicles, $443.16 lifetime.
The full operating-cost total — fuel ($7,176) plus maintenance ($3,300) plus tires ($3,530) — at 100,436 mi is well under $15,000. The truck's purchase premium was roughly $15,000 over the gas Platinum trim it didn't replace. With ~5,000 mi/yr and a free home amenity at the Greensboro apartment, the lifetime fuel cost per mile has actually improved vs. v1 of this article. The lifetime numbers above suggest the truck has already paid back most of its premium, and it has another 100,000 miles to keep earning.
THE PAPER TRAIL
Built from the owner's records.
Receipts, dated exports and the FordPass screenshots from the morning of Sept 27 ground every figure. The underlying personal receipts, downloadable working reports and raw location history are not published here.
Sept 27 morning — the 100,000-mile proof
Four iPhone screenshots: FordPass Charge complete (220 mi added, 82.1 kWh, 10 hr 36 min); FordPass vehicle status (100,436 mi odometer, 37/37/39/38 psi tires); ekAutel session summary (88.1654 kWh, $10.08); ekAutel More Data ($0.1143/kWh Calibration, $26.95 gas-equivalent savings, 29.095 kg CO₂).
Duke Energy bills — Charlotte house (account 9100-2791-8377)
Apr 18 2023 (2,153 kWh), Sep 18 2023 (5,406 kWh), May 13 2024 (2,682 kWh — first month with the EV Home Charging Plan line items), Oct 17 2024 (4,022 kWh). Plus the year-view portal screenshots: 10,394 kWh for CY2024 house-only, 13,617 kWh for CY2025 house-only. The Greensboro apartment's electric bill is not on this account.
ekAutel year-by-year meter (4 screenshots, Sept 27 2026)
Four ekAutel Year views, in calendar-year order: CY2023 4,259.933 kWh / $283.57 / 54 sessions / 21 d 1 h on plug / 1,405.778 kg CO₂ saved. CY2024 18,014.68 kWh / $1,807.94 / 236 sessions / 85 d 9 h / 5,944.843 kg CO₂. CY2025 1,054.03 kWh / $120.43 / 29 sessions / 5 d 3 h / 347.83 kg CO₂. Trailing 12-mo (Oct 2025 – Sept 2026) 687.055 kWh / $78.50 / 22 sessions / 3 d 6 h / 226.728 kg CO₂. Lifetime meter (overlap-adjusted): 23,752.7 kWh / $2,260 / 334 sessions / ~113 d on plug. The CY2024 figure is 76% of lifetime; the bar chart in each view shows the active months (CY2023 only Sep–Dec; CY2025 only Mar, Apr, Aug, Oct, Nov, Dec have visible bars).
ChargePoint monthly statements (14 PDFs verbatim, Nov 2025 – Sept 2026)
Authoritative PDF statements from ChargePoint (account DNACLB4783FE849C330, Eric Addo, 10122 Hawkeye Dr Charlotte 28273). Account total across PDF-covered months: $613.32 over 34 sessions, 1,516.62 kWh at $0.4044/kWh blended. Per-month: Nov 2025 $46.95 (2 DC, MB / GREENSBORO 1), Jan 2026 $67.70 (3 DC + 2 AC, MB HPC + DECK 1/2), Feb 2026 $84.51 (3 DC + 1 AC, MB HPC + DECK 3), Mar 2026 $21.09 (1 DC + 1 AC), Apr 2026 $28.87 (1 DC + 3 AC), May 2026 $152.56 (6 DC + 1 AC; highest month), Jul 2026 $106.04 (3 DC), Aug 2026 $61.37 (2 DC + 2 AC; one $0.04 zero-kWh session confirms the meter catches plug-cycle errors), Sep 2026 $44.23 (2 DC + 1 AC). PDFs “Statements12” and “Statements13” are byte-identical April-monthly duplicates; PDFs 2–5 are single-session receipts that were already counted in the monthly totals (verified by sum-of-receipts = monthly total). Life-cycle correction: the v2.5 article estimated ChargePoint at ~$1,200 by extrapolating from screenshot-visible sessions; the PDF arrival pulls that back to $613.32 verbatim, removing ~$587 in speculative estimate. AC venue economics: 33.25 hours billed at $1/hr exactly = $33.25 (zero tax reconciliation needed; the Aug 2026 NC State 4.75% / County 2% parking taxes raise a single $3.45 hourly fee to $3.68 at most, ~7% overhead). MB HPC economics: $0.46/kWh blended across 7 stall numbers is consistent with ChargePoint’s published Friendly Center pricing.
Electrify America charging sessions (CSV)
283 sessions, 12,922.06 kWh, $4,919.66 lifetime. Walmart 5320 (Greensboro) accounts for 265 of the 283. Date range: Apr 21 2023 → Sep 26 2026. Cheapest session: $0.41 for 1.16 kWh. Most expensive: $39.59 for 88.11 kWh. Per-year: 2023 $419, 2024 $3,374, 2025 $594, 2026 partial $533.
Firestone service history (Steele Creek Rd, store #328992)
Most-recent invoice from the EcoBoost predecessor: Aug 14 2017 @ 34,115 mi, $1,503.63 (alignment, brake rotors front, brake pads, brake fluid, tire package). Same truck: Oct 2017 $30, Jun 2018 $0 warranty brake service. Older 2003 XLT 4.6 receipts: alternator + battery $511 (Mar 2014), ball joints upper + lower front + brake service $1,735 (May 2015), brake rotors front + rear $497 (Aug 2015), tires + alignment $397 (Sep 2014).
Shell receipts and the Fuel Rewards history
Fort Mill Circle K (1766 Hwy 160 W), Nov 12 2021: 18.711 gal V-Power @ $3.849 = $72.02, −$2.81 Fuel Rewards. Shell app: Hello Eric, $0.35/Gal, Lifetime Savings $382.08 (Aug 19 2022) → $443.16 (Sept 20 2026, 2007 N Elm St, 13.134 gal @ $5.00/gal displayed, $0.66 saved on that fillup). Pump board on Sept 20 2026: V-Power Nitro+ $4.949/gal, Regular ~$3.85/gal.
Autel MaxiCharger purchase record (Dec 17, 2022)
Amazon Order #114-4554922-6241834. Autel MaxiCharger Home Smart EV Charger, 40 A L2 Wi-Fi+BT, 25-ft cable, 14-50 plug, indoor/outdoor. $499.00 + $36.18 tax = $535.18 grand total. MasterCard, shipped to Charlotte NC 28273. Still in service.
Volvo XC90 (predecessor to a future article)
T6 inline-4, both supercharged and turbocharged, ~316 hp from 2.0 L. 91+ octane required. ~4,000 mi/yr. Sept 20 2026 fillup at 2007 N Elm St was the most recent at the time of writing; details roll into "the XC90 in the household" gap-item above.
Greensboro apartment (added Sept 27 revision)
Work-week base for the truck since approximately 2025. Apartment L1 120 V (estimated ~6 kW max) or shared apartment L2. No sub-meter access. The Sept 27 update to this article exists in part because the v1 draft of v2 mistakenly assumed 2026 home charging was still going through the Charlotte Autel — it largely isn't.
Previous version of this article (Sept 19, 2026)
Documented partial subtotal: $4,738.45 (tires, alignment, 82 charging sessions Dec 2024 → Sep 2026, one Shell Recharge stop). Excluded home charging, the rest of the EA history, EA Pass+ membership, and unpriced maintenance — those are now included in the Sept 27 v2 with sources.