RV Trailer Towing With F-150 Lightning - Considerations & Discussions

[jefro]

Yep, I could travel most of Texas in my current EV using chargers from 7KW to 350KW. Pretty scarce in West Texas, Pan Handle and lower Rio Grande.

For some reason the City of Austin and maybe San Antonio have some free L2 chargers if you have time to wait. A few HD stores have free low speed DC chargers.

If I could get the stinking workplace I'm at to put in chargers. They said someone will get electrocuted.

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[beatle]

In Texas, I there's currently good coverage between Dallas and Austin, but there could be a few more between Dallas and Houston. Then there could be a lot more going west out to El Paso. Right now you pretty much have to stop at the available charger whether you want to or not. If for some reason a location is completely unavailable, you could be in trouble. Having stations every 50 miles or so would give enough options and a back up plan.

I think the bigger problem is reliability. People just need to be able to trust that the charging stations will work, even if there are several of them. When I take a road trip and I need to DCFC along the way, I make it a point to run the battery down to around 8-10% so that I can charge faster. I can do this because the supercharger network is reliable, and not only are there more chargers per station (usually 8 or more) but they are better than 90% reliable in my 40-some-odd charging stops.

When I bought my Model S, I drove it home from Chicago over 700 miles which included a charging stop in Angola, IN. Totally middle of nowhere, but I knew it would work so I had no range anxiety, even being an EV owner for all of 3 hours. I hope that the charging companies are incentivized enough to maintain their chargers. The idea that there is a need for Ford "angels" going around and troubleshooting busted chargers is kind of ridiculous. It's nice of Ford to do this so that their customers have a good charging experience, but it should be totally unnecessary if the charging companies were taking proper care of their systems and fixing their own equipment.

 

[jefro]

Part of the issue is normal gas pumps are made of metal.
All the EV stuff is plastic C#$p.

 

[beatle]

The plastic isn't what breaks. I also don't want unnecessary conductors around high voltage.

 

[jefro]

What wires do you mean?

 

[Nick Gerteis]

I think the bigger problem is reliability. People just need to be able to trust that the charging stations will work, even if there are several of them. When I take a road trip and I need to DCFC along the way, I make it a point to run the battery down to around 8-10% so that I can charge faster. I can do this because the supercharger network is reliable, and not only are there more chargers per station (usually 8 or more) but they are better than 90% reliable in my 40-some-odd charging stops.

When I bought my Model S, I drove it home from Chicago over 700 miles which included a charging stop in Angola, IN. Totally middle of nowhere, but I knew it would work so I had no range anxiety, even being an EV owner for all of 3 hours. I hope that the charging companies are incentivized enough to maintain their chargers. The idea that there is a need for Ford "angels" going around and troubleshooting busted chargers is kind of ridiculous. It's nice of Ford to do this so that their customers have a good charging experience, but it should be totally unnecessary if the charging companies were taking proper care of their systems and fixing their own equipment.

I have to second your last point. I’m certainly not an EE, but it’s hard for me to understand why these chargers would have lots of issues. Everything electrical at my house? Always works. Home EVSE? Always works. Credit card reader at gas pump? Always works. Maybe just teething issues, bound to improve.

 

[EaglesPDX]

The idea that there is a need for Ford "angels" going around and troubleshooting busted chargers is kind of ridiculous

Especially since the EA network has up time similar to Tesla's. Like yourself, after nearly three years, I've never failed to get a charge at EA or EVgo.

 

[PungoteagueDave]

I

Going to have to call BS on that. They may have the right of first refusal or not, but they don't exercise all that much. For example, there is a Kroger future EA site (it's nearly complete), and there are 3 separate Walmarts within 5 miles of it.

Call BS all you want. I personally own interests in shopping centers throughout the U.S. and am on the board of a company that has over 3,000 retail properties. Walmart takes every EA location for which they have room. Where you see an exception they have made a business decision - they may have a small parking ratio in a busy spot, for example. We have EA locations and Tesla Superchargers - the biggest issue often comes down to how much raw power is adjacent to a given site - AND reciprocal easement issues. Very often every tenant on a parking field has approval/denial rights for added/competitive uses, and in a busy location may not grant approval - even though it might generate added traffic to their store. I have seen numerous situations where tenants will not allow (specifically Tesla) chargers within their parking area.

 

[shutterbug]

I

Call BS all you want. I personally own interests in shopping centers throughout the U.S. and am on the board of a company that has over 3,000 retail properties. Walmart takes every EA location for which they have room. Where you see an exception they have made a business decision - they may have a small parking ratio in a busy spot, for example. We have EA locations and Tesla Superchargers - the biggest issue often comes down to how much raw power is adjacent to a given site - AND reciprocal easement issues. Very often every tenant on a parking field has approval/denial rights for added/competitive uses, and in a busy location may not grant approval - even though it might generate added traffic to their store. I have seen numerous situations where tenants will not allow (specifically Tesla) chargers within their parking area.

I get it. You're a big shot. A big shot who thinks that 116 is a larger number than 2,896. A big shot who thinks 16 out 22 are merely an exception.

 

[Toadkillerdog]

I get it. You're a big shot. A big shot who thinks that 116 is a larger number than 2,896. A big shot who thinks 16 out 22 are merely an exception.

I think that your reply is unfair

 

[shutterbug]

I think that your reply is unfair

Ok, I'll try to be fair. Let @PungoteagueDave explain how the following is remotely true.

you list the number of chargers as though all EA chargers are equal. You must distinguish between DCFC and regular chargers. Most EA chargers are not DCFC - try counting only CCS and CHAdeMO chargers - that count is FAR fewer

Keeping this in mind

 

[PungoteagueDave]

I get it. You're a big shot. A big shot who thinks that 116 is a larger number than 2,896. A big shot who thinks 16 out 22 are merely an exception.

Not at all, just telling you how I know these facts - I OWN EA and Supercharger locations and have seen the docs. But whatever.

 

[hhulseman]

Towing range will be an issue. Pull through charging locations would be nice. I speculate that there will be ways to improve range, such as slide in range extender battery, fuel cell or gen. Also, the trailer could have a range extender and could even be self propelled.

 

[Kev12345]

Towing range will be an issue. Pull through charging locations would be nice. I speculate that there will be ways to improve range, such as slide in range extender battery, fuel cell or gen. Also, the trailer could have a range extender and could even be self propelled.

it would be a cool option for ford dealers to rent purpose built generators that fit in the bed and plug in via the pro power port. it would definitely solve the problem of range anxiety while towing long distance the odd time.

 

[Mr. Flibble]

it would be a cool option for ford dealers to rent purpose built generators that fit in the bed and plug in via the pro power port. it would definitely solve the problem of range anxiety while towing long distance the odd time.

They already have a patent for this:

https://insideevs.com/news/446777/ford-f-150-ev-toolbox-disguised-generator/

It would be great if you could rent these from a dealer. Show, up, they drop the toolbox in, you start driving and using it while doing long tows, then return it to the dealer and pay your rental fees.

I believe the BMW I3 had something like this.

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