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Is anybody getting summer freeway range over 250 miles?

RedLightning86

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Hi all. Just completed a road trip from Wisconsin to Oklahoma, stayed for a week, then back. Most temps around 90-99F. I do have GoFast Camper on my '22 ER, with a wind fairing to help reduce resistance. Had my 2 kids along who are late teen and 22yo, and none of us weigh more than 190 lbs. The GFC is 300 lbs. Just light luggage and road gear along.

At home, I drive county roads up to 55mph, state highway to 65mph, and short stretches of freeway up to 73 mph. I usually average 1.8-2.0 miles/kWh.

But on this trip, usually averaging 73-77 mph, we got around 1.3-1.5 miles/kWh, and the longest we could go between charging stops was ~ 115 miles, with max range calculating to 235-240 miles most of the time. With the frequent fairly long distances between charging, sometimes that meant charge, stop 90-100 miles later, charge again, so we could then drive 94-115 miles, instead of a single stop at 205 miles, for example, as I didn't want to get stranded if a charging station was down. (I aimed for 30-40 mile leeway, after the disastrous drop at the rest station!). No error messages popping up, and battery/engine temperatures always showed right in the middle as usual.

What was weird was that the first leg of the trip, about 75 miles, we got about 1.7-1.8 mi/kWh until stopped at a rest stop, with remaining range when we stopped being 170 miles, turned off the truck. When we got back in the truck, the remaining range was 110 miles. At the next charging station, a fellow Lightning owner said his range had just dropped a lot also.

Do these numbers just seem average to everyone else, especially for driving in hot weather? (was 91-93F that first day). I get we were driving faster than usual, and my kids drove without 1 pedal driving on, but wow, I was really hoping to go 250 miles between charging stops, not just 190-200 miles at most!

One thing I will say is that finding chargers was not bad, other than having to stop every 100 miles frequently. That being said, almost all the chargers topped out at 75 kWh, regardless of whether they said 350 kWh or 150, etc. About half the chargers were only 48-60 kWh max. So lots of improvement needed there!
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AZT9

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My truck is leveled on larger A/T tires. I regularly commute to work on the freeway (500 mile round trip) from AZ to CA. Speeds on this stretch on the 10 freeway are 70-75mph respectively and stock at “freeway speeds” I would get 1.7-1.9 m/kwh. Not with the truck as it sits at 28k miles of commuting I average 1.6-1.7 m/kwh. Temps swing from 60s in the winter to 110 plus in the summer with regular headwinds. I would say other the. The GOM being completely unreliable after a software update, you're fine. There are likely factors you don’t notice taking place ie, slight elevation changes, temp, and winds.
 

Amps

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I drive county roads up to 55mph, state highway to 65mph, and short stretches of freeway up to 73 mph. I usually average 1.8-2.0 miles/kWh.

But on this trip, usually averaging 73-77 mph, we got around 1.3-1.5 miles/kWh
I think the underlined part is your explanation.

You're probably getting the same type of % hit on range efficiency on those short stretches of 'up to 73 mph' at home as you are when you average 73-77 mph on longer road trips. Speed kills range, especially with added drag.
 

RickLightning

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Camper on back. 575 pounds of people. 300 pounds camper. Luggage.

Wind resistance, weight, and speed.
 

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hturnerfamily

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210 miles yesterday, with several stops along the way... some interstate at 70mph(15 miles maybe), mostly 55mph roads... and some city traffic: 2.5mi/kwh and 50 miles(22%) left when arriving home.

Two folks, little extras, tri-fold hard tonno cover, bedrug, and new Adaptive Cruise Control radar installed. Worked nicely. A/c also used most of those miles, during 95degree temps for most of the day.
 

TheWoo

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Hi all. Just completed a road trip from Wisconsin to Oklahoma, stayed for a week, then back. Most temps around 90-99F. I do have GoFast Camper on my '22 ER, with a wind fairing to help reduce resistance. Had my 2 kids along who are late teen and 22yo, and none of us weigh more than 190 lbs. The GFC is 300 lbs. Just light luggage and road gear along.

At home, I drive county roads up to 55mph, state highway to 65mph, and short stretches of freeway up to 73 mph. I usually average 1.8-2.0 miles/kWh.

But on this trip, usually averaging 73-77 mph, we got around 1.3-1.5 miles/kWh
This feels spot-on to me. Especially if you had any southerly breeze. That GFC, even with the fairing, is having big impact at freeway speeds.

I don't have any additional drag, have no extra weight (other than what the cheeseburgers have added to my waist over the years) and am happy with anything over 1.6 when doing a freeway drive here in Kansas. That's at 80mph, but if I added the people, weight, and most importantly drag that you have, I'd expect what you got.
 

Pioneer74

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I moved my daughter across the state a couple of weeks back. Loaded the truck up pretty good. I still kick myself for not looking at the scales to see my weight. Bed was full, frunk was full of miscellaneous stuff and hand tools, and the cabin was full with the wife, the dog, our carry-on bag, painting supplies and myself. I got the same 2.0 to 2.1 mi/Kwh I do on my daily highway commute to work when it's just me in the truck.

I feel weight really isn't an issue for the trucks efficiency. I think any extra drag makes the difference. I kept my speed between 71 and 73 on the freeway. The truck exceeded all my expectations.

Ford F-150 Lightning Is anybody getting summer freeway range over 250 miles? 20230620_105735
Ford F-150 Lightning Is anybody getting summer freeway range over 250 miles? 20230620_105801
 

TheWoo

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I moved my daughter across the state a couple of weeks back. Loaded the truck up pretty good. I still kick myself for not looking at the scales to see my weight. Bed was full, frunk was full of miscellaneous stuff and hand tools, and the cabin was full with the wife, the dog, our carry-on bag, painting supplies and myself. I got the same 2.0 to 2.1 mi/Kwh I do on my daily highway commute to work when it's just me in the truck.

I feel weight really isn't an issue for the trucks efficiency. I think any extra drag makes the difference. I kept my speed between 71 and 73 on the freeway. The truck exceeded all my expectations.

20230620_105735.jpg
20230620_105801.jpg
Weight seems to have VERY LITTLE to do w/ efficiency if you aren't hitting a lot of hills and big climbs, IMO.
 

Monkey

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I get 270-300 miles usually with cruise set around 70. Stock Lariat ER.

A big headwind or going up a hill will drop it of course.
This is it. OP has a camper... Faring or not, that's just more resistance. And I can get real close to 300 miles on a 90% charge in my daily around town usual driving, which really surprises me. But that all goes to hell in a hand basket as soon as I'm hitting 70MPH+ on the highway. And also surprises me how much a very gentle uphill slope degrades range. My first road trip driving the Lightning was a bit frustrating -- DesMoines to Denver which is just uphill the whole way even though it isn't obvious, plus a stiff breeze and 35~40 degree temps. Yeah I was stopping every 150 miles to charge up. And on top of that, it was December 30 and 31 -- so holiday weekend traffic and EA chargers were kinda crowded and not working well. They had huge issues that weekend -- app not activating chargers, card readers not working right, chargers topping out at 37kW... Trip ended up taking 2 days when it should've taken one because of EA charger BS. The ChargePoint at Cabelas outside Omaha saved us and then we threw in the towel and stayed the night in Kearny and there was another ChargePoint next to the hotel which was nice.
Weight seems to have VERY LITTLE to do w/ efficiency if you aren't hitting a lot of hills and big climbs, IMO.
Yep. Weight only matters for the inertia when you accelerate, especially starting from a stop. But this can be compensated for to some degree by starting slower. The real enemy here is drag / wind resistance. Pulling a trailer or having a camper or rooftop tent, etc.. all add significant drag. The truck has the aerodynamics of a brick. That's why the huge impact to range, even if the truck is empty, if we're racing down the highway. It's a strong argument for a secondary "speed maintaining" gear for highway travel over 55MPH. That and if the truck were smart enough to be able to coast on flat areas yet still regen while going downhill...
 

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EdRudy

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Took a trip from Northern VA to the Outer Banks, with 100% SOC 250+ miles with 22% SOC left both there and back. 22 Stock Lariat ER
 

astricklin

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Anything that makes the aerodynamics worse is going to affect the efficiency much more than just weight. Just like in any vehicle.
 
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RedLightning86

RedLightning86

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Appreciate the feedback from everyone!
 

COrocket

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Your efficiency can vary widely at highway speeds depending on what direction the wind is blowing. For example at 75 MPH with a 25 MPH wind on your back, the truck is only pushing through 50MPH of wind. However, if you have a 25MPH headwind, the truck is facing 100MPH of wind resistance and would have 400% the aerodynamic drag of the 50 MPH truck.

Because wind resistance grows exponential with speed, it becomes a much bigger factor when driving on the highway in windy places like the midwest. I've seen as low as 1.3 miles/kWh and well over 2 miles/kWh driving the same stretch of road depending on which direction I was traveling. It's not a phenomena unique to EVs, just more noticeable due to the precision in which the range is calculated and the relatively shorter distances EVs travel on a full charge vs. a typical full tank of gas.
 

ChrisInVegas

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Really good responses to this thread. I will just add something I noticed with the GOM (which you should not trust). The reduced range according to the GOM only hits me when I use the Ford Nav. I reset my driving history and have not used the Ford Nav and the last 400 miles, the GOM has been dead on with my calculations of battery size, %, and m/kWh. But the first time you use Ford Nav, the GOM is off. Calc is like 131*m/kWh*battery%=Range.
Ford F-150 Lightning Is anybody getting summer freeway range over 250 miles? 1688152228531
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