Second winter with our Lightning... just put a deposit on a Ramcharger. Public charging is awful

[RickLightning]

One of the challenges Ford faces is that the Lightning attracted a lot of buyers into the Ford family, but they have no brand loyalty. Therefore retention is much harder. The percentage of quickly dumping a Lightning or Mach-E for new owners vs longtime Ford owners has got to be much, much higher. I see people asking for buybacks on a first repair after 20 days.

We used to buy Chrysler minivans back in the day. Issues with last one swore me off the brand. When they bought Jeep back many years ago, that finished me on that brand. One GM, first car I bought, never again. I will keep pushing Ford and dealers so that choice continues to exist.

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[Heliian]

worried about the availability of Tesla chargers once they open up to other makes.

It's more expensive than others so I won't be using them if I don't have to.


As far as the op goes, good luck actually getting a product from dodge, Ram, whatever you want to call them. They just don't have the audience. Their target demo is cheap ice trucks.

 

[RickLightning]

If I get a Ram, it will be with my eyes a little more wide open. I really thought the charging infrastructure would have come around by now.

Part of my motivation here is to make sure that people who come to the website have more than one point of view. I honestly don’t mean to ruffle feathers, but I do end up butting heads when I stand my ground. Apologies for that.

My girls are on their own and do their own towing now. If I still towed, I definitely would not have bought an EV.

I understand you thought the infrastructure would have come around more. Unfortunately had you dug into the reality more, the amount of time it takes for a new station to come to being, plus the reality of the current structure, would have shown you that your expectations weren't close to able to happen.

No one really understood the impact of all the X years free EV charging would have. Nor how poorly EA would manage their network.

2.5 years into this. Many trips of around 3,000 miles. One just under 5,000. Arrived at full chargers a handful of times. Arrived at malfunctioning locations more than that.

But again, we expected these kind of issues. We expected to have to loudly push dealers, manufacturers, and networks. Manufacturers went to Tesla only because of this pressure and their inability to scale without that network growth.

Can Tesla handle the increased load? I expect the free charging owners to not leave EA. And I expect Tesla to have issues.

There will be lots of new locations opening in 2024, and a higher number in 2025, and beyond.

You have to commit to being part of the change, and change is never easy.

 

[boggle]

Don't blame you. Don't know your route but the DCFC offerings along 91 into Southern VT are appalling. The most conveniently located Freewire DCFC in Greenfield at the RMV never works. At least Wilmington finally got its Blinks up and running. Can't wait for NACS so we can use the Brattleboro Superchargers.

 

[TomB985]

While there are a lot of components, the Ramcharger is not a plug-in hybrid. It's an EV with an onboard generator and that's different.

Still plenty to go wonky for sure, but IMO this is a superior approach to the PHEV. The IC engine isn't attached to a drivetrain and only exists to power the generator. This will be an EV and the battery will always be powering the electric motors. If it works as advertised, it'll be an interesting addition to the EV truck market.

Right, I’m familiar with how it’s supposed to work. That’s identical to other PHEVs like the Chevy Volt. You remove a mechanical gearset and replace with a generator and second electric motor. Is that really a big distinction that obviates all of the complexity?

I don’t know the answer to that, and Toyota taught us with the Prius that complexity doesn’t have to be unreliable. I’m a bit jaded because the most troublesome vehicles I’ve had in my life were Stellantis products, so I don’t have faith in the brand. Hopefully I’m wrong and we can all quote my posts and laugh at them because the RamCharger looks like a neat concept that will fill a big need.

 

[Howard_Scott_Warshaw]

Don't blame you. Don't know your route but the DCFC offerings along 91 into Southern VT are appalling. The most conveniently located Freewire DCFC in Greenfield at the RMV never works. At least Wilmington finally got its Blinks up and running. Can't wait for NACS so we can use the Brattleboro Superchargers.

I drive a portion of that route often and you're correct, it's a DCFC desert. The Bellows Fall 50 kW unit is broke, the 100 kW unit in West Springfield is wonky, then you're SOL until you get to West Lebanon.

 

[nanohead]

One of the challenges Ford faces is that the Lightning attracted a lot of buyers into the Ford family, but they have no brand loyalty. Therefore retention is much harder. The percentage of quickly dumping a Lightning or Mach-E for new owners vs longtime Ford owners has got to be much, much higher. I see people asking for buybacks on a first repair after 20 days.

We used to buy Chrysler minivans back in the day. Issues with last one swore me off the brand. When they bought Jeep back many years ago, that finished me on that brand. One GM, first car I bought, never again. I will keep pushing Ford and dealers so that choice continues to exist.

I have zero brand loyalty in reality, and have been a car collector for 40 years or so... have owned something like 124 cars at last count. So happens, I've owned about 20 Fords (including the godawful Maverick in college, with see through floors!). I like their cars just fine. We're also fine with the Mach E and mostly use it locally. It actually has better range retention in the winter we find. I traded a heavily modded Mustang GT (Coyote!) for the Mach E.

I actually traded in a 2021 Ranger XLT for the Lightning. Everyone has a story about some car/airline/smartphone/etc brand of something. Fact is, most manufactured goods from grown up companies are about the same these days. And interestingly, we've had amazing success with Jeeps (have 2 now, had 3 others)

I personally don't blame Ford for any of the issue with Lightning range, I knew what I was getting into, was never an issue. What I didn't even remotely anticipate, was the epic failure of the creation of open market (ie, non Tesla) EV charging stations. Its like they were engineered and product managed by complete incompetents.... Even Soviet era commercial airliners seem more reliable.

If I do fault Ford with anything, its with over selling the "Ford Charging Network", which has about the same meaning as government intelligence. While Ford's navi software shows hundreds of chargers around me at any time, nearly ZERO are either accessible, will actually work, or are even online.

 

[nanohead]

Don't blame you. Don't know your route but the DCFC offerings along 91 into Southern VT are appalling. The most conveniently located Freewire DCFC in Greenfield at the RMV never works. At least Wilmington finally got its Blinks up and running. Can't wait for NACS so we can use the Brattleboro Superchargers.

Yeah, not just 91... we use the 87 section of the NYS thruway, and its a wasteland. Route 7 into VT is also completely devoid of anything.

FYI, there are a couple of almost functional DCFC in Latham near the 90/87/7 intersection that work when venus is aligned with jupiter, and 3 dudes named bob are juggling bowling pins on their heads..

 

[boggle]

Yeah, not just 91... we use the 87 section of the NYS thruway, and its a wasteland. Route 7 into VT is also completely devoid of anything.

FYI, there are a couple of almost functional DCFC in Latham near the 90/87/7 intersection that work when venus is aligned with jupiter, and 3 dudes named bob are juggling bowling pins on their heads..

Ah, yeah coming over from Troy/Albany isn't much better, but at least you can get a charge there before heading into the abyss. The Bennington Flo has been pretty reliable for me. But as you mention 7 is pretty desolate North from there until you hit Rutland.

 

[LightningShow]

Yeah, the Lightning is an amazing ski vehicle, my family is loving it.

Totally agree about NH being a charge desert. It's got to get better. But, insider tip, our home mountain of Gunstock installed a bank of 10 Level 2 chargers. Show up for the first chair and charge all day, by the time you leave you've got a 50% charge and some nice rubbery legs!

That’s good to know about Gunstock. I’m at Ragged this season. No chargers but it’s only a ~160 mile roundtrip for me so I don’t need to charge unless i go somewhere further north.

 

[dkrueger]

Agree on the Lightning being a great ski vehicle!

i feel your pain about public charging but for most people the Supercharger network will change the game for public charging. I’ve posted this in the New England forum: The area where I ski (NH) is a big time CCS desert. From Manchester, NH to Sherbrooke, Quebec there are zero 150kw+ CCS chargers. In the same stretch there are 76 (yes, SEVENTY SIX) Supercharger handles at 9 different stations. Needless to say, I preordered the Supercharger adapter in the hope i can start using those stations ASAP.

Can you send posted the link to where you ordered the adapter from?

 

[Hank42]

Yeah, not just 91... we use the 87 section of the NYS thruway, and its a wasteland. Route 7 into VT is also completely devoid of anything.

FYI, there are a couple of almost functional DCFC in Latham near the 90/87/7 intersection that work when venus is aligned with jupiter, and 3 dudes named bob are juggling bowling pins on their heads..

I do that route often. On the Ford app, it's a wasteland, but if you look for non-ford network DCFC, there are quite a few to choose from at Stewarts and Sunocos. A lot of them used to be in the Ford app, then disappeared for some reason. Clifton park Stewarts is one of those that was in the app before Thanksgiving, and disappeared from the Ford app after thanksgiving. I stay away from DCFC's in Albany - particularly the one at Walmart -that one is overcrowded, filled with noobs, and daytrippers with Audi's who have no charger courtesy whatsoever.

 

[Shawnson]

the grass is not always greener. I have not seen anything to suggest from Stellantis that they are going to do a good job. In fact in the transition to EV I’d be especially scared of the company that has as tight of a budget and as little money as them…

 

[TomB985]

I do that route often. On the Ford app, it's a wasteland, but if you look for non-ford network DCFC, there are quite a few to choose from at Stewarts and Sunocos. A lot of them used to be in the Ford app, then disappeared for some reason. Clifton park Stewarts is one of those that was in the app before Thanksgiving, and disappeared from the Ford app after thanksgiving. I stay away from DCFC's in Albany - particularly the one at Walmart -that one is overcrowded, filled with noobs, and daytrippers with Audi's who have no charger courtesy whatsoever.

That place belongs in its own special place in hell. I went there twice in two years and was screwed both times by a successful start, then failure after I walked inside. The second time was last November, and I was thinking they had it sorted with the new hardware. Nope.

EA's problems turned me back to Tesla, and I only traded for my Lightning after the announcement that Superchargers would be available this year. I wouldn't be here if not for that.

 

[Maxx]

Although I am OK with some level of inconvenience to contribute to a change, I would not have bought a SR Lightning if it was my only vehicle. Having access to my wife’s ICE for long distance trips have made this truck almost perfect for me. I have had no DCFC in the past year and I probably won’t until super chargers open. So I don’t blame you but if your attention span is anything like mine, hibernate a little. Winter is almost over. It is easier for me to say since my ski life is behind me. EVs and chargers need a bit of technological advancement to handle winter better.

Ram looks great but my next vehicle will be on the road at least two years before I consider it.

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