Need To Know If a Lightning Will Work For Me

[JRT]

120v you will be lucky to see 1-2 miles added back per hour. You need 240

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[JRT]

I also stand by my statement that nobody posts I wish I got SR instead of an ER after taking a trip.

Also anything about 70mph will be under 2 miles/kwh

 

[MJ Heat]

Is a dryer outlet available?

No dryer outlet is really accessible to where the truck would have to park. But having said that, when I think about it, I could likely upgrade to a 240v outlet in proximity to the garage, depending on panel capacity.

 

[MJ Heat]

I also stand by my statement that nobody posts I wish I got SR instead of an ER after taking a trip.

Also anything about 70mph will be under 2kwh/miles.

I know that I am not likely to get 100% of what I want paying 80% of what it cost, & I definitely want range. I will only consider a Lightning with an Extended Range Battery. Thank you for your feedback!

 

[MM in SouthTX]

Some more tidbits:

The mobile charger with 240V will get you about 6.5 kW per hour. That’s about 6% of an SR battery pack. So if you park it at 8 pm and want to leave at 7 am you can add about 66% back to whatever charge level you parked at the night before.

There are multiple reports of the mobile charger crapping out after a year of frequent use. Happened to me.

I bought an Emporia 240 plug-in which runs at 40 amps on a 50 amp circuit. That gets me 9kW per hour. Big difference for overnight charging.

Open road doing 70 in cold weather with a standard range truck, you will not make it 150 miles. No way no how.

 

[Newton]

If it is 150 miles with no charger anywhere other than the destination then I wouldn't use an SR. I have an SR Lariat that I love but I don't know if I would use it in your situation. The ER should be able to do it, with a 120V outlet you *might* be able to eke out 40 miles overnight although putting in a 240V outlet would be much better even if it is only 20A. Cold weather affects range and charging speed (to the point that 120V does almost nothing.)

If you plan to spend more than a day at your remote location than I would be much more confident than if the plan is to arrive at night and leave the next morning - but I would still use an ER. Of the 3 EVs that I have owned, the Ford is the only one that gets worse than the EPA rating for me, I'm pretty experienced now at getting a good miles/KwH rating in the other cars. The Ford is a lovable energy hog, but it is the one that usually gets taken places now for us.

I would not have a moments hesitation doing your trip in my Kia EV6 with super fast DC charging and a nominal 270 mile range that I usually get near 300 with. There is a big difference between 3.8 miles/kWh and less than 2 - you get more range per hour of charging as well as more range per KwH of battery. But the Lightning is so darn comfortable.

 

[Maquis]

I sat in the demonstrator truck for a couple of hours going through everything that I could find throughout the entire truck & on the touchscreen. Boy is that electronic manual a doozy. That is when I found the Ford charging recommendations for preserving battery life. I cannot help that I am an analytical geek & read most of the fine print.

You just made @RickLightning’s day!

 

[MJ Heat]

Some more tidbits:

The mobile charger with 240V will get you about 6.5 kW per hour. That’s about 6% of an SR battery pack. So if you park it at 8 pm and want to leave at 7 am you can add about 66% back to whatever charge level you parked at the night before.

There are multiple reports of the mobile charger crapping out after a year of frequent use. Happened to me.

I bought an Emporia 240 plug-in which runs at 40 amps on a 50 amp circuit. That gets me 9kW per hour. Big difference for overnight charging.

Open road doing 70 in cold weather with a standard range truck, you will not make it 150 miles. No way no how.

This is real world experience & advice I can use. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Zprime29]

30 miles each way 4 days a week.

My climate is a bit warmer than yours, but for reference, I drive 27.7 miles each way for my commute. I have a 500ft elevation drop from home to work, wind is usually not an issue. 20 miles city (45-50mph) and the rest freeway (65-70mph). I average 2.8 miles per kWh (mpk) which is 15% better than EPA rating. In one year I have added just about 20k miles, about 5k of that road trips between Tucson and El Paso. Lifetime average is 2.5 mpk. I can take a pic to show people if they don't believe me. I only want to point out what is possible, as everyone's route and weather is going to be different. Gotta look at what you expect for your area and act accordingly.

I picked up an ER as the plan is to road trip to see family and to CA for vacations. I will not be getting another long range EV battery, as Tesla's SC network will be open soon(ish) and in a year's time there will be plenty of options along our route. I recommend checking PlugShare to see what is available and what is coming along your travel routes.

As a side note, greater than 2.0mpk is definitely possible on the freeway at 70mpk. I've done it, reputable YouTubers have done it, it's not magic. Elevation, weather, and traffic all make a difference. There are plenty of people who make the SR work for them. Key part being that it takes a little extra work. If I where single, I'd have a SR. Since my family is less onboard than I am, I wanted to make it easier so ER is what worked out better.

 

[Acottrell]

75% of each 150 mile leg is interstate. At my primary residence (1 starting point) I plan on installing a charging station. At the other turn of my weekly trip there currently is only 120v outlets available & I would have to pay for any upgraded charging there too, which I had hoped to avoid.

As a NC resident as well, Duke has their EV Charger Prep credit. They will send you a check for up to $1100 after your charger install. My lariat ER came with the charge station pro. I paid $1800 to have it installed and permitted. You then submit to Duke through their page setup for the credit the inspection report from the permit, a copy of your registration, and the receipt from the install by a certified electrician. They will cut you a check up to $1100 to help pay for it. I also live in an area that qualifies me for a tax credit of %30 percent of the install cost so that helps pay even more of the install cost back.

 

[Henry Ford]

Others have touched on it but here's my 2¢. An ER is necessary for a 150 mile trip and you will be very unhappy if you don't have an appropriately sized charger at the destination and the time available to charge enough for your return trip.

 

[Newton]

As far as charging percentage goes, Ford says to charge to 90%. I don't quite believe them so I keep it to 80% usually, but if I'm going on a trip I'll put it to 100%. Take it as low as you want to, just don't leave it at a high or low state of charge for very long. Avoid high states of charge in insanely hot weather.

Kia actually says to charge to 100% every month for some reason, but they are the only manufacturer that I know of who makes that recommendation.

A tip for getting an EVSE at your remote site: if you hardwire you don't have to put in a 50A plug, it can be whatever you set the EVSE (charger) to use. This might be important if you have some limitations on your electrical panel. You can calculate the rough number of kWh by multiplying the charger amperage by .240.

 

[sfringer]

As a NC resident as well, Duke has their EV Charger Prep credit. They will send you a check for up to $1100 after your charger install. My lariat ER came with the charge station pro. I paid $1800 to have it installed and permitted. You then submit to Duke through their page setup for the credit the inspection report from the permit, a copy of your registration, and the receipt from the install by a certified electrician. They will cut you a check up to $1100 to help pay for it. I also live in an area that qualifies me for a tax credit of %30 percent of the install cost so that helps pay even more of the install cost back.

I just got my check from Duke Progress last week for the program. Was very easy to do - and nicely, they have two methods; if you already have the charger installed in the last four months (or are using your own electrician) they'll cut you a check, else they have a program to connect you with an electrician and will pay the electrician directly and then you pay the difference.

 

[invertedspear]

The Ford tutorial on the truck touchscreen advised not charging above 70% & not discharging below 30% of battery capacity for optimum battery life. That only leaves 40% usable battery capacity & by my math 220 miles of range times 40% is only 88 miles of usable range. Holy cow! Is that true usable range? Am I calculating this wrong? If not, even with the extended 320 mile range battery that only works out to 128 miles of usable range. Surely that is not right.

Let's assume for a moment the tutorial is accurate (it's not). That's not 40% of usable range. You can use all the range. Charge to 100 before a trip and arrive back home with <5%. You're usable battery is 100% of what it shows you. Going beyond 70% and 30% is just being hard on the battery, doing 100-0 multiple times a week and you'll probably take advantage of that 8 year 100k mile battery warranty. Doing it once a week, or a few times a month is going to result in a slightly lower capacity battery after a few years than if you did follow that recommendation.

 

[FirstF150InCasco]

75% of each 150 mile leg is interstate. At my primary residence (1 starting point) I plan on installing a charging station. At the other turn of my weekly trip there currently is only 120v outlets available & I would have to pay for any upgraded charging there too, which I had hoped to avoid.

I love my ER 2022 Lariat. But even an ER will not be enough for you. You'll need to install a charger at the destination also.

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