Thanks for that detailed summary, Tom! We love to hear about the good impressions of the F-150 Lightning!I just returned from a two-week trip from Minneapolis to Las Vegas and back. I was planning a trip to get out and see the country that would have me back in time to pick up my boys for the weekend. I usually travel alone, but I invited my mom to join me through the mountains because sheās always frustrated that my dad never wants to get out of the house. She didnāt want to be gone for too long, so I picked her up at the airport in Las Vegas and dropped her in Denver on the way back. About 2/3rds of the trip was by myself.
This was the easiest trip Iāve taken so far. The first 700 miles were back roads through rural Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska. I used Superchargers until I got to Sioux City, then it was slow Chargepoint 62 kW units through Nebraska until I reached I-80 in North Platte. I chose this route because I wanted to get off the beaten path. 90-minute charging times from these slow units isnāt the way if youāre trying to make time.
I had choices to make when I hit I-80, with Superchargers and Electrify America stations every 80-100 miles from there. Superchargers are usually cheaper, but Electrify America has stupidly low rates in states like Nebraska where they bill by the minute. This works great for the Lightning because it holds a higher average charge rate than most EVs, so I was paying the equivalent of $0.10/kWh. Tesla uses a graduated rate in these time-billed areas, so $0.74/min over 100 kW is a heckuva lot more expensive than EAās $0.24/min regardless of speed.
Charging west of Denver was the easiest part of the trip, with Superchargers every 40 miles. EVs really shine in the mountains because of regenerative braking. I got awful efficiency climbing to Loveland Pass out of Denver, but I gained it all back on the western slope as I came down, so my overall efficiency was similar to what I get on flat ground. My Lightning was the only thing around that didnāt care about the altitude; I had full power all the way to 12,000 feet. My camper isnāt real heavy at 2,800 lbs, so itās no surprise that my temperatures never left the usual range I see while cruising on flat ground. To the best that I could tell, the truck didnāt care that it was two miles above sea level.
Green River, UT was the only charge stop that concerned me. Itās in the middle of the desert as the only stop with services on a 100-mile stretch of I-70. The only chargers in town are an old V2 Supercharger that we canāt use along with a notoriously unreliable Electrify America station. There are four units and two of them were down last September, and itās not uncommon to see long lines. I came through on Thursday and Monday planning on a wait, but I was the only car there on both occasions.
I arrived at Las Vegas on Friday afternoon and found an RV park attached to a casino in the center of town. I picked my mom up from the airport and we headed to Zion National Park the next morning. We went to Arches National Park the next day which has a conveniently located Supercharger a few miles away in Moab. We topped up and found a primitive campsite at a BLM-run site next to the Colorado River. This is where the Lightning really shined. Generators arenāt allowed between 8 PM - 8 AM, but we were plugged into the Pro Power Onboard outlets in the bed. We had full power for the A/C, microwave, and coffee maker without making a sound. I shut things off when I go to bed to avoid wasting power, but I usually burn 3-5% of the battery powering the camper through the evening and following morning.
We headed east from there and spent the day on Tuesday driving through the mountains. We took a detour south to see the Camp Hale national monument before coming back over Loveland Pass on our way into Denver where I dropped my mom at the airport and headed for home.
I stayed in campgrounds about half the time, and I was able to charge from the 50-amp outlets at each place. DC fast charging is usually $0.35-0.42/kWh, so the amount of power I got from the campsite was usually enough to offset the campground fee.
To sum it up, Iām still really impressed with how the Lightning handles camping trips. I love the convenience of silently powering the camper from the bed outlets, and the truck handled high altitudes better than any ICE powertrain ever could. The only thing Iād change is having a larger battery so I could stretch more than 130-160 miles between charge stops, which makes the Silverado an attractive choice for my next one. I felt that less on this trip than any of my previous trips because of how many chargers were on my route. The charging networks are improving faster than Iāve ever seen, so it only gets better from here.
Thanks for a great report that is encouraging my camping planning. What connection adapters do you use at campgrounds with the Ford Mobile power cord?
Iām not familiar with the ones you mentioned. The industry standard 50A RV connection uses a 240v 14-50 plug, which is the most common plug for Level 2 EV charging. Iāve used all three of my mobile chargers at campground plugged into the 50A RV plug, and my camper uses the 30A 120v plug.
OK, that is the Ford travel adapter I have. I looks like you don't bother with power conditioning.
