Hello from Queensland, Australia!

[lazjen]

Hello from often sunny Queensland, Australia. While I could have posted in the "Say Hello and Introduce Yourself" thread, I thought the following might be worthy enough for it's own:

I've just taken delivery of my Antimatter Blue Lightning (ER XLT with mods). AusEV is a local company that does the RHD conversion as Ford is not currently supplying the vehicle in Australia. They normally do these conversions for fleet buyers, e.g. mines (they great for underground mines), but they released a very limited number to the general public (all snapped up now). I got the FIRST one!

Alas, I had to drop it off to get PPF done, so I won't see it again for a while, but the drive along the highway from delivery to the detailers was great - felt like I was a starship captain! I've already got a Tesla Model 3, so EVs are second nature to me. This however is the first truck I've ever had, and it's a monster in size.

Mods done (some are "standard", others I added): leather seats, 33" A/T Maxxis Razr tyres, 2" lift in rear to level, tonneau cover, tinting, electric side steps, bed liner, towing packages.

Intended use: won't be a pavement princess, I'm aiming to do some off-roading (nothing extreme) and eventually get a caravan to tow.

 

[Tony Burgh]

Welcome on board, mate.

 

[Maxx]

Congrats and welcome. Let us know what your efficiency is with those tires.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

Hello from often sunny Queensland, Australia. While I could have posted in the "Say Hello and Introduce Yourself" thread, I thought the following might be worthy enough for it's own:

I've just taken delivery of my Antimatter Blue Lightning (ER XLT with mods). AusEV is a local company that does the RHD conversion as Ford is not currently supplying the vehicle in Australia. They normally do these conversions for fleet buyers, e.g. mines (they great for underground mines), but they released a very limited number to the general public (all snapped up now). I got the FIRST one!

Alas, I had to drop it off to get PPF done, so I won't see it again for a while, but the drive along the highway from delivery to the detailers was great - felt like I was a starship captain! I've already got a Tesla Model 3, so EVs are second nature to me. This however is the first truck I've ever had, and it's a monster in size.

Mods done (some are "standard", others I added): leather seats, 33" A/T Maxxis Razr tyres, 2" lift in rear to level, tonneau cover, tinting, electric side steps, bed liner, towing packages.

Intended use: won't be a pavement princess, I'm aiming to do some off-roading (nothing extreme) and eventually get a caravan to tow.

Welcome to the club, enjoy!

 

[Hank42]

Welcome! PERFECT truck for the country and enough room to haul enough VB for a weekend!! Love to hear about your off-road experiences.

 

[Zprime29]

What a cool company, that's genius to use them in mines. Would love to see a pic of the interior when you get it back. What do you think of the conversion process? Do it look a bit hacked or done really well?

 

[Chriseberle]

Hello from often sunny Queensland, Australia. While I could have posted in the "Say Hello and Introduce Yourself" thread, I thought the following might be worthy enough for it's own:

I've just taken delivery of my Antimatter Blue Lightning (ER XLT with mods). AusEV is a local company that does the RHD conversion as Ford is not currently supplying the vehicle in Australia. They normally do these conversions for fleet buyers, e.g. mines (they great for underground mines), but they released a very limited number to the general public (all snapped up now). I got the FIRST one!

Alas, I had to drop it off to get PPF done, so I won't see it again for a while, but the drive along the highway from delivery to the detailers was great - felt like I was a starship captain! I've already got a Tesla Model 3, so EVs are second nature to me. This however is the first truck I've ever had, and it's a monster in size.

Mods done (some are "standard", others I added): leather seats, 33" A/T Maxxis Razr tyres, 2" lift in rear to level, tonneau cover, tinting, electric side steps, bed liner, towing packages.

Intended use: won't be a pavement princess, I'm aiming to do some off-roading (nothing extreme) and eventually get a caravan to tow.

Welcome, and will say Sunshine Coast is a wonderful part of the world to live in!!

 

[Marcelo Zanetti]

Congrats and welcome onboard...

 

[invertedspear]

I'd love to see some inside pics of the RHD conversion and how well it matches the stock LHD since it's not being done by Ford themselves. Do they reproduce mirror images of the dash components? Or is it more of a custom job?

 

[Nikos]

Hello from often sunny Queensland, Australia. While I could have posted in the "Say Hello and Introduce Yourself" thread, I thought the following might be worthy enough for it's own:

I've just taken delivery of my Antimatter Blue Lightning (ER XLT with mods). AusEV is a local company that does the RHD conversion as Ford is not currently supplying the vehicle in Australia. They normally do these conversions for fleet buyers, e.g. mines (they great for underground mines), but they released a very limited number to the general public (all snapped up now). I got the FIRST one!

Alas, I had to drop it off to get PPF done, so I won't see it again for a while, but the drive along the highway from delivery to the detailers was great - felt like I was a starship captain! I've already got a Tesla Model 3, so EVs are second nature to me. This however is the first truck I've ever had, and it's a monster in size.

Mods done (some are "standard", others I added): leather seats, 33" A/T Maxxis Razr tyres, 2" lift in rear to level, tonneau cover, tinting, electric side steps, bed liner, towing packages.

Intended use: won't be a pavement princess, I'm aiming to do some off-roading (nothing extreme) and eventually get a caravan to tow.

Welcome to our forum, mate.
Most of the folks in this forum are eager to help and read your posts.
I hate it for you since you will be alone for a while or one of a kind down under.
I chuckle a bit to reading your post.
A travel trailer is a caravan to others.
Either way, it is interesting to read your story. Those tires look cool and they will get you into the Outback.
The folks down under make some cool, rugged caravans to tackle the Outback. They also make some cool rooftop tents. Either way, your Lightning can handle it all.
My Lightning is anti matter blue also.
So keep the posts coming.

 

[lazjen]

Congrats and welcome. Let us know what your efficiency is with those tires.

I forgot to note how far I drove from the delivery to the detailers, but there was a fair distance at 110 km/hr. The efficiency was about 36 kWh/100km. I think that converts to about 1.74 mi/kWh. Not great, but I did note that the efficiency became a lot better in the slower speed zones (of course).

Welcome! PERFECT truck for the country and enough room to haul enough VB for a weekend!! Love to hear about your off-road experiences.

It will be a learning experience - I haven't done much off-road - just in a Forester. So, a lot to learn. I'm going to sign up for a course to learn sand driving and off-road driving, etc.

What a cool company, that's genius to use them in mines. Would love to see a pic of the interior when you get it back. What do you think of the conversion process? Do it look a bit hacked or done really well?

As part of the delivery we got a tour of their workshop factory and the conversion process. It's a small assembly line style and the components are well done. If you didn't know about RHD conversions and popped into the car, you would think it was OEM.

The power outlets have plates over them since they're the wrong voltage/outlets (110 vs 240), but I can remove those and use travel adapters for the simple stuff like laptops, chargers etc that have those 110 to 240v brick transformers. I'm probably going to get a 110v to 240v step up transformer if I can't work some way of tapping into the 240v outlet. An extra hassle is the 60Hz vs 50Hz, but depending on what's being plugged in, it might be ok.

Welcome, and will say Sunshine Coast is a wonderful part of the world to live in!!

It's awesome indeed. We're blessed with heaps of places to go for off-roading that will just be day trips for me. Very useful as I learn things. It should also mean that I won't have to public charge for most of this as well - just use my large solar setup at home.

I'd love to see some inside pics of the RHD conversion and how well it matches the stock LHD since it's not being done by Ford themselves. Do they reproduce mirror images of the dash components? Or is it more of a custom job?

It's more custom as it can't be mirrored. We obviously use the same pedal setup, so that has to move "as is" across to the right. I think a lot of the centre stuff stays the same (a/c controls, audio controls). Anything driver specific is moved or mirrored appropriatly.

There's no LTE in it, so any comms is whatever Android Auto gives. I much prefer it anyway to the in built stuff as I can get an Australian voice and proper pronunciation of places (the Tesla choices are woeful - you get US or British and neither do it well).

Anyway, I'll update this thread with interior pics when I get it back.

 

[lazjen]

Welcome to our forum, mate.
Most of the folks in this forum are eager to help and read your posts.
I hate it for you since you will be alone for a while or one of a kind down under.
I chuckle a bit to reading your post.
A travel trailer is a caravan to others.
Either way, it is interesting to read your story. Those tires look cool and they will get you into the Outback.
The folks down under make some cool, rugged caravans to tackle the Outback. They also make some cool rooftop tents. Either way, your Lightning can handle it all.
My Lightning is anti matter blue also.
So keep the posts coming.

Yes, I will be the unicorn here for a while, but I'm retired now, so my wife and I will be doing a lot of solo travelling so I guess it won't matter much.

We've got some ICE F150s in Australia (not many), but there's some 3rd party support for gear. I have to look into what converts over. An example: can I use floor mats suitable for an ICE F150 in a lightning?

Re: caravan vs travel trailer - I've done a few visits to the US and I try to remember differences and "convert" for you guys, but sometimes I forget.

Great to see your photos, especially towing a caravan. Obviously I'm aware that range is impacted, but it's good to see others doing it. It will be a while before we go "hardcore" with a caravan, so there's a few things that I expect to improve for us when we get there: our charging infrastructure (it's bad, but slowly improving) and the caravan tech (it's early days for fully electric caravans, and especially those that have motors/batteries to assist with the towing process).

Anyway, I hope to do some documenting of my progress as I plan to improve the education of my fellow Aussies about EVs and start stomping some stupid misinformation out there.

 

[Nikos]

Yes, I will be the unicorn here for a while, but I'm retired now, so my wife and I will be doing a lot of solo travelling so I guess it won't matter much.

We've got some ICE F150s in Australia (not many), but there's some 3rd party support for gear. I have to look into what converts over. An example: can I use floor mats suitable for an ICE F150 in a lightning?

Re: caravan vs travel trailer - I've done a few visits to the US and I try to remember differences and "convert" for you guys, but sometimes I forget.

Great to see your photos, especially towing a caravan. Obviously I'm aware that range is impacted, but it's good to see others doing it. It will be a while before we go "hardcore" with a caravan, so there's a few things that I expect to improve for us when we get there: our charging infrastructure (it's bad, but slowly improving) and the caravan tech (it's early days for fully electric caravans, and especially those that have motors/batteries to assist with the towing process).

Anyway, I hope to do some documenting of my progress as I plan to improve the education of my fellow Aussies about EVs and start stomping some stupid misinformation out there.

The answer is yes for the floormats. Make sure is the same year. Basically the structure/cab is the same. Doors, cab and the truck bed is the same. The chassis rails are the same. They, Ford, put the batteries for the EX Range in between the rails and patented almost the entire F150 EV. Crawl under the truck bed and take a good look at the Independent Rear Suspension set up. The shop which did your lift job must have talked to you about it. Enjoy the HP and Torque. You will get spoiled right away. Good luck.

 

[lazjen]

The answer is yes for the floormats. Make sure is the same year. Basically the structure/cab is the same. Doors, cab and the truck bed is the same. The chassis rails are the same. They, Ford, put the batteries for the EX Range in between the rails and patented almost the entire F150 EV. Crawl under the truck bed and take a good look at the Independent Rear Suspension set up. The shop which did your lift job must have talked to you about it. Enjoy the HP and Torque. You will get spoiled right away. Good luck.

Great news. I think I've found one better than the default rubber mats from the dealer that offer more protection, including the door rim area.

I can't wait to get it back from the PPF install and get to actually using it!

Do you have any thread(s) on using the Lightning with your caravan? Or insights?

 

[Nikos]

Great news. I think I've found one better than the default rubber mats from the dealer that offer more protection, including the door rim area.

I can't wait to get it back from the PPF install and get to actually using it!

Do you have any thread(s) on using the Lightning with your caravan? Or insights?

This forum is a wealth of information about Tow/

Great news. I think I've found one better than the default rubber mats from the dealer that offer more protection, including the door rim area.

I can't wait to get it back from the PPF install and get to actually using it!

Do you have any thread(s) on using the Lightning with your caravan? Or insights?

This forum is a wealth of information. Ask and you shall receive. Caravans/Travel/Camping trailers come in all shapes and sizes here in the States. Few of us have been hauling our toys around the country.
From my own experience, my caravan weighs 5500 lbs fully loaded for my coastal adventures. Expect a 50% reduction in range. The faster you haul, your range will be reduced a bit more. From my own experience and looking at my rig, I consistently get 1.0 to 0.9 miles per KW at 65 mph. The smaller and more streamlined your caravan is and your range will improve.
Once you plug your caravan to your Lightning, it will prompt you to identify your caravan, make it the active trailer and calculate the range based on your driving habit. Don’t be discouraged on your first experience of pulling your caravan. You both are learning from each other. I don’t know how Ford is going to deal with Over the Air updates, Down Under. When they make changes, some systems default to factory settings. The original Tow/Haul mode has been updated many times due to customer complaints and inputs. Ford is listening most of the times and trying to fix things with updates……until something goes wrong. Then, Ford gets very cautious about any updates.
Your is an XLT ER and you are doing some mods and upgrades thru an approved shop. Once you get it back, on the large screen, open the Controls page and verify if you have the Tow/Haul mode. Open all the pages and check what is available.
Download the FordPass app, don’t know what Ford is using Down Under, and connect your Lightning with your WiFi and the FordPass app.
Plug in your Lightning, get your truck’s cabin at comfortable level and schedule two hours of time to go thru with the process. Be patient. Lots of stuff to go thru. That is the only way you find out what Ford lets you do with your truck that they brought to the folks Down Under. Members of this forum will be more than happy to help.
It will be a learning process and don’t let it overwhelm you.
Good luck.

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