3323 mile round trip Northern AZ to LA to Vancouver, WA -- Fantastic vehicle.

[SpaceEVDriver]

I don't have the energy to write up the full report, so here's a summary of our 2-week trip for Thanksgiving:

General Trip path:

• Northern AZ to LA Valley
• LA to Ventura
• Ventura to Redding
• Redding to Vancouver
• Vancouver/Portland to Lathrop
• Lathrop to Northern Arizona

Total distance was 3,323 miles.
Total energy used: 1429 kWh.
Average efficiency: 2.33 miles/kWh.
Total cost: $459.45.
Cost per mile (just for this trip): 13.8 cents/mile.

No trouble with charging or driving. Winter storm in northern CA and Oregon mountains both up and back, bought chains for fear of chain requirements, but the roads were clear (if cold) both directions.

[ADDED: Approximate map and elevation profile for the trip.]

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[Grease Lightning]

I don't have the energy to write up the full report, so here's a summary of our 2-week trip for Thanksgiving:

General Trip path:

• Northern AZ to LA Valley
• LA to Ventura
• Ventura to Redding
• Redding to Vancouver
• Vancouver/Portland to Lathrop
• Lathrop to Northern Arizona

Total distance was 3,323 miles.
Total energy used: 1429 kWh.
Average efficiency: 2.33 miles/kWh.
Total cost: $459.45.
Cost per mile (just for this trip): 13.8 cents/mile.

No trouble with charging or driving. Winter storm in northern CA and Oregon mountains both up and back, bought chains for fear of chain requirements, but the roads were clear (if cold) both directions.

That sounds amazing. I am planning the opposite to see my dad in Phoenix.

For the less truck specific…were you cannonballing or taking a vacation type trip. Was all the charging DCFC or were you hotel charging too?

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

That sounds amazing. I am planning the opposite to see my dad in Phoenix.

For the less truck specific…were you cannonballing or taking a vacation type trip. Was all the charging DCFC or were you hotel charging too?

We did a bit of both.

I had a work meeting in LA so we stayed in the area for a week. Then we moved up to Redding for a quick visit with family. Then up to Vancouver/Portland from Sunday night to Saturday morning.

The trip home was two days of 13-hour driving.

We did Level 1 in LA, Level 2 in Ventura, Redding, Vancouver, and Lathrop, no charging from Wednesday to Saturday, and DCFC for the driving days.

 

[jetfixr1]

How was your experience with DCFC infrastructure; did you use Tesla, EA, EVGo, etc?

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

How was your experience with DCFC infrastructure; did you use Tesla, EA, EVGo, etc?

It was great. No problems. We mostly used EA and T. One EA was indicated to be busy on the app before we arrived so we easily switched to a T. Twice a T was indicated to be free, but they were 4/8 with the weird habit of Ts parked every other space so we moved to a nearby EA.

One T with only 8 stalls was busy busy so we charged along our peak power of 160 kW for 10 minutes before we moved on.

Note: For peak and average, we found the EA 350 kW chargers are best. We can get a sustained 180 kW for about 10 minutes on EA and then it drops to 150 or 130. On EA's 150 kW chargers, we sit at 140 kW for 10 minutes and on T, we sit at 160 kW for 10 minutes. If we're doing a short charge, we'll choose an EA with 350 kW instead of a T.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

How was your experience with DCFC infrastructure; did you use Tesla, EA, EVGo, etc?

On a separate note: We are thrilled with most of Google's integration, but it's super pessimistic at the start of a leg. And we don't think Google always chooses the most sensible charger, so we'll change to a better one before we head off from the current stop. Example: brand-T chargers with 8 or fewer ports are often busier or less accessible than EA chargers and we'd prefer an EA 350 over a T.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

I don't have the energy to write up the full report, so here's a summary of our 2-week trip for Thanksgiving:

General Trip path:

• Northern AZ to LA Valley
• LA to Ventura
• Ventura to Redding
• Redding to Vancouver
• Vancouver/Portland to Lathrop
• Lathrop to Northern Arizona

Total distance was 3,323 miles.
Total energy used: 1429 kWh.
Average efficiency: 2.33 miles/kWh.
Total cost: $459.45.
Cost per mile (just for this trip): 13.8 cents/mile.

No trouble with charging or driving. Winter storm in northern CA and Oregon mountains both up and back, bought chains for fear of chain requirements, but the roads were clear (if cold) both directions.

Sounds like a great trip! We're glad you're enjoying your Lightning.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

I created an approximate map and elevation profile of the trip. Added this image to the first post as well.

 

[cal]

Great write up! Wonder how it felt when you hit the mountains In the cold. Did your m/kWh drop to something scary like .5 m/kWh?

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Great write up! Wonder how it felt when you hit the mountains In the cold. Did your m/kWh drop to something scary like .5 m/kWh?

It dropped to about 1.5 mi/kWh. For me, when I'm not towing, that's a major drop.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Another note: I have the Hankook AT2 tires which are really too soft at the recommended pressure (39 PSI) so I run them a bit higher most of the time (42 PSI). On the trip home I inflated them to 50 PSI. They're still very soft tires and I'm looking forward to when they are worn out and I can justify replacing them with some real LTs.

 

[woodsman]

interesting, thanks for sharing.

 

[lightspeed]

I don't have the energy to write up the full report, so here's a summary of our 2-week trip for Thanksgiving:

General Trip path:

• Northern AZ to LA Valley
• LA to Ventura
• Ventura to Redding
• Redding to Vancouver
• Vancouver/Portland to Lathrop
• Lathrop to Northern Arizona

Total distance was 3,323 miles.
Total energy used: 1429 kWh.
Average efficiency: 2.33 miles/kWh.
Total cost: $459.45.
Cost per mile (just for this trip): 13.8 cents/mile.

No trouble with charging or driving. Winter storm in northern CA and Oregon mountains both up and back, bought chains for fear of chain requirements, but the roads were clear (if cold) both directions.

[ADDED: Approximate map and elevation profile for the trip.]

How did you average 13.8 cents/mile when the EA and Tesla chargers seem to be closer to 50 cents/kWh or more?

 

[TaxmanHog]

How did you average 13.8 cents/mile when the EA and Tesla chargers seem to be closer to 50 cents/kWh or more?

Probably a good portion of charging was family, free, hotel or very low rate alternates in the mix.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Probably a good portion of charging was family, free, hotel or very low rate alternates in the mix.

I didn't think I've ever had an EA or T DCFC cost me $0.50/kWh. I have seen the non-subscription prices for EA and T be as high as $0.64/kWh, but I've never paid that much. The maximum I've paid was $0.48/kWh. I included the $8 for EA and $15 for T subscriptions.

We got slow charging of 120 kWh for no additional cost to us. I included our at home 109 kWh at our local utility rate of $0.14/kWh (including fees and taxes). We got a free charge of 82 kWh worth $45 at an EA charger for some reason. We had L2 at a rental house that was covered by the rental fee.

Subtracting the 202 kWh of no-cost charging from 1429 kWh leaves me with 1227 kWh that we paid for directly. Subtracting the at-home charging of 109 kWh and $15.26 gives me 1118 kWh for $444.19, or $0.397/kWh average for the charging we paid for during traveling.

We paid $0.35/kWh at the hotels we stayed at--neither was free. Charging at a SC off peak can be as low as $0.22/kWh, and you can find those in the app.

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