The challenges of RVing an EV

[Texas Dan]

With the towing capacity of up to 10,000 lbs., it's easy to imagine hooking up a big travel trailer and taking off cross country in a F150 Lightning. The biggest problem with RVing an EV today is that the world is not designed to cater to RV EVs. Even ICE RVs have trouble finding long enough fueling stations and the fast charging stations that we have now just are not designed for long RVs.

Fueling stations that cater to longer vehicles, such as Flying J and Loves, have been developing fueling station designs for decades. To these companies gas and diesel are still king. It might be another decade before these big fueling stations start designing stations around large EV charging.

If we want to hook a big travel trailer up to our F150 Lightning how do we charge it on a long cross country trip? One option I see is to disconnect the trailer in a big parking lot such as a Walmart that has an Electrify America station. This might actually be a preferred option since the family can enjoy the travel trailer while the truck charges.

Another option is to park and charge over night at RV parks. We would probably be staying overnight in an RV park anyway so we might as well charge up while sleeping. Unfortunately with the F150 Lightning you will only be able to get about a half a charge overnight using the standard NEMA 14-50 RV outlet but maybe that would be enough to get to the closest fast charger.

Just like with any EV travel it will pay to plan ahead and to be patient. There is lots of good advice on fueling an RV on the internet and I think a lot of this information will be useful in charging up a long RV EV. Some of us will want to wait until the world catches up to RV EVs but by then the early adopters will have EV RVing all figured out.

So what are your thoughts? Are you ready to hook up a travel trailer to your F150 Lightning and head off into the sunset? Have you thought about how you would keep an F150 Lightning pulling a big travel trailer charged on long trips?

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[Blainestang]

I intend to tow a travel trailer with my Lightning, but it's definitely going to take some planning.

It might be kinda like going back in time to road tripping a short-range EV. With Teslas and Mach Es and such, now, traveling in an EV is simple. Plug the destination into the Nav and the car tells you what to do. Easy.

The Lightning won't be quite that easy, probably. You'll want to look at what the parking lot looks like at each of the chargers you're stopping at. What type of chargers you can find at your nightly stops, etc.

It will be an adventure.

 

[jperry5835]

I have thoutht about this as well, and maybe the first gen EV truck is not the answer for the weekend warrior type that have a set time to get everything in before they head back to work. However for the retired, it could be made to work, personally I think pretty easily as they could simply stay two days or however long they need to get charged off the campground plug before moving along.

Personally I think the lighting is a good start for an EV truck, but I think the solid state batteries or other battery advancements in the next gen will probably resolve a lot of this issues with longer range and quicker charge times.

 

[shikataganai]

If the Megacharger network shares a plug with car-sized Teslas then that potentially could be a draw for this use case for the Cybertruck. The stations will be designed as pull-throughs (since for semi-trucks!) by default.

But in general towing long distances will remain a gas or diesel affair, I'm guessing. If I tow a (rented) travel trailer with my planned Lightning it'll be to a close-by park with a 30 or 50A hookup that I can siphon electrons from when the trailer doesn't need power.

 

[astricklin]

This is going to be an adventure, but that's what camping is all about, right?
I feel like unhooking to charge, although inconvenient, is going to be the way to plan so that you can arrive at the campsite with enough battery to make it back out if needed. There's probably going to be some Walmart locations and some in others that you may be able to get into the charging space without unhooking but just blocking parking spaces. It sounds like 7-11 is also starting to roll out chargers and I'm not 100% but from what I saw there's a good chance they will be pull through. Here in Texas, maybe we can get enough demand that Buc-ees will start putting in pull through chargers as well.
As far as at the campsite. I feel like you'll have at least 12 hours to charge. So at 20 miles an hour roughly, you should be able to get a pretty good charge overnight. However, if you want to have the camper hooked up then you'll need to either borrow power from an unoccupied site, or plug the camper into the truck (9kw pro power required). Obviously daisy chaining the camper to the truck is going to increase charging time. Also you'll have to find a 50amp campsite which in my experience is less common than a 30 amp site, at least in Texas state parks.

 

[astricklin]

I think the short term plan will be to go to nearby campsites and get a feel for the range with my specific trailer. From there see how things progress. Either planning multiple legs of my trip, drive a couple hundred miles, camp a couple days, drive some more, camp, and so on.
Investigating routes will be another thing. Just off the top of my head I could think that going to west Texas or further into the southwest US will be more of a challenge than going to central Texas or even east Texas.

 

[astricklin]

You could always get a smaller camper. Or a more aerodynamic one. Or opt for tent camping on the longer drive cooler weather trips.

 

[Blainestang]

I think the short term plan will be to go to nearby campsites and get a feel for the range with my specific trailer. From there see how things progress. Either planning multiple legs of my trip, drive a couple hundred miles, camp a couple days, drive some more, camp, and so on.
Investigating routes will be another thing. Just off the top of my head I could think that going to west Texas or further into the southwest US will be more of a challenge than going to central Texas or even east Texas.

Yeah, that's the biggest problem, IMO: There's no good way to know what the range will be with a *specific* trailer.

And how much difference is there between a pop-up and a typical trailer? An airstream vs a typical trailer?

If it's the difference between having 120 miles of range and having 150 miles of range, that's a substantial difference.

Or with a Standard Range Lightning, if it's 90 miles vs 110 miles, that might be the difference between charging on the way to my most common campsite or not... or comfortably making it from one charger to the next.

Further, the Lightning charges *kinda* slow in miles/minute, especially when towing, so towing range is a big question mark, IMO, that substantially influences the type of trailer one might buy, the battery size one might buy, etc... and there's not a *good* way to know that at this point.

 

[TRP]

We full timed in an RV for a couple of years, my parents have done it for close to 16yrs. So, I have some experience with RV parks.

State parks, in general, are older parks, designed for the smaller RVs of the time and generally limited to 30amps.....there may be a few 50amp sites scattered about but by far not the norm.

Some of the parks I've stayed at had questionable electric capacity. When the park filled up it was pretty common to trip breakers or just plain have power go out to a section of the park due to high demand. I'd hate to rely on that grid to charge my expensive truck.

Some of the newer parks are very nice with big sites and new power grids and I'd be comfortable with them in this situation. The question then becomes when do you charge the truck and when does the RV get the power? Most places are gonna fill up on weekends so snagging power from the sit next door won't be an option. I've also run into grumpy park managers that would never let that kind of thing happen anyway. With a stay of a few days to a week at a nice destination park you could definitely make it work so that you were leaving with a full charge.

We have horses and would plan at least a trip or 2 per year pulling the horse trailer with 2 horses,(about 8000lbs total), but not much farther than 250 miles each way. With one stop to recharge and then a few days to sit, I feel this is doable. Again, not sure I would rely too heavily on the places we would go to have quality electric that you could depend on.

 

[vandy1981]

RVing with an EV is going to be an adventure for the next several years as charging infrastructure adapts. Some thoughts that have been rolling around in my head:

-The MY, MX, ID4, XC40 and E-Tron SUV are the only EVs for sale in the USA that are rated for towing. There are some range tests on those vehicles (mostly Teslas) and, in general towing a trailer near rated capacity lowered range by 50-60%. There are lots of variables including trailer aerodynamics that will impact this, but I'm guessing it will be the same for the F-150L.
-The F-150L would be a perfect carrier for a slide-in camper. Would totally obviate charger access issues and would *probably* be more efficient than a trailer. There's only a few that meet the payload capacity and bed length restrictions.
-Plugshare is a great resource for identifying stations that can accommodate trailers. They are apparently in the process of adding a search filter for trailer-friendly charging stations. In the meantime, most stations have user-uploaded photos that let you scope out charger layout while planning trips.
-It will be interesting to see how trailer brake control interacts with the regenerative braking system on the F-150L. There's not going to be an easy or cheap way to capture trailer brake energy anytime soon.
-Camping World apparently had an agreement with Lordstown Motors to work on electric RVs and charging infrastructure. Lordstown is not going to survive much longer, but I'm hopeful that Camping World will still consider adding trailer-capable fast chargers to some of their stores--would be a great opportunity to sell accessories to a captive audience.
-RV parks really need to figure out a way to monetize their 50-amp hookups for EV cars (e.g. an hourly rate for plugging in)--I can get almost anywhere I need to go with EA chargers, but RV parks are always a backup option for me on road trips with my electric car.

 

[TRP]

-RV parks really need to figure out a way to monetize their 50-amp hookups for EV cars (e.g. an hourly rate for plugging in)--I can get almost anywhere I need to go with EA chargers, but RV parks are always a backup option for me on road trips with my electric car.

Agreed. The problem is getting the owners to see this potential. I know of parks that will not allow someone to come in and dump their tanks even as they sit with empty sites. Someone will have to explain/show them the potential and even then they may not get it

 

[BennyTheBeaver]

Also, if you are RVing with an EV you can recharge with the hookups at an RV park (assuming you're not boondocking). So if the range was 50% of the estimated 300mi, that means you can tow to a site within 150mi, recharge while camping, and drive back. Wouldn't need to factor roundtrip mileage in. Now, how long it will take you to recharge and your length of stay is a whole different conversation.

 

[Sdctcher]

As with any expensive purchase (especially one of a highly technical nature) a smart consummer will pre-think through how it will fit into his life style given personal perimeters.

Speaking from my advantage as an older retiree who will use the Lightning 90% of the time for local travel and one who has previous experience with hybrids and how to maximize their limitations, I think it will fit me fine. Seldom would I ever exceed 300 miles in a week nor haul more than groceries.

When pulling my trailer it is difficult to travel more than 300 miles per day. In fact, most campers will stay at a park for 2-5 days given the work involved in set up and tear down; plenty of time for a recharge. My trailer is energy efficient with all LED lighting and I can switch my water heater and fridge to gas easily. The only real 110 volt draw is the entertainment center. I could easily daisy-chain from the Lightning and use the 48 amp charger from a 50 amp box at the park. I always know ahead of time what is available at a park because we reserve ahead of time. At home I can use the 48 amp from the same box I use for my trailer or the 80 amp Pro from a 200 amp panel in one of my barns.

As far as a discussion of only a 300 mile limit I am more than satisfied. Up to now our travels were limited financially because my Silverado 2500HD only got 9 mpg which meant a fill up per tank cost me $100. Now with the Lightning being charged at home at $0.10 per kWH my cost will be about a 1/10 of that and an estimated $15 per charge on the road is still a lot better than what I had.

Anybody that cannot easily fit the Lightning into their present life style would be advised to wait for better batteries or solid state.

 

[sotek2345]

As with any expensive purchase (especially one of a highly technical nature) a smart consummer will pre-think through how it will fit into his life style given personal perimeters.

Speaking from my advantage as an older retiree who will use the Lightning 90% of the time for local travel and one who has previous experience with hybrids and how to maximize their limitations, I think it will fit me fine. Seldom would I ever exceed 300 miles in a week nor haul more than groceries.

When pulling my trailer it is difficult to travel more than 300 miles per day. In fact, most campers will stay at a park for 2-5 days given the work involved in set up and tear down; plenty of time for a recharge. My trailer is energy efficient with all LED lighting and I can switch my water heater and fridge to gas easily. The only real 110 volt draw is the entertainment center. I could easily daisy-chain from the Lightning and use the 48 amp charger from a 50 amp box at the park. I always know ahead of time what is available at a park because we reserve ahead of time. At home I can use the 48 amp from the same box I use for my trailer or the 80 amp Pro from a 200 amp panel in one of my barns.

As far as a discussion of only a 300 mile limit I am more than satisfied. Up to now our travels were limited financially because my Silverado 2500HD only got 9 mpg which meant a fill up per tank cost me $100. Now with the Lightning being charged at home at $0.10 per kWH my cost will be about a 1/10 of that and an estimated $15 per charge on the road is still a lot better than what I had.

Anybody that cannot easily fit the Lightning into their present life style would be advised to wait for better batteries or solid state.

A very true statement. Every situation is unique and everyone needs to do the thinking for themselves.

For me, I used my truck for hauling (supporting a robotics team I coach and random house projects), wintertime daily driving (~30 mile round trip commute), and family vacation road trips (1-2 per year).

For the first 2 use cases the lightning covers everything easier than an ICE truck since I don't need to stop periodically to fuel up.

For the family road trips, that will take some additional planning vs. my ICE truck (it isn't zero for the ICE truck since I run a 91 octane tune and that isn't available everywhere). The Extended range battery is a must have to make it somewhat easier, but I will still need to charge once or twice on our average trip (~400 to 1000 miles each way). We usually plan at least one meal stop anyways, so for the most part it is just a matter of picking the right place to stop up front instead of picking along the way. All in all a pretty small trade off for all of the benefits the Lightning brings.

 

[Blainestang]

As far as a discussion of only a 300 mile limit I am more than satisfied. Up to now our travels were limited financially because my Silverado 2500HD only got 9 mpg which meant a fill up per tank cost me $100. Now with the Lightning being charged at home at $0.10 per kWH my cost will be about a 1/10 of that and an estimated $15 per charge on the road is still a lot better than what I had.

You're right that there's huge variation among use cases. Some will just be going 50 miles round trip all the time. Some want to drive across the country. Everyone has to look at their specific use case, like you said.

The problem is that it's not going to go 300 miles when towing. Maybe 100 miles. Maybe 150 miles. We don't know, so it's hard to accurately "pre-think" how it's going to work for a specific use case.

There are some use cases that we know will be fine (<100 miles round trip towing).

There are some use cases that we know will be difficult (cross country, driving >100 miles into charging "wilderness").

There's a LOT of gray area in between that's hard to model at this point.

Also, for what it's worth, it's not going to cost $15 per charge on the road... at least not at fast chargers. You're going to pay ~$0.30/kWh and more like ~$40/charge if it's at a fast charger.

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