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New tonneau bed cover installed, range has increased

SteelTerp87

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I can't decide between retrax and peragon. But that's not what this thread is about lol.

Interesting results! I've seen wind tunnel tests and others saying it'll improve efficiency, YouTube has several, but then there are others saying it won't. /shrug. At least I haven't heard any saying it will significantly decrease range in anyway in any case.
I was going to go with Peragon but then realized that you can’t fold the cover down when you have stuff in the bed. Like if you pack the bed with gear. I’m going with either a Roll N’ Lock or a Bakflip rolling cover
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Griddlez

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I was going to go with Peragon but then realized that you can’t fold the cover down when you have stuff in the bed. Like if you pack the bed with gear. I’m going with either a Roll N’ Lock or a Bakflip rolling cover
I did end up going with the Peragon. You're right but that is only at the very front of the bed and you lose like 8ish inches of height for about 1-2 feet. I can get exact measurements but that's the only space you "lose" - but the rest of the bed you have full height up to the top of the unit. You technically can use the space in question but you can't open it - as you said.

You can also remove the collapsing part in like 2-3 minutes if you really need that space.

The reason I decided to go with it was because it is one of the lightest covers you can get and still be metal/locking. And the space benefits mentioned above.

Ford F-150 Lightning New tonneau bed cover installed, range has increased 20220804_093812
 
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ErichKeane

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I was going to go with Peragon but then realized that you can’t fold the cover down when you have stuff in the bed. Like if you pack the bed with gear. I’m going with either a Roll N’ Lock or a Bakflip rolling cover
Yeah, definitely a downside with the Peragon. I ended up with it anyway, because it was the only hard cover I could find that didn't have either a bunch of unusable space from the 'roll' in the front, or would cover up a bunch of the rear window when folded up.
 

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Dave the problem with that is unless you can control every environmental element there is likely more than the campershell at play.

This is why I said they reduce wind drag and not increase MPG. There are some scenarios where you gain MPG, some where you lose. With an RV in tow you are definitely gaining, and the difference for ICE vehicles that make efficiency by maintaining speed it really shows. For the Lightning its almost certainly to be the same towing, empty it just depends on a lot of factors. I do know that both my trucks have campershells for completely unrelated purposes but both always seem to be on the above average when towing MPG.
I suspect that nothing is going to save me from 100-mile or less tow range with this 9,100-lb puppy - and adding payload weight to the truck would destroy my limited available tongue weight.

Ford F-150 Lightning New tonneau bed cover installed, range has increased F150 with Tesla
 

sotek2345

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I suspect that nothing is going to save me from 100-mile or less tow range with this 9,100-lb puppy - and adding payload weight to the truck would destroy my limited available tongue weight.

F150 with Tesla.jpg
You could always go with a smaller boat! You would get much better range towing a rowboat with a 25hp outboard! :)
 

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PungoteagueDave

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You could always go with a smaller boat! You would get much better range towing a rowboat with a 25hp outboard! :)
We have inflatable dinghies, three Carolina Skiff workboats (used in our Virginia oyster aquaculture farm), a couple jet skis, and if you look closely at that picture, there are four Hobie kayaks on the rig, including an 18' tandem Island sailing kayak stuck in the World Cat's tunnel on the trailer - that kayak screams under sail with a spinnaker and is my favorite of all the things we put in the water. But to run 60 miles offshore to the canyons for tuna, there's no substitute for a twin-engine boat carrying 200 gallons of fuel. And that fuel alone weight 1,400 pounds.
 

sotek2345

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We have inflatable dinghies, three Carolina Skiff workboats (used in our Virginia oyster aquaculture farm), a couple jet skis, and if you look closely at that picture, there are four Hobie kayaks on the rig, including an 18' tandem Island sailing kayak stuck in the World Cat's tunnel on the trailer - that kayak screams under sail with a spinnaker and is my favorite of all the things we put in the water. But to run 60 miles offshore to the canyons for tuna, there's no substitute for a twin-engine boat carrying 200 gallons of fuel. And that fuel alone weight 1,400 pounds.
I saw, just teasing.

My Lightning will be all I need to get my Tuna from BJs or the grocery store! :)
 

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I think we should discuss which is the best motor oil...
 

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I suspect that nothing is going to save me from 100-mile or less tow range with this 9,100-lb puppy - and adding payload weight to the truck would destroy my limited available tongue weight.

F150 with Tesla.jpg
Your in the same Boat as me. Pun intended. I'm not sure I won't really miss my Powerboost Platinum Hybrid with the 6.5' bed when the lightning arrives. Hows your decision matrix look like? Are you concerned at all?
 

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Your in the same Boat as me. Pun intended. I'm not sure I won't really miss my Powerboost Platinum Hybrid with the 6.5' bed when the lightning arrives. Hows your decision matrix look like? Are you concerned at all?
I have an F350 and and F250 at the Virginia farm. My problem is an HOA restriction at the Florida house restricting trucks to half ton. So I have a 1,000 mile run twice per year towing the big boat between homes up/down mostly I-95. There’s plenty of DCFC on that route and I’ll probably do it off hours so won’t have to worry about blocking Walmart parking or driving lanes with the trailer. It could be ten charges and an extra ten hours.

The two times I did this tow route with the PowerBoost, I got slightly less than 5 mpg, so only had 150 miles range per tank anyway. So yes, I do expect it to be painful. I have the fold-flat front seats, and can drive down Rt 1 at 50 mph if that’s more effective. Not ideal, but maybe a forced slowdown isn’t such a bad thing. Last October and November my wife and I bicycled from Canada to Key West on the East Coast Greenway, 3,200 miles, so have seen the east coast at 15 miles per hour. How bad can it be?

I might also say that, with 1,900 miles on the new Platinum Lightning, it is the finest truck I’ve ever owned by far, and one of the best machines in existence. I am sure it will be great at towing the boat locally, and on the highway, with range being the bugaboo that has us serving it rather than it serving us. In the early days of owning a Tesla, before there were superchargers, we spent long hours at Level 2 chargers and in campgrounds in the rain, sometimes for eight hours, scrounging at marinas and welding shops. But then EV ownership was an adventure, a novelty, a thing to be enjoyed or seen as a challenge unto itself. I no longer have so much interest or patience, have more long distance motorcycling to do while still healthy and strong enough, so may end up throwing in the towel and paying to store a superduty in Delray Beach, which is what I did for a couple years before buying the PowerBoost in May 2021. It wasn’t a perfect solution either, so that’s now traded on the Lightning, and we’ll see.

Nothing is forever and my wife is already chafing at the loss of the Tesla and having to drive the Lightning, which she sees as too big. With her Porsche convertible living in the Florida garage for the summers, she’s now driving her old high school car, a recently restored 1971 VW convertible, in protest against driving the Lightning while we’re at the Virginia place for the summer. All high class problems, but there’s an adage: “You can’t have nice things.”
 

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Pioneer74

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I have an F350 and and F250 at the Virginia farm. My problem is an HOA restriction at the Florida house restricting trucks to half ton.
Park the truck at a storage place. Problem solved.
 

PungoteagueDave

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Park the truck at a storage place. Problem solved.
For $260/month plus a PITA to get my truck every time I need it! Trying to get simpler, reduce the number of vehicles, insurance, licensing, etc, so am combining one PowerBoost and one Tesla MX combined in the Lightning. For 95%, that works. Only two tows/ year are a problem.
 

Sam James

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For $260/month plus a PITA to get my truck every time I need it! Trying to get simpler, reduce the number of vehicles, insurance, licensing, etc, so am combining one PowerBoost and one Tesla MX combined in the Lightning. For 95%, that works. Only two tows/ year are a problem.
I might also say that, with 1,900 miles on the new Platinum Lightning, it is the finest truck I’ve ever owned by far, and one of the best machines in existence.
With that glowing review and only a couple tows a year, yeah, I’d keep the Lightning and look for ways to occupy myself while charging.
 

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For $260/month plus a PITA to get my truck every time I need it! Trying to get simpler, reduce the number of vehicles, insurance, licensing, etc, so am combining one PowerBoost and one Tesla MX combined in the Lightning. For 95%, that works. Only two tows/ year are a problem.
Some of the major rental companies out there rent out super duties. May be way more efficient to rent and pay a few hundred bucks for the couple tows per year than cost of ownership.
 

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I’ve seen both of these…only if I had the money to burn and I was doing a lot of high mileage trips……….
These fastback shapes probably do work (unlike a flat cover which does nothing). The hyper-milers add these kinds of shapes to their trucks all the time (usually improvised from wood or something). There is a reason why the CT also has the same shape when the rear cover is closed.
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