600 mile Las Vegas fun road rally with 60+ EVs. Good, Bad, & Ugly.....

[metroshot]

Joined a So Calif Tesla EV club road trip group of over 60 EVs from Inland Empire to Las Vegas this past weekend.

Leaving from CA to NV was great as I had 100% charge and only needed to stop once in Baker, CA where our group over took the entire Tesla SC and EA charge stations.

Video showing a summary of the trip - my Lightning (#29) is shown at time mark 2:30
The Dam ZERO EV Run to Las Vegas - Tesla (50+), Lucid Air (2), Polestar, Lightning (2)

GOOD:

• Free EA chargers all along the way from CA to Las Vegas.
• Great camaraderie & enthusiasm among EV drivers.
• Organizer (F the Pump) was very good at arranging the event.
• Great raffles held at various meet points.
• Lots of yummy ice cold energy drinks courtesy of vendor: Sultan
• Hoover dam destination was amazing with 2 Lightnings (organizer's and mine)
• Free 2 night Las Vegas certificate hotel stay (accumulated over pandemic).
• Great raffle prize won an electric skateboard.

BAD:

• EA chargers not working,
• Tesla SC stations that got over run by this group
• Driving in desert heat with A/C use day & night
• Casinos are too smoky for my comfort & health

UGLY:

• Wife did not like the unavailable / non working chargers in Las Vegas and Barstow and had to hunt to around for working EA chargers.
• Not happy with L3 charging wait times & inconvenience - mentioned she was not interested in the MME on incoming order...

• Vehicle: Lariat SR
• Load: ~400lbs total
• Start SoC: 90%-100%
• Trip overall average: 2.3 mi/kwh after 600mi of mainly high speed freeway driving in 100 degree temps.
• Chargers cost: $0 EA DCFC 100%
• Return Trip: bad and ugly issues surfaces.....

 

[F150ROD]

That’s awesome! Wish I could have jumped in on that!

 

[sotek2345]

You have quite the thread going on the Mach-e forum!

 

[Viet658]

Thanks for sharing. I was in Vegas last weekend too. Took my Tesla and noticed a lot of Tesla's with similar stickers and wondered what was going on. Fast charging is one of the things I think I will be taking a step back in when I get the Lightning.

 

[metroshot]

You have quite the thread going on the Mach-e forum!

Oh yeah, especially the comments and suggestions about the wife not wanting an MME EV after this trip!

 

[Maxx]

I imagine road trip with other EVs can get mighty interesting. Was there a race to see who get to the charging station first?

 

[Roy2001]

Joined a So Calif Tesla EV club road trip group of over 60 EVs from Inland Empire to Las Vegas this past weekend.
......

• Organizer (F the Pump) was very good at arranging the event.

Organizer's name is so funny.

 

[metroshot]

I imagine road trip with other EVs can get mighty interesting. Was there a race to see who get to the charging station first?

No racing was allowed - organizer said traffic tickets are on you and the second day going thru Federal security checkpoint at Hoover Dam - very restrictive on what you can drive with (no guns, no alcohol, no drugs, no cannabis, no knives).

It was interesting meeting a majority of Tesla owners who seemed very techy/geeky/mod orientated folks. Most were polishing their vehicles all throughout the day.

OTOH the non Tesla folks (Lightning, Lucid, Polestar, MME) seemed more normal/regular/down to earth folks...

Maybe I have a bias ???

 

[Maxx]

Maybe I have a bias ???

Nah, It is scientifically proven that people like us are always cooler

I have notice that distinction in vibe between the forums as well. CT forum is definitely different. Most were informed, educated, nice and helpful but there was one arrogant jackass that got under my skin. It is funny that even though it does not statistically makes sense, I am hesitant to be seen in a Tesla because I don't want people to see me as that guy.

 

[IdeaOfTheDayCom]

Nah, It is scientifically proven that people like us are always cooler

I have notice that distinction in vibe between the forums as well. CT forum is definitely different. Most were informed, educated, nice and helpful but there was one arrogant jackass that got under my skin. It is funny that even though it does not statistically makes sense, I am hesitant to be seen in a Tesla because I don't want people to see me as that guy.

I'm still a member of the MME and CT forum, and there definitely is an entirely different vibe.

I think most of us here are current or past pickup truck buyers who simply decided to switch to EV. Even those of us who've never owned a pickup at least knew exactly what we were ordering, an F-150 that just happens to be an EV. We communicate with the perspective of owners talking to owners or future owners, and from time to time directly with Ford, who actively follows our forums and genuinely cares about what customers have to say.

That alone changes the focus of the conversations because there's a lot less rumors, spy shot speculations and wondering what the final product will be like and what it will cost.

Since I was pretty active over a year ago, I posted an update in a "Tesla Versus" forum, just to let people know where I've been and that I finally got what I needed, an electric pickup. Most of the replies were polite, but the conversation eventually moved to how it must be "so boring that Lightning owners have to find community with CyberTruckers".

 

[IdeaOfTheDayCom]

Also..

One guy even tried to point out that this site is run by somebody in Iceland, whereas the CT forum is run in the US, so I mentioned I think the site is run by the same people, and that I learned about the site through the Affiliated sites section in the SITES link on the top of the forum, and that that page is identical for every other site in the list.

They refuted any relationship between the sites and insist the CT site has no connection whatsoever and that I'm just naive for thinking otherwise. I apologized and moved on.

 

[Maxx]

Since I was pretty active over a year ago, I posted an update in a "Tesla Versus" forum, just to let people know where I've been and that I finally got what I needed, an electric pickup. Most of the replies were polite, but the conversation eventually moved to how it must be "so boring that Lightning owners have to find community with CyberTruckers".

On one hand I see their point. It is CT forum after all and rubbing their face in a real truck that actually exist is kicking them while they are down. On the other hand I would consider your post there an act of charity since after all these years of waiting, they have nothing to talk about and have to constantly come up with new speculations and assumptions about timing, content and cost of a CT that may or may not exist at some point. People have been attacked there when they mentioned Rivian is producing actual trucks. They are real sensitive about EV trucks that actually exist. If I had all my eggs in just CT basket, I would be too.

I know a lot of folks who have Tesla stock, have turned it into a religion and have a reason to get loud and obnoxious but those that don't, are just shooting themselves in the foot by getting too emotionally invested. The more they say Tesla is great and can't do no wrong the more they will pay for it. All that said, I still have my CT reservation. If they ever come up with a compelling product that is a great value and do a lot more useful things than competition, I may ignore the badge and go for it but as of now with everything I have seen so far, that is a highly unlikely scenario. During the reveal, I thought CT was a joke. Then after a year or so it started to grow on me a bit, then they slapped that ridiculous wiper and mirror on and made it ugly again. Then they started stealing ideas from other manufacturers ( Like Hummer's rear wheel steering). They just seem too disoriented. I am sure if and when they release something, it will have some nice surprises but I doubt it will be a good enough value to justify anyone switching from Rivian, Lightning or Silverado if they already have one.

 

[IdeaOfTheDayCom]

On one hand I see their point. It is CT forum after all and rubbing their face in a real truck that actually exist is kicking them while they are down. On the other hand I would consider your post there an act of charity since after all these years of waiting, they have nothing to talk about and have to constantly come up with new speculations and assumptions about timing, content and cost of a CT that may or may not exist at some point. People have been attacked there when they mentioned Rivian is producing actual trucks. They are real sensitive about EV trucks that actually exist. If I had all my eggs in just CT basket, I would be too.

The funny thing is I'm not an outsider to the forum. I was a pretty active member in the past, and I made it a point of putting it in a forum about the competition. We have similar competition forums here and people who don't want to read about the competition just ignore them.

The simple truth is I've owned 8 Fords so far because I love the products and the company behind them.

I made a commitment to only buy EVs moving forward and I joined the CyberTruck forum when it looked like the CT would be the only EV Pickup option. I would've had to give up a lot of things I loved about my F-150 , but thankfully Ford beat them to the finish line and delivered not just an EV pickup, but a real F-150.

So far, the Lightning is everything they've promised and more.

They promised 230 miles Standard Range and 300 miles for Extended... the delivered that and expanded the ER to 320.

They promised it would be fast and powerful and it's faster and more powerful than any F-150 ever produced.

Most important... They promised it would start shipping in the spring of 2022... and it did.

 

[IdeaOfTheDayCom]

Joined a So Calif Tesla EV club road trip group of over 60 EVs from Inland Empire to Las Vegas this past weekend.

• Vehicle: Lariat SR
• Load: ~400lbs total
• Start SoC: 90%-100%
• Trip overall average: 2.3 mi/kwh after 600mi of mainly high speed freeway driving in 100 degree temps.

Those are some great numbers...

It looks like most of the 60 were Teslas. I'm not surprised about that. I'm sure the Lightnings drew even more attention than even the custom Tesla paintjobs.

2.3 mi/kwh is super impressive so such a long ride. It's amazing how well EV range is in hot weather. We're so used to the days where we would be told we should lower the A/C to save gas. (With an EV, we lose with range in cold weather instead.)

It's also great to know that an SR is still a good option for long trips.

Lastly, I wonder if those wait times were mainly the result of all 60 cars were following the same route at the same time. Chances are all of them wanted to stop at the same places along the way.

Do you know if they're planning any other events... possible in other states? I'd love to do some sort of east coast run to someplace like upstate NY, Boston, DC, or Philadelphia.

 

[Pioneer74]

I would put the free energy drinks under your ugly column. They are terrible for you.

Sorry your wife is changing her mind on the Mach-E. Mine is excited hers will be built in the next 2 weeks.

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