Got the Truck yesterday Newbie

[davehu]

Welcome to the Forum! I'm going on 11k miles in a year and a half. Have loved every minute of driving this truck. I like to tell people that it's a spectacularly fun vehicle to drive. Also I always throw in that I've owned three "Vettes (65, 72, 85) and Sparky will smoke all three of them all while hauling a stack of lumber!

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[potato]

I have found myself looking for reasons to 'go somewhere' to test out my newest vechicle

Haha that was me last year. Did a shakedown cruise from northern BC to Calgary (2000 km RT) then out to Toronto for the eclipse (9500 km RT). As long as you have charging at home you'll love it I'm sure.

You will want a Tesla adapter to make road trips less stressful. More expensive here in Canada but more and faster plugs available compared to CCS.

 

[NW Ontario Ford Lightning]

Haha that was me last year. Did a shakedown cruise from northern BC to Calgary (2000 km RT) then out to Toronto for the eclipse (9500 km RT). As long as you have charging at home you'll love it I'm sure.

You will want a Tesla adapter to make road trips less stressful. More expensive here in Canada but more and faster plugs available compared to CCS.

Wow BC to Toronto and back - that is an epic trip in any vechicle !
I drove to Calgary from NW Ontario last summer to see family - that is far enough of a trip for me!
That run cost me hundreds in gasoline, that now would be a lot less in supercharging lol. I normally just stay near home and don't go more than a couple hundred km in any direction, so the home chrger with our Ontario "ultra low overnight rate" 2.9 cents per kWh will be very economical compared with expensive gasoline in my area. Already notice the difference of Not spending $$ on filling up my old truck (2500 Ram).
Got more to learn about all the features of the Lightning, it is a very impressive product.

 

[potato]

Wow BC to Toronto and back - that is an epic trip in any vechicle !
I drove to Calgary from NW Ontario last summer to see family - that is far enough of a trip for me!
That run cost me hundreds in gasoline, that now would be a lot less in supercharging lol. I normally just stay near home and don't go more than a couple hundred km in any direction, so the home chrger with our Ontario "ultra low overnight rate" 2.9 cents per kWh will be very economical compared with expensive gasoline in my area. Already notice the difference of Not spending $$ on filling up my old truck (2500 Ram).
Got more to learn about all the features of the Lightning, it is a very impressive product.

Road tripping was actually only slightly cheaper than gas in the Lightning. For the outbound trip I was keeping track and it ended up 14.8c/km. Basically equivalent to a 10 l/100 km gasser. But smooth, quiet, ridiculously powerful, can easily leave the heat/AC on for yourself or the dogs overnight.

The real savings are when you can charge at home or work. Much cheaper here in BC at least. Under 3c/km in summer, under 4 in winter. I think you have even better hydro rates in Ontario. If not, you can always add solar That's another ace in the hole for electric.

 

[NW Ontario Ford Lightning]

I see some hotels have chargers with your room as a feature - I wondered if you had tried that approach to those long trips?

 

[potato]

I see some hotels have chargers with your room as a feature - I wondered if you had tried that approach to those long trips?

I was being cheap about it so I didn't seek those out. Honestly I slept in the truck most of the time, plugged in to a free or cheap L2 somewhere Hotel chargers aren't super common yet I think, but I expect that will improve in future as adoption increases. Regardless of all the BS happening in the States, it is so much cheaper per km that's bound to happen eventually.

Reading PlugShare comments I didn't really get the impression that hotel chargers could be relied upon in many cases. They are frequently ICEd, not assigned to your room so somebody else might be hogging it, etc. I would treat it like a nice bonus if it actually worked, but would have some other charger in mind as Plan A.

 

[Wendy]

I'm at around 6,000 (miles), loving it and loving going skiing. I did get good snow tires, and it works great.

Your range in COLD weather will be less, watch for it. But with ER still no problem going 140 miles to ski and get home with ~40%. My wife took it on a 170 miles 10 degree (Fahrenheit) trip which would have been fine except there was a wreck and she was rerouted. She added 25%, and got to the destination with 12%. A bit dicey, when you are in the middle of nowhere.

Tried a hotel charger once, but it was a "Tesla Destination" charger, which apparently you need (yet another) adapter for. Finally got my (regular Tesla) adapter but haven't had a chance to try it out yet.

I love the truck, the space for hauling, the power for towing, the comfort for spending lunch at the ski area and plugging in my hot water boiler. I'm considering a small microwave for the frunk for warming up lunch (got one of those lunch boxes for Christmas but it's only about 70 watts so it takes 20 minutes to heat my soup; the water bottle is 300 watts and boils up water for tea in a few minutes!)

I took it to the metal recycler the other day, and watched on the scale as I exited ... 7,010#

 

[NW Ontario Ford Lightning]

I did a run to a near-by City to my area today - to try out a fast charger - make sure it works and I learn the steps for connecting - worked great !!
The dealer was supposed to include the Tesla adapter with the truck, and they have it coming now so I couldn't test with a Tesla super charger yet, but this week I should get it.
At my homestead I have solar power, and since it was super bright sunny day today, charged up the home battery bank and the truck from solar before my run to the City - "free" electrons are awesome!
I have plans to expand my solar PV arrays - the truck is going to need the extra juice!!

 

[Literider150]

Just received my adapter yesterday on Feb 15. I bought my Flash in early September and ordered the adapter a few days after that. I think it was free up until the end of September 2024. Almost resigned myself that something happened and I wasn't gonna get it. Kind of weird that it seemed to be covered in dust; just a small coating of dust. I'll try using it sometime.

 

[NW Ontario Ford Lightning]

Just received my adapter yesterday on Feb 15. I bought my Flash in early September and ordered the adapter a few days after that. I think it was free up until the end of September 2024. Almost resigned myself that something happened and I wasn't gonna get it. Kind of weird that it seemed to be covered in dust; just a small coating of dust. I'll try using it sometime.

Do you mean the CCS to Tesla (NACS) adapter ?
The dealer has one being couriered out to me, so I can use Tesla charging network as well as CCS.

I wonder about getting an adaptor to the CHAdeMO standard - seems like these are very expensive and that standard is being phased out over a period of time...maybe not worth spending money on the adaptor if those chargers will be converted to NACS anyway. What do you guys think?

 

[potato]

Do you mean the CCS to Tesla (NACS) adapter ?
The dealer has one being couriered out to me, so I can use Tesla charging network as well as CCS.

I wonder about getting an adaptor to the CHAdeMO standard - seems like these are very expensive and that standard is being phased out over a period of time...maybe not worth spending money on the adaptor if those chargers will be converted to NACS anyway. What do you guys think?

Definitely no on the CHAdeMO. It's dead.

You will definitely want the one for Tesla (NACS) to CCS (DC fast charging) so you can fast charge at Superchargers. You may also want the Tesla (NACS) to J1772 for AC level 2 charging at so-called "destination" chargers. NACS uses the same two pins to carry either AC or DC, but they use different pins on the Lightning so it needs separate adapters. The AC one is a lot cheaper since it only has to go up to 80 amps (48A for 2024+) as opposed to 500 amps for the DC one.

I would assume the one you're getting is the DC adapter. Hopefully. Although the fact that it's available from your dealer makes me wonder. lol. You're much more likely to need that one than the AC one.

 

[NW Ontario Ford Lightning]

Definitely no on the CHAdeMO. It's dead.

You will definitely want the one for Tesla (NACS) to CCS (DC fast charging) so you can fast charge at Superchargers. You may also want the Tesla (NACS) to J1772 for AC level 2 charging at so-called "destination" chargers. NACS uses the same two pins to carry either AC or DC, but they use different pins on the Lightning so it needs separate adapters. The AC one is a lot cheaper since it only has to go up to 80 amps (48A for 2024+) as opposed to 500 amps for the DC one.

I would assume the one you're getting is the DC adapter. Hopefully. Although the fact that it's available from your dealer makes me wonder. lol. You're much more likely to need that one than the AC one.

Thanks - good to know!
Those CHAdeMO standard chargers seem to be few and far between, and after checking, you're right about stations that have them also have another standard on the same station to suit various EV's. My original thought was if the CHAdeMO EV cars are 'rare' then these charging points would be more likely to be sitting un-used - but on closer look the same charging station is not going to run both options at the same time it seems.
Not really sure on the adapter the dealer is sending - the discussion at the time of sale was 'they would include the Tesla adapter' so the Truck can charge at those fast charger stations. I assume fast charging means FAST not some slow-motion destination charger...got me wondering now.

 

[Literider150]

Do you mean the CCS to Tesla (NACS) adapter ?
The dealer has one being couriered out to me, so I can use Tesla charging network as well as CCS.

I wonder about getting an adaptor to the CHAdeMO standard - seems like these are very expensive and that standard is being phased out over a period of time...maybe not worth spending money on the adaptor if those chargers will be converted to NACS anyway. What do you guys think?

Yes, my 2024 Flash of course has the CCS port so I need the adapter if I want to use Tesla DC Fast Chargers. Personally, I wouldn't bother with the CHAdeMO adapter; didn't even know they made one of those. I understand they are being phased out.

I do have a Tesla Destination Charger adapter (level 2 charging) that a user can find in some parking garages, motels, etc. I've never had the occasion to use it though, but I don't travel a lot.

 

[NW Ontario Ford Lightning]

I was out driving around today, and saw a gas station up ahead, I instinctively looked down at my dash to see if I needed gas...gee when did I last buy gas...Wait A Minute what am I thinking !? I don't need gasoline anymore !!
AND THAT IS WHEN IT HIT ME - The "Leash" has been removed and I am finally free !! (I never realized I HAD a leash until this exact moment !)

 

[potato]

I was out driving around today, and saw a gas station up ahead, I instinctively looked down at my dash to see if I needed gas...gee when did I last buy gas...Wait A Minute what am I thinking !? I don't need gasoline anymore !!
AND THAT IS WHEN IT HIT ME - The "Leash" has been removed and I am finally free !! (I never realized I HAD a leash until this exact moment !)

It is soooooo nice just plugging in at home.

Around here we had On The Run doing a free charging promo. Completely free DCFC at decent speeds, 350 amps, from Dec-Jan. For a few weeks I was going to the free charger every few days for the free electrons... but it's on the other side of town, and I had to coordinate it with other errands. Even being completely free I ended up just plugging in at home the last few weeks of the promo since it's so much easier. Worth the dollar or two a day cost. That's something you just don't get with a gas mindset.

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