Sdctcher
Well-known member
- First Name
- Mike
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2021
- Threads
- 35
- Messages
- 577
- Reaction score
- 799
- Location
- Anywhere-Everywhere
- Vehicles
- 2022 Ford Lightning Lariat ER
- Occupation
- EV Gypsy
- Thread starter
- #1
It has been some time since I have posted. But I hope my experiences living "Homeless" on the road for almost a year might be of interest to other Lightning Owners. I am homeless by choice, having sold almost everything to live "light" as a constantly moving individual.
I have travelled nearly 30,000 miles from Maine to San Diego and North Carolina twice and from the Great Lakes to Texas in my early '22 Lariat ER. Most of my lodging has been in hotels and B & B's but In October I picked up my new 14 foot Bean teardrop trailer in Utah. Because of weather I just began camping out fulltime just after Christmas here at the Salton Sea State Park, near Palm Springs, CA. Lately, I have been surprised that more middle-tier hotels offer a 30A EV Charge Station (sometimes free).
Now at about 40k miles, my truck battery shows no degradation. In fact, it actually is getting better. I am very conservative and normally drive around 55 mph, especially while towing my 3000# trailer (400# tongue weight). There are so many variables of temperature, humidity, wind, aerodynamics, speed and elevation that it is folly to tell someone my MPG (eMPG). Overall, without towing, I average 2.5-2.9 kW/mile, and 1.5-2.1 kW/mile with trailer. With my preferred reserve (25%) I drive trailer-less about 225 miles station to station, and 125 miles with trailer. But adjustments must be made frequently depending on conditions, such as my trips over the Rockies or the cold and snow. I normally fast charge to 90%.
I have DC Fast Charged hundreds of time coast to coast, normally at Electrify America. In the early days they were awful but now seem to be getting much better, especially at their newer updated stations. Here on the West Coast things are worse than back East; more broken or full. I have often had to go to my EVGO and Chargepoint backups with their higher cost. I have yet to receive my Tesla adapter and once when I tried a Rivian station it was packed.
Nearly everyday I ride around my locations 10+ miles/day on my Aventon Sinch 2.5 ebike. While at hotels this is my transportation around towns. Several months ago, while at a hotel, my old bike, a chained and locked Lectric 3.0, was stolen.
Normally I carry an AT&T 5G mobile hotspot for internet and tv streaming connections but out here in the desert I am forced to rely on my Lightning mobile wifi, which has been very reliable everywhere I have been. I am happy to pay the $20/month as my backup.
Currently, I am at a semi-primitive state campsite ($8/day) for a week with power supplied from my truck. Every other week I switch to a powered site ($28/day) with a 30A plug and water. I have to bell down from a 30A to a 120V plug to charge at about 1%/hour (up to 90%). When the nighttime temperatures become liveable in late February I will be camping mostly at desert dispursed sites heading east back to Kentucky for the springtime.
I would be happy to answer any questions members might have about this truck's abilities towing or camping. My truck has been mostly bug-free for the past 2+ years.
I have travelled nearly 30,000 miles from Maine to San Diego and North Carolina twice and from the Great Lakes to Texas in my early '22 Lariat ER. Most of my lodging has been in hotels and B & B's but In October I picked up my new 14 foot Bean teardrop trailer in Utah. Because of weather I just began camping out fulltime just after Christmas here at the Salton Sea State Park, near Palm Springs, CA. Lately, I have been surprised that more middle-tier hotels offer a 30A EV Charge Station (sometimes free).
Now at about 40k miles, my truck battery shows no degradation. In fact, it actually is getting better. I am very conservative and normally drive around 55 mph, especially while towing my 3000# trailer (400# tongue weight). There are so many variables of temperature, humidity, wind, aerodynamics, speed and elevation that it is folly to tell someone my MPG (eMPG). Overall, without towing, I average 2.5-2.9 kW/mile, and 1.5-2.1 kW/mile with trailer. With my preferred reserve (25%) I drive trailer-less about 225 miles station to station, and 125 miles with trailer. But adjustments must be made frequently depending on conditions, such as my trips over the Rockies or the cold and snow. I normally fast charge to 90%.
I have DC Fast Charged hundreds of time coast to coast, normally at Electrify America. In the early days they were awful but now seem to be getting much better, especially at their newer updated stations. Here on the West Coast things are worse than back East; more broken or full. I have often had to go to my EVGO and Chargepoint backups with their higher cost. I have yet to receive my Tesla adapter and once when I tried a Rivian station it was packed.
Nearly everyday I ride around my locations 10+ miles/day on my Aventon Sinch 2.5 ebike. While at hotels this is my transportation around towns. Several months ago, while at a hotel, my old bike, a chained and locked Lectric 3.0, was stolen.
Normally I carry an AT&T 5G mobile hotspot for internet and tv streaming connections but out here in the desert I am forced to rely on my Lightning mobile wifi, which has been very reliable everywhere I have been. I am happy to pay the $20/month as my backup.
Currently, I am at a semi-primitive state campsite ($8/day) for a week with power supplied from my truck. Every other week I switch to a powered site ($28/day) with a 30A plug and water. I have to bell down from a 30A to a 120V plug to charge at about 1%/hour (up to 90%). When the nighttime temperatures become liveable in late February I will be camping mostly at desert dispursed sites heading east back to Kentucky for the springtime.
I would be happy to answer any questions members might have about this truck's abilities towing or camping. My truck has been mostly bug-free for the past 2+ years.
