Road Tripped California: 1K Miles From San Diego to Oakland and back

[ninjaybot]

Took my family on a road-trip from San Diego to Oakland and back. About a thousand miles. The family being my wife, 6 year old daughter, and twin 2 year old boys.
The biggest challenge was charging. The charging network in California is garbage. Every station had broken units. Most the chargers, when working, would charge at slow rates. 40ish to 50ish when advertising 150 kilowatts. I did mange 153kw at the Gilroy outlets. Also props to Walmart because their chargers actually work. It was typical to switch multiple chargers before one would work. I’m just blown away by how crappy these chargers are out there. And when they do work, the lines were 6 cars deep. Also don’t believe hotels when they say they have ev charging. It was always 1 charger and either occupied or out of order.
Moving on, what the hell happened with these front shocks during r&d? They are so bad and dangerous IMO. Going freeway speeds hitting dips, the thing will bounce endlessly and bottom out harshly. After this trip, replacing the front shocks is a major priority. Why are they so shitty???
Blue cruise is fun. But it’s far from perfect or usable really. When first activated, the truck will veer to the right line before driving down the middle of the road. And every time it finished any kind of bend in the road, it would swerve back and forth from the left to the right line. Endlessly until deactivated.
I saw at least a dozen Rivians including a couple suvs and basically every other ev available. But somehow did not see another Lightning.
Just wanted to share.
Ps the app still sucks.

 

[MichaelCA]

you aint wrong. Electrify america stinks and theyre the "best" and "rated" for 150kw+. Evgo and the others are mostly 60kw. Never had an issue with tesla supercharging network. And also, what the hell is the reason for EA stalls to have 2 charger cables if only one is allowed to be in use at a time?

 

[skyak]

Took my family on a road-trip from San Diego to Oakland and back. About a thousand miles. The family being my wife, 6 year old daughter, and twin 2 year old boys.
The biggest challenge was charging. The charging network in California is garbage. Every station had broken units. Most the chargers, when working, would charge at slow rates. 40ish to 50ish when advertising 150 kilowatts. I did mange 153kw at the Gilroy outlets. Also props to Walmart because their chargers actually work. It was typical to switch multiple chargers before one would work. I’m just blown away by how crappy these chargers are out there. And when they do work, the lines were 6 cars deep. Also don’t believe hotels when they say they have ev charging. It was always 1 charger and either occupied or out of order.
Moving on, what the hell happened with these front shocks during r&d? They are so bad and dangerous IMO. Going freeway speeds hitting dips, the thing will bounce endlessly and bottom out harshly. After this trip, replacing the front shocks is a major priority. Why are they so shitty???
Blue cruise is fun. But it’s far from perfect or usable really. When first activated, the truck will veer to the right line before driving down the middle of the road. And every time it finished any kind of bend in the road, it would swerve back and forth from the left to the right line. Endlessly until deactivated.
I saw at least a dozen Rivians including a couple suvs and basically every other ev available. But somehow did not see another Lightning.
Just wanted to share.
Ps the app still sucks.

Bilstein 6112 kit improves the front ride issues.

 

[RickLightning]

Charging experience varies greatly by location. Never waited for a DC charger since July 2021 when we got our first Mach-E. Driven over 14,000 EV miles, taken 8 or so long trips.

 

[metroshot]

you aint wrong. Electrify america stinks and theyre the "best" and "rated" for 150kw+. Evgo and the others are mostly 60kw. Never had an issue with tesla supercharging network. And also, what the hell is the reason for EA stalls to have 2 charger cables if only one is allowed to be in use at a time?

Agree - EA has seriously slacked off their repair / maintenance of their chargers.
Many times I would have jump to different stalls to get one to work.
Using their app to start charging is a pain because their "new software" does not recognize the truck by plugging in first.
Calling EA customer service sometimes fixes the issue by restarting the charger.

EVGo has been improving their network with new 350kW + 100kW stations recently nearby and love their "AutoCharge +" feature that is true plug and play.

 

[Oneand0]

Yeah the EA charger shuffle is a bad experience that seems to be almost a regular. Last two charges without a hitch. The three before that I was sweating it. Not fun.

 

[KndrTH]

Took my family on a road-trip from San Diego to Oakland and back. About a thousand miles. The family being my wife, 6 year old daughter, and twin 2 year old boys.
The biggest challenge was charging. The charging network in California is garbage. Every station had broken units. Most the chargers, when working, would charge at slow rates. 40ish to 50ish when advertising 150 kilowatts. I did mange 153kw at the Gilroy outlets. Also props to Walmart because their chargers actually work. It was typical to switch multiple chargers before one would work. I’m just blown away by how crappy these chargers are out there. And when they do work, the lines were 6 cars deep. Also don’t believe hotels when they say they have ev charging. It was always 1 charger and either occupied or out of order.
Moving on, what the hell happened with these front shocks during r&d? They are so bad and dangerous IMO. Going freeway speeds hitting dips, the thing will bounce endlessly and bottom out harshly. After this trip, replacing the front shocks is a major priority. Why are they so shitty???
Blue cruise is fun. But it’s far from perfect or usable really. When first activated, the truck will veer to the right line before driving down the middle of the road. And every time it finished any kind of bend in the road, it would swerve back and forth from the left to the right line. Endlessly until deactivated.
I saw at least a dozen Rivians including a couple suvs and basically every other ev available. But somehow did not see another Lightning.
Just wanted to share.
Ps the app still sucks.

So I am actually about to this trip, although in the opposite direction from Bay Area to San Diego. Planning to spend a night in SLO and then LA before reaching SD. Which chargers do you recommend? Which hotels didn't pan out with the chargers?

 

[F150ROD]

I might end up getting rid of the Lightning for a ICE because of this. Although the Trips to Vancouver are just a handful of times it’s not a great road tripping when half the time chargers aren’t working. It’s a shame because the Truck is really that good. If only Tesla had come up with a Normal Truck design.

BTW, as far as shocks, if you are not willing to wait for Eibach specific shocks, the front F-150 leveling shocks are outstanding. They level, ride pretty much 95% comfort as the OEM but there is no bounce whatsoever.

 

[ninjaybot]

So I am actually about to this trip, although in the opposite direction from Bay Area to San Diego. Planning to spend a night in SLO and then LA before reaching SD. Which chargers do you recommend? Which hotels didn't pan out with the chargers?

Walmarts have the best chargers. You get full speed and the stations work. The only other charger to get me 150kwh was the Gilroy outlets. I drove up to Oakland on the coast and back down the 5. Charging along the 5 was better than along the coast. If you can drive on off hours or during the week, then hopefully you can avoid the lines I experienced. I stayed at the Dolphin Bay in Pismo and the Claremont in Oakland. The Claremont misplaced the card to work the charger for most of my stay. In hindsight, I should have ventured out to charge in the middle of the night after putting the kiddos to bed. Best of luck.

 

[Jonwithanelcamino]

I might end up getting rid of the Lightning for a ICE because of this. Although the Trips to Vancouver are just a handful of times it’s not a great road tripping when half the time chargers aren’t working. It’s a shame because the Truck is really that good. If only Tesla had come up with a Normal Truck design.

BTW, as far as shocks, if you are not willing to wait for Eibach specific shocks, the front F-150 leveling shocks are outstanding. They level, ride pretty much 95% comfort as the OEM but there is no bounce whatsoever.

Which leveling kit are you mentioning here? Interested

 

[F150ROD]

Which leveling kit are you mentioning here? Interested

These:

https://www.americantrucks.com/eiba...KBIYLG4WuwDnOP1XWLBoCzGUQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[Jonwithanelcamino]

Thank you! Did you pair that with springs and or something like the rough country puck spacer kit?

 

[F150ROD]

Thank you! Did you pair that with springs and or something like the rough country puck spacer kit?

No, they we’re just installed with oem springs. The shocks themselves have an adjustable perch to go up or down 0-2”. These have not been approved by Eibach for Lightning use but it’s what they installed on my Lightning while they develop Lightning specific inspection and so far they are awesome.

 

[hikinbengal]

Gotta disagree that California's charge network is trash. If you do your homework and pick the reliable chargers on PlugShare you can ease your worries when planning a road trip. I only selected one that had an 8 or higher rating. I did a round trip from the Bay Area to Joshua tree and never ran into broken chargers, derated chargers, or ones I couldn't make work with a 23ft Airstream because Plugshare was clutch to find the best ones along the trip. California has so many charging locations that you can be very selective about which you choose on a road trip.

 

[ninjaybot]

Gotta disagree that California's charge network is trash. If you do your homework and pick the reliable chargers on PlugShare you can ease your worries when planning a road trip. I only selected one that had an 8 or higher rating. I did a round trip from the Bay Area to Joshua tree and never ran into broken chargers, derated chargers, or ones I couldn't make work with a 23ft Airstream because Plugshare was clutch to find the best ones along the trip. California has so many charging locations that you can be very selective about which you choose on a road trip.

I did use PlugShare and planned my route meticulously with plan b and c backups, thank you very much. When did you take your road trip? Mine was Veterans Day weekend which was super busy. My wife and I agreed, if time wasn’t a factor, it would have been fine. But we had a narrow timeline and our young children with us. And yes, even those highly rated charging stations were packed with every type of non Tesla sometimes 6 cars deep waiting for a charger. And often running slow. For me, a busy holiday weekend was my only option for travel. And from my experience this last weekend, the network is not ready for how many evs are already out there. If Ego Musk opens up his chargers to the rest of us, it will solve these issues.