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Round trip - Los Angeles to Mammoth Lakes, 5 day daily driver in Mammoth

Rocket808

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All-

I thought I’d share my experience of the >700mi of not only a roadtrip to and from Los Angeles (South Bay) to Mammoth Lakes, but also share some data and experiences.

TLDR:
Roundtrip to mammoth using Tesla Supercharging was great, well placed, and plenty of chargers so available even with our occasional need to block a charger.
Cold weather range reduction is real - approx 35% when you have to park outside in cold weather (20 degree nights). With the supercharger in mammoth - no issues.
Cost of supercharging is 19 cents a mile in this use case
Biggest difference than my ICE vehicles for a family drive : plan to stop where the family can eat/use bathroom- and not all stops have amenities. One charging stop was 30 minutes without amenities and the family got restless.

Trip stats:
704.7 miles
Average mi/kWh for the entire trip - 1.8
Full truck - 5 pax plus snow gear for 5days
Avg day temp - 33F
Avg night temp - 21F
Ford F-150 Lightning Round trip - Los Angeles to Mammoth Lakes, 5 day daily driver in Mammoth IMG_6899


Tesla Supercharging
It is a 329 mile road trip each way, and I charged exclusively at Tesla Superchargers. Each way I planned for 2 stops, and also charged twice while in mammoth lakes.

left my house with 100% charge
Used ABRP to plan - set destinations in google maps
Got home with 28% charge
Ford F-150 Lightning Round trip - Los Angeles to Mammoth Lakes, 5 day daily driver in Mammoth IMG_6900

The 2 back to back charging in mammoth lakes was due to charging upon arrival - I only brought her up to 50% on the 26th as the family didn’t want to hang around (it was 14min - about the limit until “how much longer??)

There were 3 observations with supercharging
1) up in mammoth, I was charging and wanted to access my frunk while waiting. You have to park up really close for the charging cable to reach. As the frunk swept up, it hit the “Tesla Car Charging only” sign fasteners and scratched the lip of the frunk. The frunk lid sweeps out further than the bumper…
2) there is a newer “drive through” charger in Mojave near Stater brothers- but these were not in the ford network. Another Tesla network was adjacent to this group. With as close as these 2 sets of chargers were, I never thought they would be a different selection. Note that this new style will be great for us! I easily backed in and plugged in. Note to self - green ones aren’t in network!
Ford F-150 Lightning Round trip - Los Angeles to Mammoth Lakes, 5 day daily driver in Mammoth IMG_6917

3) with the battery cold soaked, the charging rate max was <100kWh.

otherwise the charging was nearly flawless and was fast. The network and system just works- no more calling EA help on a charger that appears to be working to connect to vehicle.

Drive through charger in Bishop
Ford F-150 Lightning Round trip - Los Angeles to Mammoth Lakes, 5 day daily driver in Mammoth IMG_6889


Lone Pine charger - one is on the correct side for Ford!
Ford F-150 Lightning Round trip - Los Angeles to Mammoth Lakes, 5 day daily driver in Mammoth IMG_6743


Mammoth Lakes Chargers:
Ford F-150 Lightning Round trip - Los Angeles to Mammoth Lakes, 5 day daily driver in Mammoth IMG_6746


Truck performance:
On the drive up to Mammoth, for us to avoid traffic, we left at 0530 - and is a fast freeway and highway drive for most of the drive, and more of less uphill from sea level to the high desert (2500ft) then along the sierras until the final climb into mammoth lakes to our rented cabin(8000 ft).
With my full car, snow gear, coolers of food and drink, averaged 1.6 mi/kWh on the journey there. typical drive speed was 75mph.

Last thing I did before going to cabin was to find Tesla Superchargers in Mammoth and brought my charge up to 50%.

Ford F-150 Lightning Round trip - Los Angeles to Mammoth Lakes, 5 day daily driver in Mammoth IMG_6760

this photo is the next morning after a night being cold soaked. 51% with 75 mile range. Also 78% of the max power.

Due to the proximity and availability of the Tesla Superchargers, didn’t worry, but I did want to fill’er up when it was convenient to do so.

On day 2, after some tubing, I dropped off the family and charged up to 80%, missed the photo op, and drove around and snapped a photo later that afternoon - warm battery, 76%, 151 mile range. The charging max was under 100 kWh. Apparently it does use energy to warm the battery.
Ford F-150 Lightning Round trip - Los Angeles to Mammoth Lakes, 5 day daily driver in Mammoth IMG_6782

Next morning - no driving yet, 30 mile drop. Cold battery, lower max power.
Ford F-150 Lightning Round trip - Los Angeles to Mammoth Lakes, 5 day daily driver in Mammoth IMG_6787

I didn’t charge again in mammoth, going to the village, main lodge, tamarack lodge, and to the market.

On the day of the return (day 5)
This was also my starting point to head to Bishop- 103 mi range at 69%. With a battery cold soaked overnight, there is a power reduction as well - my max power went down to 82% of max.
Ford F-150 Lightning Round trip - Los Angeles to Mammoth Lakes, 5 day daily driver in Mammoth IMG_6885

As I was driving, the HV battery warmed up and range increased as well.

I left Bishop at 80% charge and arrived in Mojave with 13%. The total miles for this run (80%-0%) would have been 195 miles.

Ford F-150 Lightning Round trip - Los Angeles to Mammoth Lakes, 5 day daily driver in Mammoth IMG_6892

this run was more downhill and the longest stretch in time and miles without stopping. 2.0 mi/kWh - not bad! Average speed here is shown by the miles and time at 68mph, but I can say that my speed setting was at 74mph - and was at that speed nearly the entire time. Exceptions were in the small towns where you have to slow down.
As said in the top, the total miles of the trip @704mi with an average efficiency of 1.8 mi/kWh with a full load.

Driving in the snow (on one day fully covered roads) was great, even on the stock Dynapro tires. For one section on a hill, I put the truck into Off-road mode - though I likely didn’t need to. Just checked out the Orange display and could tell that the rear differential was locked.
I would not go fully off-road in the snow with these tires, but they worked fine on maintained roads.

I hope this helps some of you!
 

Kit2874

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I like that drive on the US 395, usually drive that route lot on my big truck. from LA going to Reno.. Usually stop at that truck stop. It's a TA now, at coso junction
 

K6CCC

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I read this with interest. I am not into snow, but I help support a five day bicycle ride every year from Big Bear to the Mammoth Inn in early October. We overnight in Barstow, the fairgrounds in Ridgecrest, Lake Diaz just south of Lone Pine, the fairgrounds in Bishop, and at the Mammoth Mtn. Inn after the ride. Going back home the next day to Glendora. For the ride days, about the most I ever drive is 120 miles and we have SuperCharging available at or near most of the overnight stops (including 240V trailer connections at both fairgrounds). We have had a Tesla M3 driven by one of the other support people for a couple years and they have not had any issue with charging.

I have always done the ride in a gas pickup, but expect to be replacing my Dodge Ram this month with a Lighting Flash. In my Dodge I fill up before leaving Glendora, then get gas in Barstow, then again at Ft. Independence. Then again at Ft. Independence on the way home. In the Lightning, there is a Tesla Supercharger just a couple blocks from the hotel I stay in before the ride in Big Bear. Then Supercharging in Barstow. At Ridgecrest I should be able to plug into the RV outlets (for free no less). Maybe a quick top off in Lone Pine, then RV outlet in Bishop. Lastly a top off in Mammoth. It wont be anywhere near as cold as you had in Mammoth. Going home, I'll have to play it by feel. Maybe Lone Pine, maybe Inyokern. That may depend on how much off route GeoCaching I do (there will be at least some). Once I get to US395 & I-15 there are scads of options available. I'm looking forward to not gassing out the riders when I pull away from them after checking on them during the ride (my Dodge is running on 7.? cylinders right now so the exhaust stinks).
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