RV Trailer Towing With F-150 Lightning - Considerations & Discussions

[TRP]

Really?1 This falls under the category of "shut up" he explained.

My opinion, nothing more.

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[Blainestang]

lots of horror stories about stranded Mustang Mach-Es and Taycans, with 50%+ failure-to-charge experiences where they arrived at high speed EA CCS chargers.

I think this is the point of contention.

Is the Tesla network/reliability/experience better than CCS, on average? Absolutely.

Is "50%+ failure-to-charge" at EA accurate? No. Maybe the percentage of first-attempt-to-plug-in hiccups are that high, but I haven't seen any data that indicates actual failure to charge at an EA site is anywhere near that high. Estimating from videos and complaints that are going to inherently highlight issues isn't convincing data.

 

[PungoteagueDave]

If you have such a problem with anything Non-Tesla, why are you even here.

Clearly you are a Tesla Fanboy, no judgment. Just stating the obvious.

I've used EA exclusively in my Mach E and have NEVER had to leave an EA station without getting a charge. When I used Plug and Charge it worked every time for me. I now use the EA Plus+ membership plan and it works great as well.

You are one annoying SOB, IMHO of course

Really dude? - you should see what they say about me on the Tesla forums. I am most def NOT a Tesla fanboi, major Elon critic and have big issues with the company. I am a longtime Ford owner, have a three Ford pickups now including a 2021 PowerBoost King Ranch, and a Lightning on order, low reservation number, #1 at Grieco in Delray Beach, so active here. NOT a Tesla fanboi but definitely an EV fan. Definitely WANT EA to work. Definitely seeing it not work, but WANT to use it to go from Delray Beach FL to Huletts Landing NY next June in my new Lightning towing my boat. Right now that's not likely. Right now there isn't a single EA charger anywhere near my farm in Pungoteague, VA, or even on the entire Eastern shore of DelMarVa - and NONE is planned. Hell, there are four Tesla Superchargers on DelMarVa right now (and many more Tesla destination chargers), but NO EA chargers even in planning. So how the hell do you get from Norfolk to Newark while towing - even assuming they work ? I can do so easily in my Tesla. I cannot in a Lightning, and given no plan, apparently won't be able to do so.

 

[PungoteagueDave]

I think this is the point of contention.

Is the Tesla network/reliability/experience better than CCS, on average? Absolutely.

Is "50%+ failure-to-charge" at EA accurate? No. Maybe the percentage of first-attempt-to-plug-in hiccups are that high, but I haven't seen any data that indicates actual failure to charge at an EA site is anywhere near that high. Estimating from videos and complaints that are going to inherently highlight issues isn't convincing data.

Agreed, the reported failures are likely overstated, but it is what some major publications have indicated when doing their road trip testing - but ANY failures while road tripping are nightmares when at low state of charge. Yes,, folks here will criticize the idiot testers and stupid routing choices, as though THAT should be a ritieria - the POINT is that EV driving should be on parity with ICE driving in order to engender broad-based public acceptance and adoption - it should NOT require significant advance planning, using a bunch of apps (which I still do personally because I know the issues exists, despite telling regular non-EV folks how normal EV driving is).

I have road tripped in EVs all over the US - and have never had a Supercharger failure since using the first in 2014. I have had a few slow Tesla charging experiences and several individual pylons that did not work (all reported to the mothership, and solved by switching to a nearby pylon), but never an entire site down. EA sites are reported down with surprising regularity - and there are very frequent reports of inability to get chargers to work. This does not occur with Tesla Superchargers with anywhere near that level of regularity and never has. If we want EV adoption to continue apace, Ford, Porsche et al need to get control of EA's roll and quality issues, and ensure that customer service levels make the charging process equally seamless.

 

[PungoteagueDave]

https://www.greencarreports.com/new...esired-although-tesla-has-the-best-experience

 

[PungoteagueDave]

So apparently plushare comments indicate EA's failure rate is ~20%ish, not 50%. Still a huge problem. And they know it, are working on it. https://electrek.co/2019/11/26/interview-electrify-america-chargers/

 

[PungoteagueDave]

Typical Taycan owner EA experience (admittedly anecdotal example and small sample in poll):

"I am now at the following charging attempt count:

Attempted charging sessions: 16
Successful Sessions: 3 - battery received some power
Flawless session count (no Hick-ups): 1 (out of the 3 successful attempts)

success rate: 18%
flawless success rate: 6%"

https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/poll-electrify-america-failure-rate.2388/page-2

 

[EaglesPDX]

the POINT is that EV driving should be on parity with ICE driving in order to engender broad-based public acceptance and adoption - it should NOT require significant advance planning

To expect EV to be on parity with ICE at this stage of development is to have very unrealistic expectations. EV's are still pioneer status in the US. You may not live in a spot that is supportive of EV's and it may not work for you. That is why those who are considering EV's especially where travel and range are issues need to look at the network around them.

The complaints about EA here are made by people that don't use them while all those here who do use EA chargers are always able to get a charge and have few if any issues. In my case, all the issues have been with the Tesla adapters, CCS1 from Lectron and Chademo from Tesla.

Anecdotally, had a Tesla owner/YouTuber in Canada trying out Tesla's Chademo when it first came out. He could not get it to work at all kinds of chargers. I pointed out that you really need to slam the Chademo adapter in to make a solid connection. He retried it and they ALL worked. He puts a caveat on his YouTube video (viewed by a couple thousand people...one in VA it looks like) but it is at the end and in text so most never saw that it was just pilot error on a simple mechanical connection so an internet myth is born.

 

[EaglesPDX]

Typical Taycan owner

I think you mean atypical. I helped this Porsche owner with his first charge at EA. Had I not been there, he might be one of the "admittedly small sample" who had issues. Always refer to this OutofSpec motoring (arguably the best EV testers in world) video where on long distance runs with Taycan (their favorite EV) they had EA issues initially but then learned how EA and Porsche worked and then had no issues.

"Kyle Connor, from the Out of Spec Motoring YouTube Channel, took a Porsche Taycan across the country on December 31 and set a new electric Cannonball record with a time of 44:26. This beats the previous record set by Connor and his team in a Tesla Model 3 by almost an hour."

You don't do that without good public charging base.

 

[vandy1981]

So apparently plushare comments indicate EA's failure rate is ~20%ish, not 50%. Still a huge problem. And they know it, are working on it. https://electrek.co/2019/11/26/interview-electrify-america-chargers/

That article is from 2 years ago--I'd be interested in seeing updated stats. My recent experience with EA has been great, but things were still a bit spotty in early 2020.

 

[vandy1981]

I think you mean atypical. I helped this Porsche owner with his first charge at EA. Had I not been there, he might be one of the "admittedly small sample" who had issues. Always refer to this OutofSpec motoring (arguably the best EV testers in world) video where on long distance runs with Taycan (their favorite EV) they had EA issues initially but then learned how EA and Porsche worked and then had no issues.

"Kyle Connor, from the Out of Spec Motoring YouTube Channel, took a Porsche Taycan across the country on December 31 and set a new electric Cannonball record with a time of 44:26. This beats the previous record set by Connor and his team in a Tesla Model 3 by almost an hour."

You don't do that without good public charging base.

I generally agree with these comments, but Out of Spec did have EA on speed dial for that trip. I think they actually called before some of their charging stops so EA could make sure the chargers were working.

 

[PungoteagueDave]

OK, you're right, EA works everywhere, and is perfect. Everyone who says otherwise is a luddite and needs you with them to show them how to do it. That guy with the Taycan whose life you saved was a complete moron, apparently fell into a bunch of money so could buy a Porsche but needed your helping hand to figure out out how to navigate the intricacies of charging his highly complex machine. I'll put you on speed dial so that I can get to destination next time I'm driving.

 

[EaglesPDX]

Out of Spec did have EA on speed dial for that trip.

Indeed as the EA/MachE program was just getting started and their MachE was the first to MachE to use them.

As we see in the videos, once they got the hang of it, no issues with the EA chargers with MachE or Taycan's. It's a false issue repeated by people with no experience. All of us here who use EA with different vehicles (iPace, MachE, Model 3) have no issues getting a charge.

Time to move on.

 

[astricklin]

Here's a fact.
Ford is sending out teams to monitor, test, and repair charging stations that are included in the "blue oval" charging network.
So it seems that the network is not to where Ford wants it to be. How bad is it? As the general public we will never know. However Ford claims that 99.5% of customers get a charge however it's not always on the first attempt.

I am old enough to know that nothing in the real world is ever as good or as bad as an internet form makes it out to be. Is the ccs network in the USA as good as the Tesla supercharger network? No. Are there people getting stranded left and right at EA locations? No. Are Tesla supercharger locations always working and never fail or are never broken? Again, No.

 

[beatle]

I've been doing some research on CCS stations via Plugshare. It looks like people still have issues with some of them. The only CCS station in Delaware (along the NJ turnpike) seems to have many issues even as of late.

Concerning still is the current lack of expansion. When looking at "coming soon" CCS stations on Plugshare, there are very few coming to facilitate long distance travel. Most are huddled around cities. This is good for those that cannot charge at home and are just using a car for local travel, but they aren't of much use for longer distance except to charge up on the outskirts of a major metro area.

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