Thanksgiving Travels - Who's taking the Lightning?

[RickLightning]

If it wasn't for the holiday weekend and reading about the line at Tesla Supercharger stations, I'd go for it. I'm still considering it, but the more and more I think about it, the Odyssey may be the way to go here.

To me, the greatest fear is hearing "I told you so".

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[Aspesi4]

To me, the greatest fear is hearing "I told you so".

Coupled with three kids screaming and crying. I totally agree!

 

[RickLightning]

Coupled with three kids screaming and crying. I totally agree!

We did many of the trips years ago, up to 12-14 hours in a day and did everything possible to keep the little brats quiet. We had a famous trip where after the rest area break, we got back on the road and my son needed to use the toilet and it wasn't to pee. We had a training toilet for that purpose, so I got off the next exit and pulled into a parking lot and he proceeded to take an enormous dump, accompanied by the requisite red face and grunting. After congratulating him, I look around and found a dumpster, and well, ... Couldn't even wash the container out with water. Should have had a 5 gallon bucket with a lid.

 

[FirstF150InCasco]

Not taking the Lightning.

There are only a few fast chargers within 100 mile radius of Fort Wayne, IN and I don't want to risk finding a line at the one I'd be counting on. Crowds at the 62.5kWh station in Lima, OH have bitten many EV owners traveling I-75 between Cincinnati and Detroit.

I'm really looking forward to the day when a single full/broken charge station is no big deal because we can count on others nearby.

Your comment -- "looking forward to the day whena single broken sharge station is no big deal" -- reminds me of the early days of ATM's (when there were less than 3,000 around the world.) If an ATM was broken -- and if you were counting on it to get cash, the only form of payment back in the day for conveneince stores, bars, and grocery stores -- you were screwed. Hopefully we get to the "no big deal" point soon.

 

[FirstF150InCasco]

I think people that buy an EV, and then are scared to take it on a trip or find it too challenging to plan a trip, are clearly not embracing the EV lifestyle.

That said, traveling over major holidays like Thanksgiving is for fools. If you have to be a fool, AND you live in an area of high congestion, and will have to charge on the way, makes you a bigger fool IMO. There will be massive congestion at some chargers, it's just a reality.

We took our F-150 to Florida last December because taking our Mach-E meant adding way too many hours to the trip with our reduced winter range. We took the Mach-E when it was warm. F-150 has a 700 mile range, reduced to 600 in winter.

Happy Thanksgiving (from all us fools out there).

 

[TaxmanHog]

Nice brother-in-law you have there. But is he worried about you needing to top off there? Or is he worried that you might have to spend the night there?

He's is a retired high 70's FAA electronics engineer [radar], he believes in triple redundancy in all things in life. I'm bringing an older siemens 30 amp charger that a friend gave to me, we're going to give that a test run to see if it's still working, maybe I'll leave that with him so I have a pit stop option during race season, one of my routes to the race track places me in the neighborhood, I could be that pesky brother in law always dropping in for a meal and a charge, LOL

 

[VTbuckeye]

We did many of the trips years ago, up to 12-14 hours in a day and did everything possible to keep the little brats quiet. We had a famous trip where after the rest area break, we got back on the road and my son needed to use the toilet and it wasn't to pee. We had a training toilet for that purpose, so I got off the next exit and pulled into a parking lot and he proceeded to take an enormous dump, accompanied by the requisite red face and grunting. After congratulating him, I look around and found a dumpster, and well, ... Couldn't even wash the container out with water. Should have had a 5 gallon bucket with a lid.

Never had it that bad with mine, but we did travel with one of their training potties. I definitely took an off ramp, then stopped on the on ramp side and let Andrew sit on his potty on top of the hard tonneau cover so that he had a good view.

 

[data003]

And it's at a dealership no less. There is a non-zero chance they lock the lot gates at close of business rendering the charger useless after hours.

There’s no gates. I bought my truck here.

 

[Crilly]

I went from Milwaukee to Minneapolis today. I stopped at 3 electrify America charging station. Each one had two 350 kw stations with only one working. Plus 150 kw stations. When I got to stations each 350 kw had a Chevy Bolt at it. 3 times I had to use the 150s.

All three bolts were charging at 34 kw. At one 150 charger I was only getting 75 kw. Does the mean a bolt would only charge at that 150 at 20 kw.

Any way, the bolt owners think the 350s well charge their car faster.


WTF.

 

[FordLightningMan]

My XLT SR is getting around 130 miles on a 90% charge in the current winter conditions. The issue is many fast charging stations are 50+ miles apart, so you'd likely need to charge from 50%-90% repeatedly to have any comfort on a trip. In a perfect world you'd run down to a lower state of charge and recharge to less than 90% for efficiency. But using this proper strategy, one faulty charger in a one-charger city and you'd be in big trouble on a road trip. Until there's more level 3 charging options, in the cold weather my Lightning is an around town vehicle.

 

[Mainer]

So true. My biggest worry! The Odyssey is just not that fun to drive. It's the safe bet though.

Today I trialed a trip to work this morning in 20F temps, no preconditioning and 68mph and was getting about 1.6m/kwhr. That gets me about 210 total miles on a charge. Its 144miles to the house we're staying at. The first 100 miles is at highway speeds and the next 50 is at 40-50mph. If I hit a charger along the way and 120VAC charger for 36-48 hours while there, I think I'm good. Still not a fun game! Some many unpredictable variables.



I'm aware of that one. I think its only 62.5kW. from the MA/NH border there's EA charges in Seabrook, NH and Scarborough, ME. Charge Points in Kittery and Kennebunk, ME. After that it's really one Chargepoint in Lewiston, ME thats 62.5KW. Thats the key charger for me. I may stop there and do some Target shopping on the way to boost the range up to 80% before I take the long trip into the wilderness.

There is an EA in Kittery also, but I've never used it.

The EA chargers is Scarborough have been on the fritz a bit recently. If you like Chinese food though, you could drop your family at Chia Sen which is a 0.3 mile walk away.

Seabrook also has a bunch of drop off the family and walk dining options but is much further away.

But I'm thinking with holiday traffic and kids, take the Odyssey.

 

[Aspesi4]

There is an EA in Kittery also, but I've never used it.

The EA chargers is Scarborough have been on the fritz a bit recently. If you like Chinese food though, you could drop your family at Chia Sen which is a 0.3 mile walk away.

Seabrook also has a bunch of drop off the family and walk dining options but is much further away.

But I'm thinking with holiday traffic and kids, take the Odyssey.

All of those stations are under 40 mikes from where I live. Jts the stretch from Portland to Rumford Maine that's the issue.

I just dropped $1,000 yesterday on the Odyssey on new brakes, oil change and inspection sticker to get it ready for the trip. I'll ultimately end up going this route purely out of convenience.

If it was just me I'd take the Lightning. The kids and wife add make the Lightning risky on Thanksgiving weekend.

 

[FirstF150InCasco]

We did much better than I expected with the ER Lariat Lightning on our 300 Miles each way (600 miles round trip) from Boston to Princeton, NJ. I planned two stops, one at 100 miles and on at 200 miles (because there were zero high-speed chargers of any brand between the 100 Mile and 200 mile mark.)

Boston to Princeton: At the 100 mile mark stop at 8 AM on Thansgiving morning, there was one other Lightning there, otherwise the 6 EA chargers were available. While charging to 80%, we walked around the deserted Walmart parking lot. At the 200 mile mark stop (at 10 AM) there were no other vehicles using the 8 EVGo chargers. While charging to 80%, we used the rest rooms in a Stop and Shop 200 yards away.

PRINCETON: In Princeton, we drove probably 50 miles while there. T0 charge up for the return, I used an EA 10 miles south. I had to wait in line to use at 10 PM Thanksgiving night. Again, charged to 80%.

RETURN: On the return trip on Saturday AM, there was one other lightning using the 8 chargers at the 100 mile mark Stop and Shop EVGo. But at the Walmart EA stop at the 200 mile mark, I had to wait 5 minutes for a free charger. ASIDE: The location at the Manchester CT Walmart was fine on Thankdsgivng day (when the store was closed), but the location was a disaster on Saturday when the lot was full. The EA chargers are way too close together and they are right in they way of the main entrance to the parking lot. Very stupid placement.

Miles per KW: I did "pre condition" the Lightning before the trip down, but the miles per kWh was only 1.3, even though I was driving at just 60 MPH. (After encountering no lines at the first stop, I decided to abandon the 60 MPH and dove my normal 73 MPH). The Miles per KW did not go down. And by the end of the trip, the total miles per kWh was 1.8. I can only assume that the lower miles per kWh on Thursday was due to the much colder temperatures on Thursday vs the warmer temps on the return trip Saturday.

@RickLightning Comment: I have taken to heart the comment earlier in this thread of @RickLightning, "I think people that buy an EV, and then are scared to take it on a trip or find it too challenging to plan a trip, are clearly not embracing the EV lifestyle." We have made the trip to Princeton every Thanksgiving for three decades. While I used to pride myself of making the trip in under 4.5 hours in my ICE, the occupants of the car (three other adults) were fine with the trip taking 6 hours. The walks while we charged twice were enjoyable. And the smoother ride -- and the enourmous amout of room -- in the Lightning was commented on multiple times. I'm so glade I did not cop out and take my son's XC Volvo. it'll be the Lightning every year.

 

[Firestop]

We did much better than I expected with the ER Lariat Lightning on our 300 Miles each way (600 miles round trip) from Boston to Princeton, NJ. I planned two stops, one at 100 miles and on at 200 miles (because there were zero high-speed chargers of any brand between the 100 Mile and 200 mile mark.)

Boston to Princeton: At the 100 mile mark stop at 8 AM on Thansgiving morning, there was one other Lightning there, otherwise the 6 EA chargers were available. While charging to 80%, we walked around the deserted Walmart parking lot. At the 200 mile mark stop (at 10 AM) there were no other vehicles using the 8 EVGo chargers. While charging to 80%, we used the rest rooms in a Stop and Shop 200 yards away.

PRINCETON: In Princeton, we drove probably 50 miles while there. T0 charge up for the return, I used an EA 10 miles south. I had to wait in line to use at 10 PM Thanksgiving night. Again, charged to 80%.

RETURN: On the return trip on Saturday AM, there was one other lightning using the 8 chargers at the 100 mile mark Stop and Shop EVGo. But at the Walmart EA stop at the 200 mile mark, I had to wait 5 minutes for a free charger. ASIDE: The location at the Manchester CT Walmart was fine on Thankdsgivng day (when the store was closed), but the location was a disaster on Saturday when the lot was full. The EA chargers are way too close together and they are right in they way of the main entrance to the parking lot. Very stupid placement.

Miles per KW: I did "pre condition" the Lightning before the trip down, but the miles per kWh was only 1.3, even though I was driving at just 60 MPH. (After encountering no lines at the first stop, I decided to abandon the 60 MPH and dove my normal 73 MPH). The Miles per KW did not go down. And by the end of the trip, the total miles per kWh was 1.8. I can only assume that the lower miles per kWh on Thursday was due to the much colder temperatures on Thursday vs the warmer temps on the return trip Saturday.

@RickLightning Comment: I have taken to heart the comment earlier in this thread of @RickLightning, "I think people that buy an EV, and then are scared to take it on a trip or find it too challenging to plan a trip, are clearly not embracing the EV lifestyle." We have made the trip to Princeton every Thanksgiving for three decades. While I used to pride myself of making the trip in under 4.5 hours in my ICE, the occupants of the car (three other adults) were fine with the trip taking 6 hours. The walks while we charged twice were enjoyable. And the smoother ride -- and the enourmous amout of room -- in the Lightning was commented on multiple times. I'm so glade I did not cop out and take my son's XC Volvo. it'll be the Lightning every year.

Thx for your summary….curious, what we’re you average temps during your trip?

 

[FirstF150InCasco]

Thx for your summary….curious, what we’re you average temps during your trip?

Low thirties on the way to Princeton. Mid fifties on the way back.

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