This will be my last attempt at a Lightning Road Trip

[On the Road with Ralph]

Until Ford decides to get serious and actually build a freaking network I will confine my Lightning driving to local only.

I just got home from my 10th - TENTH!!! - road trip of more than 1500 miles in my Pro SR. I have DC fast charged (more than 250 billed sessions) in eight different states; L2 in three more. These trips have NOT been coastal excursions in areas where there are lots of chargers, but in the wide open West. Worse, I love the challenge of crossing EV (and real) deserts. With 43K+ miles on my Lightning, I’ve never found myself stuck anywhere. Maybe it is because I am an intelligent and careful guy who also has the maturity not to blame the vehicle or the manufacturer for my failures to responsibly plan my trips.

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[evowner]

After purchasing my first EV over 8 years ago, I came to realize that I won't use it for long trips. The thought of sitting for a couple of hours while charging is not for me. I use my EVs for round trips up to around 250 miles. I have not had to use a public charger so far. I have not used the new TESLA supercharger technology yet. That may make it more palatable to extend those trips to 500 miles. I have a hybrid, and an old fashioned ICE for really long road trips.

 

[Brons2]

Seems the OP is just venting his frustration (which is OK).
Don't believe he is looking for any help/advice at this point.

The problem is that he's venting about his own failure to do appropriate planning for his trip. That is not the truck's fault.

The reality of it is, charging infrastructure is not yet to the point of just jumping in your EV and going to Timbuktu without thinking about where you are going to fill up with electrons. For some people that is an unacceptable drawback, and that's ok.

For me, having a plug-in hybrid requirement of caring for a gas engine and transmission is an unacceptable drawback, but other people think differently and think they're great. For those people that think PHEV is great, the Ram REV and possibly T3 (from posts I've seen here) will have a range extender option. To each their own...

 

[SSNutz]

First of all, sorry to hear your trip is not going as well as you would like. Been there, it sucks.

I will agree that the Ford Nav SHOULD be all you need, but honestly I don't use mine because I cannot trust it.

It would be helpful if you could tell us where you are going. Maybe the route, major city to major city, something like that. I won't say I am a frequent road tripper, but I did 3,000 miles of road trips in the first month (which was my first ever EV too). This was up in the rural areas of Michigan, and across Wisconsin, and didn't have an issue.

I am going to assume you do not have the Tesla adapter. It makes a big difference.

FWIW, maybe my technique will help.
I much prefer to use the Website or App "A Better Route Planner" (ABRP) to find my charging stops. It will tell you WHERE to stop, and then the app "Plugshare" is awesome to tell you how good the charger is and what is around.
I map my entire route in ABRP to see how long between stops I will be traveling, roughly where each stop is, how long each charging session is, etc. Then using Plugshare I may adjust some stops because there is a better charger nearby.
I then run Google for my Nav. I also keep ABRP up as a secondary nav since it tracks battery percent and can tell you if you are using the battery faster or slower than expected.

Best of luck. In the end I don't think it needs to be as bad as it has been, but your technique may be off. Best of luck.

If you have Android Auto and lastest Google maps, it will track SOC and tell your truck when to precondition the battery if you have a charger location stop. This has been really nice upgrade. Also will tell you estimate SOC for destination.

 

[Jamchampnate]

This is one area where Tesla is actually great (had teslas for years, like for lightning way better overall): ev noobs.

With a Tesla you put in a destination and charging stops are built in great and it’s a pretty seamless experience. Mostly because SC just work. If you’re a noob and don’t want to plan at all, a Tesla may be the way to go.

again, I would never go back to Tesla now that I know how to plan EV trips. But some for some people it’s a good start for an EV life.

 

[Firn]

The problem is that he's venting about his own failure to do appropriate planning for his trip. That is not the truck's fault.

If you cannot use the built-in navigation then it IS a failure of the truck. Yes, we all know better ways to go about this, but if the truck nav says it provides those features then it should actually provide them.


I have to be honest, the folks here are kind of being jerks about it.

 

[csukoh78]

I am in one hotel, and my lightning is languishing at another hotel, hooked up to a slow-ass Blink L1 charger because it was all I could find. I had to take an Uber back to my hotel, and will have to take an uber back to the other one tomorrow morning, and hope that it picked up enough miles to get me to a real charger.
Until Ford decides to get serious and actually build a freaking network I will confine my Lightning driving to local only. The Ford Pass "network" is just a list. It doesn't work. What i have now are two nav systems (Google and Ford). Google is flawed and unreliable when it comes to charging, but at least I can get somewhere with it. Ford can't find many locations, has all the functionality of Garmin 2004, and looks awful. The FordPass app can find chargers and sometimes feed them to Google Maps, but it's as likely to take me to the wrong place or to a charger that is not available or compatible. After two long days of driving 2 hours to charge for an hour (when I can actually find a charger close to the route), collecting charging apps so I can sit in an isolated spot with no rest rooms and no amenities, I have had it. My wife is ready to leave the Lightning at an airport and rent an ICE so we can finish driving to our vacation destination.
Ford, if you're listening, quit making us beta test your tech. Get it together.

Road tripping in the Lightning is excellent. Use Tesla chargers or super fast Ford Network chargers. I just google chargers and stick with EA and Tesla. Requires a minimal amount of planning which is a small trade off for an otherwise amazing truck.

 

[Danface]

I have all the EV apps and triple check every charger location, just treat a long trip like you're going to Antarctica and you'll be fine. (just ask Shackleton )

 

[Brons2]

I just got home from my 10th - TENTH!!! - road trip of more than 1500 miles in my Pro SR. I have DC fast charged (more than 250 billed sessions) in eight different states; L2 in three more. These trips have NOT been coastal excursions in areas where there are lots of chargers, but in the wide open West. Worse, I love the challenge of crossing EV (and real) deserts. With 43K+ miles on my Lightning, I’ve never found myself stuck anywhere. Maybe it is because I am an intelligent and careful guy who also has the maturity not to blame the vehicle or the manufacturer for my failures to responsibly plan my trips.

Good point. My 70 something parents sold both their ICE vehicles in 2022 and acquired an ID.4 Pro.S. They have taken it from Central Texas to the West Coast and up and down the West Coast 3 times since then, and also another trip to Las Vegas which is around 2000 miles from our location.

Being the overbearing, overprotective, overopinionated son that I am, I watched their first trip very carefully, texting them every couple of hours as to inquire on their process, and following along on Plugshare and ABRP closely. Since then I don't watch as closely becaue they're doing fine.

One advantage of paying sticker at the height of the market for them has been 3 years free of Electrify America. So they pretty much to this point have only charged with EA for the most part, which has taken them out of the way at times, but they're retired, so they have the time.

The only time they had trouble was the first time when they took the direct route through Texas, which when coming from I-40 is through Lubbock, Sweetwater and Brownwood. I had been on ABRP and told them not to go through Lubbock, but rather to take US-287 from Amarillo to Fort Worth and that there was a Francis Energy DCFC a few miles off route just over the border in OK that would keep them on fast charging all the way home. They didn't listen and got stuck on an L2 at a hotel in Lubbock for 4 or 5 hours. After which they drove off to Sweetwater, TX at 60mph (in a 75) with the AC off in the summertime in order to make it.

Thankfully the options have slightly improved in Lubbock since then lol. On their last trip they charged in Lubbock at the Hyundai dealer, IIRC. There is also a Ford compatible Tesla supercharger in Lubbock now.

Point of all this being, if they can do it, anyone can do it.

 

[Brons2]

I have to be honest, the folks here are kind of being jerks about it.

Nah. If someone came in to any ICE vehicle forum and said basically "I hate this vehicle" where most people loved the vehicle, he'd get treated like a heretic also.

Or "XYZ" feature doesn't work, but most people on the forum are using it, etc.

Internet forum life pretty much.

 

[Danface]

Nah. If someone came in to any ICE vehicle forum and said basically "I hate this vehicle" where most people loved the vehicle, he'd get treated like a heretic also.

Or "XYZ" feature doesn't work, but most people on the forum are using it, etc.

Internet forum life pretty much.

Yeah, no one wants to hear that their baby is ugly ... LOL. I love the truck, warts and all!

 

[Basalt]

It takes planning. If you cannot plan, Lightnings are not road-trip rigs.

 

[srvethelord]

I'm sorry brother. This really stinks. And I apologize for all the people above saying you, not the truck, is the problem. For a lot of people here, the Lightning (or EVs in general) is their hobby and way of life. It's definitely NOT for me. The reasons you have detailed, are the reasons I do not drive my Lightning on road trips. I'm not going to spend 20 minutes to "detail my driving route to ensure I have chargers on my route." Pffftt. I have more important things to do with my time. Why would I spend time doing that when I can jump in my ICE and go? w/o a second thought? I LOVE the Lightning for around town and short-range trips. It's awesome! Road trips? Not interested. I'm all about convenience, and right now, EV's (at least the Lightning) are NOT convenient for long range trips. But man, you can't beat it for around town and short trips. Especially if you have a charger at home.

 

[BarryGoyette]

I’ll just add to the chorus here. I spend a lot of time on camera forums, and there’s always someone who buys the most expensive system, hasn’t done his homework, and then sh*ts the bed when they find out it won’t make an espresso. Next they announce to the group how disappointed they are, and whatever fatalist decision they’ve made. I never understand it.
3 months after buying my truck I headed off on a 1200mile trip across the California AZ desert not knowing what it would be like. After my first stop at a not-ready-for-prime-time Tesla SC station, I made a quick study of planning the rest of the trip. 3 hours driving 30-45 min charging is what this truck gives you (vs what the OP and other naysayers will tell you). That’s plenty of range for me. Yeah it would be nice if more stations were attached to bathrooms and food, but even across the Mohave we typically found both within a stones throw. Since then I’ve given up worrying about where my next charge is coming from. It takes just the minimum of preparation, and if you’re not willing to do that, maybe now isn’t the right time for you to own an EV.
Final thought.. on my last trip to Santa Barbara, which is surprisingly its own little charging desert for CCS vehicles.. I stumbled upon a set of chargers hidden in one of the city’s many parking garages. This didn’t show up on my PlugShare >250kw map, but at 96kw, (and cheaper than subscription Tesla pricing), it was barely an hour for a 95% charge while my GF got a massage and I went Christmas shopping. There were of course back-up options for us to get home, but charging there was better than finding a gas station, and an example of how EV charging can be better and easier than the OP (and others) think.

 

[Sneakypetie78]

You need some education on the subject as a whole. This is user error.

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