halfbakedenchilada
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Just got back from a road trip in my 2024 Lightning Lariat (so, the ER battery). The route was basically: Phoenix —> Los Angeles —> Sacramento —> Portland —> Missoula —> Salt Lake —> Las Vegas —> Phoenix.
Total miles: 3338
Average mi/kWh: 1.8
Worst efficiency: 1.1 mi/kWh (25 F with a 25-30 mph headwind, going 75-80 mph)
Best efficiency: 2.4 mi/kWh (75 F, no wind, slight downhill, going 70 mph)
Speeds: In 65 mph zones, I would go ~70. In 75 mph zones, I would go 75-80 mph. In 80 mph zones, I would go 80. I did not baby it, only backed off a couple of times when ABRP started to estimate my ending SoC < 5%.
ABRP with OBD connection: Excellent. Coming from tens of thousands of road trip miles with a Tesla Model Y Long Range, ABRP is about as good, maybe better than, the Tesla route planning software at predicting my ending SoC in variable conditions. I had legs of the trip that started out at 50 F and ended a 30 F, in the mountains, with a stiff headwind, and the predicted SoC was within 2% of what I pulled in with. When it was relatively flat it would often be exactly right. In some cases it was 5-10% too pessimistic, which is sort of annoying but if I saw it creep up I knew I could increase my speed. (And I suppose it’s better than it being consistently optimistic!) My calibrated reference consumption currently sits at 2.48 mi/kWh (with my training percentages at: low speed: 77%, medium speed: 84%, high speed: 84%). I am super pleased with ABRP. The Ford planning software seemed ok but not very accurate, and I never used it after the first few legs. Apple Maps was always way too pessimistic, which leads to wasting time over-charging, and provides almost no data in terms of where it plans charges, etc. I might be missing something, of course.
Preconditioning: Didn’t bother (well, didn't bother using the Ford route planning), and it didn’t seem to matter much, at least at the temps I was traveling at. I would usually start the DCFC session with about 10-20 SoC, and immediately get to 170-180 kW. Highest I saw was 191 when it was about 75 F.
Networks: probably 75% Tesla, 25% EA. I tried to favor EA, just for the adventure, but man when you pull off the highway and you see 4 EA chargers on one side of the highway and 40-80 Tesla stalls on the other side (which happens in California quite a bit), it’s hard to go EA. In EA’s defense, whenever I used them I never waited and they never stranded me, but in the majority of cases the first plug-in didn’t work. Not sure why. So I’d move over one stall, or try again, or try a different way, and eventually get it. On Tesla, every stall worked the first time except for one in Oregon. Speeds were the same as best I could tell.
Bluecruise: I thought it worked really well. Used it on essentially all roads where it was active, except a few places with road construction. I am coming to the end of my trial, and I am going to buy it for the year. Really excellent if you are on major highways (I REALLY wish they would expand the network out west to state highways, etc.!). I think I have v1.4 (it does auto lane changes with me initiating the turn signal). Its behavior around trucks, where it gives the semi a bit of space, is excellent. Zero phantom break events (which, coming from Tesla, is so nice, I would typically have 1 major, very scary, phantom break event once every 500 miles or so in my model Y). I vastly prefer it to Tesla AP or FSD, but of course YMMV.
Overall: I was surprised, a bit shocked actually, that road tripping this beast is almost exactly the same sort of experience as I found in my model Y long range. The charging sessions were about as long, and the distances traveled between charges about the same. On stretches that I know well from my model Y days, the stops were essentially the same (in some cases there were places I would stop in the Tesla where I can’t charge the Lightning because they are older V2 chargers, so I’d just go to a nearby EA station). Overall a very good cadence of charge-drive-charge-drive-charge-drive-etc., for me at least, as someone who is quite used to EV road tripping. I think Ford opening up to 500 amp charging, to allow rates above 150 kW, is really great …. Ford, you should open it up more! The Lightning is quiet, comfortable, sure-footed in the snow, and roomy. It crushed the Montana back roads. It’s not efficient compared to a model 3 or a Lucid, of course, but it’s efficient for what it is. I love it, it’s a fantastic machine and a great road tripper.
Happy to answer questions if there are any. Just wanted to get a positive story out there since I’ve run into some negative posts on here lately.
Total miles: 3338
Average mi/kWh: 1.8
Worst efficiency: 1.1 mi/kWh (25 F with a 25-30 mph headwind, going 75-80 mph)
Best efficiency: 2.4 mi/kWh (75 F, no wind, slight downhill, going 70 mph)
Speeds: In 65 mph zones, I would go ~70. In 75 mph zones, I would go 75-80 mph. In 80 mph zones, I would go 80. I did not baby it, only backed off a couple of times when ABRP started to estimate my ending SoC < 5%.
ABRP with OBD connection: Excellent. Coming from tens of thousands of road trip miles with a Tesla Model Y Long Range, ABRP is about as good, maybe better than, the Tesla route planning software at predicting my ending SoC in variable conditions. I had legs of the trip that started out at 50 F and ended a 30 F, in the mountains, with a stiff headwind, and the predicted SoC was within 2% of what I pulled in with. When it was relatively flat it would often be exactly right. In some cases it was 5-10% too pessimistic, which is sort of annoying but if I saw it creep up I knew I could increase my speed. (And I suppose it’s better than it being consistently optimistic!) My calibrated reference consumption currently sits at 2.48 mi/kWh (with my training percentages at: low speed: 77%, medium speed: 84%, high speed: 84%). I am super pleased with ABRP. The Ford planning software seemed ok but not very accurate, and I never used it after the first few legs. Apple Maps was always way too pessimistic, which leads to wasting time over-charging, and provides almost no data in terms of where it plans charges, etc. I might be missing something, of course.
Preconditioning: Didn’t bother (well, didn't bother using the Ford route planning), and it didn’t seem to matter much, at least at the temps I was traveling at. I would usually start the DCFC session with about 10-20 SoC, and immediately get to 170-180 kW. Highest I saw was 191 when it was about 75 F.
Networks: probably 75% Tesla, 25% EA. I tried to favor EA, just for the adventure, but man when you pull off the highway and you see 4 EA chargers on one side of the highway and 40-80 Tesla stalls on the other side (which happens in California quite a bit), it’s hard to go EA. In EA’s defense, whenever I used them I never waited and they never stranded me, but in the majority of cases the first plug-in didn’t work. Not sure why. So I’d move over one stall, or try again, or try a different way, and eventually get it. On Tesla, every stall worked the first time except for one in Oregon. Speeds were the same as best I could tell.
Bluecruise: I thought it worked really well. Used it on essentially all roads where it was active, except a few places with road construction. I am coming to the end of my trial, and I am going to buy it for the year. Really excellent if you are on major highways (I REALLY wish they would expand the network out west to state highways, etc.!). I think I have v1.4 (it does auto lane changes with me initiating the turn signal). Its behavior around trucks, where it gives the semi a bit of space, is excellent. Zero phantom break events (which, coming from Tesla, is so nice, I would typically have 1 major, very scary, phantom break event once every 500 miles or so in my model Y). I vastly prefer it to Tesla AP or FSD, but of course YMMV.
Overall: I was surprised, a bit shocked actually, that road tripping this beast is almost exactly the same sort of experience as I found in my model Y long range. The charging sessions were about as long, and the distances traveled between charges about the same. On stretches that I know well from my model Y days, the stops were essentially the same (in some cases there were places I would stop in the Tesla where I can’t charge the Lightning because they are older V2 chargers, so I’d just go to a nearby EA station). Overall a very good cadence of charge-drive-charge-drive-charge-drive-etc., for me at least, as someone who is quite used to EV road tripping. I think Ford opening up to 500 amp charging, to allow rates above 150 kW, is really great …. Ford, you should open it up more! The Lightning is quiet, comfortable, sure-footed in the snow, and roomy. It crushed the Montana back roads. It’s not efficient compared to a model 3 or a Lucid, of course, but it’s efficient for what it is. I love it, it’s a fantastic machine and a great road tripper.
Happy to answer questions if there are any. Just wanted to get a positive story out there since I’ve run into some negative posts on here lately.
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