You can't get there from here.

[F-150 Prius]

Here's some details on long distance (500 miles to 2000 miles) of EV driving, F-150 Hybrid driving the same route and thinking about the Lightning.
For example, I've driven Salt Late City to Denver in a Tesla, in a blizzard (or three) with road closures and head winds.
It's no fun. But at least you can make it.
In the F-150 Prius, it's a piece of cake. Gas stations everywhere, no real problem in a blizzard (I've driven the F-150 through blizzards in Wyoming including cross country when I-80 gets closed, camping in the cabin overnight with the engine on … no problem) and at least 500 miles between fill-ups running 87 gas.
Ford and Electrify America (and Rivian and GM) … and Tesla … all need to do more about adding fast charging (250kW+, not 50kW) along the freeways.
Here's an example from a recent email from Ford using their route planner.

That leg in the middle is 407 miles from Coaville, UT to Wellington, CO traveling through Wyoming.
If you're curious, well things will improve a lot in the next 12-24 months and I don't see this as a dealbreaker for me, but you can look at
abetterrouteplanner.com and plug in the Lightning (or Rivian or Tesla) and
Rivian R1T https://abetterrouteplanner.com/?plan_uuid=6faf2d84-742e-4136-b806-d8fe9fe48254
Ford F-150 Lightning Extended Range https://abetterrouteplanner.com/?plan_uuid=6152d211-38ae-4f0e-900b-aa377f1f1ac9
Tesla Model X at 400 Wh/mi (high speed driving, or cold weather)
https://abetterrouteplanner.com/?plan_uuid=3cfff005-08d6-4083-964a-9f66d4d14a98
(no viable route … so forget towing or cold weather or driving at the speed limit which is up to 80 mph along I-80)
Note the trip would require four hours' charging … a trip that's normally about 8 hours … so if you could make it, it would take 12 hours … fun for the all the family.

The Tesla route planner makes it look easy, but they use EPA range and Wh/mi … I've driven that route in a Model 3 Performance …. it's do-able, but you have to know the rules of the game and even so, it's a 10 hr drive, instead of 8 hrs, which is about average … 2 hours of charging per 8 hours of driving … another example would be a 2000 road trip from California through Montana and Colorado to Chicago. That would be 30 hours of driving … plus 9 or 10 hours of charging … that gets old … and that's not towing and that's with quite a bit of experience in how to maximize total trip time including charging and average road speed.

Anyway, thought I'd share my experience in an EV vs the F-150 Hybrid. I still expect to replace our Tesla Model X with the Lightning even though I have absolutely no use for two pickups, I think of the Lightning as more of an all-rounder and better suited for short haul and daily driver duty than the Hybrid. It will be fun and interesting to use the Lightning in ways where it excels … just not cross country road trips till they build a few thousand more charging pedestals to satisfy demand from hopefully hundreds of thousands of new Lightning owners.

 

[F-150 Prius]

Camping in sub-zero overnight.

 

[F-150 Prius]

Vanishing point

 

[F-150 Prius]

F-150 Hybrid covered 2200 miles in two days (truck idled all night, for lunch breaks, etc.) at 18 mpg and 100 miles of electric only.

That would be a benchmark for the Lightning to measure up against. I don't expect it in the first extended range, but I'd like to think it's possible, but with more charging time than refueling time of course.

 

[sotek2345]

This is very region specific. I just finished up a family road trip in my 2016 XLT. The last leg, from Tennessee to Upstate NY was over 800 miles and 13 hours of driving. It took us 15.5 hours total travel time including stop for gas, bathrooms, and food (breakfast on the road, stops for lunch and dinner).

After we got home, I checked that route in ABRP and with an extended range Lightning it would have taken between no extra time and 1 hour extra (playing with different options). Plenty of chargers along the route.

 

[astricklin]

The simple solution to your proposed problem is to travel south through Utah and then Colorado instead of going north through Montana. I know of several YouTube channels that have driven I-70 through Utah into Colorado in multiple bev including the mini that has an EPA range of 115 miles or so.
If for some reason you absolutely must travel through Wyoming on that route then sure, this vehicle isn't for you. I'd venture to say that the majority of truck owners drive more than 200 miles in a day a handful of times a year, if ever.

I don't understand the need to come here and bad talk the vehicle because it doesn't fit a very specific case.

 

[EaglesPDX]

If you drive I70 from SLC to DEN, you have coverage for charging the entire route. And that's just EA chargers.

Two 30 minute charging stops should do it.

https://www.electrifyamerica.com/locate-charger/?search=salt lake city

 

[F-150 Prius]

This is very region specific. I just finished up a family road trip in my 2016 XLT. The last leg, from Tennessee to Upstate NY was over 800 miles and 13 hours of driving. It took us 15.5 hours total travel time including stop for gas, bathrooms, and food (breakfast on the road, stops for lunch and dinner).

After we got home, I checked that route in ABRP and with an extended range Lightning it would have taken between no extra time and 1 hour extra (playing with different options). Plenty of chargers along the route.

Right, well, there's no point in discussing the routes that have sufficient charging network. I think the example (inevitable if driving across the country in that region) illustrates the sparse network presence. There are numerous dead zones around the USA where Tesla owners report either overcrowding (California during holiday weekends) or sheer absence of charging (Pittsburgh comes to mind.) As I note, I've done these routes, but once you're in a 300 mile range pickup and you have some load and some headwind or cold weather or you want to travel at the speed limit plus 5-10 mph … nope … it doesn't work out and you end up either limping along at 55 mph or sitting in a charger to charge to 90% or 100% at "trickle" charge rates (below 70 kW) which results in very slow total trip time.

 

[F-150 Prius]

If you drive I70 from SLC to DEN, you have coverage for charging the entire route. And that's just EA chargers.

Two 30 minute charging stops should do it.

https://www.electrifyamerica.com/locate-charger/?search=salt lake city

In what vehicle and at what rate of charge?
It's 500 miles. If a vehicle starts at 90% or 100% of max range and driven anywhere near EPA Wh/mi, each 30 minute charge would have to add 100 to 150 real world miles and that just doesn't add up. Sure, the Internet is noisy with Tesla owners saying they cruised at 210 Wh/mi at 75 mph on a sunny day … rubbish … that they stopped for 22 minutes at a Supercharger that happened to be perfectly situated just as their vehicle dropped to 5% SoC … rubbish … and there was no waiting in line and the car guzzled down electrons at 250 kW (which some Teslas can do for about 15 minutes) … all just fanciful nonsense. Speaking from six years and 100K+ miles of EV experience of which at least 20-30K were long haul 1000+ mile trips between places like Montana and Colorado and California where the weather is either damn hot or freezing cold, the freeways are 80 mph and the trucks are doing 90 mph at 1am in 32 degree weather … not the conditions where EVs shine.

 

[F-150 Prius]

The simple solution to your proposed problem is to travel south through Utah and then Colorado instead of going north through Montana. I know of several YouTube channels that have driven I-70 through Utah into Colorado in multiple bev including the mini that has an EPA range of 115 miles or so.
If for some reason you absolutely must travel through Wyoming on that route then sure, this vehicle isn't for you. I'd venture to say that the majority of truck owners drive more than 200 miles in a day a handful of times a year, if ever.

I don't understand the need to come here and bad talk the vehicle because it doesn't fit a very specific case.

"Bad talk"? You've not read what I've written.
I saw TFL drive the Mini EV back to Colorado. Did you see how long it took and the complications and the average trip speed? They made it tougher than it needed to be and encountered unusual complications, but still, that video proved it's not realistic. It's "possible" but it's not realistically feasible. I've covered a similar route six times (from San Francisco to Denver, about 1000 miles) and my second and third trips (east and west bound) were getting better as I learned to time arrival at Superchargers with a risky 5% SoC. That's just not realistic in winter or even at night (headlights, colder air, the batteries use power to keep warm.)

 

[F-150 Prius]

The simple solution to your proposed problem is to travel south through Utah and then Colorado instead of going north through Montana. I know of several YouTube channels that have driven I-70 through Utah into Colorado in multiple bev including the mini that has an EPA range of 115 miles or so.
If for some reason you absolutely must travel through Wyoming on that route then sure, this vehicle isn't for you. I'd venture to say that the majority of truck owners drive more than 200 miles in a day a handful of times a year, if ever.

I don't understand the need to come here and bad talk the vehicle because it doesn't fit a very specific case.

One of the examples I gave shows how to route south. Some choose to even route through Vegas (warmer) driving east from San Francisco and take the extra miles in return for less mountainous and less freezing conditions. As I noted, it can be done, I've done it several times. The point is to see the lack of charging network and the real world practical experience of driving an EV 500 or 1000 or 2000 miles … what looks "should be fine" on a route planner turns out to be unrealistic once you're on the road and instead of a nominal 65 mph, you're cruising at 75 or faster, you're over-taking, you're stopped with the power on for AC.
I hope that Ford has set the F-150 Hybrid as the benchmark for the Lightning to equal or better. Obviously an EV can't tow or drive at very high speed like a gas engine simply due to battery energy density, but if the Lightning can come close to the total trip time of the Hybrid, it will need a solid network of fast (150kW+) charging points … and sufficient pedestals at each location so there's no waiting in line for 30 minutes on holiday weekends, etc.
It can be done, just not today.
If you wanted to look into the nitty gritty you could sift through the posts from Taycan owners coming to grips with Electrify America. It's good that the Lightning is arriving after these high dollar, high expectation owners have stressed the existing network and pushed all the carmakers to build out thousands of new charging points over the next few years.
Tesla has done it in some limited routes, but the next few years will be an influx of new EV owners wanting to just get in and go like they did in their gas pickup. That will require a fully fleshed out network.

 

[astricklin]

I don't think very many people just "get in and go" for a multi day road trip over thousands of miles. They are going to do some amount of planning and so they will just need to add route planning to their getting ready for the trip routine.
You are making a bunch of talking points that the vehicle can't/shouldn't be used for a use case that is not applicable to a large percentage of owners.
If you drive like this often, don't buy a bev. If you drive like this once or twice a year, rent something or use a different vehicle in your household.

 

[F-150 Prius]

I don't think very many people just "get in and go" for a multi day road trip over thousands of miles. They are going to do some amount of planning and so they will just need to add route planning to their getting ready for the trip routine.
You are making a bunch of talking points that the vehicle can't/shouldn't be used for a use case that is not applicable to a large percentage of owners.
If you drive like this often, don't buy a bev. If you drive like this once or twice a year, rent something or use a different vehicle in your household.

It doesn't sound like you've read what I've written. I don't make a "bunch of talking points" and I'm not arguing broad generalizations of who should buy a Lightning.
By "get in and go" I mean drivers don't think in terms of planning for additional hours of charging, spacing out charging stops at optimal conditions anticipating terrain, weather and road speed.

 

[FtS]

I don't think very many people just "get in and go" for a multi day road trip over thousands of miles. They are going to do some amount of planning and so they will just need to add route planning to their getting ready for the trip routine.
You are making a bunch of talking points that the vehicle can't/shouldn't be used for a use case that is not applicable to a large percentage of owners.
If you drive like this often, don't buy a bev. If you drive like this once or twice a year, rent something or use a different vehicle in your household.

That’s just too simplistic of a reaction, I think. I need a vehicle in which 340 days of the year I can use for daily duties (<100 mi.), but twice or three times a year take the family to vacation, see relatives, or what ever 6-700 miles away and return safely. I do want an EV, because they are technically superior. At the same time, I will never put my family in a situation in which we have to wait 2-4 hours to fill up the truck on the side of a road that I am not familiar.

I think @F-150 Prius is mentioning that there many scenarios in which dealing with charging and range will cause major problems or challenges. Saying, in this case just don’t buy it is not a solution; coming up with real alternatives is why we discuss these topics.
I appreciate the thought process he put in to this.

 

[F-150 Prius]

That’s just too simplistic of a reaction, I think. I need a vehicle in which 340 days of the year I can use for daily duties (<100 mi.), but twice or three times a year take the family to vacation, see relatives, or what ever 6-700 miles away and return safely. I do want an EV, because they are technically superior. At the same time, I will never put my family in a situation in which we have to wait 2-4 hours to fill up the truck on the side of a road that I am not familiar.

I think @F-150 Prius is mentioning that there many scenarios in which dealing with charging and range will cause major problems or challenges. Saying, in this case just don’t buy it is not a solution; coming up with real alternatives is why we discuss these topics.
I appreciate the thought process he put in to this.

Thanks, yes, I didn't intend my post to be argumentative or critical of the Lightning or opine on who should or should not buy the Lightning.

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