F150 Lightning Road Trip & Ike Gauntlet Pull

[FishOnOne]

TFL drove the new F150 Lightning from Michigan to Colorado

Test Configuration: Mostly highway miles at 70-75 mph
Total Miles: 1225
Total Charging Time: ~ 5 hours

Summary: (Fail) Efficiency at highway speeds and charging time

Previous Test was the Rivian towing a small trailer up the Ike and the summary was an Epic Fail

Spoiler Alert: Pretty sure the towing test with the Lightning will fall into the Epic Fail category.

Link

[rjstractor]

Thermoguy wrote:
Semi trucks with EV can outperform a comparable ICE

Depends on your definition of "outperform". Compared with a conventional semi, the Freightliner eCascadia very likely accelerates faster. It may or may not climb hills faster- Freightliner's website lists HP options from 300 to 525. So probably a wash on hill climbing speeds. Tesla's website for their prototype Semi lists its speed on a 5% grade at 60 mph, which is good but not overwhelmingly so. Higher HP ICE trucks are close to that. But when it comes to doing what semi trucks actually are designed to do- move the freight hundreds of miles efficiently and productively, the electric trucks aren't close yet in performance. I say 'yet', because they will be some day. I hope you're right on the sodium ion batteries, because I don't see lithium as being sustainable once EV production expands a hundred fold.

[Thermoguy]

parker.rowe wrote:

PButler96 wrote:
Well this certainly descended into a pissing match of total silliness lol. Thanks for the laughs.

Right?
It towed the trailer very well.
Are there range issues. Yes
Is anyone surprised by that. No
Can you make it work if you change your driving habits. Probably
Does it have impressive power and is unaffected by elevation. Yes
No one is surprised by that either.

It did a great job towing the IKE and didn't break down on the road trip. But it's not for everyone.
No big surprise there. ICE vehicles will be around for a while yet for heavy work.

I have to disagree with some of this.

An EV can out tow a comparable ICE. More torque and more horse power for similar equipment. Semi trucks with EV can outperform a comparable ICE, so it's only time for your 3/4 ton or 1 ton to be EV and outperform your current truck.

Will you have to change your driving habits? Maybe, today, yes, but tomorrow no. Most of my camp trips are within 100 to 150 miles. With a typical EV range, very doable today. Even more tomorrow with higher range trucks and better super charger capabilities.

I took an Uber today, it was a tesla. He showed me he can "refill" about 200 miles of range at a super charger in 15 -20 minutes for $15. At his house, the recharge rate is 100 miles per hour at a cost of $3-$6 for a typical 300 mile range.

Most people drive to work and back daily (if they work). Usually less than 100 miles. Your business might have a charger at work and it might be free to you. Any EV can accomplish this for the average. If on the weekends, you want to drive 500 miles, you might have to stop once or twice for 15 minutes. (assuming you live in an area with plenty of chargers - I'm on the west coast, they are everywhere) If you are using an F150 with trailer, maybe your range is reduced, but you can still charge in the time it takes most of us to get fuel, snack, wash the windows, etc. I think the Silverado will have a higher charging capacity, which means quicker charging over the F150.

My point - It's coming. You don't have to own one if you don't want, but my guess is everyone on this forum - that likes technology will own one. Eventually our government will outlaw ICE, so then you have to own one. If you don't want that, make sure you know who your voting for in the future. But - EV is good, it still runs on fossil fuels, just stores power, it doesn't generate fuel...

Finally, a point on batteries - soon batteries will be Sodium Ion - salt, not Lithium - better for the environment and more plentiful.

[time2roll]

parker.rowe wrote:

PButler96 wrote:
Well this certainly descended into a pissing match of total silliness lol. Thanks for the laughs.

Right?
It towed the trailer very well.
Are there range issues. Yes
Is anyone surprised by that. No
Can you make it work if you change your driving habits. Probably
Does it have impressive power and is unaffected by elevation. Yes
No one is surprised by that either.

It did a great job towing the IKE and didn't break down on the road trip. But it's not for everyone.
No big surprise there. ICE vehicles will be around for a while yet for heavy work.

Yes this review was better than TFL 😉

[Reisender]

parker.rowe wrote:

PButler96 wrote:
Well this certainly descended into a pissing match of total silliness lol. Thanks for the laughs.

Right?
It towed the trailer very well.
Are there range issues. Yes
Is anyone surprised by that. No
Can you make it work if you change your driving habits. Probably
Does it have impressive power and is unaffected by elevation. Yes
No one is surprised by that either.

It did a great job towing the IKE and didn't break down on the road trip. But it's not for everyone.
No big surprise there. ICE vehicles will be around for a while yet for heavy work.

Great summary. And pretty much our experience after a lot of towing a little travel trailer with an EV this year.

I would also add that it’s comparatively pretty cheap to tow with an EV as well.

Cheers.

[Grit_dog]

PButler96 wrote:
Well this certainly descended into a pissing match of total silliness lol. Thanks for the laughs.

Half the reason I'm on this forum is for the entertainment value....
It really is uncanny compared to other (similar-ish) forums, the sincere level of ignorance and insolence some of the folks here exude!

[parker_rowe]

PButler96 wrote:
Well this certainly descended into a pissing match of total silliness lol. Thanks for the laughs.

Right?
It towed the trailer very well.
Are there range issues. Yes
Is anyone surprised by that. No
Can you make it work if you change your driving habits. Probably
Does it have impressive power and is unaffected by elevation. Yes
No one is surprised by that either.

It did a great job towing the IKE and didn't break down on the road trip. But it's not for everyone.
No big surprise there. ICE vehicles will be around for a while yet for heavy work.

[PButler96]

Well this certainly descended into a pissing match of total silliness lol. Thanks for the laughs.

[Lantley]

valhalla360 wrote:

Grit dog wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:


Sure they have...even back into the 1800's EVs were more reliable...probably even more so compared to the ICE of the day.

Now that's funny! You're able to comment on the reliability of an electric car from over 100 years ago compared to the reliability of an ICE car from over 100 years ago?

Yes, the technology is pretty well understood. The ICE back then needed regular maintenance and tune ups. They had to be rebuilt every few thousand miles. The advantage was in range (ie: energy storage).

Electric motors were very reliable. My Dad has a bench grinder hooked up to a 1920's electric motor that ran perfectly in the 1980s.

If EV was simple 1800's technology one of the big players would have come out with a desirable EV long before Tesla. The big guys fumbled around with the Bolt and the Leaf and are still fumbling around with the Mach E (which currently has a stop sale mandate).
Maybe You can enlighten those guys with some old text books and get them moving forward with some plans from the 1800's.
In the mean time Tesla with continue to dominate the EV market.

[valhalla360]

Grit dog wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:


Sure they have...even back into the 1800's EVs were more reliable...probably even more so compared to the ICE of the day.

Now that's funny! You're able to comment on the reliability of an electric car from over 100 years ago compared to the reliability of an ICE car from over 100 years ago?

Yes, the technology is pretty well understood. The ICE back then needed regular maintenance and tune ups. They had to be rebuilt every few thousand miles. The advantage was in range (ie: energy storage).

Electric motors were very reliable. My Dad has a bench grinder hooked up to a 1920's electric motor that ran perfectly in the 1980s.

[valhalla360]

Lantley wrote:
The Tesla I drove had no problem with energy storage. I pressed the pedal and it took off like a rocket. However the silence was erie no engine noise. No clanking, no rumbling, just swoosh. Like fast forwarding a movie things just passed by the windshield.
Did that happen in the 1800's

Yeah, pretty much. They were expensive top of the line machines back then.

[thomas201]

Really battery storage is a dead end. Just look at the energy density and the infrastructure build out. Hydrogen? The embrittlement problem with common carbon steel is going to be hard to solve.

The best solution:
"esearchers from the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Rochester seek to improve this process in a project that recently received $300,000 from the Department of Defense Office of Naval Research. The project, led by the University of Rochester’s Marc Porosoff and Pitt’s Giannis Mpourmpakis, will refine a crucial step in the seawater-to-fuel process, making it more energy efficient, safer, and scalable.

The first step of fuel synthesis is converting the carbon dioxide (CO2) extracted from seawater into carbon monoxide (CO). Last summer, the team successfully demonstrated that molybdenum carbide catalysts efficiently and reliably convert CO2 to CO, achieving this critical first step in turning seawater into fuel. The newly funded project will expand on the previous work, seeking to further hydrogenate carbon monoxide into usable fuels using Fischer-Tropsch synthesis."

The hard part was making carbon monoxide. With electricity and carbon dioxide (seawater, air recapture, power plant exhaust) you can feed this through the Fischer-Tropsch process and produce hydrocarbon fuels. Germany in WWII did this, as did South Africa in the old embargo days. Then you just blend into the current gasoline and diesel supplies. This also solves the storage problem for solar and wind power generation. Just saying, think out of the box.

[Lantley]

valhalla360 wrote:

Lantley wrote:
Actually Tesla has figured out how to mass produce an EV that reliably works. That has not existed since the 1800's.
None of the major players have been able to achieve this feat to date!
Its more than just hype or old news. Tesla has built the platform that will eventually replace the ICE.
It's more of a money,mindset issue than a technical issue at this point. Tesla has established a real live working blueprint for the vehicle itself.

Sure they have...even back into the 1800's EVs were more reliable...probably even more so compared to the ICE of the day. The problem was and still is energy storage.

The Tesla I drove had no problem with energy storage. I pressed the pedal and it took off like a rocket. However the silence was erie no engine noise. No clanking, no rumbling, just swoosh. Like fast forwarding a movie things just passed by the windshield.
Did that happen in the 1800's

[time2roll]

ShinerBock wrote:
We will have to disagree here. They are using the truck the same way they would use and ICE truck. Just because it does not perform the same and adds hours to the trip, does not mean it isn't relevant. In every cross country review and article I have seen of an EV vehicle, they have all added time to trips. Everything has pros and cons, and currently this is a con of EV's. You can't just boast about the pros of your favorite thing and then cry foul or bury your head in the sand when a con is exposed or report on.

EV long distance adds time to a trip? We knew that 20 years ago. Why would TFL even need to drive the vehicle? Just read the sales brochure and call it a fail.

Reminds me of John Broder of the NY Times. Kept short charging the EV on a multiday road test trip until it fully stalled and said it was a defective car.

[ShinerBock]

time2roll wrote:

ShinerBock wrote:

time2roll wrote:
OK if I load my F150 with a 40' 5th wheel and complain that it fails is that my fault or am I trying to use the truck in a way that it was not designed?

Or if I cannot arrive at the same time as my buddy that flies in an airplane is that a vehicle failure? Or a failure to have proper expectations?

The truck actually made the destination right? To me that is success. Fail would be rolling in on a tow truck.

I think you are going way off track here to make your point and biases more relevant.

No more than TFL.

We will have to disagree here. They are using the truck the same way they would use and ICE truck. Just because it does not perform the same and adds hours to the trip, does not mean it isn't relevant. In every cross country review and article I have seen of an EV vehicle, they have all added time to trips. Everything has pros and cons, and currently this is a con of EV's. You can't just boast about the pros of your favorite thing and then cry foul or bury your head in the sand when a con is exposed or report on.

[time2roll]

ShinerBock wrote:

time2roll wrote:
OK if I load my F150 with a 40' 5th wheel and complain that it fails is that my fault or am I trying to use the truck in a way that it was not designed?

Or if I cannot arrive at the same time as my buddy that flies in an airplane is that a vehicle failure? Or a failure to have proper expectations?

The truck actually made the destination right? To me that is success. Fail would be rolling in on a tow truck.

I think you are going way off track here to make your point and biases more relevant.

No more than TFL.