New F-150 Electric P/U

[Redcatcher70]

OK, saw the ad on television for the Electric F-150, not really impressed. 300 mile average distance traveled on a charge, then charge overnight and ready for another 300 miles. I live in Central Arkansas, my son lives in Rockwall, Texas, I calculated my mileage and come up with total distance of 327 miles. Not counting off and ons for potty breaks and he lives a few miles off I-30, I rounded it up to 350 miles.
Now if I drove the elec. truck, I would have to find a place between Greenville and Rowlett to charge and spend the night. Why would I want one of these trucks?

[fj12ryder]

Lynnmor wrote:

Gooma wrote:
A gas powered generator to charge an electric vehicle doesn't make sense.

Does it make sense to use hydro, coal, natural gas or nuclear?

You can use the gasoline directly to power the vehicle instead of using the gasoline to produce the electricity to then power the vehicle. The same can't be said for hydro, nuclear, and coal. Natural gas can be done, but it's not too common.

[Yosemite_Sam1]

Reisender wrote:


Thanks for the welcome. I’ll pop in from time to time. We have anchored on our next RV but won’t be buying till the new year so we feel a little funny posting on an RV board without an RV. Looks like we are going with a T@B 400 and towing with an EV SUV. Probably model Y or model X. Fellow in town has the model Y and T@B 400 combo and him and his wife are having a blast. And small enough to get on the smaller ferries that go to the smaller islands off Vancouver island. Some amazing hiking...assuming you don’t get eaten by a bear. :). We put in a reservation for a model X just in case as the waiting list is 8 months to get one. But the reality is we’ll probably just get the model Y. It’s going to be a big change from that pusher. :).

Cheers.

Yeah, looks like a good combo. While mine is light and easy, yours is lighter and easier.

With DW getting the joy of convertible sofa, I don't think we're going back to a smaller unit and I loathe going bigger even with the higher capabilities of the Cybertruck.

Enjoy and keep your fans (and pre-enemies) updated, lol.

[Lynnmor]

Gooma wrote:
A gas powered generator to charge an electric vehicle doesn't make sense.

Does it make sense to use hydro, coal, natural gas or nuclear?

[Gooma]

A gas powered generator to charge an electric vehicle doesn't make sense.

[Reisender]

Yosemite Sam1 wrote:

Reisender wrote:


I can’t speak for other vehicles but certainly our present EV uses no where near those suggested numbers. Typically AC draws around an additional KW plus or minus. Think of a small 5000 btu Home Depot air conditioner mounted in a small space like a car. It doesn’t take long to turn it into a meat locker. If you are stuck in traffic for 8 hours and wanting to keep cool an EV is a great place to be. You might use 10 percent of an 80 KWh battery. Really, running AC is not a big deal. The car figures it out and calculates your required charging stop and location accordingly.

Cold? It depends. If your EV has a heat pump it’s not too bad down to a certain point before resistance heat kicks in. If you have an older EV that only had resistance heat you can lose a third or more of your range. Either way, the car figures it out and calculates your charging stop and location accordingly.

Of course, as always, analyze your own needs and see if it’s right for you. For our needs and performance expectation gas vehicles have lots of disadvantages and no advantages so it’s an easy decision. But others with different needs and expectations may be better suited to gas vehicles.

Can’t speak to towing as we have no experience towing with an EV.
I’m not sure if the OP was planning on towing to his sons house, although I didn’t get that impression.

Cheers.

Welcome back @Reisender and your invaluable real-life knowledge about EV's and charging.

As opposed to those "no it can't" party-poopers theorists, lol.

Ah yeah, I repeat. I have orders for both F150 Lightning and Cybertruck. And if I can get 150 miles between re-charging, I'll will be plenty happy as this is my stops anyways for lunch and bathroom breaks.

I'm into RVing for light and easy travels and not to accumulate mileage (no rewards for that).

Thanks for the welcome. I’ll pop in from time to time. We have anchored on our next RV but won’t be buying till the new year so we feel a little funny posting on an RV board without an RV. Looks like we are going with a T@B 400 and towing with an EV SUV. Probably model Y or model X. Fellow in town has the model Y and T@B 400 combo and him and his wife are having a blast. And small enough to get on the smaller ferries that go to the smaller islands off Vancouver island. Some amazing hiking...assuming you don’t get eaten by a bear. :). We put in a reservation for a model X just in case as the waiting list is 8 months to get one. But the reality is we’ll probably just get the model Y. It’s going to be a big change from that pusher. :).

Cheers.

[valhalla360]

Groover wrote:
I think that during a transition period you will see some campgrounds putting in 250kw chargers for electric trucks with separate charging fees, probably near the main power feed to the campground. Getting power to all of the campsites will take time and money but private campgrounds will respond to demand. Sadly, if history foretells the future, government campgrounds will be the last to upgrade their infrastructure.

We really need to let the National Park Service set their own fees and manage their own budgets so that they can expand to meet demand.

Maybe campgrounds in built up areas...but still going to be expensive to install.

A single 250kw charger will need a supply power roughly equivalent to powering 100 campsites. (30amp at 120v = 3.6kw but derated per electrical codes supply per site is closer to 2.5kw.)

In rural areas, that's a huge upgrade with huge costs (think 6-7 figures). Many campgrounds struggle to supply a 30amp connection already.

There will probably be some that pop up but don't expect them to be common place in a few years. 50amp RV's have been kicking around for years and many parks still don't provide them.

While it would be nice to see the National Park campgrounds upgrade their services, it would be a huge cost in many cases as they have to upgrade miles of infrastructure to get power to the campground (in addition to wiring the actual campground). Reality, is they already run at high occupancy rates, so there is little economic incentive to upgrade.

[Yosemite_Sam1]

Reisender wrote:


I can’t speak for other vehicles but certainly our present EV uses no where near those suggested numbers. Typically AC draws around an additional KW plus or minus. Think of a small 5000 btu Home Depot air conditioner mounted in a small space like a car. It doesn’t take long to turn it into a meat locker. If you are stuck in traffic for 8 hours and wanting to keep cool an EV is a great place to be. You might use 10 percent of an 80 KWh battery. Really, running AC is not a big deal. The car figures it out and calculates your required charging stop and location accordingly.

Cold? It depends. If your EV has a heat pump it’s not too bad down to a certain point before resistance heat kicks in. If you have an older EV that only had resistance heat you can lose a third or more of your range. Either way, the car figures it out and calculates your charging stop and location accordingly.

Of course, as always, analyze your own needs and see if it’s right for you. For our needs and performance expectation gas vehicles have lots of disadvantages and no advantages so it’s an easy decision. But others with different needs and expectations may be better suited to gas vehicles.

Can’t speak to towing as we have no experience towing with an EV.
I’m not sure if the OP was planning on towing to his sons house, although I didn’t get that impression.

Cheers.

Welcome back @Reisender and your invaluable real-life knowledge about EV's and charging.

As opposed to those "no it can't" party-poopers theorists, lol.

Ah yeah, I repeat. I have orders for both F150 Lightning and Cybertruck. And if I can get 150 miles between re-charging, I'll will be plenty happy as this is my stops anyways for lunch and bathroom breaks.

I'm into RVing for light and easy travels and not to accumulate mileage (no rewards for that).

[Yosemite_Sam1]

Groover wrote:
I think that during a transition period you will see some campgrounds putting in 250kw chargers for electric trucks with separate charging fees, probably near the main power feed to the campground. Getting power to all of the campsites will take time and money but private campgrounds will respond to demand. Sadly, if history foretells the future, government campgrounds will be the last to upgrade their infrastructure.

We really need to let the National Park Service set their own fees and manage their own budgets so that they can expand to meet demand.

Had just done camping in California state campgrounds. Not a few already have EV charging stations.

Although the National Park Service priorities are the maintenance backlogs brought by the previous major budget cuts, we do hope they'll put in EV charging facilities in conjunction with the administration's goal to put 500,000 EV chargers as part of it's infrastructure bill.

[bgum]

Reality is this: No maybe s possibly or can't the next auto we purchase will be an EV. Why? We will no longer be towing anything. The technology has advanced sufficiently to make it a wise choice for people in our situation. The infrastructure has developed enough to make it usable. The oil industry no longer has a monopoly on the transportation system. The oil industry has served us well. It is now time to consider a new player in travel. For those who choose not to oil will be around for many years to come.

[Groover]

I think that during a transition period you will see some campgrounds putting in 250kw chargers for electric trucks with separate charging fees, probably near the main power feed to the campground. Getting power to all of the campsites will take time and money but private campgrounds will respond to demand. Sadly, if history foretells the future, government campgrounds will be the last to upgrade their infrastructure.

We really need to let the National Park Service set their own fees and manage their own budgets so that they can expand to meet demand.

[wanderingaimles]

Once these E pickups hit the market, it wont take long for the buyers to realize the limits of the vehicle, within months you will start seeing them with their respective tt's in tow, and you will be hearing a buzz in the background from all the generators in their beds running for hours so the truck can get back to town for more beer and wine along with a bag of ice.
The plus side of this is that it may restrict most of the owners to staying in commercial campgrounds where they can get a 50 amp plug for their truck, and no doubt you will see sites where a truck is on the 50, and a trailer is trying to run from the 30 at the same time.

[valhalla360]

fj12ryder wrote:
Sorry, but I don't think you get to decide what is "normal".

Agreed!!!! You don't get to decide what is normal.

And driving 500+ miles in a day is very much an oddity when you look at typical driving patterns.

[valhalla360]

rjstractor wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:

2112 wrote:
Curious
What if I carried my 200lb, 7200W, 240V/30A generator in the truck bed. Taking that same 350 mile trip, and say a realistic distance is 250 miles per charge. Let's say I travel 200 miles and stop at an out of the way location to take a lunch break. Out of the way meaning generator noise doesn't offend anyone. How long will I need to recharge at 7200W before I can reliably make the last 150 miles?

Ford hasn't officially listed the battery size but based on charging estimates from Ford, it's around 150kwh of usable battery bank.

That's about 2 miles per kwh to get 300 mile range. A 7.2kw generator running for an hour might add 14miles (might be a little less depending on efficiency). This presumes the generator is rated for 7.2kw continuous output and the onboard charger won't be limited to some lower charging rate.

So if you crank up the generator and plug it in just before pulling out of the driveway...assuming you are running at 65mph, 350miles will take 5.4 hours. Assuming the generator is in the back running the whole time at max output, that will give you the 300mile battery range plus an extra 75miles from the generator for a total of 375mile range...ie: you have 25 miles left when you arrive.

There are probably some errors due to efficiency losses, so figure you will be limping in on the proverbial fumes. Keep in mind 7.2kw is roughly 10hp. A full size pickup at freeway speeds is likely drawing 60-80hp to keep up the speed.

Umm, I think the biggest error in your calculation is the fact that EVs can't be driven and charged at the same time....

Every plug in hybrid does exactly that. Though they typically have a far bigger generator than 7.2kw.

If you are going to take a battery only EV and rig it to charge with a generator in the bed, of course, you are going to have to make some modifications. If they have a system that stops charging while the vehicle is in motion, you will have to bypass that system.

[rjstractor]

valhalla360 wrote:

2112 wrote:
Curious
What if I carried my 200lb, 7200W, 240V/30A generator in the truck bed. Taking that same 350 mile trip, and say a realistic distance is 250 miles per charge. Let's say I travel 200 miles and stop at an out of the way location to take a lunch break. Out of the way meaning generator noise doesn't offend anyone. How long will I need to recharge at 7200W before I can reliably make the last 150 miles?

Ford hasn't officially listed the battery size but based on charging estimates from Ford, it's around 150kwh of usable battery bank.

That's about 2 miles per kwh to get 300 mile range. A 7.2kw generator running for an hour might add 14miles (might be a little less depending on efficiency). This presumes the generator is rated for 7.2kw continuous output and the onboard charger won't be limited to some lower charging rate.

So if you crank up the generator and plug it in just before pulling out of the driveway...assuming you are running at 65mph, 350miles will take 5.4 hours. Assuming the generator is in the back running the whole time at max output, that will give you the 300mile battery range plus an extra 75miles from the generator for a total of 375mile range...ie: you have 25 miles left when you arrive.

There are probably some errors due to efficiency losses, so figure you will be limping in on the proverbial fumes. Keep in mind 7.2kw is roughly 10hp. A full size pickup at freeway speeds is likely drawing 60-80hp to keep up the speed.

Umm, I think the biggest error in your calculation is the fact that EVs can't be driven and charged at the same time....

[Reisender]

wanderingaimlessly wrote:
I dont/will not own one, but even Tesla fans admit the range suffers horribly. Teslarati article and this was a less than 5000 lb boat. A travel trailer, due to the frontal wind resistance will be considerably worse.
As an urban, maybe even suburban, grocery getter, enjoy your tesla or other EV, but to work for what folks do for RV'ing they have a long way to go.

Totally agree.