What's it like to take a road trip in a truck like the Terra (F-150 Lightning)?

[SpaceEVDriver]

Just passed 30,000 miles on the truck.

On the way to that, I was driving from central northern Arizona to the Los Angeles valley via Interstate 40. On the drive out, I was feeling good so didn’t feel the need to stop at the first charging stop in Yucca, AZ. Nor the backup for the first stop in Needles, CA, which was about 40 miles farther along the road. So I ended up going an “extra” 77 miles farther along I-40 to Essex, CA.

There, I encountered a situation that’s fairly common on I-40 in the middle of nowhere desert: Broken refueling pumps.

No, not the Electrify America charging posts. Those were in great condition with four usable of the four available.

Most of the fuel pumps were out of order.
One pump had been removed—it looked and smelled like it had been burned.
Two other pumps were wrapped in caution tape.
Of the eight gasoline nozzles usually available, only two were usable. And because of the price, people were only buying a few gallons just to make it to the next stop.

The cost for fuel?

$8.20 to $8.70 per gallon. Note that the price there is higher than usual, but not that much higher than usual. This is an emergency refueling station. This is the kind of place that charges $15 for a small bag of chips.

The cost for electricity? $0.42/kWh.

The cost per mile for the leg from home to this station, 256 miles away? The winds were up, so my efficiency was down to 2.2 miles/kWh. $0.42/kWh / 2.2 miles = $0.19/mile.

If I’d driven an F-150 gas truck and refueled here? $8.20/gallon / 16-19 mpg = $0.51/mile to $0.43/mile.
If I’d stopped at the Needles EA station? $0.32/kWh => $0.15/mile
If I’d stopped at a Needles gas station? $5.79/gal => $0.36/mile to $0.30/mile.

 

[Logan]

Just passed 30,000 miles on the truck.

On the way to that, I was driving from central northern Arizona to the Los Angeles valley via Interstate 40. On the drive out, I was feeling good so didn’t feel the need to stop at the first charging stop in Yucca, AZ. Nor the backup for the first stop in Needles, CA, which was about 40 miles farther along the road. So I ended up going an “extra” 77 miles farther along I-40 to Essex, CA.

There, I encountered a situation that’s fairly common on I-40 in the middle of nowhere desert: Broken refueling pumps.

No, not the Electrify America charging posts. Those were in great condition with four usable of the four available.

Most of the fuel pumps were out of order.
One pump had been removed—it looked and smelled like it had been burned.
Two other pumps were wrapped in caution tape.
Of the eight gasoline nozzles usually available, only two were usable. And because of the price, people were only buying a few gallons just to make it to the next stop.

View attachment 13947

The cost for fuel?

$8.20 to $8.70 per gallon. Note that the price there is higher than usual, but not that much higher than usual. This is an emergency refueling station. This is the kind of place that charges $15 for a small bag of chips.

The cost for electricity? $0.42/kWh.

The cost per mile for the leg from home to this station, 256 miles away? The winds were up, so my efficiency was down to 2.2 miles/kWh. $0.42/kWh / 2.2 miles = $0.19/mile.

If I’d driven an F-150 gas truck and refueled here? $8.20/gallon / 16-19 mpg = $0.51/mile to $0.43/mile.
If I’d stopped at the Needles EA station? $0.32/kWh => $0.15/mile
If I’d stopped at a Needles gas station? $5.79/gal => $0.36/mile to $0.30/mile.


View attachment 13948

The gas prices being volatile right now has me doing this same math for our road trip this summer.

Of course that’s way far out, but movement there could affect which vehicle we take (the ~30mpg PHEV, or the ioniq9). The math I did last month showed the PHEV would’ve about half the price.

Will have to see how things look this summer.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

The gas prices being volatile right now has me doing this same math for our road trip this summer.

Of course that’s way far out, but movement there could affect which vehicle we take (the ~30mpg PHEV, or the ioniq9). The math I did last month showed the PHEV would’ve about half the price.

Will have to see how things look this summer.

When you do that math, don’t forget to include your first and last fill-up at your residential electricity prices for the EV. And if you plan your trip to get free or cheaper L2 charging during your overnight stays, you’ll push that per mile cost even lower.

For the full round trip that I just did:

131 kWh @ $0.035/kWh = $4.59
92 kWh @ $0.42/kWh = $38.64
73 kWh @ $0.43/kWh = $31.34
73 kWh @ $0.00/kWh = $0.00
24 kWh @ $0.42/kWh = $9.78
98 kWh @ $0.65/kWh = $63.53
12 kWh @ $0.56/kWh = $6.67
112 kWh @ $0.035/kWh = $3.94

$158.49 / 615 kWh = $0.26 / kWh average.

This time, my total trip distance was about 1123 miles with several trips in the city.
$158.49 / 1123 miles = $0.14/mile

Note that while the chargers are generally between 40-160 miles apart, I do have choices for pricing. If I’m feeling like it, I’ll make the decision to go farther or stop earlier to save some money. This trip I could have stopped in Needles for a $0.32/kWh charge instead of $0.65/kWh charge, which would have saved me about $25. Similarly, I could have charged an additional 80 kWh for free while in Los Angeles, instead of just the 73 kWh. That would have saved me another $30-$40.

My efficiency wasn’t great (1.8 miles/kWh average) this trip because I had to leave at a time when I was very likely to encounter headwinds when crossing the desert, in both directions. If I had planned better, I would have been able to take advantage of those winds in both directions.

 

[LastDayScout]

Just passed 30,000 miles on the truck.

On the way to that, I was driving from central northern Arizona to the Los Angeles valley via Interstate 40. On the drive out, I was feeling good so didn’t feel the need to stop at the first charging stop in Yucca, AZ. Nor the backup for the first stop in Needles, CA, which was about 40 miles farther along the road. So I ended up going an “extra” 77 miles farther along I-40 to Essex, CA.

There, I encountered a situation that’s fairly common on I-40 in the middle of nowhere desert: Broken refueling pumps.

No, not the Electrify America charging posts. Those were in great condition with four usable of the four available.

Most of the fuel pumps were out of order.
One pump had been removed—it looked and smelled like it had been burned.
Two other pumps were wrapped in caution tape.
Of the eight gasoline nozzles usually available, only two were usable. And because of the price, people were only buying a few gallons just to make it to the next stop.

View attachment 13947

The cost for fuel?

$8.20 to $8.70 per gallon. Note that the price there is higher than usual, but not that much higher than usual. This is an emergency refueling station. This is the kind of place that charges $15 for a small bag of chips.

The cost for electricity? $0.42/kWh.

The cost per mile for the leg from home to this station, 256 miles away? The winds were up, so my efficiency was down to 2.2 miles/kWh. $0.42/kWh / 2.2 miles = $0.19/mile.

If I’d driven an F-150 gas truck and refueled here? $8.20/gallon / 16-19 mpg = $0.51/mile to $0.43/mile.
If I’d stopped at the Needles EA station? $0.32/kWh => $0.15/mile
If I’d stopped at a Needles gas station? $5.79/gal => $0.36/mile to $0.30/mile.


View attachment 13948

Excellent real world example.