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

[Schubie]

Quick review of this pop-up camper trailer.

This is a used 2021 Rockwood 1910 ESP (“Extreme Sports Package”) camper. It has “upgraded, off-road” suspension, which really just means the spring/axle mounts are on top of the axle instead of below, and it has silly-looking, 15-in “AT” tires on it. The frame is a good frame, though.

The trailer has a GVWR if about 2900 pounds, so 290 pounds tongue weight when loaded properly. The

Having “AT” tires on a trailer of this size is silly. They’re just there for looks and to reduce efficiency. I’ll be replacing these with skinnier, proper trailer tires that have decently low rolling resistance before our next trip. The tires that are on there are 3-peaks winter tires and are stud-ready. What a nonsense tire to have on a trailer.

I’ll probably flip the axle so the trailer doesn’t stand up so high. There’s no need for such high clearance with a truck like the Lightning. And dropping it lower reduces the wind resistance a bit.

I’ll probably add a set of shocks to the trailer; these trailers are generally built as cheaply as possible and the lack of shock absorbers means the trailer likes to bounce on our heat-stressed highways in the US Southwest.

Because of the flipped axle and tall tires, the hitch ball I brought with me to pick up the trailer is low, so there’s more like 300-320 pounds on the tongue. Still not enough to be of concern. I do want the trailer to be better balanced, though, so if better tires and a flipped axle doesn’t fix it, I’ll use a hitch with a higher ball.

I’ll be removing all of the propane appliances (cook top, griddle, water heater, furnace) and replacing them with electric (induction cook top, no griddle, water heater, heat pump).

I will add 7-15 kWh of battery to the trailer. I will add an updated, 24-volt-capable inverter, and a 240 volt outlet. I will also cover the roof with solar. Overall I think I can fit 1.2-2.0 kW of solar, including some portable solar that can hang off the awning / side of the trailer while parked.

How did it tow?

Handling: The Lightning didn’t know there was anything behind it. It’s only 2900 pounds GVWR, so it’s not exactly a tough tow for the Lightning.

Effeciency?

TL;DR:
Drive out: 2.44 miles/kWh, almost exactly the EPA estimated range.
First leg home, towing the trailer: 1.4 miles/kWh up a 4500 feet climb, driving into mild winds (15 mph winds).
Second leg home, towing the trailer: 2.0 miles/kWh, descending from 7911 feet to a low of 3490 feet back up to 7149 feet and then down again a little bit.


Doing the drive without the trailer:
On the trip out, I drove around 265 miles over 4.5 hours (average of 60 mph). I got 2.44 miles/kWh average efficiency.
The EPA estimate for the Lightning Extended Range is 48 kWh/100 miles, with a 320 mile range.
Ford derated their actual estimates. If you do the math: 131 kWh / 3.2 (100 mile units) = 41 kWh/100 miles.
In the more common units, the EPA estimate is 48 kWh/100 miles = 2.1 miles/kWh.
But the mileage estimate gives a different story: 320 miles / 131 kWh = 2.44 miles/kWh.

View attachment 15990

Regardless, I got 2.44 miles/kWh with a mix of hill descents, hill climbs, 65 mph driving, a couple of higher-speed passes, and slower driving. I did some around town driving because I got lost. The elevation profile below shows just from my home to the charger. After I’d picked up the trailer, I drove 11 miles to the charger. My efficiency of 2.44 miles/kWh includes towing the trailer to the charger.

View attachment 15991

I left home with 98% state of charge and arrived at the pickup location with 21% state of charge.

At the SC, I charged from 13% to 86%. That took 47 minutes. I was using the restroom, grabbing snacks and breakfast for the next morning, correcting the trailer's tire pressure, draining the trailer’s water, and other chores, so I didn’t notice the time. Average charge rate was 125 kW.

Then I headed off to my campground, climbing back up from the low elevation (3369 feet elevation) on the right side of the elevation profile to the peak indicated (7911 feet elevation). The campground is 95 miles from the charging station, and as you can see it’s almost entirely climbing up in elevation. I arrived at the campground with 34% charge. That’s 68 kWh used to go 95 miles, or an efficiency of 1.4 miles/kWh. That’s climbing 4542 feet start to stop (more elevation climb overall—remember that going downhill doesn’t recover as much as it costs to climb that hill). The winds weren’t too bad, just 15 mph. The average speed over those 95 miles was 48 mph. The twisty, windy roads up this climb have speed limits as low as 30 mph, and if you understand averages, you know just 20 minutes at 30 mph crashes the average speed even if you can go to 65 mph for longer sections.

I charged on the 50 Amp RV outlet at the campground. The power was pretty noisy so the EVSE only gave me an average of 6.3 kW. Not terrible, but not as good as 7.2 kW the EVSE is capable of, nor as good as 9.6 kW a healthy 50 Amp RV post would be capable of.

I left the campground at 11:00 with 95% state of charge and began the rest of my journey, another 165 miles. This involved going down off the plateau to the bridge crossing the Colorado River and then climbing back up the mountain. I arrived home at about 14:00, a total of 3 hours later (55 mph average), with 32% state of charge. I used 63% of the battery, or about 2.0 miles/kWh (262 miles range). This was climbing two mountains, towing a trailer, and heading into the wind.

As a comparison: We did almost exactly the same trip a few days prior, but with no trailer. We traveled 211 miles on 80% charge (2.0 miles/kWh), no trailer, into the wind. See the elevation profile below. The 211 mile marker shows the trip we did (from the 211 mile mark to the 0 mile mark).

In other words, the trailer didn’t do a whole lot to decrease our overall efficiency on this particular drive, though it did reduce it.

View attachment 15992

That's close to the package I'm aiming for in the near term. But I'm inclined to keep the rig setup for overland use. As the extra clearance, tire plies/tread, etc lead to more reliability in the bush. Curious to hear how your changes affect range though.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

That's close to the package I'm aiming for in the near term. But I'm inclined to keep the rig setup for overland use. As the extra clearance, tire plies/tread, etc lead to more reliability in the bush. Curious to hear how your changes affect range though.

I may start a thread specific to efficiency changes with the trailer. I tend not to have the time to do full scientific analysis, so it will be imperfect.

I’ve done a lot of trailer pulling through the desert southwest trails and never needed AT tread. High sidewall strength? higher-ply count? Yes. But skinny low tread tires have always been my favorite trailer tire.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Back on the road.

Took a drive down from northern AZ to southern AZ. Tucson, to be specific.

I started the drive with 100%. Decided I wanted to just be at the hotel, so didn’t stop. I arrived in Tucson with 18% remaining.
After 15 minutes of gravel road and old, slow highway, I hit the freeway. Once the speed limit allowed, I set my cruising speed to 73 mph. There was traffic going through Phoenix. There’s always traffic going through Phoenix. Google estimated it would take 4.75 hours. I arrived 4.5 hours after leaving my home. Yeah, I’m too old to do that any more.

That’s 272 miles (from start to finish) using 82% of 131 kWh.
272 miles/ 107 kWh = 2.54 miles/kWh
272 miles / 4.5 hours = 60 mph average.

How was the range? Nearly exactly as the EPA estimate suggests. Maybe a little better. I was going down in elevation.

2.54 miles/kWh * 131 kWh = 333 miles.
272 miles / 0.82 = 332 miles.

I plugged into the charger here at the hotel and now have 100% charge to do the things I need to do this weekend.

There’s a used Silverado EV for sale here in town that I’ll go take for a test drive. See the other thread about later today.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

A word of caution:

Just because I can get EPA range while driving on the freeway doesn’t mean everyone can. I think I drive a little differently from a lot of people and have slightly different circumstances.

• I don’t often do hard acceleration. For example, I don’t rush to pass someone. I might even stay behind them in the right lane for a few minutes or more. If there is traffic in the left lane, I don’t feel it’s necessary to jump the line.
• I have my tire pressure set higher than the door jamb sticker suggests. I don’t need the cushy ride and I like my efficiency
• I live at 7000 feet (ish) elevation. This decreases air resistance by up to 20%, which an impact range by up to about 5%.
• When I go back up the mountain, I’ll probably only get around 2.1 miles/kWh. The average will be around 2.3 miles/kWh, just under the EPA range.
• I do use the HVAC whenever I need to, but I also don’t like it to be 65 degrees F in the vehicle. I set the temperature to 72-75 degrees F.
• We get sub-zero temperatures, but not for very long or very often.

That said, I’ve never experienced the ridiculous range claimed by some anti-EV trolls. Drive reasonably and you won’t waste energy. That’s true of both EVs and ICEVs.