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

[cyure]

I had my first real roadtrip with DCFC experience on Sunday and thought I'd share the experience here.

I had to drive my sister and her daughter from their house in Western MA to the airport in Boston. The total trip to Boston then back to my house in Western MA is 263 miles and ABRP estimated that I could do it without any charging stops, and that I would have 34% battery left when I got home. In the interest of transparency, I'm not sure if I'm using ABRP correctly, so this could be a case of operator error.

I charged to 100% the night before and got to my sister's house with 98%. It's basically all downhill from my house to her house, so didn't use much range due to regen braking. Got on the highway and set the cruise control at 65. Made one pit stop along the way for a bathroom break. Temps were in the mid 30s.

When I got to the airport, they had one floor of the parking garage that had level 2 chargers you can plug into for free while at the airport. I was below 50% battery SOC when I got there. I think it was 47%. I was a little surprised it was that low. I helped my sister and her daughter bring their luggage into the airport and get situated to wait for their flight. I might have been there for 20-30 minutes, so didn't gain much from the level 2 charger, maybe 1%.

Got back on the highway and started heading home and realized that I was going to need to charge at some point. Not a big deal because there are options for charging along the Mass Pike. Some of the highway travel plazas have chargers, while others don't. I stopped at the first one and it had an Autel charger so I plugged in. It was only charging at 58 kW which is slow by DCFC standards but I was hungry and needed a bathroom break so I went inside and left it charging while I got some food and used the restroom. The truck was at 41% SOC when I plugged in. When I came back out about 15-20 minutes later, it was at 52%. I was trying to decide whether to sit there and continue charging at the slower rate or try to find a faster charger further along the route. I ended up staying long enough to charge to 60% then headed out to see if I could find something faster. Just after I left that charger, I drove into an ice storm with freezing rain, so temps were right around 32°. At another travel plaza a little further down the pike, there was another Autel charger that was 120 kW so I figured I would charge there. After trying numerous times to get the card reader to work, I had to give up and move on. I had enough of standing in the freezing rain fiddling with a broken, glitching card reader.

I ended up getting off the highway and plugging into some new Rivian chargers that were recently installed and that I had used once before. I had around 33% SOC when I plugged in, and I might have been able to get home without charging, but the last ~30 miles of the drive home are all uphill gaining about 1,000 feet of elevation. That combined with the weather conditions made me not want to chance it. I charged for about 17 minutes and got a maximum charge rate of 170 kW before it started dropping down. I had 76% SOC when I left, way more than I needed to get home. I was just being conservative because I'm still relatively new to EV ownership.

Thanks for that. What was your charge when you got home?

 

[04Ram2500Hemi]

I had my first real roadtrip with DCFC experience on Sunday and thought I'd share the experience here.

I had to drive my sister and her daughter from their house in Western MA to the airport in Boston. The total trip to Boston then back to my house in Western MA is 263 miles and ABRP estimated that I could do it without any charging stops, and that I would have 34% battery left when I got home. In the interest of transparency, I'm not sure if I'm using ABRP correctly, so this could be a case of operator error.

I charged to 100% the night before and got to my sister's house with 98%. It's basically all downhill from my house to her house, so didn't use much range due to regen braking. Got on the highway and set the cruise control at 65. Made one pit stop along the way for a bathroom break. Temps were in the mid 30s.

When I got to the airport, they had one floor of the parking garage that had level 2 chargers you can plug into for free while at the airport. I was below 50% battery SOC when I got there. I think it was 47%. I was a little surprised it was that low. I helped my sister and her daughter bring their luggage into the airport and get situated to wait for their flight. I might have been there for 20-30 minutes, so didn't gain much from the level 2 charger, maybe 1%.

Got back on the highway and started heading home and realized that I was going to need to charge at some point. Not a big deal because there are options for charging along the Mass Pike. Some of the highway travel plazas have chargers, while others don't. I stopped at the first one and it had an Autel charger so I plugged in. It was only charging at 58 kW which is slow by DCFC standards but I was hungry and needed a bathroom break so I went inside and left it charging while I got some food and used the restroom. The truck was at 41% SOC when I plugged in. When I came back out about 15-20 minutes later, it was at 52%. I was trying to decide whether to sit there and continue charging at the slower rate or try to find a faster charger further along the route. I ended up staying long enough to charge to 60% then headed out to see if I could find something faster. Just after I left that charger, I drove into an ice storm with freezing rain, so temps were right around 32°. At another travel plaza a little further down the pike, there was another Autel charger that was 120 kW so I figured I would charge there. After trying numerous times to get the card reader to work, I had to give up and move on. I had enough of standing in the freezing rain fiddling with a broken, glitching card reader.

I ended up getting off the highway and plugging into some new Rivian chargers that were recently installed and that I had used once before. I had around 33% SOC when I plugged in, and I might have been able to get home without charging, but the last ~30 miles of the drive home are all uphill gaining about 1,000 feet of elevation. That combined with the weather conditions made me not want to chance it. I charged for about 17 minutes and got a maximum charge rate of 170 kW before it started dropping down. I had 76% SOC when I left, way more than I needed to get home. I was just being conservative because I'm still relatively new to EV ownership.

I appreciate the info/story here. It’s a story like this that makes me never want to go full EV. The trouble with a charger and crappy winter conditions is just a deal breaker for me. At your first stop in a traditional vehicle you could have topped off the gas tank, get a snack, pee, and get home. The second stop wouldn’t have been necessary unless you just wanted to stretch your legs.

I know I’m in the minority on this forum, and I try to respond without sounding like I’m against a full on EV vehicle. I just simply don’t trust the infrastructure at this time to invest in an EV of any sort. The Harvester puts me at ease because I know if I can’t charge, I can still get gas and keep moving along.

 

[cyure]

I appreciate the info/story here. It’s a story like this that makes me never want to go full EV. The trouble with a charger and crappy winter conditions is just a deal breaker for me. At your first stop in a traditional vehicle you could have topped off the gas tank, get a snack, pee, and get home. The second stop wouldn’t have been necessary unless you just wanted to stretch your legs.

I know I’m in the minority on this forum, and I try to respond without sounding like I’m against a full on EV vehicle. I just simply don’t trust the infrastructure at this time to invest in an EV of any sort. The Harvester puts me at ease because I know if I can’t charge, I can still get gas and keep moving along.

This is why I’m glad they have both.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

I had my first real roadtrip with DCFC experience on Sunday and thought I'd share the experience here.

I had to drive my sister and her daughter from their house in Western MA to the airport in Boston. The total trip to Boston then back to my house in Western MA is 263 miles and ABRP estimated that I could do it without any charging stops, and that I would have 34% battery left when I got home. In the interest of transparency, I'm not sure if I'm using ABRP correctly, so this could be a case of operator error.

I charged to 100% the night before and got to my sister's house with 98%. It's basically all downhill from my house to her house, so didn't use much range due to regen braking. Got on the highway and set the cruise control at 65. Made one pit stop along the way for a bathroom break. Temps were in the mid 30s.

When I got to the airport, they had one floor of the parking garage that had level 2 chargers you can plug into for free while at the airport. I was below 50% battery SOC when I got there. I think it was 47%. I was a little surprised it was that low. I helped my sister and her daughter bring their luggage into the airport and get situated to wait for their flight. I might have been there for 20-30 minutes, so didn't gain much from the level 2 charger, maybe 1%.

Got back on the highway and started heading home and realized that I was going to need to charge at some point. Not a big deal because there are options for charging along the Mass Pike. Some of the highway travel plazas have chargers, while others don't. I stopped at the first one and it had an Autel charger so I plugged in. It was only charging at 58 kW which is slow by DCFC standards but I was hungry and needed a bathroom break so I went inside and left it charging while I got some food and used the restroom. The truck was at 41% SOC when I plugged in. When I came back out about 15-20 minutes later, it was at 52%. I was trying to decide whether to sit there and continue charging at the slower rate or try to find a faster charger further along the route. I ended up staying long enough to charge to 60% then headed out to see if I could find something faster. Just after I left that charger, I drove into an ice storm with freezing rain, so temps were right around 32°. At another travel plaza a little further down the pike, there was another Autel charger that was 120 kW so I figured I would charge there. After trying numerous times to get the card reader to work, I had to give up and move on. I had enough of standing in the freezing rain fiddling with a broken, glitching card reader.

I ended up getting off the highway and plugging into some new Rivian chargers that were recently installed and that I had used once before. I had around 33% SOC when I plugged in, and I might have been able to get home without charging, but the last ~30 miles of the drive home are all uphill gaining about 1,000 feet of elevation. That combined with the weather conditions made me not want to chance it. I charged for about 17 minutes and got a maximum charge rate of 170 kW before it started dropping down. I had 76% SOC when I left, way more than I needed to get home. I was just being conservative because I'm still relatively new to EV ownership.

I generally don’t trust ABRP. It’s especially unreliable when weather is involved.

Our very first long road trip in the Mustang Mach-E was similarly stressful.

We drove from northern AZ to Los Angeles, about 500 miles one way.
The trip began in a snow storm.
We came down off the mountain into warmer conditions.
We made it to our first stop with a fine state of charge, our predicted range was good, and it was warm, but a bit breezy.
We charged to 80%.
When we headed out, we climbed up out of the valley and back into the mountains, still no rain or snow, but the winds picked up.
Then we hit the Santa Ana winds, regular wind speeds of 45 mph and gusts much higher. We were getting 1.7 miles/kWh and decided to slow down. We made it to the next charger with 17% and 41 miles of estimated range.

That mostly cured us of our range anxiety.

 

[LastDayScout]

I had my first real roadtrip with DCFC experience on Sunday and thought I'd share the experience here.

I had to drive my sister and her daughter from their house in Western MA to the airport in Boston. The total trip to Boston then back to my house in Western MA is 263 miles and ABRP estimated that I could do it without any charging stops, and that I would have 34% battery left when I got home. In the interest of transparency, I'm not sure if I'm using ABRP correctly, so this could be a case of operator error.

I charged to 100% the night before and got to my sister's house with 98%. It's basically all downhill from my house to her house, so didn't use much range due to regen braking. Got on the highway and set the cruise control at 65. Made one pit stop along the way for a bathroom break. Temps were in the mid 30s.

When I got to the airport, they had one floor of the parking garage that had level 2 chargers you can plug into for free while at the airport. I was below 50% battery SOC when I got there. I think it was 47%. I was a little surprised it was that low. I helped my sister and her daughter bring their luggage into the airport and get situated to wait for their flight. I might have been there for 20-30 minutes, so didn't gain much from the level 2 charger, maybe 1%.

Got back on the highway and started heading home and realized that I was going to need to charge at some point. Not a big deal because there are options for charging along the Mass Pike. Some of the highway travel plazas have chargers, while others don't. I stopped at the first one and it had an Autel charger so I plugged in. It was only charging at 58 kW which is slow by DCFC standards but I was hungry and needed a bathroom break so I went inside and left it charging while I got some food and used the restroom. The truck was at 41% SOC when I plugged in. When I came back out about 15-20 minutes later, it was at 52%. I was trying to decide whether to sit there and continue charging at the slower rate or try to find a faster charger further along the route. I ended up staying long enough to charge to 60% then headed out to see if I could find something faster. Just after I left that charger, I drove into an ice storm with freezing rain, so temps were right around 32°. At another travel plaza a little further down the pike, there was another Autel charger that was 120 kW so I figured I would charge there. After trying numerous times to get the card reader to work, I had to give up and move on. I had enough of standing in the freezing rain fiddling with a broken, glitching card reader.

I ended up getting off the highway and plugging into some new Rivian chargers that were recently installed and that I had used once before. I had around 33% SOC when I plugged in, and I might have been able to get home without charging, but the last ~30 miles of the drive home are all uphill gaining about 1,000 feet of elevation. That combined with the weather conditions made me not want to chance it. I charged for about 17 minutes and got a maximum charge rate of 170 kW before it started dropping down. I had 76% SOC when I left, way more than I needed to get home. I was just being conservative because I'm still relatively new to EV ownership.

I think you probably could have made it home but I understand your frustration and why you did what you did. By the way, I am pretty sure you have to use the Autel app at their chargers. That is the most annoying part of charging in my opinion. I do not like all the different apps and inconsistency among the different brands. This has been discussed on this forum. I think the car should have your card stored so you can plug and go. And you should just be able to use a card at their chargers charger just like any gas pump.

 

[cyure]

I think you probably could have made it home but I understand your frustration and why you did what you did. By the way, I am pretty sure you have to use the Autel app at their chargers. That is the most annoying part of charging in my opinion. I do not like all the different apps and inconsistency among the different brands. This has been discussed on this forum. I think the car should have your card stored so you can plug and go. And you should just be able to use a card at their chargers charger just like any gas pump.

I have a question. How many different brands and apps are there that I will need to be familiar with? Because I could totally see this being me on a trip to ,Chicago when it’s cold. I’m really trying to avoid this. Thanks!

 

[LastDayScout]

I have a question. How many different brands and apps are there that I will need to be familiar with? Because I could totally see this being me on a trip to ,Chicago when it’s cold. I’m really trying to avoid this. Thanks!

I have 7 including the BMW app. Scout will definitely have one. I thinks it’s ridiculous. ChargePoint, EVGo, Tesla, Shell, Electrify America, and Autel are all in my phone. Really annoying.

 

[cyure]

I have 7 including the BMW app. Scout will definitely have one. I thinks it’s ridiculous. ChargePoint, EVGo, Tesla, Shell, Electrify America, and Autel are all in my phone. Really annoying.

Ridiculous but I want to have everything downloaded and ready to go for my trip home from the factory.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

I have a question. How many different brands and apps are there that I will need to be familiar with? Because I could totally see this being me on a trip to ,Chicago when it’s cold. I’m really trying to avoid this. Thanks!

I have 16 EV-related apps. It's stupid.

But I rarely use most of them.

For your most common drive(s), I suggest someday, before you get your Scout, you stop at the likely charging stops.

Assuming it's a 1-stop trip, visit the normal stop ~halfway and the "oh, no" stops ~1/4 and ~3/4 of the way. Get the apps for those chargers and play with them. Don't subscribe to any paid plans yet, but do create an account without adding payment information.

If you're ambitious, plan a trip to Chicago this spring/summer and rent an EV to do your drive.

If you can avoid it, you don't want to be in an ice storm learning how to get the charger working. You want to know how to do the basics before the troublesome trips.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

I appreciate the info/story here. It’s a story like this that makes me never want to go full EV. The trouble with a charger and crappy winter conditions is just a deal breaker for me. At your first stop in a traditional vehicle you could have topped off the gas tank, get a snack, pee, and get home. The second stop wouldn’t have been necessary unless you just wanted to stretch your legs.

I know I’m in the minority on this forum, and I try to respond without sounding like I’m against a full on EV vehicle. I just simply don’t trust the infrastructure at this time to invest in an EV of any sort. The Harvester puts me at ease because I know if I can’t charge, I can still get gas and keep moving along.

I think people take the worst experiences and project them into everyday experiences.

I've been left walking on the side of the highway with my toddler siblings in a thunderstorm. Multiple times. But only by gas vehicles.

I've been stranded in snow storms more times than I can count. By gas vehicles.

I've run out of gas so many times that I always carried a spare 5-10 gallons of gas in my pickups. Eventually my camping gear stank of old gas.

I've had enough ICE parts break that at one point I was carrying a spare transmission and most of the parts of a spare engine in my car, along with the usual extra CV axles and U-joints.

I've run into more times---proportionally---when critical gas stations were down or problematic than critical charging stations were down. Example: Death Valley $7/gallon gas, limited to five gallons, middle of summer. Luckily we had the Prius and not the pickup, so we could go 250 miles on those five gallons.

I've never been stranded by my EVs. I've only had them about 1/10th as long, and they're newer, not junkyard specials, but I've had new ICEVs give me fewer miles before breaking.

My point is that the worst stories aren't representative of the most common experiences. I'm not trying to convince you to swap your reservation; what another person buys isn't really my business.

But the scary stories are stories because they're unusual, not common.

Nobody wants to read trillions of miles worth of, "nothing unusual happened."

 

[cyure]

I think people take the worst experiences and project them into everyday experiences.

I've been left walking on the side of the highway with my toddler siblings in a thunderstorm. Multiple times. But only by gas vehicles.

I've been stranded in snow storms more times than I can count. By gas vehicles.

I've run out of gas so many times that I always carried a spare 5-10 gallons of gas in my pickups. Eventually my camping gear stank of old gas.

I've had enough ICE parts break that at one point I was carrying a spare transmission and most of the parts of a spare engine in my car, along with the usual extra CV axles and U-joints.

I've run into more times---proportionally---when critical gas stations were down or problematic than critical charging stations were down. Example: Death Valley $7/gallon gas, limited to five gallons, middle of summer. Luckily we had the Prius and not the pickup, so we could go 250 miles on those five gallons.

I've never been stranded by my EVs. I've only had them about 1/10th as long, and they're newer, not junkyard specials, but I've had new ICEVs give me fewer miles before breaking.

My point is that the worst stories aren't representative of the most common experiences. I'm not trying to convince you to swap your reservation; what another person buys isn't really my business.

But the scary stories are stories because they're unusual, not common.

Nobody wants to read trillions of miles worth of, "nothing unusual happened."

Also how much of this is due to being a new EV owner. I fully expect to have situations like this where I’m panicking because it’s all so new, but as time goes on I would expect that to go away.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Also how much of this is due to being a new EV owner. I fully expect to have situations like this where I’m panicking because it’s all so new, but as time goes on I would expect that to go away.

From my experience, 99% of it is because of being new and <1% because of infrastructure.

You can read everything on a forum about how not to run into any issues, but just like all life experiences, reading and doing are not the same. You need experience. Which is why I recommend a practice trip or two in a semi-controlled environment, knowing things will likely go a bit sideways the first few times.

Rent an EV, have your partner drive the gasser, and take a caravan trip to Chicago when the weather is good.

 

[cyure]

From my experience, 99% of it is because of being new and <1% because of infrastructure.

You can read everything on a forum about how not to run into any issues, but just like all life experiences, reading and doing are not the same. You need experience. Which is why I recommend a practice trip or two in a semi-controlled environment, knowing things will likely go a bit sideways the first few times.

Rent an EV, have your partner drive the gasser, and take a caravan trip to Chicago when the weather is good.

That’s a really good idea. To be honest I’m a little worried that our first trip in an EV would be driving 800 miles back home from the factory.

 

[J Alynn]

I have 7 including the BMW app. Scout will definitely have one. I thinks it’s ridiculous. ChargePoint, EVGo, Tesla, Shell, Electrify America, and Autel are all in my phone. Really annoying.

That’s ridiculous but guess everybody like proprietary

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

That’s a really good idea. To be honest I’m a little worried that our first trip in an EV would be driving 800 miles back home from the factory.

Yeah, I get it.

I mean, you know I wouldn’t hesitate to take an 800 mile trip (obviously). But I also think it’s entirely sensible to do some practice runs. Maybe even get a hotel in Chicago with an L2 charger so you can practice that part too.

The worst thing would be to get home from picking up your Scout feeling resentful and unhappy with that first experience all because you didn’t take a few trips in an EV before then to get a sense of how to take a long road trip.

If you do decide to rent an EV and stay overnight, you’ll want to consider several more things. Let us know if you decide to do it and those of us with experience can chime in on what you might want to consider.

 

[RodorW]

I have 7 including the BMW app. Scout will definitely have one. I thinks it’s ridiculous. ChargePoint, EVGo, Tesla, Shell, Electrify America, and Autel are all in my phone. Really annoying

I also have 7.
MyChevrolet, ChargePoint, Electrify America, Tesla, Blink, EVgo, EVconnect. (I also have Abpr, and plug share.) Blink has a physical card I keep in the car but have never encountered one of their chargers being online since it arrived

 

[J Alynn]

I also have 7.
MyChevrolet, ChargePoint, Electrify America, Tesla, Blink, EVgo, EVconnect. (I also have Abpr, and plug share.) Blink has a physical card I keep in the car but have never encountered one of their chargers being online since it arrived

Uggghhh! I hate using apps. Guess I need to change my mental outlook.

 

[cyure]

Uggghhh! I hate using apps. Guess I need to change my mental outlook.

Same.

 

[apex96]

Uggghhh! I hate using apps. Guess I need to change my mental outlook.

Most of the DCFCs along major highway corridors have cc readers. You don’t necessarily need an app to use most of them. A lot of vehicles now support plug and charge where you don’t have to do anything but plug-in and charge. As we get closer to Scouts being available more and more charging companies will have plug and charge active. I can’t say how many companies Scouts UI will show as having plug and charge activated but I’m sure it will be more than 2 or 3 companies.

 

[RodorW]

Most of the DCFCs along major highway corridors have cc readers. You don’t necessarily need an app to use most of them. A lot of vehicles now support plug and charge where you don’t have to do anything but plug-in and charge. As we get closer to Scouts being available more and more charging companies will have plug and charge active. I can’t say how many companies scout will come with that will have plug and charge activated but I’m sure it will be more than 2 or 3 companies.

The Chevy app last I checked supported a few of the networks near me, but I’ve never had a reason to charge there so I haven’t experienced plug and charge personally. And while here in town we only have a couple of non dealer DCFC (one is the electric company and the other Tesla) and both are less than a year old, back by my parents however the EA stations card readers are questionable after all the weather they’ve been through, the charge point/Mercedes DCFC card readers are flat or slightly angled down to avoid some weather conditions