Road tripping in a truck like the Terra (F-150 Lightning; Silverado)?

[6-ScoutFamily]

GOOD GRIEF CHARLIE BROWN!!!

Gased up the Highlander this morning.

15.7 gallons at $3.519/gallon
$55.30 to drive 258 miles (16.4mpg)
Cost/mile=$0.215
Home charging cost for same mileage = $14.33
258 miles @ 2 miles/kwh
Cost/mile = $0.056 (at $0.1111/kWh)

My BEV Scout can’t get here soon enough.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Gas in Canada is around$5.20 USD /gallon.

DCFC is around $0.36 USD/kWh at the expensive chargers.

So happy to have a BEV.

 

[N Wilson]

We took a mini vacation to Gillette Stadium and the South Shore of MA this weekend in the Lightning with the camper. No pictures to share this time, unfortunately.

My two older daughters really wanted to go to a concert at Gillette Stadium (K-Pop group BTS) which was on Thursday night. I was able to take Thursday and Friday off from work, and we found a Harvest Hosts site in Wrentham near the stadium so we booked it for Thursday night. We stopped to charge at a Mercedes Benz charger at a Premium Outlets shopping center. The Harvest Host site only had 20A electric so my wife and younger daughter had to use a fan and couldn't use the A/C in the camper till we got back from the concert. At that point I plugged the camper into the 30A 240V outlet in the bed of the Lightning with an adapter for the RV cord and we were able to run the A/C for the rest of the night. I plugged the portable charger I brought into the 20A cord for L1 charging all night so it maintained the SOC while we ran the camper off the truck. I think we lost 1 or 2 percent SOC overnight.

We had found a state park campground in Hingham called Wompatuck State Park for Friday and Saturday nights which only cost $28/night for MA residents and it had 50A and 30A hookups. We stopped and my daughters did some back to school shopping on Friday on the way to the campground. I plugged the camper into the 30A outlet and plugged the L2 charger into the 50A outlet when we got to the campground that evening and I charged to 75%.

We went to Nantasket Beach on Saturday, then I charged to 100% overnight because we were heading back the next day so I could start the trip home with a full charge.

On Sunday, we headed home around noon. I knew we would need one charge stop on the way home even with the full charge. ABRP routed me to an EA charger at the Auburn Mall. The price per kWh was high. If I had been by myself, I probably would have found a lower priced charger and skipped that one but since I had my family along, they wanted to do some more shopping at the mall so I just plugged in anyway. It was a shorter charge session because we got there with 51% SOC and I unplugged at 80% which I knew would be plenty to get home. We arrived home that evening with 28% SOC remaining.

I really like traveling in the Lightning. It's very comfortable and it's so quiet and smooth, even when towing the camper.

 

[J Alynn]

We took a mini vacation to Gillette Stadium and the South Shore of MA this weekend in the Lightning with the camper. No pictures to share this time, unfortunately.

View attachment 17407

My two older daughters really wanted to go to a concert at Gillette Stadium (K-Pop group BTS) which was on Thursday night. I was able to take Thursday and Friday off from work, and we found a Harvest Hosts site in Wrentham near the stadium so we booked it for Thursday night. We stopped to charge at a Mercedes Benz charger at a Premium Outlets shopping center. The Harvest Host site only had 20A electric so my wife and younger daughter had to use a fan and couldn't use the A/C in the camper till we got back from the concert. At that point I plugged the camper into the 30A 240V outlet in the bed of the Lightning with an adapter for the RV cord and we were able to run the A/C for the rest of the night. I plugged the portable charger I brought into the 20A cord for L1 charging all night so it maintained the SOC while we ran the camper off the truck. I think we lost 1 or 2 percent SOC overnight.

We had found a state park campground in Hingham called Wompatuck State Park for Friday and Saturday nights which only cost $28/night for MA residents and it had 50A and 30A hookups. We stopped and my daughters did some back to school shopping on Friday on the way to the campground. I plugged the camper into the 30A outlet and plugged the L2 charger into the 50A outlet when we got to the campground that evening and I charged to 75%.

We went to Nantasket Beach on Saturday, then I charged to 100% overnight because we were heading back the next day so I could start the trip home with a full charge.

On Sunday, we headed home around noon. I knew we would need one charge stop on the way home even with the full charge. ABRP routed me to an EA charger at the Auburn Mall. The price per kWh was high. If I had been by myself, I probably would have found a lower priced charger and skipped that one but since I had my family along, they wanted to do some more shopping at the mall so I just plugged in anyway. It was a shorter charge session because we got there with 51% SOC and I unplugged at 80% which I knew would be plenty to get home. We arrived home that evening with 28% SOC remaining.

I really like traveling in the Lightning. It's very comfortable and it's so quiet and smooth, even when towing the camper.

Awesome to hear your experiences. BTW does the family like traveling in the F150?
And secondly, if rumors from Hudson are true that scouts will be in Boston in the fall, will you make the trip east to see them assuming your schedule allows? Would be cool to try and get a forum group there around same time and maybe even convince @Jamie@ScoutMotors and/or @CP1@scoutmotors to do an adult swim for just the forum members????

 

[N Wilson]

Awesome to hear your experiences. BTW does the family like traveling in the F150?
And secondly, if rumors from Hudson are true that scouts will be in Boston in the fall, will you make the trip east to see them assuming your schedule allows? Would be cool to try and get a forum group there around same time and maybe even convince @Jamie@ScoutMotors and/or @CP1@scoutmotors to do an adult swim for just the forum members????

My family likes riding in the F150 for the most part. With 3 kids in the back seat ranging in age from 10 to 18, they occasionally get on each other's nerves but that's to be expected.

I will definitely make the trip if the Boston event materializes and my schedule allows it. Would be really cool to get a forum group together.

 

[BeerParty]

Awesome to hear your experiences. BTW does the family like traveling in the F150?
And secondly, if rumors from Hudson are true that scouts will be in Boston in the fall, will you make the trip east to see them assuming your schedule allows? Would be cool to try and get a forum group there around same time and maybe even convince @Jamie@ScoutMotors and/or @CP1@scoutmotors to do an adult swim for just the forum members????

If they come to Boston (and my schedule allows) I will join you all there!

 

[J Alynn]

If they come to Boston (and my schedule allows) I will join you all there!

If/when they announce something we can start a thread. Something cooler than @cyure ’s thread for sure. Like “Scout’s northeastern appreciation pack or SNAP for short

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Some final trip stats for our most recent road trip. The full write-up is going to take some time.

We took the Silverado on a road trip (camping and hotelling) from northern Arizona to Banff, Canada, on up to Jasper, AB, then over to Seattle, WA, Crater Lake, OR, Death Valley, CA, and back. We had originally planned to tow a tent trailer, but work got too busy and I wasn’t able to finish prepping the trailer, so we cancelled most of our campsites along the route and made last-minute hotel reservations.

Some statistics:
Highest latitude: 52 degrees, 51 minutes north.
Highest altitude: 7905 feet
Lowest altitude: -29 feet
Total Energy used: 2019 kWh
Total miles Driven: 4683
Total energy cost: $728.20
Average efficiency: 2.32 miles/kWh
Average cost per mile: $0.15/mile
DCFC Charging Sessions: 19
DCFC Charging Stops: 17 (we had two times where a brand-T charger failed and we had to move to another one at the same charging station)
L2 Charging sessions: 7
Free Charging sessions: 4 (all L2)
Average distance between DCFC charging stops (just total miles / number of stops): 275 miles

 

[cyure]

Some final trip stats for our most recent road trip. The full write-up is going to take some time.

We took the Silverado on a road trip (camping and hotelling) from northern Arizona to Banff, Canada, on up to Jasper, AB, then over to Seattle, WA, Crater Lake, OR, Death Valley, CA, and back. We had originally planned to tow a tent trailer, but work got too busy and I wasn’t able to finish prepping the trailer, so we cancelled most of our campsites along the route and made last-minute hotel reservations.

Some statistics:
Highest latitude: 52 degrees, 51 minutes north.
Highest altitude: 7905 feet
Lowest altitude: -29 feet
Total Energy used: 2019 kWh
Total miles Driven: 4683
Total energy cost: $728.20
Average efficiency: 2.32 miles/kWh
Average cost per mile: $0.15/mile
DCFC Charging Sessions: 19
DCFC Charging Stops: 17 (we had two times where a brand-T charger failed and we had to move to another one at the same charging station)
L2 Charging sessions: 7
Free Charging sessions: 4 (all L2)
Average distance between DCFC charging stops (just total miles / number of stops): 275 miles


View attachment 17500

Can’t wait!

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

The main takeaway from this 4700 mile road trip? The Lightning would have been a better truck to do this trip with. The range benefits just weren’t strong enough to overcome the comfort, storage, and other benefits of the Lightning.

• The rear seats in the Silverado fold forward instead of back and out of the way. So we couldn’t make efficient use of the rear cabin space for the soft camping gear (sleeping bags, pillows, duffel bags, etc).
• Although the two trucks have about the same overall width, the Silverado is skinnier in the cabin, so there was less room overall in the cabin.
• The Silverado RST is less comfortable than the Lightning Lariat. The air suspension does not make for a better ride when the mass of the truck is so much more.
• The seats aren’t nearly as good.
• The software was annoying. I would rather go back to Android Auto than have Android Automotive in my vehicle. I’d rather go back to simple bluetooth streaming and use my phone for everything.
• The truck’s navigation (Google Maps for Android Automotive) was inferior to our phone’s navigation (Google Maps) and several times took us at least 30 minutes off course from the better route. I have kept my phone from upgrading since Google started pushing ai nonsense heavily. My phone’s older mapping application is significantly better than the garbage in its most recent releases. It feels like Google has embraced enshittification of their mapping application as a way to drive people to their inferior product built on generative ai, which is even more enshittified, but drives more fake revenue.
• The 2024 Silverado that we have does not engage its 800 Volt charging, so we had a bigger battery that did charge faster, but we didn’t get the blazing-fast charging speeds we should have gotten.
• The emotional support battery of the Silverado was not enough to make it a better truck to take on a long road trip. If we can get the camper ready before our next trip, and if we can get the charging speeds doubled, we may feel differently.

 

[cyure]

The main takeaway from this 4700 mile road trip? The Lightning would have been a better truck to do this trip with. The range benefits just weren’t strong enough to overcome the comfort, storage, and other benefits of the Lightning.

• The rear seats in the Silverado fold forward instead of back and out of the way. So we couldn’t make efficient use of the rear cabin space for the soft camping gear (sleeping bags, pillows, duffel bags, etc).
• Although the two trucks have about the same overall width, the Silverado is skinnier in the cabin, so there was less room overall in the cabin.
• The Silverado RST is less comfortable than the Lightning Lariat. The air suspension does not make for a better ride when the mass of the truck is so much more.
• The seats aren’t nearly as good.
• The software was annoying. I would rather go back to Android Auto than have Android Automotive in my vehicle. I’d rather go back to simple bluetooth streaming and use my phone for everything.
• The truck’s navigation (Google Maps for Android Automotive) was inferior to our phone’s navigation (Google Maps) and several times took us at least 30 minutes off course from the better route. I have kept my phone from upgrading since Google started pushing ai nonsense heavily. My phone’s older mapping application is significantly better than the garbage in its most recent releases. It feels like Google has embraced enshittification of their mapping application as a way to drive people to their inferior product built on generative ai, which is even more enshittified, but drives more fake revenue.
• The 2024 Silverado that we have does not engage its 800 Volt charging, so we had a bigger battery that did charge faster, but we didn’t get the blazing-fast charging speeds we should have gotten.
• The emotional support battery of the Silverado was not enough to make it a better truck to take on a long road trip. If we can get the camper ready before our next trip, and if we can get the charging speeds doubled, we may feel differently.

Thank you for the details. I am so sorry about this. It’s so frustrating when you think you are moving in a better direction, when in reality it was C, best as is.

Since you aren’t as happy with the truck do you have a plan? Are you going to go back to a lightning?

 

[speedrye]

I'm glad I'm not the only one feeling like Google is getting crappier with each update. Applies to Maps, the search engine (pretty much useless now) and most everything else they touch.

 

[RodorW]

You make some good points and as someone with way too many years in GM (specifically Chevrolet) I can understand all the issues faced and precived. Everything except Android automotive, but I rely on my phone for work so my view and way of using my car and mapping is skewed differently, I've had and continue to have issues with Bluetooth/wifi connectivity, from Samsung, Pixel, and iPhone making Android Automotive significantly more reliable. That said though, Google in the vehicle can be useful but not to the point of what's available especially for how GM has handled the hardware side of things. I would hope they do better in the future, and that scout isn't plagued in proprietary nonsense. When a vehicle needs to tailor to many types of people having options is best

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Thank you for the details. I am so sorry about this. It’s so frustrating when you think you are moving in a better direction, when in reality it was C, best as is.

Since you aren’t as happy with the truck do you have a plan? Are you going to go back to a lightning?

We can’t afford any changes at this time. We realistically couldn’t afford the switch to the Silverado, so… We’re stuck with it and will learn how to live with its differences.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

You make some good points and as someone with way too many years in GM (specifically Chevrolet) I can understand all the issues faced and precived. Everything except Android automotive, but I rely on my phone for work so my view and way of using my car and mapping is skewed differently, I've had and continue to have issues with Bluetooth/wifi connectivity, from Samsung, Pixel, and iPhone making Android Automotive significantly more reliable. That said though, Google in the vehicle can be useful but not to the point of what's available especially for how GM has handled the hardware side of things. I would hope they do better in the future, and that scout isn't plagued in proprietary nonsense. When a vehicle needs to tailor to many types of people having options is best

If Android Automotive would allow Android Auto to work, I think most of the issues would disappear. It used to be side-loadable, but I don’t think it is now. I haven’t tried on the truck yet. I wanted to give Automotive a long trip to see if I could put up with its issues.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

We took the Silverado and the popup trailer camping this weekend. It was a short trip (about 50 miles one-way), so no concerns about range or anything like that. The truck severely underestimated the range as soon as the trailer was attached.
We started at 72% because there was no need to charge to full. At 72% we normally have a range of around 320-350 miles.
The truck estimated 184 miles, so around a 45% loss of range.
After driving 48 miles to the campground, the range estimate was 175 miles. And we had 58% remaining. We used 28.7 kWh, for an efficiency of about 1.67 miles/kWh. It was certainly not the best we’d ever seen, but was nowhere near as bad as the guess-o-meter was guess of 1.25 miles/kWh.
On the way home, we started with an estimate of 138 miles of range and arrived with an estimated range of 131 miles. We used 13%, or 26.7 kWh, for a slightly better 1.82 miles/kWh.
Total distance driven was 96 miles, and we used 27% of the battery, which gives us a range of about 355 miles. The normal range we can achieve on the freeway is around 450 miles—sometimes less, sometimes more.

A range loss of about 22% towing the popup trailer is pretty good.

We expect to lose more towing with the R2 because it’s a smaller more efficient vehicle and so putting a relatively larger trailer behind it will probably negatively impact it more than the Silverado.

I’ll do some range tests in a few days with the R2.

 

[J Alynn]

We took the Silverado and the popup trailer camping this weekend. It was a short trip (about 50 miles one-way), so no concerns about range or anything like that. The truck severely underestimated the range as soon as the trailer was attached.
We started at 72% because there was no need to charge to full. At 72% we normally have a range of around 320-350 miles.
The truck estimated 184 miles, so around a 45% loss of range.
After driving 48 miles to the campground, the range estimate was 175 miles. And we had 58% remaining. We used 28.7 kWh, for an efficiency of about 1.67 miles/kWh. It was certainly not the best we’d ever seen, but was nowhere near as bad as the guess-o-meter was guess of 1.25 miles/kWh.
On the way home, we started with an estimate of 138 miles of range and arrived with an estimated range of 131 miles. We used 13%, or 26.7 kWh, for a slightly better 1.82 miles/kWh.
Total distance driven was 96 miles, and we used 27% of the battery, which gives us a range of about 355 miles. The normal range we can achieve on the freeway is around 450 miles—sometimes less, sometimes more.

A range loss of about 22% towing the popup trailer is pretty good.

We expect to lose more towing with the R2 because it’s a smaller more efficient vehicle and so putting a relatively larger trailer behind it will probably negatively impact it more than the Silverado.

I’ll do some range tests in a few days with the R2.

View attachment 18406

Good to hear. And more impressively the camp spots are paved. I worked several years when I was a mid teen at a campgrounds resort and as nice as the grounds were, campsite were only ever stoned so nice to see the upgrade there

 

[N Wilson]

In the last few weeks, we took a couple of day trips to the beach, one to CT that was 180 miles round trip, and one to RI that was 226 miles round trip.

I wasn't sure if I should bother posting these since they were just shorter day trips, but figured it might be helpful for those who haven't made the switch to an EV yet to see that you can just hop in the vehicle and do a day trip to the beach and in our case, we didn't need to stop to charge on either trip. I just charged to 100% before each trip.

The CT trip was closer to us, so we arrived home with 54% SOC remaining.

The RI trip being a little further away, we got home with 35% SOC remaining.

I'm coming up on 1 year of owning the Lightning, and I can honestly say it is the best vehicle I've ever owned. I'm so glad I made this purchase and didn't continue driving my old Tundra while waiting for the Scout to arrive.

 

[cyure]

In the last few weeks, we took a couple of day trips to the beach, one to CT that was 180 miles round trip, and one to RI that was 226 miles round trip.

I wasn't sure if I should bother posting these since they were just shorter day trips, but figured it might be helpful for those who haven't made the switch to an EV yet to see that you can just hop in the vehicle and do a day trip to the beach and in our case, we didn't need to stop to charge on either trip. I just charged to 100% before each trip.

The CT trip was closer to us, so we arrived home with 54% SOC remaining.

View attachment 18407

The RI trip being a little further away, we got home with 35% SOC remaining.

View attachment 18408

I'm coming up on 1 year of owning the Lightning, and I can honestly say it is the best vehicle I've ever owned. I'm so glad I made this purchase and didn't continue driving my old Tundra while waiting for the Scout to arrive.

This is very helpful. That’s about what a trip to Chicago and back would look like for us and that was one of my husband’s concerns is would we be able to take the Traveler to Chicago and back without charging. Thanks!