That's our thinking too. We live and play on Arizona dirt roads, so hiding the dirty is a big consideration.
What's it like to take a road trip in a truck like the Terra (F-150 Lightning)?
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I have to do my regular road trip from northern Arizona to the Los Angeles area tomorrow. This will be the first time with the Silverado.
The questions I have are:
Will I get anywhere near 2.5 miles/kWh in the Silverado. That’s the average freeway (73 mph while on the freeway) efficiency I’ve achieved over almost 40k miles in the Lightning.
The trip is 472 miles. The truck has a 440-450 mile EPA range.
I am certain I don’t have to stop to *charge* more than once. But I’m pretty sure I’ll need to stop twice (at least) for bio breaks. There really aren’t any better stops than the ones we’ve usually chosen, so I don’t think this trip will be consequentially any different than it’s been for the past 25 years.
Will the L2 charger I installed in LA work to get me up to a reasonable charge before I have to leave. The L1 charger used to do just fine. The L2 charger should help, but the Silverado’s battery can be problematic for slower chargers. A strong argument to keep the Scout’s BEV battery smaller is that 212 kWh is ridiculously large. If I can run at 40 Amps for the entire time I’m charging, it shouldn’t take more than about 19-20 hours to fill from 10%. I expect I’ll arrive with closer to 30-50% since I will probably stop where I can charge while using the restroom on the second leg of the trip.
We shall see.
The questions I have are:
Will I get anywhere near 2.5 miles/kWh in the Silverado. That’s the average freeway (73 mph while on the freeway) efficiency I’ve achieved over almost 40k miles in the Lightning.
The trip is 472 miles. The truck has a 440-450 mile EPA range.
I am certain I don’t have to stop to *charge* more than once. But I’m pretty sure I’ll need to stop twice (at least) for bio breaks. There really aren’t any better stops than the ones we’ve usually chosen, so I don’t think this trip will be consequentially any different than it’s been for the past 25 years.
Will the L2 charger I installed in LA work to get me up to a reasonable charge before I have to leave. The L1 charger used to do just fine. The L2 charger should help, but the Silverado’s battery can be problematic for slower chargers. A strong argument to keep the Scout’s BEV battery smaller is that 212 kWh is ridiculously large. If I can run at 40 Amps for the entire time I’m charging, it shouldn’t take more than about 19-20 hours to fill from 10%. I expect I’ll arrive with closer to 30-50% since I will probably stop where I can charge while using the restroom on the second leg of the trip.
We shall see.
I hope that your new ride pleasantly surprises you!
Good luck and any updates are appreciated
As I expected, I had to make two stops, but not for recharging, just to use the restroom.
My first stop was at a Pilot/Flying J truck stop in Yucca, AZ. This place has clean restrooms, which is the main reason we stop here. I stopped, plugged in to the (expensive) GM/EVGo charging station. My truck negotiated the payment, and I only stuck around to see that it was charging (could have just used the truck app). I went in, used the restroom, and grabbed a couple slices of pizza for lunch.
By the time I’d finished eating lunch, the truck had charged from 65% to 87%. Total stop time was 21 minutes.
The drive through the Mojave desert had winds as usual, but they weren’t really awful. The El Cajon pass was worse than usual, with some fairly large gusts rocking the truck.
In Barstow, I stopped at the (expensive) Rivian chargers. The Electrify America charging station in Barstow is always busy except late at night. I avoid the Tesla chargers unless nothing else is available. I didn’t need the charge, but figured I might as well pull some electrons while I was stopped. In my experience, Rivian’s network doesn’t negotiate with non-Rivians, so I had to tap my credit card on the card reader. That worked fine. I waited until the screen showed the charge was going and then walked to a nearby restaurant, used the restroom, and went back to the truck, made a short phone call, and headed out. The tuck gained 9% charge. Total stop time was 8 minutes.
There were several crashes on the freeway going from Barstow to my destination. I ended up on a detour that ran through a small town for about 30 minutes, with stop-and-go traffic. Stop-and-go is not so good for this massive truck’s efficiency. The ideal speed for efficiency is 30-40 mph. I didn’t get that in any of the drive.
I arrived at my destination with 24% of the battery remaining. Total used was 107% of the battery, or about 222 kWh.
Total drive distance was 490 miles. The average efficiency was 2.2 miles/kWh. That was a little disappointing, but not surprising given the detour and winds in the pass.
Overall, the drive was fine. Nothing dramatic.
When I got to my destination, I plugged into the L2, 30A charger. It’s charged 30% overnight and I expect it’ll be at 100% by the end of the day.
My first stop was at a Pilot/Flying J truck stop in Yucca, AZ. This place has clean restrooms, which is the main reason we stop here. I stopped, plugged in to the (expensive) GM/EVGo charging station. My truck negotiated the payment, and I only stuck around to see that it was charging (could have just used the truck app). I went in, used the restroom, and grabbed a couple slices of pizza for lunch.
By the time I’d finished eating lunch, the truck had charged from 65% to 87%. Total stop time was 21 minutes.
The drive through the Mojave desert had winds as usual, but they weren’t really awful. The El Cajon pass was worse than usual, with some fairly large gusts rocking the truck.
In Barstow, I stopped at the (expensive) Rivian chargers. The Electrify America charging station in Barstow is always busy except late at night. I avoid the Tesla chargers unless nothing else is available. I didn’t need the charge, but figured I might as well pull some electrons while I was stopped. In my experience, Rivian’s network doesn’t negotiate with non-Rivians, so I had to tap my credit card on the card reader. That worked fine. I waited until the screen showed the charge was going and then walked to a nearby restaurant, used the restroom, and went back to the truck, made a short phone call, and headed out. The tuck gained 9% charge. Total stop time was 8 minutes.
There were several crashes on the freeway going from Barstow to my destination. I ended up on a detour that ran through a small town for about 30 minutes, with stop-and-go traffic. Stop-and-go is not so good for this massive truck’s efficiency. The ideal speed for efficiency is 30-40 mph. I didn’t get that in any of the drive.
I arrived at my destination with 24% of the battery remaining. Total used was 107% of the battery, or about 222 kWh.
Total drive distance was 490 miles. The average efficiency was 2.2 miles/kWh. That was a little disappointing, but not surprising given the detour and winds in the pass.
Overall, the drive was fine. Nothing dramatic.
When I got to my destination, I plugged into the L2, 30A charger. It’s charged 30% overnight and I expect it’ll be at 100% by the end of the day.
Thanks again for the report sir. Always happy to learn more and your write ups continue to strengthen our belief that we made a great choice going to EV
Driving home, I got 1.8 miles/kWh. I had a meeting to get to that either required getting up at 05:00. or going a little faster than I usually do. I set my freeway speed to 80 mph for most of the trip, for an average of 74 mph. This, of course, included traffic, stops, etc. I ended up stopping three times for bio breaks, each of which included charging. I used 130% of the battery and arrived home with 14% remaining. I didn’t track all of the kWh added to the truck on the drive home, so the 1.8 is a low estimate. Hit a couple of monsoon squalls on the way up the mountain as well.
Overall…
The Lightning was a more comfortable truck and better for most road trips. The Silverado is okay. Its extra range does help with towing; it’s okay for ranch work but not as good as the Lightning, mostly because I didn’t have to fight with the designers of the Lightning. The Silverado's rear port makes it less useful as a tow vehicle. I’m still not convinced the Silverado was the right trade. If only Ford had kept the Lightning as-is but added another size in battery, I think we would have gone for that. I’m close to but not quite at the “regret” stage of having traded the Lightning for the Silverado.
Overall…
The Lightning was a more comfortable truck and better for most road trips. The Silverado is okay. Its extra range does help with towing; it’s okay for ranch work but not as good as the Lightning, mostly because I didn’t have to fight with the designers of the Lightning. The Silverado's rear port makes it less useful as a tow vehicle. I’m still not convinced the Silverado was the right trade. If only Ford had kept the Lightning as-is but added another size in battery, I think we would have gone for that. I’m close to but not quite at the “regret” stage of having traded the Lightning for the Silverado.
I’m so sorry. We have been there twice with cars for my husband. Both bought brand new. One traded in after 8,000 miles and the other 600 miles. It’s the worst.
Would you consider a Terra someday?
I was hoping for a better trip and result for you…
We’ve been disappointed in a few vehicle purchase decisions over the years.
We’re hoping to do a long trip of about 4,000 miles towing a trailer in a few weeks, so we’ll see if we like it after that.
We would consider a Terra. I have concerns about it as a work/tow vehicle. The rear charge port location is a decision made by people who don’t tow; it really needs to be revisited or they should offer a relocation change order for people who purchase the tow package; I’d pay for another 20 feet of copper to have it put in the front. I also think the NACS port was a mistake—the highest number of and the fastest chargers are still CCS1 and the Scouts may not be able to take full advantage of the 800 volt architecture if there’s an adapter in the way of the very highest amperages. Any serious road tripper needs adapters in one direction or the other, so choosing NACS isn’t future-proof, and it reduces the potential for very high speed charging in the immediate term (even two years from now). I hope they keep the Start/Stop button. Of all the BEV trucks we’ve driven, the Lightning was by far the best for our use cases: ranch work, towing, camping, boondocking, and overlanding.
The only thing it really suffered from was having only two battery options, and I’m not convinced the 320 miles of the Extended Range was actually problematic. Of the two road trips we’ve done in the Silverado that we also did in the Lightning, we’ve stopped the same number of times in the same places and for about the same length of time. The bigger battery hasn’t made our road tripping any faster or “better.”
The one road trip we did that was different from the Lightning’s didn’t require the larger battery, though it did give us a few extra choices, which we didn’t really take advantage of in any powerful way.
If Scout moves the charge port to the front and keeps the Start/Stop button, the Terra would be very attractive.
We’re hoping to do a long trip of about 4,000 miles towing a trailer in a few weeks, so we’ll see if we like it after that.
We would consider a Terra. I have concerns about it as a work/tow vehicle. The rear charge port location is a decision made by people who don’t tow; it really needs to be revisited or they should offer a relocation change order for people who purchase the tow package; I’d pay for another 20 feet of copper to have it put in the front. I also think the NACS port was a mistake—the highest number of and the fastest chargers are still CCS1 and the Scouts may not be able to take full advantage of the 800 volt architecture if there’s an adapter in the way of the very highest amperages. Any serious road tripper needs adapters in one direction or the other, so choosing NACS isn’t future-proof, and it reduces the potential for very high speed charging in the immediate term (even two years from now). I hope they keep the Start/Stop button. Of all the BEV trucks we’ve driven, the Lightning was by far the best for our use cases: ranch work, towing, camping, boondocking, and overlanding.
The only thing it really suffered from was having only two battery options, and I’m not convinced the 320 miles of the Extended Range was actually problematic. Of the two road trips we’ve done in the Silverado that we also did in the Lightning, we’ve stopped the same number of times in the same places and for about the same length of time. The bigger battery hasn’t made our road tripping any faster or “better.”
The one road trip we did that was different from the Lightning’s didn’t require the larger battery, though it did give us a few extra choices, which we didn’t really take advantage of in any powerful way.
If Scout moves the charge port to the front and keeps the Start/Stop button, the Terra would be very attractive.
Thanks for that thoughtful answer.
To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with the Silverado as a general truck.
It’s just not as comfortable as the Lightning, and isn’t the step up I had hoped it would be. And the annoyances (rear charge port, no Start/Stop button, etc) are enough to make it feel that it wasn’t worth the trade.
It’s just not as comfortable as the Lightning, and isn’t the step up I had hoped it would be. And the annoyances (rear charge port, no Start/Stop button, etc) are enough to make it feel that it wasn’t worth the trade.
Good to hear your perspective. You should start a YouTube channel as an EV for dummies and share all this info beyond just the forum here. Appreciate the time and effort
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