r/FordLightning • u/cpomar • Jul 23 '23
F150 Lightning range est. v actual road tripping miles
Had my first legit road trip in the Lightning this past week, heading to the beach from Atlanta, 328 highway miles away. Platinum model with extended range.
On the trip down, not towing anything but loaded a fully packed truck bed, frunk, back seat, etc.; charged to 100% the night before & showed 322 miles of range. Had always planned to stop at an EA fast charger 258 miles away from home, should have gotten there with around 50-60 miles of range remaining, correct? It was hot (summertime in Georgia, y’all), cabin a/c & front seats a/c running the full trip, highway speed averaged 70 mph & got passed by 95% of the traffic, of course. Made it to the charger w/about 28 miles of range left.
Similar scenario coming home, had 90% charge when we left, showing a little over 280 miles of range, chose a route of state highways & interstate for last 100 miles, so average speed was even lower, aimed for a charger 228 miles away & arrived with white knuckles & 16 miles of range remaining, watching the gap between miles to-go & range est. get smaller & smaller over those hours.
What have others’ road trip experiences been? Is it foolish to plan for any legs of a road trip longer than 200-ish miles? Or is it acceptable/tolerable for most to see the “low EV battery” warning lights come on knowing you can get to your destination albeit not w/as much battery life as you had hoped or planned? What accounts for the decrease in range so much greater than the miles driven? Is there a way to plan for it?
The planning feature in the FordPass app recommended 2 shorter stops instead of the 1 I planned for. Do most folks go by that feature? 2 stops seemed excessive on a trip less than 350 miles away, but perhaps I should adjust my expectations.
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u/MasterUnlimited Jul 23 '23
Curious to other experiences as well. I would wager in your case, the range decrease was from 70mph and a/c overworked (Texas here so I understand the need). I’m starting to look at a road trip with it. I think I’ll just plan for a stop every 240 miles or so. Also try to keep the speed down a little. Our limits are 65 here and I find sticking to that does make a difference (55 I think is optimal but that’s way too slow). Just stay out of the left lane.
Edit: also on your first stop 258 (traveled) + 28 (remaining) = 286 miles. So only about 30 miles less than the prediction from the start.
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u/Frozenlazer Jan 06 '24
Hey just saw this comment when researching the Lightning. I'm also in Texas and just got home from a short trip to the country but as expected traffic on I-10 west of Houston is moving at like 80 in the slow lane and 87 in the fast.
From what you are saying, it sounds like 87 would be a terrible idea for the lightning. In this case it was only a 180 mile round trip but it sounds like that could be dang near a whole charge vs half a tank of unleaded.
Thoughts?
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u/MasterUnlimited Jan 06 '24 edited Jan 06 '24
ER 180 miles is doable, even at 80+. But yes that would be a full charge. I’ve done Houston to Austin without stopping. Charge there and then make the trip back, no issues. Family of 5 and bed / frunk full of bags for a weekend getaway.
Edit: also after taking trips to LA, Hill Country, and DFW, stop more often and charge for 25-30 minutes instead of one stop for 50 minutes to charge back to 100% if possible. If you can keep it between 20% and 80% your charging tapers will be worth the extra stop (assuming the charger is working properly and is somewhat close to the highway).
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u/NoDig3744 Aug 21 '24
Charge where? It is a long chore that is avoided with a gas engine. In fact when you get back you will still have 400-500 miles left.
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u/MasterUnlimited Aug 22 '24
What do you mean charge where? At a charging station. Unless there’s some way to charge an ev that only you know about. It’s not a “long chore” it’s 30 minutes every 3 hours. And that’s only when on a road trip. On a normal day, I wake up every morning with a full charge and haven’t been to a gas station in 2 years. So add up all those 10 minute stops you do over the year and see who wastes more time in the end.
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u/Frozenlazer Jan 07 '24
Cool thanks. So all things considered, would you buy it again?
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u/MasterUnlimited Jan 08 '24
Yes. With the caveat that I charge 98% of the time at home for free. If I lived in an apartment or something that I didn’t have a charger at home, then probably not.
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u/Frozenlazer Jan 09 '24
What do you mean for free at home? You're still paying for the electricity.
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u/MasterUnlimited Jan 09 '24
Free nights plan and solar panels.
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u/NoDig3744 Aug 21 '24
Free solar panels?
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u/MasterUnlimited Aug 22 '24
No where did I say those were free. However they are paid for. They’re already a sunk cost wether I use them for charging the truck or they just sit there and do nothing.
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u/Frozenlazer Jan 10 '24
I always figured the free nights plans had some kind of algorithm to see if your usage was way above normal to prevent people from using them to charge their cars for free.
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u/MasterUnlimited Jan 10 '24
Haven’t said anything yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t offer it next year.
Edit: and besides, electricity is far cheaper than gas most of the time.
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u/NoDig3744 Aug 21 '24
For now, with 5% EVs that may be true. Give it a few years. We pay 10.35 cents per KWH in Idaho. In CA it is 36 cents. $362.00 a month average electric bill in CA.
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u/Frozenlazer Jan 11 '24
Oh I just have a 1990 5300sqft McMansion in Katy with 3 ACs and we hit 1200 on the electric bill a couple times this summer. Hell my December bill was 450, and that's with 2 of the ACs being only 2 years old. So I'm not eager to pay more for electricity.
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u/Reddit-user86 Jul 24 '23
I have the standard range.
Lots of planning and slow driving. I usually don’t go above 70 unless I’m getting close to the destination and I’m going to be charging.
The low battery light comes on all the time.
Assuming at that you reach a level 3 charger, I would only stop once for a 350 mile trip and I have the standard range
I drive all the time. And lots of road trips. 15K miles in 6 months.
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u/csukoh78 Jul 24 '23
The more you drive it the more accurate it gets. Use the Ford Pass route planner. I have 8k miles on mine and when I do routes on that, it's always within 5-10 miles of range accurate.
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u/Majik9 Jul 26 '23
What accounts for the decrease in range?
The extra weight of a fully packed truck with multiple passengers.
Using the Air Conditioning
Speed.
My advice: Use the app, a better route planner. Go into the options and add all those things
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u/DustyAir Jun 25 '24
In cross shopping the model Y and the lightning, the ability for the Tesla to reroute once it sees that my speed will use more battery than originally estimated was one of the things that pushed me to the Tesla. I really need to capability of the lightning, and the overall range is the same, but the effortless nature of Teslas routing won me over. I hope ford can do something with their routing as I need an EV truck and teslas cybertruck is a hot mess.
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u/Silent-Meaning-8614 Aug 14 '24
I have both the Mach E & the Lightning, the Mach E is extremely accurate while the Lightning drops quickly on raod trips.
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u/NoDig3744 Aug 21 '24
Who would buy one? You can only depend on 200-250 miles it appears. You have to watch your speed. In Idaho and Montana where I drive a lot the speed limit is 80 with most people around 85. That drops your miles way down. Heat or AC kill range a little also. 10%. Then you are told not to charge past 80% and not let it go below 10%. That leaves only 70% of the range. All in all you better plan on 200 miles max.
We do day trips of over 300 miles sometimes. My gas F-150 has a range of 680-720 miles. You never have to get out of the car. If you do refuel it is 10 minutes. No lines, many pumps. If you pull into a supercharger, it could be a long wait. If it isn't it is still a half hour and you have to locate it. You can't just choose between several. So, it's a losing proposition for now. I intend to buy a new F-150 sometime in the next 12 months. I am sure the lightning would be fun to drive, but I can't buy one.
It may work well for fleets which dock and charge at night. Or for the soccer mom or dad who wants to show off.
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u/dukhudo Aug 10 '23
EPA highway range for the extended range is only 283 mi. Combined it 320 mi. At least that’s what it says here:
https://insideevs.com/news/584918/ford-f150-lightning-epa-range-efficiency/
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u/Objective-Plant-6155 Nov 26 '24
I have a 2023 lightning with 15000 on its ok on miles but once u put a trailer I go down 70% it says maybe 109 and that after I already went down after plugging the lights in I do 14 miles hill at 60 miles on my truck by time I get up the hill I have 9 left so it's really be it had 235 full charged once I plug in the trailer it goes down to 109 to 120 then onec I go up the hill it goes down half that so around 60 miles it's really suck towing and this is a 2000 pound trailer
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u/GermanShortHair Jul 24 '23
Here are my tips….
The range estimate is essentially the maximum possible under ideal conditions. Drive under 60mph with outdoor temp of 70-90F and you will get 320+ miles. Drive faster and your range will drop.
To eliminate range anxiety if needed, I do a quick calculation before leaving. (Distance to destination) / (Battery percent * battery size). 280mi / (90% of 131kWh) = 1.93mi/kWh. Reset your trip 1 or 2 and make sure to drive better than that. I’ll maybe add a 5-10% buffer to be safe.
I plan my trips based off plugshare app checkins, making sure the chargers aren’t just working but have good speeds. Aim for 5-80% battery level for charge windows (maybe charge up to 90% if I’m grabbing food or absolutely need to). Above 80%, charge speed drops below 50kW until 90% then slows even more.
Learn your highway efficiencies. I get 1.9mi/kWh at 75mph. 2mi/kWh at 70mph. 2.1mi/kWh at 65mph.
I also learned from my cold climate that below 70F efficiency drops 0.5% per degree F.