Lightning Towing Stats with my 23FB Airstream Trailer

I was able to tow the Airstream around 30 miles today and understand how the Lightning does with some weight behind it. The TL;DR is that with a 23-foot Airstream, I am seeing 0.8mi/kWh. Compared to the 1.5-1.8 I have seen on my road trips thus far without the trailer, its around 50% of the range when towing.

When you plug in your trailer and set the weight, height, length, etc., the Ford system auto-calculates your mileage impact. I plugged in at 85 miles, and when I finished the calculation, it stated I had 54 miles of range with the Airstream.

Some stats:

• Airstream is around 6000 pounds (2721 kg) as it is loaded with our gear
• Approximately 20 gallons of fresh water and no wastewater
• Additional batteries for the solar
• Nothing in the truck other than one rural Standish man
• No hills. Flat driving

The towing experience is impressive. The instant torque makes hauling a breeze, and you sort of forget there is that much weight behind you as you accelerate.

Other than that, it's all standard high-end Ford towing with the advance package. No different than the ICE versions. Compared to my 2017, the pro backup system works, which is nice. I joke that every couple should see if they can survive a long road trip together, but right after that, they should attempt to work together, backing an RV into a tight camping spot.

Q&A (from members later in this thread):

It's me said:

So 104 miles from 100% to 0.0% towing that thing?
They said 1 pedal is disabled while towing, how did that feel? Any regen?

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Such an interesting thing. I plugged in the trailer, programmed the characteristics, etc. The pedal was NOT disabled when I took off down the road. When I put it in Tow/Haul mode it did, but I thought it was funny part of the system understood there was something on the hitch, but I had to go put it in the mode for the other part of the system to do something.

One of those weird Ford UX things.

vandy1981 said:

This is the info I've been waiting for. Thanks for posting!

How did braking work while connected to the trailer? Was there any regen with braking or did it rely primarily on friction brakes and trailer brakes?

Edit: also, did you play around with route planning? Did the truck account for terrain and weather calculating range?

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Breaking was fine. Regen is definitely in play, but I tend to try and let the trailer take care of most of it when towing.

I did not with route planning. I will be doing a 200+ mile tow to a campground on the other side of the state 2 week in June. I will share more on that when completed.

Goose2 said:

Could you tell the world what exactly the tow/haul mode does when activated.

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Disables a ton of the BlueCruise capabilities and enables some hauling specific items like sway control and braking.

Griddlez said:

Assuming you were towing your air stream with a ICE 150 before? Did you have to do any special adjustment on your weight distribution hitch or did it work as is? Looks pretty level to me. I'll be going from a 150 to the lightning and hoping I don't have to adjust the ball or distribution bar catches on the trailer itself when I make the change over.

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I use a weight distro hitch and just hooked it up first try. The airstream has always been pretty easy to level

detroitlightning said:

It was warm in Michigan today - probably 80-90° F.

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Truck showed 30C which is 86F

It's me said:

He was probably towing at 90 MPH.. Probably dialing it down to 70 MPH will get your target of 1.4+kWh/mile, I'm sure..

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65 in fact

Griddlez said:

Oh here's a good question - I know the lightning is basically the same specs as the normal ICE but I will ask anyway -- how was visibility in the mirrors? We don't get tow mirror options on the lightning so I was wondering if you thought they were adequate for your 23ft long trailer?

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Just barely. Coming from having them on our ICE F-150, the difference is vast. Maybe I will warm up to them and get used to it, but I am missing them from the other truck right now.

ftms said:

Oneguynick - What options do you have, extended range battery, max tow package? I think the battery is standard on your truck. 83 miles on a full charge seems horrible on a full charge. I was hoping half the distance of a full charge of 150 miles.

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I was not on a full charge. I had driven most of the day and was just grabbing the trailer for a short jaunt. I started with 83 and when I programmed the trailer, it dropped me to the 50's of range which was enough to get done what I needed to do.

dnstommy said:

I feel like we knew there would be a fall off on towing with the Lightning. But in the EV to ICE comparison chart, the EV has to be equal or close to the abilities of the ICE comp vehicle. When the EV far surpasses the abilities of the ICE, some leeway is granted. Example is Tesla. The range is worse in the winter, but there are so many super chargers and the performance is so much better.

But for the lightning to possibly have a 70-80 mile tow range in the dead of winter while the ICE comp vehicle to be 200+ miles and more with the extended fuel tank. The divergence is pretty stark. I think we have some work to do long term. I also would imagine these tests are exactly why Tesla is delaying the CT so much. How do they explain to their loyal audience the range issues under load.

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Exactly - it is pretty common here in Northern Michigan to see -20C/-4F. Our Tesla can struggle during the winter (with estimates mostly), but it is okay because it is okay in the lower peninsula. We would never venture to the UP during the winter with the car due to the lack of network.

If/when Ford can get the network updated, we will be fine towing. Right now its a huge research project after our Mackinac trip.

detroitlightning said:

Any thoughts on how you plan to access the fast chargers with the trailer attached, or are you going to have to disconnect it every time?

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For the next trip to the west of the state I am basically doing this:

1. Assume 90 mile range on the truck
2. Find nearest 70kw+ chargers on plugshare
3. Look at photos posted by users
4. Go to Google Maps and see if sat view provides any indication of issues
5. Add to PlugShare trip and do it all again

The one good thing is I can assume a full charge leaving home and the campground given our airstream only requires a 110v plug. That means we can use the 30/50 amp to charge most of the time.

williams said:

so my brain doesnt explode, did you not get the LR version?

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I did

williams said:

and youre getting 100 fully charged? on a long range

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Towing the impact is about 50% reduction. So 150

Avocadodude said:

Your setup is nice and level; mind if I ask what hitch brand?

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ReCurve R6 Weight Distribution Hitch Kit - 1000lb

https://www.eaz-lift.com/products/recurve-r6-weight-distribution-hitch-1000lb-kit












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Good info, thanks.

To add to your "couples test", I'd add living in a 38ft RV with 2 very large, hairy dogs and traveling with a horse....................we did that for 2 yrs.

This is the info I've been waiting for. Thanks for posting!

How did braking work while connected to the trailer? Was there any regen with braking or did it rely primarily on friction brakes and trailer brakes?

Edit: also, did you play around with route planning? Did the truck account for terrain and weather calculating range?

It's me said:

So 104 miles from 100% to 0.0% towing that thing?
They said 1 pedal is disabled while towing, how did that feel? Any regen?

Click to expand...

Such an interesting thing. I plugged in the trailer, programmed the characteristics, etc. The pedal was NOT disabled when I took off down the road. When I put it in Tow/Haul mode it did, but I thought it was funny part of the system understood there was something on the hitch, but I had to go put it in the mode for the other part of the system to do something.

One of those weird Ford UX things.

vandy1981 said:

This is the info I've been waiting for. Thanks for posting!

How did braking work while connected to the trailer? Was there any regen with braking or did it rely primarily on friction brakes and trailer brakes?

Edit: also, did you play around with route planning? Did the truck account for terrain and weather calculating range?

Click to expand...

Breaking was fine. Regen is definitely in play, but I tend to try and let the trailer take care of most of it when towing.

I did not with route planning. I will be doing a 200+ mile tow to a campground on the other side of the state 2 week in June. I will share more on that when completed.

Good looking couple (the truck and trailer)!

Ouch, I was hoping to hit 1 mi/kWh. Any idea of outdoor air temp and relative wind direction/speed?

idahospud said:

Good looking couple (the truck and trailer)!

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Agreed. Even better than the Airstream-Lightning combo in the Ford promo materials.

My FIL took some videos if you are interested
















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Could you tell the world what exactly the tow/haul mode does when activated.

Goose2 said:

Could you tell the world what exactly the tow/haul mode does when activated.

Click to expand...

Disables a ton of the BlueCruise capabilities and enables some hauling specific items like sway control and braking

oneguynick said:

I was able to tow the Airstream around 30 miles today

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Thanks for the effort you've put into this post. Well done!
At least this shows I can tow a car to the race track (about 100 miles each way with several charging options) and run the onboard power all day.
I'll be looking for a very slippery camper trailer that's more like 1.2 mi/kWh.
Hopefully Ford has plans for a 250kWh Lightning … maybe 2024/5? … : )

Thanks for sharing, I am looking forward to seeing the results of my Lariat-ER towing a 4000# V-nose in late July!!

That’s awesome, thanks for the info. Roughly 50% is what I think most of us were expecting. The Airstream is more aerodynamic than a flat-sided trailer so I might not do so well.

It's me said:

What's next, find a random aircraft registration and start calling the FAA for weather briefings for flight level 0001 to our destinations?

I think we are over thinking things.

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What? Doesn't the dashboard say the outdoor temp? He drove 30 miles - into the wind the whole way or not. I thought he was willing to share relevant stats but I guess we are just using Ford nav for finding charging and not overthinking it.