Rob G
Well-known member
- First Name
- Rob
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2022
- Threads
- 12
- Messages
- 274
- Reaction score
- 229
- Location
- Monmouth County NJ
- Vehicles
- GV60 Sport, Bronco BL Sasquatch, Taycan 4S
- Occupation
- Retired
- Thread starter
- #1
My Lightning is a Lariat with extended range battery, max tow and tow tech.
The 1870 was just the ride between the two locations not counting driving around down in FL on the Island which added up to another 250 or so miles for the week.
I left on Friday August 19th stopped for the night in Florence, SC. On the return trip I drove straight through as I felt more confident on what I could expect from the truck. I over charged on a couple of occasions because we were busy doing something or walking our dog so I cannot say it was the optimum trip on the way down. On the way back I tightened up quite a bit and was probably only an hour longer than an ICE drive would've been.
Just some additional background: I paid for ABRP premium so I could connect it to my OBDII port for real time information, I paid for an EA membership to save some money on fuel costs and I diligently prepped a spreadsheet of potential stops for charging along with chargers before and after preferred stops. After all this prep I ended up just. using the Ford nav and only intervened on a couple of occasions to select different chargers. I was diligent about updating my stops on Plugshare to hopefully benefit the community. I used Blue Cruise quite a bit on the way down with good results. It would sometime not track well when approaching exits but warned me to take over. If I was in the right lane (2 lane highway) I would just be prepared passing exits. Ping Ponging was minimal but noticeable on 95 in So Carolina for some reason more than other places. I did not by any means hyper mile the truck. I averaged 75 MPH and wasn't afraid to pass people by going much faster. Ran nearly 80 for quite some time in GA. The truck performed with my aggressive driving with 2.0 mi/kWh which I thought was great.
I charged 5 times in each direction and will post up those logs in this thread but nothing eventful in them. Here were some of the issues I faced. One of the charging stops was in a shopping mall in VA on the way back. It only had 4 charging spots and they were all full with two cars (bolt, Polestar 2) at 100%. I waited less about 10 minutes or so and the Bolt driver arrived and I took that spot. I should've checked the available chargers because I could've made it to the next location. I had issues at a Walmart on Pooler Pkwy near Savannah right off route 95 on the return trip getting any post to initialize. I thought it was odd because I had it on the way down with no issues whatsoever. I called EA to let them know (I firmly believe the community has to work to help get DCFC more reliable) and the woman on the other end asked me to try to initialize in the app rather than the post. I wasn't aware that you could actually do that and quite enjoyed that I didn't have to get out of the truck to see the stats that display on the screen. However, using this technique removed the problems to get the chargers working. I wish I had known it sooner. All of the other stops went without issue.
Overall, I still think there is huge room from improvement. Locations first, these needs to be placed in more traditional rest stop locations. I know GM did a deal with EVGO and Pilot/Flying J to install a large number of chargers at their stops. However, it needs to go beyond just that one deal. I think the issue is making DCFC profitable which it isn’t yet. I don't like to overspend but would pay more for ubiquitous, reliable DCFC for roadtrip purposes. The vast majority of charging is at home at 13.5 cents / kWh so I can make it up there.
Rest areas along major interstates (NJ has state owned rest stops along the Garden State Parkway and NJTpke) and a couple have 50kW EVGo chargers but they need to dedicate space for DCFC.
Lastly, I think the industry made a mistake not adopting the Tesla charging format. CCS adapters and lines are a bit unwieldy compared to the small format AC/DC single connector Tesla developed. It’s a small issue but Tesla nailed that convenient small connector compared CCS.
These were the stops I made going to FL:
Arundel Mills, MD which is a shopping mall. I arrived there early and nothing was really open which was fine.
EA Walmart in Emporia VA which is right off of 95 and the back area of the shopping area.
EA Carolina Premium Outlets (super convenient location) in Smithfield, NC
EA Walmart Florence, SC
EA Walmart Pooler Pkwy Savannah GA
FPL Daydream Ave in Yulee FL this is just outside of my destination but I wanted to top up. I was going to Amelia Island only about 12 miles from there but there's no DCFC there.
The return trip to NJ:
EA Walmart Pooler Pkwy Savannah GA this is where I had issues at almost every post then called and used the app to initialize with no issues. I used that method exclusively for the rest of the trip.
EA Walmart Florence, SC
EA Carolina Premium Outlets (super convenient location) in Smithfield, NC This one ran slow on the return trip and the other two cars charging, IONIQ5 and BMW i4, were getting slow rates as well. ]
EA Walmart in Emporia VA for a quick one
EA Smithfield Town Center Springfield VA which was another quick one and I had to wait a bit as discussed earlier.
EA Abingdon MD which was a huge lot with many charger where I charged to 80% to make sure I wouldn't have to stop again on my way back to Rumson, NJ
The F150 was great and I wouldn't hesitate to take on another roadtrip, in fact I will because I only have E cars in NJ at this point.
TL;DR
F150 Lightning provided me a great road trip experience. A few small surmountable issues and a good time over 2500 miles of east coast travel.
The 1870 was just the ride between the two locations not counting driving around down in FL on the Island which added up to another 250 or so miles for the week.
I left on Friday August 19th stopped for the night in Florence, SC. On the return trip I drove straight through as I felt more confident on what I could expect from the truck. I over charged on a couple of occasions because we were busy doing something or walking our dog so I cannot say it was the optimum trip on the way down. On the way back I tightened up quite a bit and was probably only an hour longer than an ICE drive would've been.
Just some additional background: I paid for ABRP premium so I could connect it to my OBDII port for real time information, I paid for an EA membership to save some money on fuel costs and I diligently prepped a spreadsheet of potential stops for charging along with chargers before and after preferred stops. After all this prep I ended up just. using the Ford nav and only intervened on a couple of occasions to select different chargers. I was diligent about updating my stops on Plugshare to hopefully benefit the community. I used Blue Cruise quite a bit on the way down with good results. It would sometime not track well when approaching exits but warned me to take over. If I was in the right lane (2 lane highway) I would just be prepared passing exits. Ping Ponging was minimal but noticeable on 95 in So Carolina for some reason more than other places. I did not by any means hyper mile the truck. I averaged 75 MPH and wasn't afraid to pass people by going much faster. Ran nearly 80 for quite some time in GA. The truck performed with my aggressive driving with 2.0 mi/kWh which I thought was great.
I charged 5 times in each direction and will post up those logs in this thread but nothing eventful in them. Here were some of the issues I faced. One of the charging stops was in a shopping mall in VA on the way back. It only had 4 charging spots and they were all full with two cars (bolt, Polestar 2) at 100%. I waited less about 10 minutes or so and the Bolt driver arrived and I took that spot. I should've checked the available chargers because I could've made it to the next location. I had issues at a Walmart on Pooler Pkwy near Savannah right off route 95 on the return trip getting any post to initialize. I thought it was odd because I had it on the way down with no issues whatsoever. I called EA to let them know (I firmly believe the community has to work to help get DCFC more reliable) and the woman on the other end asked me to try to initialize in the app rather than the post. I wasn't aware that you could actually do that and quite enjoyed that I didn't have to get out of the truck to see the stats that display on the screen. However, using this technique removed the problems to get the chargers working. I wish I had known it sooner. All of the other stops went without issue.
Overall, I still think there is huge room from improvement. Locations first, these needs to be placed in more traditional rest stop locations. I know GM did a deal with EVGO and Pilot/Flying J to install a large number of chargers at their stops. However, it needs to go beyond just that one deal. I think the issue is making DCFC profitable which it isn’t yet. I don't like to overspend but would pay more for ubiquitous, reliable DCFC for roadtrip purposes. The vast majority of charging is at home at 13.5 cents / kWh so I can make it up there.
Rest areas along major interstates (NJ has state owned rest stops along the Garden State Parkway and NJTpke) and a couple have 50kW EVGo chargers but they need to dedicate space for DCFC.
Lastly, I think the industry made a mistake not adopting the Tesla charging format. CCS adapters and lines are a bit unwieldy compared to the small format AC/DC single connector Tesla developed. It’s a small issue but Tesla nailed that convenient small connector compared CCS.
These were the stops I made going to FL:
Arundel Mills, MD which is a shopping mall. I arrived there early and nothing was really open which was fine.
EA Walmart in Emporia VA which is right off of 95 and the back area of the shopping area.
EA Carolina Premium Outlets (super convenient location) in Smithfield, NC
EA Walmart Florence, SC
EA Walmart Pooler Pkwy Savannah GA
FPL Daydream Ave in Yulee FL this is just outside of my destination but I wanted to top up. I was going to Amelia Island only about 12 miles from there but there's no DCFC there.
The return trip to NJ:
EA Walmart Pooler Pkwy Savannah GA this is where I had issues at almost every post then called and used the app to initialize with no issues. I used that method exclusively for the rest of the trip.
EA Walmart Florence, SC
EA Carolina Premium Outlets (super convenient location) in Smithfield, NC This one ran slow on the return trip and the other two cars charging, IONIQ5 and BMW i4, were getting slow rates as well. ]
EA Walmart in Emporia VA for a quick one
EA Smithfield Town Center Springfield VA which was another quick one and I had to wait a bit as discussed earlier.
EA Abingdon MD which was a huge lot with many charger where I charged to 80% to make sure I wouldn't have to stop again on my way back to Rumson, NJ
The F150 was great and I wouldn't hesitate to take on another roadtrip, in fact I will because I only have E cars in NJ at this point.
TL;DR
F150 Lightning provided me a great road trip experience. A few small surmountable issues and a good time over 2500 miles of east coast travel.
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