Harrisburg to NEPA - 100 miles in the snow - Lightning Lariat SR (standard range)

Today was my first real winter driving test. Sorry if it's "duh" info for EV vets but thought it might be helpful for newbies like me.

Long story short, snow storm swept across PA today and I was working about 100 miles from home in Harrisburg for the day. Going on down was cold - low to mid 30s. Charged to 100% overnight and preconditioned. As soon as I started the truck, the range estimate dropped from 213 to just over 200. Dropped off the kids at school then made a planned stop at Memorial Lake Park (80-mile trip). Free 48A Clipper Creek charger there (score!). Plugged in at 63%, worked from there for about 90 minutes and unplugged at 74%. Charging slowed considerably the last 20 minutes or so when someone used the other plug on the dual charger.

After finishing the drive to Harrisburg and the work day we went downtown for a happy hour. Plugged in at a public ChargePoint location on 3rd Street with 64% remaining. Two hours and a dollar or so later, left to drive home with 76%. It was 30 degrees and snowing pretty hard most of the drive home. A lot of the drive was about 55mph or so due to visibility and road conditions. The range estimator was all over the place and I made it home with 19%, despite some nervous moments.

All said and done, the drive back was the true test. 1.8 mi/kWh. A 99-mile drive used up 57% of the battery in hazardous conditions. On a normal day I usually get about 2.2 mi/kWh with similar highway driving, so the headline is that it's probably about a 20% reduction in range/battery usage in cold and snowy weather. Similar to what others have reported but now I know for sure. Definitely feel like it's gonna take a while to get a true feel for winter driving.

Hope this helps fellow first time EVers!

I am sure all that slop on the road did not help your miles/Kwh

@MVS87 Great write up. The truck is so new that even seasoned EV drivers like myself find this real world feedback very useful.

I was curious what tires you have on the truck? I have the General 20 inch all seasons on my Lariat Lightning and thought they did a mediocre job in the 3 to 4 inches of snow we got in Denver today.

After today I was thinking of putting more of a snow tire on the truck for the winter even if it hurts my range when I go to Arizona in January and February.

thecoloradokid said:

@MVS87

I was curious what tires you have on the truck? I have the General 20 inch all seasons on my Lariat Lightning and thought they did a mediocre job in the 3 to 4 inches of snow we got in Denver today.

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Same tires here. They did ok. It was mostly highway with a layer of slush so definitely not the 3-4 accumulation. I actually felt more stable on the back roads when I got off the highway that had probably a solid half inch layer of fresh powder. On the highway, a couple times it felt like it wanted to slip when changing lanes but you could feel the all wheel drive straighten things out. Tougher part fore was speed management since the sensors were all blocked and I couldn't use cruise control.

MVS87 said:

Same tires here. They did ok. It was mostly highway with a layer of slush so definitely not the 3-4 accumulation. I actually felt more stable on the back roads when I got off the highway that had probably a solid half inch layer of fresh powder. On the highway, a couple times it felt like it wanted to slip when changing lanes but you could feel the all wheel drive straighten things out. Tougher part fore was speed management since the sensors were all blocked and I couldn't use cruise control.

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Appreciate the feedback, and glad to know it is just not me that has struggled a little in snow with these all season tires. Might be time to swap them out for something with a little more winter grip.

@MVS87 Thanks for sharing - and please add your experience/info to the log I started. I had a similar experience, going from 2.1 avg down to 1.6 in cold weather and tons of rain. Trying to get an average across experiences for the impact on range per 5 degrees of average temp deviation. I charge to 90% each night and am leaving with 180 miles estimated range in sub 30 degree temps.

RainorshinePNW said:

@MVS87 Thanks for sharing - and please add your experience/info to the log I started. I had a similar experience, going from 2.1 avg down to 1.6 in cold weather and tons of rain. Trying to get an average across experiences for the impact on range per 5 degrees of average temp deviation. I charge to 90% each night and am leaving with 180 miles estimated range in sub 30 degree temps.

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Sure. Can you share the link?

MVS87 said:

Sure. Can you share the link?

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https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...ture-impacts-on-range-log-and-averages.12971/

MVS87 said:

Sure. Can you share the link?

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LINK to full google sheet

thecoloradokid said:

Appreciate the feedback, and glad to know it is just not me that has struggled a little in snow with these all season tires. Might be time to swap them out for something with a little more winter grip.

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Disappointing to hear, I was hoping these Grabbers would do decent.

Curious what everyone switches to.

I was in Mechanicsburg last week, the night before leaving happened to notice EA in Carlisle unavailable. It is still down, getting replaced. I ended up sitting at a harley davidson on a 25kw charger for a few hours to go from 30% to 75%. I was going back the other way to SWPA.

Harrisburg itself seems like it has lots of options. I thought about crossing the river because I saw a 50kw charger over there.

queuewho said:

I was in Mechanicsburg last week, the night before leaving happened to notice EA in Carlisle unavailable. It is still down, getting replaced. I ended up sitting at a harley davidson on a 25kw charger for a few hours to go from 30% to 75%. I was going back the other way to SWPA.

Harrisburg itself seems like it has lots of options. I thought about crossing the river because I saw a 50kw charger over there.

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I didn't see too many fast options unfortunately from what I was able to research. Seems the further west you get in the state, the fewer fast charging options that are available. I know the Walmarts in Scranton and Stroudsburg have EA setups. Thankfully I don't need to rely on those much but that was the tricky part about planning my Harrisburg trip. I'm about 100 miles north along 81 and i was at the civil war museum for a work event, which had no charging options. I was initially only going to be downtown for about half an hour which had me nervous but thankfully plans changed and I was able to get a couple hours on the ChargePoint street charger on 3rd St.

MVS87 said:

I didn't see too many fast options unfortunately from what I was able to research. Seems the further west you get in the state, the fewer fast charging options that are available. I know the Walmarts in Scranton and Stroudsburg have EA setups. Thankfully I don't need to rely on those much but that was the tricky part about planning my Harrisburg trip. I'm about 100 miles north along 81 and i was at the civil war museum for a work event, which had no charging options. I was initially only going to be downtown for about half an hour which had me nervous but thankfully plans changed and I was able to get a couple hours on the ChargePoint street charger on 3rd St.

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Seems like lots of car dealers on both sides have some 50+kw options. I'm sure it's more expensive and obviously not as fast, but at least there is something, while that EA is dead.