kjhall
Active member
- First Name
- Ken
- Joined
- May 25, 2023
- Threads
- 2
- Messages
- 42
- Reaction score
- 143
- Location
- Windsor, CO
- Vehicles
- 2022 Lightning Lariat, 2023 Mach E Premium AWD
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- #1
2000-mile Lightning Trail Camper Road Trip Report
I drove the Lightning with my DIY Lightning Trail camper from Windsor, CO to Oshkosh, WI for the annual AirVenture air show. I’ll cover some of the key takeaways from the trip below. Old news for some of you, but...
This is my third cross-country trip with the Lightning, but the first with the camper. My first cross-country was last fall, shortly after I purchased the Lightning. Although we traveled further on that trip (4000 miles from Windsor to the east coast and back – see attached report), a good portion of both trips was along the same route. As such, this trip helped me compare traveling across the country with the Lightning now vs almost a year ago.
Key Take-Aways
Trip Highlights:
I’ve posted below a simple spreadsheet calculating the charging stops and times, as well as a link for the original videos about the camper, and a trip report from our first cross-country in the Lightning.
Love to hear your comments and questions.
Lightning Trail camper
I drove the Lightning with my DIY Lightning Trail camper from Windsor, CO to Oshkosh, WI for the annual AirVenture air show. I’ll cover some of the key takeaways from the trip below. Old news for some of you, but...
This is my third cross-country trip with the Lightning, but the first with the camper. My first cross-country was last fall, shortly after I purchased the Lightning. Although we traveled further on that trip (4000 miles from Windsor to the east coast and back – see attached report), a good portion of both trips was along the same route. As such, this trip helped me compare traveling across the country with the Lightning now vs almost a year ago.
Key Take-Aways
- I hoped charging infrastructure would have significantly expanded and improved over the last 10 months, but from what I experienced, the picture has gotten worse, not better. I encountered very few new charging stations, and a significant portion of the existing equipment in more disrepair (age has not been kind to that equipment).
- Cross-country trip planning needs to be done in advance of a trip but also in real-time. In multiple instances, sites I had researched and mapped into my plan were reported by Plugshare users as having complete site failures, mere hours before I would arrive there. As a result, I had to scramble to find alternates.
- Off the interstate, functional chargers are difficult to find, and often much slower when you do find them (no news to most of you).
- Prices for charging were all over the map, even for chargers sitting right next to each other! I paid anywhere from $.12 to $.39 per kWh and averaged about $.22. The charging cost for the entire 2000+ miles was $257. Not bad, and probably slightly less than a comparable ICE trip.
- Although my little camper weighed just over 700 lbs when I completed it, I was pushing the truck’s maximum payload with all the camper upgrades, camping gear, tools, food, water, and supplies I carried. So instead of the 15% reduction in range I was expecting, I saw over 20% on this trip (1.75 miles/kWh).
- I kept my cruise control at 66 mph and had very few traffic or construction slow-downs. But my effective average speed (including charging stops) was about 42 mph. I spent 48 hours on the road to travel 2,000+ miles (not including sleeping). It was a LONG solo drive.
Trip Highlights:
- My little camper worked great! It came through a fairly severe thunderstorm unscathed. I easily switched the awning to the opposite side to account for the way I parked. The solar panel kept the 12V camper battery charged and the fridge running. Love the cassette toilet and the easy conversion between the camper’s day and night modes. I gave a few folks a tour of the camper and they had positive things to say about it. I completed and installed a front fairing a few days before the trip, and it worked well to reduce road noise but sadly didn’t seem to have any effect on range. I also completed and brought along a prototype indoor shower but didn’t use it, as AirVenture has a great shower system in the campground.
- The Lightning was flawless and drove itself hands-free about 90% of the time. Even with its current shortcomings, I love Blue Cruise. I really missed hands-free driving when it wasn’t available. It seems to work more reliably at night, possibly due to the greater contrast between the pavement and the white lines. Can’t wait for BC 1.3!
- I was able to find Electrify America charging stations that would put out the full kW the truck was asking for along I-80 in Nebraska. A nice contrast to malfunctioning EA charge stations further east.
- A Chevy dealership in Dubuque has a free 25kW charging station that was critical for my journey. Thanks, McGraff Chevrolet Dubuque!!
- AirVenture was amazing and overwhelming, as always. 10,000 aircraft, 11,000 campsites, and 40,000 campers!
I’ve posted below a simple spreadsheet calculating the charging stops and times, as well as a link for the original videos about the camper, and a trip report from our first cross-country in the Lightning.
Love to hear your comments and questions.
That's basically what I told folks at the airshow who were curious about the Lightning (not a lot of overlap between airplane and EV types today). I told them it's very similar to planning a cross-country flight, but instead of checking weather forecasts and airport fuel availability, I check charging station status and reviews. You can't safely just hop in an airplane or an EV (today) and head across the country.
