2000-mile road trip with my DIY Lightning Trail slide-in pop-up camper

[Nikos]

Can you provide links to your entire tent/platform setup, please? Sorry if you have already done this. Looks awesome!!!

The rooftop tent is from Rough Country.
Rough Country makes all kinds of aftermarket accessories for off roading vehicles. They are based in Tennessee.
Check out their website.
The rack is from Elevate and it fits on my T rail system. I have a Retrax bed roller cover which came with the T rails. This particular Retrax bed roller cover is of composite material.
The rooftop tent will be used more during the cooler months of the year.
Already planning excursions to our near National Forests primitive campsites.
The Lightning makes those trips a lot easier.
The Pro Power is a game changer.

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[On the Road with Ralph]

Planning an EV road-trip is analogous to doing a flight plan. Lots of detail and work necessary. It is totally doable, but a big lift for many in the general public.

As a former pilot, I have made this comparison myself. I actually enjoy looking at route alternatives for road trips, especially when trying to figure out how to cross EV deserts. I have made seven journeys of more than 500 miles, and two of 1500+ miles since getting my Lightning in January. It is a pleasure to drive and a terrific road cruiser.

That said, no service or product I regularly use disappoints or frustrates me more often than ElectrifyAmerica. If profit is the reward for serving a customer well, then EA deserves to go bankrupt.

I have written elsewhere that this is the first summer of EV roadtrips and vacations. While that is not literally true, the congestion at DC fast chargers along major routes is certainly greater than ever. The response to this increase of demand by CCS networks such as EA has been pitiful. Meanwhile, Tesla's continues to expand its coverage and increase the number of dispensers at many existing Supercharger sites. The contrast is depressing.

 

[Seth Goodwin]

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

• 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.

Bottom line: Outside of the Tesla bubble (which I know little about), EV cross-country travel is still NOT really feasible for the average American, and the situation is not improving, but may get much worse as more EVs hit the road. We desperately need better reliability and more coverage. Tesla Supercharger access will help, I hope.

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.

Lightning Trail camper

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

• 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.

Bottom line: Outside of the Tesla bubble (which I know little about), EV cross-country travel is still NOT really feasible for the average American, and the situation is not improving, but may get much worse as more EVs hit the road. We desperately need better reliability and more coverage. Tesla Supercharger access will help, I hope.

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.

Lightning Trail camper

Thanks for sharing your experience with cross country travel in your Lightning. I'm new to this forum and have not seen your previous posts. May I ask if your Lightning is standard or extended range? Thanks.

 

[kjhall]

Thanks for sharing your experience with cross country travel in your Lightning. I'm new to this forum and have not seen your previous posts. May I ask if your Lightning is standard or extended range? Thanks.

I have another posting talking more about the camper itself.
My Lightning is extended range

 

[Jseis]

Our county’s fueling infrastructure post WW2 was many stations w/1 or 2 pumps. Today it is few stations with 6-8 pumps. What was an all day journey in the prewar era to cover 200 miles w/poor quality tires, became 3-4 hours and that was before freeways.

We drove to Great Falls a year ago (800+ miles) in the SR MME. Normally that is a 13 hour behind the wall pedal down long day. For the MME it was two days, 5 stops, with/3 total hours of charge time. This summer we drove our Flex to Missoula as it’s a far more comfortable, efficient freeway cruiser (25 mpg at 65-70) with one stop to refuel.

Traded the Flex off for the ER Lightning. It can do the Missoula trip on three charges totaling 1.5 hours of charge time and now, with access to I-90 Tesla stations, a bit more flexibility.

But as we visit Vancouver, Olympia, Oregon and WA coast etc., we see more vehicles at EA sites and not unusual to find only one stall available and-or one charging tower off line. Worse is the vandalism. Here’s a pic of a Blink station (Fred Meyer parking lot) w/2 cut charging cords.

Since I charge from home.. my infrastructure works fab. It’s the rare occasional road trip. That is a tough market group. Ford was smart to link w/Tesla. As BEVs approach 400 mile range and stations get more numerous, long range trips get easier but it’s still going to be a tough market For what? a decade +?

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