Charging Lightning while powering an RV trailer

[Texas Dan]

With a 10,000 pound towing capacity, one of the big attractions of the F150L is being able to tow a travel trailer or a 5th wheel trailer. Also, with a power output of 9.6 kW and a battery capacity of 131 kWh, the F150L can easily power most RV trailers overnight. But the question begs, can you charge the F150L at the same time the F150L is powering an RV?

At first glance this may seem like a pretty trivial question but I consider it to be rather important. If people do any amount of RVing with the F150L, they are probably going to be spending a considerable amount of time at RV camps. A lot of RV campsites have a 50 amp NEMA 14-50 outlets that can charge the F150L or power the RV trailer but not both at the same time.

People could rent two 50 amp campsites, one for powering the RV and one for charging the F150L, but is it possible to run both off of a single NEMA 14-50? People might think that they would not be able to charge the F150L if the RV was drawing power through the F150L power outlet but RV HVAC units cycle and wouldn't be operating more than half the time. I guess we will just have to wait until people start RVing with the F150L to find out if the F150L will provide power at the same time that it is charging.

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[Snakebitten]

5th wheel?
Towing capacity is often a silly thing to discuss with 1/2 ton trucks.
Payload Capacity comes into play beforehand. The Lightning doesn't have a Cargo Capacity that comes anywhere close to matching the torque it has for towing.

But I'm guessing that you could plug the Lightning into the RV park's shore power and be charging it while the RV is plugged into the truck's ProPower outlet.

 

[adoublee]

Yes you can, at least Ford has said you can. I plan to do it this summer.

 

[jefro]

Kind of a lot going on there. Most RV sites are not that good electrically. They might be labeled 50A but unlikely you can depend on that. So it is possible to use a dedicated 240V EVSE and set it to a more reasonable setting like 30 A or so and easily power up truck and trailer if one can indeed set both.
Remember that very few RV's use 240V as such. It is a dual 120V on most. An EVSE that is 240V will use both lines equally.
It may be possible to replace the power in the battery on the 120V charger if you stay there a while.
I'd think there would be a lot of loss on using the truck for a conversion back to line. Pretty slim that Ford put a sort of relay into it to directly feed output.

RV lots will get hip to the power use unless you are on a pay per plan. If that is the case then they won't mind if you power of a vacant spot.

 

[Beans]

I hope your only towing the 5th wheel to the local county camp ground. If you're doing any distance, an electric truck isn't going to be very useful towing a 5th wheel.

 

[Texas Dan]

5th wheel?

https://www.etrailer.com/5w-2021_Ford_F-150.htm?&Redirect=8

 

[Sundancer330]

I would be more worried about the range when towing. My ICE gets about half the MPG when towing so the lightning my get what 80-90 miles between charges. This is a big NO for me.

 

[vandy1981]

5th wheel?

https://www.etrailer.com/5w-2021_Ford_F-150.htm?&Redirect=8

I doubt it will be possible. You would probably have to drop the battery and motor assembly to install a fifth wheel hitch. Even if you can mount a hitch, you're going to be dealing with payload limitations--the ER maxes out at 1800 pounds and it goes down to 1452 in the Lariat ER.

 

[Snakebitten]

I've seen some nicely set up HDPP F150 5th wheel rigs when I'm traveling.
My brother has a 2018 HDPP F150

The Lightning ain't going to be in the same league.

 

[hturnerfamily]

I don't think there will be any issue in using the output of the truck while you are also charging the truck at the same time - in essence, whatever you are taking out of the truck will be lowering the amount of power available to charge the truck, although the technological aspect is not quite that simple.
If, like me, you plan on towing your 30amp 120v camper, which is by far the most COMMON of all RVs and Campers and campground outlets, you can use an adapter to plug it into the 240v 30amp output of the truck, while plugging the truck, with an adapter, into the campground's 30amp 120v outlet.
What you get is this: if you are not using much of anything in the camper, the truck can make use of most all of the 30amps of 120v power to charge - but, when you ask the camper for power, such as for the microwave, 12amps of power are going to leave the truck for a few minutes, and you'll only have about 18amps maximum charging the truck during that time, etc.
This is somewhat like the way having solar panels on your RV's roof helps to charge the Batteries, while you are ALSO using those batteries, with your inverter, to power things in your RV...
It should act as somewhat of a 'flow thru' scenario, at least the way I see it. There may be smarter folks here who can explain it better, or correct my thoughts.

If you have a 50amp 240v campground outlet, even better! you can charge the truck MUCH faster, and have much more 'room' to also power the 30amp camper all the while. Even if you are towing a 50amp 240v camper, the same outcome, although you might be using TWO roof air conditioners rather than only one, etc. Either way, the 50amp 240v power output is the max, regardless of whether it's only the truck using it, or if it's a combination of both. Since the truck's 240v outlet is only 30amps, you'd have to also manage your camper's usage during that time, but it's not a big deal if you are not trying to do too much at the same - but anyone who's ever camped already knows that.

 

[jefro]

They make fifth wheel attachments that bolt to the bed bolt locations don't they??

 

[TRP]

Our 2018 F150 has a goose neck hitch installed made by B&W. It bolts to the frame rails with a hole drilled in the bed for the ball to stick up. I think the shop that installed it for us raised the bed a bit to get it in, I may be wrong there.

So, my point is that people use F150s to tow goose neck horse trailers all the time. Trailer manufacturers advertise their smaller 5vers as being F150 friendly, so people are going to look at the Lightning as a candidate for this as well. I certainly am. I am also aware of limitations for a BEV and towing, it will still meet our needs.

To the OPs question, Ford has said it will work but until someone actually demos it ?‍

 

[hturnerfamily]

I can imagine that 5th Wheel equipment might seem to bolt 'only' to the bed, but chances are it actually bolts to the FRAME RAILS underneath the bed, or something similar, which might make it difficult with a large traction motor underneath. When you look at videos and photos of the raw frame with the battery in-between, you get the idea that there is not much room left, except for BEHIND the rear wheels. Since the 5th Wheel typically sits right over the rear axle, that is EXACTLY where the rear motor is mounted, leaving a problem with trying to mount anything on top of it.

 

[Bombero1394]

I run my RV on the 50 amp and charge an EV on the 120v 20/16amp plug next to it all the time. If you’re camping, you’re probably not in a rush anyway.

 

[bboy_72]

Won’t the range when towing be terrible? Even towing a 5k pound trailer, I would expect max range of 150k miles. Am I missing something?

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