rikster63
Member
- Thread starter
- #1
I had my first experience with a short road trip in my 2023 Lightning XLT SR truck today, and it went really well. I've been reading so many posts on this awesome forum, that I decided it was time for me to generate one of my own.
My wife and I needed to travel from Omaha to Topeka KS today (160 miles), to take our 17-year old son and two of his friends to compete in a College Football Prospect Camp at Washburn University. My wife drives a Tesla Model Y, and we generally have taken that on any road trips we need to make since it does go a lot further between charges, and has the Full Self Driving (FSD) option, which allows me to program in an address and then just sit back and relax while the car drives me where I need to go with no steering, brake, or accelerator input (for the most part).
But today, with 3 huge football playing high school boys (roughly 800 lbs of teen angst), we decided the Tesla just wouldn't cut it.
I used ABRP to see if I could make the trip in the Lightning, and it did a great job of helping give me peace of mind. I charged to 100% before we departed, giving a stated range on the GOM of around 210 miles. The conditions were nearly perfect - 70 degrees and light winds, and we made the 160 mile trip running between 65-70 mph with no problem, and with 30% battery life remaining when we arrived. I was able to find an Electrify America charger near the camp, and remembered I still had some "free" miles from Ford to use. I was disappointed that the charger only allowed me to charge to 90%, but that was enough to get me all the way back to Omaha with 25% battery to spare.
The best moment on this trip was when we left the football camp with 3 teenage boys drenched in sweat dragging their soggy and stinky football pads, jerseys, shoes, etc. I just hit the button to open the frunk, and a mom next to me (loading a similarly stinky pile of football gear in her car with her son) looked shocked and confused as the frunk lid opened, then when she realized what I was doing, got a huge grin and gave me a big thumbs up! A clear win for the Lightning!
I've had my Lightning for about a year, and only have 5k miles on it from around-town use. But with this successful (albeit short) road trip under my belt, I have a feeling the Lightning will supplant the Tesla as our go-to road trip vehicle (whenever we are on main interstates with plenty of DC fast chargers).
No regrets at all on my choice of a Lightning!
My wife and I needed to travel from Omaha to Topeka KS today (160 miles), to take our 17-year old son and two of his friends to compete in a College Football Prospect Camp at Washburn University. My wife drives a Tesla Model Y, and we generally have taken that on any road trips we need to make since it does go a lot further between charges, and has the Full Self Driving (FSD) option, which allows me to program in an address and then just sit back and relax while the car drives me where I need to go with no steering, brake, or accelerator input (for the most part).
But today, with 3 huge football playing high school boys (roughly 800 lbs of teen angst), we decided the Tesla just wouldn't cut it.
I used ABRP to see if I could make the trip in the Lightning, and it did a great job of helping give me peace of mind. I charged to 100% before we departed, giving a stated range on the GOM of around 210 miles. The conditions were nearly perfect - 70 degrees and light winds, and we made the 160 mile trip running between 65-70 mph with no problem, and with 30% battery life remaining when we arrived. I was able to find an Electrify America charger near the camp, and remembered I still had some "free" miles from Ford to use. I was disappointed that the charger only allowed me to charge to 90%, but that was enough to get me all the way back to Omaha with 25% battery to spare.
The best moment on this trip was when we left the football camp with 3 teenage boys drenched in sweat dragging their soggy and stinky football pads, jerseys, shoes, etc. I just hit the button to open the frunk, and a mom next to me (loading a similarly stinky pile of football gear in her car with her son) looked shocked and confused as the frunk lid opened, then when she realized what I was doing, got a huge grin and gave me a big thumbs up! A clear win for the Lightning!
I've had my Lightning for about a year, and only have 5k miles on it from around-town use. But with this successful (albeit short) road trip under my belt, I have a feeling the Lightning will supplant the Tesla as our go-to road trip vehicle (whenever we are on main interstates with plenty of DC fast chargers).
No regrets at all on my choice of a Lightning!
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