First Travel Trailer Towing Experience

[TOOBSOCK]

Towed my Salem Cruise Lite 19DBXL to my property in VA. Trailer was probably around 6000lbs fully loaded and is approx 25’ long. Destination was 266 miles away. When I left on Wednesday it was about 95 degrees. Hit some traffic on 495 but other than that, it was steady cruising between 60-65mph. Since this was the first time towing this trailer with the lightning, the truck didn’t know exactly how far it could make it. When leaving, the truck gave me 160mi of range.

As I continued driving it dropped down to 130 of range and soon said I didn’t have enough range to make it to my first charge stop which was about 136 miles from my starting point. Decided to push it anyways to the Wal Mart that I had planned to stop at, since it has an EA charging station and I could let it charge while I shopped for camping supplies. Made it there with about 12% battery life and 15 miles of range. Went shopping and ate lunch and within an hour it was back to 90%.

Continued on down I-81 in Va and it gets a bit hilly, with some mild, but extended grades. Went 94 miles and stopped at a Tesla supercharger in Lexington, VA. At this point the truck seemed to have mostly figured out the range. It showed approx 147 miles on a full charge, which based off of the trip so far, was close to accurate, if not a bit conservative.

Since I only had 42 miles to go from the Tesla charger, I let it charge to 70% and then headed out. Once you get onto I-64, there are a few pretty steep and long inclines to get over a few mountains. Still, I made it easily to my destination with about 33% battery left.

I just had a NEMA 14-50 on a 50a circuit installed at my cabin, and picked up a ford mobile power cord on FB marketplace. Was surprised to see how much slower it charged than my chargepoint charger at home that is hardwired. Took about 19 hours to go from 25% to 90% But it still beats having to go find somewhere to charge.

Overall, I was very happy with how it towed. No engine noise made for pleasant towing and zero problem with power or stability. Thankfully there is a good charging infrastructure in this part of MD/VA, otherwise I would be more nervous about towing long distance.

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[RickLightning]

Ford Mobile Charger is either 30amps (yellow band on pigtail) or 32amps. Hardwired charger is likely 48amps.

48/32= 50% faster.
48/30= 60% faster.

65% is 85kWh.

48x240x93%(7% loss)= 10.7kW per hour
30x240x90%(10% loss)= 6.5kW per hour

85/10.7=7.94 hours
85/6.5=13.1 hours

If it took 19 hours, something is off. I'd open FordPass while charging and see if the truck is receiving about 6.5kW.

 

[TOOBSOCK]

Ford Mobile Charger is either 30amps (yellow band on pigtail) or 32amps. Hardwired charger is likely 48amps.

48/32= 50% faster.
48/30= 60% faster.

65% is 85kWh.

48x240x93%(7% loss)= 10.7kW per hour
30x240x90%(10% loss)= 6.5kW per hour

85/10.7=7.94 hours
85/6.5=13.1 hours

If it took 19 hours, something is off. I'd open FordPass while charging and see if the truck is receiving about 6.5kW.

Interesting. When it was charging, it was showing it as receiving 5-5.1KW max. When on my 50a(48a) home charger, it’s usually about 9.6KW. I just checked, and my charger has the yellow band on it. Didn’t realize that it signified it was the 30a version. I’ll have to watch the next charging session more closely and see if something is still amiss. Thanks for the info!

 

[johaanryberg]

Well, done! We did our big travel trailer trip in California and Arizona last spring and his long as you are OK with stopping more often I thought it was a very pleasurable experience.

 

[RickLightning]

Interesting. When it was charging, it was showing it as receiving 5-5.1KW max. When on my 50a(48a) home charger, it’s usually about 9.6KW. I just checked, and my charger has the yellow band on it. Didn’t realize that it signified it was the 30a version. I’ll have to watch the next charging session more closely and see if something is still amiss. Thanks for the info!

So, work it backwards (you don't need to do the math). 5.1/6.5 is 22% less. So, either your cabin isn't delivering 240v, or you have higher loss, or both. Since the charger is 30amps, and the truck can't set a lower rate, that's your answer there.

At home, 9.6 works out to a 40amp charger with no loss. Or, less than 240v.

 

[21st Century Truck]

Things I learned while towing an admittedly much smaller, lighter teardrop with two different Ford EVs, which might be of use for You:

1. When in doubt about range, slow down. I find a sweet spot is about 62 - 64 MPH with my rig. I've gone as slow as 40 MPH when in risky range situations (very cold weather in Jan 2024 + Winter tires + strong wind).

2. Wind resistance seems to have a larger range impact than towed weight, in my experience... hence the speed comment above.

3. Any EV loses significant range while climbing for long stretches. Any EV which is towing, loses even more range while climbing for long stretches. For this reason, I use the Ford NAV's elevation indicator on the bottom NAV bar while in the mountains, which helps me to mentally calculate the range ratios on the fly.

4. On both my Ford EVs, I found that the blue range ring on the NAV map is a pretty accurate representation of remaining range representation, down to the single-digit miles. This holds true for when I tow as well.

Hope this stuff is useful.

 

[johaanryberg]

Well, done! We did our big travel trailer trip in California and Arizona last spring and his long as you are OK with stopping more often I thought it was a very pleasurable experience.

 

[TOOBSOCK]

Things I learned while towing an admittedly much smaller, lighter teardrop with two different Ford EVs, which might be of use for You:

1. When in doubt about range, slow down. I find a sweet spot is about 62 - 64 MPH with my rig. I've gone as slow as 40 MPH when in risky range situations (very cold weather in Jan 2024 + Winter tires + strong wind).

2. Wind resistance seems to have a larger range impact than towed weight, in my experience... hence the speed comment above.

3. Any EV loses significant range while climbing for long stretches. Any EV which is towing, loses even more range while climbing for long stretches. For this reason, I use the Ford NAV's elevation indicator on the bottom NAV bar while in the mountains, which helps me to mentally calculate the range ratios on the fly.

4. On both my Ford EVs, I found that the blue range ring on the NAV map is a pretty accurate representation of remaining range representation, down to the single-digit miles. This holds true for when I tow as well.

Hope this stuff is useful.

Very helpful information, thank you! It was a bit painful going 60mph on the highway, but it definitely does make a difference. When I was close to my destination, and I knew I had enough juice, I sped up to 70mph and it was a noticeable difference in efficiency. And towing up steep and prolonged inclines at highway speeds, you could pretty much watch the battery meter drop like it was a countdown timer. Pulled like a freight train though

 

[Jackdforme]

Very helpful information, thank you! It was a bit painful going 60mph on the highway, but it definitely does make a difference. When I was close to my destination, and I knew I had enough juice, I sped up to 70mph and it was a noticeable difference in efficiency. And towing up steep and prolonged inclines at highway speeds, you could pretty much watch the battery meter drop like it was a countdown timer. Pulled like a freight train though

The no loss part is key. Heat, cable loss and even inverter loss account for me seeing 10.4kw on a Tesla wall connector fed by a 60amp circuit. My model y used to say 11.2kw etc. the f150 seems to show real into battery current which is more accurate.

 

[MidAtlanticLightningClub]

Ford Mobile Charger is either 30amps (yellow band on pigtail) or 32amps. Hardwired charger is likely 48amps.

Rick, when I first read this post I thought you were full of it. I'm sure there's no yellow band on mine. Then I was reading a Mach E discussion and remembered this comment.

(goes out to compare chargers)

Damn! There is a yellow band on my Lightning FMC pigtail!

Interestingly, though, the numbers on the parts are identical, making me think they are the same but a yellow band was added. Also interesting is they are both rated for 30A 250v.

This leads me to a question: Are the chargers different or is it just a chip in the pigtail? Have you ever swapped the pigtails between the chargers? Does placing the yellow pigtail into the Mach E charger reduce it to a 30A draw? Does placing the plain pigtail into the Lightning charger increase it to 32A? The identical numbers on the pigtails makes me think they are actually the same.

Unfortunately, I don't have a 14-50 outlet and recording ammeter at home I can test it on.

I did try plugging all four combinations of chargers and pigtails into the ProPower Onboard of my Lightning and charging my Mach E. All resulted in 6.6kW charging of the Mach E while the A circuit of my ProPower Onboard would hold at 3600W and the B circuit hovered between 3570-3590W.

I did only run the test for a few minutes, so it is likely the Mach E charger could have spiked higher and tripped the breaker. However, that would require longer tests and either more patience than I have or a recording ammeter.

 

[RickLightning]

Rick, when I first read this post I thought you were full of it. I'm sure there's no yellow band on mine. Then I was reading a Mach E discussion and remembered this comment.

(goes out to compare chargers)

Damn! There is a yellow band on my Lightning FMC pigtail!


Interestingly, though, the numbers on the parts are identical, making me think they are the same but a yellow band was added. Also interesting is they are both rated for 30A 250v.

This leads me to a question: Are the chargers different or is it just a chip in the pigtail? Have you ever swapped the pigtails between the chargers? Does placing the yellow pigtail into the Mach E charger reduce it to a 30A draw? Does placing the plain pigtail into the Lightning charger increase it to 32A? The identical numbers on the pigtails makes me think they are actually the same.

Unfortunately, I don't have a 14-50 outlet and recording ammeter at home I can test it on.

I did try plugging all four combinations of chargers and pigtails into the ProPower Onboard of my Lightning and charging my Mach E. All resulted in 6.6kW charging of the Mach E while the A circuit of my ProPower Onboard would hold at 3600W and the B circuit hovered between 3570-3590W.



I did only run the test for a few minutes, so it is likely the Mach E charger could have spiked higher and tripped the breaker. However, that would require longer tests and either more patience than I have or a recording ammeter.

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/here-piggy-different-pigtails.28600/

As you will see, the part numbers for my pigtails (2022 Mach-E vs. 2022 Lightning) were different. It's possible that at some point Ford changed the pigtail for the Mach-E to 30amps I guess.

 

[MidAtlanticLightningClub]

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/here-piggy-different-pigtails.28600/

As you will see, the part numbers for my pigtails (2022 Mach-E vs. 2022 Lightning) were different. It's possible that at some point Ford changed the pigtail for the Mach-E to 30amps I guess.

Thanks for that link. I guess I just needed to run the experiment longer.

Did you try swapping pigtails? The description I saw of your test looks like you only did two configurations, each using the pigtail that came with the charger.

Also, your link showed the difference in part numbers. While the part numbers on the EVSE connector end are all the same, the FoMoCo numbering on mine are different as well:

However, my Mach E pigtail has the same serial number as yours but lists 30A, not 40A like yours.

When did you get your Mach E? Mine is a First Edition (2021 Job 1):
Build Date: 12/09/2020
Purchase date: 02/10/2021
That surprises me that mine came with a lower power pigtail than yours did.

 

[RickLightning]

Answered on the Mach-E forum.

Yes, I swapped.
2022 Mach-E, started in Jan 2022, completed in April 2022, delivered in May 2022.

 

[carys98]

@Martin Rebuilds did a video explaining the differences between the Lightning and MachE mobile chargers.

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