Preparing for road trip

[SpaceEVDriver]

Weight won’t have much impact on range once you’re up to speed and if you’re basically driving in a straight line. But for start-stop traffic, it’ll matter. For hills it’ll matter. For anything requiring a change in speed, change in elevation, or major change in direction, weight will matter. But speed is much more important.

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[RickLightning]

Great advice all around.

Only thing I'll add is to have your passenger learn the tools too. You will need to adapt on the road, having them help is a godsend

You clearly haven't met my wife....

I run GoogleMaps with Android Auto on the big screen (previously ran Ford Nav). On my phone, I run ABRP, PlugShare, and CarScanner. My wife pulls in the saved route from Google Drive (where I save the ABRP route from the desktop) into GoogleMaps on her phone because she wants to.

Asking her to lookup anything takes longer than just doing it.

 

[Sam_oceans]

Weight? ...as in "vehicle weight"? Help me understand Your choice of the bolded factor that affects range.

I've driven coast-to-coast and on many other long trips both in my Mach E (just over 75 thousand miles) and now in the Lightning, a very different and much heavier vehicle (now just over 72 thousand miles) and I haven't observed effects of weight on range in these two. Perhaps I don't quite understand Your meaning of "weight"... I'm curious.

Added weight to a BEV has a significant impact on distance per kilowatt hour of battery capacity. So much so, that I consider it to be my second most important impact after 'driving speed'. Think about it; wind, hills and AC for example, are temporary occurrences - it is not always windy, nor hilly, nor in need of AC, but when you add weight to the vehicle for a long journey, it is always there during the journey.

During my Tesla trips between Ottawa and Naples (2,900 kilometres) our carry load above our normal day to day use was 650 pounds. That 650 pounds is added to that vehicle for the total trip. This causes a drop from 5.5 kilometres per 1% of range to slightly lower than 4 kilometres per 1% of range. Range on the Tesla is well established at 530 kilometres per 100% battery range. When added to random winds and hilly terrain and some misguided speed gain, one can easily experience a 30-40% drop in efficiency for this added 650 pounds of weight.

In preparation for my upcoming trip to Naples this winter, I have experimented with weight impact on my 2023 Ford Lightning over a number of 100 to 300 kilometer trips. I found that the normal day to day driving efficiency for this vehicle to be 22 kwh per 100 kilometres (62.5 miles) of distance. When I add 250 pounds of weight, this efficiency drops consistently to 27 kwh per 100 kilometres of distance. This is a 20% drop in efficiency. 250 pounds is just adding one adult, one child, and a dog.

One other important matter for long distance travel; establish the percentage of battery capacity as your reference measure, as this seems to be more consistently (accurately) presented than using the distance measurement as reference.

 

[Rice_classic]

IMHO, wind is a bigger factor to efficiency at speed compared to weight. Whether you’re driving faster, into a headwind or towing something with significant drag.

I have documented as such over several vehicles, laden, unladen and towing.

But it’s still hard to assess the airspeed velocity of an unladed swallow.

 

[21st Century Truck]

IMHO, wind is a bigger factor to efficiency at speed compared to weight. Whether you’re driving faster, into a headwind or towing something with significant drag.

I have documented as such over several vehicles, laden, unladen and towing.

But it’s still hard to assess the airspeed velocity of an unladed swallow.

Agree.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

IMHO, wind is a bigger factor to efficiency at speed compared to weight. Whether you’re driving faster, into a headwind or towing something with significant drag.

I have documented as such over several vehicles, laden, unladen and towing.

But it’s still hard to assess the airspeed velocity of an unladed swallow.

Physics agrees with you.

 

[21st Century Truck]

Added weight to a BEV has a significant impact on distance per kilowatt hour of battery capacity. So much so, that I consider it to be my second most important impact after 'driving speed'. Think about it; wind, hills and AC for example, are temporary occurrences - it is not always windy, nor hilly, nor in need of AC, but when you add weight to the vehicle for a long journey, it is always there during the journey.

During my Tesla trips between Ottawa and Naples (2,900 kilometres) our carry load above our normal day to day use was 650 pounds. That 650 pounds is added to that vehicle for the total trip. This causes a drop from 5.5 kilometres per 1% of range to slightly lower than 4 kilometres per 1% of range. Range on the Tesla is well established at 530 kilometres per 100% battery range. When added to random winds and hilly terrain and some misguided speed gain, one can easily experience a 30-40% drop in efficiency for this added 650 pounds of weight.

In preparation for my upcoming trip to Naples this winter, I have experimented with weight impact on my 2023 Ford Lightning over a number of 100 to 300 kilometer trips. I found that the normal day to day driving efficiency for this vehicle to be 22 kwh per 100 kilometres (62.5 miles) of distance. When I add 250 pounds of weight, this efficiency drops consistently to 27 kwh per 100 kilometres of distance. This is a 20% drop in efficiency. 250 pounds is just adding one adult, one child, and a dog.

One other important matter for long distance travel; establish the percentage of battery capacity as your reference measure, as this seems to be more consistently (accurately) presented than using the distance measurement as reference.

Weight and Mass are different things. Witness the historic experiment on the Leaning Tower of Pisa with two cannonballs of different diameters.

 

[Sherm]

 

[bthanos]

ARBP

40A Charger for 100% charge overnight at RV parks. Use tent or back of camper shelled lightning. $40 for overnight plus charge. (KOA)

Yeti cooler in frunk, with coffee, kettle pot toaster etc using all electric power

Induction plate and pots for tailgate cooking in back. Electric grill.

Air bed and Electric blanket to sleep in bed of truck with thermal liner.

Towel to cover dashboard when using night time power.

 

[CD4TNF]

@Sherm
Better prep equipment than I have. The missing items that I carry are some work gloves for protection, some microfiber towels and window cleaner to clean the inside of the window.

 

[Sherm]

@Sherm
Better prep equipment than I have. The missing items that I carry are some work gloves for protection, some microfiber towels and window cleaner to clean the inside of the window.

Got all that stuff 1st year of ownership. Prepping for my 1st long roadtrip to South Padre Island TX. from Iowa. 3,000 miles round trip. Truck was great. The wife was a wreak.

 

[Sherm]

Got all that stuff 1st year of ownership. Prepping for my 1st long roadtrip to South Padre Island TX. from Iowa. 3,000 miles round trip. Truck was great. The wife was a wreak.

This year will be our fourth trip to SPI with the Lightning. Truck is still great. Wife is great now also. Lots of great information in this thread that we learned to use. Hope to do some beach driving this year.

 

[bc1]

Asked often. Use ABRP to plan your trip, and PlugShare to check every location in advance, and day of trip. ABRP takes your vehicle info (and that you have an adapter), and plans your trip.

Sign up for Tesla membership and/or EA membership, the morning of the trip, then immediately downgrade, which takes effect 30 days later. Tesla discount varies between 20 and 30%, EA is a fixed 25%. MUST use their apps for the discount, cannot use Plug and Charge or FordPass.

Look for hotels that have charging, ideally free, but run the numbers (don't pay $50 more for a hotel to get free charging for example).

With 3 charging stops, and arriving with a low battery, plan on about 20% additional time (which ABRP will show you).

If you don't have both a Tesla SuperCharger and a Tesla Destination Charger adapter, get them.
A2ZEV makes the Typhoon Pro adapter for Tesla SuperChargers. They also sell the Stellar adapter, which is for Tesla Destination chargers (such as hotels, private homes). I have both adapters and have used both many times. They work great. https://a2zevshop.com/products/nacs-ccs1?ref=Typhoon&variant=43186507579592

Hello. Happy New Years. I have the adapter for tesla superchargers to my lightning. On one trip I stopped for lunch at a Taco bell that was next to a hotel that had a couple free chargers outside but I didn't have the right adapter. Your link above goes to the supercharger adapter and going further to the stellar there is a choice of two models. I am looking on Amazon for one but am unsure. Can you post a pic or image of the exact pin pattern of the tesla destination charger and maybe also one of the supercharger for comparison. Those Amazon descriptions are kinda vague and conflicting and the reviews seem to cover both as to what they really adapt to regarding the J1772 and which direction they go? Thanks.

 

[RickLightning]

Hello. Happy New Years. I have the adapter for tesla superchargers to my lightning. On one trip I stopped for lunch at a Taco bell that was next to a hotel that had a couple free chargers outside but I didn't have the right adapter. Your link above goes to the supercharger adapter and going further to the stellar there is a choice of two models. I am looking on Amazon for one but am unsure. Can you post a pic or image of the exact pin pattern of the tesla destination charger and maybe also one of the supercharger for comparison. Those Amazon descriptions are kinda vague and conflicting and the reviews seem to cover both as to what they really adapt to regarding the J1772 and which direction they go? Thanks.

Why would you buy a piece of crap adapter on Amazon to charge your truck?

To use a Tesla Destination charger, you buy the Stellar adapter. Don't buy the Stellar Pro, there is no need. 25% with Boxing Day promo. $87.00.

 

[bc1]

Why would you buy a piece of crap adapter on Amazon to charge your truck?

To use a Tesla Destination charger, you buy the Stellar adapter. Don't buy the Stellar Pro, there is no need. 25% with Boxing Day promo. $87.00.

Thanks. I couldn't tell which one of the Stellar adapters you were referring to.

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