Short 553 mile weekend trip. Northern AZ to Tucson and back. This truck just keeps getting better.

[Pauliep]

I lived in Flagstaff and now live in north Phoenix. Having been trapped on the 17 when the road has been closed in the past, I have learned to “top off” when you can just in case. While I have never ran out of juice in my Lightning, I don’t have range anxiety anymore. The fun part of Flag to Phoenix is the amount of power you gain on the way down.

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[SpaceEVDriver]

I lived in Flagstaff and now live in north Phoenix. Having been trapped on the 17 when the road has been closed in the past, I have learned to “top off” when you can just in case. While I have never ran out of juice in my Lightning, I don’t have range anxiety anymore. The fun part of Flag to Phoenix is the amount of power you gain on the way down.

I do enjoy seeing the efficiency shoot above 3 miles/kWh while driving 73 on the 17 going down off the Mogollon Rim.

I have, maybe, 0.01% range anxiety. None of the road trips we do create any range anxiety at all.

Our favorite boondocking site is near the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and it’s about 400 miles from our home. There are no DCFC on the route. There are a couple of L2s that should work for an overnight stay. I have a solar system that should give us an extra 40-60 miles of range while we’re camped. But there are some limitations on what we can do while camping up there. Have our first trip up there planned for this summer.

 

[Maxx]

Appreciate the elevation graph and the pic of your charging result in Phoenix. The results of your obsessiveness are educational to me/us. I am one week into my ‘24 Lightning Lariat and thrilled to have the blessing of this forum!!! So much to learn and “play” with in this EV.

You will love your truck for years. Enjoy it.

p.s. I am not the OP.

 

[AI_Speed]

Total distance from Tucson to home was 280 miles at an average of 2.2 miles/kWh. Despite the lower speed on the state highway vs the interstate, the climb up the mountain with a minimum elevation of ~1400 feet to maximum elevation of about 7650 feet elevation.

The last 280 miles uphill - you made it without a quick charge - and if so - how much range did you have left?

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

The last 280 miles uphill - you made it without a quick charge?

I could have, but I stopped in Payson for a restroom break and a nap. The EA chargers there weren’t busy, so I plugged in just because it’s my habit to plug in when there’s a charger. I added 35% and arrived home with 39%. Plenty of extra charge for the final leg—I often get home after a long trip with less than that.

 

[broncoaz]

How are the EA chargers in Payson? I remember when they installed the Tesla chargers across from the Chevy dealership years ago. I haven’t been satisfied with the ones in MA, so I only use the Tesla chargers with the $12.99 per month membership added a month at a time when I have trips planned.

 

[THX1138]

Yeah, our overall average is 2.4 and climbing up. We’ve only had it for just over a year, so I expect, like our Mustang, that the efficiency will continue to climb over the next year or two as I learn how to drive it—not punching it every time is a good thing for efficiency.

I haven't learned this lesson yet.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

How are the EA chargers in Payson? I remember when they installed the Tesla chargers across from the Chevy dealership years ago. I haven’t been satisfied with the ones in MA, so I only use the Tesla chargers with the $12.99 per month membership added a month at a time when I have trips planned.

They work fine. I haven’t had nearly the problems many other people report about the EA chargers.

In my experience of counting the EA vs SC successful vs unsuccessful charging, I’ve actually had more trouble with SC than EA. The difference has been the large number of posts available at any given station.

If EA would expand their stations to have 20-100 posts, their duty cycle would drop to much lower values so trouble wouldn’t show itself as often. They would also lose the issue of only having 4 posts and a lot of cars wanting to charge. Most of their other issues would disappear too.

I think that most of my lack of issues is because I almost never use EA in towns, just along the freeways. Only one or two of my frequent-use stations is also where locals come to charge their local vehicles. Barstow, for example, can get too busy, so too can one of my frequent stops in Albuquerque, and some of the stations in Los Angeles. I’ve never even scoped out my local EA stations. No reason to do so with home charging.

 

[CD4TNF]

I use Google's My Maps web app (not the one you use to get directions). With it, I plan out a bunch of routes for camping trips, hiking trips, etc. If I also want the elevation map, I export that to KML/KMZ and open it in Google Earth. I would do it all in Google Earth, but that app doesn't have as nice of a multi-leg directions capability.

Neat! Thank you. I'll try it out.

 

[DVader2023]

I've had my XLT SR since 2023. Recently retired and drive from OC California to Las Vegas every 2 months (approximately 285 miles each way). Fully charged at the start of each way, only 1 stop needed to charge. First time was a little worrisome, as it's up through the Cajon Pass on the way there. But now with over 10 runs, it's just experimentation as to which stations to stop at. And the Tesla Station at the Outlets in Bakersfield has many terminals with a couple pull throughs. Happy trails to all.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

I've had my XLT SR since 2023. Recently retired and drive from OC California to Las Vegas every 2 months (approximately 285 miles each way). Fully charged at the start of each way, only 1 stop needed to charge. First time was a little worrisome, as it's up through the Cajon Pass on the way there. But now with over 10 runs, it's just experimentation as to which stations to stop at. And the Tesla Station at the Outlets in Bakersfield has many terminals with a couple pull throughs. Happy trails to all.

We’ve done a trip between NAZ and Pasadena (~460 miles each way) several dozen times now in our Lariat ER. We usually stop in Needles and then Barstow on the way out. I’m fairly confident that if I needed to, I could make it with one stop on the way to LA. But since we’d be climbing a little over 7000 feet on the way home, including many valleys and mountain passes in between (a total elevation change of about 20,700 feet gain and 14,700 feet loss), we do have to make two stops. The Cajon pass is a cute little climb on the way to Barstow for us, though we would have to make three stops if we were driving an SR.

Happy trips!

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