Trip Report: NJ Shore to Poconos with 5,000lb 22' Boat

[V8BoatBuilder]

Just came home from a great vacation and a very successful trip with our Lightning and 5,000lb boat in tow.

TLDR: Effortless!

Just came home from a great vacation and a very successful trip with our Lightning and 5,000lb (est) boat in tow.

Some key takeaways:
1. Always have a backup plan
2. Lightning outperformed our 2015 F250 6.2 gas
3. Never underestimate Level 1 charging
4. Never underestimate elevation change when route planning


This is a truck I've wanted (electric pickup) since I was 10 years old. Ford delivered for my 39th birthday in a big way. A combination of the Lightning's torque, technology, quiet and comfort made this a big step up for the family over our 2015 F250XL. Charging was not a problem, and the drive was an adventure in the best way possible.

Travelling with a trailer and two kids under 10 makes any trip take much longer time wise. We were able to combine our charging stops with dinner and then picking up needed supplies, time the truck would have been parked anyway.

We were unable to start the trip at 100% do to needing to do pre-trip things with the truck. We left the house with 90% battery and 252mi (non-trailer) range. When we plugged in the trailer and set parameters, that dropped to 125 miles of range. Navigation showing 90 miles to charger (Electrify America, Walmart, East Stroudsburg, PA) leaving us plenty of cushion.

Cruise control set to 65mph, the Lightning's driving experience was light-years ahead of our F250 with it's 6.2 gas engine. Onramps where the 6.2 would have been screaming along at 4,000rpm were silent and effortless. The lane-centering and auto-following distance made driving infinitely more comfortable. Being able to access the hitch and bed cameras while at speed were great piece of mind while travelling.

Best laid plans run awry, I couldn't make the exit to Rt 206 on I287 because of NJ drivers passing me on the right!! This put us pushing the envelope on range. We could have made it with a few miles to spare, but didn't want to risk it. My quick-thinking navigator/wife made the call to reroute us to another EA station in "downtown" Denville. While not a "detour" it did add miles and time to our route. On the plus side, the chargers are located in a walkable town center with restaurants aplenty and it would allow us to get dinner and keep the kids fed while the truck ingested some juice.

Stop 1: Electrify America, Denville, NJ
We Arrived at Denville, 31%, This charging station is behind a Walgreens. We had to unhitch boat, but with plenty of space to do so it was no problem.
Charged for 56 minutes, added 74.6kWh energy. Cost would have been: $31.82 but used some of the EA credits that came with the truck. End state of charge, 86%. Ending charge rate 13kw. Battery temp rise noted, but minimal.
The Ford App is very useful for monitoring charging while away from the vehicle. However, it is slow to update. On both my and my Wife's iPhones, we had to force close it a few times to get updates.

Stop 2: Electrify America, Walmart, East Stroudsburg, PA
Arrived at EA Charger with 51% state of charge. Starting charge rate 139kw.
Most surprising, we did not have to unhitch (would have been different if the last charger wasn't open or there were people in those spots), but only by luck as the parking spaces adjacent to the charger were empty. Charged for 38 minutes, added 56.2kWh of energy. Charge rate started at 139kw. Coming from the LEAF, which would do 25-45kw, this is amazing. Cost would have been: $12.16, which is much cheaper effective rate than NJ. Still using the bundled credits, but in hindsight, we should have paid for this one and saved the credits for NJ.

Stop 3: Arrived at our AirBNB with 66% charge. It was mostly backroads, but climbing elevation. One kid asleep. Only one parking space, so we had to go back out of the neighborhood and drop the trailer at the nearby launch ramp.


The next morning we re-hitched and launched. The hitch/unhitch experience is great with the cameras, but the backup sound is ANNOYING. When you hitch up, the truck presents all sorts of messages on the dash screen that you have to "OK" though. Wish that was simplified.

The owners of the marina had a cool resto-mod, neat photo-op with old Ford truck and new Ford truck!

Our AirBNB had a 15a/120v outlet on a lamp-post within 5 feet of the charging inlet. We decided to try Level 1 Charging with the included Ford mobile charger. Even after owning an EV (Nissan Leaf) for 4 years, this was my first time Level 1 charging; with the Lightning's large battery pack, the math made it seem not worthwhile. However, because the truck sat for so long while we were out on the lake, we were able to reach 100% for our trip home. We seemed to gain about 1% of battery per hour. Example: we plugged the truck in at 9:00p and had 59% with 159mi range. By the following morning, at 9:00a, we were up to 69% and 188mi range. Give it enough time, and she'll charge to full!

The cabin also had a 30a electric dryer outlet. With better planning (extension cable, adapters, EVSE capable of being set to 24a) it would have been possible to set up Level 2 charging. This was not needed, but I will be purchasing equipment to do so for our next towing trip this fall.

The next test was boat retrieval. On the F250, we'd usually lock the front hubs and put the truck into low-range. On the Lightning, we engaged the diff lock and creeped out of the lake. The only "tell" was an audible whine from the truck motors on the initial pull out of the water, but the pull was slow and controlled. Again, effortless.

The tow home was made without stopping and was rather unremarkable. The weather was beautiful so we had the sunroof open, again a big upgrade from our F250 XL! Because we started at 99%, and were going downhill, our average econ was 1.2 mi/kWH. It could have been even better, but I set the cruise for 70mph. This meant we started with 132mi est towing range, and ended up approx 20 miles towing range at 16% with after travelling 128mi. . Again my favourite feature had to be the lane centering.

The truck is currently on our 32a Nissan Leaf Level 2 charger as I type this.

Sponsored

 

[V8BoatBuilder]

For comparison, the F250 averages 11mpg around town and about 8mpg while towing. At $4.25/gallon, the cost per mile is about $0.53.

In NJ, the Electrify America at $0.43/kwh is pretty easy math assuming about 1.0m/kwh for $0.43/mi. If we we fast charge at EA often, the $4.00/mo pass to reduce to $0.32/kwh is very much worth it.

In PA, the cost per minute charging worked out to about $0.22/mi.

Here at home, we're paying about $0.18/kwh, or $0.18/mi.

 

[vandy1981]

We Arrived at Denville, 31%, This charging station is behind a Walgreens. We had to unhitch boat, but with plenty of space to do so it was no problem.

Out of curiosity, why couldn't you pull along the backside of the charger bank? Based on your photos, you should have been able to have access to the right most charger if you pulled perpendicular to the bank. I did this yesterday with our travel trailer.

 

[V8BoatBuilder]

Out of curiosity, why couldn't you pull along the backside of the charger bank?

Good eye. I thought about it, but the boat would have been sticking too far into a travel lane and not just taking up parking spaces.

Now taking another look at it, I wonder if I could have just parked 90 degrees to the chargers as you suggest, just like I did at Walmart.

 

[greenne]

Great review, thanks. Its got evidence with some planning, the Lightning can be a very good tow vehicle for a reasonable distance. No its not going to be good to tow your 5th wheel across the country, but for a trip to the lake a nearby campground, etc. it can be way better than gas.

(I'm tired of seeing the anti EV crowd regurgitate the same few articles that say it can only tow 80mi, etc.)

 

[V8BoatBuilder]

Great review, thanks. Its got evidence with some planning, the Lightning can be a very good tow vehicle for a reasonable distance. No its not going to be good to tow your 5th wheel across the country, but for a trip to the lake a nearby campground, etc. it can be way better than gas.

(I'm tired of seeing the anti EV crowd regurgitate the same few articles that say it can only tow 80mi, etc.)

The right tool for every job. Would I recommend this for a professional hauler moving boats all day? No. But those guys don't run F150s, and I wouldn't want to run a F350 diesel as a daily driver either.

 

[Rob G]

Great write up.

 

[PungoteagueDave]

You cannot normally tow a b

Next trip you should try not using cruise control and drive the EV differently from an ICE vehicle. Why the F250 6.2 when you are only towing a 5000lb boat? Just curious. Just for comparison, my 2016 F150 with the max tow package can easily and safely tow over 10,000lbs. Nice report, glad to hear it did well, the boat ramp pic is a great one.

You cannot normally tow a boat that weighs 5,000 pounds or more with an F-150 within spec because 99% of boat trailers do not allow for weight distributing hitches. I added a weight distributing hitch to one of my boat trailers last year, but the boat dealers in the area thought I was nuts. It required removing the surge brake system (which is standard on most boat trailers) and adding electric-over hydraulic brakes to both axles. This required new axles, and a total cost of conversion exceeding $15k. This was required to tow my 9,100-pound boat/trailer rig because OEM F-150 trailer hitches are only rated to tow 5,000 pounds unless the trailer has a weight distributing hitch, regardless of the truck's towing capacity.

My PowerBoost could tow 12,400 pounds according to its tow rating, but the hitch was rated at 5,000 pounds without the weight distribution. The Lightning has the same limit on the hitch - you must have a weight distributing hitch to tow over 5k within spec. The PowerBoost did tow much better with the distributing hitch, and I was able to fine tune the weight between the axles after installation, with three trips to scales. I'm going to do the same process next month with the Lightning. Honestly, with loads over 5k, we are really asking a half-ton truck to do a Superduty's job. I have an issue with my Florida's HOA size limits on truck parking, so had to use the PowerBoost and now the Lightning to tow the big boat, but much prefer the F-250 or F-350 that we have on our Virginia farm - right tool for the job.

It's gonna be REAL interesting to see how the Lighting handles this rig on the 1,050-mile run between our places in Florida and Virginia. There's also a picture of the weight distributing hitch that make it "legal" to tow our 9,100 pound boat with an F-150 hitch otherwise rated for only 5,000 pounds.

 

[Trick]

Did you treat the kids to denville dairy?

 

[Rob G]

Did you treat the kids to denville dairy?

I lived in Montville for a long time so I know that dairy.

 

[V8BoatBuilder]

Did you treat the kids to denville dairy?

No! First time in Denville. This just means I gotta go back! Thank you for the tip.

 

[Pjlightning]

Just came home from a great vacation and a very successful trip with our Lightning and 5,000lb boat in tow.

TLDR: Effortless!

Just came home from a great vacation and a very successful trip with our Lightning and 5,000lb (est) boat in tow.

Some key takeaways:
1. Always have a backup plan
2. Lightning outperformed our 2015 F250 6.2 gas
3. Never underestimate Level 1 charging
4. Never underestimate elevation change when route planning


This is a truck I've wanted (electric pickup) since I was 10 years old. Ford delivered for my 39th birthday in a big way. A combination of the Lightning's torque, technology, quiet and comfort made this a big step up for the family over our 2015 F250XL. Charging was not a problem, and the drive was an adventure in the best way possible.

Travelling with a trailer and two kids under 10 makes any trip take much longer time wise. We were able to combine our charging stops with dinner and then picking up needed supplies, time the truck would have been parked anyway.

We were unable to start the trip at 100% do to needing to do pre-trip things with the truck. We left the house with 90% battery and 252mi (non-trailer) range. When we plugged in the trailer and set parameters, that dropped to 125 miles of range. Navigation showing 90 miles to charger (Electrify America, Walmart, East Stroudsburg, PA) leaving us plenty of cushion.

Cruise control set to 65mph, the Lightning's driving experience was light-years ahead of our F250 with it's 6.2 gas engine. Onramps where the 6.2 would have been screaming along at 4,000rpm were silent and effortless. The lane-centering and auto-following distance made driving infinitely more comfortable. Being able to access the hitch and bed cameras while at speed were great piece of mind while travelling.

Best laid plans run awry, I couldn't make the exit to Rt 206 on I287 because of NJ drivers passing me on the right!! This put us pushing the envelope on range. We could have made it with a few miles to spare, but didn't want to risk it. My quick-thinking navigator/wife made the call to reroute us to another EA station in "downtown" Denville. While not a "detour" it did add miles and time to our route. On the plus side, the chargers are located in a walkable town center with restaurants aplenty and it would allow us to get dinner and keep the kids fed while the truck ingested some juice.

Stop 1: Electrify America, Denville, NJ
We Arrived at Denville, 31%, This charging station is behind a Walgreens. We had to unhitch boat, but with plenty of space to do so it was no problem.
Charged for 56 minutes, added 74.6kWh energy. Cost would have been: $31.82 but used some of the EA credits that came with the truck. End state of charge, 86%. Ending charge rate 13kw. Battery temp rise noted, but minimal.
The Ford App is very useful for monitoring charging while away from the vehicle. However, it is slow to update. On both my and my Wife's iPhones, we had to force close it a few times to get updates.

Stop 2: Electrify America, Walmart, East Stroudsburg, PA
Arrived at EA Charger with 51% state of charge. Starting charge rate 139kw.
Most surprising, we did not have to unhitch (would have been different if the last charger wasn't open or there were people in those spots), but only by luck as the parking spaces adjacent to the charger were empty. Charged for 38 minutes, added 56.2kWh of energy. Charge rate started at 139kw. Coming from the LEAF, which would do 25-45kw, this is amazing. Cost would have been: $12.16, which is much cheaper effective rate than NJ. Still using the bundled credits, but in hindsight, we should have paid for this one and saved the credits for NJ.

Stop 3: Arrived at our AirBNB with 66% charge. It was mostly backroads, but climbing elevation. One kid asleep. Only one parking space, so we had to go back out of the neighborhood and drop the trailer at the nearby launch ramp.


The next morning we re-hitched and launched. The hitch/unhitch experience is great with the cameras, but the backup sound is ANNOYING. When you hitch up, the truck presents all sorts of messages on the dash screen that you have to "OK" though. Wish that was simplified.

The owners of the marina had a cool resto-mod, neat photo-op with old Ford truck and new Ford truck!

Our AirBNB had a 15a/120v outlet on a lamp-post within 5 feet of the charging inlet. We decided to try Level 1 Charging with the included Ford mobile charger. Even after owning an EV (Nissan Leaf) for 4 years, this was my first time Level 1 charging; with the Lightning's large battery pack, the math made it seem not worthwhile. However, because the truck sat for so long while we were out on the lake, we were able to reach 100% for our trip home. We seemed to gain about 1% of battery per hour. Example: we plugged the truck in at 9:00p and had 59% with 159mi range. By the following morning, at 9:00a, we were up to 69% and 188mi range. Give it enough time, and she'll charge to full!

The cabin also had a 30a electric dryer outlet. With better planning (extension cable, adapters, EVSE capable of being set to 24a) it would have been possible to set up Level 2 charging. This was not needed, but I will be purchasing equipment to do so for our next towing trip this fall.

The next test was boat retrieval. On the F250, we'd usually lock the front hubs and put the truck into low-range. On the Lightning, we engaged the diff lock and creeped out of the lake. The only "tell" was an audible whine from the truck motors on the initial pull out of the water, but the pull was slow and controlled. Again, effortless.

The tow home was made without stopping and was rather unremarkable. The weather was beautiful so we had the sunroof open, again a big upgrade from our F250 XL! Because we started at 99%, and were going downhill, our average econ was 1.2 mi/kWH. It could have been even better, but I set the cruise for 70mph. This meant we started with 132mi est towing range, and ended up approx 20 miles towing range at 16% with after travelling 128mi. . Again my favourite feature had to be the lane centering.

The truck is currently on our 32a Nissan Leaf Level 2 charger as I type this.

Great write up - thanks.

I had problems trying to line up my boat trailer hitch to the ball. It was all about the braking. I couldn’t “creep” it like I could my ICE F150 to get it at just the right Spot to drop the trailer onto the ball.

I had to try 3 or 4 times…. Each time I overshot or undershot by just an inch, something I could easily avoid with a gradual creeping of the ICE.

Seems that the lightning is either on or off, with no subtle ability to nudge by the half inch with precision like the ICE could.

Made for a frustrating hookup.

Any tips?

Maybe I’m doing something wrong.

I noticed that Ford added some sort of Trailer hookup assist technology for the new 2023 Lightning. Wish I could have that added to mine with an OTA update.

 

[V8BoatBuilder]

@Pjlightning

I really like 1-pedal mode for normal driving, but definitely had to turn it off for lining up. I forgot to tell my wife about this, so she tried it and was getting frustrated just like you mentioned. She nailed it once we turned that off.

The cameras really make a difference after you've hitched that specific trailer once or twice and remember what the picture looks like when you are perfectly lined up.

I started hitching trailers before cameras, and until this truck I was used to having only a "regular" backup camera. The "hitch ball mode" really is amazing, along with the dashed line in the center of the screen.

Sponsored