Winter Range Extender - would you do this?

[NW Ontario Ford Lightning]

Hey! a fellow NW Ontario 2024 SR Lightning !! LOL
I wonder about additional heat sometimes - for similar reasons.
have you considered an electric heater running from a separate battery system for the cabin?

Since I build LFP batteries for various projects and my home battery (solar) I was toying with trying out one connected to an electric heater placed in the rear of the cab. A 8kWh pack could supply 24,000 BTU's.
Maybe a 'solar generator' type of unit (bluetti/Jackery/Ecoflow) could be another option to power a heater for the day - charge it at home overnight if you need a battery source.

When we get some cooler weather I will take a look at the truck energy graphics - that show the % energy going to cabin vs battery/motor vs traction - to see what potential saving may be available

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[RLXXI]

No I would not buy it.

1) Still under warranty.
2) Doesn't get cold enough for long enough.
3) My commute is 4 miles round trip.

 

[NW Ontario Ford Lightning]

When we get some cooler weather I will take a look at the truck energy graphics - that show the % energy going to cabin vs battery/motor vs traction - to see what potential saving may be available

We have some near freezing stuff 32F/0C and I took a look at the Trip Energy display:
This display is in the menu settings, and shows "Climate Use" ie cabin, "Route" ie travel energy, "Accessories" infotainment stuff, and "Exterior Temperature" ie keeping the motors and battery happy in the current weather.

First thing in the AM after preconditioning, the Climate Use was 0% and so was Exterior Temperature. But driving a short distance the Climate Use started to click 3%, 5% 7%
The "Exterior Temperature" energy use climbed up as well, 8%, 10% 13%
AFter about half an hour of driving these seemed to settle in at a steady state of 9% cabin, and 11% Exterior - total of 20% of the truck energy. You can be sure it will be more when the weather gets colder.

So a few comments:
if you put an electric heater in the cabin and ran it from an Ecoflow or similar power source - you might save 9% of the truck battery load heating the cabin.

if you tied in a diesel inline heater into the thermal management system, maybe you could save the 20% energy the truck will otherwise get from the EV battery to heat the cabin, motors and battery. - I can't recommend such an approach myself, although I have used online heaters in the past on various cars, because the lightning is a far more complex system, and I have no idea what the auxilary heating might do to other parts of the truck, its' controls approach or unintended consequences of inputting heat where the controls don't expect it.
The main issue - if you input too much heating, what will happen ...how will you know, how will it be controlled.

 

[elksson]

I installed a Webesto Evo Top Diesel Water heater into my 2024 Lightning, and am seeing great results. initial testing shows that the heater is able to compensate for nearly all cabin heat and not turn on the Electric PTC Water heater at all (Only in extreme cold tempuratures or during defrost).

I will be taking a 1400 mile drive across North Dakota and Montana in late December and early January almost 1400 miles each way in cold weather stay posted for pictures of the install and long trip results.

So far I am not seeing any DTC's from the truck and I am burning about 1/2 gallon of diesel every 3 hours.

 

[Ragman]

I installed a Webesto Evo Top Diesel Water heater into my 2024 Lightning, and am seeing great results. initial testing shows that the heater is able to compensate for nearly all cabin heat and not turn on the Electric PTC Water heater at all (Only in extreme cold tempuratures or during defrost).

I will be taking a 1400 mile drive across North Dakota and Montana in late December and early January almost 1400 miles each way in cold weather stay posted for pictures of the install and long trip results.

So far I am not seeing any DTC's from the truck and I am burning about 1/2 gallon of diesel every 3 hours.

What was cost to install like, tank in back or frunk? Controls all manual or any API to auto start when truck in Accessory or started?

Looking seriously at this given our climate and use. 24s with heat pump suspect have different piping, hoping on 23s it would also preheat fluid for battery.

 

[elksson]

What was cost to install like, tank in back or frunk? Controls all manual or any API to auto start when truck in Accessory or started?

Looking seriously at this given our climate and use. 24s with heat pump suspect have different piping, hoping on 23s it would also preheat fluid for battery.

The heater kit was approx $1200
The kit comes with an enclosure but I wanted to conserve usable drink space so I paid a welder $200 to make me a custom enclosure.
the fuel tank was about $300 for a 3 gallon aluminum tank not yet installed but will go in the bed.

then there was maybe $100-$200 for misc parts that I used like heater hose, fittings exhaust tape bolts ect…

I would say under $2000 in parts I did labor myself.

 

[oxnor]

I installed a Webesto Evo Top Diesel Water heater into my 2024 Lightning, and am seeing great results. initial testing shows that the heater is able to compensate for nearly all cabin heat and not turn on the Electric PTC Water heater at all (Only in extreme cold tempuratures or during defrost).

I will be taking a 1400 mile drive across North Dakota and Montana in late December and early January almost 1400 miles each way in cold weather stay posted for pictures of the install and long trip results.

So far I am not seeing any DTC's from the truck and I am burning about 1/2 gallon of diesel every 3 hours.

Very much looking forward to more details.

I also have tried the Montana, North Dakota route and 1.0 mi/kWh just can’t make the trip when it’s 0degrees out… this seems like a great addition

 

[elksson]

Very much looking forward to more details.

I also have tried the Montana, North Dakota route and 1.0 mi/kWh just can’t make the trip when it’s 0degrees out… this seems like a great addition

i’m very satisfied with the results of this trip even though the weather wasn’t as cold this year as it was last year, we had temperatures down as low as 7°. I was able to average 1.7 miles per kilowatt hour over the whole trip 3500 miles between Minnesota and Riggins, Idaho round-trip. The route we took was through North Dakota Montana on I 94 on the return trip, we burned 4 1/2 gallons of diesel fuel.

 

[oxnor]

i’m very satisfied with the results of this trip even though the weather wasn’t as cold this year as it was last year, we had temperatures down as low as 7°. I was able to average 1.7 miles per kilowatt hour over the whole trip 3500 miles between Minnesota and Riggins, Idaho round-trip. The route we took was through North Dakota Montana on I 94 on the return trip, we burned 4 1/2 gallons of diesel fuel.

Wow, that’s fantastic. Ya, that is amazing.

would definitely appreciate any walk throughs and advice as it’s a mod I’d like to do on mine. Unfortunately, I had to rent an ICE to make the same trip you did as I couldn’t make it during the blizzard last week.

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