The freewire stations are actually pretty cool... They prevent thousands of dollars of demand fees for the property owner by basically only having low power connection to the grid but they have an internal 160 kWh battery that will give you full DC fast charger speeds until depleted. You just got unlucky that one or two big battery cars beat you there that day
I hadn't heard of the Freewire stations before now. Great concept that allows fast charging at places that are not robust enough to support a large charging load. 150 kW (and higher) is a large load to impose on many distribution systems. I have to believe this technology, especially if enough of them are installed in an area so that the load can be spread out over multiple chargers, is a great way to get more fast chargers out there without waiting for the local utility to add expensive transformers and other costly and time-consuming upgrades to support the load.
No - they are not cool at all. NOT NOT NOT Cool. They are the "Bait and Switch" of EV charging. When I go to a 150 kW station I expect a good speed - 100+ kW - not 20kW. That turns a planned 30 minute charging station into 2.5 hours. You can roll the dice and see if you are going to miss appointments, etc. Here in Canada Freewire provides their charges for "On The Run". They have the worst Plugshare scores because over half of the people are getting closer to a level 2 charge rate - rather than a DC fast charge. A horrible, horrible idea.
Electrify America is a disgrace. They should not be allowed to use any more public funds until they get their act together and actually providing usable service
you guys are awesome for suffering through this for the sake of showing the current state of public charging. EA is really getting hammered lately (and rightly so) they are a terrible partner for all brands that depend on them for fast charging. this is painful ........
I agree, it needs to improve. I am thankful that the chargers where I am are rarely down and EA stations work 95% of the time. I know others aren't si lucky with them.
Thanks for documenting the journey..be interested to look back years from now and see how far we've (hopefully) come. We currently drive two Teslas so we do not see this side of the charging infrastructure.
Most likely, we'll look back and say "God, I can't believe these people thought we were going to put 280,000,000 EVs on the road and power them with "Green Energy"".
What a charging nightmare! I own a Tesla (mostly because of their charging network), but want to see all EV brands succeed. However, I feels like the alternative charging networks are giving Tesla and ever-increasing advantage due to pure incompetence.
Mmmmm..... Tesla is converting to CCS not only their cars but also their superchargers. In a few years that Tesla CCS adapter will be required for all Teslas presently on the road. Amusing, no? Just like Apple and their proprietary connecting cables...... into the dustbin of history.
@@Wised1000 Yup, they should have unified adapters will make live easier for all. USB C all the way. iPad mini has usb C, why not put in the iPhone. So dumb, and they took physical sim card slot that nobody is talking about. I just switched to Pixel 7Pro from my iPhone.
USB c does not have the positive lock of the iPhone connection. I will be sorry to see apple’s connector go. Love my iPhone would never go back to android
Three stops in just over 200 miles? If you had an ICE truck, that's zero stops. The Lightning is terrible for towing and I don't see EVs ever being a good choice for it.
You folks are brave for venturing out with a travel trailer, kids, and a fully electric vehicle. Plowing new ground for many of us. Thank you for that. I have driven your route through NE and CO on several occasions. It is certainly out there. We live in southeastern MN and have found the charging network to be limited and not improving quickly. Hope that changes. Meanwhile I will continue to drive my Honda Clarity PHEV on mostly battery power and tow my travel trailer with my Escalade. For now, anyway. Good luck!
I ignore the no EV charging rules at campsites and KOA. The hell with them. I park in a way where it's not noticeable or throw a towel or blanket over the charge port. I'll pull less power charging than a huge 50a 5th wheel would.
I've never heard of such a rule at any campsite? In fact, when I pull my trailer into a campsite, while everyone else plugs their trailer in to the post, I plug my car into the post, and my trailer gets all its power from the car!
What an enjoyable trip for your kids sitting in the back seat looking at screens. I absolutely adore my Lightning but there is a reason I kept my Expedition. I am a huge believer in EVs but I wouldn't have any interest in worrying about charger availability. If I'm towing anything further than 50 miles I use the Expy. Good video and quite the cautionary tale for others.
I love your don't give up attitude. I also appreciate you highlighting the good and the bad with our charging infrastructure. Love your videos. I'm a new subscriber. Continue to venture on. ❤️
Thank you for subscribing! And glad you're enjoying the videos. We knew there would be hiccups when we decided to tow with our EVs. Hopefully others can learn from us and have less hiccups on their journey!
I would love to see Electrify America respond to the below average state of their charge locations. I am seeing similar experiences from multiple EV channels.
Nice of you to share all this! Sorry for your troubles. This tome is a big issue with and electric vehicle to tow with. Also, all that time spent trying to and actually charging eats into your camping trip.
I love your optimism. I also am a two EV only family. I recently went to Mississippi from Texas with our Lightning and there are no DC fast chargers on I-20 at all, ridiculous!!! There is a ripoff 26KW ChargePoint charger 218 miles down the road that charges at $0.42 per minute, $25.00 per hour. I made it there fine and only had to charge up about 30% to get to the next EA charger going down, but not a good scenario on the way back. On the way back I had to charge all the way from 50% to 96% on that 26KW charger to make it to next charger 218 miles away. That took me 2 hours and cost me $50 to charge. I never had any EA charger issues on both legs of the trip. I'm like you all though, I'm invested in EVs for life now. I love all of the benefits they offer even with the EA disadvantages. I'm really hoping that Tesla hurries it up and gets their superchargers converted so we can use them as backup.
@@zoobrizz It's not for everyone, but it completely serves my needs. I only tow a boat 30 miles tops and it does that just fine with plenty of extra to spare. Charging my Lightning from home is easy and cheap at only $15 from completely empty to full.
You guys have created a fantastic video and you both have great personalities and great attitudes. Thank you for creating this video showing the nightmares of towing with a EV truck. Vacations should not revolve around looking for places to charge and how long it’s going to take and the stress that comes with not having enough charge to get to your next Destination. Thanks again great video. There will have to be big leaps in technology before they can compete with a gas truck for towing range. And charging takes way too long.
The simple reality is that there is not enough lithium or copper for everyone to do what you are doing. The grid is near collapse and this is just the final orgasmic fantasy. Thanks for making a record of this monumental failure. Good work.
Well done video on charging issues with the Ford F150 Lightning! There shouldn't be that much *Stress* driving an EV! That's why I purchased a Tesla Model Y Performance because of the technology, software and the Supercharger infrastructure!
We had a Model X and never had this issue. We can't wait till they have an electric truck for multiple reasons but one will be the reliability of chargers.
Range still won’t be anything near a internal combustion. 5 min fill up and double to triple the range. Never can see ev towing being worth it. Unless another 50 years of battery technology
Imagine spending 70K+ on an EV and having all these problems. It would be understandable if you paid $40k for it, but we all know no one is getting an F150 lightning for even remotely close to that.
I think you should come to Minnesota or north Dakota this January or February to see how the batteries hold up in fridget weather, maybe do some ice fishing
Super interesting to hear about how those battery fast chargers work in practice because I was aware that places were using batteries to provide fast charging while spreading out taking energy from the grid to be able to do more with less. But it makes sense that once that battery is depleted you’re right back to slow charging. So great for places with less use but there will still be that pressure to upgrade the grid in those areas as time goes on, or to have more battery storage available.
I was interested in a Ford Lightning and allmost bought one , Glad I watched your Video, I tow 2 horses with my Ram 1500 Ecodiesel and it has a 700 mile range. The Lightning would be a very stressful nightmare as you have demonstrated. Thanks for helping me decide to keep my Ram.
I grew up in the west Omaha/Elkhorn area and am absolutely delighted there's some excellent Nebraska representation on UA-cam. Keep up the good work and thanks for representing real world use of EVs!
I just found your great channel. I thought I was a pioneer in 2014 when I got my first Tesla and went on a 500 mile trip! You guys are really amazing! The Lightening is an awesome vehicle but the current charge network is the pits! I hope Tesla opens up their network to all EVs soon! I look forward to more of your videos
Thank you very much! Glad you’re enjoying it. I think things will improve quickly. We know there has already been big changes since we had our first Tesla in 2017! It was a 2012 Model S. We couldn’t even make it 200 miles without charging. We have come a long, long way!
We haven't had trouble with ChargePoint! We wish there were more ChargePoints around. Unfortunately where we are in the US, sometimes Electrify America is the ONLY option besides a J-1772.
Thanks for posting…hard to watch. I’m not patient enough to deal with this…my kids, dog, wife would lose it the first time we sat on the side of the road!
Thank you for making the video, I can see now it will be a long time before I go EV. I get 23mpg with my 20 year old Dodge Cummins, and if I top off my tank my range is 600 miles before I need to start looking for fuel. The hours you spent sitting around while the batteries charged plus your bad luck with the charging stations let alone having to be towed just proves to me this country is not ready for EV travel. But thank you for sharing your experience and documenting the good and the bad, personally I could not deal with all that when I can stop and fill up eat bathroom break and back on the road in less than 20 minutes much less if I only need to fill up and stretch.
I can tell you from personal experience the charging infrastructure has improved leaps and bounds in the 11 years that Evies have been available to the public and meaningful numbers. I’m not excusing how badly the EA chargers are working. I’m just saying that it will improve because it has to or every auto maker besides Tesla will not be competitive. With so many EV‘s coming to market the demand will drive innovation and hopefully consistency. Of course all this is easy for me to say because I live in the Bay Area which is sort of Ground Zero for EV adoption.
Thankfully I have not experienced anything like that. These are early days in a major transformation of how energy is used. I imagine your grandchildren will find these stories quaint.
You guys either have a lot of patients or a lot of time off. I give you credit for hanging in there,You are helping everyone by exposing the weak links in the system.I think I would have traded the truck in on a power boost f150 about halfway through that trip. Personally think that this is no way to spend your vacation. Electrify America really sucks they’ve got their head in their rear end.The size of the battery on the truck is so big there’s no way to get a fast charge without a big expense of DC fast charger. I’m sure all the campground you’re going to follow suit and not allow electric car charging. Most of these campgrounds I’ve just upgraded to 50 amp service I doubt they have the capacity for such a large draw like that F150 you gotta figure that truck will draw more than six or seven campers do on average.
These videos should inspire Elon to hurry up and get the Cybertruck to delivery. Towing a trailer is enough of a challenge. Needing to stop more often due to towing with an EV is a bigger challenge and time suck. Dealing with the chargers possibly not working, and connectivity with different apps and systems on top of all that just seems like a nightmare.
I love the concept of the ev, but this shows it is such a headache to put up with all the effort and problems of recharging. I don’t see how this country will be ready for total electric. I’m hanging on to my Duramax. There’s fuel everywhere. Great videos y’all put out.
I traded my '19 GMC Denali for a Volvo XC40 in Mar '22. I missed having a truck so much that recently when the real need for having a truck came up; we went shopping for one. I drove the F150 Lightening and loved it but the dealer was overpricing the MSRP by $40k! No exaggeration. It was still a consideration though. We drove the new '22 GMC Denali *refresh and chose to go back to gas. We now have a gas truck *again and an electric Polestar 2. A huge deciding factor was the Electrify America chargers not always working at times. We've had a few occasions where we had to wait in line for a couple hours to charge. Thanks for sharing your experiences and be safe out there.
The infrastructure needs improvements. It's going to take a bit for everything to get up to par, but we know it will get better. For us, it's so easy for daily driving that the pros out weigh the cons. There are lots of Ford dealers marking up the Lightnings unfortunately. We were lucky that our dealer didn't mark up our truck since we ordered it directly!
In addition to documenting your journey, this is very important mental exercise for all of us. Would it be better to bring more efficient EV without a trailer and sleep either in hotel or a tent or combination of both? I mean, the energy penalty of driving truck with a trailer at ~1 MPK vs. say Tesla Model Y at 3.5 MPK is substantial. You can actually reach your leisure destination faster.
In 2020 I bought a Bolt EV thinking that with a 259 mile range that I could drive from Colorado to Iowa. I never did it because I could not see a reliable enough route across that exact span of western Nebrask. Ultimately, this as half of the reason I sold the Bolt and bought a Tesla.
Appreciate you sharing your experiences. But it's obvious that the nationwide infrastructure has a long way to go. Towing adds a level of difficulty that is going to slow migration to electric as well.
It does need some work. That won't stop us from getting out there and doing it again. If no one is using the infrastructure they won't know what needs fixed. Have to start somewhere!
Once charging becomes a money maker for companies you'll see chargers everywhere, not just in some corners like gas stations, but every parking lot, every convenience store, every fast food restaurant, every rest area, every park, even in back alleys.
I cannot believe you people put up with all the hassles with that electric truck. I think it is ridiculous. The stress of not knowing if you will be able to, or how long it will take to charge, then having to recharge what, every hour of driving? I will continue driving my 15 MPG gas car.
I was hesitant to give up my Cybertruck reservation to buy a Rivian R1T or Ford Lightning to pull a 17,500 pounds camping trailer. I had the experience of supercharger with my Tesla model 3 SR and my Tesla Model Y LR. I really don’t know if I should wait for Cybertruck to keep using superchargers which is a great charting network so far.
First off - your kids were pretty well behaved - especially if you had to keep going from station to station. I'd be grumpy too if I got stuck in the middle of the back seat and had no where to put my feet if the dog was there! Ford states that the "range" for that truck is like 248 miles; you are pulling a big Airstream trailer - so your mileage will be less! My friend took his family out west towing a camper but he was using a conventional F-150 - funny he was complaining about not being to find many gas stations out west!
I was no the fence for an ev but I definitely think the chargers need a bit of work. I'm interested to see how it would go in the Tesla network was open to all manufacturers
Thank you for confirming our family not to buy an EV anytime soon until charging infrastructure problems are fixed. Time is more valuable…than sitting around for a charger…👍
From Boulder, CO, welcome again to Colorado! What a trip this time because of "iffy" infrastructure during another hot spell here this summer. Best wishes.
On a recent trip we had 2 long drive days towing our 7500 lb trailer with our Duramax. One was 420 miles in just under 9 hours (with an hour of stops for food and fuel along the way). And the other was 400 mies in 6.5 hours (with 45 minutes of stops for food and fuel). Just for some comparison on similarly long trips. I do feel like we were not rushing either day and took longer stops than we needed to. We get out, walk the dogs, get some fuel and food, and sit around and eat it before leaving. I would love to know the full stats for the drive, like how many hours the 500 miles took from door to door including charging.
I just discovered you. I tow my camper with a gas truck. Watching you, I find you are a brave family. I could not handle the stress of charging the truck. How would a portable generator work in an emergency? My 2000-watt runs on propane & will run for 17 hours.
I'm done with electric cars, I went back to gasoline because of all hassle associated with electric cars and trucks ! No more for me , I've learned my lesson and my " ELECTRIC CAR ANXIETY SYNDROME IS GONE " ... Happy days are here again !!
so this is a trip about spending all your time charging oh and then you had to remove the trailer and move around and around and plug in and plug in and stress and mess around again. not sure how many times you stopped or how long each time or all the hassle and stress, seem to leave that out. seems like an all day event to go 500 miles. omg wow you had to get towed, how much did that cost. this seems more like the trip from hell to me
It’s odd that Ford decided to cripple the vehicle by making the charging rate so slow. The battery is massive and a faster charging rate would help massively.
The distance travelled to time idle is ridiculous. I’d sell the airstream and put a small tent trailer or teardrop that fits the profile of the truck back there. Kids get tents.
With over 400,000 Tesla vehicles on U.S. roads, Tesla’s Supercharger stations were overcrowded over the holidays and many Tesla owners faced an hours-long wait to recharge their electric vehicles. At one location in Kettleman City, California, a line of 50 or so Tesla vehicles awaiting a Supercharger stall stretched to about a quarter mile over Thanksgiving weekend. The station is located about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Its 40 stalls were insufficient to accommodate the demand, and the simultaneous recharging of the vehicles lowered the rate of recharging, frustrating customers even more. It takes about 52 minutes to charge a Model 3 to 80 percent at a 120 kilowatt Tesla Supercharger.
It is probably best that you never tested the Rocky Mountains’ inclines. Estes Park is a great destination, but I would avoid anything further west ….. and definitely not Grand Lake, even though it is close to Estes Park.
I just did my first 1000mile roadtrip in the R1T. It was pretty straight forward to be honest, but it was along i95. Sounds like it a lot rougher when trying to go from east to west...
1. My two friends who bought Ford Mach Es, sold them recently after six months of ownership because of what they called, "Charging Roulette," while on a road trip. Insufficient number of charging stations, too many broken chargers, chargers never fixed even when they called customer service (I told them third party chargers have an operational readiness rating of around 75%, at best, versus Tesla Superchargers have an OR rating of 99%.), slow charging, no OTA updates (They had to go to the dealership.), etc. 2. In a Tesla, you tell the car your destination, it shows you all the Tesla Supercharging stations along your route, you pick one, it tell you how many charging stations are available. It also tells you if any stalls are inoperable. 20-minutes charging = 200-miles. 3. Elon is working on V4 and V5 superchargers. What does this mean? These superchargers will charge your Telsa in the same amount of time it takes to put gasoline in your ICE car.
I'm not surprised they traded in. Road trips in non-Tesla EVs are a nightmare. I wanted so badly to get a trailer to use with my R1T, but charging is bad enough without a trailer, so I can't in my right mind try using a trailer given the terrible infrastructure.
Cool video. That being said when I was t to continue my trip put this magic liquid in my tank in 10 minutes and can drive for another 300 miles without stopping every 100 or so. Evs are the future, but obviously its not time to do it yet.
What a royal pain in the rear to own EV !! Constantly calling places to see if a charger is available or working etc just to travel around. Then having to monitor your range etc. Gas powered vehicles for the win!
Until the day comes where there are charging stations every other block like gas stations and charging is just as quick as filling a gas tank, people will be discovering the EV life is a nightmare.
You guys are something else. I've watched three of your videos and it's a sad state of affairs what you have to go through to travel with an electric truck. I think what I would do if I was you. His trade that thing in no matter what it cost you and go to a gas vehicle until these vehicles can give you more mileage. Better charging stations, more charges, stations, efficient charging stations. I would not put my kids in peril like you guys have done. It just doesn't make sense this time. It's too early for electric vehicles. People pushing them too much. They got long ways to go, especially pull on the trailer like you're doing in this video. It's crazy.
We own a Tesla and a truck to tow our TT, good on you guys for making towing with an EV work for you. From my roadtrip experience, non-Tesla EV charging networks are not super reliable yet, but hopefully that is changing now. How often do you have to drop the trailer to get into a charging spot?
Ford was granted a patent in 2020 for a removable generator to extend the range of electric vehicles. The generator would clip into a cargo area on the vehicle, such as a truck bed. From there it could either charge the vehicle's battery pack or directly power the vehicle's drive motors.Jun 19, 2022
You guys ahould put together with some of the other EV channels and put an open letter to Electrify American in the NYtimes. I'll contribute. I need charging to be better before I get my EV.
My hats off to you for going through all this but it’s just not worth it. Go buy a regular F250 and get in with your life. The charging system and vehicles are just not ready for this type of travel.
Thanks for the videos and enduring hater comments; real question - when everything is dead how do you open the Frunk? I have been trying to find this in the online manuals after seeing what happened to TFL and their HummerEV.
Wow, this was a mess. Seems like I need a contact list of hotlines and extensions so I know who to call to reboot chargers before I can take an EV roadtrip. With the camper I'm not sure why you don't have a backup generator, that would have been a lifesaver. Power the camper in the parking lot and charge the truck enough to get to the next working charger.
The freewire stations are actually pretty cool... They prevent thousands of dollars of demand fees for the property owner by basically only having low power connection to the grid but they have an internal 160 kWh battery that will give you full DC fast charger speeds until depleted. You just got unlucky that one or two big battery cars beat you there that day
I hadn't heard of the Freewire stations before now. Great concept that allows fast charging at places that are not robust enough to support a large charging load. 150 kW (and higher) is a large load to impose on many distribution systems. I have to believe this technology, especially if enough of them are installed in an area so that the load can be spread out over multiple chargers, is a great way to get more fast chargers out there without waiting for the local utility to add expensive transformers and other costly and time-consuming upgrades to support the load.
No - they are not cool at all. NOT NOT NOT Cool. They are the "Bait and Switch" of EV charging. When I go to a 150 kW station I expect a good speed - 100+ kW - not 20kW. That turns a planned 30 minute charging station into 2.5 hours. You can roll the dice and see if you are going to miss appointments, etc. Here in Canada Freewire provides their charges for "On The Run". They have the worst Plugshare scores because over half of the people are getting closer to a level 2 charge rate - rather than a DC fast charge. A horrible, horrible idea.
Agree,@@sedawk. It only presents THE IMAGE of being a fast charger.
Electrify America is a disgrace. They should not be allowed to use any more public funds until they get their act together and actually providing usable service
You guys are truly taking one for the EV team every time you go out. Best of luck.
you guys are awesome for suffering through this for the sake of showing the current state of public charging. EA is really getting hammered lately (and rightly so) they are a terrible partner for all brands that depend on them for fast charging. this is painful ........
I agree, it needs to improve. I am thankful that the chargers where I am are rarely down and EA stations work 95% of the time. I know others aren't si lucky with them.
Thanks for documenting the journey..be interested to look back years from now and see how far we've (hopefully) come. We currently drive two Teslas so we do not see this side of the charging infrastructure.
Most likely, we'll look back and say "God, I can't believe these people thought we were going to put 280,000,000 EVs on the road and power them with "Green Energy"".
LMAO!!! Drive an hour and 10 minutes maybe and have to stop for 45 minutes to recharge?
No Thanks!
What a charging nightmare! I own a Tesla (mostly because of their charging network), but want to see all EV brands succeed. However, I feels like the alternative charging networks are giving Tesla and ever-increasing advantage due to pure incompetence.
Try towing that airstream with your Tesla. Good luck. 👍🏼😉 I had no issues with EA chargers on the east coast fyi.
Mmmmm..... Tesla is converting to CCS not only their cars but also their superchargers. In a few years that Tesla CCS adapter will be required for all Teslas presently on the road. Amusing, no? Just like Apple and their proprietary connecting cables...... into the dustbin of history.
@@Wised1000 Yup, they should have unified adapters will make live easier for all. USB C all the way. iPad mini has usb C, why not put in the iPhone. So dumb, and they took physical sim card slot that nobody is talking about. I just switched to Pixel 7Pro from my iPhone.
USB c does not have the positive lock of the iPhone connection. I will be sorry to see apple’s connector go. Love my iPhone would never go back to android
@@richardmair8761lighting cables is pretty flimsy. My iPad with USB c works perfectly.
I would rather pay for gas than wait that long for a charge. Not to mention how much an EV cost.
They sat charging for an hour and it cost 2.88. I would pay 10x more to get that hour back and be 75 miles farther down the road
I’m completely convinced that I don’t want a EV truck. 🔥🤮
Haul a gasoline generator with you😂🤣😂🤣 can’t imagine my wife sitting somewhere charging for 40 minutes.
Imagine valuing your time so little that you buy an EV
Three stops in just over 200 miles? If you had an ICE truck, that's zero stops.
The Lightning is terrible for towing and I don't see EVs ever being a good choice for it.
You guys are awesome! I have a Tesla and Rivian R1S on the way... I don't know how I could be as chill as you guys.
Well when you get yours you'll get to deal with the same thing and find out!
We’ll you definitely won’t have the same problem on your Tesla. The other brands that use public infrastructure is a different ballgame
You folks are brave for venturing out with a travel trailer, kids, and a fully electric vehicle. Plowing new ground for many of us. Thank you for that. I have driven your route through NE and CO on several occasions. It is certainly out there. We live in southeastern MN and have found the charging network to be limited and not improving quickly. Hope that changes. Meanwhile I will continue to drive my Honda Clarity PHEV on mostly battery power and tow my travel trailer with my Escalade. For now, anyway. Good luck!
6.0L for the win! Trucks are too wasteful as electric vehicles.
I ignore the no EV charging rules at campsites and KOA. The hell with them. I park in a way where it's not noticeable or throw a towel or blanket over the charge port. I'll pull less power charging than a huge 50a 5th wheel would.
I would of done the same. 💯
Why don't they allow EV charging?
@@TechnicalLee Probably because it costs them a ton of money in electric bills.
I've never heard of such a rule at any campsite? In fact, when I pull my trailer into a campsite, while everyone else plugs their trailer in to the post, I plug my car into the post, and my trailer gets all its power from the car!
What an enjoyable trip for your kids sitting in the back seat looking at screens. I absolutely adore my Lightning but there is a reason I kept my Expedition. I am a huge believer in EVs but I wouldn't have any interest in worrying about charger availability. If I'm towing anything further than 50 miles I use the Expy. Good video and quite the cautionary tale for others.
We had a 31 ft Airstream and used an International travelall!!it had 2 gas tanks & did a wonderful job!! Lots of Fun!!!🎼🎶
I love your don't give up attitude. I also appreciate you highlighting the good and the bad with our charging infrastructure. Love your videos. I'm a new subscriber. Continue to venture on. ❤️
Thank you for subscribing! And glad you're enjoying the videos. We knew there would be hiccups when we decided to tow with our EVs. Hopefully others can learn from us and have less hiccups on their journey!
I would love to see Electrify America respond to the below average state of their charge locations. I am seeing similar experiences from multiple EV channels.
they have, they continue to state they are the best. which is true when theres nothing else.
Why would Electrify America make an effort to improve? Sincere question.
Nice of you to share all this! Sorry for your troubles. This tome is a big issue with and electric vehicle to tow with. Also, all that time spent trying to and actually charging eats into your camping trip.
I love your optimism. I also am a two EV only family. I recently went to Mississippi from Texas with our Lightning and there are no DC fast chargers on I-20 at all, ridiculous!!! There is a ripoff 26KW ChargePoint charger 218 miles down the road that charges at $0.42 per minute, $25.00 per hour. I made it there fine and only had to charge up about 30% to get to the next EA charger going down, but not a good scenario on the way back. On the way back I had to charge all the way from 50% to 96% on that 26KW charger to make it to next charger 218 miles away. That took me 2 hours and cost me $50 to charge. I never had any EA charger issues on both legs of the trip.
I'm like you all though, I'm invested in EVs for life now. I love all of the benefits they offer even with the EA disadvantages. I'm really hoping that Tesla hurries it up and gets their superchargers converted so we can use them as backup.
I’m completely convinced that I don’t want a EV truck. 🔥🤮
@@zoobrizz It's not for everyone, but it completely serves my needs. I only tow a boat 30 miles tops and it does that just fine with plenty of extra to spare. Charging my Lightning from home is easy and cheap at only $15 from completely empty to full.
Just picked up my Lightning and you give me so much hope!! Appreciate you guys!
Thanks! We'd be glad to answer any questions you have.
I think you will be disappointed. Sorry to break it to you.
You guys have created a fantastic video and you both have great personalities and great attitudes. Thank you for creating this video showing the nightmares of towing with a EV truck. Vacations should not revolve around looking for places to charge and how long it’s going to take and the stress that comes with not having enough charge to get to your next Destination. Thanks again great video. There will have to be big leaps in technology before they can compete with a gas truck for towing range. And charging takes way too long.
The simple reality is that there is not enough lithium or copper for everyone to do what you are doing. The grid is near collapse and this is just the final orgasmic fantasy. Thanks for making a record of this monumental failure. Good work.
The thing I like the most about the lightning is the frunk. Plenty of room for a diesel generator.
Was waiting for a sudden update that our Airstream burned down yesterday. I hope you have better results a year later charging.
Fingers crossed that your documentation of the EA network issues will help to improve the reliability. Great content and greetings from Germany 👋
“Getting there is half the fun” - Clark Griswold
HAHAHA! They should make a new movie based on this experience.
Well done video on charging issues with the Ford F150 Lightning! There shouldn't be that much *Stress* driving an EV! That's why I purchased a Tesla Model Y Performance because of the technology, software and the Supercharger infrastructure!
We had a Model X and never had this issue. We can't wait till they have an electric truck for multiple reasons but one will be the reliability of chargers.
@@AllElectricFamily Totally agree! Enjoy the weekend! 😉
Range still won’t be anything near a internal combustion. 5 min fill up and double to triple the range. Never can see ev towing being worth it. Unless another 50 years of battery technology
Imagine spending 70K+ on an EV and having all these problems. It would be understandable if you paid $40k for it, but we all know no one is getting an F150 lightning for even remotely close to that.
I think you should come to Minnesota or north Dakota this January or February to see how the batteries hold up in fridget weather, maybe do some ice fishing
What a pain. My wife would refuse to take this truck on any trips, especially with kids. Your family are troopers!
Thanks. The trip was definitely a pain.
Super interesting to hear about how those battery fast chargers work in practice because I was aware that places were using batteries to provide fast charging while spreading out taking energy from the grid to be able to do more with less. But it makes sense that once that battery is depleted you’re right back to slow charging. So great for places with less use but there will still be that pressure to upgrade the grid in those areas as time goes on, or to have more battery storage available.
I think these are great in places where there isn’t a ton of traffic to help! It’s the fastest solution to getting fast charging in some places.
I was interested in a Ford Lightning and allmost bought one , Glad I watched your Video, I tow 2 horses with my Ram 1500 Ecodiesel and it has a 700 mile range. The Lightning would be a very stressful nightmare as you have demonstrated. Thanks for helping me decide to keep my Ram.
Your welcome, that's a lot of miles towing and would be hard to give up unless your up for an adventure.
That Bolt owner who left their car needs to have their driving privileges removed immediately.
This isn’t going to work for any EV use. Thanks for documenting the charging network issues.
I grew up in the west Omaha/Elkhorn area and am absolutely delighted there's some excellent Nebraska representation on UA-cam. Keep up the good work and thanks for representing real world use of EVs!
I just found your great channel. I thought I was a pioneer in 2014 when I got my first Tesla and went on a 500 mile trip! You guys are really amazing! The Lightening is an awesome vehicle but the current charge network is the pits! I hope Tesla opens up their network to all EVs soon! I look forward to more of your videos
Thank you very much! Glad you’re enjoying it. I think things will improve quickly. We know there has already been big changes since we had our first Tesla in 2017! It was a 2012 Model S. We couldn’t even make it 200 miles without charging. We have come a long, long way!
Great vid to see how charging and running camper works. Thanks for hanging in there and finishing the vid despite EA!
I hate the EV charging networks vicariously through you.
We haven't had trouble with ChargePoint! We wish there were more ChargePoints around. Unfortunately where we are in the US, sometimes Electrify America is the ONLY option besides a J-1772.
Thanks for posting…hard to watch. I’m not patient enough to deal with this…my kids, dog, wife would lose it the first time we sat on the side of the road!
Seems like a lot of added aggravation that’s not needed
Why did you get a hotel? The giant silver thing behind you is a house on wheels...
RV's aren't very fun to stay in when they are unplugged.
@@TechnicalLee funner than dropping 250 bucks on a hotel... just sayin... all you need is a bed, flashlights and a battery operated fan...
Your kids are such troopers for putting up with the mess that EA creates.
All in the adventure to them. They got to stay in a hotel that night, so it was a fun night for them! 😅
Here because I saw you on the out of spec interview about EV charging networks, excited to see the video after hearing the story!
Thank you for making the video, I can see now it will be a long time before I go EV. I get 23mpg with my 20 year old Dodge Cummins, and if I top off my tank my range is 600 miles before I need to start looking for fuel. The hours you spent sitting around while the batteries charged plus your bad luck with the charging stations let alone having to be towed just proves to me this country is not ready for EV travel. But thank you for sharing your experience and documenting the good and the bad, personally I could not deal with all that when I can stop and fill up eat bathroom break and back on the road in less than 20 minutes much less if I only need to fill up and stretch.
I can tell you from personal experience the charging infrastructure has improved leaps and bounds in the 11 years that Evies have been available to the public and meaningful numbers. I’m not excusing how badly the EA chargers are working. I’m just saying that it will improve because it has to or every auto maker besides Tesla will not be competitive. With so many EV‘s coming to market the demand will drive innovation and hopefully consistency. Of course all this is easy for me to say because I live in the Bay Area which is sort of Ground Zero for EV adoption.
Thankfully I have not experienced anything like that. These are early days in a major transformation of how energy is used. I imagine your grandchildren will find these stories quaint.
I think in 5 years we will look back and laugh about how horrible it was. Things are progressing quickly! We know it will get better.
You guys either have a lot of patients or a lot of time off. I give you credit for hanging in there,You are helping everyone by exposing the weak links in the system.I think I would have traded the truck in on a power boost f150 about halfway through that trip. Personally think that this is no way to spend your vacation. Electrify America really sucks they’ve got their head in their rear end.The size of the battery on the truck is so big there’s no way to get a fast charge without a big expense of DC fast charger. I’m sure all the campground you’re going to follow suit and not allow electric car charging. Most of these campgrounds I’ve just upgraded to 50 amp service I doubt they have the capacity for such a large draw like that F150 you gotta figure that truck will draw more than six or seven campers do on average.
These videos should inspire Elon to hurry up and get the Cybertruck to delivery. Towing a trailer is enough of a challenge. Needing to stop more often due to towing with an EV is a bigger challenge and time suck. Dealing with the chargers possibly not working, and connectivity with different apps and systems on top of all that just seems like a nightmare.
I love the concept of the ev, but this shows it is such a headache to put up with all the effort and problems of recharging. I don’t see how this country will be ready for total electric. I’m hanging on to my Duramax. There’s fuel everywhere. Great videos y’all put out.
Good to see you are saving money with the peanut butter and jelly.
The Wagyu and Sushi was out of stock
I traded my '19 GMC Denali for a Volvo XC40 in Mar '22. I missed having a truck so much that recently when the real need for having a truck came up; we went shopping for one. I drove the F150 Lightening and loved it but the dealer was overpricing the MSRP by $40k! No exaggeration. It was still a consideration though. We drove the new '22 GMC Denali *refresh and chose to go back to gas. We now have a gas truck *again and an electric Polestar 2. A huge deciding factor was the Electrify America chargers not always working at times. We've had a few occasions where we had to wait in line for a couple hours to charge. Thanks for sharing your experiences and be safe out there.
The infrastructure needs improvements. It's going to take a bit for everything to get up to par, but we know it will get better. For us, it's so easy for daily driving that the pros out weigh the cons.
There are lots of Ford dealers marking up the Lightnings unfortunately. We were lucky that our dealer didn't mark up our truck since we ordered it directly!
In addition to documenting your journey, this is very important mental exercise for all of us. Would it be better to bring more efficient EV without a trailer and sleep either in hotel or a tent or combination of both? I mean, the energy penalty of driving truck with a trailer at ~1 MPK vs. say Tesla Model Y at 3.5 MPK is substantial. You can actually reach your leisure destination faster.
In 2020 I bought a Bolt EV thinking that with a 259 mile range that I could drive from Colorado to Iowa. I never did it because I could not see a reliable enough route across that exact span of western Nebrask. Ultimately, this as half of the reason I sold the Bolt and bought a Tesla.
Appreciate you sharing your experiences. But it's obvious that the nationwide infrastructure has a long way to go. Towing adds a level of difficulty that is going to slow migration to electric as well.
It does need some work. That won't stop us from getting out there and doing it again. If no one is using the infrastructure they won't know what needs fixed. Have to start somewhere!
Once charging becomes a money maker for companies you'll see chargers everywhere, not just in some corners like gas stations, but every parking lot, every convenience store, every fast food restaurant, every rest area, every park, even in back alleys.
Only way that would happen is if electricity becomes super expensive for everyone though
Excellent video. It just further strengthens my resolve to make my 2021 Tundra V8 last until I die.
Sounds like that's a good fit for you. We love our EVs, they're a good fit for us. :) Have a good one!
My diesel truck can tow both your truck and your camper. Only takes me 10 minutes to recharge the diesel tank.
Not to mention you can probably get 300+ miles between fueling.
I cannot believe you people put up with all the hassles with that electric truck. I think it is ridiculous. The stress of not knowing if you will be able to, or how long it will take to charge, then having to recharge what, every hour of driving? I will continue driving my 15 MPG gas car.
Your children are amazing to deal with this !
The only thing they talk about when remembering this ordeal…they got to stay in a hotel. 😅 It was a fun memory to them!
I was hesitant to give up my Cybertruck reservation to buy a Rivian R1T or Ford Lightning to pull a 17,500 pounds camping trailer. I had the experience of supercharger with my Tesla model 3 SR and my Tesla Model Y LR. I really don’t know if I should wait for Cybertruck to keep using superchargers which is a great charting network so far.
First off - your kids were pretty well behaved - especially if you had to keep going from station to station. I'd be grumpy too if I got stuck in the middle of the back seat and had no where to put my feet if the dog was there! Ford states that the "range" for that truck is like 248 miles; you are pulling a big Airstream trailer - so your mileage will be less! My friend took his family out west towing a camper but he was using a conventional F-150 - funny he was complaining about not being to find many gas stations out west!
I was no the fence for an ev but I definitely think the chargers need a bit of work. I'm interested to see how it would go in the Tesla network was open to all manufacturers
Thank you for confirming our family not to buy an EV anytime soon until charging infrastructure problems are fixed. Time is more valuable…than sitting around for a charger…👍
Buy a Tesla. No infrastructure issues here.
From Boulder, CO, welcome again to Colorado! What a trip this time because of "iffy" infrastructure during another hot spell here this summer. Best wishes.
Thank you! At least the destination is worth the hassle!
On a recent trip we had 2 long drive days towing our 7500 lb trailer with our Duramax. One was 420 miles in just under 9 hours (with an hour of stops for food and fuel along the way). And the other was 400 mies in 6.5 hours (with 45 minutes of stops for food and fuel). Just for some comparison on similarly long trips. I do feel like we were not rushing either day and took longer stops than we needed to. We get out, walk the dogs, get some fuel and food, and sit around and eat it before leaving. I would love to know the full stats for the drive, like how many hours the 500 miles took from door to door including charging.
I just discovered you. I tow my camper with a gas truck. Watching you, I find you are a brave family. I could not handle the stress of charging the truck. How would a portable generator work in an emergency? My 2000-watt runs on propane & will run for 17 hours.
It would work fine if you had about 19 extra propane tanks, and 10 extra days to sit charging.
I would love to know how much time was spent driving and charging.
Such a dad thing to say... "My birthday was last Saturday, so today must be the 13th..."
Happy late birthday.
Wow being able to power your airstream from the F150 is a game changer. 🤯
Until you can't charge your F-150 anymore.
@@bcad4066 Do you mean because of the public charging station issues?
No matter how you spin it. EV is not the way to go. I rather stay with gasoline-powered vehicles.
That may be true for you, but for us EV is the way to go.
this looks like hell, tbh. yikes. good on you for trying to travel this way though.
I'm done with electric cars, I went back to gasoline because of all hassle associated with electric cars and trucks ! No more for me , I've learned my lesson and my " ELECTRIC CAR ANXIETY SYNDROME IS GONE " ... Happy days are here again !!
Plan your whole trip around charge times isn't a holiday. Love watching ev videos. Most talked about subject is range anxiety, hilarious.
so this is a trip about spending all your time charging oh and then you had to remove the trailer and move around and around and plug in and plug in and stress and mess around again. not sure how many times you stopped or how long each time or all the hassle and stress, seem to leave that out. seems like an all day event to go 500 miles. omg wow you had to get towed, how much did that cost. this seems more like the trip from hell to me
It’s odd that Ford decided to cripple the vehicle by making the charging rate so slow. The battery is massive and a faster charging rate would help massively.
I’m completely convinced that I don’t want a EV truck. 🔥🤮
@@zoobrizz Then you’re an idiot. 🤷♂️
The distance travelled to time idle is ridiculous. I’d sell the airstream and put a small tent trailer or teardrop that fits the profile of the truck back there. Kids get tents.
With over 400,000 Tesla vehicles on U.S. roads, Tesla’s Supercharger stations were overcrowded over the holidays and many Tesla owners faced an hours-long wait to recharge their electric vehicles. At one location in Kettleman City, California, a line of 50 or so Tesla vehicles awaiting a Supercharger stall stretched to about a quarter mile over Thanksgiving weekend. The station is located about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Its 40 stalls were insufficient to accommodate the demand, and the simultaneous recharging of the vehicles lowered the rate of recharging, frustrating customers even more. It takes about 52 minutes to charge a Model 3 to 80 percent at a 120 kilowatt Tesla Supercharger.
It is probably best that you never tested the Rocky Mountains’ inclines. Estes Park is a great destination, but I would avoid anything further west ….. and definitely not Grand Lake, even though it is close to Estes Park.
I just did my first 1000mile roadtrip in the R1T. It was pretty straight forward to be honest, but it was along i95. Sounds like it a lot rougher when trying to go from east to west...
1. My two friends who bought Ford Mach Es, sold them recently after six months of ownership because of what they called, "Charging Roulette," while on a road trip. Insufficient number of charging stations, too many broken chargers, chargers never fixed even when they called customer service (I told them third party chargers have an operational readiness rating of around 75%, at best, versus Tesla Superchargers have an OR rating of 99%.), slow charging, no OTA updates (They had to go to the dealership.), etc.
2. In a Tesla, you tell the car your destination, it shows you all the Tesla Supercharging stations along your route, you pick one, it tell you how many charging stations are available. It also tells you if any stalls are inoperable. 20-minutes charging = 200-miles.
3. Elon is working on V4 and V5 superchargers. What does this mean? These superchargers will charge your Telsa in the same amount of time it takes to put gasoline in your ICE car.
I'm not surprised they traded in. Road trips in non-Tesla EVs are a nightmare. I wanted so badly to get a trailer to use with my R1T, but charging is bad enough without a trailer, so I can't in my right mind try using a trailer given the terrible infrastructure.
Besides road trip charging, overall how you like the Lightning vs Model X? I think Lightning is way way better.
So what your saying is you made a bad choice and the lightning is useless.
Tesla Supercharger network has never let me down. It is the only one that I will ever use. You couldn’t pay me to drive a non-Tesla EV.
Even with a charging station every mile the lack of range between recharge is a time consuming nightmare.
nice to be the the testers of the new crap technology. I'll stick with diesel maybe its pricey but it only takes a few minutes to fuel up.
Cool video. That being said when I was t to continue my trip put this magic liquid in my tank in 10 minutes and can drive for another 300 miles without stopping every 100 or so. Evs are the future, but obviously its not time to do it yet.
What a royal pain in the rear to own EV !! Constantly calling places to see if a charger is available or working etc just to travel around. Then having to monitor your range etc. Gas powered vehicles for the win!
reliability is simply not there...
Yeah I’ll stick with my 19 ol fashioned V8. This is a nightmare.
Until the day comes where there are charging stations every other block like gas stations and charging is just as quick as filling a gas tank, people will be discovering the EV life is a nightmare.
You guys are something else. I've watched three of your videos and it's a sad state of affairs what you have to go through to travel with an electric truck. I think what I would do if I was you. His trade that thing in no matter what it cost you and go to a gas vehicle until these vehicles can give you more mileage. Better charging stations, more charges, stations, efficient charging stations. I would not put my kids in peril like you guys have done. It just doesn't make sense this time. It's too early for electric vehicles. People pushing them too much. They got long ways to go, especially pull on the trailer like you're doing in this video. It's crazy.
I'm sticking with gas and paper maps
We own a Tesla and a truck to tow our TT, good on you guys for making towing with an EV work for you. From my roadtrip experience, non-Tesla EV charging networks are not super reliable yet, but hopefully that is changing now. How often do you have to drop the trailer to get into a charging spot?
WHAT A SUPER NICE FAMILY........GOOD LUCK ON YOUR NEXT TRIP
Ford was granted a patent in 2020 for a removable generator to extend the range of electric vehicles. The generator would clip into a cargo area on the vehicle, such as a truck bed. From there it could either charge the vehicle's battery pack or directly power the vehicle's drive motors.Jun 19, 2022
Great video! Could you please make chapters for each charging stop? Also total trip duration and cost at the end of video. Thanks!
Thanks for the heads-up 🤕
You guys ahould put together with some of the other EV channels and put an open letter to Electrify American in the NYtimes. I'll contribute. I need charging to be better before I get my EV.
We did a video with Kyle from Out of Spec to highlight this issue. If you have a contact let us know. Thanks
My hats off to you for going through all this but it’s just not worth it. Go buy a regular F250 and get in with your life. The charging system and vehicles are just not ready for this type of travel.
Thanks for the videos and enduring hater comments; real question - when everything is dead how do you open the Frunk?
I have been trying to find this in the online manuals after seeing what happened to TFL and their HummerEV.
Thanks, Ford put a manual hood latch on it. Basically the hood release lever area.
Ah that’s great, glad to see some manual overrides in place! Was getting into neutral difficult?
Wow, this was a mess. Seems like I need a contact list of hotlines and extensions so I know who to call to reboot chargers before I can take an EV roadtrip. With the camper I'm not sure why you don't have a backup generator, that would have been a lifesaver. Power the camper in the parking lot and charge the truck enough to get to the next working charger.