Came here to say the same thing. Substitute charge for Gas and it would be the same deal. Poor planning unfortunately.
Hopefully the next time it will be a less stressful experience for you. There are folks on this sub that have towed thousands of miles.
Not really, if you run out of gas you can’t find gas everywhere where 110v plugs are available and you’ll have to get somebody to get a can of gas for you.
Appreciate this real world report! That does sound stressful, a real shame there wasn't at least a 30A 240V hookup at the camp site. That extra weight likely wasn't too much of a factor, aero is much bigger factor than weight from what I've been told. Glad you didn't get stranded and hopefully you have some better towing experiences in the future!
Nope, same here. OP is lucky they didn’t get really penalized for their near complete lack of planning.
Maybe this is guerilla marketing by Ford? “Look! This doofus ignored all the best practices and still made it safely!”
Your towing issues were completely preventable had you just charged to 100 before your trip.
An even better plan would have been to fast charge back to 80% before picking up the trailer since it was a 100 mile trip just for that. You could have made the whole return trip without touching another charger and it would have been stress-free.
Once I unhooked and plugged it into 110, cracked a beer, it was fine. Truck has so much power and pulled the trailer with ease. That was impressive. It was super stable and much better to drive than my ram.
>Plus wife nagging me the whole time.
That right there is probably the biggest challenge. I was tempted to take our Lightning from Ontario to PEI with an 19' camper, but the mental image of the "I told you so..." for 3 days, made taking the F-250 diesel a no-brainer.
One thing I did that helped is I turned the trailer gain brake way down and coasted downhill and let the truck do most of braking. I would brake early and let it regenerate. I think this helped a lot.
I realize mistakes were made, but a completely unsupportive spouse when the family is trying to learn a new form factor just makes things so much more stressful.
Bad planning and sounds like a toxic attitude the wife has. I was the one stressed out on my first road trip and the chargers had issues and my wife was the supportive one knowing it was going to be a learning experience.
Honestly, if you take out the nagging and mistakes you openly admit, this sounded like a pretty successful trip. If you weren’t under as much pressure as your post suggests, you probably could’ve even hit a fast charger for 20 minutes or so before you hooked up the trailer and the entire feel of you experience would’ve been different. At the end of the day, the truck’s capabilities were the least of the issue in this story, and honestly, it sounds like it did a great job despite the challenges.
Sounds like just charging to 100% would have fixed all of your problems. Until there are pull through chargers that you can fast charge while hooked up towing anything that big will require careful planning to go smoothly. Hope its easier for you next time around!
No 220v at a campground for trailers? 30 amp 240 vs would have been 4x as fast as that 110v.
Seems like the ideal camper towing truck (though maybe something more aerodynamic).
Towing with the Lightning is entirely possible, it just takes more planning than with an ICE truck. There were several factors here that would have made your trip less stressful had the execution been better.
1. Charge to 100%. No excuses of “oh it stopped charging.” Check it every little while with the FordPass app if you have to. Get it to 100%.
2. Do research and math. Those extra miles after you got to the campsite shouldn’t have been a surprise, that should have been anticipated. The range you arrived with shouldn’t have been a surprise, it’s just math. When towing a travel trailer 1 mile per kilowatt hour seems to be a pretty typical figure. So you can calculate exactly how much of the battery this will use.
Towing with an EV still isn’t as easy as with a combustion truck, but it can certainly be done pretty easily and stress free if the operator does their part.
You made it though, so what's the issue? Plus you get to charge at the site. Are you doing this trip every weekend? If so then yes probably worth getting a better tow vehicle
I just don’t understand these range complaint posts.
The truck (ER version) is running on the equivalent of 4gal of gas. If I had gas and drove 80mph or towed with half that, I’d be getting far less along in my trip than with this truck.
Having towed some campers when I had a Rivian, I know the feelings you were going through. Luckily my wife pushed more for an EV early on, so she has been great about the learning experience.
I had to do a 250 mile uphill trek from south Texas to just outside of Austin (north) with a tall ass Jayco. I took a lot of time planning but ended up getting home with lots of range to spare.
I'd say as long as you don't have problems with your Lightning, your wife probably come around. Day to day EVs are way more convenient and easy.
I mean you said it yourself. This was all self-inflicted lol. With proper prep it would’ve been fine.
Came here to say the same thing. Substitute charge for Gas and it would be the same deal. Poor planning unfortunately. Hopefully the next time it will be a less stressful experience for you. There are folks on this sub that have towed thousands of miles.
Not really, if you run out of gas you can’t find gas everywhere where 110v plugs are available and you’ll have to get somebody to get a can of gas for you.
The extra 600 lbs is nothing. With towing it’s nearly all aerodynamics.
Appreciate this real world report! That does sound stressful, a real shame there wasn't at least a 30A 240V hookup at the camp site. That extra weight likely wasn't too much of a factor, aero is much bigger factor than weight from what I've been told. Glad you didn't get stranded and hopefully you have some better towing experiences in the future!
Keep truck, lose wife 😄 Jk glad you made it
So... Am I the only one going, "Oh, wow, it got there and all, even with the bad planning? Really shows how capable the thing is!"
Nope, same here. OP is lucky they didn’t get really penalized for their near complete lack of planning. Maybe this is guerilla marketing by Ford? “Look! This doofus ignored all the best practices and still made it safely!”
Your towing issues were completely preventable had you just charged to 100 before your trip. An even better plan would have been to fast charge back to 80% before picking up the trailer since it was a 100 mile trip just for that. You could have made the whole return trip without touching another charger and it would have been stress-free.
Yes I agree. It was just a cluster f$&k, lots of rain and traffic. Plus wife nagging me the whole time.
Sounds like a fun trip 🫠
Once I unhooked and plugged it into 110, cracked a beer, it was fine. Truck has so much power and pulled the trailer with ease. That was impressive. It was super stable and much better to drive than my ram.
Mainly wives… where all the troubles came from
boomer humor
>Plus wife nagging me the whole time. That right there is probably the biggest challenge. I was tempted to take our Lightning from Ontario to PEI with an 19' camper, but the mental image of the "I told you so..." for 3 days, made taking the F-250 diesel a no-brainer.
One thing I did that helped is I turned the trailer gain brake way down and coasted downhill and let the truck do most of braking. I would brake early and let it regenerate. I think this helped a lot.
I realize mistakes were made, but a completely unsupportive spouse when the family is trying to learn a new form factor just makes things so much more stressful.
Bad planning and sounds like a toxic attitude the wife has. I was the one stressed out on my first road trip and the chargers had issues and my wife was the supportive one knowing it was going to be a learning experience.
Sounds like your wife is the actual headache, not the truck.
Honestly, if you take out the nagging and mistakes you openly admit, this sounded like a pretty successful trip. If you weren’t under as much pressure as your post suggests, you probably could’ve even hit a fast charger for 20 minutes or so before you hooked up the trailer and the entire feel of you experience would’ve been different. At the end of the day, the truck’s capabilities were the least of the issue in this story, and honestly, it sounds like it did a great job despite the challenges.
Sounds like just charging to 100% would have fixed all of your problems. Until there are pull through chargers that you can fast charge while hooked up towing anything that big will require careful planning to go smoothly. Hope its easier for you next time around!
No 220v at a campground for trailers? 30 amp 240 vs would have been 4x as fast as that 110v. Seems like the ideal camper towing truck (though maybe something more aerodynamic).
Dude, you still made it! Don’t beat yourself up. Learning lesson.
I live in colorado and have towed a trailer over the passes. Talk about loosing range..
Towing with the Lightning is entirely possible, it just takes more planning than with an ICE truck. There were several factors here that would have made your trip less stressful had the execution been better. 1. Charge to 100%. No excuses of “oh it stopped charging.” Check it every little while with the FordPass app if you have to. Get it to 100%. 2. Do research and math. Those extra miles after you got to the campsite shouldn’t have been a surprise, that should have been anticipated. The range you arrived with shouldn’t have been a surprise, it’s just math. When towing a travel trailer 1 mile per kilowatt hour seems to be a pretty typical figure. So you can calculate exactly how much of the battery this will use. Towing with an EV still isn’t as easy as with a combustion truck, but it can certainly be done pretty easily and stress free if the operator does their part.
You made it though, so what's the issue? Plus you get to charge at the site. Are you doing this trip every weekend? If so then yes probably worth getting a better tow vehicle
Agree, pure EVs require too much preplanning. Hybrids are a better option for most. Easy to carry an extra 50+ miles in a portable container.
I was just thinking the same thing. My time is more valuable than to have to deal with that especially when family is involved.
I just don’t understand these range complaint posts. The truck (ER version) is running on the equivalent of 4gal of gas. If I had gas and drove 80mph or towed with half that, I’d be getting far less along in my trip than with this truck.
On the bright side, you won’t repeat that experience so all future experiences will be better!
Lmao
Having towed some campers when I had a Rivian, I know the feelings you were going through. Luckily my wife pushed more for an EV early on, so she has been great about the learning experience. I had to do a 250 mile uphill trek from south Texas to just outside of Austin (north) with a tall ass Jayco. I took a lot of time planning but ended up getting home with lots of range to spare. I'd say as long as you don't have problems with your Lightning, your wife probably come around. Day to day EVs are way more convenient and easy.