Posted on 10/07/2022 9:03:11 AM PDT by Jacquerie
Two journalists with TFLEV decided to drive the Ford 150 Lightning EV truck from the lower 48 states to Alaska and learned some of the recharging challenges they would face.
Having made that drive from Pennsylvania to Fairbanks in 2013, I can tell you it certainly required some planning driving a gas-powered SUV, much less an electric truck.
They stopped at Carter Lake, outside of Loveland, Colorado, and rented a campsite. The site included a standard 120-volt outlet — Level 1 in EV parlance — as well as a larger 240-volt option used by recreational vehicles and fifth-wheel trailers to run air conditioners, refrigerators, etc.
What Tom and Andre found when they hooked into a standard 120 outlet, it would take them from Wednesday night until Monday morning — about 5 days — to get the truck fully charged, with their battery starting at 22 percent.
The pair then plugged into the 240 volt — Level 2. The result was much better, but it was still going to take about 14 hours to get to a full charge.
So finding a fast charging station or a Level 2 option is really the only realistic way to make a trip of any distance beyond the initial charge much less to Alaska.
Tom and Andre noted there is potentially an ethical dilemma to charging one’s EV truck at a campground.
“You have a big battery, a big vehicle and if every spot had an electric vehicle all drawing energy that the price of energy would go up,” Andre pointed out. The price of the camping space was only $35.
The gas-powered folks are in effect subsidizing the EV campers.
Depending on the charging station, “filling up” an EV Hummer, for example, can cost up to $100, Car and Driver reported in August.
(Excerpt) Read more at westernjournal.com ...
If by "fast" you mean the Level III 350kW fast chargers that give my EV 250 miles of charge in 10-15 minutes, the answer is yes if you do it regularly, not if you do it occasionally like on trips. So don't get an EV to regularly drive 500 or 600 miles per day. LOL Or don't get an EV if you live in an apartment and your only means of charging is the nearby Level III fast charger. Using a Level III charger like that does reduce battery life.
But if by "fast" charging you mean the Level II 240V chargers like I have at home, the answer is No they don't damage the battery even if used every day. So what if it gets only 39 miles for every hour charged at home. It takes only 30 seconds of your personal time to plug it in when you get home, the unplug it before you leave the next day. IMHO that's more convenient than taking about 10 minutes of my time filling up my ICE pickup (including time to pull off my route, decelerate, park in front of the gas pump, pay for it, etc.). Of course, since I don't drive my ICE pickup much now that we have the EV, I find that during grass cutting season about the only time I need to fill-up my ICE pickup is when I'm at the gas station anyway filling up a gas can for my lawnmower. So I guess filling up both my EV and my ICE pickup are now taking little of my time. LOL
Now about the cost of batteries. Yes, anything with the brand name Tesla is mighty expensive. Tesla stands for Too Expensive Still Liberals Adore. LOL But replacing my EV's battery (non-Tesla) would cost about $10K in today's dollars if it wasn't under warranty. Since $10K is what I was about to spend to replace my wife's old car with another used car, like I've done on average every 7 years (but in the past it was less than $10K), to me the battery replacement at 10 years from now is better on my budget than spending the same amount 3 years sooner at 7 years. There are other costs with an EV, like the cost for installing 240V circuits to charge and the extra cost of buying an EV vs buying an ICE car. But in my experience, the battery cost alone every 10 years is a net plus if it's removing the same cost being done at 7 years (assuming staying with an ICE car means buying used ones instead of new ones).
Of course, if you buy new ICE cars instead of used ones, you're not buying one every 7 years. But then you get into a new ICE car being so expensive up front it might be worth the extra expense to buy the EV and not worry about gas prices for the next 20 or so years. I'm not saying an EV is right for everyone. I'm saying that's how I did the cost comparisons when I chose to make one of our cars an EV.
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5 days of camping?
What's the problem?
Sounds like a fine, relaxing, wonderful vacation to me...
/s
How long would it take to recharge your E-RV ?
Engineers just shake their head.
Except they didn’t drive to Alaska, they drove to Washington State and then took a ferry to Alaska.🤔
Thanks for this—I’ve been picturing it in my mind for years!
Tow a trailer with a diesel generator and extra diesel in jerry cans. Juice it up a little at every pee and food stop.
They had a Ford power boost with them on the trip.
I agree that if you have ICE backup, EVs make plenty of sense. Both have their uses, depending on location and what kind of driving one does.
I will not attempt to explain it to you, but here is alink from which you can start.
IBTG
If you want a really fast charge just extend a very tall antenna on top of your EV truck, connect it to your EV’s battery and wait for a storm.
Not sure what a Ford power boost is, but if it charged the battery then why would they plug it into the campsite?
EV surcharges coming to a campground near you.
Drive thru Burger joints must be challenging.
Your attempt to troll off-color nautical terminology will not work. It won’t. It really won’t.
Democrats are so damn stupid, I can’t stand it anymore.
I get your point, but I think your benchmark is a bit unrealistic. The government is perfectly fine with using a vehicle that costs $1 million to fill up because it is not their money. They are also fine with using an airplane that will only last 3 years, or a car that will last about the same, because there are no economic restraints on them whatsoever.
Your automobile battery isn't designed for quick charging. Dumping 120v at full amperage straight into a car battery would probably be somewhat dangerous.
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