Corey_lax
Crew Member
I’m way more than that haha. Buckle up when you have to remortgage.
Driving an EV pickup
- Thread starter sly_karma
- Start date
Aces
Well-Known Member
Without optimism and faith there’s no point in carrying on
This thread, by it's title, is intended to provide real life expeience with the straight goods on owning an EV truck direct from one of our members. The conversation around whether or not EV's are viable, too expensive, too subsidized etc. can be debated somewhere else, as it heads into a complete political narrative. Most people seem to appreciate the frank and honest commentary, both positive and negative, from @sly_karma regarding his personal experience of owning and operating his EV truck. Let's keep it on track so people can continue to receive real time information direct from the user.
kaelc
Crew Member
Taking my lifep04 lithium batteries and camper for a spin down to Portland at the start of June, hopefully the 1 solar panel has kept it charged up. When I get back I'll add another solar panel and maybe another battery. I took a look at the Solis tonneau cover, doesn't do much but sure better than coming back to dead batteries, and might be worth it for a contractor running power tools? With the price of solar panels dropping solar might get more cost effective than some other building materials and roofs/tonneau covers for Ford/tesla/riveans in the future https://worksport.com/pages/solis-cor
sly_karma
Crew Member
This thought certainly crossed my mind, in particular for when I'm parked in Secret Cove for a week or two at a time, full sun exposure for 12+ hours a day. But then reality kicks in, as there is nothing on the market yet for straight-through portable solar to EV charging. You need to buy a Bluetti or similar lithium power station, charge that, then connect it to the EV via 120V mobile charging cable. And there'll be inverter and rectifier losses because of the switch to AC and back. Worse yet, I'd need to make regular trips back to the mainland to switch from solar acceptance to EV charging and then back again.
How much power would i get? A couple of tonneau mounted panels would be 600 W theoretical, take 25-30% efficiency and you're getting 1.5-2.0 kWh per day. All that hardware (over $2000) and faffing about for not even 2% a day added to state of charge.
The thought of it just recharging steadily while I'm enjoying cabin life sounded enticing, but reality is I'll gain more net charge for far less money by driving to Sechelt or Madeira Park and putting it on a DCFC for half an hour. Go get some groceries or lunch and let BC Hydro take care of business.
sly_karma
Crew Member
Nerd alert! April figures are out, the first time that road trips have made a significant contribution. Back-to-back return trips to Nelson and Whistler mid month accounted for 1500 km of the 3100 km driven, almost half. Using mostly public chargers, except for free charging at the hotel in Nelson and my buddy's place in Whistler (I did look up the kWh used and included that in the overall efficiency tracking).
So the total cash outlay for 1500 km of highway driving was $82. My Silverado would deliver 13 L/100 km on that type of driving, for total consumption of about 200 L. At $1.80/L, that would have been $350 spent for the same trip. Yes, there's not always free charging at destinations, but there's NEVER free gas at destinations, so I'll take it when I can get it.
The other part that's nice to see is the steady gain in energy efficiency, from 39 kWh/100 km in January to 31 in April. The transition to mild weather is the main reason. Highway driving is generally less kind to EV, as speed really cranks up the aerodynamic drag, but the roads traveled last month mostly capped out at 100 km/h. That flat drag on the freeway through the Fraser Valley and then up over the Coq to Kamloops or Kelowna is much harder on energy burn. Although the energy use is down this month, the average per km cost was slightly up, due to the money spent at public chargers. It's not unlike the difference between eating out and cooking at home. If I had a home solar array, that would reduce costs even more, like growing your own food.
So the total cash outlay for 1500 km of highway driving was $82. My Silverado would deliver 13 L/100 km on that type of driving, for total consumption of about 200 L. At $1.80/L, that would have been $350 spent for the same trip. Yes, there's not always free charging at destinations, but there's NEVER free gas at destinations, so I'll take it when I can get it.
The other part that's nice to see is the steady gain in energy efficiency, from 39 kWh/100 km in January to 31 in April. The transition to mild weather is the main reason. Highway driving is generally less kind to EV, as speed really cranks up the aerodynamic drag, but the roads traveled last month mostly capped out at 100 km/h. That flat drag on the freeway through the Fraser Valley and then up over the Coq to Kamloops or Kelowna is much harder on energy burn. Although the energy use is down this month, the average per km cost was slightly up, due to the money spent at public chargers. It's not unlike the difference between eating out and cooking at home. If I had a home solar array, that would reduce costs even more, like growing your own food.
wildmanyeah
Crew Member
Depends is it plug in or not lol
Not a plug in. Powerboost F150.
sly_karma
Crew Member
Does it make you happy?
Only 5K on it but so far yep! Except for the left turn signal that doesn't turn off automatically 50% of the time. That'll get a look next time it goes in for service.
I just finished my first road trip in the Lightning; Victoria - Whistler. Very nice travelling vehicle. Had more than 100km range left on either end, so no range anxiety attacks necessary. But I had looked up possible public charging station options just because. There would have been several fast charging options in Squamish and Whistler. Ended up recharging for free at the Hotel.
BTW, my private Ford Focus electric has 62k on the clock now and it reports that overall regen braking recovered 15k. That 25% gain in energy compared to a ICE where this same energy would have been turned into wasted heat instead. It just makes so much more sense.
BTW, my private Ford Focus electric has 62k on the clock now and it reports that overall regen braking recovered 15k. That 25% gain in energy compared to a ICE where this same energy would have been turned into wasted heat instead. It just makes so much more sense.
Salmon Seeker
Crew Member
What kind of economy are you getting on the hybrid. When i looked into it a few years ago the stats were not much better than the ecoboost
sly_karma
Crew Member
Modern crew cab pickups are great touring vehicles. The big makers have learned a lot about sealing out road and wind noise, and making suspensions highway-friendly. But take away the vibration and engine noise of an ICE, and Lightning is next level smooth and silent. That odd fatigue I used to experience after a day of driving is a thing of the past now. In BC, our highways have so much hill and mountain driving where ICE is shifting up and down and revving harder, not the flat expanses of interstate or prairie highways where you cruise at 1600 rpm and don't really notice engine noise or vibration.
Regen is so simple but so effective, capture the energy and use it again. How did you derive the 25% figure? I don't know of a readout in the Lightning that shows that.
Probably too early to tell really. I don't drive a lot in general, so only have 5k on the odometer so far. And it had 2800 on it when I bought (dealer demo). That has mostly just been around town, dump runs etc. It has done one trip to Victoria from Nanaimo, and another from Nanaimo to Port McNeill - so technically pretty much the full length of the island. I have been keeping a log of fill ups and kms driven in between, but haven't sat down yet to do the math. Maybe I will this weekend. I don't expect it to be amazing, and didn't really buy it for economy. Of course that will be a bonus anything I can save there. Best I think I have hit on a single trip according to the dashboard summary is I think 7 or 8l per 100 km. But like I said, I need to sit down to calcuate the real world average. I mostly went Powerboost for on-board 7.2kw power, and the added torque and hp. Also, it was just the best overall deal when I was ready to buy. I looked at standard F15O as well, and the Chevy baby max diesel too.
Well, out of 62k driven it has recovered 15k. 15 is about 25% of 62.
Aces
Well-Known Member
7-8 L/100k is darned good for a truck! Our hybrid RAV4 burns 6/100k
