Hello from a fellow Lightning/Mustang owner. On a recent road trip we discovered a bit of a "hack" for the Lightning. Instead of taking the main highway, (in this case I-41) we took the old highway (175) which runs parallel. We got 3.2 miles per kWh, which extended the time between charging stops and actually ended up being faster overall.

@nafnaf0

4 ай бұрын

That is a good idea, around 55mph should be optimal

@TristenHernandez

Ай бұрын

Clever. Yes what were the speeds?

@toomanytoyz5367

Ай бұрын

@@TristenHernandez mostly 55, some spots were 45. The best part is that the road is mostly deserted, so you don't have to deal with any traffic.

I was all in buying a Lightning. Then, I figured out pulling my camper could leave me stranded halfway back to the last charging station. In two of the four campgrounds I frequent, it would be SERIOUS range anxiety. I had to take a pass. Loved the truck and it was a give-away price these days. Either a bigger battery than the 131kwh, a charger at the campground - or range extender.

Thank you James, this is great news for me as I just bought a 2023 Lightning two weeks ago, and I will be renting UHauls to pick up large logs for milling. 2.0 mpKw is not bad at all, in fact I probably average less than that without a trailer...but that's mostly highway speeds. This is very encouraging.

@JamesKlafehn

5 ай бұрын

Happy to help! Dont listen to all the haters!

Big plus it did not cost a shit load in gas. 😂

Great video! Towing is all about aerodynamic drag, which exponentially a function of speed. Slow down from 70 to 65, or 60 or even 55 mph and your range goes up dramatically! The U-haul car carrier is low, so it nearly disappears in the truck's slipstream without a car. With your Mustang, it increased wind drag, but not las much as a tall and wide trailer. Thanks for posting this, good info!

I towed a low profile trailer at 60 mph to the dump, I noticed a very small drop in efficiency- hardly noticible.

Thank you for the video. This info you gave and shots of your dash tell me there's not as much to worry about on towing range with this truck as many others would have you believe. I was seeing people get .7 to 1.1 miles/kwh. That's nuts. I could see that with a full height RV of course no matter the speed you go. I have a 16' flatbed, 6x10 enclosed and a 21' travel trailer. Having plenty of experience driving hybrids for 13 years, and an electric Nissan Leaf for 3, pretty sure I can hit the numbers you're getting with technique and not going crazy on speed. It's actually helpful to have bicycling experience for getting high mpg while driving. You learn real fast that accelerating uphill leads to being wiped out, or constant swerving, riding the brake, high speeds, etc. Thanks again.

Nice video! I’m sure the good aerodynamics played a big part in your good mileage results vs a camper trailer. Thanks for posting!

Great job! Beautiful car. I loved the video.

sorry if i missed this, but did you compare the total charging cost against an equivalent Gas f150 model? i would expect around 1/4?

I wouldn't call towing for 150miles with a light load and then having to stop at least 30minutes to charge a win. That sounds awful. If a normal truck had that kind of performance everyone would say it can't tow.

Could you put the batter pack in the bed of the truck?

Tack!

I have a 66 Mustang Coupe too. I am planning to get an electric vehicle (either a Tesla or a Ford). I've been curious about towing experiences with an electric. Thanks for sharing!

So I just watched your video and was noticing at the 17 minute mark, there's no indication that there is a trailer connected (I have a lightning Lariat) in my truck when I connect a trailer and turn on tow haul mode a little trailer looking indicator shows up on the lower right of the dash near to the compass, not that I'm insinuating you were hauling a trailer but I'm just curious were you in tow haul mode or did you just forgo that? I mostly asking because I just hauled a small cargo trailer approximately 500 km I didn't get anywhere near the efficiency that you seem to have gotten

@JamesKlafehn

9 ай бұрын

I dont use tow haul mode. It reduces regen and I love the one pedal driving with heavy regen. It helps slow down.

@duramaxadventures5832

8 ай бұрын

@@JamesKlafehn do be mindful you can overheat the inverters towing without T/H.

Beautiful looking car.

@JamesKlafehn

11 ай бұрын

Thank you!

Nice addition to the stable cousin.

@JamesKlafehn

11 ай бұрын

Hey Mike! You watched my video haha Nice! Hopefully one of these days we can drive it over to see you.

Hey James, can you just test out using maybe a 4500 or 9500 W pure sign inverter generator to see if it would also work the same way yours T-Rex does?

Try pulling an RV through hills and mountains, like the typical camping trip. My F150 has about a 400 mile range towing an RV, and over 700 miles lightly loaded.

@loadsled

3 ай бұрын

lol stop making things up. You’re not getting 700mi to a 23 gallon tank 😆

@Doug-gp2qw

3 ай бұрын

@@loadsled try a 36 gallon tank.

@loadsled

3 ай бұрын

@@Doug-gp2qw lol still not getting 700mi out of that truck. Stop it.

@LuisRamos84

2 ай бұрын

What kind of engine?

@Doug-gp2qw

2 ай бұрын

@@LuisRamos84 3.5 EcoBoost. 36 gallon fuel tank. I typically fill up around 600 miles, with a quarter of a tank left.

Curious if max tow package gets same efficiency?

@JamesKlafehn

3 ай бұрын

Im sure it does. Its just cooling and more weight. Maybe the cooling helps slightly but its also more weight. Im sure you would never notice either way.

Are those XLT wheels? And stock height correct?

@JamesKlafehn

11 ай бұрын

Im not sure which ford F-150 they are from. But they are from a gas F-150. I made a video about them. They were slightly smaller than the OEM tires if I recall.

Silverado EV will have 200 kwh battery and up to 350kw charging .... Sounds like what you need brother !

Regen capcity was significantly reduced by the hydraulic surge brakes on the trailer. Upon regenerative breaking the inertia of the trailer acting against the vehicle will activate the surge brakes automatically, effectively wasting the net energy as heat into the brakes. The significance of the surge brakes is that they operate independently from the systems of the truck, and in a perfect world negate the entire mass of the trailer in a braking event until the brakes are unable to dissipate the energy as heat. The excess would be transferred to the tow vehicle.

Did the trailer cost you another day adding to the cost of your trip? When the cost and performance is comparable to a gas or diesel truck I will be interested. Thank You for the review, this was a great video.

@JamesKlafehn

11 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching! It didnt cost me a full day, just around 2-3 hours longer. Your time is worth something so those few hours have value too. But like I said in the video, Its a charging issue not really a performance issue. Once charging gets faster and there are better charging stations it will be much more on par.

I saw on your app "89 miles to empty" is that correct or nah ?

@sainwolf2

27 күн бұрын

I want that mustang. holy crap.

@sainwolf2

27 күн бұрын

I was at that exact sam's club in my lightning in april 😂

I get a kick out of the "but it can't tow" people... these are the same people who tow trailers doing 10 under the speed limit with their big jacked up coal rolling diesels. I mean, if that diesel is so big and bad, wind it up to the speed limit at least..

@JamesKlafehn

6 ай бұрын

Exactly!

@e30engineering49

5 ай бұрын

The "but it can't tow" crowd is spot on, if they're talking about towing all day. Sure, you can stop every 100mi and charge but that is far from ideal. I typically run 65-68mph on interstates, regardless of loaded or unloaded for efficiency reasons in my "big and bad" modern turbo diesel. With 52gal of diesel, will leave it as an exercise for the reader to determine range at 10-12mpg with a 40' fifth wheel. My EV is amazing for commuting, but energy density is not there yet for long range heavy towing with EV.

@slamdvw

5 ай бұрын

@@e30engineering49 This is a clear case of "use the correct tool for the job". If you do nothing but tow trailers for fun or profit daily... then using a half ton truck ( can you tow a 5th wheel with a half ton truck?? ) is probably not the right choice for you. Kind of like using a 1 ton dually truck as a daily driver empty to drive around in city traffic isn't the ideal use for that truck. I come across it all the time, people hating on EVs with their big bad diesel trucks - idling along at 65. Meanwhile, of course, they'll as speed limit + out of an EV.. .then complain that it only gets 100 miles.

So 40 minute charge, very small amount of distance when towing and having to charge, amongst other things these are many of the reasons and more that yes, do I love the lightning? Yes, I would love one, but the pure truth is that these vehicle types are not even close to what gas or diesel trucks can do

@JamesKlafehn

10 ай бұрын

I would put this truck up against any gas truck any day of the week.

@pootispiker2866

9 ай бұрын

Bad take

@adamwatson2588

2 ай бұрын

​@@JamesKlafehnlol good for you. The majority don't agree with you.

I pull a 16’ trailer and zero turn lawnmower with my Lariat and range goes from about 2.1 to 1.2 . The Tesla network will be a game changer ! Does your app connect? Mine only works about 10% of the time

@JamesKlafehn

10 ай бұрын

which app?

@brentftaylor

10 ай бұрын

@@JamesKlafehn The Ford Pass app

@JamesKlafehn

10 ай бұрын

@@brentftaylor Yeah that connects. My wireless bluetooth doesnt though. Thats annoying.

@brentftaylor

10 ай бұрын

@@JamesKlafehn interesting, my Bluetooth connects, but the wireless rarely does. Remote starting is a game of chance and I never know if its charged until I get in to drive it. It’ll also randomly connect while driving showing it charged. Did you purchase the data plan from AT&T

@JamesKlafehn

10 ай бұрын

@@brentftaylor My bluetooth connects but not the wireless carplay. My remote start always works knock on wood. I do not have the data plan. It sucks we have to pay extra for the data plan and eventually bluecruze

What is the name of the color for this truck?

@JamesKlafehn

8 ай бұрын

Carbonized Gray Metallic

All about speed and AERO AERO AERO

@russelltrujillo3557

8 ай бұрын

Spot on. Camping trailer and any box like trailer is much worse. I tow a 24' boat about 6500 lbs. and get 160-170 mile range (including mountains and hills) usually driving low to mid 70's. Some will trash it because of this limitation and the charging needs including time. However, I look at it as saving time avoiding gas stations (Scott Galloway has a video that puts that at 12.5 hours per year) on most trips and I pay some of that back on long trips- but still time ahead overall! I expect chargers and batteries will keep getting better and you can see articles everyday that points that direction. Won't fit everyone's needs right now but definitely much better than what the non-experienced assume it is.

I am going to be publishing this video in a few days: kzread.info/dash/bejne/dISXwaeeXaqodc4.html where I am pulling roughly 4500Lbs of trailer and car recently with my Lightning ER. Round Trip 350.1Mi - 1.9Mi/kWh - 10hours :40min :30sec - Calculated=184.2kWh consumed per dash values.

Beautiful Mustang James! When are you going to start the electric conversion on it? :^)

@Mck499

11 ай бұрын

Ev's are awesome but there's no reason to pull that gorgeous motor

@JamesKlafehn

11 ай бұрын

I was planning on that but I ended up finding one that is mint so Im not going to convert this one to electric. Id still like to do a fastback Tesla conversion someday. I dont have a lot of metal fab skills though so Id have to pay someone to do the body which would get expensive.

@4literv6

11 ай бұрын

@@JamesKlafehn what about having an art Morrison tube frame or the like built around a complete tesla pack&motors? Then use reproduction sheet metal for the body? Several people doing older tesla swapped elktromods have gone this type of route recently.

@MikesTropicalTech

11 ай бұрын

@@Mck499 Hence my smiley face!

@Mck499

11 ай бұрын

@@MikesTropicalTech 🤣

Well you can spend the 80k for a vehicle. I will keep my gas engine that is paid off. I would not be able to do the round trip ventures I do for a long weekend with 1 of these. I can make round trip on 1 tank of gas in a truck.

@JamesKlafehn

8 ай бұрын

Im sure people said that about their horses 1902.

You never talked about range (batt)? Outstanding haul fyi sweet stang!!!

The Ram Rev is supposed to be able to charge insanely quick. According to Ram it's supposed to go from 10% to 85% in only 15 minutes. Hopefully it actually is able to charge that quick. I put a deposit on one so hopefully ill be able to get one

@Jim-jt9tb

11 ай бұрын

Lightning owner and that is true if you can find a charger that can put out 350 kW. Biggest issue at least where I'm at is lack of DC fast chargers. This should improve every year though. The lightning maxes out at about 150 kW.

@4literv6

11 ай бұрын

Source for the ram rev charging claim? I thought they are claiming around 100 miles back in the first 10mins on a 350kw charger. 🤔 75% charge of a 229kwh pack in just 15mins is impossible on current dcfc btw. You'd need China spec 480-600kw chargers. Only tesla with the semi chargers at pepsi whice are 750+kw have anything approaching that today here in America in operation.

@Jim-jt9tb

11 ай бұрын

@@4literv6 Buddy who is a Ram guy and tells me I'm silly for buying the Ford. So no real source but I thought I read they were going to have max charge rate of 350 kWh/hr. All depends on their charging curve and with the current infrastructure around me it's an absolute mute point as there are almost zero DC fast chargers and most of ones are between 60 and 120 kWh currently.

@4literv6

11 ай бұрын

@@Jim-jt9tb you bought a real in production useable ev truck by a 120+year old company. The ram rev in conrast is still just a prototype. 👍🏻 Yeah it won't do 150kwh+recharged in 15mins either whenever it does arrive at a sticker price likely well over 100k in late 2024 or 2025? As I said that would require a 600kw dc fast charger running all out from the second it's plugged in until it stops for the full 15mins. I could believe with an 800+v architecture on a 350kw fast charger recovering 120+ miles in 15-20mins which would be about 65-70kwh in total energy recovered. But then that would match tesla and the hyundai Kia egmp cars, which are the current fastest charging evs of all on sale now. So far no massed produced ev can match or exceed them. Besides lucid whose still only made a few thousand total airs now. And one test of the rimac nevera which hit 330kws briefly.

@Mck499

11 ай бұрын

@4literv6 my mistake I remembered it wrong. But almost everyone who did a review of the Rev reveal were talking about how quick it's supposed to charge

Thanks for sharing some real world towing data for the lightning. It is rather annoying to just hear everyone proclaiming that you will get 50% of the range without any good reproducible data to back those up. Here: kzread.info/dash/bejne/X4yNps-rdtu8kaQ.html I had similar results to yours. My Entire Trip: 353.9Mi, 9:25min, 2.1Mi/kWh, 3% Climate, 91% Driving, 3% Accessories, 3% Exterior Temp. (~13kWh for the 90%-100% high SoC Start, +65.5kWh, +40.8kWh, +58.2kWh back to normal 90% SoC Start Point) is 174.5kWh and 2.03Mi/kWh Round Trip while towing a 4*8 utility trailer with a few hundred pounds during the return trip.

That is not the towing people want to see, people want to see the travel trailer behind it. It can’t pull travel trailers for camping.

@JamesKlafehn

8 ай бұрын

Cant satisfy anyone....

@adamwatson2588

2 ай бұрын

​@@JamesKlafehnlol You're but hurt that someone called you out for misleading buyers about the capability of their towing capacity. 🤣

So you pay what...80000 dollars for a truck that you can't drive the speed limit with...sounds great.

@JamesKlafehn

10 ай бұрын

I would put this truck up against any gas truck any day of the week.

@pootispiker2866

9 ай бұрын

Americans and needing to drive 95 everywhere lmao

@vfr800fi07

9 ай бұрын

When you pull a real trailer it's more like .9 kw per hour... On flat ground..that's why mine was sold in 30 days after I bought it ..and that's at 55mph

@pootispiker2866

9 ай бұрын

@@vfr800fi07 That efficiency is downright impossible towing a trailer on flat ground lmao. Unless you floor it from every stop I guess

@vfr800fi07

9 ай бұрын

@@pootispiker2866 well I am not a EV hater..and I was actually trying to prove it could do better..but that's what it got 24' enclosed car hauler.. I was driving it as efficiently as possible. I was disappointed to say the least..but that's the reality

A video of an EV owner trying to convince himself his EV truck is actually good for towing. Will never compare to a ICE.

The towing capacity and range of travel of these electrical trucks is laughable compared to an equivalent gas or diesel model. It's understandable that you want this truck to work out for views but come on and be realistic. Electric vehicles are not realistic for towing heavy loads over any considerable distance in the forseeable future. Be better.