Topic: 2022 F-150 Lightning

[bye]

This was one of the few sites without 50A outlet, and because the cabot trail loop has a low speed limit (for good reason!!!), didn't need to charge here.
We made it to the next campsite with 30% SOC.

https://campingcapebreton.com/

We took a day trip to "meat cove", which is a stunning drive to the top of the island:


The Lightning did the 140 km, two days of driving + towing and day trips without the trailer on a full charge with 30% to spare.

[bye]

We often stopped and enjoyed the view.   If you take your time and don't drive like a maniac, you might enjoy the scenery.

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Here we are fully connected, trailer on 30A, water and drain.
Truck parked next to 50A outlet, parked in a way to not "give away" that I was plugged in overnight.
I found that if you don't advertise you're charging, no one cares.

[bye]

Trailer was big, 27' and 9000 lb loaded.
Note how the F150 Lightning squats when towing, the weight distribution bars help minimize sway, and the independent rear suspension soaked up the road imperfections, which in some parts of the east coast were horrible, easily some of the worst paved roads I've experienced in Canada, and that's saying a lot as I grew up in rural Ontario. The top of the Cape Breton trail had bridge construction, and the trailer had literally a few inches on each side to make it through the one lane that was opened to traffic.

[bye]

Electrify Canada woodstock New Brunswick.   
This was the single "fast" 160 kW+ charge we did on the entire east coast, completed so quickly my wife wasn't done shopping for food.
I researched the locations to charge on plugshare to confirm the site had room for the trailer.
We never had to unhook to charge.




Whereas this charging stop was typical, 50 kW (some 70 kW) FLO site in the middle of no where, always far away from the busy parking spots at the gas bar site.

Note the F150 Lightning has a FRONT charge port location, which is absolutely necessary when towing or you will be forced to unhook!   The Cybertruck and Chevy have rear charge ports, which is dumb for a pickup truck in my opinion.

There were a handful of these charges required, as most days I planned 180 km maximum distance between sites, remember folks, we're retired, and enjoy the RV life, so we like to spend time at our destination instead of road road road.
This site was conveniently located and we used it twice on the trip, there and back.   
The maximum day we did was 300-400 km, and we did those longer legs twice, once from Frederickton NB to Elm River, and from Shediac NB to Frederickton NB.

[quadzilla]

Great posts and updates. Thanks for the honest towing distances and charging.

[OliverD]

The maximum day we did was 300-400 km, and we did those longer legs twice, once from Frederickton NB to Elm River, and from Shediac NB to Frederickton NB.

Fredericton (no K) to Shediac is only 200 km though.

[rrocket]

Where there ever charging sites where not unhooking the trailer would block the other chargers/parking?

Virtually every charger I've used in Ontario you'd be blocking something with a truck/trailer.

Sounds like it was a scenic, chill vacation.

[Guy]

Great report, thanks, Bye!

[WP v3.32]

Looks like a nice camping trip.  I miss the coast.

[Hannibalsmith]

Nice write up. I think I've been to some of those camping sites. I visited Meat Cove ~20 years ago in VW camper...wicked place.

[revalations]

As someone who’s never been east of Saskatchewan, a trip to the east coast is something I’ve always wanted to do. Looks beautiful!

[PJungnitsch]

I found northern Ontario to be the hard part. Once you get past that I found it all fascinating as a prairie kid

[bye]

Fredericton (no K) to Shediac is only 200 km though.

The actual distance was 225 km due to campsites not being in both cities, just outside, Hartt Island campground for instance is near Frederickton, about 10 km West, the total distance was 30 km outside of the range of the Lightning when towing this large heavy trailer at faster highway speeds on the trans-canada.

We charged twice on this leg, one charging stop was necessary, but since we needed to clean the trailer prior to returning it, we stopped again at a convenient 50 kW FLO station and charged while preparing the rental trailer for return the next day.   The weather wasn't great, headwind and rainy roads reduced our efficiency.

The longest towing stretch was West of Frederickton NB to Elm River NS via Moncton NB, which I checked my spreadsheet was 370 km with side trips (shopping, charging).

That was three charging stops, one in Moncton, a 184 km stretch that given the highway speeds was JUST within the towing range (arrived with 6% !!), and two shorter stretches afterwards as this was the second day towing and I tried different speeds including 115 km/h to test the truck, trailer and log efficiency so I could inform others like I did here.

The towing range was an issue due to the relatively slow (50 kW) and sparse network in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia where most stops had a single charging connector!   

Whereas I recently did a Ford Lightning road trip Cape Cod MA to Toronto ON, 1050 km door to door with three Tesla supercharging stops using the "A2Z" adaptor I bought in 12 hours including all stops, border crossing, very slow Monday morning traffic leaving Cape Cod, numerous slow construction zones on the US highways, long lunch and full dinner.  Charge speeds were 3x faster than I got in Nova Scotia for example, the Tesla network is peerless, fast and a dozen stalls to choose from.  Drove almost entirely hands free using Blue Cruise, great feature for long road trips!

[bye]

Where there ever charging sites where not unhooking the trailer would block the other chargers/parking?
Virtually every charger I've used in Ontario you'd be blocking something with a truck/trailer.

Never unhooked the trailer to charge on the road, only at campsites.
The towing section of the trip was NB and NS, both of which have FLO charging stations installed at highway rest stops.
Most were a single charging stall typically installed far away from the gas pumps next to the incoming power line and transformer vaults used by the station.

One charge stop was more complicated, I needed to navigate a hotel parking lot in Moncton NB because I wanted the slightly higher charging speeds of this site vs the highway rest stop option I could have otherwise taken.   When I finished charging, another Lightning also towing a trailer followed me into the site to charge.   :-)

Sure, Ontario has many charging locations suboptimal for towing, especially those in malls.
BUT, I did charge at a mall in Woodstock NB, Electrify Canada which I showed a picture of upthread.
I've found that if you use a filter in Plugshare app, or the built in Ford navigation for sites suitable to trailers, the charging options in ON and QC far exceed NB and NS, it's not even a contest.

Sounds like it was a scenic, chill vacation.

Indeed, we planned it this way combining the long one month duration, amazing pickup truck, with a luxury trailer, and beautiful east coast Canada.
Some of the best memories were the truly welcoming and positive reactions we received from people unfamiliar with electric pickup truck towing.
I deliberately tried different tow speeds and logged everything thoroughly so I can provide good feedback when people ask me about the range (the #1 question).