Two Ford F-150 Lightnings race 1,000 miles from New Jersey to Florida. One Lightning can only charge at Tesla Superchargers and the other at Electrify America stations.
When we first heard that this race was taking place, we thought that the Lightning charging at Tesla Superchargers would have a big advantage but, as it turns out, that was not the case.
Get Fully Charged
Ford EVs can now charge at Tesla Superchargers using the new NACS adapter.
But does this mean that Ford EVs can travel long distances quicker than before? To find out, two Lightnings drove 1,000 miles in a race to compare Tesla Superchargers to Electrify America stations. The end result is that both electric trucks arrived at the final stop within minutes of each other.
InsideEVs' Tom Moloughney (uploader of this State Of Charge Lightning race video) stated:
Kyle Conner from Out Of Spec and I pit the Tesla Supercharger Network against the Electrify America network and race two Ford F-150 Lightning over 1,000 miles from New Jersey to Florida.
Okay, so the teams are as follows:
- Tom Moloughney (State Of Charge and InsideEVs) and co-driver: Team CCS1 (Electrify America chargers) in a Ford F-150 Lightning
- Kyle Conner (Out Of Spec) and co-driver: Team NACS adapter (Tesla Superchargers) in a Ford F-150 Lightning
The race was 1,014 miles for Team CCS1 (Electrify America) and 1,002 miles for Team NACS (Superchargers). The difference in mileage is due to the proximity of chargers along the route. The trip took 18 hours and 29 minutes for Team CCS1, with driving accounting for 15 hours and 9 minutes and charging taking 3 hours and 20 minutes (Team NACS had to charge for 3 hours and 41 minutes. Both Lightnings followed a self-imposed speed limit of 10 miles per hour over the posted speed limit.
The Lightning that used Electrify America stations arrived at the final destination at 11:09 AM on March 3, 2024. Not yet knowing if they had won or lost, they drove the lightning around the parking lot for several minutes before spotting the other Lightning already on site. Team Electrify America had lost by just 4 minutes to Team Tesla Supercharger. Just 4 minutes. Not the outcome we or anyone else likely expected.
Of course, that wouldn't have been the outcome if Electrify America sites were down but during this race, the team lucked out and found working chargers along the entire route.
Pizza For the Loss?
Since this was a race, there was no time to stop to eat. Team Tom brought frozen pizzas. Team Kyle had potato chips. However, those frozen pizzas had to be cooked and that required an electric oven. Tom plugged the oven into the outlet in the Lightning and cooked two pizzas, each for ten minutes. That definitely consumed some energy but was it enough to require 4 more minutes of charging? We don't know the answer but if it's hot pizza or potato chips, we'd opt for the pizza too.
Dead Lightning?
Team Kyle had an issue along the way. While heading to the next charger, the Lightning began to lose power. Even though the vehicle's display showed some remaining range, the Lightning was dying. Speeds drop from 70 mph, to 60, to 50 and then a bit later the truck comes to a halt some 500 feet from the charger. It had to be pushed the rest of the way, but once charged back up, everything functioned as expected.
