Follow along as Mark Faulkenberry shares his firsthand experience with an all electric truck—this month, he looks for public charging stations
Over the last couple of months, I’ve had the opportunity to put some miles on my Ford Lightning, which I have nicknamed “Bolt.” Bolt and I traveled more than 2,900 miles last month, and I am proud to note that I haven’t been stranded anywhere yet.
However, I have had some experiences that gave me cause to cuss a few charging service providers—under my breath, of course—and a couple other self-inflicted incidents that I like to view as learning opportunities rather than stupidity. Things like driving to a charging station location (rather low on juice, I might add) without checking my Plug Share app to make sure the site was operational.
Yep, all four chargers were down for maintenance, with the next closest charging station 39 miles away. I made it, but I vowed to not make that mistake again.
As for my overall experience with public charging to date:
The Good: I could charge my vehicle everywhere I stopped—except for the one incident mentioned above.
The Bad: A few times, I had to try multiple chargers at the site before I could get one to work.
The Ugly: Public charging costs were significantly higher than what I pay for home and workplace charging. I like the quote below by Jim Farley, Ford Motor Co. CEO, concerning the public charging network after he drove a Ford Lightning cross country a while back.
“To accelerate EV adoption and make the transition successful for our customers, we must improve the charging infrastructure.” Jim, I agree. Adding Tesla’s Super Charging network to Ford’s BlueOval Charge Network is a step in the right direction. I can’t wait to receive my adapter!