Easy Part Is Over: Driving an EV Truck Into the Alaskan Wilderness Is HARDER Than We Thought! Ep.4 

Here’s The Behind The Scenes Story Of How We Drove to Dead Horse: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SQ2tWvTC6s8.html

I know you're spinning the Ford hybrid as the "Chase Truck" but we all know it's really the "Defibrillator". 🤣😂🤣

need to feature this truck in a Snickers commercial--"Not Going Anywhere for Awhile?"

David is the best! "It's like being at a 5 star hotel"-after purchasing stuff from Goodwill to make breakfast. I love his simplicity and the fact that he's like most normal people.

I very much like the comparison with the Model T. That exactly it. And if nobody tries, we will never get a step further. Well done, guys.

Electric vehicles might be one of the most painful ways to travel that far north! I can't even imagine how awful of a trip this would be if it wasn't summertime! Great work (and patience) guys!

I live in the north, I’ve lived in Fairbanks and I’ve driven to the Arctic Ocean. I drive the Alaska highway a few times a year. As cars have gotten better at driving longer I’ve seen gas stations close in between the “major” fuel stops. If people start taking these EV’s seriously for road trips, I could see the old stations be converted to EV charge stations, more little mom and pop restaurants attached to them. But it’s years away and I don’t know if that’s the real solution. Average speed on the highway is 60mph+, I typically go 110kph which is something in mph. Even the Motorhomes a aren’t going 50mph. These EV’s are not even close to being useful up here and these guys are doing a great job of showing why. This is the best EV series I’ve seen. You guys are great!

I almost died laughing at "we will see you next week when we are still here charging"

While I have zero interest in this truck, this is a great series TFL!

When I worked for GM at one of there R&D centers in Torrance CA. Were we actually designed and built a lot of the electronics, Inveters and Bds units for the EV1. I remember going to meetings and even back then GM goals were to design batteries. That could do at least five miles per Kilowatt. And this was when they were still using lead acid Batteries with a range of about Eighty miles. Driving like you had an egg under your foot. As we had ten of them for the engineers and managers to drive. But because they were literally lead foots with them fifty miles was about it. And one of my favorite jobs was I got to take them home on the weekends and unfortunately drive them gently to get the range back up to Eighty. So they could drive them like maniacs again. 🙄. Then they started putting in nickel metal batteries which got the the up to about one hundred and fifty miles driving very gingerly. But of course they still drove them hard .thus bringing the range down to about Eighty miles if lucky. At least I got a free Manga charger installed at home. Back then Gm was pushing a induction paddle charger. Which I also had a lot to do with. Helping the engineer's design and actually building the first few hundred paddles. I was just an engineering Technician. Sadly those were the fondest days working there. As soon all the top engineers mostly from Hughes Aircraft. Were leaving or retiring. And of course they replaced practically all of them with work Visa employees from mostly China 🙄. Oh the story's I could tell would blow your mind. Especially when they took and destroyed 98% of them after all the leases were up. And the STUPIDITY of GM's brass .DECISION to go straight to Hydrogen fuel cells. While Toyota was just selling the first generation Prius. All of us were just shaking our heads going the the hell hole in the ground thease bigwigs were doing. At least a few figured it out and we started working on the Volt about two years after that.😒.

I laughed when he said "come back next week, while we'll still be charging." Honestly, it's not practical for that type of trip (or towing, or anything truly long distance), but man, that is an adventure and has to be fun trying to get up there with that rig. I could see that being a fun road trip with a spouse, or an older kid or a hunting buddy kind of thing. Looking forward to the next episode (yall probably still charging).

The range anxiety is real. Great freaking job guys.

The further north you go the fewer satellites you can link with making it difficult for some GPS devices to give an accurate position or heading. Great video and experiment. As an Alaskan who has traveled the Haul Road many times, I am loving this. I want to see the video on the clean up and repairs. That road eats vehicles.

Now show the crew relaxing and cruising comfortably in the hybrid while you stress out about weight, aero, speed, remaining charge, next place to charge, do we have the right adapter to charge, how long will it take to charge, etc, etc...

Interesting series. Glad you did it. It certainly lets me know there is no way an EV has any place in my future, in the near term anyway. I lack the patience for charging and the tolerance for the stress and complexity of ownership.

Great video series. You probably know by now but that plug you didn't have an adapter for was a NEMA 6-50 (50 amp rating) or commonly known as a Welder outlet. Should definitely have an adapter for that when your traveling through more industrial areas.

The scenery is absolutely beautiful. Great job by the entire team. This series is a joy to watch.

Kudos for taking this on to showcase the effort currently required to use an electric vehicle outside of an urban area. It makes one want to polish up their pitch when approaching a local business. "Brother, can you spare a 240v outlet?".

I will be really curious to know what the F150 hybrid fuel economy was on this trip also. I'm thinking that would be the sweet spot. Best of both worlds.

Imagine if you actually had to work or be at a destination! Thank you for a great adventure.

Interesting series -- but you still started the video talking about driving 3500 miles from Boulder to Deadhorse. Ignoring the 1500 or whatever miles you skip by taking a ferry. You sort-of mention it later, but for people who are not familiar with the Alaskan highway they would not realize you skipped a major percentage of the difficult drive.

My daughter tease’s me about my f250 diesel all the time, she owns a Tesla, but my truck has the 48 gallon tank and it’s range not towing is 900 miles she would have to charge a minimum of 2 times to match that and more likely 3 times. Electric is nice but the technology is not there yet, I bought my diesel to tow and get 500 miles In range pulling a 30’ travel trailer.

I really enjoy this series! It shows how we’re just not ready to go all electric … just yet. A comment in the video was this Ford truck is like a model T in terms of development of the technology. Not exactly the same comparison. The mode T was the first affordable, mass produced car costing about 6k in todays dollars, not 90k like the one in the video. The Model T got about 20 mpg … so it had much better range! When we figure out how to go 350 miles on a 15 minute charge for about 15k purchase price … THAT will be the Model T of electric cars. Until then I would call the F-150 Lightning the Duesenberg of electric cars.

Can’t imagine anyone else crazy enough to try this trip!!! My hat off to the crew at TFL, Dave has made a great addition to the TFL family, he’s one of those men that can do anything, love the whole bunch, but I’d have taken Dave too, with my survival skills lock me in a Lowes with a Kroger next door, leave me 3 days and you’d come back to find dead man with a dented can of tuna in the floor. Great Show👍👍👍

The more I watch this, the more I don’t want a ford lightning😂 but I’m glad they’re doing these vids!

"This truck is like the Model T. Give it time..." Well, the first record of an electric vehicle was somewhere around 1890? I think that means that they've had a longer opportunity to succeed than the Model T (1908).

The best quote in the video was "robbing Peter to pay Paul." Sadly there is a lot if validity to that statement. Definitely a cool trip and challenge to complete it. This still reinforces the Lightening's nickname the ABC truck. "Always Be Chargin'".

I have really enjoyed this series, even though I had already cancelled my Lightning and bought a powerboost after the 1st video lol

Fascinating video! Let me say I believe both guys are tough and brilliant, but they have very different personalities. Roman sets goals and achieving that goal is the only thing that matters. The Visionary. He can’t be bothered with the inconveniences and petty difficulties along the way. David lives in the present, he takes everything in, he takes it in stride and gets to work. The Pragmatist. Ronan will be at his happiest having accomplished first what no one has ever done and David will be proud having fought a tough battle using his wits and ingenuity to win a grueling battle. These two personalities were the key to every successful pioneering journey

The NEMA 6-50 is one of the most common heavy duty welder plugs in modern construction; I can't believe you guys didn't have an adapter.

so the moral of the story is if you're going to buy an electric truck, make sure you also buy a Gas truck with an inverter and a driver to follow you everywhere you go. that's saving the planet!.

At Coldfoot, the building you plugged into, I believed, was supplied with 3-phase power. So instead of getting 240 volts, from one phase hot to hot, you get 204 to 208 volts bridging between the hot sides of two of the phases. The hot side of one of the phases to ground is still 120 volts, I believe.

Thanks for the series! Fantastic info, info that shows me an E-truck is not in my near future. No way could I justify the cost, distance or work capacity of an E-truck for my needs.

Gents, I'm liking the trek but sad 😞you skipped the best part of the journey through Canada. I've been to Prudhoe Bay many times for work, and during some cool times at below -40° (C or F - it doesn't matter) it's just F'n cold! The trucks on the slope never get turned off in the winter. I'm looking forward to the rest of your journey. Thanks.

I'm more interested in the powerboost, I wanna see its mpg and how it did on this trip because the powerboost is the serious, more practical truck.

That fairing has minimal impact. You should have worked with 4wheelcampers to create dovetail fairings. Most of the drag isn't when the truck hits the air in front, but the vaccum that's created at the back when the flow detaches from the truck and ends up being turbulent.

So glad I got the basic V8. Love your channel, and thank you for the great scenery!

Nikki at Transport Evolved put a tonneau cover on her Lightning and sees 2.3 to 2.8, so I think that a lot of drag is coming from the sides of the camper where it projects out into the wind. EV’s with heat pumps don’t lose as much range to cold as resistance heaters. Gas trucks also lose range in cold and people often have to plug in a block heater or the gas vehicle just won’t start. I have lived in places where it has been 40 below, but it’s not always, or even often that cold, so the range hit isn’t that bad most of the time

Kinda funny that on the fairing they have the map and Canada is nowhere to be found😅

When I was a kid combining one summer in the Willamette Valley OR, my bosses father would get on the combine with me and just talk. The big adventure in his life was him and two of his friends driving a Model T to Seattle to pick up his brother who was coming back from the Great War on a troop ship. The trip took four days each way. Anything like the modern highways were virtually nonexistent at that time. You could have done the trip on a horse almost as fast. They did not know where they could get gas and had to pack gas with them. Every river crossing was a ferry. They pioneered the way. Just like you guys are doing now.

Oh the joy, Who wouldn’t want to take a road trip with a spare truck behind you in case you run out of juice, buying gazilions adaptors just to find out you don’t have the right one anyway, waiting five days for a full “tank”… My kind of road trip!! 🤣🤣

Great example of oil for America is so so important

The adapter you were missing is NEMA 6-50, commonly referred to as a "welder adapter".

You guys will be seen as pioneers for years to come, outstanding work!👏👏👏

I would love to see you guys go back in the winter to test how the batteries react to such cold weather and how much running the heater in the cabin affects the range since that’s a lot of heat needed to get the cabin comfortable below zero

Well this series is great for convincing me not to get a full EV for any long distances. Very informative 👏 👌

Epic journey/adventure, but the best line: 'Come back next week, where we'll still be here charging', got my best smile. Kudo's for doing the trip; fore-worn others that it's not ready for prime time yet, but that's why it is an adventure and not a proof of concept.

Wow what an adventure... Alaska holds a special place in my heart. I was stationed at then Fort Richardson with duty in Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage, AK. Washington state is where I call home for now and this is a really cool thing that TFL channel is doing. Thanks for all you're doing for the rest of us would probably wish for.. Great job guys‼️

I'd rather have a crew cab F-150 4x4 with the 5.0. Say whatever else you want about it, it'll get where I'm going with minimal refueling time.

Considering the truck normally gets 2.0 kpm when empty on hard paved roads I don't feel like 1.8 kpm on gravel roads with a fully loaded bed and a camper on the back is near as dismal as you make it out to be.

That tour guide was great. I love people like that. Just friendly and excited to talk to new people.

I hope to travel that highway before it gets fully paved, I love how the dirt looks on the trucks. Loving the journey so far guys. I hope you can do that trip again when the Silverado EV comes out.

“Come back next week when we’re still charging”. 🤣 Roman is a true Prophet!

Love that David was a part of this!

Thank-you TFL Trucks. Alaska is such a beatiful place! Please, please do this adventure with future eletric trucks. We love the adventure and meeting the people you meet along the way as well.

I ran into the same problem not having the right connector but you can actually just slightly bend the 2 lower prongs and it works just fine! Lol, I was yelling at the screen like "Come on, just bend it""🤣. Love what y'all doing! 👍🏼

Great video but Andre had one job and that was to get all the different adapter plugs and the one y'all needed he didn't get 🤣

I was so ready to go purchase this new Ford lightning truck the future of trucks yeah right after watching this video and everything all done since y'all bought the truck in Chicago I have been very disappointed this truck is no good I'm not impressed because you can cook breakfast either thanks fellas your hard work has sure saved me 50 plus thousand dollars on an electric breakfast cooker unbelievable how useless this truck is

I have a keen idea for the way back to the lower 48. You two could double up on a electric mini bike and ride to "Aspin" Colorado from Dead Horse Alaska.

That totally did it for me thank you guys for experiencing the pain for us viewers!! ✌🏼

What I love about this series - it is realistic - EV’s are sometimes pumped up, ignoring the downsides. Let’s face it, Oil and Gas made an inhospitable planet, hospitable. They will be around for a long , long time.

This has to be the hardest trip one could make in an EV, and while it was a challenge, you guys still were able to make the trip, so Kudos to the whole team.

This series is as entertaining as the expedition overland videos. Keep up this type of content! Thanks for all of your hard work!

Your voltage drop was because of the length of the extension cord. What I would've done is carried a NEMA 14-50 outlet to swap out on the welder outlet she offered you, OR you could've swapped the outlets with the one you found inside. From what I know of Alaskans, they'd've welcomed a Rube-Goldbergian solution to your problem. There was likely an electrician within shouting distance to swap the outlets legally for you. (not that Alaskans are sticklers for doing everything according to building code 😆) Another workaround that's available to anyone needing 240v where only 120 outlets are available is a circuit combiner. It allows you to plug into two different circuits using two NEMA 5-15 or 5-20 plugs to bump up the voltage to 220v. You're still limited to the 15 or 20 amps of the circuit's wiring, but it'll allow ~twice the charge rate of a 120v outlet. You'll run into all kinds of trouble if there's ground fault protection or if the wiring isn't near perfectly installed. If the home runs aren't of equal length, or one circuit has additional load on it, the electronics of a decent circuit combiner will err out, but if all the stars align it's a great life-hack.

Three years ago I took a Model S Tesla to Tuktoyuktuk in Canada. I can feel the elation you had upon arriving. I salute you and I thank you, the world needs people like you.(And Me)

You guys a like Lewis and Clark! Forging into the wilderness. Really appreciate what you guys are doing, in showing the ignorant of what these EV's limitations are. If they couldnt figure that out on their own.

Thanks for the great video series. I'm in Texas and I considered looking into this particular truck, but I drive on highways where the speed limit is 80mph. If you get a chance in the future, could you do a test at higher highway speeds to show the economy and range. Keep up the great work and videos.

The man up in Coldfoot is exactly right about the extreme cold especially in the lowest spots..oil/grease solidify and metal just snaps. Battery power would be very little unfortunately

I want to know how the powerboost did.....hopefully you guys kept track and do an episode on it.

Great video! What I take from this is the combustion engine came to the rescue! Lets take an EV, but follow with a gasoline truck "just in case" and you ended up needing the gas truck. All I needed to see.

Hurry up and wait? Imagine how many vehicles fill up with fuel at a gas station on the side of the highway In Alaska. Imagine there was more than one electric vehicle? Hurry up and wait in line for a 14 hour charge.

Loving the Alaskan scenery! … The Ford Lightning, on this trek, really spells out the true meaning of energy conservation. The EV grid has a long way to go, as well as the battery tech. … Loved the themed music for the production. 😎🍷🛻

Hopefully tfl does an informational video on the different types of adapters and plugs that are out there in the world and what you can and can't plug into. I think they found out that you cannot plug a 40 amp charger into a 30 amp dryer outlet. It's too bad ford doesn't allow you to pick the amperage you want from the touch screen.

Love the challenge, keep it up! thanks

Roman is such a professional chatting with a passer-by about EVs. His guest was definitely not a fan, but felt he definitely learned something in the conversation. Great model for folks to follow! Bravo!

The electric appliances plugged in to make breakfast = GOLD!

That's funny cliffhanger to leave us on. We all know how capable ICE vehicles are, but doing this trip in an EV is entertaining. So many dramatic moments can happen lol. Can't wait for next week's episode.

This points out exactly how most of Canada is with regards to charging issues when you leave the major cities. EV’s have long ways to go until they are practical for most people, as the range and charge time has to be drastically improved on. I do many 500mile + trips pulling a 8,000lb load in the summer, so for me EV’s are extremely useless. Perhaps one day the technology will be there. Great video.

Great video. I’m not convinced that the lightning is a viable option for real work. Seems like a great option for a dime store cowboy.

That 3 prong 70 amp plug is a welder plug .I have a few of them .most are on a 60 amp breaker. The second cable you used if that was a dryer receptacle it should have been a 30 amp breaker,somehow you managed to pull 38 amps off it… thank god that worked .

I legitimately use this channel to put me to sleep nightly,its great for monotone voices and no loud action,very substitute teacher sounding with an over used amount of word salads for that eyes closed boring story telling.I appreciate it,I really do.

Just put a 4K gas generator on the back and plug it in and continuously charge while you drive, DUH!🐶

What isn’t coming through is the absolute fatigue that you guys have to be going through. Great series. A must watch.

I would hate to spend the night at a gas station and still don't have a full tank.

100 plus years ago ev tech was discarded for ice vehicles. I own battery dewalt tools. I allways carry SPARE batteries with me. I don't have time to charge batteries. When ev's run on AA nicad batteries I'll be in. A couple of AA's charged in the glove box should do it.

I laughed so hard when he said , " I made coffee, eggs and toast out of the back of my truck, with no propane, just electric power."......... 🤣 The look in his face was priceless and I need to buy myself a newer truck, I deserve it and I need to stop waiting and just do it! 🙏👊👍🇺🇸🇨🇦

I appreciate you guys showing how impractical these evs really are keep up the good work

This makes you appreciate our current trucks. This truck works best left untouched, and in ideal conditions. Our gas/diesel trucks you can lift them, add larger rims and tires, stuff them full of gear and people, throw a trailer on the back and still make it up north without ever stopping once…. Electric will get there, it’s just not here yet….

Love the idea of the electric truck. But I would hate driving around planning everything about charging and can I make it/how long do I have to wait

This is BRILLIANTLY produced. Huge fan. I have an R1T scheduled for Nov/Dec, and I've really learned so much from your channel re: EVs. Thank you so much.

For aerodynamics the rear of the camper is where you need to focus. The air needs to smoothly flow passed the camper. If you look at an airplanes wing, the front is thick and tapers off. Thats what brings the efficiency.

I love Fairbanks - glad to see one of my favorite group of guys experience it too. Love this video series guys! Be safe, Bring David back to Tumbleweed!

I love the series, and I realize that the technology still has a ways to go, but from watching your charging struggles, imagine this: Every company that has gas stations has proprietary nozzles. To fuel up at a Shell, you need the Shell nozzle adapter; the Arco station requires an Arco adapter, and so on and so forth. Not only that, but the speed at which you can fill your tank depends on how many pumps are at that station. A station with 8 pumps will dispense fuel much faster than a station with 2 pumps. Yes, it sounds absurd, but that's basically what you're encountering with EV charging. With all the different dongles, adapters, plugs, cords, prongs, and levels of charging, success depends on any number of things being in just the right combination. With gas, I can pull up to any gas station anywhere, with any car, stick the nozzle in, and gas up. Until the infrastructure gets built up, EVs won't touch gas.

I live in Reno, Nevada and there are lots of EVs here. I recently took a vacation to far eastern Nevada and western Utah where i saw exactly zero EVS. I am not sure if it is the price of the EVS or the lack of charging stations, but EVs are a no-go in far out rural areas at this point in time.

Would love to see all about how the Hybrid truck performed. Our 2006 Ford Hybrid SUV is still humming along, getting very good MPG and in "golf cart" mode (all electric) in neighborhood and stop-and-go traffic.

I took the ferry from Bellingham to Juneau this past weekend. Such an amazing trip. Highly recommend it for anyone traveling to Alaska.

My brother lives up North and another factor you need to worry about is power outages. The grid is NOT stable in allot of places up there and the generator he bought for his house sees regular use. If he had an EV hed probably need a second generator cause the 40-50amp? one he has now is just enough to run his house and keep things fairly normal in there. Hes been talking about putting solar and a battery bank on his house and the size of whats needed just for the house is staggering. Nevermind adding a giant EV truck to the mix. And no way in hell would he buy a Tesla he said with the amount of snow they get. He needs ground clearnce.

What a hoot. Driving 30 mph with all amenities off to conserve power... What you guys are describing is a big Golf Cart. Rich peoples toys can be fun unless you have to actually work for a living. EV's seem to be just fine to drive to the Pot Shop in Boulder. Everything else, not so much.

90k and you have only 200 miles range think the hybrid is a better option

Thanks TFLT for doing this. It’s a neat truck.. and if you’re a upper middle class person in a moderate climate in the suburbs, it’s probably worth it. But as a replacement for gas anytime in the near future, I’m just not seeing it. Only time I ever got range anxiety in my gas truck was in the Steese Highway between Fairbanks and Circle at -10F in February. Hundreds of miles with no stops. I got enough to worry about while driving and taking trips that doesn’t include planning the entire trip around 240v outlets.