RickLightning
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Drove from SE Michigan through 6 states and 3 provinces. Every fast charge was at a Tesla Supercharger (except one IONNA), because of availability, speed, and price. In Canada, Tesla by far was the fastest option, often twice the speed.
I fast charged 42 times, used hotel chargers 3 times, and, for the first time, used 120v charging every chance I could. Overall, 3,369kWh or 1.62 miles per kWh (truck says 1.8, because it doesn't register energy used, and paid for, to warm battery at a charger, and rounds). Total charging cost was $1,107 or 20.3 cents a mile. With my former F-150 V8 and maybe 17 mpg (probably lower), that would work out to 321 gallons of gas, and a cost of $3.45 a gallon. Given that we drove in Canada for half the trip, with gas at roughly $4.15+ per gallon (US currency), and that we saw US gas prices over $3.45 a gallon, we saved money.
The highest cost to charge was at IONNA at 40.7 cents with tax , paid the $12.99 to Tesla for the membership, and as a result the highest Tesla cost was 40.6 cents with tax. However, most of the Tesla charging was cheaper, with US costs in the low 30s, and below 20 cents in BC, Canada. We paid for 2,861.6474kWh of charging, with an average cost of 37.93 cents per kWh (which includes the $12.99 membership fee). To those that say fast charging "is more expensive than gas", as I always say "it depends".
Want to again reiterate that most networks advertise prices BEFORE TAX, but Tesla's prices are AFTER TAX...
We drove across Michigan, Indiana and then Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and then North Dakota, crossing into Saskatchewan at North Portal. Then into Alberta, and ultimately British Columbia.
Nights spent in Eau Claire, WI, Minot, ND, and Swift Current, SK, arriving in Canmore, AB the afternoon of the 4th day. Skied Sunshine at Banff, then 3 days at Lake Louise. Ventured up the Icefields Parkway about 25 miles to see a glacier. Then drove to Panorama, followed by Revelstoke, and ultimately Sun Peaks. Temps finally got hot at Sun Peaks, so we packed in early and headed to Jasper, AB, with plans to drive the 144 mile Icefields Parkway from the north, but mother nature interfered, delivering several feet of snow on the highest elevations of the parkway. They forecasted a 2 day closure for avalanche control so we left (note they've extended that to now over a week, with in excess of 20 feet of avalanche debris on the road at places). Drove towards Edmonton, then cut south, same 4 days drive home. Stayed in Medicine Hat, Bismarck, and Madison, WI on the way home.
New this trip was charging via 120v where possible. Many hotels in Canada have outlets for engine block heaters (and some in northern US). Ran the charging and extension cords out the bed, with my tonneau covering securing the charger, and the nice fat rubber seal allowing me to close everything. Got a total of 144kWh of electricity this way. Mach-E owners leave the frunk ajar (first lock) and do the same, but you can't do that on the electric-powered Lightning frunk. Never did this in the past, but I'll take free charging (and a slightly warmer battery) wherever I can get it.
Hotel charging is getting more challenging as more people drive EVs. Didn't get to charge at several hotels due to them being full of EVs charging, or leaving for dinner and coming back to all the spaces now occupied. Nice surprise on the way home with what I expected to be 10.5kWh Tesla Superchargers that were in fact 15.4kWh. I had planned to be at 100% at 8AM, and it finished at 3AM, should have arrived more empty... Gave up about $8 in free charging. I edited the PlugShare record for that charger.
Thanks to Ford, no preconditioning on my 2022 meant longer charging times, easily seen in the charging speeds received until the battery warmed up. If 30 of the 42 fast charges resulted in slower initial speeds, and 10 minutes, that's 300 minutes, or 5 hours, I never get back. With 4 winters completed for people owning 2022s (I got mine in May 2023), I have zero faith that Ford will ever enable this.
Most Tesla Superchargers were empty when I charged, often the entire time. Every one but one had a low enough curb that I could nose between two chargers if there wasn't a trailer charger. Only had to move one time for a charger issue, which speaks oodles to the quality of Elmo's charging network. I hate giving him money, but price, and time (in Canada, many locations are FLO and 50kW, meaning 2 hours charging).
I have been using ABRP free edition for years to plan trips. This trip I decided to pay the $4.99 monthly fee for the paid edition. Boy, what a disappointment. In short, my Pixel 8 didn't like the processor load of ABRP and Car Scanner, rendering things untenable. So we entered each destination or charger in GoogleMaps with Android Auto.
A surprise was that the Trans-Canada Highway is not handsfree due to the crossroads, lack of dividers, etc. Basically from Fargo north, hands on all the way, and back, which was over 1/2 the trip.
No troubles with the truck even coated with heavy ice, which hung on for days, beyond the lack of preconditioning to a fast charger.
Lowest efficiency was on a leg where we hit 100kph(62.5mph) headwinds, resulting in 1.2mpKW efficiency. An outhouse (AB rest area) had a strong wind coming out of the hole in the ground, and you had to be careful when going to the bathroom...
Great examples of the effect of cold on a battery. Arrived at my hotel with a freshly charged battery (85%). I arrived at the hotel with 111kwh of energy, with the battery at 93 degrees. In the morning, that had changed to 99kWh of energy at 32 degrees.
Another example was parking with 90% and 117kWh at 100.4 temp, in the morning, even plugged into 120v all night and adding 13kWh, I was only at 121.7kWh at a 48F battery temp in the morning.
And, 106kWh at 93F turned into 93kW at 39F the next morning.
Saw 20.7 miles per kWh (the max the truck displays) at one point headed down the mountains.
Hats off to A2Z for their reliable Typhoon Pro and Stellar adapters. Both worked great, no surprise there.
One picture with some ice on the truck, it had way more at one point but I didn't get a picture. Last picture is just a sample of the devastation at Jasper from the 2024 wildfires.
I'm sure I'm forgetting something, ask away.
I fast charged 42 times, used hotel chargers 3 times, and, for the first time, used 120v charging every chance I could. Overall, 3,369kWh or 1.62 miles per kWh (truck says 1.8, because it doesn't register energy used, and paid for, to warm battery at a charger, and rounds). Total charging cost was $1,107 or 20.3 cents a mile. With my former F-150 V8 and maybe 17 mpg (probably lower), that would work out to 321 gallons of gas, and a cost of $3.45 a gallon. Given that we drove in Canada for half the trip, with gas at roughly $4.15+ per gallon (US currency), and that we saw US gas prices over $3.45 a gallon, we saved money.
The highest cost to charge was at IONNA at 40.7 cents with tax , paid the $12.99 to Tesla for the membership, and as a result the highest Tesla cost was 40.6 cents with tax. However, most of the Tesla charging was cheaper, with US costs in the low 30s, and below 20 cents in BC, Canada. We paid for 2,861.6474kWh of charging, with an average cost of 37.93 cents per kWh (which includes the $12.99 membership fee). To those that say fast charging "is more expensive than gas", as I always say "it depends".
Want to again reiterate that most networks advertise prices BEFORE TAX, but Tesla's prices are AFTER TAX...
We drove across Michigan, Indiana and then Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and then North Dakota, crossing into Saskatchewan at North Portal. Then into Alberta, and ultimately British Columbia.
Nights spent in Eau Claire, WI, Minot, ND, and Swift Current, SK, arriving in Canmore, AB the afternoon of the 4th day. Skied Sunshine at Banff, then 3 days at Lake Louise. Ventured up the Icefields Parkway about 25 miles to see a glacier. Then drove to Panorama, followed by Revelstoke, and ultimately Sun Peaks. Temps finally got hot at Sun Peaks, so we packed in early and headed to Jasper, AB, with plans to drive the 144 mile Icefields Parkway from the north, but mother nature interfered, delivering several feet of snow on the highest elevations of the parkway. They forecasted a 2 day closure for avalanche control so we left (note they've extended that to now over a week, with in excess of 20 feet of avalanche debris on the road at places). Drove towards Edmonton, then cut south, same 4 days drive home. Stayed in Medicine Hat, Bismarck, and Madison, WI on the way home.
New this trip was charging via 120v where possible. Many hotels in Canada have outlets for engine block heaters (and some in northern US). Ran the charging and extension cords out the bed, with my tonneau covering securing the charger, and the nice fat rubber seal allowing me to close everything. Got a total of 144kWh of electricity this way. Mach-E owners leave the frunk ajar (first lock) and do the same, but you can't do that on the electric-powered Lightning frunk. Never did this in the past, but I'll take free charging (and a slightly warmer battery) wherever I can get it.
Hotel charging is getting more challenging as more people drive EVs. Didn't get to charge at several hotels due to them being full of EVs charging, or leaving for dinner and coming back to all the spaces now occupied. Nice surprise on the way home with what I expected to be 10.5kWh Tesla Superchargers that were in fact 15.4kWh. I had planned to be at 100% at 8AM, and it finished at 3AM, should have arrived more empty... Gave up about $8 in free charging. I edited the PlugShare record for that charger.
Thanks to Ford, no preconditioning on my 2022 meant longer charging times, easily seen in the charging speeds received until the battery warmed up. If 30 of the 42 fast charges resulted in slower initial speeds, and 10 minutes, that's 300 minutes, or 5 hours, I never get back. With 4 winters completed for people owning 2022s (I got mine in May 2023), I have zero faith that Ford will ever enable this.
Most Tesla Superchargers were empty when I charged, often the entire time. Every one but one had a low enough curb that I could nose between two chargers if there wasn't a trailer charger. Only had to move one time for a charger issue, which speaks oodles to the quality of Elmo's charging network. I hate giving him money, but price, and time (in Canada, many locations are FLO and 50kW, meaning 2 hours charging).
I have been using ABRP free edition for years to plan trips. This trip I decided to pay the $4.99 monthly fee for the paid edition. Boy, what a disappointment. In short, my Pixel 8 didn't like the processor load of ABRP and Car Scanner, rendering things untenable. So we entered each destination or charger in GoogleMaps with Android Auto.
A surprise was that the Trans-Canada Highway is not handsfree due to the crossroads, lack of dividers, etc. Basically from Fargo north, hands on all the way, and back, which was over 1/2 the trip.
No troubles with the truck even coated with heavy ice, which hung on for days, beyond the lack of preconditioning to a fast charger.
Lowest efficiency was on a leg where we hit 100kph(62.5mph) headwinds, resulting in 1.2mpKW efficiency. An outhouse (AB rest area) had a strong wind coming out of the hole in the ground, and you had to be careful when going to the bathroom...
Great examples of the effect of cold on a battery. Arrived at my hotel with a freshly charged battery (85%). I arrived at the hotel with 111kwh of energy, with the battery at 93 degrees. In the morning, that had changed to 99kWh of energy at 32 degrees.
Another example was parking with 90% and 117kWh at 100.4 temp, in the morning, even plugged into 120v all night and adding 13kWh, I was only at 121.7kWh at a 48F battery temp in the morning.
And, 106kWh at 93F turned into 93kW at 39F the next morning.
Saw 20.7 miles per kWh (the max the truck displays) at one point headed down the mountains.
Hats off to A2Z for their reliable Typhoon Pro and Stellar adapters. Both worked great, no surprise there.
One picture with some ice on the truck, it had way more at one point but I didn't get a picture. Last picture is just a sample of the devastation at Jasper from the 2024 wildfires.
I'm sure I'm forgetting something, ask away.
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