Sanity Check: First F150L/EV Trip (~240mi) With Toddlers Through Charging Desert

[cvalue13]

Experienced EV Long-Haulers, thanks in advance for any input

This coming Friday the 12th, I have a planned first long trip in the F150L (or any EV, for that matter) - but with my toddlers, through a charging desert.

I’d greatly appreciate a sanity check, or any other input/critique, on my below planning.

Let me emphasize first that if I were taking this trip solo, or only with adults, I’d be pretty comfortable at this point. But instead my remaining planning anxieties are borne of three things combined:

(1) this route is a charging desert,

(2) temperatures will be >103-105

(3) I’ll have not only my wife but two toddlers in the vehicle (ages 2 and 4)

Accordingly, for my first long EV trip, I want to make triple certain I don’t end up roadside 100 miles from the nearest L2.

Before I get to what Ford Pass Planner and ABRP are saying, let me give some background stats:

• Vehicle: Lariat ER
• Load: ~400lbs of people, and ~200lbs of gear/luggage
• Assumed Start SoC: 95%
• Destination SoC Floor Aspired: 10%
• Average kwh To Date: ~2.0, after 500mi of city-only driving, but high climate usage (it’s ~105 lately in central TX) and some pedal-smashing
• Destination Charging: this part is solved for
• Return Trip: given the flat terrain, I’m assuming the return trip will be merely a reversal of course

Based on the info recounted below, I’m inclined to either as ABRP suggests go for it without charging (what I would definitely do if family was not in the truck), or in prudence plan a brief charge stop for good measure.

FordPass Planning:

FordPass, regardless of whether I start at 85% SoC or 100% SoC, sends me through San Antonio to an in-network charging station for a pretty substantive charge:

Presumably, FordPass is presently sandbagging my mileage given my average driving habits to date, which include no highway driving but high climate usage (getting in and out of a 120 degree truck for short burst drives).

It would be ideal to avoid entering San Antonio, all else equal, and I have the assumption but not the proofFordPass is sending me there to keep me “in network” and ignoring the few (very few) other chargers further east of San Antonio.

Conversely, ABRP tells me basically to just go for it

If I instead start with 90% charge, ABRP has me go into just 9 miles to downtown Austin mid-day (not great) for a ~15min top-off

That 15min top-off downtown is a rather annoying addition, and I’d rather just ensure I start at 95-100% and avoid the detour.

That said, a member here has pointed out a DC charging station further east of San Antonio, which I can force into ABRP as a safety-net version of the trip:

Of the options above, my resulting question is: would prudence suggest that the ABRP “go for it” plan (no charging) is fully sufficient, or instead too aggressive given the context. If too aggressive, then the forced stop east of San Antonio would be the default.

Sponsored

 

[sotek2345]

Given the temps and toddlers in the car, I would either go for it, but drive 5mph below what you normally would (at least to start, adjust as needed as you go along as see how you usage is going), or use the charger ABRP mentioned (after checking it on plug share). Might be good to give the toddlers a driving break anyways.

If you chose to go straight for it, I would make sure to be at 100 percent and cool the truck down while plugged in first.

You will probably be fine, ER should be able to do 240 highway miles easy with 20 or 30 miles to spare, but you never know if something will happen along the way and you need a little extra range or AC I'd you are stuck in a traffic jam.

 

[monsterlag]

Go for it. Go a little slower than usual if that’s an option in Texas, y’all are wild out there. Also find a nice spot behind an 18 wheeler and have him cut through the air for you for a nice boost.

 

[cvalue13]

a little extra range or AC I'd you are stuck in a traffic jam.

indeed, I hadn’t mentioned that the route involves a ferry; at times the wait can be a bit long, then there’s the 20ish minutes idling on the ferry itself.

thanks for the input!

 

[MickeyAO]

San Antonio traffic is not nearly as bad as Austin traffic! I know because I previously worked in Intelligent Transportation System at Southwest Research Institute (I maintained the code to write the messages to the dynamic message signs and was QC/Trainer for the interface the traffic centers used for the full suite of software) and had to travel to all the major traffic centers including Austin once a week. Austin rush hour starts around Noon on weekdays and 9 AM on Fridays.

Reroute based on ABRP at 100% charge when you leave home...I now work in the Energy Storage Technology Center and I know this really won't hurt your battery as long as you don't constantly sit there for a long time.

 

[cvalue13]

or use the charger ABRP mentioned (after checking it on plug share)

thanks, yea ai’ve checked it on plugshare and everything seems ok as of a few days ago

 

[cvalue13]

San Antonio traffic is not nearly as bad as Austin traffic!

Not at all! But half of terrible is still not great!

Reroute based on ABRP at 100% charge when you leave home...

At 100% charge it says go for it, but with 6% SoC at destination. That margin of error, even just in paper, is what gives me the twinge

 

[astricklin]

I would say start with 100% charge and with toddlers you are probably going to stop anyway so you could go the San Antonio route if you wanted to stay in more populated areas and have some options to add a bit of a charge during a food/potty break.
However the ABRP #1 route would still give you the option to detour through the charger in Victoria if you were getting close to Cuero or Goliad and felt like you weren't going to make it all the way.

 

[cvalue13]

However the ABRP #1 route would still give you the option to detour through the charger in Victoria if you were getting close to Cuero or Goliad and felt like you weren't going to make it all the way.

thank you for looking into that

unfortunately, the charger in Victoria appears to be questionable?

 

[astricklin]

You could also hit up the volta charger at the San Marcos outlet. They should have a free 30 minute session if they haven't moved those to being paid yet.

 

[FlasherZ]

My general advice - drive 5 mph slower. Energy consumption increases as the square of speed increase. And, if you don't mind following a big truck while using BlueCruise, you'll save a lot of energy as well, if you find one that is traveling your speed.

 

[hturnerfamily]

Advice: you're either going to drive slower the whole trip(at least that last 'dry' leg), or you'll get to the point where you will be FORCED to drive a LOT slower, near the end, due to range anxiety, if you are reaching your destination with very little breathing room.

- leave at 100%, you should never hesitate to use the maximum battery capacity for long trips

- DC CHARGE to 100%, always, on trips where 'dry' areas lie ahead, no matter how long the charge takes

the trip 'to' your beach destination is always funner, and seems quicker, than your 'return' trip...

 

[LightningShow]

I feel like 223 miles is pretty doable even with the heat. I would go for it but i tend to be less risk averse. I might throw my portable generator in the back to make my wife feel better. . If it’s possible to do the trip at 65mph cruise speed then I expect you’ll arrive with way more than 6%. What will probably happen is that you’ll get halfway and be able to speed up because you have so much range buffer.

 

[FlasherZ]

I feel like 223 miles is pretty doable even with the heat. I would go for it but i tend to be less risk averse. I might throw my portable generator in the back to make my wife feel better. . If it’s possible to do the trip at 65mph cruise speed then I expect you’ll arrive with way more than 6%. What will probably happen is that you’ll get halfway and be able to speed up because you have so much range buffer.

Tesla adjusted their DCFC algorithms to do just that. There are many times we'll be at a supercharger and it will have us sit there until the buffer to the next SC station is 10%, then as we start driving it suddenly predicts arriving with 20%. We've learned that - at least with current software - we can leave when the buffer to next charge stop is 5%.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

Experienced EV Long-Haulers, thanks in advance for any input

This coming Friday the 12th, I have a planned first long trip in the F150L (or any EV, for that matter) - but with my toddlers, through a charging desert.

I’d greatly appreciate a sanity check, or any other input/critique, on my below planning.

Let me emphasize first that if I were taking this trip solo, or only with adults, I’d be pretty comfortable at this point. But instead my remaining planning anxieties are borne of three things combined:

(1) this route is a charging desert,

(2) temperatures will be >103-105

(3) I’ll have not only my wife but two toddlers in the vehicle (ages 2 and 4)

Accordingly, for my first long EV trip, I want to make triple certain I don’t end up roadside 100 miles from the nearest L2.

Before I get to what Ford Pass Planner and ABRP are saying, let me give some background stats:

• Vehicle: Lariat ER
• Load: ~400lbs of people, and ~200lbs of gear/luggage
• Assumed Start SoC: 95%
• Destination SoC Floor Aspired: 10%
• Average kwh To Date: ~2.0, after 500mi of city-only driving, but high climate usage (it’s ~105 lately in central TX) and some pedal-smashing
• Destination Charging: this part is solved for
• Return Trip: given the flat terrain, I’m assuming the return trip will be merely a reversal of course

Based on the info recounted below, I’m inclined to either as ABRP suggests go for it without charging (what I would definitely do if family was not in the truck), or in prudence plan a brief charge stop for good measure.

FordPass Planning:

FordPass, regardless of whether I start at 85% SoC or 100% SoC, sends me through San Antonio to an in-network charging station for a pretty substantive charge:

Presumably, FordPass is presently sandbagging my mileage given my average driving habits to date, which include no highway driving but high climate usage (getting in and out of a 120 degree truck for short burst drives).

It would be ideal to avoid entering San Antonio, all else equal, and I have the assumption but not the proofFordPass is sending me there to keep me “in network” and ignoring the few (very few) other chargers further east of San Antonio.

Conversely, ABRP tells me basically to just go for it

If I instead start with 90% charge, ABRP has me go into just 9 miles to downtown Austin mid-day (not great) for a ~15min top-off

That 15min top-off downtown is a rather annoying addition, and I’d rather just ensure I start at 95-100% and avoid the detour.

That said, a member here has pointed out a DC charging station further east of San Antonio, which I can force into ABRP as a safety-net version of the trip:

Of the options above, my resulting question is: would prudence suggest that the ABRP “go for it” plan (no charging) is fully sufficient, or instead too aggressive given the context. If too aggressive, then the forced stop east of San Antonio would be the default.

It's all good on paper, but it's when it doesn't go good that you're actually concerned about. So a couple of questions.

1) How familiar are you with EVs in general? Not necessarily long haul but if you've driven an EV for 5 years vs just had it for 5 weeks, that makes a difference.

2) How familiar are you with the F-150L? Especially when you need to find miles.

For example, in my Tesla Model S I have a good general sense that my consumption is running higher or lower than my normal. So I can get a pretty early sense as to - I may end up in trouble or that charging. top won't work if I don't do something now. I know to start switching HVAC off, slow down by 5mph, etc.

If you feel like you can do #2 especially, no issues go for it. If not, I would get comfortable with #2 before I took a long trip. It's not bad to do, but it's a lot less stressful when you can anticipate instead of scramble.

Sponsored