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

[Theo1000]

My suggestion, go to San Antonio EA, charge to 90%. That extra 35 miles will give you a lot of peace of mind at the end, more than worth the extra 30 minutes. You get to take a break as well. When my kids are in the car I always like to have a 50 mile buffer. Never go below. Never know when you might need it. Road may have detour. May get stuck in traffic. A 40 mph head wind may spring up. Thunderstorms may crush your range.

Been driving EV's for long time and this is what I would do.

EA in San Antonia has good reputation.

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[cvalue13]

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.

The F150L is my first EV, and I took delivery three weeks ago tomorrow.

So this will be my maiden long distance trip, and through a charging desert, >100 degrees, with toddlers in the car - collectively exactly why I’m “thinking twice, then thinking again.”

I should note: on this trip I am more than happy to set cruise control at 60mph to begin, and then roll down to 55mph if necessary

 

[Yellow Buddy]

The F150L is my first EV, and I took delivery three weeks ago tomorrow.

So this will be my maiden long distance trip, and through a charging desert, >100 degrees, with toddlers in the car - collectively exactly why I’m “thinking twice, then thinking again.”

I should note: on this trip I am more than happy to set cruise control at 60mph to begin, and then roll down to 55mph if necessary

That will help but it'll drive you nuts. Or it may not be enough if you don't catch it early. It's best if you can set it and forget it.

What's your base mi/Wh? Or kWh/mi? Use the higher number so you get a buffer. Then for the next however long until your trip, play with the settings.

If you set HVAC at 72 vs 68 for example, how does that affect your efficiency? If you have the car in a different mode, how does that affect it? Just play with it so you can get an understanding of how much of a buffer you have. If you can squeeze 30% more efficiency out of it then between the higher number calculation and the tuning you should feel pretty good.

 

[cvalue13]

My suggestion, go to San Antonio EA, charge to 90%. That extra 35 miles will give you a lot of peace of mind at the end, more than worth the extra 30 minutes. You get to take a break as well. When my kids are in the car I always like to have a 50 mile buffer. Never go below. Never know when you might need it. Road may have detour. May get stuck in traffic. A 40 mph head wind may spring up. Thunderstorms may crush your range.

Been driving EV's for long time and this is what I would do.

EA in San Antonia has good reputation.[\Quote]

Thanks for the pragmatism, it’s well received.

And your rec of San Antonio is specifically excluding the Seguin alternative, perhaps for being less reliable / less reputation?

An Up-side ofSan Antonio is it’s inthe cord network, so I think I can use my cord charging credits

 

[FlasherZ]

I should note: on this trip I am more than happy to set cruise control at 60mph to begin, and then roll down to 55mph if necessary

That probably won't be necessary unless you get stuck in an awful storm or headwind or something.

If you're using the planning tools, whether ABRP or EV trip planner or any other tool, it will take into account a lot of things that pure mileage doesn't -- elevation changes, etc. By driving the speed limit (except perhaps parts of TX where it's 80), you will do reasonably well. If the speed limit is 55, 60 is perfectly acceptable - the big range killers really kick in over 70 mph or so.

And here's the long-term view -- you're getting the experience of people who have gotten used to it over time. We've been really nervous too, but today I think nothing of jumping in the car and going anywhere in the US without doing any planning (because the supercharging network is so good). My family hasn't owned an ICE capable of carrying the family since February of 2016, and we've been doing Tesla road trips since you had to stop for 3-4 hours of day-use charging at campgrounds, when you could barely make it from one supercharger to another. On example: in the early days, we were headed to Florida but the direct routes hadn't been completed... we had to go from St. Louis to Indianapolis to head down to Florida, and I can recall limping into the brand new Indianapolis supercharger with only 16 miles left in the pouring rain after driving only 55 and drafting trucks on I-70 and the I-465 raceway for 30 minutes to ensure we made it.

But it all really comes down to a few things: track your progress as you go, a little extra buffer room doesn't hurt, you can always speed up if you're ahead of that progress, and be aware of the things that help preserve range if you're falling behind: staying behind trucks and slowing down. As you continue, you'll begin to feel more comfortable.

 

[cvalue13]

but today I think nothing of jumping in the car and going anywhere in the US without doing any planning (because the supercharging network is so good).

thanks for all the feedback and encouragement.

I might only inject that for some of us without Tesla’s supercharging network, in certain parts of the country, things can still be a little “dry” for charging …. Here’s the DC map for my 240mi route

 

[FlasherZ]

(Oh yeah, and I really wish Ford would give us an energy graph similar to Tesla's that shows our average consumption over the past 5, 15, and 30 miles or so. That was key for Tesla - we knew the initial Model S's were 305 Wh/mi (in Ford speak that's 3.3 mi/kWh), and you could figure that if you were averaging 335 (3.0 mi/kWh) over the past 30 miles that you'd end up needing 10% more range. When Tesla introduced the "trip" tracking capability that projected your arrival state-of-charge, then showed how your consumption was tracking to its predicted line, that made life really easy for us.)

 

[LightningShow]

(Oh yeah, and I really wish Ford would give us an energy graph similar to Tesla's that shows our average consumption over the past 5, 15, and 30 miles or so. That was key for Tesla - we knew the initial Model S's were 305 Wh/mi, and you could figure that if you were averaging 335 over the past 30 miles that you'd end up needing 10% more range. When Tesla introduced the "trip" tracking capability that projected your arrival state-of-charge, then showed how your consumption was tracking to its predicted line, that made life really easy for us.)

The Bolt has that as well. It gives you average consumption in 5 miles increments over the last 50 miles. It was by far my most used vehicle info screen.

 

[LightningShow]

My suggestion, go to San Antonio EA, charge to 90%. That extra 35 miles will give you a lot of peace of mind at the end, more than worth the extra 30 minutes. You get to take a break as well. When my kids are in the car I always like to have a 50 mile buffer. Never go below. Never know when you might need it. Road may have detour. May get stuck in traffic. A 40 mph head wind may spring up. Thunderstorms may crush your range.

Been driving EV's for long time and this is what I would do.

EA in San Antonia has good reputation.

This is good advice…even though i would probably go for it without the charge. The peace of mind will be valuable for most people.

 

[FlasherZ]

thanks for all the feedback and encouragement.

I might only inject that for some of us without Tesla’s supercharging network, in certain parts of the country, things can still be a little “dry” for charging …. Here’s the DC map for my 240mi route

Oh, I get it! I don't feel that same confidence in my Lightning yet, because I find that 25-30% of EA stations have some sort of a problem, or they have a line when I arrive (and since they're typically at Wal-Mart in these parts, many/most have gone in to do some shopping). But, you'll get more comfortable and familiar as you progress, and knowing that you have options is a good thing. I've carried around Tesla's $500 ChaDeMo adapter for well over 5 years now "just in case", and I've used it all of maybe 3-4 times for charging, 5-10 if you count testing it? Knowing you have options with J1772 and campgrounds provide some peace of mind, even if you don't exercise it.

And maybe the continued $1B per year investment by the federal government in charging networks will give us an equivalent to the supercharger network (in quality and coverage) by 2026.

 

[Theo1000]

And your rec of San Antonio is specifically excluding the Seguin alternative, perhaps for being less reliable / less reputation?

An Up-side ofSan Antonio is it’s inthe cord network, so I think I can use my cord charging credits

The truck has a low voltage and that charger looks to be amp limited 62.5 unit. You could easily see 40-50 kw type charge speeds. You may not actually not see any time savings going to that seguin unit vs the EA. At about 65%-70% on the EA you will get 170+ kw on the burst charge to 80% At EA. Then 15 minutes from 80% to 90% at 60kw. Done in 20 minutes on EA vs ~ 1 hour + on the other one.

Also activate your plug and charge before you go. You will love it when you use it esp. as it is free.

 

[newF150]

Don't have much to add with all these great suggestions already other than I would start at 100% charge and not to use one pedal driving. Do some coasting if there is a bit of traffic, let up on the pedal if there's a slowdown further ahead.

 

[bryan995]

Always charge to 100% before leaving. Never less. And you need to plan for traffic/accident/detour. Cutting it close is ok, but I would not do that with toddlers + 100'F heat. Just stop somewhere to top off and minimize your risk of issue.

Push it later once you better understand your driving habits + efficiency etc.

 

[cvalue13]

Snug in the beach house, with a comfortable (if conservative) passage through the charging desert!

• Began trip with 100% charge from Austin at 10:53AM, 91° ambient with climate set to 75°; GoM estimated 294mi range (based on my previously all around-town driving)

• Drove 78.5 miles with a dash-purported 2.7mi/kWh, arriving at San Antonio EA fast charger with 80% battery

• Charged to 100% in 57mins (the first 20 had the truck/climate running while we ate), with 28.613kWh eaten by the truck (corroborating the 2.7mi/kWh dashboard figure), GoM now
Estimating 305mi range; emboldened, set cruise to ~70mph and cabin climate to 72°

• Drove 178 miles (including through a windy thunder storm) with a dash-purported 2.1mi/kWh, arriving at Port A beach house with with GoM estimated 94mi of range remaining

• In all, 256mi at a dash-purported combined average of 2.3mi/kWh

A few notes:

• while the route planner expected me to charge from 80% to only ~90%, we planned our stop with some grocery shopping and finished the chore just 1 minute after 100% charge was reached

• For a long road trip, consider turning off the speed limit sign reader; in cruise control, the truck appears to place the speed limit signs as it’s primary directive, either slowing your set cruise speed, or (most annoying) speeding your set cruise speed up to match signage.

• Lots of thoughts about Blue Cruise, and aspire to run some additional “experiments” on the return drive, but preliminarily:

-> The On-Ramp Boogie (Annoying): when in Blue Cruise and the rightmost lane, 2 out of 3 on-ramps would cause Blue Cruise to suddenly lose site of the rightmost line and demand hands-on-wheels, as though the truck was panicked it had lost touch with reality

-> The Off-Ramp Shuffle (Threatening): While on-ramps causes Blue Cruise to feel insecure and ask human to take over, off-ramps had an opposite and more unpleasant effect: when in the right most lane, the off ramp would cause Blue Cruise to seemingly decide last minute to follow the rightmost traffic line rather than the leftmost dashed center lane line, resulting in a last-minute attempt to pull hard right and exit the freeway. I never allowed Blue Cruise to complete the maneuver, so perhaps it would have figured it out further into the last second. But it left me with the uncomfortable worry that Blue Cruise, in its confusion as to whether to follow the left or right stripe, was deciding to split the baby and only partially exit. Perhaps some day when my family isn’t in the car I’ll let it attempt to complete its decision-making.

-> The Construction Zone Hustle (Bracing): let’s just say that, if the traffic lines are unobvious for any reason, such as when construction zones may have little or no paint down yet, Blue Cruise really goes bi-polar. In one instance, it gave up and demanded I take over; in another instance it just as forcefully decided to try and follow some road discoloration into a Jersey barrier.

In all, Blue Cruise might be least annoying if allowed to avoid both On- and Off-Ramps by inhabiting the center lane of a 3 lane highway (don’t be the person inhabiting the left lane), but in any event keep your damn head on a swivel for road markings (or lack there of) causing the truck to misbehave.


Thanks again to all the great Hand-holding before the trip.

 

[Roy2001]

1. Heat is your biggest enemy, if you don't have trucked tinted, think about other way to limit AC power.

2. I saw you plan to drive through freeway. If POSSIBLE, drive local with less distance, but more stop/go traffic. This will save distance, plus increase your miles per kWh due to reduced speed.

If you must drive on freeway, limit your speed to 65mph. Costing (like N) is your best friend, one pedal drive next to it.

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