Windy road trip 40MPH Headwinds

[Wendy]

Tailwinds do exist, you just don’t feel them unless the wind is more than 70 mph . Then you would feel like you are floating along!

Sponsored

 

[Brons2]

And is there a noticeable benefit if you have a very strong tailwind? How much?

I was able to get 173 miles at 75MPH and arrive at the charger with 23% when I had a 20-25mph tailwind in the spring, and I have the small battery. I could have made the next charger and pushed it over 200 miles most likely. Efficiency was 2.3mi/kwh.

 

[Rip]

This thread is alarming. Owners that understand the impact of wind on efficiency? I must be in bizzaro world.

Well, you do have to be a little more careful. In the 50+ years I drove ICE vehicles, I was pretty cavalier about it. I can only think of a couple of times I ran out of gas, but when I did, I could call AAA and have them come out with a can and bring me 5 gallons to get to the next station (or I could hitch or walk to a station and get a gallon).
AAA won't bring you a gallon of electrons, so you do have to be a bit more careful. If you run out of trons, you pretty much have to get towed.

 

[RickLightning]

Well, you do have to be a little more careful. In the 50+ years I drove ICE vehicles, I was pretty cavalier about it. I can only think of a couple of times I ran out of gas, but when I did, I could call AAA and have them come out with a can and bring me 5 gallons to get to the next station (or I could hitch or walk to a station and get a gallon).
AAA won't bring you a gallon of electrons, so you do have to be a bit more careful. If you run out of trons, you pretty much have to get towed.

- I cannot recall running out of gas in my 50+ years of driving, but maybe I did once.
- Ford will tow you, for free, to the closest charger for 5 years.
- If you have AAA, they will tow you for free to an EV charger.

 

[Rip]

- I cannot recall running out of gas in my 50+ years of driving, but maybe I did once.
- Ford will tow you, for free, to the closest charger for 5 years.
- If you have AAA, they will tow you for free to an EV charger.

Wow, thanks! That's all very helpful. I only ran out a couple of times...usually the worst possible times, late at night when a lot of gas stations were closed (olden times...no self-serve pumps).

 

[Frank in AZ]

[QUOTE="
Wishlist: A DCFC station in Seligman.
[/QUOTE]

From what I have read these locations have been approved and funding is still available.

NEVI Conditional Awardee Location

I-40 Mohave Lake Havasu
Trillium
Love’s Travel Stop
14875 AZ-95
Lake Havasu City, AZ 86404
4 ports

I-40 Mohave Kingman
Trillium
Love’s Speedco
875 Ty Road
Kingman, AZ 86401
4 ports

I-40 Yavapai Seligman
Tesla
Chevron Gas Station
21355 I-40
Seligman, AZ 86337
5 ports

I-40 Coconino
Twin Arrows Casino
Francis Energy
Mobil Gas Station
140 Meteor Crater Road
Winslow, AZ 86047
4 ports

I-40 Navajo Holbrook
Tesla
Burger King
2096 Navajo Blvd.
Holbrook, AZ 86025
7 ports

I-40 Apache
Petrified Forest National Park
No proposals received

I-40 Apache
Sanders
No proposals received

 

[bc1]

I don't know but I bucked a 40+ mph headwind going north on Tuesday with what should have been plenty of charge at my usual 80 mph interstate speed and barely made it home. Yesterday I went West with similar wind out of the north and I went 10 miles before it dropped off 100% to 99%. Might have been a quartering tailwind. What I noticed is on the dial on the left side of the speedometer area which has the percentages and mileage left, on the left side of the dial where the 0 is in the 8'oclock area of the dial, it had a positive flow lighting up going up a little ways. I was guessing that the wind was giving me a charge. Does that sound right? I'm not sure what the left side of that dial does anyway and it has two parts to it. The right side just shows the steady battery discharge. Thanks.

 

[21st Century Truck]

I don't know but I bucked a 40+ mph headwind going north on Tuesday with what should have been plenty of charge at my usual 80 mph interstate speed and barely made it home. Yesterday I went West with similar wind out of the north and I went 10 miles before it dropped off 100% to 99%. Might have been a quartering tailwind. What I noticed is on the dial on the left side of the speedometer area which has the percentages and mileage left, on the left side of the dial where the 0 is in the 8'oclock area of the dial, it had a positive flow lighting up going up a little ways. I was guessing that the wind was giving me a charge. Does that sound right? I'm not sure what the left side of that dial does anyway and it has two parts to it. The right side just shows the steady battery discharge. Thanks.

The left side of the left dial shows "traction battery draw (usage)" at that moment in blue, or when green it shows "traction battery trickle charge" at that moment.

It's basically a Discharge / Loading Meter for the big battery.

 

[Athrun88]

Well, you do have to be a little more careful. In the 50+ years I drove ICE vehicles, I was pretty cavalier about it. I can only think of a couple of times I ran out of gas, but when I did, I could call AAA and have them come out with a can and bring me 5 gallons to get to the next station (or I could hitch or walk to a station and get a gallon).
AAA won't bring you a gallon of electrons, so you do have to be a bit more careful. If you run out of trons, you pretty much have to get towed.

I haven't driven nearly as much as you, but I have run out of gas in my previous ICE vehicles as well. Once just a few km from a gas station (young me though I could make it, alas, I did not, lol). Never ran out of electrons, but for sure my roadside assistance through either my credit card, Ford, or CAA could tow me to the closest DCFC site so I can plug in. There are also some startup companies that are catering to a quick charge for stranded EVs. Not sure if anyone here plays Elite Dangerous, but reminds me of what the Fuel Rats do there. Community driven group that coordinates to save stranded pilots, except in this case, it would be another EV or vehicle that is capable of charging another EV within a few mins to get them going.

I'm also enteratining the idea of a small solar generator or battery pack, maybe a 5-10kw system, I can strap into the truck bed. If I ever need it, I could charge up the HVB in a pinch to get me to where I need to go using the mobile charger cord or use it as an auxilary electricity source when I'm out and about. Sort of the EV version of a jerry can strapped to the bed.

 

[Rip]

I like the idea of a solar array. I asked a guy at Tesla service once about that idea, and he told me that I'd have to tow an array on a trailer just to get enough juice to keep the battery level steady while parked. I don't know enough about capacity etc. to challenge his assessment, but it would be great if someone were smart enough to invent a finish for EVs that would make them self-charging in sunlight. I remember reading a Popular Science years ago that talked about using carbon nanotubes to do that. I don't know whatever happened to that idea...I guess it went the way of the Barrett Guidance system we were supposed to have 20 years ago, or any of the flying cars that Popular Mechanics promised us in the '50s and early '60s (when you could still buy all manner of firearms from the classifieds in the back).

 

[21st Century Truck]

I like the idea of a solar array. I asked a guy at Tesla service once about that idea, and he told me that I'd have to tow an array on a trailer just to get enough juice to keep the battery level steady while parked. I don't know enough about capacity etc. to challenge his assessment, but it would be great if someone were smart enough to invent a finish for EVs that would make them self-charging in sunlight. I remember reading a Popular Science years ago that talked about using carbon nanotubes to do that. I don't know whatever happened to that idea...I guess it went the way of the Barrett Guidance system we were supposed to have 20 years ago, or any of the flying cars that Popular Mechanics promised us in the '50s and early '60s (when you could still buy all manner of firearms from the classifieds in the back).

Solar panels today provide too little DC juice to matter for this use case. The normal decent solar panel's efficiency is around 22% - 26%

About ten+ years ago one model of the Toyota Prius had a gimmick - a solar panel built into its moon roof. That was literally just powerful enough to self-crack the moon roof and operate the moon roof's exhaust fan when the car heated up.

 

[inchman254]

I like the idea of a solar array. I asked a guy at Tesla service once about that idea, and he told me that I'd have to tow an array on a trailer just to get enough juice to keep the battery level steady while parked. I don't know enough about capacity etc. to challenge his assessment, but it would be great if someone were smart enough to invent a finish for EVs that would make them self-charging in sunlight. I remember reading a Popular Science years ago that talked about using carbon nanotubes to do that. I don't know whatever happened to that idea...I guess it went the way of the Barrett Guidance system we were supposed to have 20 years ago, or any of the flying cars that Popular Mechanics promised us in the '50s and early '60s (when you could still buy all manner of firearms from the classifieds in the back).

Yeah... an efficient solar panel can put out about 25W per square foot. So, if you covered a cargo bed tonneau cover entirely with panels (less than 2 standard size) and one panel on the roof, you would get about 1 kWh per hour at high noon. That is enough to get you about 2 miles while you're travelling, say, 75 miles. And only at high noon.

Sponsored