Baby the motors? First time EV questions.

[Joe]

Hey all. This truck is going to have some serious get up and go, and it got me thinking if there's any disadvantage to driving it fast. It would make me nervous regularly running an engine at high RPMs, but is there an equivalent "danger" here with the motors?

Also, any other tips/things to look out for for first time EV owners? I know I can expect less range in the winter, but what else am I not considering?

Sponsored

 

[sotek2345]

Nope, no break in period either. Only danger would be overheating and software will lock on to limit you way before that is a problem.

Even better is the electric motor efficiency isn't as impacted by load either, so accelerating fast or slow, to the same end speed, will use about the same total energy.

 

[Joe]

Nope, no break in period either. Only danger would be overheating and software will lock on to limit you way before that is a problem.

Even better is the electric motor efficiency isn't as impacted by load either, so accelerating fast or slow, to the same end speed, will use about the same total energy.

Ah nice, so I won't need to accelerate slowly to conserve energy and get the most out of the battery. The wife must hear about this. =)

 

[adoublee]

Hey all. This truck is going to have some serious get up and go, and it got me thinking if there's any disadvantage to driving it fast. It would make me nervous regularly running an engine at high RPMs, but is there an equivalent "danger" here with the motors?

Also, any other tips/things to look out for for first time EV owners? I know I can expect less range in the winter, but what else am I not considering?

The equivalency is more with the batteries than it is the motors. Still, there is not the sense you are wearing anything out when hammering an EV. Except maybe tires with something like FWD Niro EV that can't take the torque without losing grip (should not be an issue with Lightning).

 

[vandy1981]

Nope, no break in period either. Only danger would be overheating and software will lock on to limit you way before that is a problem.

Even better is the electric motor efficiency isn't as impacted by load either, so accelerating fast or slow, to the same end speed, will use about the same total energy.

The drivetrain will be just fine no matter what you do. Based on my experience with my current AWD EV, you will be replacing tires more frequently than you'd expect.

You may see some benefit by babying the battery, though. Historically, frequent full charges/full discharges and level 3 fast charging have been thought to expedite battery wear. @MickeyAO is the resident battery expert, but my understanding is that this is a less of a concern nowadays because recent models have mitigated battery wear by imposing large battery buffers.

 

[jefro]

Could be some mention in Owners Manual about break in but if it didn't I'd baby it for awhile just because I am that way.

I'm on my second EV.
Things I notice are batteries go bad for a number of reasons.
Hills you'd think you could recover power used uphill by regen downhill. Not so. About 1/5 is the recovery rate.
Chargers at locations are not reliable yet. You find many that don't work.
You can't easily power up to 100% using DC. Actually can't get past 50% easily. It is a very time consuming deal.
Mine were very quiet. People riding in them always seem to remark that.
Power off line is instant basically. You can burn up tires way way easier that you imagine.
Some of the advanced features like setting it to cool or warm cabin are great.
I assume these are still in the infant stages of development. Sure it is a consumer product but I imagine a much better one in 10 years.
I love that I don't have to go to a gas station. I fill up at night for pennies.
No more oil changes, spark plugs, fan belts but in return maybe untested electric counter parts.

 

[Joe]

Could be some mention in Owners Manual about break in but if it didn't I'd baby it for awhile just because I am that way.

I'm on my second EV.
Things I notice are batteries go bad for a number of reasons.
Hills you'd think you could recover power used uphill by regen downhill. Not so. About 1/5 is the recovery rate.
Chargers are not reliable yet.
You can't easily power up to 100% using DC. Actually can't get past 50% easily. It is a very time consuming deal.
Mine were very quiet. People riding in them always seem to remark that.
Power off line is instant basically. You can burn up tires way way easier that you imagine.
Some of the advanced features like setting it to cool or warm cabin are great.
I assume these are still in the infant stages of development. Sure it is a consumer product but I imagine a much better one in 10 years.
I love that I don't have to go to a gas station. I fill up at night for pennies.
No more oil changes, spark plugs, fan belts but in return maybe untested electric counter parts.

What’s the cool or warm cabin?

And when are you charging using DC?

 

[astricklin]

What’s the cool or warm cabin?

And when are you charging using DC?

When the car is plugged in you can set a time and temperature. Let's say in the morning you leave for work at 7am. You can schedule it to have the climate control bring the interior temperature to 70 degrees by 7am. This allows you to heat/cool the interior while the vehicle is plugged in and thereby not having to use the battery to do the initial heat/cool. Also it great to not have to get into a hot/cold vehicle.

 

[MickeyAO]

The drivetrain will be just fine no matter what you do. Based on my experience with my current AWD EV, you will be replacing tires more frequently than you'd expect.

You may see some benefit by babying the battery, though. Historically, frequent full charges/full discharges and level 3 fast charging have been thought to expedite battery wear. @MickeyAO is the resident battery expert, but my understanding is that this is a less of a concern nowadays because recent models have mitigated battery wear by imposing large battery buffers.

Don't ask me about the motors! While my Division at the Institute is testing motors, I am not involved in it...yet.

Yes, battery chemistries and management have gotten much better over the last several years. I remember testing cells from a Tesla Model S many years ago...I replicated the fast charging profile and did nothing but fast charging and max discharge to the cell...my testing showed the 18650 cells would fail (possibly spectacularly) inside a year of driving. Hard to do that on the current 21700 Tesla cells and doubtful on the 41800 cells that are coming.

I can tell you all the ways to baby a battery to extend its life, but I don't plan on doing any of them on my personal F150L since I only plan on keeping it for a couple of years before upgrading.

 

[bboy_72]

When the car is plugged in you can set a time and temperature. Let's say in the morning you leave for work at 7am. You can schedule it to have the climate control bring the interior temperature to 70 degrees by 7am. This allows you to heat/cool the interior while the vehicle is plugged in and thereby not having to use the battery to do the initial heat/cool. Also it great to not have to get into a hot/cold vehicle.

Dumb question, but does it have to be plugged in?

 

[astricklin]

Dumb question, but does it have to be plugged in?

Not sure.... anyone with a mach-e able to chime in?
I would think that you'd only want to do it when plugged in as the primary purpose is to not have to use battery to get the cabin to temperature.

 

[sotek2345]

Not sure.... anyone with a mach-e able to chime in?
I would think that you'd only want to do it when plugged in as the primary purpose is to not have to use battery to get the cabin to temperature.

My understanding from the Mach-e forums (we don't have ours yet) is that it will work both plugged in or non plugged in, you just take the battery penalty when not plugged in.

As for why - wouldn't it be nice to get into a climate controled / adjusted vehicle when you get out of work?

 

[TRP]

My understanding from the Mach-e forums (we don't have ours yet) is that it will work both plugged in or non plugged in, you just take the battery penalty when not plugged in.

As for why - wouldn't it be nice to get into a climate controled / adjusted vehicle when you get out of work?

The "real why" is related to heating. Heating takes much more battery power than cooling. So if you Pre-heat on battery you will take a range hit, vs using the grid power to heat and keeping your range. Plus, much nicer to get into a heated/cooled car rather than have to wait while driving.

 

[adoublee]

My understanding from the Mach-e forums (we don't have ours yet) is that it will work both plugged in or non plugged in, you just take the battery penalty when not plugged in.

As for why - wouldn't it be nice to get into a climate controled / adjusted vehicle when you get out of work?

I think some vehicles limit scheduling of pre-conditioning to only activate if plugged in, whereas manual/telematic initiation can be done any time. Though being to not have schedule surprise someone not plugged in and drain more battery than desirable. It would be nice to have it be able to be scheduled for anytime.

 

[RonTCat]

Hey all. This truck is going to have some serious get up and go, and it got me thinking if there's any disadvantage to driving it fast. It would make me nervous regularly running an engine at high RPMs, but is there an equivalent "danger" here with the motors?

Also, any other tips/things to look out for for first time EV owners? I know I can expect less range in the winter, but what else am I not considering?

The vehicle will do everything it can to not let you break it.

The two easy things that you can help control are battery temperature, and battery charge.

1) The battery doesn't like to be excessively hot or cold. It has it's own HVAC system, but can always use help.
2) Don't let the vehicle sit at 100% charge, if possible. 20% to 80% is ideal. If you know you are going to use the vehicle soon, charge to 100% on those occasions. This helps lengthen battery life and battery capacity.

Sponsored