BlueCruise, Charging Networks, and Trip Stats

[GDN]

I was really disappointed in Ford when I found out I can't just go to the local Ford dealer if I was in a pinch to charge. My main destination in Southern oregon is very light on chargers. They have 2 Ford dealers. Why not just put in a row of 150kw+ chargers. You sell the product, you service the product, you have the location and space, I may even buy accessories while I'm charging. You want to mark up a truck $20k but I can't charge there. I may even see a newer model I want to trade up to in the future. Just one simple minor thing putting chargers at dealerships especially after tax incentives but they left it up to the individual dealers to put in decent chargers which most didn't. I see tesla superchargers at great locations like malls and bass pro shops. What does Ford rely on, walmart. Step it up Ford. Thank you for keeping your great truck affordable but please do what you you can to keep it top shelf. That's all.

You make too much sense and just how many times are the dealerships right on the major highways. This just shows that Ford is not willing to truly put their money where their mouth is for charging. This is my hot button.

The last few Ford dealerships I've been too, do actually have an L2 installed out front, but after hours they lock their gates and you can't even get to one in an emergency, much less count on one for a regular charge.

I will only note one thing - Tesla does not have customer charging at the majority of their Service Centers either. However, most of those are not on freeways, etc and well, lets face it - they own and have built every other Supercharger out there. So you can't fault them.

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[VTbuckeye]

There is a Chevy dealership about 70 miles from here that has a 120kw ccs charger. They are the only dealer with decent DCFC charging around (some others have 25kw chargers). If every Ford E dealership added a couple 150kw chargers it would be an instant charging network. As stated previously if I am going to be there for an hour I will probably look at other products (accessories, vehicles...). It would also be something that you could count on when traveling.

 

[Rob G]

I had a BMW i3 with free EVGo for a year. On my first few attempts it was kind of scary. The car didn't charge due to me setting a time of use. That caused the charger to stop but be locked in the car. Took me a while to find out how to manually release the charger from port.
Called evgo and they had suggested pressing the emergency stop and let it reboot.

Yes, unless you have a backup location, going ev is still not as easy as gas. Of course gas may be an issue soon too.

I keep 4 charging accounts and two rfid cards. That and I use 6 charge apps since not one seems to agree with the others.

Can you enumerate the 4 accounts and the 6 apps. I want to make sure I have a complete set. I’ve road tripped nearly 4k miles in one go with my Porsche but used mostly EA, a couple EV go and some slow charging at hotels and AirBnB‘s.

 

[metroshot]

You make too much sense and just how many times are the dealerships right on the major highways. This just shows that Ford is not willing to truly put their money where their mouth is for charging. This is my hot button.

The last few Ford dealerships I've been too, do actually have an L2 installed out front, but after hours they lock their gates and you can't even get to one in an emergency, much less count on one for a regular charge.

I will only note one thing - Tesla does not have customer charging at the majority of their Service Centers either. However, most of those are not on freeways, etc and well, lets face it - they own and have built every other Supercharger out there. So you can't fault them.

Well said about current dealer charge infrastructure.

My nearby Honda dealer has a total of 2 chargers.
One L2 in their service bay and the other charger in the customer lot but usually an employee is charging their vehicle and not accessible after hours.

Ford needs to put more chargers out front accessible 24/7 even if we have to pay.

But then forcing franchised dealers to install them at their expense might be the moot point...

 

[oneguynick]

Our dealership has one L2 charger, but it isn't very clear from their perspective. I spoke to them about this at pick-up time, and they had the following issues:

1. Who pays for the electricity?
2. If someone messes it up or damages it, who is responsible?
3. Who is responsible for the security after hours if someone is using it

None of this is insurmountable, but it shows a disconnect between big Ford and the franchise owners.

 

[oneguynick]

Update on the trip stats on the return back to Standish. 1.8mi/kWh

So 1.5 up to Mackinac and 1.8 on the way back. Not amazing. I towed the airstream today and will post those stats here shortly.

 

[beatle]

At an average of 1.65mi/kwh or about 600wh/mi, that's quite a ways off from the EPA estimate. Like 28% off. You could gain a few percentage points after the tires break in and perhaps cruise at more ideal temperatures (or lower speed?) but even with temps in the 30s and an average speed over 70mph, I'm still about 85% of rated range in my Model S.

 

[Vorador]

Update on the trip stats on the return back to Standish. 1.8mi/kWh

So 1.5 up to Mackinac and 1.8 on the way back. Not amazing. I towed the airstream today and will post those stats here shortly.

Pretty disappointing. Lariat ER would probably only get an extra 0.1 - 0.2 mi/kwh.

 

[VTbuckeye]

Well said about current dealer charge infrastructure.

My nearby Honda dealer has a total of 2 chargers.
One L2 in their service bay and the other charger in the customer lot but usually an employee is charging their vehicle and not accessible after hours.

Ford needs to put more chargers out front accessible 24/7 even if we have to pay.

But then forcing franchised dealers to install them at their expense might be the moot point...

Maybe give the dealership two or three additional dealer lightnings (adm $$$$) for every 150kw DCFC installed at dealer expense.

 

[Roy2001]

Saw this in Rivian Reddit and the guy claims he was driving at 80mph quite a bit.

 

[RWerksman]

Saw this in Rivian Reddit and the guy claims he was driving at 80mph quite a bit.

I just drove up to Cleveland and back to Pittsburgh in my Rivian with the 20" AT tires over the weekend. Averaged 2.28 at ~75 mph with Driver+ engaged most of the time. With the right conditions the Rivian is kind of a beast. I'm pretty sure I could have made the entire 275 mile trip without charging and with 10-15 miles still in the battery.

I'm really interested in what the Lightning range looks like as I also have a deposit in on one. I had hoped to see 2mi/kw.

 

[Vorador]

Saw this in Rivian Reddit and the guy claims he was driving at 80mph quite a bit.

Keep in mind that the R1T has a conserve that increases the efficiency. It's also likely more aerodynamic.

 

[SteffanG]

At an average of 1.65mi/kwh or about 600wh/mi, that's quite a ways off from the EPA estimate. Like 28% off. You could gain a few percentage points after the tires break in and perhaps cruise at more ideal temperatures (or lower speed?) but even with temps in the 30s and an average speed over 70mph, I'm still about 85% of rated range in my Model S.

From his previous posts, the temperature is in Celcius which is well within the Temps that batteries like.
It is still concerning that it is that far off EPA ratings as I can't see just going 70mph reducing it by about 20% (highway is less than the 300miles but can't remember the exact number)

 

[greenne]

Saw this in Rivian Reddit and the guy claims he was driving at 80mph quite a bit.

And yet his average speed is 51mph?

Nonsense....

 

[greenne]

From his previous posts, the temperature is in Celcius which is well within the Temps that batteries like.
It is still concerning that it is that far off EPA ratings as I can't see just going 70mph reducing it by about 20% (highway is less than the 300miles but can't remember the exact number)

EPA highway range for the Platinum is estimated at 267mi

https://insideevs.com/news/584918/ford-f150-lightning-epa-range-efficiency/

1.65 KwH (average) * 131= 216mi

Thats only 20% off EPA....and OP admits to going 75mph quite frequently.

I'm not that surprised tbh.

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