Best way to drive on the expressway for maximum battery life?

[FirstF150InCasco]

Funny Pioneer74, I have learned quickly you can't be an aggressive driver with Ev. and yes, it does help to stay off sidewalks.

Being an agressive driver is the BEST thing about driving an EV!!!

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[FirstF150InCasco]

yes, but the Nav system is terrible as a navigation tool vs. Waze.

 

[FirstF150InCasco]

I've been an EV only household for almost a decade now and I still haven't learned that...

When road tripping with an EV, it's not about maximum range. It's about time to destination.

80 mph is the tipping point. Beyond that, you can certainly recover/charge at a higher rate, but your overhead and the availability of charging will become limiting factors. Travel at 70mph and you'll get better efficiency, but I don't have the patience for that. Try to stick within 75-80mph if you're trying to balance multiple charging stops. Otherwise day to day, I drive my truck as if it's a NASCAR truck.

*A lot of it will be dependent on the chargers themselves. I've done stretches of 90mph, and stretches limping at 55-65mph. The time difference was as much as an hour and not necessarily always in the favor of slowing down.

LOVE your NASCAR truck comment.

 

[Dugornot]

use seat warmer, not heater. Find a semi going to 70, and climb in his back pocket.

How do you find the heating system to work? Noticable difference without a heat pump?

 

[Bhinde99]

yes, but the Nav system is terrible as a navigation tool vs. Waze.

Agree.

 

[Bhinde99]

How do you find the heating system to work? Noticable difference without a heat pump?

I only use the seat warmer unless I need defrosting or cool toes.

 

[invertedspear]

If you can’t rely on the range number how do you determine range?

The in-dash GOM tends to be overly optimistic, especially over 80% for some reason. It gets better when you have a location set in the built in navigation. When going from Phoenix to Flagstaff for Thanksgiving, it was useless. The temperature kept dropping (from mid 60s to high 20s) and I was loosing about 2 miles from the GOM for every mile traveled. You start to get good about doing calculations to make sure you don't get stranded. Even using rough numbers in your head is better than what the truck does.

 

[On the Road with Ralph]

The difference between 70 and 75 mph is big. The difference between 75 and 80 mph is even bigger.

I've read that the ICE F150 has a drag coefficient of .463, and have seen several different numbers for the Lightning, including .40, .44 and even .56 (?). I'm inclined to think it is around .42.

To put that in perspective: Rivian says its R1T achieves a drag coefficient of .30, which is insanely good (and only marginally believable) for a truck. Most current electric SUVs are in the neighborhood of .28 to .30. Among the best drag coefficients are Tesla and Lucid: The newest Model 3 has a claimed coefficient of .219 and a Lucid Air is at .21.

Here is my point: The Lightning has the all the aerodynamic qualities of a brick. So the drag effects of speed are huge; they are not linear - drag increases with the square of speed. The impact of air resistance roughly doubles between 60 mph and 80 mph. And in freeway driving, aero is by far the greatest single variable when determining efficiency/range (there are other factors such as tire rolling resistance, bearing freedom and mass - but these are trivial compared to aero drag).

This is important because modern EVs are capable of practical driving distances only because of their incredibly high efficiency, especially compared to an ICE equivalent. My Lightning's battery stores less energy than four gallons of gasoline, but can still go over 200 miles, while its ICE F-150 brother might go 90 on the same amount of fuel. The longer range of the ICE vehicle is ENTIRELY due to its 20+ gallon fuel tank.

So... if you want to maximize range in a Lightning, keep your speed under 70 (preferably under 67). The exceptions are: 1) At altitudes above 5000 feet; 2) Tailwinds; 3) Downhill; 4) Drafting.

 

[PreservedSwine]

How do you find the heating system to work? Noticable difference without a heat pump?

The heater works great as far as I can tell. However, in S Florida, that’s not a very big ask. I don’t use the heater because the seat warmer works extremely well, and from what I’ve read, pulls substantial AMPS and noticeably reduces range.

 

[TaxmanHog]

An example of the inconsistency of the GOM per SOC

279 max range [218 / .78]

273 max range [218 / .8]

304 max range [255 / .84]

301 max range [256 / .85]

 

[Ffxdude]

This right here... "actual fuel stop was 20-25 min"

On my road trip last summer, I was surprised when I thought I would only be running into get something and spend 5 minutes, and then have to sit around for another 15 while charging... that turned into a 20 minute stay (lines, stretching, waiting for the dogs to do their thing...). On a 10 hour trip, it didn't add significantly more time than doing the same trip in an ICE F-150, I'm essentially making about the same number of stops for about the same number of time (I'm not a marathoner road tripper!)

The bigger stress has been WHEN and WHERE to charge, if I would have to wait for a charger, if the charger would be working at capacity (or at all)... playing charger hopscotch... that is not pleasant at all, and if that doesn't get better than this will never go mainstream. I hope the Tesla network will be better, but I do worry that with so many other manufacturers jumping into that network will it then cause availability and reliability issues?

Exactly. With a family, pit stops in the ICE take the same amount of time as in the lightning. We’ve got about 10-12 8hr EV trips under our belt and the act of fueling takes less time, sure. However, the overall stops for us are the same because it takes just as long for the kids to get out, do their business, buy every sugary drink/candy snack under the sun, and get back in the vehicle.

As you mention, it’s the requirement to actually plan the stop and not just pick the next exit, that’s what is the downside currently. On many of these east coast routes, the SC availability will make the difference. I think you’ll see some issues with availability on the most frequently used routes, but overall I think it’ll be a benefit to us. I also still think many folks will stick to EA if they’re getting it for free.

 

[Amps]

On many of these east coast routes, the SC availability will make the difference.

This is the key point to all of this thread. It's about to get a lot better. Soon.

The GOM will become more useless when you can confidently skip a charing stop because there's another reliable charger well within range.

 

[Engelwood]

Curious if anybody has any thoughts on which would be better?

60 by yourself VS 65 drafting behind a semi.

Keep trying to test, but hard to get similar conditions or a semi going 65.

 

[Ffxdude]

This is the key point to all of this thread. It's about to get a lot better. Soon.

The GOM will become more useless when you can confidently skip a charing stop because there's another reliable charger well within range.

Yep, hopefully it'll be in time for the summer driving season and hopefully will work as advertised.

Curious if anybody has any thoughts on which would be better?

60 by yourself VS 65 drafting behind a semi.

Keep trying to test, but hard to get similar conditions or a semi going 65.

Can't speak to exact speeds, but I've always found drafting works best. if you can't find a truck going your pace, just tuck up behind behind any vehicles at highway speed. It'll get you better efficiency than being the pace car...

 

[Maxx]

Find a grandma in a slow car to get behind, a good podcast and enjoy the ride.

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