3,800 mile winter trip, new learnings

[Magendi]

I should add that I experienced some other new things on this trip. Limited power availability due to cold battery - as low as 78% power, very often 91% power. That was a new one for me.

I've been seeing the same of late but when I step on the pedal I can't say I feel power lacking. It serves mostly to remind me to try to not hammer so much on the accelerator if I don't want to stop to charge.

Great writeup! One question: why not let the truck cold soak then charge first thing in the morning? A DC fast charger is a pretty effective way to warm up the battery so that first leg is more efficient. I suspect it might end up saving time over charging the night before and might be better for the battery long term to get cold overnight when at a lower state of charge (so long as it's not so low that you can't limp to the nearest fast charger).

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[RickLightning]

I've been seeing the same of late but when I step on the pedal I can't say I feel power lacking. It serves mostly to remind me to try to not hammer so much on the accelerator if I don't want to stop to charge.

Great writeup! One question: why not let the truck cold soak then charge first thing in the morning? A DC fast charger is a pretty effective way to warm up the battery so that first leg is more efficient. I suspect it might end up saving time over charging the night before and might be better for the battery long term to get cold overnight when at a lower state of charge (so long as it's not so low that you can't limp to the nearest fast charger).

1) By charging at night, the battery is already warm from driving, so the charging session is faster.

2) When on a trip, I'd rather check in the hotel, eat dinner, and then go charge and go to bed versus spending 45 minutes tomorrow morning charging when I want to be on the road.

3) Similarly, when going to a ski area, we're up at 6, eating at 6:30 or 7 (depending on hotel schedule), leaving at 8:15, and on the slopes as close to 9 as we can get. Taking 45 minutes to charge isn't part of the plan.

4) Location of fast charger might have been 20 miles before the hotel exit.

5) Unless range matters, that first leg that's impacted by efficiency (cold battery) doesn't impact TIME. You still drive 50 miles in the same amount of time. Had I had one of the 150 mile legs, I probably would have gone to a fast charger to warm up the battery before starting that leg.

 

[Eboss]

Do you really find that the Google maps predicted SOC at destination doesn't match what the truck is saying?

I've done a few 100+ mile trips using Google maps and i was concerned about that. I kept an eye on the Google prediction and the actual truck info and they seemed to me that they were matching pretty well.

That would be a total disappointment since the Google navigation is a huge upgrade over the terrible, embarrassingly awful Ford system. Did I mention the Ford system is awful?

 

[RickLightning]

Do you really find that the Google maps predicted SOC at destination doesn't match what the truck is saying?

I've done a few 100+ mile trips using Google maps and i was concerned about that. I kept an eye on the Google prediction and the actual truck info and they seemed to me that they were matching pretty well.

That would be a total disappointment since the Google navigation is a huge upgrade over the terrible, embarrassingly awful Ford system. Did I mention the Ford system is awful?

They were so far off that I sent feedback at least twice.

 

[B177y]

Without an OBD adapter and Car Scanner, doing trips like this isn't for the faint of heart. Using Ford's Navigation and instrumentation is risky. Even using GoogleMaps with Android Auto doesn't work well, as it projects an end of trip SOC% that doesn't match what the vehicle says on the instrument panel.

For my clarification, are you saying that you did you use ABRP with an OBD for this trip?

I did a similar length trip through WA, ID, MT and ND and found that the ABRP/OBD was the best, easiest, most accurate for me. It was late fall, so the weather was warmer.

I agree with your answer above to @Eboss , Google Maps wasn't as user friendly and I didn't like the inability to plan ahead. The charger suggestions were sometimes really random even with a reliable Tesla or close by EA much easier to access on my route.

I *WANT* to like and use the Ford nav, but it is basically useless in it's current iteration without the Tesla charger integration.

 

[RickLightning]

No. I used Car scanner with OBD and free ABRP.

 

[Joneii]

While getting reduced power indications for cold batteries makes sense, keep your eyes on it. I started getting reduced power indications even when the battery wasn’t cold. I thought this unusual because I had only ever seen it at really low SoC or with a cold battery.

Then I started seeing 93% power with 51% SOC and a battery indicating normal temps. Well, I didn’t worry much because 93% of 585 hp is still a shit ton. A few months later and my favorite vehicle is now at the dealer getting a battery module replaced. Looking back on it, I suspect these seemingly pointless power reductions were my first indicators and they began on a few thousand mile multi-day towing road trip.

I hope I’m wrong, but keep your guard up

 

[RickLightning]

Already had some modules replaced last year.

 

[3rdgenfan]

Did some damage on my mid-back on a fall while skiing 10 or so years ago that still crops up to this day, basically faceplanted and the spine went the wrong way. Hopefully the recovery is quick!

 

[Power P]

Great write up, Rick. Thanks for sharing...I too did a trip to the mountains in my new F-150 Lariat last weekend (Seattle to Lake Wenatchee and then back to Steven's Pass resort) and the truck's range held up pretty well all considering the low temps (mostly in the teens from the pass East). I largely coasted back down the mountain Route 2 into Sultan for a high speed charge at an EVCS station coincidentally co-located at a Chevron! Pretty impressed with the truck so far...

I'm curious which OBD tool you'd recommend as I'm considering getting this and ABRP going on my next longer trip to Whistler next week. Like many in this forum, I don't trust the native SOC, and am looking for more (better) insight into range. I'll be hitting Tesla chargers on my trip north soon. That should be an adventure in itself too.

Thanks again for sharing your story!

 

[RickLightning]

Great write up, Rick. Thanks for sharing...I too did a trip to the mountains in my new F-150 Lariat last weekend (Seattle to Lake Wenatchee and then back to Steven's Pass resort) and the truck's range held up pretty well all considering the low temps (mostly in the teens from the pass East). I largely coasted back down the mountain Route 2 into Sultan for a high speed charge at an EVCS station coincidentally co-located at a Chevron! Pretty impressed with the truck so far...

I'm curious which OBD tool you'd recommend as I'm considering getting this and ABRP going on my next longer trip to Whistler next week. Like many in this forum, I don't trust the native SOC, and am looking for more (better) insight into range. I'll be hitting Tesla chargers on my trip north soon. That should be an adventure in itself too.

Thanks again for sharing your story!

OBDLink CX

 

[woodsman]

Enjoyed your write up, admire your tenacity. I have been thinking about Glacier National Park, but am a little concerned about crossing oil country for lack of chargers. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Rkgensir]

We've had a Mach-E since July 2021, and the Lightning since May 2023. Done a bunch of trips, we were at 26 states and 1 province before this trip. Now we've got 31 states under our belt.

Purpose of the trip was skiing - last year we did 7 days across 3 areas in 2 states, this year the plan was 15 days across 7 areas in 4 states (Mountain Collective pass). Unfortunately, plans changed.

Without an OBD adapter and Car Scanner, doing trips like this isn't for the faint of heart. Using Ford's Navigation and instrumentation is risky. Even using GoogleMaps with Android Auto doesn't work well, as it projects an end of trip SOC% that doesn't match what the vehicle says on the instrument panel. Using CarScanner, and doing MATH, one can project the exact charge needed at a particular station much more accurately. Seeing instant consumption really helps.

One of the very telling things is the impact of cold on the battery - i.e. kWh available. It's quite amazing. Here's a list:

Battery Temp SOC% kWh
89.6 85% 114.21
46.0 93% 114.20

Look at that difference! I recorded energy at shutdown and next morning ice cold too on a few days. Shutdown with 118kWh, woke up with 103kWh. As we drove, the kWh increased, but also decreased due to driving. Lowest battery temp I saw was 15 degrees.

Trip started out fine, we went up through Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and then North Dakota. We were prepared for the cold, and knew we'd take a range hit. Ended up with a 20mph headwind at one point, going from North Dakota into Montana. Some of these legs have no charging options, so you have to have the right amount of charge at the start, because you have to make the next charging spot (for example, from Billings, MT to Bozeman, MT). Knew we had to slow down, one leg is 150 miles and ABRP recommends 70mph max. We did 62 with no heat, and the hit the heat and did 65. Lowest efficiency we got on a leg was 1.2.

We learned that we were comfortable at Auto 1 and 64 degrees, whereas in the Mach-E it takes more like 67/68 and even then it's drafty. We wore lined pants, long sleeve shirts, and I had a fleece vest on (my wife was dressed similarly and sometimes had a blanket over her legs).

I was fairly confident that the truck would not precondition going to any fast charger, I proved that last March, and I was right. Until you get OTA update 10.0.1, you're SOL. My Mach-E used to precondition, then lost the capability, then gained it back with 10.0.1. That means that the first 10 minutes of each fast charge is spent devoting 8 to 10kW of energy to heat the battery - and you waste time at the charger until the speed climbs by the end of that 10 minutes. I was able to see that the Lightning battery pack retains heat during the drive, unlike the Mach-E, and each subsequent charge of the day devoted very little power to heating the battery.

The PLAN was to use Tesla SuperChargers unless I couldn't. Reasons - no waiting, lower cost (with membership) vs. EA (with membership), more likely that they work (all did, not one miss).

The trip was a 3 day drive, then 2 days in Bozeman skiing Big Sky, then driving down to Grand Targhee, Jackson Hole, then to Utah for Snowbasin and Alta, then to Colorado for Aspen and Arapahoe, then home. Trip was extensively planned, all hotels booked, ski areas reserved (a handful require them), and all chargers laid out.

On day 3 of skiing, I got injured. Basically fell and slammed into the mountain. I don't fall, been skiing for over 50 years, and I NEVER FALL. But somehow I did, and smashed and twisted both knees. Gingerly skied down, and iced the one knee (didn't realize I had hurt both). Next day my wife skied Jackson Hole while I contacted an orthopedic surgeon I know and laid out my symptoms. He immediately called me and said "you're done for the trip, maybe the season". Not a surprise given the level of pain I had. 4 to 6 week recovery at best.

Anyway, new plan, cancel everything (that took a lot of time), and plan a new route home from bumf*ck Idaho. This was through a national forest, using chargers by Otterspace twice, because there were no other options. We were trying to beat a major storm forecast to bring winds of 40mph, gusts over 60. We finally reached the highway early in the afternoon, and then had to deal with snow blowing over the road and icing it up (even though it wasn't snowing). The good news was that we had a huge tailwind at one point and got 2.1 for one long stretch, it was up to 2.4 at times. I never get 2.0 in the summer...

Because of the change in route, we were forced to also use EA chargers in Wyoming, which are 64 cents before discount (to 48 cents). That compares with my Tesla plan of 30 to 37 cents for the entire trip. That killed my cost per mile.

The other thing unique about this trip was that most of the hotels had no charging, or charge ridiculous prices like $3 per hour (for 4kW). So, I had to charge at night after dinner for 45 minutes or more, and then have a cold battery in the morning. Of the 9 hotel nights, we got charging at 2 of them. That's way off from our normal experience. North Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming aren't big on hotel charging. One of the chargers was 4.1kW per hour, which is near useless (but I'll take it).

We drove just under 3,800 miles, for a cost per mile of 23 cents, driven higher by EA's five charges and Otterspace. 13.5% of our charging was free, well below our norm of 2+ times that.

In comparison, last March we drove to California and back, over 5,000 miles. Warmer temps even though it was winter. 29% of our charging was free, and our cost per mile was 11.7 cents, almost exactly 1/2 this year's cost. Clearly free charging impacted that.

Really bummed we didn't get to ski all the areas. The good news was that we were able to visit 7 breweries, and try local beers at 3 other restaurants/tap houses. My UnTappd list grew, as did my gut.

Here's a picture of one of the Otterspace chargers.

Wow, that was an epic post! Great story other than your injury, hope you "get on your feet" soon. I have a winter question. In upstate NY, we not only have seriously cold weather but warm weather spurts with wet snow and rain, then freezing weather again. Endless cycles.

Here's my issue and I'm wondering if others noticed. The plastic shroud that houses the driver's side windshield wiper stem forms a cup that fills up with water during the thaw cycle then freezes. The windshield wiper is encased in ice that requires some, delicate, chopping.

I love this truck. I'm not complaining. Anybody figure out a solution? Anybody have this issue?

Thanks.

 

[Kevin84lee]

Really bummed we didn't get to ski all the areas. The good news was that we were able to visit 7 breweries, and try local beers at 3 other restaurants/tap houses. My UnTappd list grew, as did my gut.

Thank you for this interesting read! I love the part where you're able to compare and give stats/data analytics! (E.g. what's the reason for much lower free charging during this trip vs the other trip?

Oh no! I hope your knees have a quick recovery! What maybe was then end of one skiing journey became the wonderful beginnings of another journey, visiting local breweries!

So now we know what those otterspace charging stations look like, but we didn't get your before and after of your gut! Haha, mind you the local brewery journey was an unexpected one so I guess there would be no before, but only after, of your gut haha.

It's a relief we all know you have a passion for physical activity! That weight we know you won't allow to stay long!

Your Injury and then weight gain...is at least not as Depressing as like when i would sometimes see a morbidly obese person, stuck on a mobility device, motoring their way through a Walmart, stock piled high with frozen tv dinners.... No fitness to be able to be had, good tasting food that is no good for you and repeat Vicious cycle

 

[Henry Ford]

We learned that we were comfortable at Auto 1 and 64 degrees, whereas in the Mach-E it takes more like 67/68 and even then it's drafty. We wore lined pants, long sleeve shirts, and I had a fleece vest on (my wife was dressed similarly and sometimes had a blanket over her legs).

Does your MachE have a sunroof? In cold weather I find it chilly almost all the time if I have the shade off the sunroof in my truck. The radiant cooling is noticeable.

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