3,800 mile winter trip, new learnings

[Zprime29]

I'm quite jealous of these trips. I'm itching to take a multiday journey but I have the typical excuse of limited time off work and wife has other ideas. Hope the recovery goes well.

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[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).

 

[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.

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