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.

 

[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!

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