Help...need advice on route

[Zprime29]

I would cost a bit more, but you could plan on driving, but also have your brother with the trailer traveling with you. Just in case.

I started considering just that. I'd like to get some long distance experience with it before taking a trip with the whole family.

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[Zprime29]

I have a vivid memory of using a UHaul car hauler in winter, those trailer surge brakes makes stopping quite interesting if it is slick.

UHaul's trailer is only rated for 5290lbs, we are looking elsewhere for something that can handle the weight. My brother is checking to see if we can borrow one from his work but he wasn't sure if even those had the load capacity.

 

[RickLightning]

I've only used PlugShare, didn't know A Better Route Planner could do that. I (incorrectly) assumed it was more or less similar to what PlugShare had. I'll check that out tonight. Thanks!

PlugShare is poor are route planning as compared to ABRP.

 

[Roy2001]

How about this? Let your brother prepared so you just give a try, if you cannot make it 20 miles away, he can pull you.

 

[Zprime29]

I didn't think car dollies are safe for EV's.

I checked ABRP, it says charge to 100% at the first stop and I'll make it with 10% SOC at 65 MPH speed. Tempting...

 

[TaxmanHog]

How about this? Let your brother prepared so you just give a try, if you cannot make it 20 miles away, he can pull you.

Ideally the Lightning should have all wheels off the ground, otherwise slow speed and short distance with all wheels on the ground

 

[Roy2001]

I didn't think car dollies are safe for EV's.

I checked ABRP, it says charge to 100% at the first stop and I'll make it with 10% SOC at 65 MPH speed. Tempting...

I tend to think It doesn't count wind, not sure about weather.

Try to drive around before leaving to see your miles per kWh and make sure don't use heater.

 

[Zprime29]

I checked a wind map, at least today the winds are cross/slightly in my favor. I'll double check on day of. I'm starting to settle on the idea of taking a trailer for back up and testing out to see how far I can make it.

 

[laselvasurf]

I checked a wind map, at least today the winds are cross/slightly in my favor. I'll double check on day of. I'm starting to settle on the idea of taking a trailer for back up and testing out to see how far I can make it.

I've found ABRP within 1-2% accurate on my SR truck. Use their CarPlay NAV and it'll say what it thought your truck would be at on the drive and you can compare it to actual. If there is a difference between those two values half way through the trip, slow down to conserve. If it's tracking to be correct(as it has for me), then you'll be good to go with 10% SOC at your arrival.

 

[Joneii]

I would absolutely drive the truck. Trailering it is unnecessary (unless a charger goes down) and adds some risk in mountains. Don’t leave the dealer without a full charge and you’ll be fine. That’s my advice.

 

[RickLightning]

I didn't think car dollies are safe for EV's.

I checked ABRP, it says charge to 100% at the first stop and I'll make it with 10% SOC at 65 MPH speed. Tempting...

Now you have to add some reason.

If that's a DC charger, charging to 100% is going to take a long time. Better to charge to 80%, then hit another charger if necessary.

10% is not a good buffer for an inexperienced person with a new truck. I would target 30%.

Make sure you put the vehicle in the settings. Set the miles per kilowatt at 65 to a lower number for winter to really make sure.

Look up EVERY charging location in PlugShare. Stick to EA chargers if possible.

 

[Zprime29]

Now you have to add some reason.

If that's a DC charger, charging to 100% is going to take a long time. Better to charge to 80%, then hit another charger if necessary.

10% is not a good buffer for an inexperienced person with a new truck. I would target 30%.

Make sure you put the vehicle in the settings. Set the miles per kilowatt at 65 to a lower number for winter to really make sure.

Look up EVERY charging location in PlugShare. Stick to EA chargers if possible.

It's Moab, UT to Flagstaff, AZ (and then down to Phoenix and Tucson). There is only one DCFC between Moab and Flagstaff, in Bluff, UT. It's a utility provided charger (free according to plugshare reviews) that does 63kW on two chargers or 120kW if only one person is charging. There is one level 2 charger between Bluff and Flagstaff.

 

[RickLightning]

Moab to Tucson comes up with 101 miles and a stop in Bluff, Utah for a 60 minute Charge. Then 162 miles to Gallup, NM (EA), another 142 to Show Low, AZ (EA), then 87 to Globe, AZ (EA), and then 109 to Tucson, AZ.

Doesn't root you to Flagstaff at all...Total of 2.5 hours charging and 10.3 hours driving, for a total of 13. hours, plus or minus.

If you have to go through Flagstaff, it sends you their after Gallup, with one other charge.

 

[Zprime29]

My brother lives in Phoenix so we were routing through Flagstaff as it was a shorter (overall) route. I'll take a look at the route through Gallop, perhaps a little extra detour might work out better. Not super wild about the long day though. That was another part of why we were considering towing it back to Phoenix, then I'd drive home from there.

A lot more to consider for these kind of trips than I anticipated. We plan on using it to go to El Paso a couple times a year but that should be easy, there's DCFC every 75-100 miles. I really appreciate the tips!

 

[RickLightning]

Here's the process I follow:

1) Do route in GoogleMaps. This is the shortest possible drive route.
2) Do route in ABRP. Look at the differences. Figure out why. Tweak ABRP as I wish. For example, it tells me I cannot go 197 miles in cold weather to my first charger, and I know I can, so I override it. But it's not happy. Tweak settings, like I know I get 2.9 - 3.0 miles when I drive, but I plan my trip at 2.7 @ 65 (setting in ABRP) - and this is for the Mach-E. That way, I've planned my trip with a buffer of 1-2.7/2.9 = 7% at least. In the winter, I drop my planning to 2.3.
3) Put route in FordPass in Maps, and see what it comes up with. Send it to the truck.
4) Evaluate route, and make smart decisions. You may WANT to go direct, but the charging required would be so slow that it's better to go less direct. Or, when you look up the location in PlugShare, it's awful.
5) Export route to Excel, and then paste into Google Sheets. Look up each charger in PlugShare, and paste the link on each line. Then, you've looked it up at time of planning, you can easily click on each stop the day prior, and then click again during the trip. A recent plan got changed when the Sheetz gas station closed for redevelopment, and EA closed the location. Now, you cannot go north through West Virginia from Virginia due to lack of adequate charging. Oops, different route time.

In the vehicle, I run Ford Nav (actually I wasn't, now I will due to the battery preconditioning added recently) on the display. I run ABRP on my phone, and my wife runs GoogleMaps on hers.

I also tweak charging from states that charge by the kWh to those that charge by the minute, which is about 1/2 the cost. Right now that's about a dozen EA states. So, a $20 charge in Ohio becomes a $10 charge in Kentucky. Sometimes you can't do anything, other times you can charge less in one state, and then charge more in the next, and save real money. On a given day, that can easily be $20 or more.

Think of it as a plane trip. Pilot plans a route, allows for contingencies, and plans for what if the landing airport closes. You do the same. Never leave a charger if you don't have a working charger at the next stop - or alternates.

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