Help...need advice on route

[luebri]

Just rent a U Haul Box truck and have your brother drive that... you can "draft" him on the way back!

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[biers]

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.

Glad I'm not the only EV route planning nerd

I love this stuff, but for most this is where they decide to keep ICE vehicles. I vote for going for it. Drive 60-65 mph on the long stretch until you are confident you'll make it.

 

[Zprime29]

Here's the process I follow:

...

Bookmarked this and will run through it over the weekend. I see now why ABRP is recommended, I dig the customization.

 

[Roy2001]

One more thing which can greatly reduce energy usage: follow a semi.

 

[VTbuckeye]

It is not approved or endorsed by Ford, but if your brother has a 1 ton ram and some tow straps and a safe stretch of road you could tow the lightning (lightning in in drive). This would essentially be using the ram to simulate a downhill and use regen to charge the battery. I am not sure how fast (certainly not highway speed, but 25+ mph would allow significant regeneration) you would need to go for how long. (Back of the napkin math... If you can regen 75kw?? at 30mph then 5 miles = 10 minutes = 12.5kwh returned to the battery 9%?).

Wear a coat, hat use as little climate control as possible, use heated seats and keep the speed under 65.

Also on the uhaul car trailer...the wheelbase would also be a problem. I towed a Tacoma 100+ miles to where carvana would pick it up. There was about 4 or 5 more inches of wheelbase support with a double cab short bed Tacoma (127.4 inch wheelbase), so the 145 of the f150 would not work even if the weight capacity was within range.

 

[klossfam]

I drive to our cottage 260 miles in Central Ontario and make it with 10% ish left if I leave at 100%. This includes a 45 F rainy night in Oct 2022.

Elevation change is 600+ ft and 72 mph on the highway. Most other road is at 55-60 mph. The 224 miles described should be easy and especially if you keep your speed 'reasonable'

 

[Joneii]

My mission planning process is similar to RickLightning’s, but I don’t use ABRP. I use Googlemaps and compare the route with PlugShare filtered for 120 kW chargers. If that doesn’t yield me enough charging options then I’ll change the filter settings to 50 kW or greater. I then evaluate the chargers with the PlugShare reviews to make sure they have a decent chance of being operational. I then enter the route adding each charger as a waypoint on the FordPass app MyTrips. Sometimes you may have to make more than one route, but I like to have every charger that I evaluated in my route. As I travel I evaluate how much charge I need to get to the next charger and (if possible, the one beyond that). The truck shows a predicted range circle that grows as you charge and can help, but I always check the miles to the next two chargers and charge until I have that plus a 20 mile pad. Sometimes the range is too far for this, so do the best you can. A couple basic tenets I follow are:
1. ABCs (Always Be Charging). The truck charges at max rate for the first 5-10 minutes after you plug in, so charging often for shorter periods allows you to keep moving. Also, if there is a level 2 somewhere and you are going to be there for whatever reason—plug in.
2. The 80% solution works 90% of the time. You rarely need to charge beyond 80% and the time it takes to do it means you only do so if you must (usually this is when I’m towing).
3. Love the one your with. If there are questionable chargers on my route I will get more than I need at the ones that are working well. This means if I get to a charger that is reported as slow or busy or generally unreliable, I may be able to skip it or at least spend less time there.
4. In God we trust, all else we verify. I look at the truck’s range predictions, but I always do ballpark math to verify. Nice weather= 2.0 mil/kWh, Inclement weather (near freezing or colder, high winds, heavy precipitation)= 1.5 mil/kWh, Towing= 1.0 mil/kWh, Towing in inclement weather =0.7 mil/kWh. These numbers tend to be conservative, so if my math says I can do it and the truck says I can’t, I go for it. So far these tenets have served me well. I hope this helps.

 

[Zprime29]

After all that, I finally scored a transport at a reasonable price

Truck will be delivered Wed. I'm using all the tips to plan a camping trip to northern AZ. Can't wait to see how the truck will make camping more enjoyable. I usually take a propane grill, thinking about an electric griddle now.

 

[Amps]

thinking about an electric griddle now

Glad to hear that you found a way to get the truck home. Check out an induction hob. Cast iron works great on them. Lightning ready 220V induction hob with an easy to find 14-30 plug. I've used this one in my kitchen for 5 years:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MZWMEF3/

 

[Zprime29]

I like that idea!

 

[Smith]

Electric vehicle charging stations are now on the Waze


Finding a charging station for your electric vehicle just got a lot easier. Starting today, you’ll be able to enter your electric vehicle (EV) car and plug type into the Waze app to find relevant EV charging stations along your route. This feature will roll out globally over the coming weeks.

Charging station information is often inconsistent, outdated or unreliable, creating a major pain point for EV drivers who may navigate to a charging station only to discover they can’t find it or use it. By adding up-to-date EV charging information to the Waze map, it’s even easier to charge your car and get help finding where or when you’ll come across the next station.

Thanks to local Map Editors from our Waze Community, EV data is reviewed and updated in real-time to provide the most accurate, comprehensive information to the map.

Waze is committed to making it easier and more accessible for EV drivers to charge your vehicles. Whether you’re preparing for a long summer road trip or heading across town to a soccer game, you can rest assured Waze will help you find a charging station along the way.

https://blog.google/waze/electric-vehicle-charging-stations-are-now-on-the-waze-map/

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