Highway Range

[Attorneyslattery]

Hi, I bought an F-150 lightning last week and I am considering taking it on a 300 mile round trip road trip (150 miles each way) this weekend. I have twin 4 year old boys who want to see an NBA basketball game and we live quite a ways from a large city. The trip would be almost exclusively interstate driving. I don't have a home charger yet because of a issue that came up installing it so I would probably need to fast charge in my hometown and after the game on the way home. I have a flash with the extended range battery. I am wondering what to expect interms of range. Should I expect 1.8 Kwh on the highway? It looks like the weather will be ok. In the 50's (f) with a possible 10 mph head wind. Also, is there any reason to think repeatedly fast charging is going to damage my battery? Thanks.

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[lightspeed]

Depends on how fast you drive what range you can get. At 70 without a headwind, expect around 270 miles fully charged.

You're going to have to charge at least once.

I hope you have the Tesla adapter. It gives you a lot more options.

Fast charging doesn't seem to hurt the battery much. But if it did, it would take a lot of fast charging before you noticed anything.

 

[biers]

I’ve done probably 100 DC charges in my 59k miles on my SR Pro. No noticeable degradation. Drive it and enjoy it. If you can leave with 100% and find a L2 charger to use during the game, you might not have to stop and charge at all.
i just got back from a 160 mile each way Mariners game. Stopped once to DC charge for about 25 min. Easy

 

[potato]

In the 50's (f) with a possible 10 mph head wind.

A head wind will destroy your efficiency. You should plan to charge somewhere.

Slower charging is probably better, but as time goes on it's looking like it's really not much of a factor. The battery management system does its thing and minimizes the degradation.

If there's a choice, minimize depth of discharge (many small charges are better than a few big ones) and don't let it sit at extremes of high and low state of charge. But generally don't worry about it. Charge when and how you need to. On road trips you don't have much choice.

 

[Athrun88]

Best bet would be to plan for a charge in the city, either during the game or afterwards when you go get a bite to eat and (hopefully) celebrate the win of your team. That'll guarantee that you can drive at any speed, regardless of conditions, and make it to/from your destination with zero issues. Charge up to your desired SoC when you get to your area and Bob's your uncle. If you have a NACS to CCS adapter, you can probably find a Tesla Supercharger (tend to be more common/easy to spot) but any DCFC station should suffice as well.

I do alot of highway driving to meet clients and average around 3km/kWh which is about 1.8mi/kWh. On the ER, I'll get about 350km (217mi) on a full charge in current cooler temps driving at around 120-130km/h (74-80mi/hr); also been fairly windy the past week or so but I haven't been tracking wind direction. I always schedule in a charge at the destination to get home or somewhere along the way, then charge up when I get home.

Enjoy the game!

 

[Firn]

Hi, I bought an F-150 lightning last week and I am considering taking it on a 300 mile round trip road trip (150 miles each way) this weekend. I have twin 4 year old boys who want to see an NBA basketball game and we live quite a ways from a large city. The trip would be almost exclusively interstate driving. I don't have a home charger yet because of a issue that came up installing it so I would probably need to fast charge in my hometown and after the game on the way home. I have a flash with the extended range battery. I am wondering what to expect interms of range. Should I expect 1.8 Kwh on the highway? It looks like the weather will be ok. In the 50's (f) with a possible 10 mph head wind. Also, is there any reason to think repeatedly fast charging is going to damage my battery? Thanks.

Someone who has done his research!

I think your estimate of 1.8mi/kwh is reasonable for your speed and those conditions.

One downside will be the need to fast charge before you leave. As I'm guessing you know the charging speed slows significantly over 80%.
Do you have the Ford mobile charger? If you hit the dcfc the night before you could throw the truck on the mobile charger and a regular outlet overnight to get closer to 100% before you leave.

 

[RickLightning]

Drive 65, with the headwind that is 75mph.

Fast charge to 90% the day prior, then plug in to 120v at home to get to 100%.

Use ABRP to plan, PlugShare to verified chargers.

 

[Heliian]

3km/kWh which is about 1.8mi/kWh. On the ER, I'll get about 350km (217mi) on a full charge in current cooler temps driving at around 120-130km/h (74-80mi/hr);

Your numbers seem a little optimistic.

I would plan for at least 40kwh/100km on the highway and over 120kmh that's going to drop substantially.
110kmh is what I found to be ideal for highway cruising. Then of course, wind speeds and temp needs to be taken into account.

Also, when I plan for trips, I like to only use the 20-80% range for optimal charging speeds.

Regardless, you need level 2 at home so you can start your trips at 100% and a conditioned battery.

 

[Athrun88]

Optimistic or not, it's my real world results. I routinely drive from Toronto to London, Sarnia, Niagara, Peterborough, Kingston, Ottawa and that is the average that I get. I do have 1PD off during my time on the highway so I do coast when needed. Also have the heat going for most of my trips too. We'll see how things change as the weather warms up, hopefully the numbers look better.

 

[Dan C]

I usually get between 1.6 and 1.8 on the freeway under normal conditions , using heat or a/c. Under ideal conditions 2 to 2.2. Mostly 65 to 70. Hopefully the headwind will be a tail wind on the way back.

 

[Heliian]

my real world results. I routinely drive from Toronto to London, Sarnia, Niagara, Peterborough, Kingston, Ottawa

Ah, not overly cold weather driving.

What's your kwh/100km average showing on your trip meters?

 

[topher10]

Fast charge to 90% the day prior, then plug in to 120v at home to get to 100%.

Use ABRP to plan, PlugShare to verified chargers.

I think this is solid advice since you will have to fast charge on the trip. So get as close to 100% as you can before you leave, use PlugShare to find high-rated chargers on the route, and ABRP to provide estimates on when to charge. Then, watch your efficiency on the first bit of the trip. 1.8 mi/kWh seems reasonable, and if it's lower, you can calculate.

Honestly, if the whole round trip is 300 miles, you will likely make a single DCFC stop regardless of your efficiency. Therefore, perfect efficiency might not be needed, since you can easily get plenty of additional distance with one stop. The other consideration is whether to charge before or after the game. It might be nice to leave earlier than strictly necessary and fast charge on your way in. That way you can get home without having to charge and avoid a late night stop. All this depends on game time, I guess. But the point is that charging for 45mins in a random parking lot can feel different at noon vs. midnight...

 

[jobofly79]

Plan on 1 charging stop on your way home. Not worth risking it with little ones. My son and I just did a similar trip last month when we went to philly to see the 76ers play the warriors. We had to stop once on the way home to charge. That was 386 miles round trip.

 

[BennyTheBeaver]

You will not get 300 miles at highway speed unless you hypermile by drifting behind a semi and/or keeping your speed around 55mph (with no headwinds, cold/hot temps, and elevation changes).

DCFC isn't scary. If you don't have a DCFC adapter you can still use other networks (like EA) with a CCS1 plug. 1 DCFC session for 15-20 minutes should be all you need to complete your journey (perfect time for a bathroom break).

 

[Firn]

Your numbers seem a little optimistic.

I would plan for at least 40kwh/100km on the highway and over 120kmh that's going to drop substantially.
110kmh is what I found to be ideal for highway cruising. Then of course, wind speeds and temp needs to be taken into account.

Also, when I plan for trips, I like to only use the 20-80% range for optimal charging speeds.

Regardless, you need level 2 at home so you can start your trips at 100% and a conditioned battery.

In ideal weather I get 2.2mi/kwh at 65mph, a hint over 2.0mi/kwh at 70mph, and close to 1.9mi/kwh at 75, as the temp drops that moved down around 0.1mi/kwh at high 40(f) degrees. He may face a headwind, which will drop that, but he also has a heat pump running in its ideal conditions, so he gains a little back there compared to my numbers. I think his numbers are about as close as one can estimate.

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