Question on standard range for current EV owners

[Pioneer74]

New to EV's, but excited to jump into the game. Here's a scenario.

I know you're not supposed to charge the battery over 90% or let it go below 10%. If Ford hits their target, that means 230mi x 80% = 184 miles for the Standard Battery.

With 184 miles as an estimate, my current commute to work and back is about 110 miles. I live in SE Michigan, so it can get pretty cold so I'll use today as an example. Temperatures when I left for work was in the lower 30's. Driving home was about 20. 82 of my 110 mile commute is freeway driving at 70 to 75mph. The rest would consist of roads with 45 or 55mph limits. The truck would be garaged and preconditioned before I left for work, but would sit uncovered in a parking lot for 12 hours. I would then want to "remote start" to warm the truck up at least 15 minutes before departure.

My question is, in the opinions of people that have owned and driven EV's, would the Standard Range battery work with that commute? Or is the Extended Range battery, or a vehicle like the Mach-E with better aerodynamics for highway driving, a better vehicle for my commute?

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[sotek2345]

New to EV's, but excited to jump into the game. Here's a scenario.

I know you're not supposed to charge the battery over 90% or let it go below 10%. If Ford hits their target, that means 230mi x 80% = 184 miles for the Standard Battery.

With 184 miles as an estimate, my current commute to work and back is about 110 miles. I live in SE Michigan, so it can get pretty cold so I'll use today as an example. Temperatures when I left for work was in the lower 30's. Driving home was about 20. 82 of my 110 mile commute is freeway driving at 70 to 75mph. The rest would consist of roads with 45 or 55mph limits. The truck would be garaged and preconditioned before I left for work, but would sit uncovered in a parking lot for 12 hours. I would then want to "remote start" to warm the truck up at least 15 minutes before departure.

My question is, in the opinions of people that have owned and driven EV's, would the Standard Range battery work with that commute? Or is the Extended Range battery, or a vehicle like the Mach-E with better aerodynamics for highway driving, a better vehicle for my commute?

Given what we have seen on our Mach-e, I think it would be tight. Right now (14 degrees out), our Guessometer is is showing about 165miles (vs 270 rated). I know that is conservative, but a similar drop will push the SR Lightning down to 140ish. At a minimum I would say you would need to charge to 100 percent in the winter and make sure you precondition.

 

[Nick Gerteis]

Charging to 100% daily is not a problem as long as you don’t leave it sitting fully charged for days. In your case you’re jumping in and driving pretty much right after charging up, no worries there. 100% isn’t *really* 100%, there’s a upper and a lower buffer.

 

[Maquis]

You also need to consider how long you’ll keep the vehicle. Battery capacity drops over charging cycles. For example, a 100,000 mile battery warranty usually means it’s warranted to retain something like 70% capacity. If a 70% drop, plus cold weather loss doesn’t meet your use case, you‘ll need to consider replacing the vehicle or battery at some point that may be sooner than you had originally planned.

 

[adoublee]

Agree on charging to "100%". Way easier on the battery then regularly DC fast charging. Speaking of which, I would be looking to see if there is a reasonably close 150kW+ DC fast charger from your commute path to save from an "oopsie".

 

[GarageMahal]

Any chance at all you can plug in at work? Even level 1 charging will allow you to precondition before heading home.

 

[Pioneer74]

Any chance at all you can plug in at work? Even level 1 charging will allow you to precondition before heading home.

You would think the plant building the Lightning would have chargers available, but there are none planned as far as I know. At least for hourly workers. There are some in the salaried lots.

 

[GarageMahal]

You would think the plant building the Lightning would have chargers available, but there are none planned as far as I know. At least for hourly workers. There are some in the salaried lots.

Bummer, not even old school 120 outlets for block heaters

 

[jbirdzee]

I can share some of my own data here as I have a very similar commute to what you've just described, and I am doing that with a MME ER. Are you commuting east-west or north-south?

Similar to sotek2345 and others the range estimates I see are in the 160-170 mile range when I am charged to 90%.

-I travel 55 miles each way to work. 40 miles in each direction are at 72mph, the rest are back roads between 45-55mph.
-MME is garaged at home, and preconditioned before I leave in the morning
-MME is in a parking lot and freezes outside throughout my workday, it's not plugged in.
-I use the NYS thruway and head east-west for the commute. Heading east uses less energy (wind at my back) and west consistently has consumed about 5% more battery. (I've made the trip ~35 times with this car).
-I keep my climate control set to 65F, auto-1 mode with heated seats at medium and steering wheel heat on.
-My worst consumption thus far was a drive that was 15F outside headed to work and 20F headed home. I had to keep the defrost on for the entire trip in both directions because it was freezing rain. Any time I tried to back off the climate control the rain would freeze on the windshield, so I didn't have much of a choice. That trip used 30% of my battery charge headed east, and 35% headed home - 65% total, or around 57kWh of my 88kWh usable pack size (1.9mi/kWh). I got home with 45 miles of range on the range estimator, 25% charge remaining. I have done several trips now with temperatures between 5-15F but none were as bad as that one.
-Wind really REALLY increases consumption. In my case, i think my range has been influenced more from headwind than the outside temperature.

If you are looking at the Pro, you may want to get a heated steering wheel cover and heated seat pad if you weren't planning to retrofit those parts in. It will help when you can back off the climate control by heating yourself up directly.

Agreeing with others here that it will be a tight trip for you and you'll want to be mindful of pack aging as was mentioned.

 

[Dirtyrider89]

I’m pretty much have the same drive as you I live across the border in Ohio and drive to Taylor Mi . I was wonder how much range you lose with winter tires on to instead of the low rolling tires as I order a pro .

 

[Pioneer74]

Are you commuting east-west or north-south?

North-South. Basically I'm commuting between Toledo OH and Dearborn MI. Straight up I-75.

The Pro will be tempting if it's there when I'm allowed to order. I really want a Lariat+. But I'm wondering, with Ford EV's in their infancy, would the Mach-E be a better commuter vehicle for me.

 

[Horse-E]

One thing I might add is your schedule also doesn’t leave much room for detours, after work activities/side trips, at least on your working days ie you basically have to get home and charge, since it will take 8 hours or so with the 48A charger (and even longer with the included 32A one).

 

[maverick92]

North-South. Basically I'm commuting between Toledo OH and Dearborn MI. Straight up I-75.

The Pro will be tempting if it's there when I'm allowed to order. I really want a Lariat+. But I'm wondering, with Ford EV's in their infancy, would the Mach-E be a better commuter vehicle for me.

You may not want to hear this, but the MME would be a better vehicle for your commute. As others have mentioned, aerodynamics and outside temperature have a very large impact on real world range. Cutting it close for your daily commute will get old very fast.

 

[F150ROD]

North-South. Basically I'm commuting between Toledo OH and Dearborn MI. Straight up I-75.

The Pro will be tempting if it's there when I'm allowed to order. I really want a Lariat+. But I'm wondering, with Ford EV's in their infancy, would the Mach-E be a better commuter vehicle for me.

MME will be the better commuter and the ER will be your best option. You could potentially cut it with 230 but it’s going to be a stretch

 

[adoublee]

Looks like it would take you about 5.5 hours to dump 110 miles back into the truck with SR on a 48A EVSE that maxes out the onboard charger. ER would resupply the 110 miles in under 3.5 hours if your home can handle all 80A it can accept.

When I bought my first EV I got it home before having a level 2 EVSE installed. I wanted to get a sense of range and drained much of the battery. Got it home and put it on a 120VAC trickle but that is so slow that between that and wanting to drive it to work it took me something like a week to get it refilled. Obviously a lesson to get EVSE prepared to operate right away upon delivery, but also there is a feeling of wanting to get refilled as fast as possible to be ready to use the vehicle for whatever might come up - more so than any experienced "range anxiety" once you learn the vehicle can cover daily needs ( ersus road tripping).

If nothing else, carefully consider EVSE selection and wiring for the SR. You can pump in kWh the fastest at 48A continuous. 48A continuous requires a 60A breaker protecting the circuit. A 60A circuit breaker cannot protect a common 50A outlet. So expect to hardwire and make sure electrician is supporting a 48A or 50A EVSE with a 60A breaker and wiring.

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