Road Trip, how low is too low (SOC remaining)

[RetiredLightning]

My only cautionary tale resulted from hitting a slight uphill grade after charging & thinking that I had plenty of range. My wife thought that I must have left something ajar and we were leaking electrons ;-)

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[PJnc284]

You know if it's too close if you have to push it to the charging station a la out of spec.

 

[Firn]

A few things to check.

You can set your vehicle efficiency in ABRP. The default is pretty good for 65mph but if you have mods or drive a Platinum you can make it a bit more pessimistic.

You can set your charger arrival percentage so that it gives you more buffer. You will just end up charging more at the previous stop, but it still gives you more buffer.

If you plan your trip for ahead of time in ABRP it will take the estimated weather into consideration.

If you have a route that is doing directly from 100% down to 8% i would be warry. It's possible to slow down a bit to make it up if you run behind on mi/kwh but that's not a perfect option.

 

[The Weatherman]

That was one of my other questions...will it really go down to 0% before dying? I've seen lots of posts that say yes, but rare posts show actual experience doing it.

No. There have been several videos of range tests that show the Lightning dropping in charge level at an unanticipated rate below 10%. That would be my absolute minimum reach.

 

[TaxmanHog]

No. There have been several videos of range tests that show the Lightning dropping in charge level at an unanticipated rate below 10%. That would be my absolute minimum reach.

That would my plan as well unless @Ford Motor Company has fixed the issue that caught the tubers off guard.

 

[RocketGhost]

20% is my zero. I never plan on going below that to give me a buffer.

I use Apple Maps and it's conservative in its predictions. I've always arrived with more charge than it predicted at the beginning of the trip.

 

[Rocket808]

That was one of my other questions...will it really go down to 0% before dying? I've seen lots of posts that say yes, but rare posts show actual experience doing it.

Yes

I am yes, but 100% want to avoid that!

 

[Ry2023]

I am actually on my first big road trip ( Pa-Tx ) we have recorded everything . Which has shown that the lightnings ford nav gom is pretty conservitive… and usually gets you there if it says it will …. Apple i believe runs off of the ford information from the vehicle….that being said , on the way home later this week ill run both at the same time and see how they compare

 

[Ry2023]

20% is my zero. I never plan on going below that to give me a buffer.

I use Apple Maps and it's conservative in its predictions. I've always arrived with more charge than it predicted at the beginning of the trip.

That the way I do it too…. Have 20% left incase there is an issue with chargers and need to go alittle more

 

[Bwanapete]

On trips I navigate to Superchargers. Can get their street addresses from the Tesla app. Then I watch the difference between miles to empty and miles to the Supercharger. If the difference between the two remains the same, or only diminishes slowly I don’t need to slow down.

 

[Heliian]

Awesome thanks. I plan on leaving at 100% SOC with a preconditioned battery also. And yes, on my one stop will probably just go all the way up to 80%

I would go 85-90% if range is an issue. Then it's not an issue.

 

[Ry2023]

On trips I navigate to Superchargers. Can get their street addresses from the Tesla app. Then I watch the difference between miles to empty and miles to the Supercharger. If the difference between the two remains the same, or only diminishes slowly I don’t need to slow down.

Usually on the navigation when it drops i usually get a big chunk back by the time i get to the destination … but I usually just do speedlimit/ bluecruise

 

[Charge_Rob]

There's no right answer. I've been EV road tripping for 8 years so I push it more than a new owner would. I usually consider the charge stop done and hit the road for the next one when Connected Navigation predicts 10% at the next stop. I've taken the truck as low as 3% one time, 5% multiple times, you don't have 100% power left but no issues when I did.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

If my next stop is also my last for the day and I have a charging option: L1, L2, or DCFC within a very short distance, I'll bring the truck down to 1% or so without concern.

If the next stop isn't my final for the day, then I usually don't plan to go below 10% unless I have a compelling reason. That reason may be the reliability or availability of a closer charging station or perhaps that I'm planning to get lunch and may need extra time to finish my meal and I don't want to be charged extra for idling.

 

[JayTodd]

About to do my 2nd road trip in the Lightning, this one is a little trickier, mainly because of lack of charging stations between start/finish.

Several of the routes get me there quicker, but arrival is 5-9% SOC. These are the routes I've historically taken, but obviously never had to worry about EV charging in the past.

My question is...how much faith to I put in the built in and app based (Apple, ABRP) range estimates? 5-9% feels very risky to me...

Any experience here?

Yep. Left DFW for Austin, using Ford app. Took the required exit to access the specified charging station. Pulled up to the red light with 3% SOC. Sat at the light about 5 minutes with everything turned off. When I hit the “gas” pedal the truck bricked right there.
‘24 Lariat ER.
Conversely, my wife has driven our ‘23 MME at least 12 miles past Zero.

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