Thought on our frigid 1,300 mile trip

[CD4TNF]

The rest of the trip range looks good and safe. I agree with your strategy better safe and charge more often than waiting for a tow.

The Miles City to Billings makes me the most nervous. At 1.2 mi/kWh that gives 137 miles of range from 97% to 10%. I would feel more comfortable charging up to 95% to 99% SOC to get thru that leg.

I used the Lightning calculator a owner on this forum made. You must get better than 1.2mi/kWh is how I am interpreting it.

https://lightningcalcs.pages.dev/?battery=131

During the trip, I usually glance at the dash mi/kWh and compare that to what I should ideally get. In this case, getting 1.2+mi/kWh on this segment is good. Seeing 1.1mi/kWh or less is going to need a backup stop.


I looked over PlugShare. Those two cities are the only ones with level 3 chargers. The backup is a level 2 in Custer. Meaning by Custer, you need to decide if you can make it. That's 62 miles between Custer and Billings. So the dash needs to read better than 49% or 77 miles at 1.2 mi/kWh. If it's not, stopping at Custer for an hour or two would make it.


The only other advice is what folks have already said. Driving slower at 55-65mph. If conditions are that bad, you might be driving that anyways.


I'm optimistic you can make it.


Now for my own experience. The lowest temp I've driven with the Lightning was 19F and I got 1.5mi/kWh. I drove through an active moderate snowstorm, plowed highway and got 1.6mi/kWh

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[husky10101]

So you were able to make that trip without supercharger access starting out at -41? If so, my trip should be a breeze.

Yes no supercharger access yet at that time.

 

[Nikos]

Hey guys. OP here. Looks like the weather has really changed for the worse. Highs at 7 degrees and lows of -9. Does the Lariat ER really lose 50% range in these conditions or is it more like 30%. We will postpone our trip if we have to charge to 95 or 100% at each stop. Charger distances for the most frigid travel listed below. Thanks.


EV Connect Watertown to SC Sisseton, SD: 58 miles

SC Sisseton to SC Fargo: 89 miles

SC Fargo to SC Jamestown: 90 miles

SC Jamestown to SC Bismark: 102 miles (truck on overnight on L2 charger)

SC Bismark to SC Dickinson, SD: 97 miles

SC Dickinson to SC Glendive,MT: 96 miles

SC Glendive to SC Miles City: 77 miles

SC Miles City to SC Billings, MT 139 miles

Stick with your plan. You will learn a lot from this trip. I am not saying so you can suffer but you have done your homework and it will work. It is your choice. Good luck.

 

[Hammick]

OP here to report we completed our trip with only minor issues that were all EA related. The superchargers were flawless. 1,320 miles with 1.3 miles per kwh for the trip. For the most part we did the speed limit and kept the heat between 63 to 65 degrees.

We left Kansas City at 100% and preconditioned. Made Council Bluffs with 6% SOC and that's where the EA nightmares started. Couldn't get charger 3 or 4 to work even after the EA rep from another continent restarted them remotely. Charger one and two that were woking were stacked up with locals with free charging. Had to go to the Shell Recharge 120kw 6 stall station that only put our 87kw even though we were the only one there. We were delayed 2 hours.

By the time we got to EA in Sioux Falls the EA app was completely down. Only announcement EA made about this was on Twatter. Luckily the credit card reader was working. It took EA over two hours after the app went down to put all the chargers in Complimentary Session mode. It's like EA is trying to be the most inept company ever.

ABRP premium with live data from our OBDII reader gave me the confidence to not charge above 80% for the most part and to go the speed limit. The arrival SOC was spot on every time.

We charged to 93% in Miles City even though ABRP said we only needed to go to 87%. There was a headwind and it was cold. Halfway through that leg temp rose to 30 degrees and the headwind became a tailwind. Arrived at 18%. I should have trusted ABRP.

The lack of a manual precondition button button bit us in the ass in Bismark. We stayed at a hotel with a 6kw Level 2 but it didn't get our battery warm enough or charged enough (truck was on all night to run our car fridges). We were only able to pull 65kw from the supercharger the next morning. It was below 0 degrees and our battery bank was below 30 degrees. There was other DCFC in town above 100kw so couldn't do the route to a different charger trick.

With properly spaced V3 superchargers road tripping in the winter is possible. Throw EA into the mix and it becomes a potential nightmare.

 

[Scorpio3d]

OP here to report we completed our trip with only minor issues that were all EA related. The superchargers were flawless. 1,320 miles with 1.3 miles per kwh for the trip. For the most part we did the speed limit and kept the heat between 63 to 65 degrees.

We left Kansas City at 100% and preconditioned. Made Council Bluffs with 6% SOC and that's where the EA nightmares started. Couldn't get charger 3 or 4 to work even after the EA rep from another continent restarted them remotely. Charger one and two that were woking were stacked up with locals with free charging. Had to go to the Shell Recharge 120kw 6 stall station that only put our 87kw even though we were the only one there. We were delayed 2 hours.

By the time we got to EA in Sioux Falls the EA app was completely down. Only announcement EA made about this was on Twatter. Luckily the credit card reader was working. It took EA over two hours after the app went down to put all the chargers in Complimentary Session mode. It's like EA is trying to be the most inept company ever.

ABRP premium with live data from our OBDII reader gave me the confidence to not charge above 80% for the most part and to go the speed limit. The arrival SOC was spot on every time.

We charged to 93% in Miles City even though ABRP said we only needed to go to 87%. There was a headwind and it was cold. Halfway through that leg temp rose to 30 degrees and the headwind became a tailwind. Arrived at 18%. I should have trusted ABRP.

The lack of a manual precondition button button bit us in the ass in Bismark. We stayed at a hotel with a 6kw Level 2 but it didn't get our battery warm enough or charged enough (truck was on all night to run our car fridges). We were only able to pull 65kw from the supercharger the next morning. It was below 0 degrees and our battery bank was below 30 degrees. There was other DCFC in town above 100kw so couldn't do the route to a different charger trick.

With properly spaced V3 superchargers road tripping in the winter is possible. Throw EA into the mix and it becomes a potential nightmare.

Glad you made it!
It does seem crazy that most of the companies that make DCFC’s have so many issues but Tesla does not seem to?

 

[Hammick]

Glad you made it!
It does seem crazy that most of the companies that make DCFC’s have so many issues but Tesla does not seem to?

If you've ever seen an EA machine reboot you would notice the Microsoft Windows logo. I'm sure that's a big part of the problem. They route their tech support through another continent with language barriers. Frankly they just suck period and they charge a fortune.

 

[invertedspear]

Glad you made it!
It does seem crazy that most of the companies that make DCFC’s have so many issues but Tesla does not seem to?

Not crazy when you think about it. Tesla built their Supercharger network as a way of saying "see, you can take road trips in our cars". They knew a bad reputation would have squashed the concept and thus their car sales. So they put a lot of focus on ensuring the stations work. They also embraced a lot of minimalism: no Screen, no payment reader, the interface is in the car or the app. The actual charger is as "dumb" as possible. Simple is easier to maintain.

EA, was basically incentivized on having locations added, and until very recently had no real reason to care about reputation, because where else were we going to take our CCS EVs? They cobbled together a lot of parts, and built them out as quickly as possible. They decided to have screens and I think required to have payment readers. All of this running on what is effectively a desktop computer. While the charger may be fine, none of the peripheral equipment seems well designed for extended outdoor usage. Here in the desert, all of the screens are pretty sun burnt and barely readable. When you can't charge, there are so many possible issues, and all they can do over the phone is initiate a remote reboot.

 

[Nikos]

If you've ever seen an EA machine reboot you would notice the Microsoft Windows logo. I'm sure that's a big part of the problem. They route their tech support through another continent with language barriers. Frankly they just suck period and they charge a fortune.

We are glad that you made it and followed your plans.
EA is an issue many of us are dealing with. My last experience with EA pushed over the edge. I have no longer an EA account. I let Ford charge me if I use their charging stations. EA doesn’t seem to care any more. Owned by VW, (51%), and created to avoid paying billions in fines from their green diesel debacle, came up with this concept. Lots of variables have gone wrong since its inception. Things got even worse for them when Ford asked Tesla to adopt (Tesla’s) NACS standard and SC network. Of course we all know what happened next. They all followed Ford’s lead for a better charging experience and it is.
Try to put the EA experience behind you. You have learned just like the rest of us how to cope with EA mediocrity.
Let us hope the rest of the players in the DCFC charging game don’t follow EA example. Enjoy your truck and your adventures.
Good luck.!!!!

 

[PJnc284]

If you've ever seen an EA machine reboot you would notice the Microsoft Windows logo. I'm sure that's a big part of the problem. They route their tech support through another continent with language barriers. Frankly they just suck period and they charge a fortune.

ha a couple weeks ago, I had one pop up a windows error that some EA process was misbehaving about 10 minutes after I plugged in. Guess that explains why I never got the expected boost and was pulling 110-115kW from start to 80%.

 

[Hammick]

Try to put the EA experience behind you. You have learned just like the rest of us how to cope with EA mediocrity.

I've been dealing with the EA shitshow for 2.5 years now. Last April I was pulling an RV I bought in Louisville back to Kansas City. All chargers were down in Boonville, MO. Made the mistake of jacking with EA customer support for 45 minutes while they read their script. Wasted 45 minutes before I went to the super pricey competitor at the next exit. I was supposed to receive two free charges for that but never received anything. Turns out they put one free charge in their notes but they never sent an email or anything about how to use it. So on this trip I mention that I want some free charging and they said I had one free charge from last April and they gave me the code. Could not give me anymore as only one free charge can be authorized. Problem is you cannot enter the code into the app. You have to call and give it to them. Does absolutely no good because they don't answer the phone most of the time or it takes them 15 minutes to answer.

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