Current EV owners question re: stuck in traffic with low charge

[Vulnox]

While warranty is 3 years/36,000 miles, roadside assistance is 5 years/60,000 miles. After that you can get AAA or roadside assistance coverage from your insurance.

Ah thanks for the clarification, I thought roadside only followed the warranty.

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[EaglesPDX]

Flipside, with your F150 and AWD drive, you could help out other EV'ers by giving them a charge to get home or keep warm.

 

[Diabolical!]

I'd never put myself in a position to run out of fuel regardless of whether I'm driving an ICE or EV

 

[Pedaldude]

When driving in or through a cold area, always have some warm clothes with you in addition to the normal emergency gear. Even if you never plan on getting out of the vehicle.

It sucks but if you are low on electricity and the highway is closed, there's a real possibility that you might have to turn off the heater and it will be a decision on whether to dress warm or get stranded.

I used to drive air cooled cars in the Northeast, so I am pretty used to not only having insufficient heating but also driving with the windows open in the cold so that I wouldn't get carbon monoxide poisoning when I used the defroster. I actually enjoyed riding my motorcycles more in the winter because of that!

 

[Rollingblock]

I'd never put myself in a position to run out of fuel regardless of whether I'm driving an ICE or EV

No one does intentionally, but life has a way of bringing unexpected situations to all of us no matter how well we plan.

 

[PungoteagueDave]

All EVs have a reserve below 0%. Watch some of the EV range tests on YouTube, they run them to 0 and then some on occasion to complete the test.

Range does drop in cold weather but you have the ability to plug it in every night so I would think this scenario would be a very rare occasion. I would classify this under "range anxiety". Once you get used to an EV this goes away.

Not true at all. Teslas run out between 8 miles positive range and 20 miles negative range. Depends on a lot of factors including ambient temperature, battery age, individual cell condition. I have run out only once in my four Teslas, and that time I had 8 miles remaining range showing, at 18 degrees F, only one mile from the planned Supercharger. Tesla sent a flatbed to drop me at the Supercharger, no charge, cost me an hour, but a pain nonetheless. Another time I ran to zero miles range and then another 17 miles before plugging in, bad planning on my part due to elevation change in South Dakota's Black Hills late at night in sub-zero weather - was lucky to make it into the charger in Rapid City. It is never a good idea to tempt fate. There are always reasons, but generally just excuses for bad charging behavior. Fact is, except for road trips, you leave the house fully fueled (best practice is 80% charge) every morning, more than enough for most people. I never come close in daily driving, never have to tin about range. Range is only an issue on road trips - and not so much anymore now that DCFC is pretty much everywhere on interstate routes.

 

[Lime Green]

Having owned Teslas for nearly 6 years, I don't worry about this at all. I did in the beginning, especially with our first early VIN model X as it only had about 200 miles range @ 90% charge. But even then it hasn't been a problem. Of course, poor management in terms of keeping it charged can be an issue, just as if you forget to fill up your ICE car.

As I've told a lot of family/friends who are curious about EVs, yes they have less range than an ICE car. But so what? Depending on what you buy, you generally have 2/3 to 3/4 of the total range you would have in a comparable ICE vehicle, but you can start every day with a 'full tank'.

As others have pointed out, the instant torque from 0 RPM upwards means that EVs can creep along at low speed for a long time with little battery drain. They excel In slow and go traffic and systems like Tesla's AutoPilot are excellent for this sort of thing and where this system has worked well right from the beginning. It takes a huge amount of stress off the driver.

Cold weather is the biggest external factor contributing to battery drain. However the new heat pump design in the Model Y has made great strides in this area. I'm eager to see what Ford has done with the Lighting in terms of battery thermal management. The trucks have to perform in both scorching heat and freezing cold. And not just like a bit below freezing, but real cold, like -25°F or worse cold.

One thing we have learned with our Teslas and winter weather is to pre-condition the car. If you pre-condition while it's plugged in and get the cabin and battery all warmed up before you start driving, you will have a full battery and the cold has almost zero impact on it.

If you do run out of charge while on the road, best bet is roadside assist. Some areas will have the ability to come out and give you a quick jolt so you can then limp to a charger. Or they can give you a tout the nearest charge point. Not a whole lot different than if you run out of gas... The one thing you can't do is grab a small gas can out of your trunk and walk to a gas station and back. But if you're the kind of person who carries an empty gas can with you for that purpose, then I have other questions. I haven't had to do that since high school with my hand-me-down '66 Jeep that had a non-functional fuel gauge and a long list of other issues.

 

[shutterbug]

Of course, poor management in terms of keeping it charged can be an issue, just as if you forget to fill up your ICE car.

Years ago I had a car where fuel gauge stopped working. Then, 6 months later the odometer quit on me. Since I didn't want to spend money on fixing it, that required some serious fuel management on my part.

 

[jefro]

Neither of my EV would go past 0. In fact when they get close to low things start turning off. One is climate. Then you might be able to set things like radio but to get you going you will need an EVSE of some kind. Be it a generator or other F150 or a battery pack EVSE.

Otherwise you might get 4 miles an hour on a 120VAC charger if you bring it and have an outlet nearby.

Soon the wrecker trucks will begin to bring or offer charging.

 

[shutterbug]

Otherwise you might get 4 miles an hour on a 120VAC charger if you bring it and have an outlet nearby.

More likely 2. With MME Ford claimed 3 miles/hr. With Lightning, they didn't even bother.

Soon the wrecker trucks will begin to bring or offer charging.

AAA tried it a few years ago in a couple of cities. They had no demand, so they cancelled this service.

 

[Sklith]

AAA tried it a few years ago in a couple of cities. They had no demand, so they cancelled this service.

Yep. It makes way more sense to use a trailer to haul a stranded EV to the nearest fast charger.

 

[jefro]

They are selling dedicated tools just for wrecker use. I don't think the idea will go away but maybe. Won't be difficult to incorporate a new wrecker with built in charging at some point. May only be limited to some areas of the country.
https://www.motorbiscuit.com/a-gas-powered-ev-charger-is-an-imperfect-solution-for-range-anxiety/

I'm sure it will be like doctors. One operation makes more money than the other. If a tow on flatbed is highest then I assume that is what will remain.

 

[broncoaz]

Need to keep one of these in the frunk.

 

[psambrose]

Yeah, you could carry a generator in the trunk or bed, and a five gallon container of gasoline.

 

[vandy1981]

Need to keep one of these in the frunk.

Would recommend also bringing along an electric space heater to use with that generator.

You're going to gain 2 miles/hour at most and probably a lot less if you're trying to run the truck's HVAC while charging. That's assuming the EVSE doesn't have issues with the generator ground loop or a noisy Sine wave. You might be stuck with a generator and no way to use it!

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