How LOW (range) can YOU go?

[Mark Hassa]

Not something I wanted or planned for but pulled in last night after encountering a storm and headwind I wasn’t expecting. Tried 3 different charging locations only to find them broken or full. Those Supercharger adapters can’t come soon enough. Got another message telling me I couldn’t reach the nearest charger, but that was incorrect. I should have taken a picture of it too.

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[markboris]

I know you can go pretty low....

I drove another 5 miles after it was on 0 Range before I was home and didn't feel like abandoning the car on the side of the road late at night (it was actually 1 AM). Made it home and plugged the car in.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

You guys just aren’t prepared is all. You need to do what this guy does.

 

[markboris]

You guys just aren’t prepared is all. You need to do what this guy does.

No, I knew when I left on my 2 hour drive for home it would be cutting it very close. Normally I would charge up a bit if the battery is below 50% but I wanted to see if I could make it. Also kind of wanted to see what would happen if I went to 0. I know this isn't good for the battery and don't plan on doing that again.

 

[Deleted member 9461]

Got this yesterday, was coming home from north of Tokyo yesterday, I had 90 KM( 55 miles), IT WAS 78KM (48 miles) home. Weather was so so, passed the rest stop we hit on the inbound, quick math in the head...carry the 5 mmmhmm should make it..5 min later, monsoon rain, temp drops too. Ok set cruise control at old man speed, watch range drop with each breath...got one long hill to get over..charge hits 22km to home... remember the days of at a quarter of a tank you stare at the gauge more than the road.. get off the highway, 8% charger, it's 2 Miles to the house, medium hill. Pull in the drive...--- on everything.

 

[Keeperofthe7keys]

You guys just aren’t prepared is all. You need to do what this guy does.

I can't what is this I'm dying.

 

[Slowmotion]

You guys just aren’t prepared is all. You need to do what this guy does.

Thanks for sharing the video. My experience is similar. There must be plenty of drivers out there who just don't understand the car they're driving. I've been thinking for a while now that perhaps I'm the only one who has noticed this kind of confusion but perhaps not.
I've owned my 22' premium for a little over a year now. I've only used DCFC about every3-4 weeks, perhaps a dozen times over the last year. But on three occasions now while I'm charging, usually at EA sites, I've seen Tesla's come in and try to charge with CCS. I've thought every time that well these folks must have an adapter they can use.
But NO-They don't!
In all three cases they just don't know where to plug in their car, though they were all new owners. Two of these drivers didn't seem to understand how to locate a supercharger site either. In the most recent example, the guy got pissed at me when I tried to explain to him where the Tesla site was. I knew it was just down the road.
It seems crazy to me but thanks for letting me know that I'm not the only one trying to help these folks figure out a few of the basics they should have known before they ever got behind the wheel.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

I can't what is this I'm dying.

IIRC they did 3 spoof videos like this. This one, another with a teenage boy trying to figure out how to fill up Dad’s brand new Tesla at a gas station, and another that I don’t recall atm.

 

[Sir Barton]

Not something I wanted or planned for but pulled in last night after encountering a storm and headwind I wasn’t expecting. Tried 3 different charging locations only to find them broken or full. Those Supercharger adapters can’t come soon enough. Got another message telling me I couldn’t reach the nearest charger, but that was incorrect. I should have taken a picture of it too.

Thanks for bringing this up. I have wondered, because I have limped in on the proverbial fumes a few times. I always suspected there might be a slight cushion. While we're here, what happens if/when a Mach E runs out of power on the road?

 

[CYBER-O]

You guys just aren’t prepared is all. You need to do what this guy does.

The guy said he only needed 5 minutes and he could make it to a gas station! That 2200 watt generator is only going to give him about 3/4 mile in 5 minutes (using 20 KwH/100 km)! It would take an hour to get 7 miles of range!!

 

[mkhuffman]

Thanks for bringing this up. I have wondered, because I have limped in on the proverbial fumes a few times. I always suspected there might be a slight cushion. While we're here, what happens if/when a Mach E runs out of power on the road?

In the extended range MME, there is 99 kWh of total battery capacity (assuming 100% SoH), and 91 kWh usable. That means there is an extra 8 kWh beyond the usable limits. There is around a 4 kWh buffer on the top end, and about 4 kWh on the bottom end. So you have about 4 kWh below 100% to run it dry. At 3 miles per kWh, that is 12 miles of range. At 2 miles per kWh, that is 8 miles of range.

Mark made it five miles below 0%, and I suspect the car would have shut down soon after if he had not made it home. I doubt the car will let you use up all of the 4 kWh buffer, because, well then it isn't a buffer.

The car will shut down, and unless someone is able to charge your battery on the side of the road, you will need a tow. Some BEVs are hard to charge when they get that low. Mark didn't have a problem with L2 charging, but a DCFC might fail. I have heard rumors there is a minimum charge level for starting a DCFC. I think @Mach-Lee knows the answer to that.

 

[Mach-Lee]

@markboris did you get it down to turtle mode (icon shows up) or not quite? You were really trying to get all 91 kWhs out of it!

Mark made it five miles below 0%, and I suspect the car would have shut down soon after if he had not made it home. I doubt the car will let you use up all of the 4 kWh buffer, because, well then it isn't a buffer.

The car will shut down, and unless someone is able to charge your battery on the side of the road, you will need a tow. Some BEVs are hard to charge when they get that low. Mark didn't have a problem with L2 charging, but a DCFC might fail. I have heard rumors there is a minimum charge level for starting a DCFC. I think @Mach-Lee knows the answer to that.

The Mach-E will typically keep going anywhere from 5-20 miles past 0 miles range displayed, but how far you can go is HIGHLY DEPENDENT on the cell balancing. Older packs will have more variation and won't go as far past 0 as a new pack. As soon as one cell crashes, you're done and dead in the water. So you should only attempt to go a couple miles past 0 range as slow as you possibly can. If you have 10 miles to go, that's really tough judgment call but I'd probably try to find a 120V outlet or call a tow truck at that point.

I don't actually know the answer to DCFC at low SoC, haven't tested that nor do I want to. If the engineers did things right, as long as the car still moves, it should DCFC. It should start at a slow rate, maybe only 5 kW for a couple minutes until the cell voltages are all stable above a certain threshold before ramping up to full.

 

[ArthurDOB]

I ran mine down to zero unintentionally right after I had my EVSE installed in July. I was trying to get down to 5% as I was curious to see how long it would take to charge to 100%. I was 17 miles from home when I realized I had only 15 miles of range, and I was stuck in traffic. I was a little freaked out, but I slowed my pace as traffic picked up and rolled into the driveway about 2 miles after I hit 0%. I vowed never to do that again! The funny thing is, I don't remember now how long it took to charge!

 

[melissphillips]

Thanks for sharing the video. My experience is similar. There must be plenty of drivers out there who just don't understand the car they're driving. I've been thinking for a while now that perhaps I'm the only one who has noticed this kind of confusion but perhaps not.
I've owned my 22' premium for a little over a year now. I've only used DCFC about every3-4 weeks, perhaps a dozen times over the last year. But on three occasions now while I'm charging, usually at EA sites, I've seen Tesla's come in and try to charge with CCS. I've thought every time that well these folks must have an adapter they can use.
But NO-They don't!
In all three cases they just don't know where to plug in their car, though they were all new owners. Two of these drivers didn't seem to understand how to locate a supercharger site either. In the most recent example, the guy got pissed at me when I tried to explain to him where the Tesla site was. I knew it was just down the road.
It seems crazy to me but thanks for letting me know that I'm not the only one trying to help these folks figure out a few of the basics they should have known before they ever got behind the wheel.

These are likely rentals - Hertz has a big push to rent EVs now and lots of PR around their new fleet but as far as I can tell do little to nothing to educate their counter personnel on how to to educate their customers. I was in a Hertz satellite location renting something for my daughter and a customer came in asking if she could swap out the car she had rented for a trip earlier that day because she had no idea it would take "hours" to charge the car. The rental agent didn't have an extra car or know how to help her. I felt bad so did they ol "Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear your problem and I can help you" and explained to her she was going to a low level charger at the Park N Ride lot that was meant to be slower and if she went the DC charger just up the road at the mall she'd be done in 1/2 an hour and back on the road. The counter person thanked me and admitted they had no training on what to tell people. Two days later at that same DC charger, I ended up helping another Hertz person get started charging. At least the counter person listened to where she should send people even if she couldn't tell them how to work the station.

 

[markboris]

@markboris did you get it down to turtle mode (icon shows up) or not quite? You were really trying to get all 91 kWhs out of it!

I didn't get any turtle mode (no icon) and the car ran like normal however you can see in the photo I had the maximum amount of gray bars. I knew I had about 5 miles left when it gave me the "0" Range and SOC. Figured I would take my chances and there were no issues. That was back in April of this year and like I said, don't plan to do that again. I normally don't let the SOC go below 20%.

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