Prior planning prevents poor performance.

[dabois89]

I recently came across an article about EV charging in Maine, where I live. The article was mostly accurate, but one part caught my attention. It mentioned a woman who owns a Mach E with a 285-mile range. She couldn’t make it from York, Maine to Augusta, Maine on a single charge. It’s a 200-mile round trip, all on highway, and I know range can vary depending on how you drive. She ended up taking a taxi from the supercharger to the conference center. To me, it seems like she didn’t plan well at all. There are plenty of places to stop and charge along the way in southern Maine. Northern Maine is a different story. I just wanted to hear what everyone else thought about her experience.

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[dabois89]

https://themainemonitor.org/ev-target-thoughts/

 

[YeOldeTraveller]

I can't figure why she would need a taxi from a charger after only 100 miles. There are multiple options in August. I haven't checked PlugShare, but there is an EA near Augusta and one half way between start and finish. Start over 90% in the morning, and there should be 10% left when you get back. Maybe a quick charge anywhere along the way (or Level 2 while at her meeting), and this is a no sweat trip. If you want to stay in the 20-80% range, a quick charge on the way home should be all that is needed.

I daily charge to 70%, and that is because I my commute is 50 miles round-trip. At 30F today and heating the battery as I had not planned drive, I had over 120 miles on the GOM when I left home.

My first road trip in my Rally was from near Detroit to near the Mackinac Bridge, and most of that trip was not on the Interstate. This is 300 miles each way. I charged once in each direction, and at my destination.

A real issue for mass adoption of BEVs is that people are used to not thinking about fuel until the light comes on. And then, they expect that there will be a station in 50 miles or so. (A reasonable assumption in much of the country) They also frequently expect a significant distance available after "Empty". The Charging Infrastructure is not there yet.

I'm old enough to remember road trips where you could not expect most stations to be 24 hours, and that there were stations at most exits. I used to plan to jump from Flying J to Flying J as they were well spaced, and you could count on them being open with reasonable gas prices. This is one of the reasons I am happy to see PFJ deploying chargers at their sites.

For my road trips, I plan like I do for aircraft logistics (what I did in the USAF). I look for chargers that are well placed, I ensure that I have an alternate I can reach, and I assume the car stops moving while the SoC hits 0%. This is only marginally more effot for me than I am used to, but that is more than most are willing to do.

This is a case where Tesla has it right with their route planning. You will not get an optimal routing, but you will get one that will work, update automatically, and get you where you want to go, and you only have to follow the directions given.

I've done road trips using the built-in Nav, ABRP, and Google Maps. None of these are ideal. There are elements of the task that each of them excels at. I like the tone alert that I get from the Nav when I have the voice Muted. Google Maps has the Traffic, Obstacle, and Contruction alerts. ABRP has the best interface for planning and integration with OBD-II. I would likely use ABRP if it integrated better with the car, specifically showing miles to go in the intrument cluster and notified the car that the destination is a charger for pre-conditioning.

[I am sure this is more that you were looking for OP. ]

 

[Sikkun]

Unless we are talking extreme winter conditions….I have no problems going over 200 miles between charges. Just top off to 100% before leaving.

But obviously she didn’t plan well…there was clearly a charging station, so even if it was needed (shouldn’t have been), planning the time to charge up some before your meeting is equally as required as needing to make sure you have enough gas to make it to your meeting.

 

[thekat03]

I live in Maine, near Augusta. My Mach-E is a California Route 1, so has no trouble going down to southern Maine and back, or even up to Jackman and back (did that for the eclipse last spring). Did she leave her car at a free level 2 and take a taxi to the conference? She certainly could have charged at the EVgo or the Tesla magic docks in Augusta, or the expensive Chargepoints at the Augusta Hyundai dealership, or the ChargePoints at the Gardiner rest stop. There's also several options in and around Portland, and Scarborough Electrify America chargers were recently updated. If her meeting were up in Houlton, or other rural parts in Northern Maine, sure, infrastructure is still lacking up there, but York to Augusta is reasonably covered with fast chargers.

 

[dabois89]

I live in Maine, near Augusta. My Mach-E is a California Route 1, so has no trouble going down to southern Maine and back, or even up to Jackman and back (did that for the eclipse last spring). Did she leave her car at a free level 2 and take a taxi to the conference? She certainly could have charged at the EVgo or the Tesla magic docks in Augusta, or the expensive Chargepoints at the Augusta Hyundai dealership, or the ChargePoints at the Gardiner rest stop. There's also several options in and around Portland, and Scarborough Electrify America chargers were recently updated. If her meeting were up in Houlton, or other rural parts in Northern Maine, sure, infrastructure is still lacking up there, but York to Augusta is reasonably covered with fast chargers.

Yeah i regularly drive up to Eustice to go hiking and i can make it there and back on a charge, its all about strategy and planning if you are going on a long trip somewhere.

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