Realistic range for driving in CO?

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MattG

MattG

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Looks like those new 62.5 kW Chargepoint chargers in Montrose are up and running. And showing up on ChargePoint now. 2 check-ins the last few days.

I'm a little confused on the fees though. ChargePoint says $0.20/kwh and $0.25/min parking fee. Does that mean you get charged both? So a 30 minute charge would be $7.50 parking fee + 31 kWh for $6.20 = $13.70?
hmm, I’ll have to check that out. Not an ideal location though...when I’m traveling west I think that’s at about the 220 mile point so I might not make it in winter. Going east, it’s at the 20 mile mark so I won’t be able to charge fast (would have to shoot for BV instead).

I suspect this car will do better with actual range than others. Ford hit the EPA numbers exactly, which means they’re fudging it....actual test results were likely higher than 270 so they’re reporting a lower number as allowed to improve the customer experience.
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I think the parking fee only applies if you’re NOT charging.
 

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Here's a bit of info on the Gunnison County Electric Association chargers. They're scattering some 62 kW around the county, but ironically, not in Gunnison yet. Sure seems like they'd put one there before long too.

https://www.gcea.coop/dc-fast-chargers
 

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I think the parking fee only applies if you’re NOT charging.
The closer I look, the more I think it is both (kWh + parking fees). They show an estimate of $6.25 for a 15 minute charge session.
 

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Here's a video where the TFLcar guys drive a Kia Niro EV from Boulder up to Loveland Pass and back. It's not the Mach-e of course, but it's worth watching to get some insights into EV mountain driving in the weather here.

Made that drive many times. Need a ski/snowboard rack to accommodate the back country hitchhikers getting back to the top for another run.
 


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Thanks...good data point!

We might just have to take the Subaru for the winter drives until the charging infrastructure improves. There are decent DCFC near the endpoints, but what I’ll really need is one around the midpoint I think. That’d be Gunnison, a big enough town that it’s only a matter of time.

I’m looking forward to testing this in a couple months!
Once you get used to thinking about range, its a lot less scary. You look at your remaining range and see 30 miles and think - no worries. But in an ICE, when your gauge goes to E (and you realistically have another 30'ish miles), you start to panic. While its inconvenient, stopping at a mid-point to grab a few miles of range isn't the end of the world. Even at a 50 kW DCFC, you'll get (realistically) about 20 miles of range for every 10 minutes. Inconvenient, but not the end of the world.
 

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Once you get used to thinking about range, its a lot less scary. You look at your remaining range and see 30 miles and think - no worries. But in an ICE, when your gauge goes to E (and you realistically have another 30'ish miles), you start to panic. While its inconvenient, stopping at a mid-point to grab a few miles of range isn't the end of the world. Even at a 50 kW DCFC, you'll get (realistically) about 20 miles of range for every 10 minutes. Inconvenient, but not the end of the world.
That's the problem though -- the only chargers around the middle of that route are L2's. That's 20 miles in an HOUR, not 10 minutes.

If I see 30 miles left in the MME and know the next charger is 40 miles away, I'm not thinking "no worries". I'm thinking "oh sh*t".

In the ICE, I don't panic when it says "30 miles to E" because (a) there's usually about 50 miles of below-E buffer in the tank, and (b) gas station coverage is way more prevalent. There's usually one much closer than the next EV charger, where I can fill up in 3 minutes.
 

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Real world Colorado example, below-freezing temps with First Edition (ER AWD):
Started in Boulder with 100%. Took it easy on running the heater (used heated seats more), arrived in Carbondale with 20% charge remaining. Used the Glenwood Springs Electrify America station to fast charge the next day. There was a slower charging ramp up when the car was left out overnight in the cold though, it seemed to stall at ~50kW for awhile. Did some other driving around the area that used up some of that charge so then fast charged at the Frisco Electrify America station on the way back. That charge reached 107kW so went very quickly.

Like any current EV, fast chargers along the route is the key to going on 200+ mi trips in a single day with minimal (30-45min) charging stops.
 

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Real world Colorado example, below-freezing temps with First Edition (ER AWD):
Started in Boulder with 100%. Took it easy on running the heater (used heated seats more), arrived in Carbondale with 20% charge remaining. Used the Glenwood Springs Electrify America station to fast charge the next day. There was a slower charging ramp up when the car was left out overnight in the cold though, it seemed to stall at ~50kW for awhile. Did some other driving around the area that used up some of that charge so then fast charged at the Frisco Electrify America station on the way back. That charge reached 107kW so went very quickly.

Like any current EV, fast chargers along the route is the key to going on 200+ mi trips in a single day with minimal (30-45min) charging stops.
Nice! Not only did you make it all the way to Glenwood, but the additional ~25 miles RT to Carbondale too (~195 miles total by my measurement). In frigid temps. That's encouraging.

We make the drive to Vegas and back a few times/year, so that's comforting to hear. We'll be starting a bit further away than Boulder (Frederick), which adds about 14 miles. But we should comfortably be able to make it to Glenwood. I wondered if that might even be stretching it a little in 40-50F temps.
 

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Used the Glenwood Springs Electrify America station to fast charge the next day. There was a slower charging ramp up when the car was left out overnight in the cold though, it seemed to stall at ~50kW for awhile. Did some other driving around the area that used up some of that charge so then fast charged at the Frisco Electrify America station on the way back. That charge reached 107kW so went very quickly.
Since it's about 12 miles from Carbondale to Glenwood (~25 minutes), I would think that would be long enough to warm up the battery to the similar point that it was at by the time you got to Frisco. If that's the case, then the cold shouldn't really be what make the difference in those charging speeds. It's probably a difference in the chargers.

Or does it really take more than 25 minutes for a cold battery to warm up by just driving it?
 

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I'm really curious to see some actual battery temp data when people start logging with some good ODB sensors.

For reference, batteries like this tend to have a one-way internal efficiency of something like 95-97%, dependent on C-rate and age. So if we assume you are cruising at 50kW power output, that is 0.5C on the extended range battery, meaning you are probably in the higher end of that efficiency range, so perhaps 3% of the power is being converted to heat, or about 1.5kW of heat generation in the battery. Given that it weighs >1000 lbs, that isn't much heat at all... I wouldn't be surprised if it is having to use some supplementary heating to keep the battery warm on top of the internal heat generation.
 

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I'm really curious to see some actual battery temp data when people start logging with some good ODB sensors.

For reference, batteries like this tend to have a one-way internal efficiency of something like 95-97%, dependent on C-rate and age. So if we assume you are cruising at 50kW power output, that is 0.5C on the extended range battery, meaning you are probably in the higher end of that efficiency range, so perhaps 3% of the power is being converted to heat, or about 1.5kW of heat generation in the battery. Given that it weighs >1000 lbs, that isn't much heat at all... I wouldn't be surprised if it is having to use some supplementary heating to keep the battery warm on top of the internal heat generation.
I have a BT OBDII reader but haven’t bothered to try it with the Mach-E yet to see if publishes the battery sensor data like the Teslas. The above trip was also a second-hand report since my wife made that trip.
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