0 really meant 0

[pjam3]

I've read other people getting close to 0 or even at 0 and not having any issues. Well, it seems 0 on my 2014 FFE really means 0. It died at a traffic light and I had to get it towed to a charging station about 2 miles away. It was a long day/night.

I started the day with about a 31 mile range. I decided to finally take it into the office. There is no charging stations there and none that close by, so I've always avoided that drive. It's not that far, but it's about a 30 Mile roundtrip commute. A client executive flew into town, but never came into the office. He wanted to meet me out at the hotel bar/restaurant he was staying in. It was only 3 miles from the office. But the opposite direction. So that meant about 6 miles less for me to get back to a charging station. I had about 15 miles left on the car.

So I drove out to meet him as it was important, and then figured I'd hit one of the charging stations closer to home. I'd be pushing it, but if I got there with about 2 miles left, I'd be good. So the meeting went well and I was headed back home. I got lucky and found a charging station at some plaza closer to his hotel and I was in business.

My plugshare app wasn't working or it was working and didn't show any stations anywhere. It crashed. And the myFord never shows most of the charging stations anyway. So I figured I was lucky. But the plaza had 2 charging stations and both were out of order. I tried them anyway and they didn't work. So without the plugshare working, no chargepoint stations close by and Blinks not working here and only having another station closer to my home, I was a bit nervous. But I did have about 10 miles left and 10 miles to go.

I drive up and down and go about 25 MPH the entire time and I'm about 2 miles from the charging station. I feel good. My car is down to like 1 Mile left, but I figured I'll make it and others have said when it hits 0, it doesn't really mean 0. Well I never made it to the charging station. It gave me a warning, Battery Depleted, showed 0, and about 1000 feet later, my car died. I tried to do a few things, but it didn't work.

So for me, my car went to 0 and it really meant 0. An extra 1000 yards didn't really help at all. So the reality was for me, just going back and forth to work on a 30 mile trip with 30 miles, and an extra 5+ miles for a client meeting, was not worth it. And the tow truck driver that came to pick me up had no clue about electric cars and I had to make sure he didn't screw it up.

Anyway, all I know is when my Car hit 0, it essentially died soon thereafter and never started up again.

 

[unplugged]

I started the day with about a 31 mile range.

I don't understand. You only have 31 mile range? Do you live in Siberia or Alaska? You say you have avoided taking it to work because of the 30 mile roundtrip commute. I avoid taking my car on commutes that exceed 70 miles, if it is freeway driving. Range usually show 85 miles. There must be a reason for such short range?

 

[v_traveller]

unplugged - I suspect he left home on a partial charge, not a full charge.

pjam3 - sorry to hear, but in any case, welcome to the "Charge Depleted" club. I too had to learn the hard way. Here's my sob story:

http://vinn.myevblog.com/2013/10/06/charge-depleted/

We should have weekly meetings or something. You know, to make sure we don't fall off the wagon and do it again.

"Hi, my name is Vin, and I'm a Charge Depleter. It's been 382 days since my last depletion."

 

[EVA]

Pjam3 - that sounds like a really tough day. After your story, I'll take 0 to be really 0, and not an extra bit of distance.

Like Unplugged, I wonder also about the 31 miles round trip and only 30 miles range. In sub zero weather with the heater actually doing something, I get around 50 miles on a full charge, maybe a little less; but never as low as 31 miles.

Please explain, we'd love to know why you have that kind of range.

 

[pjam3]

I live in a condo and can't charge at home. And I don't always have 2+ hours to wait around some charging station multiple times a day.
But I figured I should be able to make it on a 30 mile roundtrip to/from work.

The challenges of finding charging stations and having 2+ hours to wait around (and having two young boys most of the week) is the biggest challenge. I do get about 80 Miles for range, but most of the time I'd say I'm at around 65. I charged my car at a local plaza yesterday, got it up to 80 miles, and drove home and it had about 65 miles left. And it's a 1.5 mile trip.

There is an incline and a freeway or I could take the longer way with 30 MPH speed limit, but still an incline. Regardless I'll charge my car and get home with about 65 miles left. It's not a very good marker to me that it goes from 80 to 65 on a 1.5 mile trip going 30 MPH. But that's where I'm at these days. There really are no other options at this point close to home or at home to charge.

So I never get 80 miles. I get more like 65 miles because going from 80 to 65 on a 1.5 mile trip means I never get close to 80. And again this only happens when I have 2-4 hours to wait around and charge at one of these stations. The day I had to tow my car was one of those days where I didn't have 2+ hours to charge up my car, so I left home with about 30+ miles of range.