Still missing the elusive 100 mile charge by a tiny bit...

[vivavegas]

Im noticing there are people getting 110-127 miles on myFord in my region, and im trying my best to get near it, but still just falling short of the 100 mark. How can I get the extra few miles im missing ? Ive been stuck in the 88-95 range, and last night I hit 97, but no matter how close to keeping the kWh down im just not getting the 100miles a charge. Any secret tips out there ? (and is there a break in period?).

 

[dmen]

Until spring weather arrives in the Midwest, I can't get near 100 myself. But I don't think there's any magic. Drive slower, accelerate more gradually, decelerate more gradually, keep tires ideally inflated.
I'm sure you're aware that the numbers from your neighbors on my ford mobile are actual miles driven between one plug-in and another, not the car's guesstimate full battery budget like the one you photographed, right? If you are generally driving that smoothly, you should definitely be able to milk more than 100 miles from a full battery irrespective of what the budget says. You'll just earn a few butterflies along the way. The way the car calculates budget taking into account the last several drives, I think it's alway going to underestimate if you're very efficient and overestimate if you're very inefficient. Even the most efficient driver has to stop suddenly, or pass quickly, or get stuck in real bad traffic now and then, and those trips' data will bring down the budget.

 

[v_traveller]

You can try charging up at a lower elevation than where your trip started....

I usually get an indicated 118-136 mile range after charging up at work, but that's because work is at a lower elevation than home (-1200ft), and it seems that the range is calculated based on most recent driving (i.e. the last trip). After the same distance going back home, I get a 62-70 mile indicated range after charging up at home.

Today, I did 37 miles at 177 kWh/mi, for a total of about 6.55 kW to get to work. On the way back home (after recharging at work) I went 38 miles at 252 kWh/mi, for a total of about 9.55kW. So the round trip took a total of 16.1 kW to go 75 miles; if I didn't charge up at work I'd have about 3.9kW left, good for 16 miles if I kept going uphill or 22 miles if I headed back down to town, maybe 19 if terrain is flat, for a total range of 75+19=94 miles... pretty close to your 97 mile indicated range.

Best actual RT miles I've recorded on a single charge is 81 miles, with 6 miles to spare.

So... anyone out there break the 100mi indicated range or actual miles traveled on a single charge, after taking a trip that resulted in a zero elevation gain/loss? If so, please teach us! When trying to be zen, I'm already going slow uphill (hide behind a slow big rig), regenerating as much as possible downhill, braking at 98-100% regen, slowing down on turns to minimize using the tires to convert energy to heat, limiting speed to speed limit or lower, minimizing climate control system energy draw... what else can be done?

 

[WattsUp]

... what else can be done?

Rock back and forth pushing on the steering wheel?

Lose weight? :lol:

 

[v_traveller]

Rock back and forth pushing on the steering wheel?

Yeah, I tried that once, when I was desperate. Didn't work, even when augmented with a few choice words. Still ran out of charge.

Lose weight?

Hey, good idea... Lose the spare tire, just like our FFEs did!

 

[WattsUp]

@v_traveller: A couple serious suggestions.

• Always use the cruise control whenever possible (you didn't mention it). It it way better at holding the car at a nice, steady and efficient energy usage than the driver will ever be. I use cruise by default now for all steady-speed driving; certainly on the freeway or rural roads, but also between lights... everywhere.
  
• Turn on the energy usage meter in My View. This is one with the white line going up and down. I also turn on the view that shows the graph for Climate and Other usage, so everything is on one page. At a glance, I can see where the energy is going.

Btw, you can prove to yourself (using the energy usage meter) that cruise control is more efficient than you are. It's fun to see the energy usage drop "just that little bit more" when on cruise.

Also... don't drive with two feet. I hope you aren't one of those folks, and I'm not really sure what it would do to an FFE, but it doesn't seem like it would be a good idea to try to use the brake and accelerator at the same time, if that has been your habit in a traditional car. (You see these clever "multi-taskers" steadily driving down the road at 45 mph with their brake lights on. I always wonder how often their brakes wear out and if they ever put 2 and 2 together.)

 

[v_traveller]

I'm on vacation for a week, so Sparky gets a rest until next week Thursday. Will be playing with the displays as you recommend. Been using the cruise here and there, but not consistently, will try to improve. Oh, and I only use my left foot to brake when I'm in a go-cart.

Thanks WattsUp!