My random thoughts/comments/questions/concerns as I go

[TrojanEV]

So when I got in my fully charged Focus this morning, the Guess O' Meter said I had 63 miles to empty. Is this normal, considering the advertised range is 76 miles?

Maybe. It depends on what your recent driving patterns and climate control usage were and what your (resulting) average Wh/mi is.

At 63 miles on a full charge, I would say that your current average Wh/mi must be somewhere around 300.

19 kWh / 63 miles = 301 Wh/mi

Still figuring out the MFM app, but stumbled upon my usage statistics so far. Your estimate of my Wh/mi was actually more generous than reality. Yesterday (my first full day with the car), I drove 11 miles and averaged 372 Wh/mi. Most of the distance came from driving highway miles at about 70-75mph, with the AC on pretty high. I guess I need to start channeling my eco-friendly, zen, driving style. I've previously only owned ICE vehicles, so my bad driving habits may take some time to kick.

 

[TrojanEV]

...I do love that my 30 mile round trip commute allows me to drive any way I like with the climate control set however I want

Well, I guess I can really go hog wild then, given my 2 mile round trip commute to work! :lol:

But, as you said, I already have a few plans to stretch out the range, so I better start practicing now for when I need it.

 

[WattsUp]

Most of the distance came from driving highway miles at about 70-75mph, with the AC on pretty high.

The speed is what did it. The A/C doesn't use much energy. (Heat does though.)

Sustaining 75 mph takes a lot more energy than sustaining, say, 65 mph. At either of those speeds through, wind resistance overwhelms every other factor (except for perhaps blasting the heat on full constantly). Wind resistance also increases exponentially with speed. So, slow down even just a little bit, and your overall range will increase exponentially (relative to the reduction in energy consumption).

 

[davideos]

Just to backup Wattsup, the resistive force from drag is proportional to the square of the speed. F=.5 * air density * speed^2 * drag coefficient * cross sectional area.
The drag coefficient is related to the shape of the FFE. It is just under .3.
Air density changes based on barametric temp, altitude, humidity, temperature, etc; but is about 1.25 kg/m^3.

The force, or power, to overcome drag is P = F(from above) * V; which means that the force to overcome the drag is proportional to the cube of the speed. Stealing from Wikipedia: "A car cruising on a highway at 50 mph (80 km/h) may require only 10 horsepower (7.5 kW) to overcome air drag, but that same car at 100 mph (160 km/h) requires 80 hp (60 kW). With a doubling of speed the drag (force) quadruples per the formula. Exerting four times the force over a fixed distance produces four times as much work. At twice the speed the work (resulting in displacement over a fixed distance) is done twice as fast. Since power is the rate of doing work, four times the work done in half the time requires eight times the power."

Fun stuff

 

[TrojanEV]

Wow, this is great stuff! I love it, although I can already see my wife rolling her eyes as I excitedly try to explain it to her.

I'm thinking a good way to force myself off my ICE habits will be to use cruise control (when safe, of course) to keep me at 65mph (max) on the freeways.

 

[NightHawk]

I'm thinking a good way to force myself off my ICE habits will be to use cruise control (when safe, of course) to keep me at 65mph (max) on the freeways.

Yep that definitely helps, also try even lower at 60mph or even 55mph if you can and watch the displayed Wh/m line and compare.

 

[blackbeasst]

soooooo, after a week of semi cool weather here in ga im starting to see some trends. mainly my mileage is starting to decrease. normally i get to work i have 40ish left of the GOM (guess o meter). now that the weather has turned im rolling in at 34-35. which really puckers my butt cause its a 35 mile drive back home.

driving the same speed, the same way, with no climate, starting out with pretty much the same mileage on the GOM in the morning, what would cause it to dip so much?

 

[hybridbear]

soooooo, after a week of semi cool weather here in ga im starting to see some trends. mainly my mileage is starting to decrease. normally i get to work i have 40ish left of the GOM (guess o meter). now that the weather has turned im rolling in at 34-35. which really puckers my butt cause its a 35 mile drive back home.

driving the same speed, the same way, with no climate, starting out with pretty much the same mileage on the GOM in the morning, what would cause it to dip so much?

Cold air is more dense. Cold fluids in transmission have higher viscosity. This has a big impact on the Energi vehicles as documented here.

 

[twscrap]

soooooo, after a week of semi cool weather here in ga im starting to see some trends. mainly my mileage is starting to decrease. normally i get to work i have 40ish left of the GOM (guess o meter). now that the weather has turned im rolling in at 34-35. which really puckers my butt cause its a 35 mile drive back home.

driving the same speed, the same way, with no climate, starting out with pretty much the same mileage on the GOM in the morning, what would cause it to dip so much?

Cold air is more dense. Cold fluids in transmission have higher viscosity. This has a big impact on the Energi vehicles as documented here.

Cold batteries do not perform as well as warm ones either. Our Active E lost about half of its range when temps got down around zero.

 

[blackbeasst]

so would letting it warm up before i roll out help any?

 

[jmueller065]

so would letting it warm up before i roll out help any?

Yes either by setting a "go" time or simply by remote starting it before you leave. Doing this will use power from the wall instead of the battery to warm up both the cabin and the batteries. In the most severe weather conditions preconditioning can take a lot of power.

 

[Williamffe]

Do you have to have a subscription to set up go time, remote start from smartphone, and schedule charging 12am-4am? I know a new FFE includes 3 year subscription but I would not want to pay for a subscription.

 

[jmueller065]

Do you have to have a subscription to set up go time, remote start from smartphone, and schedule charging 12am-4am? I know a new FFE includes 3 year subscription but I would not want to pay for a subscription.

Yes you need a My Ford Mobile subscription to be able to use any of the remote features of the car.

 

[blackbeasst]

I do have go times setup for the first time this week. Am d honestly this is the first week I've seen lower remaining miles when I got to work. Coincidence, doubtful, but very odd now that I think of it.

 

[hybridbear]

Do you have to have a subscription to set up go time, remote start from smartphone, and schedule charging 12am-4am? I know a new FFE includes 3 year subscription but I would not want to pay for a subscription.

The subscription was previously for 5 years. Has Ford reduced it to 3 now?

Sync Services was a 3 year subscription.

 

[jmueller065]

Looks like it is still 5 years, at least on the website (from here):

*MyFord Mobile subscription complimentary for five years from vehicle sale date as recorded by the dealer. Subscription fees apply after five years

 

[blackbeasst]

just for fun i skipped a go time this morning to see what would happen. now it wasn't quite as cold this morning and the rain had traffic at a slower pace, but i made it to work back on my 42ish on the GOM.

i'll try again tomorrow when its back to being cold and no rain.

 

[blackbeasst]

back to normal speeds and lower temp with a go time set last night and im at 33 miles on the GOM this morning. glad theres a lot of bumper to bumper traffic i have to deal with to save/add miles

still trying to talk my facilities guy into letting me get on a 110 outside for maybe 4 hours a day during the winter. he still says its like plugging in a hair dryer and could disrupt the power to the building if it trips a breaker :roll:

 

[jmueller065]

he still says its like plugging in a hair dryer and could disrupt the power to the building if it trips a breaker

Well he isn't wrong. 12A at 120V is similar to a small heater or hair dryer (approx 1400w). Although it would only "disrupt" the outlets on that one breaker if it tripped. You should ask him: "Aren't all the outside outlets on their own breaker? If not why not?" LOL

In fact I was just using it the other day to provide a load:
http://jamiegeek.myevblog.com/2014/10/30/another-novel-use-for-the-ffe/

 

[blackbeasst]

what is the maintenance schedule supposed to be for these, every 10k miles? im also starting to hear some popping coming from the rear when i got slow over some bumps. any ideas?

and speaking of mileage, i just rolled over my 1 year mileage mark at less than 6 months of use :shock:. im only allowed 31500 for the total 3 years! OOPS!