Range chart?

[wizeguy]

I've seen this over at Mynissanleaf forums. Do you guys have something similar? http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=101293

 

[unplugged]

Do you guys have something similar?

Now I do. I just cut out the references to Nissan Leaf and now we have the Ford Focus Electric Range Chart.

But really, although I give the person who spent all the time on this chart credit, there is at least one more important variable more dramatic than all the variables on the chart, and that is the way the driver drives the car. The driver variable means that you could use this chart for the FFE without much difference in range. After all, the two EVs are close enough in performance.

Finally, with practice comes perfection. The more you drive your FFE, the more you intuitively know what your range is. I know that if I go 68 miles per hour on the freeway I can comfortable go about 65 miles with an increase in 1000 feet of elevation and a temperature of 90 degrees. This is because I drive this route often enough. But it would take me ten minutes just to put in all the variables and calculate the range according to the Nissan chart.

If I had the time, I might try to input my 87 mile trip from 1000 feet to 4000 feet at 52 miles and then down to 100 feet at the 70 mile mark at a temperature from start at 95 to an end at 110, while maintaining a cabin temp of 74 and a headwind of 8 mph. But you know, I just winged it, and I actually made the trip. And the one important variable I couldn't enter was the mph, because I wasn't sure how much traffic there would be. And the other variable unknown would be the question of whether going 45 mph downhill is any different than going 55 mph.

In the end, this chart seems to be a rather pedantic exercise, because in practice it is fundamentally flawed. You can't be this specific without missing a variable, and you can't be this scientific without being about 10 percent off. And that really isn't much better than saying, "Based upon my experience, I think I'll give it a try."

EDIT: Here is a range and charge chart authored by Consumer Reports. Tested/estimated range of the 2012 FFE and the 2013 Leaf are the same. (My point being is that if you want to use the Leaf Range Chart, you can use it for the FFE.)
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2011/12/range-anxiety-or-slow-chargers-faster-electric-car-chargers-are-on-the-way/index.htm

 

[EVA]

My brain exploded trying to read that. Fuel bars, % capacity left of the battery (age), outside temperature... way too many variables for my brain to handle at once. And then I couldn't relate any of it back to the Focus. Unplugged, you are way cooler than I ever imagined. Hats off that you understood that ummm stuff.

Guess we complain about the projected range and some of the other displays we have - when I see that Leaf stuff, I count my blessings. We have it good over here chez Ford, even if the calculations aren't always perfect.

 

[unplugged]

Unplugged, you are way cooler than I ever imagined. Hats off that you understood that ummm stuff.

Naw. In the end, you just have to wing it.