Driving an EV pickup

[Max123]

I did not know that and now that you mention it , that makes sense..

So.... at the end of the day there are 53 pickups and SUVs that won't start and a cold EV that unplugs and quietly drive away?

Not quite. I can't recall the electrical code on this, but you are going to see no more than 4-5 outlets per breaker (likely less for outlets in a parkade in a cold climate like Edmonton, designed specifically with block heaters in mind). One EV is not going to take out an entire parking lot. Its more of a reminder that if you drive an EV and are looking at 120V outlets for a top up, be mindful.

 

[sly_karma]

I saw this last time at SP. The Grand said I was welcome to use any 120V plug in the parkade, free, but all 5 of them had no power. I guessed same thing, a second EV plugged in and POP. This was summer so it wasn't block heaters.

This time I'm staying with a friend so his house should be able to handle one 120V plug in.

 

[chris73]

My Ford Focus Electric doesn't have a specific battery preconditioning function. But it has a remote start function that warms up the interior for 10 min before I leave the house. I guess this also warms up the battery temp management system. I assume. I usually do this after I manually turned on the charging unit as well so that the energy used for the warmup process comes from the grid and not the battery.

 

[sly_karma]

My Ford Focus Electric doesn't have a specific battery preconditioning function. But it has a remote start function that warms up the interior for 10 min before I leave the house. I guess this also warms up the battery temp management system. I assume. I usually do this after I manually turned on the charging unit as well so that the energy used for the warmup process comes from the grid and not the battery.

Check your manual or ask on an owners group forum. Preheating interior and preconditioning battery are separate functions with Lightning and MME.

 

[sly_karma]

This time I'm staying with a friend so his house should be able to handle one 120V plug in.

Plugged in at a mighty 1 kW. Ford app says I'll reach full charge at 4:45 pm Sunday.

 

[sly_karma]

Up to 54% now! 2 more days!

 

[Newf]

My friend with the Ioniq5 uses 120 for his charging. I asked him if it met his driving needs and he said Yes, But. He wouldn’t say what the But was so I will probably have to take him fishing to get the details.

 

[-Jim-]

My son's Mother-in-Law has a 2023 Kona EV, and even though she got a Level 2 with it new, she never got it installed. I offered to take a look at it (as I'm an Electrician) but she said she's happy just plugging it into 120 VAC and sees no reason to change. She doesn't drive it much either, mostly around Deep Cove and North Van. I figure there's a lot of people in her shoes who could be very happy with something like that.

 

[Aquaholic]

My son's Mother-in-Law has a 2023 Kona EV, and even though she got a Level 2 with it new, she never got it installed. I offered to take a look at it (as I'm an Electrician) but she said she's happy just plugging it into 120 VAC and sees no reason to change. She doesn't drive it much either, mostly around Deep Cove and North Van. I figure there's a lot of people in her shoes who could be very happy with something like that.

The Nissan Leaf when first out had a very small range, but there is a market for that. Some people would plug it in at work for the drive home.

 

[Umos]

Many of the old leafs with their dying batteries are now finding their new homes on Saltspring Island. Perfect place for a 80km range EV. Even your biggest days of island errands are covered by the battery and then recovered by an overnight 1500w charge. Can even make it to Langford Costco and back if you are daring.

 

[sly_karma]

My friend with the Ioniq5 uses 120 for his charging. I asked him if it met his driving needs and he said Yes, But. He wouldn’t say what the But was so I will probably have to take him fishing to get the details.

My guess: 120 V covers his normal daily use, but it takes most of the week to build up enough for a weekend trip.

Everyone uses their vehicles differently, and bigger vehicles like a pickup have big batteries that need a bigger supply to fill. In winter I'm about 1500 km/month, summer has some longer trips and busier at work, average over the year is 2000/month. That works out to 500 kWh/month. A 120V connection could deliver 720 kWh/month if it was plugged in 24/7, so I guess it could work in theory.

 

[chris73]

Check your manual or ask on an owners group forum. Preheating interior and preconditioning battery are separate functions with Lightning and MME.

I googled a bit around and read up on it and it seems the pre-departure remote start is the preconditiong feature for most EVs; it pre-heats the interior and warms up the battery. I can't find a separate battery preconditioning neither in my Focus manual nor in the manual for my Lightning at work.

 

[kaelc]

Hopefully the software focus, online feedback loop of customers and even slower sales of very expensive truck sales will result in quicker updates to things like cold weather batter optimization.

No plans to tow down for some winter prawning or tow a tool trailer out to a job site? Some criticism of Jerryrigeverything online and his towing comparisons and how realistic it is towing a max or over max load of an EV hummer on the highway.

Hopefully ford has its spies checking out the Tesla semis as it plans its Super Duty electric platform.

 

[sly_karma]

Observations from the trip to Sun Peaks:
- 16-18% of energy used in non-driving functions (battery temp control, climate control, heated seats) in -10 C conditions.



- 120V charging is reliable but slow, adding 70 kWh took 76 hours. Guess I owe my buddy $8.



- battery preconditioning and cabin warming work fine when plugged into 120V
- Lightning protects its battery more aggressively in cold weather by throttling back the amount of power available as range is depleted. Arriving at the charger in Kamloops still with 56 km left nonetheless had me down to 65% of full power available. I think this is a deliberate strategy of Ford's to protect owners from themselves. Other brands deliver full or near-full power until suddenly hitting "turtle mode" when very close to empty battery. Ford slowly reduce power so that aggressive or fast driving doesn't result in an empty battery out on the road somewhere. In more modest temps, I'd have about 80% available with 50+ km to go.




- using the Ford navigation system to enter a route with charging included is said to cause the BMS to precondition itself ready to accept fast charge; ie; battery heats up, but according to the little battery temp slide gauge (top left of pic above), it's still at its optimum temp for driving.
- switching to an all terrain tire (Hankook) didn't appreciably increase cabin noise or rolling resistance.


Good trip for the truck, it handled the 20 cm sloppy wet snow that fell all during my stay without dramas. Energy use/range loss in colder weather was quite acceptable, and it remains a superbly comfortable highway vehicle. The lack of engine noise and vibration really make it a better ride.

 

[sly_karma]

Here's a picture I took of the Lightning rear undercarriage while we were switching tires last week. This is the first F series truck to have independent rear suspension. Sure makes for stable handling.

 

[Bifmalibu]

I want one. I'd say next year, but things are just so economically turbulent. A guy could find a deal and make out like a bandit or the forecasted lowering of rates may drive another market frenzy and one could wind up paying more. It's a challenging time for large purchases.

 

[ziggy]

If as reported Ford is slowing production down south due to slow sales. I wonder if availability will increase in Canada.

 

[sly_karma]

I want one. I'd say next year, but things are just so economically turbulent. A guy could find a deal and make out like a bandit or the forecasted lowering of rates may drive another market frenzy and one could wind up paying more. It's a challenging time for large purchases.

No point in mincing words: the usual scenario in new, fast growing technologies is the early adopters pay high prices and see their purchases rapidly superseded by improved designs - think back to computers in the 90s and smart phones in the 2010s. Eventually the rampant growth transitions to incremental change amd they become a commodity rather than cutting edge.

I think EVs are in that early fast growth phase and I expect.mine will be a generation behind the new trucks at the end of its financing period (6 years).

For me this is less a problem than for others, I can sell it to my company for a decent price, and it will continue to be useful to the business for at least another decade. In the meantime it's $5-6000 saving each year compared to a gas half ton, so I've hardly lost.

This is the value proposition for buying one now, the running costs amd maintenance savings begin immediately. Depreciation will be real though. How it compares to an equivalent ICE truck remains to be seen. If it was a matter of mechanical math, you'd say the EV was the sure bet due to such simple running gear, but there's far more factors at play with used market pricing than simple fewer moving parts count.

 

[wildmanyeah]

Expect that electric motors and battery’s have been around for a 100 years EVs and are not knew technology.

Idk if we can expect rapid advancement

 

[-Jim-]

Expect that electric motors and battery’s have been around for a 100 years EVs and are not knew technology.

Idk if we can expect rapid advancement

Motors have been around for a long time and are already very much optimized, but Battery Tech Chemistry and Charging algorithms are still evolving rapidly. IMHO, that's where EVs are, and need to, keep focusing. The VFDs will continue to be tweaked for the application but they are pretty much there already.

@sly_karma => 120V charging is reliable but slow, adding 70 kWh took 76 hours. OMG, I think most folks would die waiting for that long to get their truck moving again. Thankfully you have a level 2 at home.