[p__x]

Yeah we have done this at 65 mph a lot actually for long trips. Find a 65mph calm truck or semi, follow with ACC set at the furthest distance (so not helping with wind resistance but thats okay). Faster cars / trucks stay on the left lane. Then my mind can wander, have deep conversations with passengers or even karaoke So far so good no cracked windshield (YET! 🤞)

Speaking as a former truck driver, we don't mind four-wheelers following as long as they don't hang off our trailer tandems. If you can't see the driver's face in his mirrors, he can't see you. And that makes him nervous. And maybe he'll light up his brakes with a wee tap on the trailer brakes, just to back you off.
The trick here is to draft a union driver. They get paid by the hour, and are usually speed-monitored by computer: Schneider. Roadway. Wal-Mart. It's the owner-operators and small independents--flashy Kenworths, Western Stars, and Peterbilts with beetle-brow chrome sunshades--that you want to avoid. Those guys get paid by the mile, and the more they can roll up without running afoul the logbooks the more money they make.

Yup. People have this idea that you have to really closely tailgate the truck to get drag reduction. It's actually still 11% at 100ft and about 5% at 200 Ft.

(Blue as measured by mythbusters, dotted, using a logarithmic model).

Dropping speed from 75 to 65 MPH reduces drag by 30%. You add another 5% on top of that safely behind a truck at a distance that you see the driver in their mirror. That's an easy boost from 2.7mi/KWh to 3.6mi/KWh or a range boost from 190 to 250 mi from 100% to 10% charge. People will also be much less inclined to push you off the road if they see a truck in front of you.

We need to make sure there is a semi for each EV traveling on the highways so that EVs can be used for road trips. I’m thinking about making an app for EV drivers to find a truck to follow.

Or, we can start bying EVs with decent range.

Sarcastic you may be, most people aren't roadtripping in their EVs so there's plenty of trucks in the sea and spending more money (and carbon) just to release more carbon is a strategy that got us where we are headed right now. (Not that hypermiling is comparable to the scale of other emissions sources).

 

[pezzy668]

Preconditioning would greatly improve the utility of the ID.4 on road trips in the winter or even in the summer in more moderate climates than the unbearable heat I have to live through half of my life here in Georgia.

I think its mainly just the first DCFC of the day that will be slow - battery seems to stay quite warm at least with outdoor ambient in the 30's. When we went to Asheville last month with temps in the 30's the first charge (35-95%) warmed the battery up to mid-high 80's and when we made our mid way charging stop (~130 miles later) the battery had only cooled to low-70's and we had full speed on the 75KWH station we stopped at.

We are heading back to Asheville on Friday but this time might try just starting at full (or 95%ish) instead of doing a pre-trip DCFC and see what the mid way stop looks like. Going to be 29F in the morning (ATL here as well) so I'm curious how it shakes out with just hitting the road with the battery cold soaked.

 

[bish79]

I think its mainly just the first DCFC of the day that will be slow - battery seems to stay quite warm at least with outdoor ambient in the 30's. When we went to Asheville last month with temps in the 30's the first charge (35-95%) warmed the battery up to mid-high 80's and when we made our mid way charging stop (~130 miles later) the battery had only cooled to low-70's and we had full speed on the 75KWH station we stopped at.

But the technology exists, and its not even that complicated. C'mon VW!

Also if its really cold out (say 10-15F) you still won't get full speed on those next charging sessions, maybe 100-110 kW or so which is manageable, but not 135-150kW+ that you should be getting. And if its really really cold out (-10F) you might only get 70-90kW on the later charging sessions and only 15-30kW on the first one!

 

[pezzy668]

But the technology exists, and its not even that complicated. C'mon VW!

Also if its really cold out (say 10-15F) you still won't get full speed on those next charging sessions, maybe 100-110 kW or so which is manageable, but not 135-150kW+ that you should be getting. And if its really really cold out (-10F) you might only get 70-90kW on the later charging sessions and only 15-30kW on the first one!

100% concur that it would be nice to pre-condition before that first charge and in ultra cold climates the subsequent charges. I am in same area as OP so I was just commenting on our local climate and regional driving where temps in the teens are a rare occurrence, my battery temp comments were more geared towards our typical winter temps (30's overnight and 40's during day).

 

[truthseeker]

Personally, I’m completely opposed to following trucks for various reasons, including the aesthetics of riding hours behind an ugly rear end of a truck and looking at it for hours on end. That’s not a good way to travel as far as I’m concerned. I don’t even see a point in bying an EV if this is the way that we should travel in them. All other things, such as flying rocks into your windshield, being the slowest car on the road, breathing the truck’s exhaust, etc. only add to the experience. An EV should be able to road trip without having to hitch a ride behind a semi, which is exactly the polluter that we need to take off the roads instead of utilizing them to make EV road tripping possible.

 

[p__x]

Personally, I’m completely opposed to following trucks for various reasons, including the aesthetics of riding hours behind an ugly rear end of a truck and looking at it for hours on end. That’s not a good way to travel as far as I’m concerned. I don’t even see a point in bying an EV if this is the way that we should travel in them. All other things, such as flying rocks into your windshield, being the slowest car on the road, breathing the truck’s exhaust, etc. only add to the experience. An EV should be able to road trip without having to hitch a ride behind a semi, which is exactly the polluter that we need to take off the roads instead of utilizing them to make EV road tripping possible.

Sure. you pay up, propel the tech, I buy in when cheaper. We both happy.

 

[id4ever4]

Need I say more? Stay away from the 350s

150s actually give you more

 

[pezzy668]

Made the trip from ATL to Asheville today - unfortunately was not able to snag a L2 at work yesterday so had to hit an EVGO this morning before leaving. Here are how my charging sessions went.

1st charge
Battery 41-42F
SOC 41%
100KW EVGO
Initial rate was 32-33KW - ramped up to 68KW once battery warmed up a little.
Battery temp ended at 80-83F.
End SOC 95%
Time - 55 Mins

2nd charge
Battery 66-73F
SOC 24%
150KW Shell Recharge (75KW for 400V vehicles)
Initial rate was 73KW but it throttled back within 2 minutes and stayed in mid-40's remainder of charge. Other station would not activate so no option to try another stall (only 2 stalls).
Battery temp ended at 84-87F
End SOC 82%
Time - 57 Mins

Something was wrong with the Shell station as when I was here ~1 month ago I was able to get the full 75KW in very similar conditions. I might re-route through Greenville, SC on the return as if this Shell station goes offline we are royally screwed as there are really no other L3 stations in this stretch of the trip.

Efficiency - 2.82Mi/KWH - 95MPGe, in line with EPA estimates. Average speed per trip computer 55MPH, HVAC set to 68F, eco mode for climate and powertrain, outdoor ambient stayed in the low-mid 40's entire trip.

 

[pezzy668]

There was not enough SOC left in the ID.4 to make it back to the EA location on Little Debbie Pkwy in Collegedale, TN (just east of Chattanooga, TN), so we had to drive about 7 miles east (in the opposite direction of home) to get to the EA station on Walbrook Dr in Knoxville. There, I decided to charge just for 30 minutes - just enough to get us to the EA location on Little Debbie Pkwy in Collegedale.

On the way back home to Atlanta, we got to the EA station on Little Debbie Pkwy in Collegedale TN with 20% SOC. This time I decided not to charge to 100% because we were navigating home, and I have a Level 2 EVSE at home. I used ABRP (with a Bluetooth dongle connected and a premium subscription activated) to specify that I wanted to get home with 20% SOC (I like having at least 20% SOC remaining upon reaching home just in case) to figure out to what SOC percentage I needed to charge at this EA location.

Sorry to parse your message but wanted to check in on these two stations. We are heading back to ATL tomorrow but making pit stops in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, with the questionable Shell Recharge station in Franklin NC we are going to take the slightly longer route through Knoxville and Chattanooga to get home and these are the two EA's that ABRP is suggesting.

Did you run into any wait at either one or were they pretty open?

We are leaving Asheville at 100%, going to L2 charge at 6KW for a couple hours outside Titanic museum in Pigeon Forge then set ABRP to head back to ATL. It is suggesting a 11 minute charge at EA on Walbrook drive then 40 mins at Little Debbie to get home with 20% remaining.

 

[rcppharmd]

Sorry to parse your message but wanted to check in on these two stations. We are heading back to ATL tomorrow but making pit stops in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, with the questionable Shell Recharge station in Franklin NC we are going to take the slightly longer route through Knoxville and Chattanooga to get home and these are the two EA's that ABRP is suggesting.

Did you run into any wait at either one or were they pretty open?

We are leaving Asheville at 100%, going to L2 charge at 6KW for a couple hours outside Titanic museum in Pigeon Forge then set ABRP to head back to ATL. It is suggesting a 11 minute charge at EA on Walbrook drive then 40 mins at Little Debbie to get home with 20% remaining.

The Knoxville EA was completely offline a fews days ago, but 3 chargers are back up now. Sevierville EA is up. None of the slow EVGo DCFCs work in Knoxville. The EA outside of Chattanooga is one of the best in the area.

Knoxville to Chattanooga at about 75mph will use about 50% of your battery.

 

[pezzy668]

The Knoxville EA was completely offline a fews days ago, but 3 chargers are back up now. Sevierville EA is up. None of the slow EVGo DCFCs work in Knoxville. The EA outside of Chattanooga is one of the best in the area.

Knoxville to Chattanooga at about 75mph will use about 50% of your battery.

Thank you for heads up! Your 50% from Knoxville to Chattanooga is about spot on with what ABRP is showing - (ignore the Little Debbie waypoint above the charging station - had to slide this in there to get the route that did not go through Franklin NC).

 

[truthseeker]

Sorry to parse your message but wanted to check in on these two stations. We are heading back to ATL tomorrow but making pit stops in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, with the questionable Shell Recharge station in Franklin NC we are going to take the slightly longer route through Knoxville and Chattanooga to get home and these are the two EA's that ABRP is suggesting.

Did you run into any wait at either one or were they pretty open?

We are leaving Asheville at 100%, going to L2 charge at 6KW for a couple hours outside Titanic museum in Pigeon Forge then set ABRP to head back to ATL. It is suggesting a 11 minute charge at EA on Walbrook drive then 40 mins at Little Debbie to get home with 20% remaining.

There was no wait at either, but I could have bad a wait at the Walbrook one, as while I was charging there, all three working pedestals were in use. The fourth one is broken.

The CCS location before you get to Chattanooga (Little Debbie Pkwy) has eight pedestals, but at least one was broken. There was no wait there.

I would recommend charging at the Walbrook one in Knoxville for 30 minutes and then charging for 30 minutes more at the Chattanooga one. You can use ABRP while charging in Chattanooga to see what your arrival SOC would be in Atlanta.

 

[pezzy668]

There was no wait at either, but I could have bad a wait at the Walbrook one, as while I was charging there, all three working pedestals were in use. The fourth one is broken.

The CCS location before you get to Chattanooga (Little Debbie Pkwy) has eight pedestals, but at least one was broken. There was no wait there.

I would recommend charging at the Walbrook one in Knoxville for 30 minutes and then charging for 30 minutes more at the Chattanooga one. You can use ABRP while charging in Chattanooga to see what your arrival SOC would be in Atlanta.

Thanks for the info.

I now feel your pain on this regional Southeast charging situation. That Shell Recharge in Franklin scared the crap out of me on this trip (worked fine on our trip last month) as should it go kaput we will be up the creek without a paddle and limping along to Cornelia GA or hopping L2 stations. After this last visit to that station I immediately started planning alternate return routes either via Greenville, SC or through Knoxville and Chattanooga as there are more alternates should we run into a problem - the Franklin NC stop has no real alternates except slow L2.

 

[rcppharmd]

If you charge at the Kodak EA before getting on the interstate you can make it down to Chattanooga just fine. Then you don’t have to deal with potentially waiting to charge in Knoxville. That one sometimes has a wait, and the equipment there is less reliable so sometimes 3 chargers work and sometimes only 1 (although currently 3 work). I never see problems from the one on the Kodak exit. Part of the issue is that local people with free charging will shop at Walmart and Sams. They really should have given us 8 chargers 🫤