Living with a car from the present - 2019 Bolt EV

About the idea of a "slide-in big ass battery range extender" - that's going to be fairly expensive. Like five digits. I'm also not sure how you'd deal with thermal management. It's one thing for a cellphone battery to do without (and you can feel them get warm), but for the amount of energy going in and out of a car battery you can't just cross your fingers and hope. So I can see where the thought comes from but I'm not sure it's viable from either a tech or market standpoint.

The F150E comes across sounding like a second or third generation product, not Ford's first. If it's anything like the claims/promises, it's a massive step.

I want independent confirmation of that 1000 lbs in the bed thing. Seems odd that Ford would sandbag range claims by a full 50%.

IIRC somewhere in the F150 thread someone showed a patent ford had filed for a bed toolbox-shaped ICE range extender.

The 1000lbs in the bed thing sounds suspect, but I could see it. Ford has gotten in trouble before for inflating ICE fuel mileage figures, and pretty much everyone in the EV market has had some amount of accusation of inflating range figures. Maybe they've finally decided to play it safe, while also showing how the trucks function in their intended use, not just best case conditions. Losing a third of its range with half of its payload capacity seems rough though.

An ICE range extender is a lot more plausible, although I suspect it wouldn't be able to supply enough power to drive the truck at any meaningful rate or load. It would be literally an extender - with it running, you might get to 450 miles before recharging instead of 300. But you would still have to recharge, you couldn't just gas up and keep motervating.

It's going to be really interesting to see how payload affects real range both in the city and on the highway. I didn't think it would be as bad as it would be for an ICE - and maybe it isn't. We just don't pay as much attention to the hit to ICE range. There is some interesting experimentation to be done. Ford has probably already done it :)

People have unrealistic expectations of range. For some reason, the rating is viewed as a guarantee. That's not the case for fuel economy, of course. My 2000 Tundra had a highway rating of 16 mpg, but when I was towing it was more like 10. But I do think the EPA fuel economy rating for pure ICE vehicles is better calibrated than it is for hybrids or BEVs, so maybe the solution is to fix that instead of sandbagging or being a little cheaty.

I got 21 mpg (indicated) when new out of my ecoboost, regularly for the first several years.  I also drove it like a grandpa. 

I now average 15.3 in it.  BUT i also tuned it for 93 octane when the warranty expired and greatly enjoy driving it more now.  

I did try to drive like a grampa again and I can get 20 mpg on a long trip (like aforementioned beachtrip) now at 90k miles.  

I get 13 mpg out of the Boss driving like an idiot teenager.  

TheFastLane did a recent video with a Tesla X. where they hooked up a horse trailer to it (right at the limit of it's rated towing).  If I recall correctly the range drop was astounding. Dead flat land they were lucky to get 120 miles out of a car that starts with greater than 320 unladen.  They then did the torture tow test somewhere in Colorado.  8 miles at 8% grade.  It's on my list to finish the video later today.  (caught it during a short lunch break). 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhX3BmhJXc8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVSHIZihESk&t

I think the ability to stop for 5 or 10 minutes and get a substantial amount of "range" back is what has people more accustomed to ICE.  

This is the video where the loaded mile range is given. https://youtu.be/J2npVg9ONFo?t=529

also keep in mind ford has not finalized battery size yet per their publications. so they could be sandbagging until more real world testing is completed. (TFL also spotted a production tester in colorado with a trailer trying to charge at a station designed for cars to park..) 

https://tfltruck.com/2021/05/spied-2022-ford-f-150-lightning-prototype-is-towing-in-colorado-but-charging-is-not-easy/

Yeah, I posted those pics to the F150 thread. They showed up on the Colorado EV club FB page.

TheFastLane did a Tesla comparison on an SUV, and I don't think many people buy SUVs to tow with unless they're one of the big ones that are really trucks underneath. But Ford will allow us to do a F150E vs F150ICE test which will eliminate a bunch of variables. Which suffers most when towing, the electric or the turbo six or the V8? Ford is building the first vehicle with both pure ICE and legitimate pure EV variants.

I forgot to mention, through hill country  (Piedmont/foothills of South Carolina) I'll get 9mpg towing my AR240 yamaha with the ecoboost. 

It's just a gigantic sail to the wind.  

I've gotten 14 mpg towing a "utility" trailer (6'x12' bed with 4' of guard rail type sides).  

"the Bolt is too small" they said 

The Bolt has automatic dimming lights.

I did not know this. I knew it has daytime running lights, and I knew that it used the sensors to turn the headlights on full when it was dark. I did not know, despite driving this thing for 30K+ miles, that it could turn the brights o and off for me if I pressed the little button on the stalk.

This is really cool.

My 1966 Cadillac has that as does the ND Miata and the Tesla :) I find I rarely agree with the car as to when the high beams should be on, and our disagreement is usually based on the proximity of large road signs that like to reflect back. Based on the fact that this behavior has persisted for over 50 years, I'm going to say it's pretty fundamental to the system. That could be exaggerated by our very dark nights around here.

Keith Tanner said:

My 1966 Cadillac has that as does the ND Miata and the Tesla :) I find I rarely agree with the car as to when the high beams should be on, and our disagreement is usually based on the proximity of large road signs that like to reflect back. Based on the fact that this behavior has persisted for over 50 years, I'm going to say it's pretty fundamental to the system. That could be exaggerated by our very dark nights around here.

I've never tried it on any vehicle before and it worked very well on the Bolt!

Well, we know that GM has been working on it for more than a half century! Glad they're making progress. 

Last night I had to help a family arriving from Bangladesh. Really long story, but near the middle I had to transfer them, carseats and some of their luggage from a big cargo van into a rental Suburban. The time was around midnight. I get there a bit ahead after handling some of the long-story items and go to move the rental. ::click:: Wonderful. I fly back home in the Bolt to get tools, fly back to the church, park front to front with the Burb, and leave the brights on so I can see what I'm doing as I play with the broken rental and get the seats in.

It's nice to just leave the thing with all of the lights on like it's totally no big deal.

tuna55 said:

It ended up being five hours,I really really really really don't like it when people overrun their time estimates and don't bother to let you know, especially twice. 

 

But the battery is fine. Yay

Since the recall is back in the news - does this mean your car has been given a total bill of health, or are they going to want to look at it again because the new recall is for a different problem? The recommended use restrictions for affected cars are pretty severe.

LG has not done well by GM here.

Keith Tanner said:

tuna55 said:

It ended up being five hours,I really really really really don't like it when people overrun their time estimates and don't bother to let you know, especially twice. 

 

But the battery is fine. Yay

Since the recall is back in the news - does this mean your car has been given a total bill of health, or are they going to want to look at it again because the new recall is for a different problem? The recommended use restrictions for affected cars are pretty severe.

LG has not done well by GM here.

I am still on a clean bill of health with no further communication from GM officially. I read the news carefully, and nothing is helpful out there yet.

I admit it isn't a good image. So far I've been fine. My car is also always outdoors.

I drove through tropical depression Fred (underwhelming name btw) and it's totally time for tires.

Michelin Crossclimate2, Vredensisteinriemneeineinein Quadraticathon Pro, or Continental X-treme!!contact or their Purecontact. Wow these all have silly names.

FYI these media reports about Bolts needing to be parked 50ft away from other vehicles is incorrect and GM will be correcting this misinformation.

I have the continental pure contact on the daily and love them. 40k and i cant tell they've worn much, great wet behavior, quiet. 

I have used the Conti Extreme Contact DWS on two DD's and love them. 

tuna55 said:

I drove through tropical depression Fred (underwhelming name btw) and it's totally time for tires.

Michelin Crossclimate2, Vredensisteinriemneeineinein Quadraticathon Pro, or Continental X-treme!!contact or their Purecontact. Wow these all have silly names.

I have bought a few sets of the Vredestein's and love them. They are not a performance tire and do not have a long life however I live in a climate that gets some snow but not enough to justify swapping to dedicated snows. 

I would not recommend them in heavy snow areas (swap real snows in winter) or places that really never get snow accumulation (ie. South of mason-dixon line)

I've been researching tires for my 2018 Mazda3, now with almost 40k miles on it (and a lifetime average of 36.8 mpg, or about 6.7 cents per mile; yes, I do like fuelly.com) and am leaning towards the Michelin CrossClimate2's. They're spendy, but they seem like the best tire in that category, plus they're made in America (by a French company, but still...) and we have a mutual friend who's an employee of said company.  I try to support companies that employ friends/ family.  Granted, the snow rating of the CC2's is more of a factor for me where I live than you, so there is that. 

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Michelin&tireModel=CrossClimate2&sidewall=Blackwall&partnum=06HR6CC2&tab=Sizes

Holy carp.  When I checked these a month ago they were $15 cheaper per tire! 

tuna55 said:

I drove through tropical depression Fred (underwhelming name btw) and it's totally time for tires.

Michelin Crossclimate2, Vredensisteinriemneeineinein Quadraticathon Pro, or Continental X-treme!!contact or their Purecontact. Wow these all have silly names.

Tires always have such silly names. 

A long time ago I was working with Parker as a supplier, and I really liked their fitting. I told them pretty frankly that it was going to be a tough sell because the name was absurdly childish. This is an industrial supply solution, nobody is buying this in a glossy package on a store shelf somewhere. It was called "Seal-lok Xtreme". I told them I loved the fitting, and to fire their marketing guys.

Anyway this confirms my suspicions that the CrossClimate site perhaps at the tippy top, but they sure are proud of it, with Continental alphabet soup sitting slightly below for a lot less dollars. The Vredestein's were a good frank review, thanks! Any word on Cooper's latest stuff? I loved their CS5 on my old Minivan.

And yes, I knew the "50 feet" thing was a myth. So many myths.

I am still absolutely loving this thing. I have a friend who needs a ride to the Charlotte airport in the middle of the day. I have the 80 mile round trip to work, then the round trip Lyman->CLT and back. It turns out that it's totally not a problem for range. Nice.

I rotated the tires last night to see how much life I'll be able to get out of these tires. I'm at 40,500 mi right now. The rear tires were still pretty decent, so I'll be able to go a little bit further, which is pretty long for these tires based on forums. They're not particularly good tires from Chevrolet.

I thought you all would appreciate a picture of the back of the wheel, to see just how little I use my brakes.

Another electric car benefit that I stumbled on accidentally, I just left the car on with the headlights on and the radio going Bluetooth from my phone while I rotated the tires, because why not? It was dark and I couldn't see very well anyway without the headlights.

volvoclearinghouse said:

I've been researching tires for my 2018 Mazda3, now with almost 40k miles on it (and a lifetime average of 36.8 mpg, or about 6.7 cents per mile; yes, I do like fuelly.com) and am leaning towards the Michelin CrossClimate2's. They're spendy, but they seem like the best tire in that category, plus they're made in America (by a French company, but still...) and we have a mutual friend who's an employee of said company.  I try to support companies that employ friends/ family.  Granted, the snow rating of the CC2's is more of a factor for me where I live than you, so there is that. 

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Michelin&tireModel=CrossClimate2&sidewall=Blackwall&partnum=06HR6CC2&tab=Sizes

Holy carp.  When I checked these a month ago they were $15 cheaper per tire! 

And that mutual friend is one of the best humans I've met, even if he's slower than me around a racetrack :)

New issue regarding tires, apparently the CC2 has a pretty big range hit which I don't understand. No real data other than forum posts. I don't have real information from new/new/new instrumented tests though.