Has anyone ever been stranded with an empty battery?

[Discoducky]

The car warns you when it is about to beyond range of known charging locations (with a bit of buffer) so some would say that is enough warning to not reach a charge location

This is from a good article on The Verge...albeit it slightly out of date with latest features...

http://www.theverge.com/transportation/2015/4/16/8430037/tesla-range-assurance-hands-on

 

[DMC-Orangeville]

And as others have stated up-thread, you can check Plugshare (PlugShare - EV Charging Station Map - Find a place to charge your car!) to find L2 stations or accommodating EV owners for an hour's pick-me-up to get you home. Or use the built-in Nav map to route you to a near supercharger, assuming one exists in your travel area.

I put my home and office chargers on Plugshare specifically for those who may have miscalculated range due to geography (it's isolated, and hilly around here), and/or weather (Winters can be a bit cool in Canada). I can count at least 6 people who have dropped in for an hour or 2 to get enough charge to get home.

The EV community is just that - a community - We tend to pay it forward.

 

[David99]

While I never ran out with my Model S I can very close twice. And in both cases were very common and anyone of us could have ended up stranded.
One case was a mountain road that ended up being blocked so I had to turn around and take a long detour. I had to drive rather slow and just made it to the next Supercharger 3 miles passed 0.
The other time I charged extra in Vegas heading to Barstow. I had plenty of buffer, but ended up with crazy head wind. I noticed it, drove much slower than the rest of the traffic to a point where I annoyed my family for going so slow. I ended up going 9 miles over and made it. Scary! But both situations would have ended up in being stranded with less experienced drivers. It's not that hard to run out of battery.

 

[bonnie]

While I never ran out with my Model S I can very close twice. And in both cases were very common and anyone of us could have ended up stranded.
One case was a mountain road that ended up being blocked so I had to turn around and take a long detour. I had to drive rather slow and just made it to the next Supercharger 3 miles passed 0.
The other time I charged extra in Vegas heading to Barstow. I had plenty of buffer, but ended up with crazy head wind. I noticed it, drove much slower than the rest of the traffic to a point where I annoyed my family for going so slow. I ended up going 9 miles over and made it. Scary! But both situations would have ended up in being stranded with less experienced drivers. It's not that hard to run out of battery.

Iirc, it's about 160 miles from Vegas to Barstow. How much buffer did you leave with?

 

[ecarfan]

No problem from LA to LV, but during my return trip, I need to drive a detour due to work for 220 miles from LV to Barstow, CA. I had a full charge at 265 rated range. Guess what I ran out of battery at 212 miles, and I was going 65 mph the whole time. I was 8 miles short, and I was trying NOT TO RUN OUT OF JUICE, but I still ran out.

You weren't trying very hard: if you had slowed down by just 5mph you would have made it.

 

[Cyberax]

Out of curiosity, I wonder:

• If anyone just ran out of juice in the middle of nowhere
• What you did to resolve it!

Yes. A charger at a planned stop was inoperable and I had only 20 miles left with nearly 50 miles to the next viable charging spot. I had to call a flatbed to move my car.

And no, charging from a wall outlet is not a solution - you get barely 2-3 miles per hour of charge, so a 30 mile booster charge would require about 12 hours.

 

[WarpedOne]

you get barely 2-3 miles per hour of charge,

How could that be?
110V10 A? That is 1100Wh, say 90% efficient charging results in 1kWh in battey. At 250Wh/mile that is 4 miles /per hour. 100% more than your numbers.

Problem is, the car runs cooling pumps all the time, even though charging 'power' does not require it. It ends being inefficient as hell, those cooling systems consuming half of shore power. Tesla dropped the ball on this one.

 

[jerry33]

How could that be?
110V10 A? That is 1100Wh, say 90% efficient charging results in 1kWh in battey. At 250Wh/mile that is 4 miles /per hour. 100% more than your numbers.

I have had 4 mph charging, but it requires a dedicated circuit to do so. But the point is that you can charge even if it takes longer than you would like. And if you watch the trip graph and drive accordingly, your chances of needed an emergency charge are very small.

 

[Zythryn]

As can be seen, poor planning, or unexpected routes combined with not watching your estimated remaining miles on the energy app can result in running out of range.

In 120,000 miles I've never had unexpected routes that were long enough to run me out of range, but others apparently have.
Other than the tactic of slowing down, you can also follow a truck. As long as you are within about 8 car lengths the wind resistance will go down.

We took a route through Utah into LV that was, as I recall, about 280 miles. We got there with 20 miles left.
How? We followed trucks in the truck lane that were traveling 60-65mph for the first half of the trip and during that leg altitude dropped 3000 feet.

Also, if you have public chargers in the area, those can always be used if you need an extra bit of range. You could even use RV parks.

 

[Cyclone]

How could that be?
110V10 A? That is 1100Wh, say 90% efficient charging results in 1kWh in battey. At 250Wh/mile that is 4 miles /per hour. 100% more than your numbers.

Problem is, the car runs cooling pumps all the time, even though charging 'power' does not require it. It ends being inefficient as hell, those cooling systems consuming half of shore power. Tesla dropped the ball on this one.

I have had 4 mph charging, but it requires a dedicated circuit to do so. But the point is that you can charge even if it takes longer than you would like. And if you watch the trip graph and drive accordingly, your chances of needed an emergency charge are very small.

I get 4 mph charging usually, but 3 mph sometimes based on what the BMS is doing at the time I look. I don't have a dedicated circuit though.

 

[Rocky_H]

I wouldn’t say you have to try to run out, but on a long trip, if you choose not to pay attention to the information the car gives you, it can happen. I don’t ever want to be that guy who got stranded, so if anyone curious about electric cars asks me, I can always say no.

For daily use, I find it’s usually just not something you have to think about. Most people usually don’t drive 200 miles in a day, so it’s only a concern on long trips. For those, the car has a couple of really good sources of information that will help you keep an eye on what’s going on.

From way back, before the car had the “Trip” tab in the energy app, I used the main screen of the energy app. It shows your average consumption rate of how your driving has been for the past 5, 15, or 30 miles. Then on the right, based on that average of how you have been driving in current conditions, it shows a projection of how many real miles left you can go. I would compare that projected amount left with how many miles navigation said I had left to my destination, and keep my speed down to where that projected miles left stays reasonably above my remaining driving distance. That was good, because it showed based on real energy use, including heating/cooling, but was limited to predicting based on only that past 30 miles and wouldn’t predict for any elevation changes in the future.

The second one is the “Trip” tab in that energy app. It’s a bit more refined as far as reading the whole route. It takes into account all of the elevation change along the whole route and shows what estimated battery % you will have left on arrival. Just keep an eye on that remaining percentage and keep your speed to a level where it leaves some buffer (maybe 10 to 15 %), and you can know way ahead of time if you need to slow down to extend your range.

I’ve had a couple of pretty long drives that needed some of this caution. On one, I was already planning it a little close, and then we had some conditions change, where it started snowing and wind blowing pretty hard. Everyone on the highway had to slow down for a while because visibility got pretty bad. Then we did stay at about 53 mph so that we arrived with 20 miles left.

The other one was nice and sunny conditions, but it was 230 miles total drive, so I just had to be a bit careful staying a little under the speed limit for it to work out fine.

In both cases, there was plenty of information in the car for me to keep an eye on it and not worry too much.

 

[bonnie]

Just to provide a little contrast ...

After almost 5 years of driving electric & waking up to a full battery every morning, I never look at range when commuting, running errands, etc. (Not true for road trips, of course!). On a daily basis, I just don't think about it.

And I almost ran out of gas in my Jeep because I've quit thinking about range. 'What's that beeping sound??' ... oh. I'm almost out of gas. Damn ICE machines don't start out the day with a full tank. I've been spoiled by driving electric.

 

[dark]

You weren't trying very hard: if you had slowed down by just 5mph you would have made it.

Obviously, you have no clue. My range started off with 265 miles, which I had 45 miles buffer. Remember that this was my first Vegas trip, after I got familiar with the route, I never run out again.

I was being cautions already and the turning point was all the uphills near Barstow. I remember I was 30 miles from Barstow when my range shows 28 to 32 miles. I was going 65 already, but my range keeps dropping from all the uphills.

The issue is when you are not familiar with the terrain of your road trip, and no chargers in between. You will have a chance to run out without at least 15% buffer, unless you want to drive at 55mph on the fwy which is not practical.

 

[bonnie]

Obviously, you have no clue. My range started off with 265 miles, which I had 45 miles buffer. Remember that this was my first Vegas trip, after I got familiar with the route, I never run out again.

I was being cautions already and the turning point was all the uphills near Barstow. I remember I was 30 miles from Barstow when my range shows 28 to 32 miles. I was going 65 already, but my range keeps dropping from all the uphills.

The issue is when you are not familiar with the terrain of your road trip, and no chargers in between. You will have a chance to run out without at least 15% buffer, unless you want to drive at 55mph on the fwy which is not practical.

Just for anyone reading this thread ... I've found it a best practice to watch my buffer and if I start losing some, I slow down to get it back up. After that buffer is far in excess of anything I could use, then I quit worrying so much. So in your case, if I was going 65 and I was dealing with hills, I would have slowed down to 55 until I knew, beyond a doubt, that I had enough range.

55 might not seem practical to you, but then I don't think 15% buffer is enough if you're not willing to drop speed when necessary. You said it yourself. Once you got familiar with the route, you haven't run out. So when driving unfamiliar routes, more than 15% buffer would be "practical", don't you think?

 

[Zythryn]

Just to provide a little contrast ...

After almost 5 years of driving electric & waking up to a full battery every morning, I never look at range when commuting, running errands, etc. (Not true for road trips, of course!). On a daily basis, I just don't think about it.

And I almost ran out of gas in my Jeep because I've quit thinking about range. 'What's that beeping sound??' ... oh. I'm almost out of gas. Damn ICE machines don't start out the day with a full tank. I've been spoiled by driving electric.

+1000!

 

[Cottonwood]

Just for anyone reading this thread ... I've found it a best practice to watch my buffer and if I start losing some, I slow down to get it back up. After that buffer is far in excess of anything I could use, then I quit worrying so much. So in your case, if I was going 65 and I was dealing with hills, I would have slowed down to 55 until I knew, beyond a doubt, that I had enough range.

55 might not seem practical to you, but then I don't think 15% buffer is enough if you're not willing to drop speed when necessary. You said it yourself. Once you got familiar with the route, you haven't run out. So when driving unfamiliar routes, more than 15% buffer would be "practical", don't you think?

Another issue that used to confuse people is the energy needed to overcome potential energy climbing (or recovered, descending) hills. Stories like the Las Vegas to Barstow one above happen because the climb was not accounted for. Today, the Energy:Trip display does those calculations for you, correcting for ups and downs. It does even better by comparing your energy usage over the last 5-10 miles with its model and predicting your destination energy with good accuracy. I aim for 10-15% minimum energy at my destination. When getting close, I will invade that buffer. If the predicted arrival energy on the Energy:Trip screen goes below that 10-15%, I slow down. If I am well above the 10-15% threshold, I know that I have an extra buffer and can speed up, run the heat at will, open the windows, etc. After a change in driving style, I wait 5-10 miles and look at the prediction again.

If I know that there is bad wind or weather ahead (the worst is freezing rain), I will leave a larger biffer. When charging, you can use the Energy:Trip screen as well; just be aware that during charging, it uses typical conditions, not most recent conditions. If there is bad wind or weather ahead, charge some more.

In days past (before the Energy:Trip screen), I would calculate "Cottonwood Rated Miles" which were the battery rated miles corrected for the difference in current elevation and destination elevation with the conversion factor of 6 rated miles to 1,000 feet. As an engineer who enjoys mental math, these calculations offered great enjoyment on long drives.

By using the Energy:Trip screen recently or "Cottonwood Rated Miles" in the past, I have never been the least bit nervous of arriving at the next charging location. :biggrin:

To keep my buffer, before the Salida, CO 70 Amp J1772 went in, I have driven 53 in a 65 mph zone of the San Luis Valley where most of traffic is driving 75+. I felt a little silly and bored, but never felt unsafe, and I arrived with a reasonable reserve

 

[roblab]

Just for anyone reading this thread ... I've found it a best practice to watch my buffer and if I start losing some, I slow down to get it back up. After that buffer is far in excess of anything I could use, then I quit worrying so much. So in your case, if I was going 65 and I was dealing with hills, I would have slowed down to 55 until I knew, beyond a doubt, that I had enough range.

Several things here strike me as silliness. As Bonnie points out, you can watch your buffer from mile one, and you should. You should adjust your speed from mile one.

If you know you have hills, you know it will take more range, and it has been published many times on this site that elevation cuts range about ten miles per thousand feet up. If you know that elevation to Barstow increases usage by 40 miles, why would you start with less buffer than that?

And then, why is it that everyone seems to think that you can't slow down, "especially on a freeway". This is really nonsense. The big semis and smaller vehicles pulling trailers are over in the right lane going slow. Until you KNOW how your range is going, you should be over there with them.

I used to drive from Harris Ranch to Barstow, 230 miles on one charge, up hill. I had allowed a 35 mile buffer, but I already knew that 62 mph gave me more miles. I watched the range drop, but my buffer actually rose all the way to Barstow. I followed a pickup with a trailer most of the way. There was never any kind of danger doing less than the speed limit.

Slowing down is the best way to ensure you will make it. Why gamble? That's why you left Vegas.

 

[dark]

Why gamble? That's why you left Vegas.

What? why do people "assume" things, then jump into a judgment. I was not familiar with the car when I first got it, I was not aware of the hills, I was not gambling ok. My range shows 265 when I left the LV supercharger and my drive would be 220 miles.

The topic is "has anyone been stranded with an empty battery", my answer is simple, "YES" and I did not do this on purpose.

 

[bonnie]

What? why do people "assume" things, then jump into a judgment. I was not familiar with the car when I first got it, I was not aware of the hills, I was not gambling ok. My range shows 265 when I left the LV supercharger and my drive would be 220 miles.

The topic is "has anyone been stranded with an empty battery", my answer is simple, "YES" and I did not do this on purpose.

Probably got the reaction you did because you responded to good advice about slowing down with 'Obviously, you have no clue.' They did have a clue, it was good advice. You could have slowed down, you chose not to do so. And yes, you ran out as a result.

A lot of new owners read threads like this. Reading that situations of battery running out of juice could have been avoided is helpful to preventing the same scenario. You didn't do it on purpose, obviously. But it was avoidable.

 

[jerry33]

The closest I came was from Bristow, OK to DFW. It's 220 miles, but I took a detour (aka wrong turn) and it ended up being 250. Then there was an unexpected head wind all the way. I watched the projected range (no trip graph at the time) and compared it to the rated range. Ended up with 17 miles Rated, 29 miles Projected. Had the projected gone below the rated, i would have made one of the two possible stops to pick up a few miles. The previous times I drove that route I ended up with about 60 miles left.