Elmst-e
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2023
- Threads
- 21
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- 106
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- 233
- Location
- Kcarea
- Vehicles
- Mach-e premium
- Thread starter
- #1
We recently took a trip to Moab. This was our first long distance trip in our 1 year old 22 premium AWD ER. This was a 2110 mile round trip, the trip log in the car said we overall averaged 3.0 miles per kWh, although I’m not sure that was right as we made a fairly steady 75 mph most of the way and showed between 2.7-2.4 miles per kWh. We were doing better than that a few places but I don’t think we could get that kind of mileage for the overall trip.
We left the Lawrence, Ks. area and planned to stop in Denver for the first night. We did charges in Kansas at Salina, Hays, and Colby on I-70 at EA chargers. In Colorado we charged at Burlington and Bennett at ChargePoint chargers. We got to the west side of Denver after an 11 hour drive. Our old ICE car did the drive in about 9 hours, but the extra 2 hours charging was really very comfortable and relaxing. We talked to some nice people charging their cars and a couple of people that wandered over and asked about the Mach-e and ev’s in general. That never happens when you’re at a gas pump and it was a nice change.
We couldn’t find a hotel with chargers that fit our needs, so we stayed at Colorado Mills mall which had a big EA station and an even bigger Tesla station and charged there while we ate.
The next morning we left for Moab, Utah and changed in Vail and Grand Junction Colo. we got to Moab after a 6 hour drive. Moab has a new magic dock Tesla charger station and we wanted to try it out. I had downloaded the Tesla app before leaving and registered card info on it. When we got there it took a few minutes to figure out how to use the app, but once we did the magic dock released from the charger, we plugged in and charged easily. It was not any faster then our other charges but I believe that was the car and not the charger. 2 Tesla guys came over and talked to us about how we were managing to charge there. The first guy seemed a little grumpy about the “ riff-raff” using his chargers, the second guy was really interested in seeing the magic-dock and thought it was a good thing for ev’s to share the Tesla system. I liked talking to the second guy better!
We stayed at the Gonzo Inn at Moab. Funny name but a really nice place with 2 free chargers which we used all 3 nights we were there. We were the only ev there but I wonder as ev’s increase in numbers how long that free charging at hotels will last.
We were in Moab for 2 full days and we went to Dead horse point state park, Canyonlands NP and Arches NP. This is some of the most breathtaking scenery in the country and by the number of foreign tourists maybe the world. It’s an area that everyone should see at some point.
Coming back, we pretty much duplicated our charging stops.
We had 2 things we noticed about the car. We felt the charging could have been a bit faster. We would start the charge in the 160 kWh range but by around 60% SOC we would drop to 110 kWh and at 70% we would be around 60 kWh . We expected the charge curve to drop at 80% to around 30% but early on in the charging it just seemed we could be keeping a bit higher charge rate. These figures were very consistent so this is just what the car would do for us. This probably added about 5 - 10 minutes per charge session which didn’t bother us but other people might find it too slow for their taste.
The other thing was we thought that Ford navigation could be more intuitive in its use. At times it was difficult to find the charger we needed or program in a change of charger sites. But between ford nav, PlugShare and google maps we always got where we needed to be.
Everywhere we needed to charge, we charged. BUT, about half of the chargers we stopped at had some “obstacle“ we needed to overcome. These were unavailable docks, charges starting and then disconnecting and not accepting the app on the first try. We always got around the problem but when was the last time you pulled up to a gas pump and had a problem? If ev’s are going to gain a big following these problems will have to be eliminated along with needing 4-5 different apps to access different charging systems. The other thing that really bothered me? All chargers except one were located in the open. With sunlight on the charger, you simply cannot read the screen easily. This will not be acceptable to the general public.
With all this said, the Mach-E was flawless throughout the trip. Powerful, smooth, quiet and a great road trip car. As someone whose first car was a 64 dodge dart I find any car today a technological marvel, but with blue cruise and sirius radio and everything else it offers, the Mach-e is just an amazing piece of equipment.
Charging at the Tesla magic dock in Moab, Utah
109 years of Ford technology in Canyonlands NP. A 1909 model t and our Mach-e
We left the Lawrence, Ks. area and planned to stop in Denver for the first night. We did charges in Kansas at Salina, Hays, and Colby on I-70 at EA chargers. In Colorado we charged at Burlington and Bennett at ChargePoint chargers. We got to the west side of Denver after an 11 hour drive. Our old ICE car did the drive in about 9 hours, but the extra 2 hours charging was really very comfortable and relaxing. We talked to some nice people charging their cars and a couple of people that wandered over and asked about the Mach-e and ev’s in general. That never happens when you’re at a gas pump and it was a nice change.
We couldn’t find a hotel with chargers that fit our needs, so we stayed at Colorado Mills mall which had a big EA station and an even bigger Tesla station and charged there while we ate.
The next morning we left for Moab, Utah and changed in Vail and Grand Junction Colo. we got to Moab after a 6 hour drive. Moab has a new magic dock Tesla charger station and we wanted to try it out. I had downloaded the Tesla app before leaving and registered card info on it. When we got there it took a few minutes to figure out how to use the app, but once we did the magic dock released from the charger, we plugged in and charged easily. It was not any faster then our other charges but I believe that was the car and not the charger. 2 Tesla guys came over and talked to us about how we were managing to charge there. The first guy seemed a little grumpy about the “ riff-raff” using his chargers, the second guy was really interested in seeing the magic-dock and thought it was a good thing for ev’s to share the Tesla system. I liked talking to the second guy better!
We stayed at the Gonzo Inn at Moab. Funny name but a really nice place with 2 free chargers which we used all 3 nights we were there. We were the only ev there but I wonder as ev’s increase in numbers how long that free charging at hotels will last.
We were in Moab for 2 full days and we went to Dead horse point state park, Canyonlands NP and Arches NP. This is some of the most breathtaking scenery in the country and by the number of foreign tourists maybe the world. It’s an area that everyone should see at some point.
Coming back, we pretty much duplicated our charging stops.
We had 2 things we noticed about the car. We felt the charging could have been a bit faster. We would start the charge in the 160 kWh range but by around 60% SOC we would drop to 110 kWh and at 70% we would be around 60 kWh . We expected the charge curve to drop at 80% to around 30% but early on in the charging it just seemed we could be keeping a bit higher charge rate. These figures were very consistent so this is just what the car would do for us. This probably added about 5 - 10 minutes per charge session which didn’t bother us but other people might find it too slow for their taste.
The other thing was we thought that Ford navigation could be more intuitive in its use. At times it was difficult to find the charger we needed or program in a change of charger sites. But between ford nav, PlugShare and google maps we always got where we needed to be.
Everywhere we needed to charge, we charged. BUT, about half of the chargers we stopped at had some “obstacle“ we needed to overcome. These were unavailable docks, charges starting and then disconnecting and not accepting the app on the first try. We always got around the problem but when was the last time you pulled up to a gas pump and had a problem? If ev’s are going to gain a big following these problems will have to be eliminated along with needing 4-5 different apps to access different charging systems. The other thing that really bothered me? All chargers except one were located in the open. With sunlight on the charger, you simply cannot read the screen easily. This will not be acceptable to the general public.
With all this said, the Mach-E was flawless throughout the trip. Powerful, smooth, quiet and a great road trip car. As someone whose first car was a 64 dodge dart I find any car today a technological marvel, but with blue cruise and sirius radio and everything else it offers, the Mach-e is just an amazing piece of equipment.
Charging at the Tesla magic dock in Moab, Utah
109 years of Ford technology in Canyonlands NP. A 1909 model t and our Mach-e
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