Rory
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Rory
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2022
- Threads
- 11
- Messages
- 172
- Reaction score
- 298
- Location
- Davis, California
- Vehicles
- Mustang Mach-E 2022 Premium ER AWD
- Thread starter
- #1
I just took my first long-distance trip in my '22 AWD ER Premium. Davis, California to Burbank. About 400 miles. I had one charger stop each way, because I felt that it was better to stay a little longer at one charger than it was to add extra time navigating to a second one just to add more "buffer" to my trip. This meant I was short on range when stopping for charging, which does have some impact in rural areas, as I found to my near dismay.
Some background: I've had electric or fuel cell cars since 1999 (GM EV1, and others since). Lots of experience with managing range and charging, but no trips where I've had to charge in the middle of the journey (as none of the prior cars except the fuel cell one had the range that would be acceptable to me to drive long-distance and use unfamiliar chargers).
Observations:
1. The range of the car was great. On the way back, charged at Kettleman City, drove 220 miles home, and had 50 miles left on the car (had charged to 95%). I drove on I5 about 72 mph 2/3s of the way, 75 mph for the other third once I saw my range-o-meter rising from the original 30 miles estimated left at end of trip. The weather was clear, about 65 degrees F.
2. Going over the Grapevine saw the range drop about 30 miles when going uphill, adding back about 27-28 miles going back down.
3. The Ford navigation on-board app sucks in so many ways but is necessary when wanting to precondition before a fast charge. A short incomplete list: 1) when traffic is bad on the freeway, the app will often reroute off the freeway even if the rerouted streets are also congested and even slower than the freeway; 2) the app will suggest a charge station for a stop even when all the chargers at that station are out of order (more below); 3) the menu system for the app is terrible, and it is hard to remove stops from the route (it added a charging station prematurely as I was going up the Grapevine, as it panicked and didn't account for the range increase on the downhill).
4. Minimizing charger stops means that the remaining range will be low when arriving at a charging station. If the station is unreliable and there are few alternatives nearby, this will not work well. On my drive down, I took 99 assuming that there'd be more stations. Yes, there were, but it turned out that in the area I ended up stopping, there were only 2 fast-charge stations within range of the car. The first one I went to (as suggested by the Ford navigation system), was down and appeared to have not yet been provisioned (it was at a Love's). I then found a second one at a Walmart that appeared to have 3 stations up and one down (EA). Went there and found that only one station was actually working and was occupied. EA tried to get me to use another station, but after that failed, the operator stated "Hmm, looks like we have a ticket on this station with the same problem." Thanks!!! Finally charged at the working station after the other driver was done. The station was a 150 KW station, and max charge was only about 70 kW, which startled me.Read https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...ates-even-on-200kw-stations.27048/post-620195 for the explanation. In short, charging at a station rated below 350 kW means you get a slow charge, even though the max rate for a Mach-E is probably about 160 kW. Turns out that that wasnāt the issue. Most 150 kW stations have adequate amperage, including most EA 150 kW stations. Must have been a malfunction.
5. Preplanning charge stations and carefully researching them helps on unfamiliar routes. After that first experience (which is not how you want to start a trip), all my stops were at stations for which I had read the reviews and counted carefully how many stations were available, and whether they were 350 kW or less. I also had a backup plan for each stop (except the Kettleman City stop).
6. Kettleman City has a large new EA installation and I noticed that there was spare capacity each time I checked. All are 350 kW. Some are "shared" with one power unit between two, but the key is that the cables are at least 400-amp cables, which is what counts for a 400V car like the Mustang, as the max rate will be less than 350/2. My initial charge rate was 160 kW! It wasn't the ideal spot to charge as it was not the half-way point (Harris Ranch would be better), but it appeared to be the most reliable. Given the distance between available chargers on I-5, choosing to charge only once meant I had to commit to a specific location to charge, as I would not have the range to switch locations if I encountered a problem. We had lunch and took a nice walk (which we like to do daily anyway) while the car was charging and visited the nearby Tesla supercharger site that had 40 superchargers and a building with a cafe and other amenities. Fewer than 10 of the supercharger sites were occupied (this was noon on a Monday). Charged the car to 95% that gave hope we'd make it home without charging again. As noted above, the initial range estimate of 30 miles was conservative, and we got home with a very comfortable margin (50 miles). Also, since we were coming home to an urban area with lots of chargers, I felt ok pushing the range a bit, as I knew I'd find a fast charger somewhere if I needed to.
7. The range-o-meter was pretty accurate, enough to be relied upon, except when going through significant altitude changes. I tracked the difference between the range remaining and the distance to the next stop, and most of the time it was very stable, except for the pleasant surprise going home from Kettleman City, when the difference between the two kept on increasing (at least until I started running at 75 mph, when the difference stabilized).
8. Blue Cruise 1.0 really makes it easier on long trips, but it is annoying that it usually drops out for about 1/8th of a mile if you're in the right-hand lane and pass an off-ramp. Fixing that is more important for me than giving me 1.2 with assisted lane changes.
Some background: I've had electric or fuel cell cars since 1999 (GM EV1, and others since). Lots of experience with managing range and charging, but no trips where I've had to charge in the middle of the journey (as none of the prior cars except the fuel cell one had the range that would be acceptable to me to drive long-distance and use unfamiliar chargers).
Observations:
1. The range of the car was great. On the way back, charged at Kettleman City, drove 220 miles home, and had 50 miles left on the car (had charged to 95%). I drove on I5 about 72 mph 2/3s of the way, 75 mph for the other third once I saw my range-o-meter rising from the original 30 miles estimated left at end of trip. The weather was clear, about 65 degrees F.
2. Going over the Grapevine saw the range drop about 30 miles when going uphill, adding back about 27-28 miles going back down.
3. The Ford navigation on-board app sucks in so many ways but is necessary when wanting to precondition before a fast charge. A short incomplete list: 1) when traffic is bad on the freeway, the app will often reroute off the freeway even if the rerouted streets are also congested and even slower than the freeway; 2) the app will suggest a charge station for a stop even when all the chargers at that station are out of order (more below); 3) the menu system for the app is terrible, and it is hard to remove stops from the route (it added a charging station prematurely as I was going up the Grapevine, as it panicked and didn't account for the range increase on the downhill).
4. Minimizing charger stops means that the remaining range will be low when arriving at a charging station. If the station is unreliable and there are few alternatives nearby, this will not work well. On my drive down, I took 99 assuming that there'd be more stations. Yes, there were, but it turned out that in the area I ended up stopping, there were only 2 fast-charge stations within range of the car. The first one I went to (as suggested by the Ford navigation system), was down and appeared to have not yet been provisioned (it was at a Love's). I then found a second one at a Walmart that appeared to have 3 stations up and one down (EA). Went there and found that only one station was actually working and was occupied. EA tried to get me to use another station, but after that failed, the operator stated "Hmm, looks like we have a ticket on this station with the same problem." Thanks!!! Finally charged at the working station after the other driver was done. The station was a 150 KW station, and max charge was only about 70 kW, which startled me.
5. Preplanning charge stations and carefully researching them helps on unfamiliar routes. After that first experience (which is not how you want to start a trip), all my stops were at stations for which I had read the reviews and counted carefully how many stations were available, and whether they were 350 kW or less. I also had a backup plan for each stop (except the Kettleman City stop).
6. Kettleman City has a large new EA installation and I noticed that there was spare capacity each time I checked. All are 350 kW. Some are "shared" with one power unit between two, but the key is that the cables are at least 400-amp cables, which is what counts for a 400V car like the Mustang, as the max rate will be less than 350/2. My initial charge rate was 160 kW! It wasn't the ideal spot to charge as it was not the half-way point (Harris Ranch would be better), but it appeared to be the most reliable. Given the distance between available chargers on I-5, choosing to charge only once meant I had to commit to a specific location to charge, as I would not have the range to switch locations if I encountered a problem. We had lunch and took a nice walk (which we like to do daily anyway) while the car was charging and visited the nearby Tesla supercharger site that had 40 superchargers and a building with a cafe and other amenities. Fewer than 10 of the supercharger sites were occupied (this was noon on a Monday). Charged the car to 95% that gave hope we'd make it home without charging again. As noted above, the initial range estimate of 30 miles was conservative, and we got home with a very comfortable margin (50 miles). Also, since we were coming home to an urban area with lots of chargers, I felt ok pushing the range a bit, as I knew I'd find a fast charger somewhere if I needed to.
7. The range-o-meter was pretty accurate, enough to be relied upon, except when going through significant altitude changes. I tracked the difference between the range remaining and the distance to the next stop, and most of the time it was very stable, except for the pleasant surprise going home from Kettleman City, when the difference between the two kept on increasing (at least until I started running at 75 mph, when the difference stabilized).
8. Blue Cruise 1.0 really makes it easier on long trips, but it is annoying that it usually drops out for about 1/8th of a mile if you're in the right-hand lane and pass an off-ramp. Fixing that is more important for me than giving me 1.2 with assisted lane changes.
Sponsored
Last edited: