KriegTiger
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #1
My parents moved recently and I wanted to go help them get settled in and unpacked. This would mean a trip to Idaho from Texas and I did not feel like flying (lots of reasons, not the point, not gonna go into it), this meant a road trip. I haven't done one of those in a while so I decided to give it a go in my MME. This is roughly the route, about 32hrs on the road each direction. I left at 7am and would finish at just after midnight both days on a given direction of the trip.
The trip included a mix of charging stations - Rivian, Tesla, Chargepoint, EVgo, etc - and generally I had no issues doing just 'plug-and-charge' using Ford's Blue Oval capabilities. I did however notice that the cost was starting to add up. Going from 15% to around 70% each time would cost almost $30 or more (with charging rates at or above $0.55/kwh or more - including at Tesla stations), meaning that with 12-14 stops along the way each direction electricity could start adding up quickly.
So instead I payed $13 and subscribed to Tesla's supercharger network for a month, and while I did pay a little up front, the charging rate cost dropped to $0.35/kwh and my cost to charge went WAY down... when Tesla's network was able to grab the connection before Ford's. Rather than averaging $25-$30 for a change it dropped to usually less than $20, and across half a dozen stops or more that adds up FAST and makes it very worthwhile purchase for trips like this.
To do this I had to add my MME to the Tesla app, which thankfully wasn't a big deal. Add your non-tesla to the tesla app, setup a billing detail, then hit the 3-bars 'menu' button in the top right and select 'charge your other EV' on the next screen. It will locate where you're at, then you tell it to activate the station you're parked next to (1A, 2B, etc) and THEN you plug in after you tell it to activate that port. Teeny bit less convenient for a lot of savings.
The ability to GET that connection to Tesla was a little frustrating, out of 29 total stops it only successfully grabbed about 6, which probably cost me another almost $200 in charging, since I paid for the Tesla sub before the trip and didn't realize until I was on the way back that Ford's billing was snatching up my charging attempts before Tesla's was unless I explicitly forced it through Tesla's app.
This makes me really tempted to turn off my Blue Oval connectivity and either pay individually at a charger if I stop at a non-Tesla one, or just stick to Tesla chargers completely. As it is I only picked up the Tesla sub for one month on purpose because of this long trip, my range is enough to get me all over my home region and back to my lvl2 home charger without issue.
The Blue Oval network connectivity may be 'Free' but they sure ding the hell out of your wallet whenever you use it.
Overall the trip was great, absolutely loved my MME for the ride and had zero issues with it despite temps ranging from 26 through 90F, mountains, etc.
The trip included a mix of charging stations - Rivian, Tesla, Chargepoint, EVgo, etc - and generally I had no issues doing just 'plug-and-charge' using Ford's Blue Oval capabilities. I did however notice that the cost was starting to add up. Going from 15% to around 70% each time would cost almost $30 or more (with charging rates at or above $0.55/kwh or more - including at Tesla stations), meaning that with 12-14 stops along the way each direction electricity could start adding up quickly.
So instead I payed $13 and subscribed to Tesla's supercharger network for a month, and while I did pay a little up front, the charging rate cost dropped to $0.35/kwh and my cost to charge went WAY down... when Tesla's network was able to grab the connection before Ford's. Rather than averaging $25-$30 for a change it dropped to usually less than $20, and across half a dozen stops or more that adds up FAST and makes it very worthwhile purchase for trips like this.
To do this I had to add my MME to the Tesla app, which thankfully wasn't a big deal. Add your non-tesla to the tesla app, setup a billing detail, then hit the 3-bars 'menu' button in the top right and select 'charge your other EV' on the next screen. It will locate where you're at, then you tell it to activate the station you're parked next to (1A, 2B, etc) and THEN you plug in after you tell it to activate that port. Teeny bit less convenient for a lot of savings.
The ability to GET that connection to Tesla was a little frustrating, out of 29 total stops it only successfully grabbed about 6, which probably cost me another almost $200 in charging, since I paid for the Tesla sub before the trip and didn't realize until I was on the way back that Ford's billing was snatching up my charging attempts before Tesla's was unless I explicitly forced it through Tesla's app.
This makes me really tempted to turn off my Blue Oval connectivity and either pay individually at a charger if I stop at a non-Tesla one, or just stick to Tesla chargers completely. As it is I only picked up the Tesla sub for one month on purpose because of this long trip, my range is enough to get me all over my home region and back to my lvl2 home charger without issue.
The Blue Oval network connectivity may be 'Free' but they sure ding the hell out of your wallet whenever you use it.
Overall the trip was great, absolutely loved my MME for the ride and had zero issues with it despite temps ranging from 26 through 90F, mountains, etc.
Sponsored
