The truth about Electrify America's progress and Traveling with the Mach E

[dbsb3233]

It's not like you don't have anything to do and bam you're empty....

I get that. But when buying a $60,000 vehicle, I just don't like the idea of HAVING to turn the climate control off or slow down to 63 MPH on a 75 speed limit because the vehicle and fueling infrastructure is insufficient.

It'll help when there's more 150kW+ charging stations though. Right now they're like 80-120 miles apart on my usual I-70/I-15 route. There's just little room for error on that if you find a strong headwind or something throws you off. If they were every 20-30 miles, you could just stop one sooner. But when they're this far apart, you're committed.

That's all secondary to the long charge times that would occur every trip though. Which is why we'll just drive the ICE most of the time on road trips (although we're going to do it once in the Mach-e just for the challenge).

Sponsored

 

[ClaudeMach-E]

I get that. But when buying a $60,000 vehicle, I just don't like the idea of HAVING to turn the climate control off or slow down to 63 MPH on a 75 speed limit because the vehicle and fueling infrastructure is insufficient.

It'll help when there's more 150kW+ charging stations though. Right now they're like 80-120 miles apart on my usual I-70/I-15 route. There's just little room for error on that if you find a strong headwind or something throws you off. If they were every 20-30 miles, you could just stop one sooner. But when they're this far apart, you're committed.

That's all secondary to the long charge times that would occur every trip though. Which is why we'll just drive the ICE most of the time on road trips (although we're going to do it once in the Mach-e just for the challenge).

Don't forget that driving an EV is much different then driving an ICE. From viewing many You Tube videos when people start driving their EV's they don't want to return to the ICE and leave them sitting in the driveway. I'm retired to and my driving on long trips is different now then before, I mean more relax and not such in a hurry so with the MME and it's driving 360 deg. driving assist systems it will yet improve that in a better way.

 

[dbsb3233]

Tesla has addressed MOST of those issues, not all. Even though it's a couple of minutes faster with 250 kW, they taper fast too, producing refuel times that are half an hour longer than ICE, and require twice as many stops (or more). That's true for all BEVs.

But yes, Tesla gets marginally better range, and their SC pricing is close to the price of gas (not home, unless you live in a very high residential electricity state like CA). And their SC network coverage is far greater because they started 5 years sooner. It's simply more built out.

I disagree that Ford should be building their own charger network though. And Nissan. And VW. And Kia. And Hyundai. And Volvo, etc. The gas station model makes far more sense (independent refueling networks competing and servicing all auto manufacturer vehicles interchangeably). Tesla had little choice as the first (chicken & egg conundrum).

 

[dbsb3233]

Don't forget that driving an EV is much different then driving an ICE. From viewing many You Tube videos when people start driving their EV's they don't want to return to the ICE and leave them sitting in the driveway. I'm retired to and my driving on long trips is different now then before, I mean more relax and not such in a hurry so with the MME and it's driving 360 deg. driving assist systems it will yet improve that in a better way.

That's true pretty much every time we buy a new vehicle (whether ICE or BEV). The technology and features are nearly always better in the newest one. Plus since we're usually richer the older we get, we usually upgrade each time. The Mach-e will be nearly twice as expensive as any previous vehicle we've bought (even inflation-adjusted).

But even though our 2nd vehicle (Escape Titanium) will have fewer features than the Mach-e Premium, it's still a pretty nice vehicle too. It's not like we'll never drive it again (if that were the case we'd drop to owning a single vehicle). And on it's most fundamental function, it'll work far better on road trips.

 

[dbsb3233]

I think of the home-charge vehicle as way more than the grocery-getter. I think of it in terms of total time spend driving (i.e. total miles). At least 80% of our time spend in the car is around home. Thus the Mach-e will be getting the the vast majority of our miles and time.

That's why it's worth it.

 

[FredT]

I get it. I had a PHEV for three years and loved the times when I could drive electric only. I dreamed of the day that I could go totally electric. Maybe if EA can improve the reliability if their network it will be workable. But watching the Out of Spec video of his trip to Florida in a Kona makes me very nervous.

 

[dbsb3233]

Ah but once you've driven an EV you quickly get a feel for how it consumes electricity.

Yes ABRP give you a good estimate telling you if a trip is possible or not but after driving the car for a while you'll know if ABRP (or any trip planner for that matter) is accurately predicting what you've been experiencing.

Much the same could be said about ICE car driving too, and I don't feel comfortable running it down to 5% fuel on road trips either. 5% is just cutting it too close for comfort.

 

[Billyk24]

I get it. I had a PHEV for three years and loved the times when I could drive electric only. I dreamed of the day that I could go totally electric. Maybe if EA can improve the reliability if their network it will be workable. But watching the Out of Spec video of his trip to Florida in a Kona makes me very nervous.

Sitting in a PHEV as I type this on the smart phone, it currently makes sense as the CCS charging network develops. It is possible to recharge the HVB while driving and there is no real need to plan where to stop for charging.

 

[ajmartineau]

It looks to me like ABRP just took the I-Pace and/or E-Tron numbers and are making a guess based off Fords number of “at least” 300. Before you cancel, wait for the real numbers to come out. I think it’s irresponsible of them to have this numbers in their program. If Ford decides it’s too risky to do 150kW charging and limit the MME to 105kW, these charge times will change a lot.

One thing I like about a battery over a tank is that I know where zero is on the battery. In a tank I really don’t know where that last mile is. With a gas station on every corner, I don’t think it’s important to auto makers to be that accurate.

My first EV was cheap. If the $60k MME was my first EV I would rent an EV for a weekend trip before I purchased it.

 

[JamieGeek]

Much the same could be said about ICE car driving too, and I don't feel comfortable running it down to 5% fuel on road trips either. 5% is just cutting it too close for comfort.

They are different animals.

When I drive an ICE when that low fuel light comes on I'm looking for gas--in the RV when I'm even close to 1/4 of a tank I'm looking for gas.

In the BEV's nope. Even though people call the range to empty the Guess-O-Meter because they fluctuate so much when the battery is full but as you get closer and closer to empty they get more and more accurate. You just get more comfortable...

I guess I could always chock this up, for me personally, as just having to live 3 years with a car that could only go 70 miles. I used to joke with people that on a full charge the Focus Electric has the same range as most cars when their low fuel light comes on. Thus I've had to live "on the edge" for 3 years (granted a good 90% of the travelling in the Focus Electric was <30 miles; even my commute was 1/2 a charge in summer--winter I would always come home under 10 miles to go).

Sponsored