Adventures of our Grabber Blue Space Pony...

SpaceEVDriver

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When the Mustang Mach-E was introduced, I tried to convince my partner that we "needed" one. She was unconvinced.
Then the F-150 Lighting was introduced and we had just come home from a camping trip with the Tacoma. I reserved the F-150 Lightning with her pretty enthusiastic agreement.
Then July 2021 came around and she was liking the idea of another big truck less and less, but still wanted a BEV. She looked at the ID.4, the Tesla, and then I convinced her to look at the Mustang. She was leaning toward the ID.4. We scheduled a test drive for it, and tried to schedule a test drive for the Mustang. No dealers within about 8 hours drive of us had a Mustang available for testing. She liked the ID.4 but wasn't terribly impressed.
Then we found a Mustang to test drive about 2.5 hours (one-way) away. We took the day off work and went down to test it.
We ordered the Mustang at the nearest authorized dealer to our home on the way back home.


Our order was for a 2022 California Route 1, AWD with the extended range battery. With a mere 2 mile range difference between the AWD and the RWD, it didn't make sense to get the RWD when we live in an area that gets a lot of snow. Ford said it would take, "20+ weeks" before delivery.

After ordering, we settled in for the long wait.

On Thursday, 24 February 2022, 20 weeks to the day after we ordered, we picked up our shiny Grabber Blue Mustang. If I understood Ford's approach to their chip shortage, I would tell you the secret to getting our Mustang in the time Ford promised. I think it's just dumb luck.

In this thread, I will chronicle the adventures of our grounded Space Pony.

Ford Mustang Mach-E Adventures of our Grabber Blue Space Pony... PXL_20220224_185710953
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JamieGeek

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Having had our RWD CA Rt1 here in Michigan in the snow...its great and handles really well. Even in 3" of fresh snow.

Heavy car, skinny tires, and traction control FTW.
 
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SpaceEVDriver

SpaceEVDriver

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We left the dealer with 100% charge and drove home on the freeway, 65.7 miles, climbing 3600 feet in elevation, driving at mostly freeway speeds. The temperature in the valley was about 40 F and the temperature in the mountains was 25-30 F.
We then drove out to dinner that night. We took the long way around, adding another 35 miles to the car.

When we got home, we plugged into our ChargePoint Home Flex charger (hardwired for 48A). That night, the pony added 31.27 kWh to its battery. That's about 320 Wh per mile or 3.12 miles per kWh. Not wonderful, but we were getting a feel for the car.

We went on some snow-packed, icy roads, and it handled perfectly.

Ford Mustang Mach-E Adventures of our Grabber Blue Space Pony... PXL_20220224_225805694
 
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SpaceEVDriver

SpaceEVDriver

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Yesterday, my friend with a Tesla X wanted to take a ride in the Mustang. We gave each other a ride in our respective cars (neither feeling like we wanted to drive the other's car because they're both new-to-us).

I much prefer my Mustang. I think he'll keep his Tesla.

Ford Mustang Mach-E Adventures of our Grabber Blue Space Pony... PXL_20220225_204855853
 
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SpaceEVDriver

SpaceEVDriver

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Today, we went for a road trip to the Grand Canyon.

Last night I told the Mustang to charge to 100% in preparation for the drive.
Round trip was going to be ~220 miles, and it was going to be at or below freezing for nearly the entire drive at highway speeds (65-75 mph).

I checked the car when I got up in the morning, and the pony was at 100%, as requested. The Guess-o-Meter (GOM) said we had 220 miles of range. There are several charging stations in the Canyon and more a few miles south at the town of Tusayan. We would be fine.


Elevation profile is 7000 feet to about 4000 feet back up to 7000 feet, then repeated for the trip home.

I drove there, my partner drove home.

When we arrived, we had more than 63% of the battery remaining. We briefly thought about finding one of the charging stations in the Park, but I had not realized I needed to purchase the extras from the A Better RoutePlanner app or PlugShare app, so we couldn't get those to talk to the Mustang's screen from Android Auto. The GOM said we had about 140 miles remaining, which, if correct, would leave us with about 30 miles of range when we got home.

So, we parked, took some pictures, ate lunch, and then turned around and headed home.

Without charging. Dun dun dun!

Want to know your remaining range assuming your driving habits remain the same as they were on so far on a given trip? Ignore the GOM. Do the following Algebra:
D = Distance traveled so far
P = Percent of battery used so far.
T = Total range
R = Remaining range
----
T = D / P
R = T - D
We had used 37% of our battery to go 110 miles.
I calculated that our total range was thus, 110 miles/0.37 = 297 miles.
Our remaining range would thus be 297 miles - 110 miles = 187 miles.
We should arrive home with 187 miles - 110 miles = 77 miles remaining.

My partner was nervous.

We got home with 33% of the battery remaining.
The GOM said 75 miles more range.
We'd gone 220 miles and used 67% of the battery, meaning the full range of the battery was likely to be about 328 miles.

In the (literal) freezing cold, and at highway speeds.

I'm good with a 312 mile range estimate from the EPA.

Ford Mustang Mach-E Adventures of our Grabber Blue Space Pony... PXL_20220226_200824635


Ford Mustang Mach-E Adventures of our Grabber Blue Space Pony... PXL_20220226_213111920
 


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SpaceEVDriver

SpaceEVDriver

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We have around 350 miles on the pony now. We've put a little less than $12 into it from our home charging, if I assume we charged only from the grid, but our PV has offset a large chunk of that.

I calculate a three or four year break-even return on the cost of this vehicle compared with the cost of a new, similarly-sized ICE SUV, despite the ICE's lower buy-in cost. I did this by writing up a Monte Carlo simulation to account for a large number of factors including maintenance, gasoline, electric costs, etc., but ignoring the PV contribution. I can share that sometime if anyone is interested.

But for now I'm going to continue posting about the fun adventures of this little pony that could (and did).
 
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SpaceEVDriver

SpaceEVDriver

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Congrats! I'm still not used to seeing Grabber Blue with black wheel arches.
Thanks!

I usually don't go in for the black wheel arches on vehicles, but in this case, I kind of dig them.
 
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SpaceEVDriver

SpaceEVDriver

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Having had our RWD CA Rt1 here in Michigan in the snow...its great and handles really well. Even in 3" of fresh snow.

Heavy car, skinny tires, and traction control FTW.
Yeah, I'm quite happy with its performance. I was a little concerned that I might want to get snow tires, but we're going to wait until next season to make that decision. I think we'll decide it's unnecessary.
 
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SpaceEVDriver

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Okay, I'm super happy with the Mustang.

Here are some things I don't like, so far:
  1. The driver's headrest/active head restraint. I cannot seem to get it into a comfortable position. It's always just a bit too far forward. Or too high. Or too low.
  2. I want a motorized cover for the sunroof. The glare from the sun is distracting.
  3. I don't like the software interface. Things like tire pressure aren't obviously accessible while nearly useless junk (like Alexa) are front-and-center. Someone needs to make the software developers sit in the car, with their hands tied behind their backs and their mouths gagged, for 1500 or 3000 miles while a new user tries to use the interface.
  4. I don't like not having environmental controls as physical buttons and knobs.
  5. I don't like that the seat heaters are sliders when the heat levels are quantized. Pick a format and stick to it.
  6. I don't like having to hunt for the cameras.
  7. I don't like the trunk's floor panel. It's flimsy and doesn't fit in the bottom position very cleanly.
  8. I don't like the directional knob on the console. It should be on the tree or on the dash somewhere. We could have a ton more space on the console if it weren't there.
  9. Speaking of space. Two, small cupholders is 1980s thinking. Come on. Move that knob somewhere else and give us more cup holders.
 

generaltso

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The driver's headrest/active head restraint. I cannot seem to get it into a comfortable position. It's always just a bit too far forward. Or too high. Or too low.
Does the CA RT1 not have 4-way adjustable headrests?

I don't like the software interface. Things like tire pressure aren't obviously accessible while nearly useless junk (like Alexa) are front-and-center.
After you open the tire pressure screen through the menu, the card for it will get added to the recently used apps at the bottom. I like to keep it there so I can keep an eye on the tire pressure at a glance without having to open anything.
 
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SpaceEVDriver

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Does the CA RT1 not have 4-way adjustable headrests?
Honestly, I haven't had a chance to figure it out. I'll go play with it later this evening.

After you open the tire pressure screen through the menu, the card for it will get added to the recently used apps at the bottom. I like to keep it there so I can keep an eye on the tire pressure at a glance without having to open anything.
Is there a way to force a specific set of cards to always be available there? I would like to be in control of that instead of letting the pseudo-AI choose those for me.

Thanks for your responses!

I obviously have more reading/fiddling to do. I've only had the car for a few days.
 
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generaltso

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Is there a way to force a specific set of cards to always be available there? I would like to be in control of that instead of letting the pseudo-AI choose those for me.
You can‘t pin them there, unfortunately. But it just shows the apps you used most recently, so you can control what’s there. Swipe down on any cards that you want to remove.
 
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SpaceEVDriver

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You can‘t pin them there, unfortunately. But it just shows the apps you used most recently, so you can control what’s there. Swipe down on any cards that you want to remove.
Thanks!
 

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The seat heater controls look like sliders and will act like them if you slide, but you don't have to. I just tap twice- once to open it and again to choose my level. I have learned that this is the case with most slider interfaces in vehicles and it's always easier to just tap
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