mateo
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #1
I've seen some other people here with this issue recently... I took a family trip in the Mach-E (Wife + 2 young kids) over 10 days of spring break through four cities in the midwest, and was expecting to encounter broken and ICE'd chargers, faulty GOM readings, road rage, major vehicle malfunctions, famine & fire. But nothing of the sort happened, and the charging added absolutely no travel time to our trip.
Now obviously if I traveled 1000+ miles in 10 days, this wasn't a road-warrior adventure. But I would have done the same amount of per-day traveling with an ICE vehicle.
Trip 1 (130 miles): Home -> Distant Chicago suburb. The plan was to charge at the hotel, but the CCS/Tesla combo was obviously broken. The other Tesla charger worked (as I saw a car charging there earlier), but my Tesla adapter didn't work when I tried later. The charger was outside, exposed, and pretty sketchy. I unfortunately didn't get a chance to test my adapter again on the journey, so I still don't know where the fault lay. We had an event to attend in the next morning, and while we could have charged during lunch at a local mall, I decided to do it that night after putting kids to bed so I didn't have to worry about starting the trip on a bad note. The Electrify America station worked perfectly; was the first time I used that network. Plugged in and immediately charged. The free credit from Ford worked, so didn't cost me anything.
Trip 2 (180 miles): This was the longest leg without charging during the coldest weather. Arrived in Indianapolis with about 30 GOM miles remaining. We ate dinner while charging at EVgo. This was one of the Chase Bank chargers that was near some trash fast food. But I prefer dropping the family off at a nicer place, and just walking myself to the restaurant, as long as it's not more than 15 minutes on foot.
Trip 3 (120 miles): Before leaving for Cincinnati, we topped off at Electrify America during lunch at Walmart Subway (Terrible). Because we were a bit early for check-in at our VRBO when we arrived, we charged for 15 minutes at a nearby EVgo. The rest of our charging was all done at museums, zoos, etc. It was slow L2 charging, but over the 12ish hours we spent at those places during the few days we were there, we were at 100% when leaving for Columbus.
Trip 4 (120 miles): We arrived in Columbus with plenty of charge. This city was home of the free charging! The Zoo and the museum we visited both had free charging. Again due to the length of time we spent there, it gave us quite a bit of range. At dinner one night, I stumbled upon a full public parking lot with only one remaining spot - a free 50 kW charger! (Yeah, I could have used PlugShare to search, but I was planning on parking at the restaurant which ended up being full.) I spent no money charging during this part of the trip, and left with 100% charge.
Trip 5 (180 miles): Drove back to Indianapolis, but with a stop in Dayton for lunch. We charged back up while eating, close to 100%. So we arrived with plenty of charge in Indianapolis for the few days there.
Trip 6 (300 miles): Back home. We charged at an EVgo while eating breakfast on the last day in Indianapolis. Three hours later, we arrived in Chicago area with about 20% remaining, just in time for lunch. We charged at EVgo during that time, and then drove back home with plenty of charge after a small shopping detour.
The ONLY inconvenience I experienced is that our charging-related dining options were extremely limited. But timing trips around breakfast, lunch, or dinner was not an issue. I drove as far in a day as I would want to with two young kids. The hands-free driving on the interstate is a game changer for me. For the most part, I could set a speed, stay in a lane, and not worry about a thing.
Charging costs:
* Indianapolis: 55 cents/kWh
* Chicago/Cincinnati: 33 cents/kWh
* Columbus: FREE!!!
Now obviously if I traveled 1000+ miles in 10 days, this wasn't a road-warrior adventure. But I would have done the same amount of per-day traveling with an ICE vehicle.
Trip 1 (130 miles): Home -> Distant Chicago suburb. The plan was to charge at the hotel, but the CCS/Tesla combo was obviously broken. The other Tesla charger worked (as I saw a car charging there earlier), but my Tesla adapter didn't work when I tried later. The charger was outside, exposed, and pretty sketchy. I unfortunately didn't get a chance to test my adapter again on the journey, so I still don't know where the fault lay. We had an event to attend in the next morning, and while we could have charged during lunch at a local mall, I decided to do it that night after putting kids to bed so I didn't have to worry about starting the trip on a bad note. The Electrify America station worked perfectly; was the first time I used that network. Plugged in and immediately charged. The free credit from Ford worked, so didn't cost me anything.
Trip 2 (180 miles): This was the longest leg without charging during the coldest weather. Arrived in Indianapolis with about 30 GOM miles remaining. We ate dinner while charging at EVgo. This was one of the Chase Bank chargers that was near some trash fast food. But I prefer dropping the family off at a nicer place, and just walking myself to the restaurant, as long as it's not more than 15 minutes on foot.
Trip 3 (120 miles): Before leaving for Cincinnati, we topped off at Electrify America during lunch at Walmart Subway (Terrible). Because we were a bit early for check-in at our VRBO when we arrived, we charged for 15 minutes at a nearby EVgo. The rest of our charging was all done at museums, zoos, etc. It was slow L2 charging, but over the 12ish hours we spent at those places during the few days we were there, we were at 100% when leaving for Columbus.
Trip 4 (120 miles): We arrived in Columbus with plenty of charge. This city was home of the free charging! The Zoo and the museum we visited both had free charging. Again due to the length of time we spent there, it gave us quite a bit of range. At dinner one night, I stumbled upon a full public parking lot with only one remaining spot - a free 50 kW charger! (Yeah, I could have used PlugShare to search, but I was planning on parking at the restaurant which ended up being full.) I spent no money charging during this part of the trip, and left with 100% charge.
Trip 5 (180 miles): Drove back to Indianapolis, but with a stop in Dayton for lunch. We charged back up while eating, close to 100%. So we arrived with plenty of charge in Indianapolis for the few days there.
Trip 6 (300 miles): Back home. We charged at an EVgo while eating breakfast on the last day in Indianapolis. Three hours later, we arrived in Chicago area with about 20% remaining, just in time for lunch. We charged at EVgo during that time, and then drove back home with plenty of charge after a small shopping detour.
The ONLY inconvenience I experienced is that our charging-related dining options were extremely limited. But timing trips around breakfast, lunch, or dinner was not an issue. I drove as far in a day as I would want to with two young kids. The hands-free driving on the interstate is a game changer for me. For the most part, I could set a speed, stay in a lane, and not worry about a thing.
Charging costs:
* Indianapolis: 55 cents/kWh
* Chicago/Cincinnati: 33 cents/kWh
* Columbus: FREE!!!
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