First Road Trip (450 Miles Each Way) - The Good and the Bad

[sparkymartin]

My 14 year old son and I embarked on our first road trip in my brand new 2024 Mustang Mach EX Premium. We drove 450 miles from our home in Salt Lake City, Utah to visit my brother in Henderson, Nevada. Boy did I learn a lot about road tripping in an EV.

BlueCruise

• The Good
  • It is awesome and was a huge stress relief
  • It worked remarkably well for most of the trip
• The Bad
  • It does not work over 80 MPH, which means if the speed limit is 80 MPH, you need stay exactly at the speed limit to use it. This was fine for me.
  • It seemed to briefly stop working whenever the pavement would change from dark to light.
  • There were quite a few times that it nagged at me to pay attention to the road when I was paying attention to the road. I think the angle of the sun along with my sun glasses may have played a factor.
• The Ugly
  • It almost got me into an accident outside of Vegas in a construction zone when I had a semi on my right and a concrete wall to my left with a non-existent shoulder to my left. I had to intervene, slow down, and tuck behind the semi.

In Vehicle Navigation and Trip Planning

• The Good
  • I love that this feature is available. It definitely helped me be more comfortable with the overall trip planning.
• The Bad
  • It was fairly inaccurate with the mileage estimates (this could be do to the fact that it is a new car and I have never driven extensive highway miles with it yet). For example, at my first charging stop, it told me I would arrive with 45 miles of range remaining, when in reality I only had 10 miles remaining. Keep in mind that it was just me and my son and I was using BlueCruise AT the speed limit.
• The Ugly
  • The uphill return trip was even more inaccurate and I had to keep restarting the navigation so it would have me charge sooner because there was clearly no way I was going to make it to the first charging stop.
  • The car kept insisting on adding a half an hour detour to charge even though there were other options that did not require any detour.

Charging

• The Good
  • Charging is available and I got mostly lucky to arrive at charging stations in perfect timing where I didn't need to wait (although people who arrived after me had to wait for a long time).
• The Bad
  • Pretty much every charging station I stopped at (Electrify America), had 4 stations, but one of them was almost always out of service and another was just a level 2 charger, so only 2 Ultra Fast chargers.
• The Ugly
  • I spent $160 to charge my car on this trip (.56/kWh), which I guarantee is more than I would have spent in gas by about $25 or so. I thought this was supposed to be cheaper than gas.
  • I waited until 1:00 AM to charge my car the night before leaving just so I wouldn't run into any conflicts. I ended up second in line and waited nearly an hour to start charging my car. I didn't get back to my brother's house until after 3:00 AM. I guess I should have factored in the fact that I was in the City that never sleeps. I found myself getting super cranky and judging everyone else on their stupid and ugly cars.

Lessons Learned

• When you go on a road trip in your EV, be sure to bring your L1/L2 charger from home. I would have just trickle charged at my brother's house if I had it.
• Just go the speed limit and enjoy BlueCruise.
• Don't try charge your car in Las Vegas at night (you will be in for a long wait)
• The Frunk works great for a baseball bag and bat (my nephew wanted to roll up to his game in the 'Stang' and pull his gear out of the Frunk). His gear fit perfectly in the Frunk, even with his giant water bottle too.
• Have contingency plans because the mileage estimates aren't exactly perfect (this is probably more a product of my car not yet having enough experience with me behind the wheel).
• The center console fits a large bag of Sour Patch Kids AND a medium sized back of chips.
• Don't hesitate to take over for BlueCruise if you find yourself in a tight situation. It's easy enough to turn back on.
• I can't wait to get my Tesla adapter so I can charge at Tesla charging stations.
• While I love my 'Stang', I found that Rivian owners are super passionate about their cars. I heard nothing but glowing reviews from all of the ones that I talked to.

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[Sikkun]

I spent $160 to charge my car on this trip (.56/kWh), which I guarantee is more than I would have spent in gas by about $25 or so. I thought this was supposed to be cheaper than gas.

DC fast charging is generally priced to compete with Gas. EV is cheaper overall because 99% of the time most people charge at home at a cheaper rate. Also you probably left home with a full charge, so remember you have to include the cost of the full tank (before leaving) not just the times you would fill up with gas.

You could have joined EA membership for the month to have made it cheaper. Similar strategy with Tesla, who also tends to be cheaper than EA from what I have seen.

 

[Strykerwsu]

Great writeup. Glad overall went well.

Yes, always have L1/2 with you. Slow free charges still help. As noted join memberships temporarily to save overall. With the Adapter superchargers really help trips currently for congestion anxiety.

I'm also a proud Rivian owner but love my Mach-e as well. The Rivians are great as commute, road trippers, and camping/offroad life, if into that.

 

[RickMachE]

Good notes.

BlueCruise needs lines on both sides of the lane. And, if you are in a construction zone, where they cross over to the other side, it will disconnect.

Use ABRP and PlugShare to plan trips. Nav is not as accurate. Efficiency at 80MPH is awful.

As mentioned, joined EA Pass+ the morning of a trip to save 25%.

EA doesn't normally have level 2 chargers at their locations. You probably saw the 1/2 CHADeMO station. The other hose is fine to use.

No, it's not cheaper than gas if you only DC fast charge, especially in expensive states. But, with the 100% charge from home, and often charging for free at hotels, it's cheaper.

Get your Typhoon Pro adapter from A2ZEV 2 weeks from now, then when you get your Ford adapter sell one if you want. Get the Destination adapter also, then you can use Tesla chargers at hotels or private homes. Your delivery date from Ford is likely to move out even more... https://a2zevshop.com/products/nacs-ccs1?ref=Typhoon&variant=43186507579592

 

[dbsb3233]

We travel much of that stretch frequently in ours (Denver-Vegas). Yes, elevation changes have to be accounted for. It's a big climb from St George to Cedar City. Takes like 35% going north but only 15% going south (ER battery).

80 MPH speed limits in Utah are not kind to EVs. At least you were on I-15 with lots of DCFC. I-70 is a lot trickier with so little DCFC. Green River is a notorious do-or-die choke point.

I don't like autosteering so I don't use BC. I find it less stressful jyst to steer like normal. I don't use the Ford nav either. I prefer Android Auto, and I nav station to station, planning my route and stops manually using the various map resources like Plugshare, EA, etc.

The 3 main hotels we stay at in Vegas all have free L2 charging, so that part is easy for us. Sometimes those fill up, but we're there for many days and always find an opening.

 

[Glenn C]

My 14 year old son and I embarked on our first road trip in my brand new 2024 Mustang Mach EX Premium. We drove 450 miles from our home in Salt Lake City, Utah to visit my brother in Henderson, Nevada. Boy did I learn a lot about road tripping in an EV.

BlueCruise

• The Good
  • It is awesome and was a huge stress relief
  • It worked remarkably well for most of the trip
• The Bad
  • It does not work over 80 MPH, which means if the speed limit is 80 MPH, you need stay exactly at the speed limit to use it. This was fine for me.
  • It seemed to briefly stop working whenever the pavement would change from dark to light.
  • There were quite a few times that it nagged at me to pay attention to the road when I was paying attention to the road. I think the angle of the sun along with my sun glasses may have played a factor.
• The Ugly
  • It almost got me into an accident outside of Vegas in a construction zone when I had a semi on my right and a concrete wall to my left with a non-existent shoulder to my left. I had to intervene, slow down, and tuck behind the semi.

In Vehicle Navigation and Trip Planning

• The Good
  • I love that this feature is available. It definitely helped me be more comfortable with the overall trip planning.
• The Bad
  • It was fairly inaccurate with the mileage estimates (this could be do to the fact that it is a new car and I have never driven extensive highway miles with it yet). For example, at my first charging stop, it told me I would arrive with 45 miles of range remaining, when in reality I only had 10 miles remaining. Keep in mind that it was just me and my son and I was using BlueCruise AT the speed limit.
• The Ugly
  • The uphill return trip was even more inaccurate and I had to keep restarting the navigation so it would have me charge sooner because there was clearly no way I was going to make it to the first charging stop.
  • The car kept insisting on adding a half an hour detour to charge even though there were other options that did not require any detour.

Charging

• The Good
  • Charging is available and I got mostly lucky to arrive at charging stations in perfect timing where I didn't need to wait (although people who arrived after me had to wait for a long time).
• The Bad
  • Pretty much every charging station I stopped at (Electrify America), had 4 stations, but one of them was almost always out of service and another was just a level 2 charger, so only 2 Ultra Fast chargers.
• The Ugly
  • I spent $160 to charge my car on this trip (.56/kWh), which I guarantee is more than I would have spent in gas by about $25 or so. I thought this was supposed to be cheaper than gas.
  • I waited until 1:00 AM to charge my car the night before leaving just so I wouldn't run into any conflicts. I ended up second in line and waited nearly an hour to start charging my car. I didn't get back to my brother's house until after 3:00 AM. I guess I should have factored in the fact that I was in the City that never sleeps. I found myself getting super cranky and judging everyone else on their stupid and ugly cars.

Lessons Learned

• When you go on a road trip in your EV, be sure to bring your L1/L2 charger from home. I would have just trickle charged at my brother's house if I had it.
• Just go the speed limit and enjoy BlueCruise.
• Don't try charge your car in Las Vegas at night (you will be in for a long wait)
• The Frunk works great for a baseball bag and bat (my nephew wanted to roll up to his game in the 'Stang' and pull his gear out of the Frunk). His gear fit perfectly in the Frunk, even with his giant water bottle too.
• Have contingency plans because the mileage estimates aren't exactly perfect (this is probably more a product of my car not yet having enough experience with me behind the wheel).
• The center console fits a large bag of Sour Patch Kids AND a medium sized back of chips.
• Don't hesitate to take over for BlueCruise if you find yourself in a tight situation. It's easy enough to turn back on.
• I can't wait to get my Tesla adapter so I can charge at Tesla charging stations.
• While I love my 'Stang', I found that Rivian owners are super passionate about their cars. I heard nothing but glowing reviews from all of the ones that I talked to.

So they have slot machines at charging stations in Vegas?

 

[TEP]

My 14 year old son and I embarked on our first road trip in my brand new 2024 Mustang Mach EX Premium. We drove 450 miles from our home in Salt Lake City, Utah to visit my brother in Henderson, Nevada. Boy did I learn a lot about road tripping in an EV.

BlueCruise

• The Good
  • It is awesome and was a huge stress relief
  • It worked remarkably well for most of the trip
• The Bad
  • It does not work over 80 MPH, which means if the speed limit is 80 MPH, you need stay exactly at the speed limit to use it. This was fine for me.
  • It seemed to briefly stop working whenever the pavement would change from dark to light.
  • There were quite a few times that it nagged at me to pay attention to the road when I was paying attention to the road. I think the angle of the sun along with my sun glasses may have played a factor.
• The Ugly
  • It almost got me into an accident outside of Vegas in a construction zone when I had a semi on my right and a concrete wall to my left with a non-existent shoulder to my left. I had to intervene, slow down, and tuck behind the semi.

In Vehicle Navigation and Trip Planning

• The Good
  • I love that this feature is available. It definitely helped me be more comfortable with the overall trip planning.
• The Bad
  • It was fairly inaccurate with the mileage estimates (this could be do to the fact that it is a new car and I have never driven extensive highway miles with it yet). For example, at my first charging stop, it told me I would arrive with 45 miles of range remaining, when in reality I only had 10 miles remaining. Keep in mind that it was just me and my son and I was using BlueCruise AT the speed limit.
• The Ugly
  • The uphill return trip was even more inaccurate and I had to keep restarting the navigation so it would have me charge sooner because there was clearly no way I was going to make it to the first charging stop.
  • The car kept insisting on adding a half an hour detour to charge even though there were other options that did not require any detour.

Charging

• The Good
  • Charging is available and I got mostly lucky to arrive at charging stations in perfect timing where I didn't need to wait (although people who arrived after me had to wait for a long time).
• The Bad
  • Pretty much every charging station I stopped at (Electrify America), had 4 stations, but one of them was almost always out of service and another was just a level 2 charger, so only 2 Ultra Fast chargers.
• The Ugly
  • I spent $160 to charge my car on this trip (.56/kWh), which I guarantee is more than I would have spent in gas by about $25 or so. I thought this was supposed to be cheaper than gas.
  • I waited until 1:00 AM to charge my car the night before leaving just so I wouldn't run into any conflicts. I ended up second in line and waited nearly an hour to start charging my car. I didn't get back to my brother's house until after 3:00 AM. I guess I should have factored in the fact that I was in the City that never sleeps. I found myself getting super cranky and judging everyone else on their stupid and ugly cars.

Lessons Learned

• When you go on a road trip in your EV, be sure to bring your L1/L2 charger from home. I would have just trickle charged at my brother's house if I had it.
• Just go the speed limit and enjoy BlueCruise.
• Don't try charge your car in Las Vegas at night (you will be in for a long wait)
• The Frunk works great for a baseball bag and bat (my nephew wanted to roll up to his game in the 'Stang' and pull his gear out of the Frunk). His gear fit perfectly in the Frunk, even with his giant water bottle too.
• Have contingency plans because the mileage estimates aren't exactly perfect (this is probably more a product of my car not yet having enough experience with me behind the wheel).
• The center console fits a large bag of Sour Patch Kids AND a medium sized back of chips.
• Don't hesitate to take over for BlueCruise if you find yourself in a tight situation. It's easy enough to turn back on.
• I can't wait to get my Tesla adapter so I can charge at Tesla charging stations.
• While I love my 'Stang', I found that Rivian owners are super passionate about their cars. I heard nothing but glowing reviews from all of the ones that I talked to.

Did you charge on the trip from SLC to St George? If so where?
Thanks
Tom

 

[dbsb3233]

Did you charge on the trip from SLC to St George? If so where?
Thanks
Tom

When we do the trip from CO, we spend the night in Richfield and charge to 100% at the hotel. 100% usually allows us to make it to Vegas with just one charge stop (St George). The 4000' drop from Cedar City helps going that direction. But going the other way, we often need to charge in St George and Beaver (before peeling off to I-70) because of that climb.

If we were doing the 450 miles from SLC-Vegas that he described, I think we would probably stop in Scipio to be safe. Then either Beaver+St George, or Cedar City+Mesquite from there. We're not comfortable pushing it too deep like some people are. That's one thing that's great about that I-15 corridor - EA stations at roughly 50-60 mile intervals to provide redundancy and overlap. We generally hit every other one but having the extra options is great (compared to the opposite situation on I-70 either side of Green River, currently).

 

[leehinde]

I spent $160 to charge my car on this trip (.56/kWh), which I guarantee is more than I would have spent in gas by about $25 or so. I thought this was supposed to be cheaper than gas.

It will be., when you factor in the savings from your home charging. You didn't mention if you joined whatever EA calls their frequent flier program. I understand you get a discount if you pay some nominal amount

 

[sparkymartin]

Did you charge on the trip from SLC to St George? If so where?

We charged just once on our outbound trip from SLC to Las Vegas. We stopped in Cedar City. I rolled into Cedar City with just 10 miles of range left (even though the Ford Navigation app told me I would have 45 miles of range upon arrival in Cedar City). Based on that experience I chose to charge to just over 80% instead of the recommended 77% in Cedar City just be on the safe side of arriving in Vegas without needing to charge again.

 

[dbsb3233]

We charged just once on our outbound trip from SLC to Las Vegas. We stopped in Cedar City. I rolled into Cedar City with just 10 miles of range left (even though the Ford Navigation app told me I would have 45 miles of range upon arrival in Cedar City). Based on that experience I chose to charge to just over 80% instead of the recommended 77% in Cedar City just be on the safe side of arriving in Vegas without needing to charge again.

Wow, no stop before Cedar City? That's aggressive! That's what, about 240 miles from Herriman? Although maybe you have the RWD? I believe the 2024 RWD ER is rated for 50 miles more than my 2021 AWD ER (270).

I keep forgetting to adjust for those differences. Still though, that would make me nervous. I'd probably at least stop in Beaver next time, plus either St George or Mesquite. And of course this was during summertime. When it gets colder that range will drop.

 

[sparkymartin]

Wow, no stop before Cedar City? That's aggressive! That's what, about 240 miles from Herriman? Although maybe you have the RWD? I believe the 2024 RWD ER is rated for 50 miles more than my 2021 AWD ER (270).

I had about 280 miles of stated range upon leaving Herriman. Since I had never road tripped in any EV before, I was just trusting what the car was telling me. I was starting to get nervous about 50 miles before Cedar City though. My car should be AWD...at least that is what I was told.

 

[dbsb3233]

I had about 280 miles of stated range upon leaving Herriman. Since I had never road tripped in any EV before, I was just trusting what the car was telling me. I was starting to get nervous about 50 miles before Cedar City though. My car should be AWD...at least that is what I was told.

It takes some time to get used to the huge differences in road-tripping an EV. It was new to me too when I got mine. (Well actually, it was new to me before I joined these forums a year before I got mine, where I then learned a lot of the differences).

The range display on the dash is affectionately called the Guess-O-Meter (GOM). It can be way off because it's calculated more based on recent driving patterns. Before a road trip, for most people that means it was city driving which is much more favorable in an EV. But head out on a road trip - especially with 80 MPH speed limits - and that drops a lot. For a variety of reasons, EV mileage (and thus range) varies a lot more than a gas car. Probably like twice as much. In the city some people get 3.5, 4.0, sometimes even 5.0 mi/kWh (MPK) on shorter runs. But for high speed highway, that can easily drop to 2.5, 2.2, even 2.0 MPK. Sounds like you got around 2.7 MPK on your first leg (240 miles + 10 left / 91 kWh battery). That's pretty good for an AWD ER Mach-E @ 80 MPH.

If you run into a headwind, that will drop. If you need to run the heater, that will drop. Even though you made it 240 miles with 10 left this time, personally I wouldn't risk trying to go quite that far. In part because you may not make it if the weather isn't really good, but also because charging stations are sometimes broken, or full. I tend to stop and charge at the station before the last one I can reach, just in case. I like to keep a backup in range.

 

[uclavic]

Anyone going to Vegas should have a Tesla adapter or you're going to be waiting a long time to get a charge as the EA and other non-Tesla infrastructure is woefully inadequate.

 

[TEP]

When we do the trip from CO, we spend the night in Richfield and charge to 100% at the hotel. 100% usually allows us to make it to Vegas with just one charge stop (St George). The 4000' drop from Cedar City helps going that direction. But going the other way, we often need to charge in St George and Beaver (before peeling off to I-70) because of that climb.

If we were doing the 450 miles from SLC-Vegas that he described, I think we would probably stop in Scipio to be safe. Then either Beaver+St George, or Cedar City+Mesquite from there. We're not comfortable pushing it too deep like some people are. That's one thing that's great about that I-15 corridor - EA stations at roughly 50-60 mile intervals to provide redundancy and overlap. We generally hit every other one but having the extra options is great (compared to the opposite situation on I-70 either side of Green River, currently).

Good info. I knew they were putting new chargers around Beaver. I-70 is a little tough. Last I looked Green River was it until Grand Junction. Tesla adapter will help for sure.
Just an added FYI to all, AAA now has mobile chargers in some larger markets as a test. Their website and app show locations.
Thanks
Tom

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