Took it on an out of town trip and the efficiency was not great.

[Dear_OP]

The answer is not bigger batteries. Large batteries are self defeating as it adds weight which nullifies efficiency. Sure you get more range, but it also takes time to charge it back up. In the mean time you are lugging around a ton of weight. An near empty battery is the same as a full battery.

I would want an EV that is as light and as aerodynamic as possible. Coupled with advanced battery management. With dense reliable charging infrastructure, range anxiety goes away.

Unfortunately the Mach E is not an efficient EV by comparison. List of aerodynamic EVs. Mach E is way down at 0.29. It's worse than some modern ICEV. While you don't experience much difference on slow speed in-town scenarios, it hurts at highway speeds as OP and few others are experiencing.

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[dbsb3233]

The answer is not bigger batteries. Large batteries are self defeating as it adds weight which nullifies efficiency. Sure you get more range, but it also takes time to charge it back up. In the mean time you are lugging around a ton of weight. An near empty battery is the same as a full battery.

I would want an EV that is as light and as aerodynamic as possible. Coupled with advanced battery management. With dense reliable charging infrastructure, range anxiety goes away.

Unfortunately the Mach E is not an efficient EV by comparison. List of aerodynamic EVs. Mach E is way down at 0.29. It's worse than some modern ICEV. While you don't experience much difference on slow speed in-town scenarios, it hurts at highway speeds as OP and few others are experiencing.

Yeah, it's definitely a Catch-22. Aerodynamics are a much bigger deal in an EV. But they're also in direct conflict with the sizes and shapes North American consumers tend to favor. Including me. I want tall and roomy. I hate crawling down in and out of low vehicles. I also like the better visibility of sitting higher. And a full-height cargo area. But all that kinda makes it a brick for aero.

 

[Brons2]

The answer is not bigger batteries. Large batteries are self defeating as it adds weight which nullifies efficiency. Sure you get more range, but it also takes time to charge it back up. In the mean time you are lugging around a ton of weight. An near empty battery is the same as a full battery.

I would want an EV that is as light and as aerodynamic as possible. Coupled with advanced battery management. With dense reliable charging infrastructure, range anxiety goes away.

Unfortunately the Mach E is not an efficient EV by comparison. List of aerodynamic EVs. Mach E is way down at 0.29. It's worse than some modern ICEV. While you don't experience much difference on slow speed in-town scenarios, it hurts at highway speeds as OP and few others are experiencing.

From a 10,000 foot view this is all correct. Battery density is the holy grail of next level EV adoption. If there was a battery that had 400 miles of range in a mid-sized crossover and weighed no more than a tank of gas, I don't know how they'd sell any ICE vehicles at all. And the advantages of less battery weight and better aerodynamics further bolster the use case for such a theoretical vehicle.

But we all live in the real world.

Reality check: Our Mach-E is head and shoulders more efficient than ICE the vehicle it replaced, full stop. When considered with the trade value offered by the selling dealer and incentives offered it cost us the least amount out of pocket for the feature set that we wanted of any of the available (acceptable) brand new EV options.

By acceptable, I mean, the Model 3 is cheaper, but it's not big enough for me, I'm 6'7" and 300lbs and the vehicle is not comfortable. The Vinfast can be leased cheaper also but the reviews are terrible and it's questionable whether the company will be around long term. The ID.4 is a nice driver, and there are some good deals on the low end models, but to get the larger battery and the features we wanted (wife demands power liftgate), you need to step up to the Pro.S, and it costs more than the Mach-E Premium.

If we had made the decision solely on aerodynamic coefficient and efficiency of battery capacity usage we probably would have bought the Model Y, the base model has 320ish miles of range and gets the most from it's battery capacity. But I flat out hated the Model Y. Stupid controls and ergonomics, poor build quality, lack of features we wanted, and the ride is bad over rough pavement. And it doesn't have the YouTube Music app, or do Android Auto or Apple Carplay. [edit] and you can't take it home off the dealer lot either.

Of course we did not make the decision to buy this vehicle based on coefficient of drag and efficiency of battery use. Vanity perhaps? Sure. But there are features that we want in a car that we're going to live with for at least 3 years, maybe more. And great is not the enemy of good in my book. This vehicle serves all our needs for around town usage and does just fine on road trips, just have to stop more often.

We like our Mach-E. I'm not complaining about it, I knew the AWD with standard battery would come with some drawbacks. I just wanted to see if our energy usage was typical as compared to other owners. It seems that it is. Therefore, all is well and we will work within the capabilities of the vehicle.

 

[Dear_OP]

Horses for courses.

I can only look at this from fact-based evidence as opposed to subjective wants when replying to this thread. The latter is difficult to judge as everyone's tastes are different.
Some people can have their cake and eat it too.

 

[Coffs]

I had the SR AWD. In the summer at 75mph it was 3 to 3.2mi/kW
Winter same speed 2.2

Pre-condition even in summer.

EVs are great for traffic light Grand Prix. Bad at highway speeds. God awful in the winter. Do you want crap range and heat in the cabin or bad range and freeze. So glad the only electricity in my car now is a 12v battery.

 

[Brons2]

Horses for courses.

I can only look at this from fact-based evidence as opposed to subjective wants when replying to this thread. The latter is difficult to judge as everyone's tastes are different.
Some people can have their cake and eat it too.

Which is why I mentioned that we live in the real world. Most people have a high amount of subjective wants when buying an expensive item such as a vehicle.

If you want the vehicle that is the best battery use efficiency and coefficient of aerodynamics that is available today, it's probably the Tesla Model 3 standard RWD. Assuming we're talking about something with usable range and 4 wheels and a fully enclosed cabin. There have been some three wheeled "cars" that didn't make it very far, I remember one even with a solar roof that would add L1 type charge to the car when you left it out in the sun.

If you're waiting for something more, then add articles about battery research and production to your news feed, I guess.

 

[Bruboy]

TL : DR version: Is there anything that can be done to improve the highway efficiency of our Mach-E other than driving slower?

Long Version:
Drove it from the Austin area to DFW and back with some driving around in Fort Worth. Efficiency on the way there was being reported as low as 2.1 miles per kwh, granted I did have a headwind, but still. I stopped in Waco to top off at EA and departed at 76% per ABRP, well, it started dropping like a rock after that going northbound. I backed it off under the speed limit out of concern for the battery SOC. When I found a car going slow in the right lane, like 65 in a 75, I tucked in behind them. My aim point was the EA charger on the west side of Fort Worth at a Sams club, in order to meet family members who had been driving in from the West Coast in their ID.4, so we could both charge and then go to dinner before we flew off to the Dominican Republic on a red-eye out of DFW.

After a week in the DR, we saddled up to drive back to the Austin area and the performance wasn't much better. We stayed overnight before we departed back for Austin as it was after 11pm before we got our baggage and got to the car. In the morning the battery was at 71% and ABRP advised me that I would need to top up before leaving the DFW area. When I put 1% more in ABRP it advised me I could make Waco, but that I would have to limit my speed to 70mph. Doable, but I elected to top up. That was a mistake, as we went to an EVgo in a HORRIBLE neighborhood in SW Dallas, but whatever. Almost got hit by a Hellcat fleeing the police on the way to the station, also. Screamed WTF right in front of my 8 year old also. So then ABRP says we need to charge to 93% for the most efficient trip home, well, my wife started getting antsy at 88% so we unplugged and drove to the Buc-ees in Temple, I still had 26% battery left so maybe we didn't need that top off after all, had I planned for Waco. Mercedes branded Chargepoint at this location, said it was capable of up to 400Kw. Wow. Well after a brief bump to 120Kwh, it scaled back to the low 70s, that was a letdown. I guess maybe because it was already 95 outside? who knows. Anyway after 26 minutes I pulled off at 80% and we made it home with 53% as planned so my wife could run her errand without having to charge. The miles per KwH was around 2.5 on the return trip, so a little better, but I had higher expectations going into this deal.

So, yeah.

We have the AWD with the standard battery. I was never expecting miracles as far as range goes. But I wasn't expecting the per KwH efficiency to be so bad with this car. I'm not sorry we bought it, we really enjoy the car. But if we get a 2nd EV it's going to have to have better highway efficiency than this, along with preferably a bigger battery.

What do you guys with the standard battery and RWD get as far as miles per KwH? I'm a little disappointed. For comparison my parents' ID.4 usually gets around 3-3.3 miles per KwH. They have the larger battery with RWD on their car. It is not nearly as fast as our car, but, I'd give up a little speed gladly for better battery efficiency.

I've driven my MME (Standard RWD) about 4 times from HTX to ATX and efficiency is okay. I run the speed limit or never really more than 75mph and get about 2.7 but even around town it's only in the 3.3 range.

 

[dbsb3233]

There have been some three wheeled "cars" that didn't make it very far, I remember one even with a solar roof that would add L1 type charge to the car when you left it out in the sun.

The Aptera. It's been slow going, if they even survive at all.

 

[Brons2]

The Aptera. It's been slow going, if they even survive at all.

Well I will give them an A for transparency, but, what do they have, like 5 people working in their factory? Regardless, I hope they make it, it's an interesting concept. Not sure I'd buy one, but someone will.

 

[MME2000]

I've been averaging 2.8-2.7 mi/kwh or 22-23 KWh /100KM on the hwy doing 70MPH or 115 KM/hr, (I have MME eAWD STD 72KWH LFP) which checks out with the range I've been getting. Summer conditions; 75-85 deg F or 25-31 deg C

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