After 8 months of research, I’m in a Mach-E!! My Initial questions

[profdraper]

…and I couldn’t be happier. It’s only been 9 days, but I’m thrilled. And I know I didn’t pick the car that was best at anything, but in aggregate it’s the most satisfying. I researched and drove all manner of PHEV and EV including all the favorite and obvious choices, and the end leased a 2024 Premium with extended battery in Vapor Blue with the light grey interior. In my ICE-age past I tended to drive BMWs and Audis, with the odd CTS-V thrown in to mix things up, so I know cars that perform and drive well. So when I say that the Mach-E is a car that checks all the right boxes for me, it’s a meaningful statement. But hey, I’m preaching to the choir now aren’t I?
Let me instead ask (re-ask?) questions that likely have been addressed elsewhere in this forum but that didn’t pop out easily in my searching.

1) Has anyone stumbled upon scientifically validated recommendations for best charging practices? The vast majority of what i read in forums sound like opinions, perhaps opinions informed by experience, but opinions none the less. Many of these opinions however are contradicted by equally well asserted opinions. For example, is it better to do daily charging adding only a 10% top-up (not exceeding 80% of course), or one weekly charge of 70%? This subject is a famously confused issue with opposing opinions scattered all over the interweb.

2) Is it better to keep the car plugged in at all times, or just when necessary? Once again, opinions move in opposing directions and each claim that ‘…it really makes no significant difference’. Being a retired manufacturing executive/enghineering manager, I like to see actual data, and perhaps results proven through scientific repetition. But what I’ve found that has the look and feel of science has so far not taken a firm position on these topics.

Finally, being a new driver, I see a little app box on my screen that purports to show me in realtime my miles-per-kilometer. I have been thrilled to see that using ‘whisper’ mode (which is more than satisfactory in an EV with 365 HP and 500 lb-ft of torque) and a shall I say, ‘sedate’ driving style (but I’m not holding up traffic either!), that this little ‘this trip’ box has been reporting 4.4+ miles/Kwh in a car model not reputed to be so efficient. Should I believe it?

Anyway, I’m thrilled with the car and happy to be part of this forum’s family. Thanks in advance for any helpful responses!

Here’s what I’ve found (vapour blue Mach-E Select with LFP battery chemistry) & also based on practices & experience with ownership of two EVs before this. Having said this, there are also many authoritative resources to be googled elsewhere …. battery chemistry, charging practices, Tesla recommendations etc. Forget about the brand, go with the science on battery chemistry.

You have a Premium & hence the long range NMC battery chemistry (quite different charging & maintenance practices to that of the Shorter range LFP battery - google it if you need).

1) Like ALL EVs, the standards here are pretty much the same in this case for NMC (as per Volvo, Tesla long range etc). Charge to 80% on a regular basis, to 100% every six weeks or so (home charger). This should also be done where convenient from a lower state of charge, say 20-30% or so. Reason being there is also a ‘battery balancing’ routine that goes on irrespective of brand, which aligns the cells & gives the most accurate SoC when charging to 100% from (say) 30%. Ford are one on the few that don’t really seem to mention this much, but that’s the way the batteries work in general. Before this 30-100% charge also remember to reset the trip meters, this helps with the GoM (’guessometer’), again, same for all EVs at present.

2) No reason to keep the car plugged in, some kind of magic fairy tale there … What you DO need to be carful about is OTA updates which ’may’ flatten the 12v battery (happens everywhere, Ford, Volvo, Hyundai etc). PITA really & likely the best solution is to turn that off & leave it to the service centre. YMMY of course. In some territories (Australia & New Zealand) Mach-Es OTAs are not implemented at all & likely makes sense as to why. IT makes zero difference if the car is plugged in or not, it would need to be charging or turned on for the main battery to support the 12v. Only other way to support this would be to connect a 12v battery support unit (just like in a service centre) but likely also a PITA in terms of expense and/or monitoring. Oh and the Mach-E usually won’t let you OTA if charging.

I enjoy the car & package very much as well. But your’e right, the range estimation is rubbish & supposedly ‘learns’ your driving behaviour. BS. My car gets 440ks regularly, fully changed, nothing more, but despite the fact it is advertised as 470k WLTP. Again, BS. My previous EVs did exactly the same thing every time: After resetting the trip meter, mild to hot weather, the distance readout was always exactly as per the advertised WLTP range. Now, how efficient it was or how it discharged over time & conditions dependent was a different matter. In the Mach-E there seems no such consistency, however, I just take it as 440ks & get on with enjoying the car.

BTW - for various reasons, Engage is the best & most consistent mode to be using. It reports better, drives better and is no less economical that the other modes in principle (mostly about governing the accelerator pedal response & exactly like other EVs with E, N & S). The the regen is better, as is now we can see Break Coach reporting on the HUD, as is the slightly firmer steering. Engage mode, you can also refer to the hows, whys & recommendations of this in Ford’s own documentation.

oh, PS
the new 2024 Mach-Es appear to be quite a different animal, or at least with some pretty serious hardware upgrades including Ford motors from the F150 Lightning, vasty improved internal power distribution systems, better range & GoM (one would hope) and it would appear that they are moving 100% the new Chinese CATL battery tech (the Select short range was already a CATL LFP battery). We shall see, but Ford appear to have taken some serious steps here. The GT in particular should benefit enormously from this.

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[AngryMan]

In order to reduce the risk of lightning or power surge damage, I keep the Mach-E unplugged except when I want to charge it.

It must be a "Jim" thing cuz Im the same way

 

[krafty81]

I go with dealer recommendations. Ford recommends between 20-80% and leave car plugged in all the time.

 

[Doobster6]

MY two cents if I was leasing the car on "charging practices". Who cares? It's a LEASE!

Well, this is the first time I’ve ever leased a car and there’s still a slim possibility that I might want to keep the car at the end, so I’m doing what I’ve always done with cars I’ve bought which is to take the best possible care of it that I can. I say there‘s only a slim chance because the EV space is expected to change a LOT over these next three years, and I’ll likely want to move on to the next version of the Mach-E which likely will have a different HV battery chemistry that allows for faster DC charging on the Tesla network using the NACS connector, for example.

 

[Mach1E]

Well, this is the first time I’ve ever leased a car and there’s still a slim possibility that I might want to keep the car at the end, so I’m doing what I’ve always done with cars I’ve bought which is to take the best possible care of it that I can. I say there‘s only a slim chance because the EV space is expected to change a LOT over these next three years, and I’ll likely want to move on to the next version of the Mach-E which likely will have a different HV battery chemistry that allows for faster DC charging on the Tesla network using the NACS connector, for example.

In that case, just charge as much as you need.

Keep in mind that the lower your charge percentage, you will lose some horsepower.

I keep mine 80-90% all the time and charge to 100% if I need to driver farther.

But unless you’re keeping it past the 8 year warranty, I wouldn’t worry about degradation too much. And even then I always wondered, “what’s the point??”

You purposefully give your car less range by charging it less each time out of fear that your car will have less range in 10 years (really think about this statement.) ??‍

 

[Doobster6]

In that case, just charge as much as you need.

Keep in mind that the lower your charge percentage, you will lose some horsepower.

I keep mine 80-90% all the time and charge to 100% if I need to driver farther.

But unless you’re keeping it past the 8 year warranty, I wouldn’t worry about degradation too much. And even then I always wondered, “what’s the point??”

You purposefully give your car less range by charging it less each time out of fear that your car will have less range in 10 years (really think about this statement.) ??‍

Ooohhh…….you got me with that last statement Mach1E!! You’ve just ‘Jordan Klepper’ed’ me! My approach suddenly seems illogical and dare I say, ‘weird’. Then again, as a retiree who doesn’t drive all that much, hovering around the ideal 50% SOC doesn’t hinder our driving needs, and we still have the wife’s ICE-Infiniti for emergencies. But I will promote myself up to ‘engage’ if not ‘unbridled’ as compensation for my charging strategy, an equally illogical approach, but one that at least will be more fun.

 

[Pmullin7]

Welcome to the group!

I'm a retired IT exec, and I also prefer data to opinions. This isn't a job for a focus group.

That said, I suspect you're in the early phases of adapting to driving an EV. Efficiency and battery life are interesting and worthwhile pursuits, but I predict that in 1 year, you'll have forgotten about them.

During that time, "range anxiety" will disappear. You'll find your routines, and see that for the vast majority of customers like us older folks, death will likely arrive before the battery is kaput.

That said, of what I've read and understood, if you want to leave your Mach- E to your beneficiaries, daily slow (Level 1 or 2) charging, slower being better, will help reduce heat stress on the materials in your battery pack.

I installed a level 2 in my garage. Recently, my car was evicted for a project in the garage, so I've been using the Ford mobile charger at level 1 for awhile. For me, the level 2 is actually unnecessary. YMMV.

 

[Mach1E]

Ooohhh…….you got me with that last statement Mach1E!! You’ve just ‘Jordan Klepper’ed’ me! My approach suddenly seems illogical and dare I say, ‘weird’. Then again, as a retiree who doesn’t drive all that much, hovering around the ideal 50% SOC doesn’t hinder our driving needs, and we still have the wife’s ICE-Infiniti for emergencies. But I will promote myself up to ‘engage’ if not ‘unbridled’ as compensation for my charging strategy, an equally illogical approach, but one that at least will be more fun.

?

FWIW drive mode doesn’t change efficiency, so pick the one that’s more fun. Same is true for 1 pedal drive vs 2
pedal. Ford wisely uses “blended braking,” so the regeneration you get is solely determine by how quickly you slow down, not which mode you’re in.

 

[Womps]

Oh, I’ve been using one-pedal since day one; LOVE IT! It makes my wife nervous that I’m almost never touching the brake pedal, lol! I will absolutely graduate to engage or unbridled after I establish an efficiency baseline. Compared to the 18.6 mpg I was getting in my thirsty Infiniti, 4.4 m/Kw translates to 111.3 MPGe! Actually, when driving in the neighborhood or to local grocery store, Target, etc. I’m seeing 6.8 m/Kw on that little box. The 4.4 I’m citing encapsulates about 10% of that and 90% of 40-50 mph driving.

Your battery is 91 kWh. At 4.4 kw/m your range would be 400 miles. Your guess o meter has obviously become a lie o meter,

 

[RickMachE]

…and I couldn’t be happier. It’s only been 9 days, but I’m thrilled. And I know I didn’t pick the car that was best at anything, but in aggregate it’s the most satisfying. I researched and drove all manner of PHEV and EV including all the favorite and obvious choices, and the end leased a 2024 Premium with extended battery in Vapor Blue with the light grey interior. In my ICE-age past I tended to drive BMWs and Audis, with the odd CTS-V thrown in to mix things up, so I know cars that perform and drive well. So when I say that the Mach-E is a car that checks all the right boxes for me, it’s a meaningful statement. But hey, I’m preaching to the choir now aren’t I?
Let me instead ask (re-ask?) questions that likely have been addressed elsewhere in this forum but that didn’t pop out easily in my searching.

1) Has anyone stumbled upon scientifically validated recommendations for best charging practices? The vast majority of what i read in forums sound like opinions, perhaps opinions informed by experience, but opinions none the less. Many of these opinions however are contradicted by equally well asserted opinions. For example, is it better to do daily charging adding only a 10% top-up (not exceeding 80% of course), or one weekly charge of 70%? This subject is a famously confused issue with opposing opinions scattered all over the interweb.

2) Is it better to keep the car plugged in at all times, or just when necessary? Once again, opinions move in opposing directions and each claim that ‘…it really makes no significant difference’. Being a retired manufacturing executive/enghineering manager, I like to see actual data, and perhaps results proven through scientific repetition. But what I’ve found that has the look and feel of science has so far not taken a firm position on these topics.

Finally, being a new driver, I see a little app box on my screen that purports to show me in realtime my miles-per-kilometer. I have been thrilled to see that using ‘whisper’ mode (which is more than satisfactory in an EV with 365 HP and 500 lb-ft of torque) and a shall I say, ‘sedate’ driving style (but I’m not holding up traffic either!), that this little ‘this trip’ box has been reporting 4.4+ miles/Kwh in a car model not reputed to be so efficient. Should I believe it?

Anyway, I’m thrilled with the car and happy to be part of this forum’s family. Thanks in advance for any helpful responses!

BTW, one more Easter egg that accompanied my Mach-E decision……car insurance!! I replaced an 8 model-year old car with a brand new Mach-E and my overall annual insurance premium only went up by $109. When I had my agent pre-quote a Tesla model 3/Y it would have gone up by $1,300 annually!

In your months of research, did you happen to download the manual from the Ford site and read it? If not, now is a good time. Ford answers your questions (90% and plug in daily).

As was stated, drive mode doesn't matter.

As to insurance cost, likely a fluke. Expect your next renewal to be higher.

 

[Doobster6]

Here’s what I’ve found (vapour blue Mach-E Select with LFP battery chemistry) & also based on practices & experience with ownership of two EVs before this. Having said this, there are also many authoritative resources to be googled elsewhere …. battery chemistry, charging practices, Tesla recommendations etc. Forget about the brand, go with the science on battery chemistry.

You have a Premium & hence the long range NMC battery chemistry (quite different charging & maintenance practices to that of the Shorter range LFP battery - google it if you need).

1) Like ALL EVs, the standards here are pretty much the same in this case for NMC (as per Volvo, Tesla long range etc). Charge to 80% on a regular basis, to 100% every six weeks or so (home charger). This should also be done where convenient from a lower state of charge, say 20-30% or so. Reason being there is also a ‘battery balancing’ routine that goes on irrespective of brand, which aligns the cells & gives the most accurate SoC when charging to 100% from (say) 30%. Ford are one on the few that don’t really seem to mention this much, but that’s the way the batteries work in general. Before this 30-100% charge also remember to reset the trip meters, this helps with the GoM (’guessometer’), again, same for all EVs at present.

2) No reason to keep the car plugged in, some kind of magic fairy tale there … What you DO need to be carful about is OTA updates which ’may’ flatten the 12v battery (happens everywhere, Ford, Volvo, Hyundai etc). PITA really & likely the best solution is to turn that off & leave it to the service centre. YMMY of course. In some territories (Australia & New Zealand) Mach-Es OTAs are not implemented at all & likely makes sense as to why. IT makes zero difference if the car is plugged in or not, it would need to be charging or turned on for the main battery to support the 12v. Only other way to support this would be to connect a 12v battery support unit (just like in a service centre) but likely also a PITA in terms of expense and/or monitoring. Oh and the Mach-E usually won’t let you OTA if charging.

I enjoy the car & package very much as well. But your’e right, the range estimation is rubbish & supposedly ‘learns’ your driving behaviour. BS. My car gets 440ks regularly, fully changed, nothing more, but despite the fact it is advertised as 470k WLTP. Again, BS. My previous EVs did exactly the same thing every time: After resetting the trip meter, mild to hot weather, the distance readout was always exactly as per the advertised WLTP range. Now, how efficient it was or how it discharged over time & conditions dependent was a different matter. In the Mach-E there seems no such consistency, however, I just take it as 440ks & get on with enjoying the car.

BTW - for various reasons, Engage is the best & most consistent mode to be using. It reports better, drives better and is no less economical that the other modes in principle (mostly about governing the accelerator pedal response & exactly like other EVs with E, N & S). The the regen is better, as is now we can see Break Coach reporting on the HUD, as is the slightly firmer steering. Engage mode, you can also refer to the hows, whys & recommendations of this in Ford’s own documentation.

oh, PS
the new 2024 Mach-Es appear to be quite a different animal, or at least with some pretty serious hardware upgrades including Ford motors from the F150 Lightning, vasty improved internal power distribution systems, better range & GoM (one would hope) and it would appear that they are moving 100% the new Chinese CATL battery tech (the Select short range was already a CATL LFP battery). We shall see, but Ford appear to have taken some serious steps here. The GT in particular should benefit enormously from this.

Welcome to the group!

I'm a retired IT exec, and I also prefer data to opinions. This isn't a job for a focus group.

That said, I suspect you're in the early phases of adapting to driving an EV. Efficiency and battery life are interesting and worthwhile pursuits, but I predict that in 1 year, you'll have forgotten about them.

During that time, "range anxiety" will disappear. You'll find your routines, and see that for the vast majority of customers like us older folks, death will likely arrive before the battery is kaput.

That said, of what I've read and understood, if you want to leave your Mach- E to your beneficiaries, daily slow (Level 1 or 2) charging, slower being better, will help reduce heat stress on the materials in your battery pack.

I installed a level 2 in my garage. Recently, my car was evicted for a project in the garage, so I've been using the Ford mobile charger at level 1 for awhile. For me, the level 2 is actually unnecessary. YMMV.

Excellent feedback…(I love this forum)! Driving less than 30 miles/day, I could actually use level 1 charging to more gently refill the ‘tank’. Then again, doesn’t the car use the house electricity at times to manage the battery temp? I’m guessing that would be more effective if drawing from a level 2 charger…..

 

[RickMachE]

Excellent feedback…(I love this forum)! Driving less than 30 miles/day, I could actually use level 1 charging to more gently refill the ‘tank’. Then again, doesn’t the car use the house electricity at times to manage the battery temp? I’m guessing that would be more effective if drawing from a level 2 charger…..

There is no difference between using level 1 or level 2 as far as "gently refilling the tank". It's a non-thing.

Yes, the car uses house current to warm the battery when you precondition in the dead of winter, and level 1 is NOT enough power. And, in very cold weather, it may choose to warm the battery for a short time.

In addition, level 1 charging loses about 15% from the house to the car. Level 2 loses closer to 7%.

 

[MacherAWD]

The skeptic in my likes to point out this. Manufacturers are required to warranty the Battery and EV components for 8yrs and 100k miles, this is not their generosity, or a sales tactic it is a mandate. They also do NOT want to pay out warranty claims as that cost them money. So their recommendations are excessively conservative, ideally we all baby our cars so Ford doesn't have to repair batteries, it would be like being forced to warranty an ICE drive train for 8yrs/100k and then manufacturers doing everything in their power to keep cars under 5k RPMs, no cold starts, no heavy foot, its all to save them long-term dollars.

Abuse your car and it triggers a warranty claim then Ford has to pay it. If your battery degrades after 8 years, but not enough for a claim then you will highly likely have options to buy a replacement battery that is an upgrade. I could see replacing my Select battery at 8years with a much higher range, higher density if I still want to use the car on longer trips.

I bought a 2013 Leaf back in the day, saw virtually no degradation after 8 years and 85k miles, and even if I had, those Leafs can swap to a larger, new battery pack for short money.

 

[Doobster6]

Your battery is 91 kWh. At 4.4 kw/m your range would be 400 miles. Your guess o meter has obviously become a lie o meter,

I’ve actually seen over 10.8 m/Kw (lots of downhill regen) in that number and knew that I wasn’t driving a 900 mile range car! But when your round trip averages 4.1 m/Kw it does suggest either better range than the norm or, that you’re watching a lie-o-meter. One would think though that the car should easily be able to calculate the number in real time knowing the exact miles traveled vs the actual electricity used, right? I was hoping that my (temporary) genteel driving style in whisper mode was producing m/Kw at the far right of the normal distribution curve of possible efficiencies. Having just last night charged the car up to my (current) 60% limit, I will be better able to calculate my own real number at my next charge.

 

[Doobster6]

There is no difference between using level 1 or level 2 as far as "gently refilling the tank". It's a non-thing.

Yes, the car uses house current to warm the battery when you precondition in the dead of winter, and level 1 is NOT enough power. And, in very cold weather, it may choose to warm the battery for a short time.

In addition, level 1 charging loses about 15% from the house to the car. Level 2 loses closer to 7%.

Good to know!

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