Tips for trip to mountains. Hopefully with CarPlay

[Jiji]

Is this for non-Tesla network stations? I thought we could only use v3 or v4 stations (I believe old style stations are L2).

It is for the Tesla Destination or wall chargers, these are AC level 2 chargers that have the Tesla plug. These would be found at your destination, commonly in hotels, resorts, restaurants, etc) and were meant for Teslas but can be used by CCS1 vehicles with an adapter.

Also check if you are near Rivian charger, you can’t use the L3 but often they have free L2 chargers that don’t require an adapter.

Do a Plugshare search and see what is around your lodging or other local POIs, you might get lucky.

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[rreddy3]

Thanks Mark. Vehicles simply isn't showing up on the drop-down list under the personal icon. I've got a session going on the phone with an Apple tech person trying to sort out whether the issue is on the phone end, or if not, then on the car end. Currently my support guy is checking more references since we've run a bunch of traps and not had luck in displaying the Vehicles option.
stay tuned ... film at 11

Problem solved through Apple Care rep. Evidently the problem was the sequence of operations in connecting phone to car via BT and then back to maps on the iphone where vehicles miraculously appeared in the drop-down list.

 

[music_cities]

I've had my 2024 MME ER for about a month now and I'm planning a trip to mountains this weekend. This will my longest trip in my MME. I plan on only using fast charging.

I've read up on the many useful posts various subjects (Ford really doesn't make this easy).

From what I gather a good plan of attack is to map out a journey using ABRP then use the Ford Connected in vehicle navigation for each destination -- one at a time.

I normally use CarPlay and I had hoped to use it instead of Ford Connected but Ford Connected will pre-condition the battery for charging. Cold weather will not be a problem but the mid-point charger will be in 100oF heat both coming and going.

From what I understand, ideally the car will cool the battery when outside temperatures are hot prior to fast charging. CarPlay will not pre-condition. I also read you can't use Ford Connected and CarPlay navigation at the same time.

So are my two options?

• Ford Connected only with battery pre-conditioning
• Or CarPlay without battery pre-conditioning

Also I will be climbing to 7000 feet. Does ABRP reasonably account for the battery usage going up mountains (Kings Canyon, California)? I plan to have 47% charge (per ABRP) upon arrival in the mountains after charging to 90%. At the destination there are no public chargers anywhere remotely nearby. I will return mostly downhill to a charger with 34% charge. This doesn't account for any day trips in the mountains.

I'm starting to question whether it is a bad idea to take my Mach-E to the mountains. I do have an ICE Challenger that is eager to get out.

You're overthinking it. Let me help you overthink it.

I much prefer executing each day (or each half day) with the built in maps, vs the ABRP maps or the Apple Maps via Carplay. For these reasons:

* the built-in navigation knows my full driving history, so is better able to account for my driving patterns.
* I feel it does a little better with weather, and just as good on elevation, as ABRP.
* I like being able to use Carplay full screen for other purposes (mostly Music) and not have my phone doing double-duty.
* When Carplay is active on another app full screen (e.g. Music), I adore the little mini-card for the built in Navigation at the bottom of the display the tells me my next turn. And, the IPD next turn indicator that comes on 1000m for the turn works with Apple Maps (via Carplay) and the built-in navigation, but it doesn't work with ABRP navigation.
* Battery preconditioning in winter (turns out, I just received this software update, Powerup 5.1.1, so although I've tried to precondition last winter, apparently I haven't yet done it successfully.)

I just put in my preferred chargers as favourites before I leave each day, so that they are easy to choose in order. If you don't put them in as favourites, try using Alexa to find them, as Alexa's POI voice recognition is much superior to Ford's voice recognition. The workflow for finding POIs in other cities in Ford Navigation is fairly complex.

I do this because I have a short memory. If I could remember the names of the chargers that I'd chosen with ABRP and Plugshare, I could use the Fordpass feature of searching for changers along the route to add them in while I'm driving. Putting them in as favourites means I basically only have to remember one thing at a time.

I wish we could plan trips in Ford Pass and send them to the vehicle, like back in the olden days.

I know it sounds complex, but the workflow is pretty simple. Plan your trip conceptually with ABRP. Check charger details with Plugshare, since ABRP occasionally routes you to poor chargers and definitely prefers the fastest chargers (vs the ones near the nicest restaurants, for example.) Put preferred chargers and destinations in as favourites in Ford Nav. Start driving, putting in your destination stop. When you have a moment (e.g. at a red light), put in your first charging stop from your favourites.

Anyway, don't overthink it, or stress about it. Trip planning is fun! It's how I spend my days now. If you don't think it's fun, you can just put your destination into the built in Nav and drive. If you're worried about having enough juice to get home from the mountains, just put your home in as a second stop once you get going.

 

[BatteriesIncluded]

So I completed the trip and found that both ABRP and CarPlay correctly predicted the destination charge including driving up and down the steep mountain range. I used ABRP to plan charging points and then used CarPlay to Navigate point to point. On the return there was no cell service so I needed to drive in the return direction and to cell service before I could set the CarPlay destination.

Unfortunately CarPlay route planning doesn’t allow enough trip customization to do it all in CarPlay. It won’t recommend SC stations. Then it always wants to add additional charge points. Also I can’t add my desired charging “to level” at stations. So CarPlay is very close to being a good route planner but it isn’t there yet. I used an online spreadsheet to plan the trip and referred to it during the trip. Not ideal.

One challenge was being able to eat lunch while charging at an SC charger. The charging was done in less than 30 minutes so I had to hustle back from lunch to avoid not charging fees from Tesla.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

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