bbulkow
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Brian
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2022
- Threads
- 24
- Messages
- 889
- Reaction score
- 729
- Location
- menlo park, california
- Vehicles
- Honda CRV
- Thread starter
- #1
I tried car camping in the MachE last week. So over the moon great, thought I would post my equipment list & general experience.
I got one of those tents that goes over the back of the EV. The model "JOYTUTUS SUV Tent" from amazon (about $200). The tent essentially was a vestibule, and really tall (7" ceiling) allowing for standing and changing and whatnot. It has big doors on the three non-car sides, so could be used as a shade. I didn't bother setting up the rain fly as no rain was expected. That tent is also free standing, and I just put heavy things in the corners after spending a minute trying to get pegs in. It's also freestanding without the car, so theoretically I could have driven the car away (say, for a charge or day trip) without disturbing the tent. The tent is listed as "hard to set up solo" but I found it has one trick: make sure you can anchor the "other side" of the first pole (B pole) and bend it until you can get it in the pocket. After that it was a fast setup. Happy with the purchase.
The mattress is key. I got "D-Hive Car Mattress" (SHORT, $110). When you move the seats forward, you get about 70" of space. You need the "spacers" for under your heat by the rear seat. Move the seats forward to make it fit. I wasn't crazy about the low rent inflation system, but it worked. I was shocked how just a little mattress (3 inches? 4?) made for a super comfortable sleep. The matress allows inflating only one side, if you don't want to do both, then you can tuck the uninflated side under. I'm 6" and I kind of liked being able to get a little crosswise.
Bumper guard. The rear space of the MachE is pretty high - getting into the "sleeping alcove" was a bit of a jump - so having a bumper guard protect me from the rear license plate, the metal latch, etc, was nice. On a budget, having some kind of blanket that covers this spot would probably work, but the benefit of the bumper guard is it doesn't slip (held in place by velcro).
Other (less necessary) gear included:
* ICECO GO20. This size is perfect for me for a few days. One has to get used to it - set the temps a little lower - etc - but very happy not thinking about ice. Nice to go electric with cooling since I now have a massive battery
* ANKER C1000 battery. I just put this into the 12v port and left it there, and plugged things into the battery, so the car didn't have to be on. It also acts (essentially) as a buffer, so I could use the induction or water kettle, the C1000 has a 2300W port, but only charges at 100W. Also as a format inverter - has 110V plugs, USB plugs, etc.
* 1 to 3 car cigarette lighter - expands the 1 rear port into 3. Didn't strictly need it this trip.
* Nmoiss Windshield Sun Shade - umbrella like thing for the front.
* Did not use this trip - hot water kettle, duxtop induction cooktop, because my friends were cooking. But love hot water without messing with a camp stove! This use requires something like the C1000 ("power station" aka "Jackery") to deliver lots of watts for a few minutes.
* Did not use - starlink mini. Turns out the camping area had pretty good cell coverage.
* Window covers - I ended up using a beach blanket and closing the doors on it.
* nav screen cover - Ford's lack of a "camping mode" means the main screen will be on, and even at lowest brightness, is bright. I found a standard pillowcase, slip the open part over the top and let it hang over - in allowing access to the buttons when you need it, and also not blocking the two key vents on either side of the screen.
Use notes
Remember, car *ON*, not *ACCESSORY MODE*. While the newer firmware will keep topping up your 12v without alarming, accessory mode will shut the car off over time, which ON doesn't, when you've got that button set.
Power use. The amount was generally 10% per night, plus or minus, keeping the car toasty in about 50F overnight external temps. I could have easily gone a little lower but had plenty of juice so why bother. Modest air leak into the tent, so getting up at night (old man issue) was OK. One day it was rather broiling in the car and I spent some power cooling it down for a nap. I pulled into the site at 75% with charging options less than 10 miles away, so no worries, and only a 3 day stay. I'm planning a trip that's much more remote, I might have to be more careful (in terms of knowing my "last charger" and getting a solid 80%ish). Again, the tent design would have allowed me a trip somewhere for a rapid charge.
The GREAT GLORY of the whole thing is the best sleep I've had camping EVER. Just using a tent, it's just either too warm, or too cold, or the mattress deflates, and I've tried a lot of tech. With the machE, you set the temp and forget. Toasty! And, a full-standup vestibule!
I did end up closing the rear (or mostly closing) when sleeping. It probably kept heat in, and also helped with sound. The fun was having the ford app on my tablet, so I could read a little before bed, and use "controls" to open and close the rear hatch while lying in bed. (I should have put a USBC from the rear seat charger and used my phone). Because of the bumper guard, it wouldn't close all the way, which was fine, although it made the controls a little dicey (a fun game of as closed as possible without triggering the safety feature that fully opens it again). The tent design was perfectly good with the hatch in any position, which I loved.
Glass roof. If you have a glass roof, THIS IS THE GLORY. I think I would have been a bit claustrophobic due to the bed height, but not with panorama. It also means perhaps in warm trips (eg, desert?) a roof sunshade would be a good idea?
Window covers are key. I used towels in a pinch, but they kept blowing around. May invest in better tech.
Other people have posted a list of the different settings. Some of those settings are "per car start", like the timer and headlights, so you can't set and forget. This lead me, over time, to just leave the car on and only turn on and off heating / cooling to save battery. The car "on" and not heating/cooling seemed minimal in terms of power, but hard to say (maybe a percent a day?). Given that the hatch was up, someone could have stolen things, but that's sort of a general problem camping - tents don't have locks either.
I didn't really use the Frunk, but could imagine having a front "kitchen area" where the frunk is storage, and has the cooler. This would require some complexity because there's no 12v in the frunk, one either needs access to the 12v bus there (which I do), or run a wire into the car. I have parts on order to get the big SB175 anderson down to a lower gauge. Did not check fit for the cooler in the frunk.
One setting to remember is the button on the light cluster on the roof front, where the one button puts the interior lights into "off unless button" mode (which gives an excellent reading light feature ).
Notes for Ford
Dear Ford - I'm sure you can't have a "camp mode" per se because of legal issues, but how about SOME KIND of easy to find one or two buttons for this use? Turn off the main display, turn off the secondary display (or really minimal), turn off the headlights and parking lights, turn off the timer, turn off the various chirps, and especially turn off android auto wireless (never figured out how to do that).
Because camping in this thing is AMAZING. Much better than Karaoke!
It's true that if I was going to do this *a lot* I'd probably be in a Rivian. Higher clearance, bigger bed. But I'm not a big camping guy, so the day-to-day benefits of the MachE and being "good" at this case is perfect for me. There may be some mid-week longer hiking trips in my future this year.
I got one of those tents that goes over the back of the EV. The model "JOYTUTUS SUV Tent" from amazon (about $200). The tent essentially was a vestibule, and really tall (7" ceiling) allowing for standing and changing and whatnot. It has big doors on the three non-car sides, so could be used as a shade. I didn't bother setting up the rain fly as no rain was expected. That tent is also free standing, and I just put heavy things in the corners after spending a minute trying to get pegs in. It's also freestanding without the car, so theoretically I could have driven the car away (say, for a charge or day trip) without disturbing the tent. The tent is listed as "hard to set up solo" but I found it has one trick: make sure you can anchor the "other side" of the first pole (B pole) and bend it until you can get it in the pocket. After that it was a fast setup. Happy with the purchase.
The mattress is key. I got "D-Hive Car Mattress" (SHORT, $110). When you move the seats forward, you get about 70" of space. You need the "spacers" for under your heat by the rear seat. Move the seats forward to make it fit. I wasn't crazy about the low rent inflation system, but it worked. I was shocked how just a little mattress (3 inches? 4?) made for a super comfortable sleep. The matress allows inflating only one side, if you don't want to do both, then you can tuck the uninflated side under. I'm 6" and I kind of liked being able to get a little crosswise.
Bumper guard. The rear space of the MachE is pretty high - getting into the "sleeping alcove" was a bit of a jump - so having a bumper guard protect me from the rear license plate, the metal latch, etc, was nice. On a budget, having some kind of blanket that covers this spot would probably work, but the benefit of the bumper guard is it doesn't slip (held in place by velcro).
Other (less necessary) gear included:
* ICECO GO20. This size is perfect for me for a few days. One has to get used to it - set the temps a little lower - etc - but very happy not thinking about ice. Nice to go electric with cooling since I now have a massive battery
* ANKER C1000 battery. I just put this into the 12v port and left it there, and plugged things into the battery, so the car didn't have to be on. It also acts (essentially) as a buffer, so I could use the induction or water kettle, the C1000 has a 2300W port, but only charges at 100W. Also as a format inverter - has 110V plugs, USB plugs, etc.
* 1 to 3 car cigarette lighter - expands the 1 rear port into 3. Didn't strictly need it this trip.
* Nmoiss Windshield Sun Shade - umbrella like thing for the front.
* Did not use this trip - hot water kettle, duxtop induction cooktop, because my friends were cooking. But love hot water without messing with a camp stove! This use requires something like the C1000 ("power station" aka "Jackery") to deliver lots of watts for a few minutes.
* Did not use - starlink mini. Turns out the camping area had pretty good cell coverage.
* Window covers - I ended up using a beach blanket and closing the doors on it.
* nav screen cover - Ford's lack of a "camping mode" means the main screen will be on, and even at lowest brightness, is bright. I found a standard pillowcase, slip the open part over the top and let it hang over - in allowing access to the buttons when you need it, and also not blocking the two key vents on either side of the screen.
Use notes
Remember, car *ON*, not *ACCESSORY MODE*. While the newer firmware will keep topping up your 12v without alarming, accessory mode will shut the car off over time, which ON doesn't, when you've got that button set.
Power use. The amount was generally 10% per night, plus or minus, keeping the car toasty in about 50F overnight external temps. I could have easily gone a little lower but had plenty of juice so why bother. Modest air leak into the tent, so getting up at night (old man issue) was OK. One day it was rather broiling in the car and I spent some power cooling it down for a nap. I pulled into the site at 75% with charging options less than 10 miles away, so no worries, and only a 3 day stay. I'm planning a trip that's much more remote, I might have to be more careful (in terms of knowing my "last charger" and getting a solid 80%ish). Again, the tent design would have allowed me a trip somewhere for a rapid charge.
The GREAT GLORY of the whole thing is the best sleep I've had camping EVER. Just using a tent, it's just either too warm, or too cold, or the mattress deflates, and I've tried a lot of tech. With the machE, you set the temp and forget. Toasty! And, a full-standup vestibule!
I did end up closing the rear (or mostly closing) when sleeping. It probably kept heat in, and also helped with sound. The fun was having the ford app on my tablet, so I could read a little before bed, and use "controls" to open and close the rear hatch while lying in bed. (I should have put a USBC from the rear seat charger and used my phone). Because of the bumper guard, it wouldn't close all the way, which was fine, although it made the controls a little dicey (a fun game of as closed as possible without triggering the safety feature that fully opens it again). The tent design was perfectly good with the hatch in any position, which I loved.
Glass roof. If you have a glass roof, THIS IS THE GLORY. I think I would have been a bit claustrophobic due to the bed height, but not with panorama. It also means perhaps in warm trips (eg, desert?) a roof sunshade would be a good idea?
Window covers are key. I used towels in a pinch, but they kept blowing around. May invest in better tech.
Other people have posted a list of the different settings. Some of those settings are "per car start", like the timer and headlights, so you can't set and forget. This lead me, over time, to just leave the car on and only turn on and off heating / cooling to save battery. The car "on" and not heating/cooling seemed minimal in terms of power, but hard to say (maybe a percent a day?). Given that the hatch was up, someone could have stolen things, but that's sort of a general problem camping - tents don't have locks either.
I didn't really use the Frunk, but could imagine having a front "kitchen area" where the frunk is storage, and has the cooler. This would require some complexity because there's no 12v in the frunk, one either needs access to the 12v bus there (which I do), or run a wire into the car. I have parts on order to get the big SB175 anderson down to a lower gauge. Did not check fit for the cooler in the frunk.
One setting to remember is the button on the light cluster on the roof front, where the one button puts the interior lights into "off unless button" mode (which gives an excellent reading light feature ).
Notes for Ford
Dear Ford - I'm sure you can't have a "camp mode" per se because of legal issues, but how about SOME KIND of easy to find one or two buttons for this use? Turn off the main display, turn off the secondary display (or really minimal), turn off the headlights and parking lights, turn off the timer, turn off the various chirps, and especially turn off android auto wireless (never figured out how to do that).
Because camping in this thing is AMAZING. Much better than Karaoke!
It's true that if I was going to do this *a lot* I'd probably be in a Rivian. Higher clearance, bigger bed. But I'm not a big camping guy, so the day-to-day benefits of the MachE and being "good" at this case is perfect for me. There may be some mid-week longer hiking trips in my future this year.
Sponsored
Last edited:
![Ford Mustang Mach-E Car Camping : equipment, experience [tl;dr : AWESOME] PXL_20250501_205342389](https://cdn.macheforum.com/attachments/148/148416-c4aee046744fde889197772ac5dd7306.jpg)
![Ford Mustang Mach-E Car Camping : equipment, experience [tl;dr : AWESOME] PXL_20250501_205247701.MP](https://cdn.macheforum.com/attachments/148/148417-f8440ce5d4ddefe85373c335501479c4.jpg)
