Des Moines Iowa >> to Seattle >> and Back

• Mode of Car
  • 1 pedal whisper on mountain winding roads. Never brake. Nice
  • 1 pedal Engage in intense city driving. Never braked once going thru insane packed interstate full of crazies in Portland
  • Whisper normal for most of the journey
• Strange things that are maybe undocumented? Don’t know
  • Can’t get the power connector to unlock? 3 clicks of unlock on the key fob did it for me. Got that tip from a Chargepoint operator
• Hands Free driving
  • First of all it’s legit. I traveled hundred of miles hands free
  • Sensors know where your head is tho.
    • I tested a sleepy nod and car drops out of hands free immediately
    • I tested turning my head 90 degrees from straight ahead and car drops out of hands free immediately
• Apps
  • Took eleven of them to make this journey
  • Chargehub, Plugshare, Shell Recharge, Electrify America, Chargeway, Blink, Chargepoint, Chargehub, EV Connect
  • App for calculating time. EV Charging
  • Surprised how much we used Alexa!
  • Plugshare was mostly reliable and high confidence for now in it.
• Charging
  • Our trip took 24+- charges
  • Miles between charging was on average 150-170 miles leaving a 40-50 mile buffer
  • The 40-50 mile buffer is the sweet spot to curb almost any/all anxiety
  • Finding all the chargers and in there locations is an adventuresome process like un wrapping a Wonka bar every time when you FINALLY find them
  • Charger were in the craziest places; behind dealerships, auto repair shops, one off’s, behind sporing good and convenience stores
  • Most used were in Walmart Supercenters. Those very good
  • Not very many gas stations had chargers. Maybe 10%
  • Not one consistent charge mode. Not one. Everything from 5 kw to 150 kw
  • Mach-e does not like charging. Pretty consistent start at 150kw then almost immediately down to 100-110kw then to 80 kw and lastly the famous 30-40kw after 80%
  • Doesn’t make any time sense to charge after 80% UNLESS you gotta have the miles.
  • Found a lot of free charging especially at hotels
  • Consistent reliable charging has to gain ground. Probably the most frustrating part of the trip. You couldn’t count on any station to deliver the same power.
  • Charging station operators were always available if you had to call in.
  • How hard you push the car and ambient heat is totally a factor in charging rates and range.
• Comfort
  • Very comfy, ultra quiet and overall a smooth ride
  • Stereo is killer good
  • No neck support. None. Don’t understand why all cars have this issue
• Regen
  • It’s legit and works great
  • Mountain driving you regen about 50-70% power back and that was surprising!
• Other
  • A lot of nice comments about the Cyber Orange color
  • Montana and Wyoming a solid 90-95 mph for hours. No issues even with high ambient heat in the 90’s
  • Had 3 software updates along the way
  • Any close calls withi miles? Not really. We had become pro’s by the end of the trip in calculating almost to the mile our stops and charges. We had a few where we would pull in to a station with 10-15 miles left. That wasn’t our norm of course but going across Nebraska you had to weigh your risk between stopping at 80% charge and mileage to the next station.

• Strange things that are maybe undocumented? Don’t know
  • Can’t get the power connector to unlock? 3 clicks of unlock on the key fob did it for me. Got that tip from a Chargepoint operator

Tampamike said:

• Strange things that are maybe undocumented? Don’t know
  • Can’t get the power connector to unlock? 3 clicks of unlock on the key fob did it for me. Got that tip from a Chargepoint operator

Hadn’t heard of this before. Do you mean that you couldn’t pull the charge station plug out of the car’s charge port?

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JPT said:

Yes that is correct. It was VERY frustrating. After 15-20 minutes I called the Chargepoint number and the operator told me to try it and I did and it worked. Fluke? Don't know. All I know was I was glad I wasn't stuck in 95 degree heat anymore.

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Peugfan said:

I witnessed that at an EA station when a VW ID.4 driver could not remove the CCS1 connector from his car. I suggested he call EA for help. He was told the same info, 3 clicks on the key fob unlock button. It worked, so it's definitely a thing. This is the type of info that should be in the Mach E Quick Start guide.

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JPT said:

Left Des Moines, Iowa to Seattle, down pacific coast, Olympic and Hoh rainforest national park, up the Columbia River, thru Sawtooth Mountains, down thru Flaming Gorge and Dinosaur National Park, thru Colorado and the dredded, Nebraska and home to Des Moines. 4652+- miles, 2.8 miles/kwh and over 90 hours of drive time. Left 10 pics

• Mode of Car
  • 1 pedal whisper on mountain winding roads. Never brake. Nice
  • 1 pedal Engage in intense city driving. Never braked once going thru insane packed interstate full of crazies in Portland
  • Whisper normal for most of the journey
• Strange things that are maybe undocumented? Don’t know
  • Can’t get the power connector to unlock? 3 clicks of unlock on the key fob did it for me. Got that tip from a Chargepoint operator
• Hands Free driving
  • First of all it’s legit. I traveled hundred of miles hands free
  • Sensors know where your head is tho.
    • I tested a sleepy nod and car drops out of hands free immediately
    • I tested turning my head 90 degrees from straight ahead and car drops out of hands free immediately
• Apps
  • Took eleven of them to make this journey
  • Chargehub, Plugshare, Shell Recharge, Electrify America, Chargeway, Blink, Chargepoint, Chargehub, EV Connect
  • App for calculating time. EV Charging
  • Surprised how much we used Alexa!
  • Plugshare was mostly reliable and high confidence for now in it.
• Charging
  • Our trip took 24+- charges
  • Miles between charging was on average 150-170 miles leaving a 40-50 mile buffer
  • The 40-50 mile buffer is the sweet spot to curb almost any/all anxiety
  • Finding all the chargers and in there locations is an adventuresome process like un wrapping a Wonka bar every time when you FINALLY find them
  • Charger were in the craziest places; behind dealerships, auto repair shops, one off’s, behind sporing good and convenience stores
  • Most used were in Walmart Supercenters. Those very good
  • Not very many gas stations had chargers. Maybe 10%
  • Not one consistent charge mode. Not one. Everything from 5 kw to 150 kw
  • Mach-e does not like charging. Pretty consistent start at 150kw then almost immediately down to 100-110kw then to 80 kw and lastly the famous 30-40kw after 80%
  • Doesn’t make any time sense to charge after 80% UNLESS you gotta have the miles.
  • Found a lot of free charging especially at hotels
  • Consistent reliable charging has to gain ground. Probably the most frustrating part of the trip. You couldn’t count on any station to deliver the same power.
  • Charging station operators were always available if you had to call in.
  • How hard you push the car and ambient heat is totally a factor in charging rates and range.
• Comfort
  • Very comfy, ultra quiet and overall a smooth ride
  • Stereo is killer good
  • No neck support. None. Don’t understand why all cars have this issue
• Regen
  • It’s legit and works great
  • Mountain driving you regen about 50-70% power back and that was surprising!
• Other
  • A lot of nice comments about the Cyber Orange color
  • Montana and Wyoming a solid 90-95 mph for hours. No issues even with high ambient heat in the 90’s
  • Had 3 software updates along the way
  • Any close calls withi miles? Not really. We had become pro’s by the end of the trip in calculating almost to the mile our stops and charges. We had a few where we would pull in to a station with 10-15 miles left. That wasn’t our norm of course but going across Nebraska you had to weigh your risk between stopping at 80% charge and mileage to the next station.

Click to expand...

steveg95 said:

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. My wife and I are in Eastern Iowa. Our daughter is in the Des Moines area. I've installed a 220V outlet in their garage for when we visit them. My wife and I attempted a trip from Cedar Rapids, to Southern Illinois recently. The first ChargePoint we encountered in Canton, MO, was only putting out 4.8 KW. Really frustrating. Checking online, we found out that our next stop, also a ChargePoint was also having this issue as were most of the ones in the State. We ended up sitting for 3 hours to get enough of a charge to turn around and find a different charge on our way home.

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RickMachE said:

Any reason you're not using EA chargers?

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Maquis said:

I’ve used the ChargePoint in Bowling Green, Mo. a couple of times with good results. It’s been a couple months, though.

There are some notes on PlugShare about these stations having reduced power intermitntil 9/30. It might be statexwide.

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steveg95 said:

Their were none on the route that Apple Maps selected. I've now set up A Better Route Planner to prefer EA chargers and will look for them in the future.

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