Ixoye

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I want to start this post with a statement that even with some of what you will hear in this post, I emphatically love this car.

As noted in previous posts, I ended up finding a GB FE from Longmont Colorado who honored the X-Plan pricing and were very pleasant to deal with. Compared to my local dealers in Seattle area with GB’s asking for 7-10k ADM.

Day 1: Flight(s) was cancelled due to 4th largest snowstorm in Denver history with 27” of snow in 24 hours.

Day 2: caught the 5am flight from Sea to Den
Ford Mustang Mach-E 1500 Mile Delivery Road Trip Home In a New Mach-E 20210316_120954684_iOS


getting me to the dealer and out the door by noon.

Ford Mustang Mach-E 1500 Mile Delivery Road Trip Home In a New Mach-E mycar


Which kicked off the first leg. Travel 277 miles to Grand Junction to have dinner with Brother-in-law and nephew. The dealer had the car at 100% charged which with the current weather = 176 miles. My original plan was to stop in Frisco @ 105 miles, but ford decided I could make it to Vail (130 miles). Which sounds like somewhere I would have stopped anyway to check it out. Everything was great, had 176 charge and 130 miles to go. The elevation in Denver is 4700ft and there are two summits between Denver and Vail going over 10,000 ft. By the time I was over the first summit that “Buffer” went from 43 miles to about 10 with 25 miles left to get to Vail. In hindsight I should have stopped here as PlugShare recommended. Instead, I followed Fords recommendation. About 15 miles later my buffer is down under 5 miles and shortly after that Ford tells me that I am not going to make it and I should look for alternate charging station. I considered heading back down the hill to Frisco, but was fairly confident I was almost over the next summit and would be downhill to Vail which is what happened. Ended up pulling into Vail with around 13 miles left.

Charge 1: The charger was in the garage and was easy to use (ChargePoint which I have tons of experience with at home and work). Sadly it was DANG expensive and only 62.5kW charger. After 56min we added 155 miles enough for the next leg of our trip. Overall the experience was great other than wishing it was a 150kW or higher charger.

Charge 2: We made it to Sams club EA charger where we plugged in hoping the plug and charge would just work. It did not, so I ended up buying a membership on EA and loaded their card with 40.00 which also didn’t work. So I stuck my credit card in the machine and ended up paying 43cents/kWh Went and had a pleasant dinner with the Bro-In-Law and nephew The car came in with 9% and left with 96%. All in all the experience was pleasant even though I hadn’t figured out how to make the Plug and Charge to work. (Yet)

Ford Mustang Mach-E 1500 Mile Delivery Road Trip Home In a New Mach-E Cousins



Ended the day in Green River Utah

Day 3: Plan was to make it to Boise Id to have dinner with Brother and family.

Charge 3: Before leaving Green River, we stopped at EA (Green River Coffee). Tried using the apple pay EA card again with no luck, so I used my CC again. Came in with 29% and left with 76% which would get me to Price UT. 64 miles.

Charge 4: Another ChargePoint that worked like a charm 125kW charger but averaged about 40kW. After 27 min added 106miles enough to get me to Orem. Best thing was this was a free charging station. Thanks Price City Council.

Charge 5: Another ChargePoint located at Orem City Justice center. Which charged for 29min adding 31% to the car.

Charge 6: EA at Walmart. Plugged in, had to use CC again and went into Walmart to purchase drinks and snacks and hoped to come back to car with 80% charge. Instead came back to find the car at a charge fault after 2% added. Frustrated we called EA and they introduced me to why the Plug and charge wasn’t working. I tried to enable in the app and it wouldn’t enable. They walked me though how to use the EA app to kick it off, which I did and then went to get food while it charged 54% giving us enough to make it to the next charging station in Heyburn Id.

While getting food called Ford who transferred me to about 5 people before giving up and telling me that they would have to open a ticket with a different team that they gave me the number to. We disconnected and headed out and made the call to the ford team that would open the “case” to track down why I couldn’t enable plug&charge. While on hold my daughter tried to enable it again in the app and viola it worked. Hooray, hung up the call and was excited to test it at the next stop

Charge 7: EA location at a Sinclair Stinker station. Plugged in, the car was recognized and started to charge. After 3 minutes charger fault. Started it again got 8% then charger fault. Swapped to different spot and it started got 2% and fault, went to 3rd location charged 1% and fault. Pulled into 4th and last option and got 9% then fault. Called EA again and they rebooted the 4th charging station and then gave me free charge which they initiated, got 48% more and we had enough for the next leg. Which was Mountain Home Idaho (just outside of Boise).

Charge 8: EA at Walmart in Mountain Home, pulled in with 2% tried to use plug and charge but was hit with the payment declined error that people were seeing. I was in a hurry since I was late getting to dinner at this point and time so I disabled P&C and then used my CC to add 29% to get me easily into Boise.

Charge 9: EA at Walmart Boise, Turned on P&C prior and tried it with the normal error. Went back to disabling the feature and used my CC. Brother picked us up and we went and had dinner. About 45 minutes later I realized my ford app was blowing up in my pocket and it was telling me that we needed to move the vehicle since it was idle. I looked and it only got 3% added before a charge fault had happened. Drove back to the car and tried to charge again on different station made another 24% before fault, swapped another location 12% then fault, another 17% fault, and called they rebooted and were able to get another 18% and we headed out. We had called and the hotel said they had EV chargers, I asked what kind they said Tesla. I told them that wouldn’t work for me which they then said, we have 1 normal charger. I thought that would be a bonus to charge overnight on a Type 2. Headed up Blue pass in Oregon on route to the next EA station 89 miles away.

Charge 10: Strangely this EA station was 5 miles off of i84 at a cute country store. It was around 11:30pm at this point and as we pulled in we could see one of the chargers were stuck at a bootup screen. We went to the second one and plugged it in and nothing. Frozen at the welcome screen. Wouldn’t do anything so we moved to the 3rd station, plugged in fine but when it came time to pay it had an error with payment machine. Moved over to station 4 and it just hung at initiating charge. Called EA support and they rebooted it didn’t fix it so they had me move to the one with the faulty credit card machine and planned on giving me a free charge so we moved over started the charge and same thing. Wouldn’t start the charge. At this point the EA agent told me they would put a free charge on my account and there was nothing they could do for me. I was 44 miles from the hotel with 60ish miles till empty and heading up the hill. We took off with no other option but try to make the hotel and use the L2 charger. Again pushing up to a summit and watching the miles buffer disappear, to the point that ford warned me again that I wasn’t going to make my destination which I quickly turned off hoping my 14 and 15 year old daughter wouldn’t notice the alarm. Happily we hit the summit with 5 miles of buffer and coasted down to Baker City Ore for the night.

Ford Mustang Mach-E 1500 Mile Delivery Road Trip Home In a New Mach-E CCNotWorkin


Charge 11: We pulled into the hotel at 12:30am. I drove over to where the Superchargers were looking for the lone L2 charger and didn’t see it so I pulled up to the front and went in to check in and get directions, he mentioned that there were a couple of places where I could plug into a 110v socket. I had about 10 miles of charge and had 44 miles until the next DC, so sitting around for 30 hours to charge enough wasn’t going to work. He apologized and said he didn’t know that it would be so slow to charge with 110 when he mentioned he did have a 220 on the property. I perked up and asked if we could go look at it. Sure enough was the proper socket and plugged in and charged at 14miles/hr. Slept for 5 1/2 which added 89miles making the trip to La Grande (40 miles away) within reach.

Charge 12: EA at Walmart La Grande. 3% added before fault, then called EA fed up and they comped me 47% the second run and it worked fine. The EA guy asked me to turn on my P&C setting for the next charge

Charge 13: EA at Space Age fuel in Hermiston Or, pulled in with 22% and shocker P&C did not work. Went to disable so I could use my CC again and shocker there was no cellular signal here so I couldn’t get the app to load. Luckily the gas station had public wifi which was good enough for me to disable P&C and charge with CC up to 75% charge when it faulted, and was enough to get us to next location EA in Yakima Wa

Charge 14: EA at Walmart, had 4 faults total before charging it from 16 to 58% which would get us to Ellensburg Wa

Charge 15: EA at Taco Bell, had 2 faults but was able to get from 46% up to 69% which was more than enough to get me home into the Seattle area.

Observations:

  • Car drives great, however with the cold weather my tires were sitting between 40-42PSI which made it a bit bumpy
  • Co-Pilot works mostly great, it biases to the right which will freak you out when passing Semi trucks.
  • I never hit more than 70kW during charging. Averaged probably in the 45kW range which would be a non-starter if I was going to use it for distance driving. I did not buy it for distance driving, just commuting and having fun near home
  • Never had an issue with a ChargePoint station but tons of issues with EA, in fact I averaged around 70kW with Chargepoint and only around 40kW with EA.
  • People seem to like the color and look of this vehicle, lots of people giving a thumbs up or catching up to me to take a look at the car
  • This car is way to easy to get a speeding ticket


Damage to the car:

  • After getting home I took it to a car wash (PNW people it is the Brown Bear on Avondale Redmond Wa). They said I was the first Mach-E they had seen, car was nice and clean getting the crap from the drive off the car. Later that night while getting stuff from the trip from the trunk I notice my rear wiper had disappeared. Called the car wash in the morning and sure enough it was there. He told my wife when she picked it up that if there is a problem with it to call them back. It is broken I ordered the new part 45.00 be in Wednesday. Car wash admitted that trouble vehicles that they are aware of they put a special bag over to avoid damage to it but the attendant had never seen the Mach-e and didn’t know if it would be an issue.
  • Noticed my front windshield had taken a rock to the upper passenger corner which made it crack making a triangle in the edge.
All in all the trip was just shy of 1500 miles and was a fun drive, if it weren’t for the slow and faulty charging sessions the trip would have been much more enjoyable. Having the one EA station not work at all was unacceptable and thank God the hotel had that 220v. Thought I was going to be using my free roadside service to drive us to LaGrande. My daughters thought it was comfortable to ride in, and I let my 15 year old drive one of the legs and she really enjoyed it and I liked that she was assisted by copilot.
 

Maric

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First off, you're a brave man.

2nd, your family must be very trusting. ?

Awesome experience. Way to go full into it. What a trip! Congratulations on your car!
 

louibluey

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ajmartineau

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Congrats and welcome back.
Did you notice any reduced propulsion when you are at a low state of charge?
 


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Ixoye

Ixoye

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Congrats and welcome back.
Did you notice any reduced propulsion when you are at a low state of charge?
No, The first time I was in the snowstorm so I was not going that fast, probably 50ish, the second time I was only a couple of minutes out of Mountain Home and I got into a little race with someone and it easily went over 90 when I only had a couple of miles remaining, and the third low battery warning was going up the Blue pass and I set cruise control at 60 instead of the 70 speed limit hoping to get every ounce out.
 

ajmartineau

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I think Ford has set 0% SOC as they would for an ICE Mustang. "0 miles to empty" means you have a reserve of 15 miles or more. You should have had reduced power at 2%. Others have posted the same results but they were in their neighborhood going 25 not climbing passes at 60. There must be more useable battery under 0%.

I tried to run a loaner to zero but ran out of time.
 

breeves002

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Why did you have to disable plug n charge? Would it just say error otherwise? For me I don't have to disable it - if it doesn't work EA asks for payment and then I just use my EA card on my phone, but sounds like the EA card in your phone wallet doesn't work either. Very odd you have had so many issues. Mine doesn't seem to have charging faults once it is going, just can take a few tries to get it going. To be fair I have only used a single EA charger local to me. I also saw 160kW charging in 40 degree weather after driving for an hour.
 
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Ixoye

Ixoye

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Why did you have to disable plug n charge? Would it just say error otherwise? For me I don't have to disable it - if it doesn't work EA asks for payment and then I just use my EA card on my phone, but sounds like the EA card in your phone wallet doesn't work either. Very odd you have had so many issues. Mine doesn't seem to have charging faults once it is going, just can take a few tries to get it going. To be fair I have only used a single EA charger local to me. I also saw 160kW charging in 40 degree weather after driving for an hour.
When I use P&C I get payment declined and I can't do anything after that. Disabling P&C gets me to a payment prompt at which time I was finally told that my EA card works but you have to scan it under the payment CC box. Which did in fact work, which I used at EA once I was home at Target.
 

breeves002

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When I use P&C I get payment declined and I can't do anything after that. Disabling P&C gets me to a payment prompt at which time I was finally told that my EA card works but you have to scan it under the payment CC box. Which did in fact work, which I used at EA once I was home at Target.
That is so odd because my experience with EA has not been like that at all. When I plug in after 10 seconds I get the prompt to pay. If I use the Ford Pass app to hit activate it just starts. I can also use my EA card to start it. Very weird. In this case P&C doesn't work at all for me since I must activate in the Ford app, but at least it works with a simple activation. I do have P&C enabled.
 
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Ixoye

Ixoye

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That is so odd because my experience with EA has not been like that at all. When I plug in after 10 seconds I get the prompt to pay. If I use the Ford Pass app to hit activate it just starts. I can also use my EA card to start it. Very weird. In this case P&C doesn't work at all for me since I must activate in the Ford app, but at least it works with a simple activation. I do have P&C enabled.
it doesn't sound like you have plug and charge activated if you are asked to pay after plugging it in. It is supposed to automatically be paid for from either your 250kWh free time or your credit card on file with connected services.

By default I found out that P&C is disabled in the fordpass app:
Ford Mustang Mach-E 1500 Mile Delivery Road Trip Home In a New Mach-E disabledpnc


BTW, don't try to enable this when your car is connected to a charger. Won't work.

After enabling:
Ford Mustang Mach-E 1500 Mile Delivery Road Trip Home In a New Mach-E enabledpnc


BTW, those 168 messages are from it screaming at me to unplug after it faulted and I went to dinner. SPAMMED me hard.
 

breeves002

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Mine is enabled - I just double checked. I did it on day 1 of ownership.
 
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Ixoye

Ixoye

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Mine is enabled - I just double checked. I did it on day 1 of ownership.
Talking with ford support on it they asked me to remove the payment and re-add it, which you can't do without adding a second card which I did. Tested it with different card and same payment declined error. Mind you one card is empty so no chance of being declined and the other is from my brokerage account which has plenty of liquid cash to cover any charges, but as it was I still have 150kWh on my balance.

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benk016

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My biggest advice to you, is to not ever use the Credit card readers on these. For one you get charged the highest amount possible. 2nd is that its also not reliable. If you activate it from the app, it bypasses the whole authentication step and just goes right to charging. Even if you have P&C enabled, it skips that part.

Pull up to the station, find it on the app, swipe to activate, then plug in the connector. This has been the most reliable way for me to use EA stations. P&C has worked every time for me, but, I also get random "Vehicle Protocol" errors when It get activated with P&C.
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