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https://www.greencarreports.com/new...fast-does-the-ford-ev-charge-up-on-road-trips

2021 Mustang Mach-E: How fast does the Ford EV charge up on road trips?
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BENGT HALVORSON JANUARY 18, 2021


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Longer road trips are now possible with nearly all U.S.-market electric cars, thanks to rather long range ratings and DC fast charging along major highways.
Each EV has a different combination of those two things, though. Getting ready for electric road trips means being realistic about both of those sets of numbers—about highway range, and about how long you’ll need to be hooked up to the charger, every few hours.

The 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E with the Extended Range battery pack and rear-wheel drive achieves an EPA range rating of 300 miles, And Ford says that its DC fast charging for that model will add up to 61 miles of range in 10 minutes.

In our time with the Mach-E last month, an Extended Range 4X all-wheel-drive model with a 270-mile rated range, we aimed to get a quick first taste of what real-world road-trippers might see.

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2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E

I didn’t see anything close to that 270 miles in a Mach-E 70-mph highway range test—more like 220 miles—but to be fair, that’s nothing unusual and the EPA range rating isn’t intended to be a gauge of range at U.S. highway speeds. What we observed was close to what the EPA highway efficiency rating suggests at face value.

As for the charging side of things, I took the Mach-E to an Electrify America station in Troutdale, Oregon, and plugged the 150-kw hardware in at 29%. The outside temperature was about 50 degrees, on a dry day with a mix of sun and clouds, and I drove to the charging stop at highway speeds.

Fuss-free fast-charging interface
First off, Plug&Charge functionality worked flawlessly on the Electrify America charger. The technology renders credit-card swipes and fobs obsolete and allows you the same kind of convenience that Tesla has been offering for many years, simply recognizing your car and the account that’s linked to it—in this case, the FordPass account (info just below) that allows nationwide “roaming” between networks.

To run through what exactly happened, the plug connector almost instantly said “connecting vehicle,” followed a few seconds later by “processing payment,” which disappeared to "Authorized" faster than I could snap a picture, replaced by a few seconds of “initiating charging” and then the familiar cooling fans and pumps of DC fast charging starting up. So from plugging in to the charge actually starting it was less than 10 seconds, with zero fumbling in pockets for anything else.

The Mach-E started right up past 55 kw and rose steadily, reaching 79 kw at 34%, then slowing its progress to eventually reach a peak 99 kw from 54% to 59%, after which it started dropping steadily—to 93 kw by 62%, 84 kw by 74%, and 53 kw at 80%.

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2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E charging summary

All said, I added 51 kwh in 38 minutes. That brought the state of charge and estimated range from 29% and 67 miles to 80% (actually 81% by the time I stopped the charger) and 189 miles. It amounted to an estimated 122 miles gained in 38 minutes.

Not at full speed, apparently
During that speediest portion, we saw the estimated range leap from 128 miles to 140 miles in less than 3 minutes. That’s a rate that would correspond to about 40 miles regained in 10 minutes—only that peak rate didn’t hold for 10 minutes.

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2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E charging summary

Ford says that the Extended Range Mach-E should be able to go from 10% to 80% in approximately 52 minutes. With my session’s peak 99 kw, I saw 29% to 81% in 38 minutes, which doesn’t seem far off.

When I contacted Ford about the peak-power discrepancy, Ford reiterated that the Mach-E can charge at up to 150 kw. But the spokesperson did note that the battery will accept a higher rate of charge when it is more “empty”—from about 10% on up—and that very cold weather, driving behaviors, vehicle maintenance, and battery age and state of health will have an influence.

I didn’t have the vehicle long enough to replicate the test starting at 10%—to see how much is being gained when it truly reached 150 kw—but we hope to the next time we have a Mach-E.

The Audi E-Tron, for instance also claims 150-kw fast-charging, but it actually reaches a peak of 155 kw; last year in similar temperatures I charged an E-Tron from 31 to 72% in 15 minutes.

Some takeaways
My takeaway and advice for a 70-mph road trip with repeated charges: Ideally, if you can plug in at about 10% and charge up to 80% in less than an hour, you’ll be able to use 70% of the charge—which is about 155 miles.

Ford has hinted that it has the possibility to roll out over-the-air updates that could improve range and efficiency down the line—something only Tesla has done so far.

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2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E, at Electrify America DC fast-charger

While preliminary observations point to charging stops being a bit longer than that—and yes, of course longer than in a Tesla, even its previous V2 charge rates—the Mach-E’s driving range is consistent and predictable, and everything in the test car Ford supplied us simply worked.

Maybe even more important, there was no time lost to frustration that only early adopters tend to have the patience for. Versus some of the charging obstacles we’ve experienced even in the recent past, in just getting fast-charges to start, it was smooth sailing. The interface could find chargers and plan routes around them. It played well with the app. Charges initiated quickly. And that’s another big leap forward.
 

JamieGeek

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Annoyingly, this looks like confirmation that Mach-E Plug&Charge bills at the non-member rate for Electrify America.

I've got the Pass+ membership - I do not want to be paying $0.43/kWh when my membership gives me $0.31/kWh.

Anyone know if we can link our EA and FordPass accounts together? If I have to turn off Plug&Charge and fish out my EA app at each charging session to get my member pricing that really defeats the whole point of it.
 

stroszek

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I've never used EA so this is probably wrong but it looks like it might present the member rate as member savings (obfuscated here by the free 250kwh)?
 

methorian

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I've never used EA so this is probably wrong but it looks like it might present the member rate as member savings (obfuscated here by the free 250kwh)?
This is exactly what I was wondering as well. Ford and EA must have thought about this, I'd be very surprised if you couldn't link your EA+ account to get the better rate.

Or maybe we'll all get EA+ rates through FordPass, I don't think we've seen actual usage of the FordPass charging account yet.
 


dbsb3233

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This is exactly what I was wondering as well. Ford and EA must have thought about this, I'd be very surprised if you couldn't link your EA+ account to get the better rate.

Or maybe we'll all get EA+ rates through FordPass, I don't think we've seen actual usage of the FordPass charging account yet.
Since all these media review cars are Ford-owned pre-production units they just loan out to various media for a few days at a time, I doubt they even register new Plug&Charge payment accounts each time. Ford probably just pays for the electricity (when the Plug&Charge works).

That would be my guess anyway.
 

dbsb3233

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The Mach-E started right up past 55 kw and rose steadily, reaching 79 kw at 34%, then slowing its progress to eventually reach a peak 99 kw from 54% to 59%, after which it started dropping steadily—to 93 kw by 62%, 84 kw by 74%, and 53 kw at 80%.
So overall, good and bad. Good that Plug&Charge worked flawlessly. Good that it never got worse than 55 kW (like that other test that struggled for the first 22 minutes).

But bad that it never got over 100 kW (let alone close to the advertised 150 kW). I guess we can write part of that off to being a cool day, although 50F is hardly cold. Pretty typical day in much of the US.

Hoping this gets better in the production units. Like to at least sniff something close to 150 kW for a bit.
 

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My understanding is that Ford Pass 'will' seamlessly be integrated to EA charging account.
 

Billyk24

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It amounted to an estimated 122 miles gained in 38 minutes. -------Err. How are you going to road trip in an EV if it takes 38 minutes to gain 122 miles? How long would it take me to travel my 832 mile drive in my hybrid/PHEV compared to a BEV with stopping less than two hours to charge up for 38 minutes and gain only 122 miles?
 

dbsb3233

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Ford says that the Extended Range Mach-E should be able to go from 10% to 80% in approximately 52 minutes.
I just noticed the above line in the article. No, that's supposed to be 45 minutes.
 

Dan G

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I guess we can write part of that off to being a cool day, although 50F is hardly cold. Pretty typical day in much of the US.
Batteries like to operate in the 75-95F degree range. Until Ford updates the car with battery preconditioning like Tesla or Porsche, I don't think the ME will reach that 150kW peak except in summer months.
I just noticed the above line in the article. No, that's supposed to be 45 minutes.
That's the first thing I said, too. I wonder where they found that number.
It amounted to an estimated 122 miles gained in 38 minutes. -------Err. How are you going to road trip in an EV if it takes 38 minutes to gain 122 miles? How long would it take me to travel my 832 mile drive in my hybrid/PHEV compared to a BEV with stopping less than two hours to charge up for 38 minutes and gain only 122 miles?
It's a different way of thinking. You don't need to charge for 38 minutes if you're only going 70-80 miles to the next charger. The idea behind it is to ride the charging curve. You charge until the speed starts to slow. The thinking is instead of taking 38 minutes at one charger, you spend 15 at this one, 15 at the next one. It only saves you a few minutes, but that can add up over time.
 

dbsb3233

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It's a different way of thinking. You don't need to charge for 38 minutes if you're only going 70-80 miles to the next charger. The idea behind it is to ride the charging curve. You charge until the speed starts to slow. The thinking is instead of taking 38 minutes at one charger, you spend 15 at this one, 15 at the next one. It only saves you a few minutes, but that can add up over time.
Unless of course the next charger on the road trip is 120 miles away.

Plus every extra time you have to stop and get off the highway, get on the city/town streets to hunt down the charger, and then backtrack it all to get back on the highway you've lost additional time.

It's a different way of thinking alright. A "hope you don't mind taking a lot longer to get somewhere" way of thinking. That may fly up to a point.
 

Dan G

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Unless of course the next charger on the road trip is 120 miles away.

Plus every extra time you have to stop and get off the highway, get on the city/town streets to hunt down the charger, and then backtrack it all to get back on the highway you've lost additional time.

It's a different way of thinking alright. A "hope you don't mind taking a lot longer to get somewhere" way of thinking. That may fly up to a point.
There are definitely times you need more then 80 miles or so, and yes, that's going to add some time. It's a compromise.

Most EA chargers are right off the freeway and pretty easy to find, in my experience. But probably still easier to find a gas station. ;)
 

Billyk24

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There are definitely times you need more then 80 miles or so, and yes, that's going to add some time. It's a compromise.

Most EA chargers are right off the freeway and pretty easy to find, in my experience. But probably still easier to find a gas station. ;)
There are serious holes in the dcfc ccs network where one only has L2 options. Road tripping in a bev is going to be a pain for some.
 

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There are serious holes in the dcfc ccs network where one only has L2 options. Road tripping in a bev is going to be a pain for some.
Give it some time, the more EV's are out there the sooner it will be expanded;)

In the EU it took some time but now there are enough and they are still building!
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