arp123
Member
- First Name
- Andy
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2023
- Threads
- 2
- Messages
- 10
- Reaction score
- 7
- Location
- Minnesota
- Vehicles
- 2023 Mach-E
- Occupation
- Electrical Designer
- Thread starter
- #1
Wow! Hard to believe we’ve had our MME for a whole year already. Thought I’d put down my thoughts and experiences for others to ponder. We drive our MME every chance we get. Just turned over 22K in this first year! My wife and I made a deal when we bought it. Any given day whoever drives the furthest will take the MME. This has saved us a lot of gas. When we had 2 ICE cars we'd fill up 4-5 times a month. With this arrangement with the MME, we now fill up once a month. We also have 2 children, one in a car seat and the other in a booster. This was our first EV and there was a learning curve. You do need to think about longer trips a little differently. It’s not hard but different. You need to spend 5 minutes planning charging stops if you think you can make it back home on a single charge. I also want to say I have not received my NACS adapter yet so I have no experience with Tesla chargers.
The Car itself: Overall we both love it. No mechanical problems at all. Did the minimum service requirements at 10K and 20K. We live in Minnesota so we have used it through the winter. Although this winter was very mild, we still had several days of below zero temperatures. We expected and experienced about a 25% drop in range those days. One thing to think about is that a rear-facing car seat is a little tight and you have to keep the front seat a little forward to avoid hitting it. No way 3 normal size car seats will sit side by side. The two kids with the smaller seat section folded down are very tight but doable for a short trip. It’s a good car, now I just want the BlueCruise update to make it better. We very, very rarely use the built in navigation. Android Auto connects well and we use Google Maps.
Home Charging:
We plug it in every time when we get home. Although it is programmed to charge between 7pm and 7am. During this winter due to the range reduction for the cold weather, we have been charging it to 100%. Once the weather warms back up consistently, we’ll probably dial that back to 80-90% again. We live in a pretty rural area. A drive to any decent sized city is typically 40 miles round trip. No major issues with the car while home charging.
Public Charging:
This is our experience in the southern Minnesota area, Minneapolis area and Western Wisconsin. I just want to say that we have never found a charging station full nor a charging station that did not work (eventually). These are the charging stations we’ve used in order of preference.
Where to look for public chargers (apps and/or websites):
This was a learning curve but for our area in the upper midwest, this seems to work well for finding most if not all the stations. Again in order of preference where I look for chargers for longer trips.
The MME and FordPass App. Just wanted to say: many, many frustrations. It’s very slow to refresh anything. Such as car status, charging status, connections to chargers, location. Changes made in the app don’t always save in the car. Using PAAK was an unnerving experience, we don’t use this anymore. It just simply works too far away, unlocks the car when I’m in the house or at work, out of sight of the MME. Sometimes it won't work at all. Maybe if PAAK gets a long overdue update I’ll try it again.I just got the Beta release of FordPass and have been poking around but haven’t really tried too much.
Overall, would we buy again? Absolutely, the car itself is solid. I still hate the whole car buying process through dealerships. Just feel screwed over every time and why does it take HOURS. And Ford, don’t promise things then don’t deliver on time, just makes everyone frustrated at you.
The Car itself: Overall we both love it. No mechanical problems at all. Did the minimum service requirements at 10K and 20K. We live in Minnesota so we have used it through the winter. Although this winter was very mild, we still had several days of below zero temperatures. We expected and experienced about a 25% drop in range those days. One thing to think about is that a rear-facing car seat is a little tight and you have to keep the front seat a little forward to avoid hitting it. No way 3 normal size car seats will sit side by side. The two kids with the smaller seat section folded down are very tight but doable for a short trip. It’s a good car, now I just want the BlueCruise update to make it better. We very, very rarely use the built in navigation. Android Auto connects well and we use Google Maps.
Home Charging:
We plug it in every time when we get home. Although it is programmed to charge between 7pm and 7am. During this winter due to the range reduction for the cold weather, we have been charging it to 100%. Once the weather warms back up consistently, we’ll probably dial that back to 80-90% again. We live in a pretty rural area. A drive to any decent sized city is typically 40 miles round trip. No major issues with the car while home charging.
Public Charging:
This is our experience in the southern Minnesota area, Minneapolis area and Western Wisconsin. I just want to say that we have never found a charging station full nor a charging station that did not work (eventually). These are the charging stations we’ve used in order of preference.
- ChargePoint: These are about the easiest ones to use. Open up the app on your phone, just hold it up to the charger. It goes beep, starts charging. No other input needed.
- ZEF: these are next easiest on the list. Usually I have to scan the QR code on the charger. But no problems. The local electric co-ops around my area like to use these.
- Electrify America:The couple times we used these it usually took two or three tries to get the charging started, even though these were on the BlueOval Charge network. We have free charging left on these from the purchase of the MME but the last time we ended up getting frustrated and swiping a credit card to get the charging to start.
- Blink: OMG always a pain! The last one we used was ON the BlueOval Network and was located AT a Ford dealership. Took 6 or 7 tries to get it to start. Tried first several times through the Ford app. So much waiting, for nothing to happen. Finally got it to work on the second try with the BLINK app, not the Ford app.
Where to look for public chargers (apps and/or websites):
This was a learning curve but for our area in the upper midwest, this seems to work well for finding most if not all the stations. Again in order of preference where I look for chargers for longer trips.
- Chargepoint App. It has the current availability of their chargers on the App. List other brand chargers as well.
- Google Maps. Simply search for EV Chargers in the area you are traveling to or turn on the charging stations layer. You can also select the plug type and charging speed. Shows the status of most chargers.
- ChargEV. This is one that shows the chargers (mostly in the midwest) owned by electric co-ops. (Generally ZEF chargers)
- The FordPass App. It does OK.
The MME and FordPass App. Just wanted to say: many, many frustrations. It’s very slow to refresh anything. Such as car status, charging status, connections to chargers, location. Changes made in the app don’t always save in the car. Using PAAK was an unnerving experience, we don’t use this anymore. It just simply works too far away, unlocks the car when I’m in the house or at work, out of sight of the MME. Sometimes it won't work at all. Maybe if PAAK gets a long overdue update I’ll try it again.I just got the Beta release of FordPass and have been poking around but haven’t really tried too much.
Overall, would we buy again? Absolutely, the car itself is solid. I still hate the whole car buying process through dealerships. Just feel screwed over every time and why does it take HOURS. And Ford, don’t promise things then don’t deliver on time, just makes everyone frustrated at you.
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