8/29/22 Build Week Gang

[DaveP]

Final delivery update*: car has arrived at dealer. I'm not sure when I'll pick it up but the delivery process is over (assuming it passes the inspection). So built 9/6, shipped 9/8, arrived 10/26 to Seattle region. Can't wait to pick it up

*I'll post another note about how the closing process goes at the dealership. So far everything has been great and I hope to give them a positive review here when this is done.

Great News! Congrats. Should put me about a month out being a 10/03 build week if timing is similar and also heading to Seattle. Currently in transit, in Argentine, KS as of 6 days ago.

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[CarpeCarne]

Great News! Congrats. Should put me about a month out being a 10/03 build week if timing is similar and also heading to Seattle. Currently in transit, in Argentine, KS as of 6 days ago.

Thanks! I got stuck in Argentine for a couple weeks as you probably know. It was interesting that post Argentine the next update from Ford Chat was the day before the arrival so your delivery may follow a similar tracking process. In which case there would be nothing to do but wait for the call from your dealership.

 

[Spiderman]

I also ordered from Purvis. Seems like they took care of you? No funny business? Who was your salesman? I have been working with Steve Pavey.

I am a little nervous as I am active duty Navy and will have to fly in from Florida to pick up the car. A lot of horror stories on here about dealers taking advantage of folks... I am optimistic that you got yours so far ahead of schedule!

Space White Premium ER RWD
Ordered 01/01/22
Scheduled Build Week 08/29/22 -> 09/05/22
Actual Build Date 09/22/22
Shipped 09/28/22
Scheduled Arrival 29OCT-04NOV

You get your car yet?

 

[Cecil]

Well, I dove right into EV ownership and just returned from a road trip through the area with probably some of the worst charger infrastructure in the country, MT and ID. I put over 1100 miles on the car in the first few days! The majority of the time I drove it, the temperatures were between 30-40 degrees and I did hit some snow and covered two passes each way. So here is my experience in case anyone has has a road trip coming up!

I used Electrify America chargers throughout the trip and planned the trip using the Plugshare app. I downloaded the EA app before leaving and hooked it up to my applepay. My car is a CART1 (supposed to be 314 max) and when I received it with 11 miles on it fully charged and the temperature was high 60's, the mileage to empty was showing at 255. Mid trip, when I did charge it to 100 percent and it was around 36 degrees, I showed only 218 miles. I had 4 EA chargers between my home and my destination, including one that is only 35 miles from home. I was driving mostly between 80-90 miles an hour the whole way, used cruise control some of it. I definitely battled some range anxiety.

The EA chargers are finicky. 2 of the 4 charging locations only had 2 of the 4 units even working. At one, one of the "working" ones would not take payment, either applepay or my credit card. At another, an ID 4 next to me as I pulled up said he couldn't get that unit to take any payment and that the only working one was the one he was on and he'd be another 20 minutes. Thankfully I couldn't get the unit to take applepay, however it did take my credit card. 2 of the EA were at Walmarts, with nothing else around, the other two were at gas stations with nothing else within walking distance. One of them was about a 10 min (each way) drive off the freeway. So in other words, I could always walk to a bathroom (sometimes it was a bit of a walk since the weather was poor!) but there is absolutely nothing to do or nowhere to eat, aside from Walmart or gas stations. Once I reached my destination I downloaded some movies on my phone for my charging breaks on the way home.

The way the EA chargers work is that they are identified (at least the ones I went to) by the max kW hours they can charge. So there are ones that say 150 and ones that say 350. When you are under 80% battery, the chargers will go faster, but once they hit 80% the charging falls WAY off. The highest kW I was every able to get any charger (didn't matter if it was 150 or 350) to hit was 125 kW and the average probably was around 75 kW. This means that my stops averaged around 35-40 minutes, just to get the car from like 40-50% to 80%. The one time I got it from 20% to 100% because I knew someone in the area that I was going to go to lunch with, it took 1.5 hours. The charging at 80% always drops to 30-33 kW from my experience. If you are on a road trip and you have the ability to, it's way faster to stop the additional time and just charge up to the 80%, then it is to wait for 100% to minimize stops. Yesterday, when the weather was colder and I was coming home, my 7 hour drive was probably increased by around 2.5-3 hours by charging.

Winter weather charging: When I left my location yesterday I was charged to 78%. I hadn't stayed at a hotel with a charger since when I booked the trip I didn't know I was going to have my car, so I had hit up the Walmart that morning before leaving and had a little bit of around town driving. My first charger was only 98 miles and I had 148 miles of juice on me. Well I ended up hitting some sketchy weather with temps dropping from 42 degrees when I left down to 31 degrees, with blowing snow, hydroplaning slush, and passing numerous accidents on the side of the road. I had on my seat warmer to 2, and the defroster on low. Visibility was low and it was white knuckle driving for a while. Slowly I watched my 50 mile buffer falling, then as I hit the storm it was falling FAST. My alerts started coming on that I was going to be close to not having enough battery and I should choose a closer stop, which of course there wasn't one. When I was maybe 45 miles out I only had a 13 mile buffer between my destination and battery life... It was super stressful. I turned off the defroster and the seat warmer, had to roll down my window a bit just so my windows wouldn't fog and basically froze my way to the stop. With the defroster off, even though it was on low, and having gotten through the storm and now on clear roads, I ended up making up some of that loss and when I arrived at the charger I had 22 miles. This was a constant theme throughout my trip... the car would say I had 175 miles, but then I'd only end up having 140 or so. This was much more noticeable in the sections of my route with temps between 30-35. It seemed to be more accurate when the temps where up closer to 40. Because of the wintery weather I knew I was going to be going through yesterday, I used my seat warmer on low and turned the defroster on low only sparingly then immediately turned it off when the windshields cleared. My longest route I had to go was 150. I hit that one charged to 100% and when I got there I had only about 40 miles left.

Now the good: The car drives like a dream and did great in the snow, although it was just freeway. It was a wonderful car to have to have traveled that many miles in! The apple car play is seamless and I love the fact that when I have the key on me and walk away the car just locks itself. Of all the trips I go on (I drive around 20k miles/year), this will be one of the worst, in terms of distance and area with the lack of chargers. Most of my trips to Seattle or Portland will have much more availability of chargers, be much closer, and I don't think it'll be nearly as stressful. The fact of the matter is that if I'd have had chargers that were actually charging above 100 kW (the ones that did dropped down into the 70s and 80s quickly), charging would have been quick and super easy. It wouldn't have been a big deal to sit there for 20 minutes then jump back on the freeway. Overall, I am happy to be home and get to enjoy the car with my home charger for a bit, but also grateful for the experience!

Hope this is helpful to those of you in cold weather locations!

Hi All!
We just finished our first road trip in our MME and had a nearly identical experience! Temps were in the low 30's and we had difficulty getting over 200 miles out of a full charge! And we have the extended range battery! Also had the same luck with EA chargers, many units not working/won't process payment.

If this kind of performance is the norm for the MME/Extended range, I will be selling this in the near future. Great car otherwise, but I can't tolerate such poor performance of the battery. Does everyone have these same range issues?

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