Orangefirefish
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Thought I would share some feedback from a recent road trip from the SF Bay Area down to SoCal. Took the wife and 3 year old down to San Diego for a few days, was really eager to test out our RWD SR Premium and get some real world charging data with highway driving up and down I-5. I did plan out the trip with ABRP and cross checked FordPass, and modified the charging schedule for a reasonable buffer. I drove with the CoPilot 360 assist whenever possible, dialed to 70mph.
Outbound trip:
Left Fremont (yes, that Fremont) early in the morning with a full charge, temps in the high 50's. Full trunk and frunk, a few pieces of luggage and lots of food and drink.
Stop 1: Pulled into the Panoche EA with 50%, plug and charge all good, FordPass had advised on a 61% charge but went ahead and got to 80%.
Stop 2: Arrived at the Countryside Market EA, saw a RR MME there, still new with temp plates, very nice color, hadn't seen one yet. P&C was OK but the charger faulted after 24%, moved the car to a 350kW one and all was fine. Charged from 22% to 77% in 27 min, again FordPass advised on a little over 60% or so.
Stop 3: Charged at the Burbank Walmart EA, 33% to 61%, arrived in Carlsbad at our destination with 17%.
Overall, no major issues, very light traffic, since this was our first road trip in awhile, surprised at how little time I had to take my kid son to the restroom and stretch, car was almost done charging just as we were done with our break. My son slept to the second stop, and that is when the toddler antics kicked in. For the remainder of the trip he alternated between "Are we there yet?" and "AHHH I can't do this any more!" And I alternated between "no" and "stop kicking your mom, you're getting the gray Active X dirty!". Efficiency for outbound was 3.45 mi/kWh, and I had used 3.4 for planning purposes.
Return:
Had driven up to Dana Point (about 30ish miles north of Carlsbad) a few days prior, so left the hotel with 93% and FordPass did say we could get to the Countryside Market EA without stopping in between, but in between heavy traffic leaving Dana Point (Friday afternoon before Memorial Day) and just general comfort, opted to stop in Santa Clarita at the EA. Hot hot hot. Needed the A/C cranked up a good bit to feel comfortable.
Stop 1: Santa Clarita EA: Charged from 50% to 76%, just enough time for bio break and checking out a Star White MME and the watermelons at WalMart (my son really wanted one but I had to explain that they weren't road trip friendly, of course now that I think about it, I guess I could have cut one up over the frunk). I don't blame him, it was low 90's at this point and we had just gotten out of some pretty serious traffic.
Stop 2: Countryside Market EA: Same charger faulted from the get-go (funny how quickly we forget) and the 350kW did the trick. Saw a family of four in a Taycan, dude has my respect. Charged from 46% to 72%. Ford Pass was right, we most likely would have arrived with 20% SOC if we hadn't stopped in Santa Clarita but nature called anyway. Temps about 93-94ĀŗF here.
Stop 3: Panoche Shell: Strong headwind up from Bakersfield, noticed the efficiency dropped a bit, arrived with 12%, this segment was by far the worst efficiency for the whole trip due to the winds, and charged up to 80% in about 36 minutes. Dinner time so went across the street for a few burritos and was about 40% into it before the car was done. High 80's to low 90's.
Arrived at home, still very strong headwinds on the way up, but after taking a detour for a quick errand, got home with 18% charge, I plugged Horse-E Shark back in and promised I'd clean off the myriad of dead bugs on its faux grille (which I made good on, thanks pressure washer and ceramic coat).
For this leg, efficiency wasn't as good due to the heavier A/C usage and the strong headwinds, but still managed to average 3.37. Judicious use of a tablet managed to keep the junior traveler somewhat content except when said tablet was taken back during mandated screen time breaks.
Highway miles logged (excluding SD to Dana Point): 907, drove over 1100 miles including local travel
kWh expended: 265.88
DC Fast Charge time: ~2 hours total
Total highway efficiency: 3.41 mi/kWh
Fits thrown: uh... lost count after 3 sets of "I can't do this anymore"
Charge stations faults: 2
Best Mach-E reaction: Wife overheard this convo in "valley girl" speak. Girl 1: "Look, it's the new electric mustang!" Girls 2: "Shut up."
I spy: Two test vehicles at the Countryside EA. One BMW (iX3 variant?) and one unbadged, both crossovers (I think, didn't get a good look at the wrapped one).
Road trip worthy? Absolutely, plenty of room for luggage and goodies, loved the frunk for concealing valuables. Comfort was great, steering wheel was very easy on the hands, and CoPilot Assist was hugely helpful.
FordPass: Sucks. I know it well at this point, but man, this app still manages to give me some "I can't do this any mores" in the UX department.
Sync 4A: Navi: Passing grade, also kinda sucks in terms of the UX but it's OK, good to have CarPlay/Google maps as backup.
Other charging during the trip: I used L2 charging provided at the hotel and also used a Chargepoint fast charger, both were fine.
Lessons learned: Well, I insisted on the SR battery because I knew at this point the bottleneck was going to be traveling with kids and bathroom breaks. After the 1st stop, the advantage of the ER is charging speed and potentially less charging stops, and realistically the ER wouldn't have been that much of a benefit on a trip like this, ER would just mean longer stops and the SR would just mean more frequent shorter stops for road tripping. The range covers all of our day to day use and I was surprised how well it handled the long trip as well. Surprisingly each stop was barely enough to get everything done, with the exception of the longer stop on the way home, where I could at least casually eat (somewhat). Having done a similar trip in our previous ICE, by far being forced to take a more leisurely break every two hours was fantastic for driver energy and alertness, plus arriving at the destination felt more refreshed. Planning is key, think ahead, know your backup charging options.
Regrets: 0. My efficiency up prior to the trip was about 3.7mi/kWh and this was with about 70/30 mix of highway and local driving, so I had a very realistic figure in mind based on highway speeds in decent weather. Knowing that the optimal highway range is about 230mi for a full charge reinforces my belief that Ford did right by their customers in the way they presented their estimates. Best car I have ever owned.
Here's a quick snippet of the total highway charging data for reference.
Parting pic: Horse-E Shark in the SoCal shade.
(edit: updated my figures to account for a slightly longer route taken to avoid traffic on the return leg, highway efficiency still roughly the same)
Outbound trip:
Left Fremont (yes, that Fremont) early in the morning with a full charge, temps in the high 50's. Full trunk and frunk, a few pieces of luggage and lots of food and drink.
Stop 1: Pulled into the Panoche EA with 50%, plug and charge all good, FordPass had advised on a 61% charge but went ahead and got to 80%.
Stop 2: Arrived at the Countryside Market EA, saw a RR MME there, still new with temp plates, very nice color, hadn't seen one yet. P&C was OK but the charger faulted after 24%, moved the car to a 350kW one and all was fine. Charged from 22% to 77% in 27 min, again FordPass advised on a little over 60% or so.
Stop 3: Charged at the Burbank Walmart EA, 33% to 61%, arrived in Carlsbad at our destination with 17%.
Overall, no major issues, very light traffic, since this was our first road trip in awhile, surprised at how little time I had to take my kid son to the restroom and stretch, car was almost done charging just as we were done with our break. My son slept to the second stop, and that is when the toddler antics kicked in. For the remainder of the trip he alternated between "Are we there yet?" and "AHHH I can't do this any more!" And I alternated between "no" and "stop kicking your mom, you're getting the gray Active X dirty!". Efficiency for outbound was 3.45 mi/kWh, and I had used 3.4 for planning purposes.
Return:
Had driven up to Dana Point (about 30ish miles north of Carlsbad) a few days prior, so left the hotel with 93% and FordPass did say we could get to the Countryside Market EA without stopping in between, but in between heavy traffic leaving Dana Point (Friday afternoon before Memorial Day) and just general comfort, opted to stop in Santa Clarita at the EA. Hot hot hot. Needed the A/C cranked up a good bit to feel comfortable.
Stop 1: Santa Clarita EA: Charged from 50% to 76%, just enough time for bio break and checking out a Star White MME and the watermelons at WalMart (my son really wanted one but I had to explain that they weren't road trip friendly, of course now that I think about it, I guess I could have cut one up over the frunk). I don't blame him, it was low 90's at this point and we had just gotten out of some pretty serious traffic.
Stop 2: Countryside Market EA: Same charger faulted from the get-go (funny how quickly we forget) and the 350kW did the trick. Saw a family of four in a Taycan, dude has my respect. Charged from 46% to 72%. Ford Pass was right, we most likely would have arrived with 20% SOC if we hadn't stopped in Santa Clarita but nature called anyway. Temps about 93-94ĀŗF here.
Stop 3: Panoche Shell: Strong headwind up from Bakersfield, noticed the efficiency dropped a bit, arrived with 12%, this segment was by far the worst efficiency for the whole trip due to the winds, and charged up to 80% in about 36 minutes. Dinner time so went across the street for a few burritos and was about 40% into it before the car was done. High 80's to low 90's.
Arrived at home, still very strong headwinds on the way up, but after taking a detour for a quick errand, got home with 18% charge, I plugged Horse-E Shark back in and promised I'd clean off the myriad of dead bugs on its faux grille (which I made good on, thanks pressure washer and ceramic coat).
For this leg, efficiency wasn't as good due to the heavier A/C usage and the strong headwinds, but still managed to average 3.37. Judicious use of a tablet managed to keep the junior traveler somewhat content except when said tablet was taken back during mandated screen time breaks.
Highway miles logged (excluding SD to Dana Point): 907, drove over 1100 miles including local travel
kWh expended: 265.88
DC Fast Charge time: ~2 hours total
Total highway efficiency: 3.41 mi/kWh
Fits thrown: uh... lost count after 3 sets of "I can't do this anymore"
Charge stations faults: 2
Best Mach-E reaction: Wife overheard this convo in "valley girl" speak. Girl 1: "Look, it's the new electric mustang!" Girls 2: "Shut up."
I spy: Two test vehicles at the Countryside EA. One BMW (iX3 variant?) and one unbadged, both crossovers (I think, didn't get a good look at the wrapped one).
Road trip worthy? Absolutely, plenty of room for luggage and goodies, loved the frunk for concealing valuables. Comfort was great, steering wheel was very easy on the hands, and CoPilot Assist was hugely helpful.
FordPass: Sucks. I know it well at this point, but man, this app still manages to give me some "I can't do this any mores" in the UX department.
Sync 4A: Navi: Passing grade, also kinda sucks in terms of the UX but it's OK, good to have CarPlay/Google maps as backup.
Other charging during the trip: I used L2 charging provided at the hotel and also used a Chargepoint fast charger, both were fine.
Lessons learned: Well, I insisted on the SR battery because I knew at this point the bottleneck was going to be traveling with kids and bathroom breaks. After the 1st stop, the advantage of the ER is charging speed and potentially less charging stops, and realistically the ER wouldn't have been that much of a benefit on a trip like this, ER would just mean longer stops and the SR would just mean more frequent shorter stops for road tripping. The range covers all of our day to day use and I was surprised how well it handled the long trip as well. Surprisingly each stop was barely enough to get everything done, with the exception of the longer stop on the way home, where I could at least casually eat (somewhat). Having done a similar trip in our previous ICE, by far being forced to take a more leisurely break every two hours was fantastic for driver energy and alertness, plus arriving at the destination felt more refreshed. Planning is key, think ahead, know your backup charging options.
Regrets: 0. My efficiency up prior to the trip was about 3.7mi/kWh and this was with about 70/30 mix of highway and local driving, so I had a very realistic figure in mind based on highway speeds in decent weather. Knowing that the optimal highway range is about 230mi for a full charge reinforces my belief that Ford did right by their customers in the way they presented their estimates. Best car I have ever owned.
Here's a quick snippet of the total highway charging data for reference.
Parting pic: Horse-E Shark in the SoCal shade.
(edit: updated my figures to account for a slightly longer route taken to avoid traffic on the return leg, highway efficiency still roughly the same)
Last edited:
thank God for CoPilot 360 assist.
