Blue Ridge Parkway Day Trip

tigers

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We just took delivery of a new 2023 MME (Premium AWD ER) and are fortunate to live near the Blue Ridge Parkway here in western NC. So, we decided take a drive in the nice weather and see how the new Mach E performed. The trip began at our house at about 3,500’ elevation and climbed to 4,000’ before heading back down to about 2,700’ in Waynesville, NC where we had lunch. From there we headed west on US23/74 and got on the parkway headed east towards Asheville, NC eventually climbing to 6,053’ which is the highest point on the parkway. We stayed on the parkway until we got to NC 191 in Asheville and then headed back home via I-26, I-40, and US23/74. Speeds on the parkway were 25-45 mph and typically 50-70 on the interstates and highways.

On the way back, we tried out Blue Cruise while on I-40 and found it worked well even though the pavement is “grooved” and the lane markers were sometimes pretty difficult to see. I think it will take some time to get used to going down the road without hands on the wheel!

This was also the first time trying to use ABRP via Carplay and while it worked ok, the app did hang and had to be restarted. This may have been because cell service along the parkway is hit or miss but I’m not sure. I’ll give it some more testing, but I’ll probably stick with Apple maps since I found the interface a bit cumbersome (largely due to my inexperience with it I’m sure) and routing on non-major roads appeared very “jagged”. Notice how the road is correct but the blue route line is pretty rough, clipping curves and switchbacks. I'm not sure if this affects the distance calculations that ABRP uses, but if it does it could throw some errors into it.
Ford Mustang Mach-E Blue Ridge Parkway Day Trip Screenshot 2023-05-29 at 7.03.06 PM


On a related note, the Apple maps estimated our arrival battery level at 40% which turned out to be accurate, plus Siri’s voice in Apple maps is just much more pleasant and natural sounding.

We stopped at several of the overlooks and after one of them the Sync screen wouldn’t come back on and just stayed black but a Volume Down + Next Track button reboot sequence fixed it.

We didn't need to charge on this trip but there are some EA chargers near the exit in Asheville and some Shell chargers in Waynesville and Cherokee.

Stats for the trip:
  • Distance: 133.2 mi (214.3 km)
  • Energy: 34.3 kwh
  • Efficiency: 3.88 mi/kwh (16 kwh/100 km)
  • Start Charge: 90%
  • End Charge: 40%
  • Temp 60-75-ish
We quite enjoyed this scenic trip and doing it in the MME with the glass roof and quiet operation just made it that much better. We didn't see any other MME's along the way but did see a number of Teslas including a Model X which I've only seen in person a handful of times--they had driven here from Oregon which is one long road trip!

A couple pics along the way:
Ford Mustang Mach-E Blue Ridge Parkway Day Trip IMG_3344
Ford Mustang Mach-E Blue Ridge Parkway Day Trip IMG_3346
 

LNFitz

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Beautiful pics. Enjoy your car!
 

Ev Blau

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We just took delivery of a new 2023 MME (Premium AWD ER) and are fortunate to live near the Blue Ridge Parkway here in western NC. So, we decided take a drive in the nice weather and see how the new Mach E performed. The trip began at our house at about 3,500’ elevation and climbed to 4,000’ before heading back down to about 2,700’ in Waynesville, NC where we had lunch. From there we headed west on US23/74 and got on the parkway headed east towards Asheville, NC eventually climbing to 6,053’ which is the highest point on the parkway. We stayed on the parkway until we got to NC 191 in Asheville and then headed back home via I-26, I-40, and US23/74. Speeds on the parkway were 25-45 mph and typically 50-70 on the interstates and highways.

On the way back, we tried out Blue Cruise while on I-40 and found it worked well even though the pavement is “grooved” and the lane markers were sometimes pretty difficult to see. I think it will take some time to get used to going down the road without hands on the wheel!

This was also the first time trying to use ABRP via Carplay and while it worked ok, the app did hang and had to be restarted. This may have been because cell service along the parkway is hit or miss but I’m not sure. I’ll give it some more testing, but I’ll probably stick with Apple maps since I found the interface a bit cumbersome (largely due to my inexperience with it I’m sure) and routing on non-major roads appeared very “jagged”. Notice how the road is correct but the blue route line is pretty rough, clipping curves and switchbacks. I'm not sure if this affects the distance calculations that ABRP uses, but if it does it could throw some errors into it.
Screenshot 2023-05-29 at 7.03.06 PM.png


On a related note, the Apple maps estimated our arrival battery level at 40% which turned out to be accurate, plus Siri’s voice in Apple maps is just much more pleasant and natural sounding.

We stopped at several of the overlooks and after one of them the Sync screen wouldn’t come back on and just stayed black but a Volume Down + Next Track button reboot sequence fixed it.

We didn't need to charge on this trip but there are some EA chargers near the exit in Asheville and some Shell chargers in Waynesville and Cherokee.

Stats for the trip:
  • Distance: 133.2 mi (214.3 km)
  • Energy: 34.3 kwh
  • Efficiency: 3.88 mi/kwh (16 kwh/100 km)
  • Start Charge: 90%
  • End Charge: 40%
  • Temp 60-75-ish
We quite enjoyed this scenic trip and doing it in the MME with the glass roof and quiet operation just made it that much better. We didn't see any other MME's along the way but did see a number of Teslas including a Model X which I've only seen in person a handful of times--they had driven here from Oregon which is one long road trip!

A couple pics along the way:
IMG_3344.jpeg
IMG_3346.jpeg
Hi Tigers. We live about 15 minutes from the NC Arboretum (the 191 entrance to BRP) and loved hearing about your drive. Have owned our ‘22 MME since February and love it. Asheville has many MME’s - there are 5 in our neighborhood alone! We’re hoping to drive to Trust, near Hot Springs, on our first real road trip. Maybe we’ll see you on the Road sometime.

That’s our MME next to a Jaguar e-pace at a recent EV car show at the Asheville Outlet Mall. More than 90 EV’s there. Including 5 Rivian’s. Every owner we met was super nice and willing to share info about driving electric.

In fact, that’s where we learned about this forum. And so glad we did! Now, if I can just parse out all the acronyms used here, I’d be learning a lot more.
Ford Mustang Mach-E Blue Ridge Parkway Day Trip IMG_9006
 

RickMachE

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On a visit to Seneca, SC, we went on part of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Regen on the way down was great!
 

Maquis

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In fact, that’s where we learned about this forum. And so glad we did! Now, if I can just parse out all the acronyms used here, I’d be learning a lot more.
The acronyms aren’t nearly as difficult of the initialisms! 😄
 


Flint302

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Great job on the write up. Thank you for taking the time to do that.
 
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tigers

tigers

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Awesome, great to meet somebody sorta local! I'll have to look into local EV clubs/meetups. I enjoy seeing all the other cars and would love to have a Rivian or Lightning someday.


Hi Tigers. We live about 15 minutes from the NC Arboretum (the 191 entrance to BRP) and loved hearing about your drive. Have owned our ‘22 MME since February and love it. Asheville has many MME’s - there are 5 in our neighborhood alone! We’re hoping to drive to Trust, near Hot Springs, on our first real road trip. Maybe we’ll see you on the Road sometime.

That’s our MME next to a Jaguar e-pace at a recent EV car show at the Asheville Outlet Mall. More than 90 EV’s there. Including 5 Rivian’s. Every owner we met was super nice and willing to share info about driving electric.

In fact, that’s where we learned about this forum. And so glad we did! Now, if I can just parse out all the acronyms used here, I’d be learning a lot more.
Ford Mustang Mach-E Blue Ridge Parkway Day Trip IMG_9006
 
 




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