Camping Overnight in the Mach-E -- an owner's experience

[GT_order_#1001]

After a pricey hotel we're revisiting car camping. Measuring the space between the seats (front seats pushed all the way forward) the previous link seems small. Carry on luggage seems better, but anyone found fillers with a tighter fit since the original post?

The Lost Horizon Model Y Camping Air Mattress with Foam (recommended by others) is in transit, but wondering if anyone has a bit bigger mattress they use.

<snip>

Another consideration is time it takes to set up. Anything else you've found for quick set up/tear down?

The Lost Horizon Tesla mattress is a near perfect length / width / edge curve match to the Mach-E. I searched carefully on Amazon for the correct-height inflatable gap filler and these are exactly right:
HOMCA Inflatable Travel Foot Rest Pillow
https://a.co/d/0gHAQlf7

Setting up: Front seats forward and tilted; gap fillers; Lost Horizon; sheets. We get in through the hatch, drop our shoes out the back, then close the hatch with PAAK.

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[Ahlarict]

Me and my wife tried camping in the mach-e. I'm 6'2", so was definitely concerned a bit. We bought some of these Amazon inflatable mattresses + filler packs they sell for SUVs.

The fillers between the front seats and the sleeping area are more than necessary when that tall, and, the ones we bought were not high/big enough to bring the mattress up/levelled with the folded rear seats/trunk. When you're 6'2", if you want to fit with the trunk closed, you really have to pull the front seats all the way up, so it will leave a big gap between the front seats and the folded rear seats. Filling that big gap so that the mattress would lay flat there was tricky, and what i did was not good/stable enough (added 2 carry-on luggages behind each front seats + 2 pillows to try to leve things up, the carry-on size was perfect, but not high enough, and the pillows were not hard enough to maintain the mattress even with the folded seats).

Net result: slept very badly! We might try it again next year but we'll have to find another system to fill the gap created between the front and rear seats.

On the positive side, leaving power on, it really kept the temperature equal and noise isolation was very good too. On my standard range Select AWD, it consumed about 8% of the battery, running for about 9h total.

I know this is an old thread, but it was helpful for me in figuring out what settings to tweak (thanks all). I'm 6'2" as well, and this void filler and mattress was a perfect fit for me in my MME:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C1GSN1FQ
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CPM9KZNZ

I got off to a bumpy start because I tried heating the car in 12v Accessory-on mode instead of full High Voltage-on drive mode, but found my mistake 30 min later when it all shut off despite turning off the 30-minute shut-off timer and I woke up to a cold dark car ;-) 12v Accessory-on mode faked me out, because it runs the fan, just not the heater! Once properly setup, the car stayed toasty and consumed about 7% of the battery in 40F conditions.

Here's that void wedge in profile:

 

[Steph]

I got off to a bumpy start because I tried heating the car in 12v Accessory-on mode instead of full High Voltage-on drive mode

I don’t believe we ever got full high voltage to work. We started the car, plugged in, moved seats all the way forward and every combination (it seemed at the time) trying to get it to stay on. Do you recall the exact order of operation?

 

[Ahlarict]

I don’t believe we ever got full high voltage to work. We started the car, plugged in, moved seats all the way forward and every combination (it seemed at the time) trying to get it to stay on. Do you recall the exact order of operation?

Sounds like this is the step you missed - disable auto power-off and leave the car in full ready-to drive mode not, just accessory-on:

 

[Steph]

Auto power off was disabled, and still only got the fan to run (no a/c or heat) while plugged in and charging.
It said “unplug before starting”, so maybe I should have left it “on” then plugged it in??

 

[dtbaker61]

Auto power off was disabled, and still only got the fan to run (no a/c or heat) while plugged in and charging.
It said “unplug before starting”, so maybe I should have left it “on” then plugged it in??

vehicle has to be all the way "on", like you are ready to drive
turn off headlights
disable settings>auto-off

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