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

[GuliblGuy]

Do you have a picture with those filler air bags installed, too? How much of a gap is there? I'm looking at buying the air mattress but not sure I need the fillers. I guess maybe it depends on the height of the user?

Don't have a pic, but they are definitely needed. Otherwise the end of the mattress where your head goes is just hanging out over nothing and is not supported by anything.

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[Farfapapa]

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 abouth 9h total.

 

[GuliblGuy]

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 abouth 9h total.

Did you get the ones from my first post or different ones?

 

[dtbaker61]

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 abouth 9h total.

you've got me thinking......

how about a thin plywood 'extension' under the last section of the tri-fold mattress with fold down legs that drop down into the gap for support rather than trying to fill the gap? Allowing your mattress to slide up all the way to the back of the seats? Then, a short filler mattress for your feet if you like it flat a la california King.

 

[dadwagn]

This is the thread I needed to find. I just had to get rid of my Yukon Denali and I’ve since taken over my wife’s Mach E GTPE. I love the car from a driving standpoint but hadn’t forced myself to think about its utility for camping. My boys and I would camp every weekend we could out of the Denali and I was pretty sad to have to rethink what that might look like.

 

[Guss-E 2021]

This is fantastic. I had wondered about dealing with the car turning off in the middle of the night.

 

[Steph]

I think A/C will be nice, but charging overnight will be a must. Can you get it to charge when it’s on in the night?

 

[GuliblGuy]

Yes same as if you are charging on a road trip just plug it in while on or start it after plugging in.

 

[dtbaker61]

I think A/C will be nice, but charging overnight will be a must. Can you get it to charge when it’s on in the night?

Shore power and charging overnight are really NOT a requirement for using A/C overnight.

A/C pulls an average of about 1kW depending on outside temps and whether you leave windows cracked, or pretty far open.... so overnight A/C might consume 5-8 kWhr..... which is a pretty small percentage of your MME HV battery (around 10% of an SR battery). You CAN run your A/C overnight even when boondocking without shore power as long as you have enough to end up above 15% SOC in the morning and have enough to get to the nearest charger.

 

[dtbaker61]

Me and my wife tried camping in the mach-e. I'm 6'2", so was definitely concerned a bit.

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.

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 abouth 9h total.

I am 6' tall.... and find that if I turn the back seat headrests 180, and extend them, they reach almost to the back of the front seats and support a tri-fold or inflatable mattress quite well

 

[GuliblGuy]

I am 6' tall.... and find that if I turn the back seat headrests 180, and extend them, they reach almost to the back of the front seats and support a tri-fold or inflatable mattress quite well

I did the same, but put a bit too much weight on one and it cracked the housing holding the bars, so we do the void fillers behind the front seats.

 

[Mussy]

Camping in my Mach-E, but with one problem: How do you turn off the front lights while the engine is on?
The instruction manual says to set the light switch to 0 to "turn off" the front lights, but as the images show they don't. Anyone that know a workaround? Note: The engine must be ON (so that the A/C is working through the night)

 

[GuliblGuy]

Camping in my Mach-E, but with one problem: How do you turn off the front lights while the engine is on?
The instruction manual says to set the light switch to 0 to "turn off" the front lights, but as the images show they don't. Anyone that know a workaround? Note: The engine must be ON (so that the A/C is working through the night)

If the car is in park, and the dial is set to the top position (off) there should be no lights on. You didn't leave it in drive did you?

Edit: those are the DRL's, maybe in your country they are mandated to be on at all times if the car is on no matter what? Also it looks like you have a fog light button in the middle of the dial? Unless that is a DRL button?

 

[harrysiii]

If the car is in park, and the dial is set to the top position (off) there should be no lights on. You didn't leave it in drive did you?

Edit: those are the DRL's, maybe in your country they are mandated to be on at all times if the car is on no matter what? Also it looks like you have a fog light button in the middle of the dial? Unless that is a DRL button?

I def don't have that button in the middle. I bet you're right and I bet that button would turn off the DRL. Curious to hear results!

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