Completed First Long Drive - Any Winter Trip Tips?

[cbagwu]

Hey All,

Still new here - We did our first trip this week and it was a slightly rough one. 540 miles in about 20 degree weather with some mountain terrain, so I was expecting the range to be bad, but even starting fully charged our Mach needed about 5 charges to make the distance. We are definitely still learning and I've scoured these threads for the tips, but I figued I'd ask two questions given the wealth of knowledge on this forum!

1 - Any apps you all like to use, or advice for the Ford app? We have Blink and PlugShare, but we tried to do the way out on the Ford built in navigation system and it... Seems... not... great. It definitely kept trying to route us to chargers that were 30 miles out of the way even though there were fast chargers down the road in range, and would completely change the route without any notice while driving. Definitely looking to use smarter tools (or use the tools we had smarter) for the next trip!

2 - Any tips for range extending the winter you all have found from driving for a bit? I know one area we messed up in was our tires were a little low, which can impact the range. We were already doing things like use heated seats over cabin heat and those tips, and I get that below-freezing mountain driving will never be peak efficiency. I am just wondering if there are any tips people who have done more long distance highway driving might have and want to share!

As always, thanks for all the great info on here!

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[dvdboulet]

You did the things I would think to suggest like not use cabin heat and instead use heated seats/wheel etc. Also fast acceleration and high cruising speeds also impact range... so slow acceleration and saying at 60 or 65 instead of 70 or 75 can help. Also speed up going down a hill and let the car slow down going up... like if you rode a bicycle. These are the things those of us with hybrids would try to do to "hypermile" our efficiency. Pre-heating the battery with your home L2 charger can get you some more miles too... so you start your journey already with a warm battery and warm cabin. I would also like to see Ford give us a "manually initiated" fast-charge-battery-prep so rather than having to use Ford's navigate to get the feature, when you're about 15 minutes (or whatever) from the DC charger you're heading to on whatever app you care to use, you could press a button to "start battery prep for DC charging".

HOWEVER, the truth is that all of these things just help on the margins: the battery chemistry really just isn't optimized for cold weather, so there's nothing you can do that will give you "summer range" in the winter. This is one valid reason in the playbook of folks who say "EVs aren't there yet" in the sense that the EV tech you and I can afford in the vehicles we can buy right now aren't able to compete well against legacy ICE platforms in certain conditions: long range trips in the cold probably being the "big one". Having said that: as long as you've got the fortitude to do it anyway, more power to ya! And in the coming 5-10 years expect battery and EV tech to improve to address these scenarios to the point that there really isn't a "downside" when transitioning from ICE to EV... even in the cold taking a long trip through the mountains.

For now in our family we have the ME for driving scenarios that suit it well, and our legacy ICE Honda Ridgeline truck for scenarios that might challenge the ME to the point we'd feel more comfortable driving the gas car. I hope within the next 10 years that this will no longer be the case.

 

[Deleted member 19354]

You did the things I would think to suggest like not use cabin heat and instead use heated seats/wheel etc. Also fast acceleration and high cruising speeds also impact range... so slow acceleration and saying at 60 or 65 instead of 70 or 75 can help. Also speed up going down a hill and let the car slow down going up... like if you rode a bicycle. These are the things those of us with hybrids would try to do to "hypermile" our efficiency. Pre-heating the battery with your home L2 charger can get you some more miles too... so you start your journey already with a warm battery and warm cabin. I would also like to see Ford give us a "manually initiated" fast-charge-battery-prep so rather than having to use Ford's navigate to get the feature, when you're about 15 minutes (or whatever) from the DC charger you're heading to on whatever app you care to use, you could press a button to "start battery prep for DC charging".

HOWEVER, the truth is that all of these things just help on the margins: the battery chemistry really just isn't optimized for cold weather, so there's nothing you can do that will give you "summer range" in the winter. This is one valid reason in the playbook of folks who say "EVs aren't there yet" in the sense that the EV tech you and I can afford in the vehicles we can buy right now aren't able to compete well against legacy ICE platforms in certain conditions: long range trips in the cold probably being the "big one". Having said that: as long as you've got the fortitude to do it anyway, more power to ya! And in the coming 5-10 years expect battery and EV tech to improve to address these scenarios to the point that there really isn't a "downside" when transitioning from ICE to EV... even in the cold taking a long trip through the mountains.

For now in our family we have the ME for driving scenarios that suit it well, and our legacy ICE Honda Ridgeline truck for scenarios that might challenge the ME to the point we'd feel more comfortable driving the gas car. I hope within the next 10 years that this will no longer be the case.

I can’t imagine no cabin heat. Window fog up etc. I set mine at 74 in auto mode and lowest fan speed

 

[dvdboulet]

Yeah same here. I set my at 72 or 23 at low fan for the same reason (avoid fogging). However technically if someone was desperate to maintain range to reach a charging station as their battery was getting dangerously low, turning off cabin heat is a way to help maximize driving distance.

 

[CTZ]

I love my Mach-E and 99.9% of my trips are within its battery range. However, road trips seem like a huge pain in the butt, especially in the winter. Plus, fast charging is just as expensive as gas in most places.

 

[AKgrampy]

I have not travelled but many recommend the app ABRP - a better rout planner APP for planning trips.

 

[RickMachE]

ABRP, PlugShare. Use Ford Navigation to go to each charger for preconditioning.

Departure time plugged in to warm battery and cabin. 68 degree heat, low fan speed. Heated seats, steering wheel. Speed as close to 65 as you can. Charge overnight at hotel if possible. EA chargers for max speed, Pilot / GM, soon Tesla.

 

[ChehRob]

Kids long range Tesla 3 will not assuredly get them up to their ski lodge 100 miles away. A few chargers at destination but so few that they really are not available. Going back it is about 40 miles to a Supercharger. They are Tesla fans, with two 3s, and an ICE for skiing. For mountain driving in the winter time either Lots of DC chargers, and at least 200 miles of range. Neither here yet.

 

[RickMachE]

Kids long range Tesla 3 will not assuredly get them up to their ski lodge 100 miles away. A few chargers at destination but so few that they really are not available. Going back it is about 40 miles to a Supercharger. They are Tesla fans, with two 3s, and an ICE for skiing. For mountain driving in the winter time either Lots of DC chargers, and at least 200 miles of range. Neither here yet.

Not following what this has to do with OP's questions.

 

[gavine]

Yeah same here. I set my at 72 or 23 at low fan for the same reason (avoid fogging). However technically if someone was desperate to maintain range to reach a charging station as their battery was getting dangerously low, turning off cabin heat is a way to help maximize driving distance.

If you super-clean the inside of your windows, they will not fog-up as much. I mean really clean them well. You'll be able to see the spots you missed because those will fog-up which proves that it worked.

 

[cbagwu]

Thank you all so much for the tips! I downloaded ABRP, and also poked around and found out about the Apple Maps / Mach E synch up, which seems like the way forward. I was so disappointed by how bad the Ford navigation system was for long drives, updating without asking the driver and always routing to random Buick dealers 30 miles out of route? It seems almost comically bad, so I am wondering if folks have figured out a way to tweak it to be better...

Also, with regard to cabin temp, I guess I am lucky I like it cold... Even if efficiency wasn't a factor, I love being in a 66 cabin with a warm seat and wheel!

The experience overall was not the greatest, but I think we can improve. It was a DC - Detroit trip and back, and I am hoping we can get the charging down to 3 stops in warmer temperatures. Even with this experience, I have to say I love this car so far... Maybe I am just used to a lower caliber of vehicle, but this thing is just so comfortable, fun to drive, and fun to look at... Maybe my opinion will change after the honeymoon phase wears off haha.

 

[ChehRob]

It really needs to be understood that driving in the mountains and during the winter is more adventurous than most people are up to. 100 miles of range is too severe a handicap. Fast chargers are needed, not so much at the top, but about halfway up. Other friends having tried it now say 'no'.

 

[RickMachE]

Note that you can change the planning date for ABRP, and that does affect the projection because it uses weather...

Detroit (Ren Center) to Washington Monument is 540 miles. 3 charging stops in summer is tight, depending on your speed. 100% down to 20%, then 20 to 80% three times, is 237kWh. 540/237 = 2.3 miles per kWh. Easy. You could also make it with 2 charging stops but you'd need to hit 3.0.

 

[Maquis]

Thank you all so much for the tips! I downloaded ABRP, and also poked around and found out about the Apple Maps / Mach E synch up, which seems like the way forward. I was so disappointed by how bad the Ford navigation system was for long drives, updating without asking the driver and always routing to random Buick dealers 30 miles out of route? It seems almost comically bad, so I am wondering if folks have figured out a way to tweak it to be better...

Also, with regard to cabin temp, I guess I am lucky I like it cold... Even if efficiency wasn't a factor, I love being in a 66 cabin with a warm seat and wheel!

The experience overall was not the greatest, but I think we can improve. It was a DC - Detroit trip and back, and I am hoping we can get the charging down to 3 stops in warmer temperatures. Even with this experience, I have to say I love this car so far... Maybe I am just used to a lower caliber of vehicle, but this thing is just so comfortable, fun to drive, and fun to look at... Maybe my opinion will change after the honeymoon phase wears off haha.

The best way I’ve found to use the Ford nav on long trips is to map the route using ABRP/Plugshare, then enter the next charging stop as your destination. Repeat for each stop. You sitting at the charger anyway, just key in the next stop.

 

[cbagwu]

Detroit (Ren Center) to Washington Monument is 540 miles. 3 charging stops in summer is tight, depending on your speed. 100% down to 20%, then 20 to 80% three times, is 237kWh. 540/237 = 2.3 miles per kWh. Easy.

Thanks for breaking it down like this - Even on our 20 degree trip, we made 2.5 but there were some rookie mistakes when it came to plotting, so I think we can get this down to a 3 stop, 10 hour trip - Appreciate the advice!

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