First Long Range Road Trip - DE --> WI ('23 Mach E ER AWD)

[mpellerito]

This past extended weekend (Thurs to Mon) I took the Mach E on it's first long range road trip (sorry in advance for the long post). My wife and I considered the idea of flying, but I was heading out to WI to bowl in the PBA national league bowling competition and trying to take 4 bowling balls each weighing 15lbs was going to be a challenge. So I convinced my wife that we should do the drive out there with the Mach E (our other car is a 2010 Subaru Outback which is only for local driving and not to be trusted for long distances). I figured since owning my Mach E since Feb 23 and completing plenty of 260+ mile road trips that I should be capable of navigating the roughly 1,700 mile round trip.

The morning of the first day of travel (Thurs) came and I had the Mach E washed and charged at 100% to head out from our home outside of Wilmington, DE to WI. We headed out through Amish country to our first charging stop at the EA station at Sheetz in Bedford, PA. To no surprise there was one station covered up in a blue tarp, but luckily the other three were open and we plugged in and charged with little effort while I took a work call. From there we made our way to Pittsburg where I noticed on the ChargePoint app that the city installed FREE level 2 units in the public parking garages. Once about 15 mins out I kept checking the app to see if one might pop available and to my luck one did and we quickly jumped on it before a Tesla arrived hoping to do the same. As we explored the city I kept thinking to myself this is exactly why more level 2 units should be available.

After enjoying Pittsburg we took a look at the guess o' meter and searched on Ford navigation and the EA app to see our next options. Unfortunately it was going to be a shorter drive to the EA stations at Sheetz in Girard, OH. Once we pulled up I gave a little nod of approval to see all four stations actually up and working. We made the usual trip to the restroom and grabbed snacks/drinks and chatted about the Waffle House that was across the parking lot. All charged up we decided to stop halfway across the state of Ohio at the Blue Heron rest stop in Genoa, OH to stretch and decide how much further to go since it was already a little past 8pm. We ultimately decided to do one more drive out of Ohio and into South Bend, IN to spend the night since it had plenty of hotel options.

To start day 2 (Friday) we realized we could probably charge a little less and get to the next charger with a lower state of charge. So with this goal we set out to complete our trip to WI. Our first stop for the day was the EA station in Skokie, IL by the Westfield mall. The plan here was for it to be a quick charge where we could get enough juice to make it to the Milwaukee area. Unfortunately the chargers just never seemed to ramp up to speed, so we made the decision to take just enough juice to get to the EA station at the Walmart in West Milwaukee. With my eye on the state of charge and guess o' meter the entire time we were able to make it there with 10% battery. At this point, I wanted to make sure to charge up to at least 80% since WI seemed to have few charging options and I knew I wouldn't be charging at a DC fast charger until we made our way back home on Sunday.

While around the Milwaukee area I showed the car off to my cousin's wife/husband and showed them the pickup after being side by side at a light. Which as I hit the accelerator I could see his jaw drop as I quickly pulled away. We continued the trip with some time at breweries, eating cheese/cheese curds, and the bowling competition.

As Sunday came around we got up early and said our goodbyes. The plan was to stop back in West Milwaukee to top up before heading down to the Chicagoland area to visit a friend and make our way home. The EA charger in West Milwaukee gave me a bit of trouble this time around and didn't want to give us the EA member pricing, so I moved around until one decided to work. From there we made our stop to visit my friend and have a little breakfast in the Chicagoland area. My friend was nice enough to offer to plug in the car, but it would have been L1 and we weren't there for long so I declined.

Unfortunately the Chicagoland area was only trouble for me on Sunday. I looked on the map and saw an EA station by a Target and figured it was on the way so it should be an easy stop. Boy was I wrong. When we pulled up there were 5 EVs all attempting to charge. I parked and chatted and the result was that only one station that was working which was not only occupied by a fully charged car, but also blocked by an airport taxi. I checked the EA app for options. Heading to South Bend was just out of range (100ish miles and the guess o' meter est. only 90ish miles), there was another station at a Target a couple of miles away but another person said they ripped those out of the ground (looking at plug share today it seems like that was misinformation since others checked in), or head to a Meijer which was about 15 miles away but in generally the right direction. So I picked the final option which turned out to be a bit of a nightmare. Only three stations worked and were filled by a Niro and two Bolts. After close to 45 mins of waiting I eventually got a stall only to find out it was derated and giving me just less than 50 kw.

After a long and slow charge I was finally out of the Chicagoland area and back on my way home. Luckily the rest of the trip was uneventful and just very long, so there isn't much to write about here because it just worked. We made stops at three more EA stations (one at a rest stop and two at Sheetz) which all provided high speeds and our general rule of thumb was to go 50 extra miles on the guess o' meter over what maps say it should be to get to the location. This seemed to work as that buffer generally would dip down to around 30-40 miles when we actually got to our destination to charge.

Overall I would say it was a somewhat successful trip. I wouldn't suggest anyone driving the distance we did on the final day (~900 miles) to do it in one shot with the current Mach Es. In my mind the charging curve isn't quick enough and you spend too much time waiting for the charge. But if you were looking to split up a trip like that into two days I would say go for it, but be prepared that everything might not go smooth.

Below is the breakdown of the travel days for those interested:
Day 1 (~650 miles and charged at 4 DC fast chargers and 1 L2 charger):
- Wilmington, DE (100%) -> 175 miles @ ~2.8mi/kWh -> Bedford, PA (34%) and charged to 80% in 26 mins
- Bedford, PA (80%) -> 105 miles @ ~3.1mi/kWh -> Pittsburg, PA (42%) and charged on L2 to 58% in 2 1/2 hrs
- Pittsburg, PA (58%) -> 71 miles @ ~3mi/kWh -> Girard, OH (30%) and charged to 85% in 34 mins
- Girard, OH (85%) -> 146 miles @ ~2.8mi/kWh -> Blue Heron Rest Stop in Genoa, OH (27%) and charged to 81% in 32 mins
- Genoa, OH (81%) -> 151 miles @ ~2.9mi/kWh -> South Bend, IN (21%) and charged to 80% in 36 mins

Day 2 (~170 miles and charged at 2 DC fast chargers):
- South Bend, IN (80%) -> 113 miles @ ~3mi/kWh -> Skokie, IL (35%) and charged to 44% in 8 mins
- Skokie, IL (44%) -> 52 miles @ ~3mi/kWh -> West Milwaukee, WI (10%) and charged to 81% in 58 mins

Day 3 (~900 miles and charged at 5 DC fast chargers):
- West Milwaukee (76%) -> 150 miles @ ~3mi/kWh -> Evergreen, IL (29%) and charged to 84% in 1 hr
- Evergreen, IL (84%) -> 192 miles @ ~3mi/kWh -> Tiffen River Rest Stop in West Unity, OH (13%) and charged to 89% in 55 mins
- Tiffen River (89%) -> 188 miles @ ~3mi/kWh -> Girard, OH (11%) and charged to 80% in 42 mins
- Girard, OH (80%) -> 202 miles @ ~3mi/kWh -> State College, PA (15%) and charged to 82% in 44 mins
- State College, PA (82%) -> 168 miles @ ~3.3mi/kWh -> Wilmington, DE (24%)

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[steveg95]

Interesting information. My wife and I were heading from Eastern Iowa to a funeral in Southern Illinois. The apps routed us through Missouri. We got to our first charge station in Canton, MO. It was a ChargePoint and was only putting out 4.7kwh. We sat there for 3 hours to get enough charge to get to the next station, also a ChargePoint. Luckily, I looked online and found that all the ChargePoints in MO had been throttled back because of some issue. We bailed on the trip and headed back North to a Chevy dealer in Ft. Madison, IA. We got charged back to 80% which got us back home. Sad to miss the funeral and time with family, but learned some valuable lesson's about the "EV Life".

 

[Phil Martin]

Interesting information. My wife and I were heading from Eastern Iowa to a funeral in Southern Illinois. The apps routed us through Missouri. We got to our first charge station in Canton, MO. It was a ChargePoint and was only putting out 4.7kwh. We sat there for 3 hours to get enough charge to get to the next station, also a ChargePoint. Luckily, I looked online and found that all the ChargePoints in MO had been throttled back because of some issue. We bailed on the trip and headed back North to a Chevy dealer in Ft. Madison, IA. We got charged back to 80% which got us back home. Sad to miss the funeral and time with family, but learned some valuable lesson's about the "EV Life".

Wow, that's awful.
My wife and I haven't made the transition to BEV yet, I'm still on the sidelines about roadtrips and we drive a lot. I hate even being one behind at the gas station, let alone waiting to charge and than having to wait another hour for the charging to complete. In the meantime our PHEV is doing the job.

 

[mpellerito]

Interesting information. My wife and I were heading from Eastern Iowa to a funeral in Southern Illinois. The apps routed us through Missouri. We got to our first charge station in Canton, MO. It was a ChargePoint and was only putting out 4.7kwh. We sat there for 3 hours to get enough charge to get to the next station, also a ChargePoint. Luckily, I looked online and found that all the ChargePoints in MO had been throttled back because of some issue. We bailed on the trip and headed back North to a Chevy dealer in Ft. Madison, IA. We got charged back to 80% which got us back home. Sad to miss the funeral and time with family, but learned some valuable lesson's about the "EV Life".

Sorry to hear that your drive didn't work out. From this long trip I definitely felt like the charging situation is what's holding this car and many other EVs back. It's so frustrating to either be sitting at a station waiting while there's multiple Tesla stations open less than 100 ft away or pulling up to a station that just won't give you the speed that your car should be able to accept. I'm really hoping the announcement with Tesla is going to not only open up more options, but put more pressure on ChargePoint, EA, etc. to get their stations working.

 

[mpellerito]

Wow, that's awful.
My wife and I haven't made the transition to BEV yet, I'm still on the sidelines about roadtrips and we drive a lot. I hate even being one behind at the gas station, let alone waiting to charge and than having to wait another hour for the charging to complete. In the meantime our PHEV is doing the job.

During and after this trip my wife mentioned quite a few times that our other car should at a minimum be a PHEV for the exact reason you're mentioning. The waiting for chargers or slow charging speed (either from the station or the Mach E charging curve) definitely adds a lot of time to an already long trip. So while I really enjoy our Mach E I can easily see it becoming more of a day trip/local driving car once we purchase another.

 

[RickMachE]

I suspect your trip might have been better had you used PlugShare and ABRP. Always look up EVERY charging location during planning AND day of trip.

 

[Phil Martin]

During and after this trip my wife mentioned quite a few times that our other car should at a minimum be a PHEV for the exact reason you're mentioning. The waiting for chargers or slow charging speed (either from the station or the Mach E charging curve) definitely adds a lot of time to an already long trip. So while I really enjoy our Mach E I can easily see it becoming more of a day trip/local driving car once we purchase another.

We took a 8 hour trip not long ago, I doubt a BEV would have worked out well. We ended up going different routes due to traffic. Also we weren't even sure where we were going to be spending the nights. Plus we were rushing (when are we not) so stopping to charge for an hour (even when things go smooth) every couple hours would have been a real issue.

Agree with your wife with the PHEV, it's great around town and driving on electric and not having to worry about charging when out and about. So far we're about 70% electric 30% gas which for us is pretty good. If work was closer we'd be about 85/15.

 

[mpellerito]

I suspect your trip might have been better had you used PlugShare and ABRP. Always look up EVERY charging location during planning AND day of trip.

It definitely would have been smoother if I would have looked at PlugShare and I absolutely learned that I need to do a better job checking it before heading to the next station or coming up with a new plan. Like I could have avoided a lot of headaches in the Chicago area had I looked and realized that what someone told me about the station being ripped out of the ground was inaccurate.

In terms of ABRP, I did take a look a couple weeks in advance of the trip to get a general idea. But honestly I don't think it would have helped much during or a couple days prior vs the approach I took of using the Ford route planner and checking the EA app (again probably should have checked both EA and PlugShare to actually confirm they are working). In the end if I recheck my stops against ABRP I would have taken the exact same route and stops I took. Maybe it could have helped save a couple of mins at each stop to put a better target on the charging percentage to stop at, but this is also something the Ford app was generally helping me with to determine how long I should expect to spend and what percent to charge up to.

So I kind of look at ABRP and Ford navigation as interchangeable and depending on each person's own preference. But both are absolutely necessary tools for any longer trip that you'll have to stop to charge.

 

[GreaseMonkey]

This past extended weekend (Thurs to Mon) I took the Mach E on it's first long range road trip (sorry in advance for the long post). My wife and I considered the idea of flying, but I was heading out to WI to bowl in the PBA national league bowling competition and trying to take 4 bowling balls each weighing 15lbs was going to be a challenge. So I convinced my wife that we should do the drive out there with the Mach E (our other car is a 2010 Subaru Outback which is only for local driving and not to be trusted for long distances). I figured since owning my Mach E since Feb 23 and completing plenty of 260+ mile road trips that I should be capable of navigating the roughly 1,700 mile round trip.

The morning of the first day of travel (Thurs) came and I had the Mach E washed and charged at 100% to head out from our home outside of Wilmington, DE to WI. We headed out through Amish country to our first charging stop at the EA station at Sheetz in Bedford, PA. To no surprise there was one station covered up in a blue tarp, but luckily the other three were open and we plugged in and charged with little effort while I took a work call. From there we made our way to Pittsburg where I noticed on the ChargePoint app that the city installed FREE level 2 units in the public parking garages. Once about 15 mins out I kept checking the app to see if one might pop available and to my luck one did and we quickly jumped on it before a Tesla arrived hoping to do the same. As we explored the city I kept thinking to myself this is exactly why more level 2 units should be available.

After enjoying Pittsburg we took a look at the guess o' meter and searched on Ford navigation and the EA app to see our next options. Unfortunately it was going to be a shorter drive to the EA stations at Sheetz in Girard, OH. Once we pulled up I gave a little nod of approval to see all four stations actually up and working. We made the usual trip to the restroom and grabbed snacks/drinks and chatted about the Waffle House that was across the parking lot. All charged up we decided to stop halfway across the state of Ohio at the Blue Heron rest stop in Genoa, OH to stretch and decide how much further to go since it was already a little past 8pm. We ultimately decided to do one more drive out of Ohio and into South Bend, IN to spend the night since it had plenty of hotel options.

To start day 2 (Friday) we realized we could probably charge a little less and get to the next charger with a lower state of charge. So with this goal we set out to complete our trip to WI. Our first stop for the day was the EA station in Skokie, IL by the Westfield mall. The plan here was for it to be a quick charge where we could get enough juice to make it to the Milwaukee area. Unfortunately the chargers just never seemed to ramp up to speed, so we made the decision to take just enough juice to get to the EA station at the Walmart in West Milwaukee. With my eye on the state of charge and guess o' meter the entire time we were able to make it there with 10% battery. At this point, I wanted to make sure to charge up to at least 80% since WI seemed to have few charging options and I knew I wouldn't be charging at a DC fast charger until we made our way back home on Sunday.

While around the Milwaukee area I showed the car off to my cousin's wife/husband and showed them the pickup after being side by side at a light. Which as I hit the accelerator I could see his jaw drop as I quickly pulled away. We continued the trip with some time at breweries, eating cheese/cheese curds, and the bowling competition.

As Sunday came around we got up early and said our goodbyes. The plan was to stop back in West Milwaukee to top up before heading down to the Chicagoland area to visit a friend and make our way home. The EA charger in West Milwaukee gave me a bit of trouble this time around and didn't want to give us the EA member pricing, so I moved around until one decided to work. From there we made our stop to visit my friend and have a little breakfast in the Chicagoland area. My friend was nice enough to offer to plug in the car, but it would have been L1 and we weren't there for long so I declined.

Unfortunately the Chicagoland area was only trouble for me on Sunday. I looked on the map and saw an EA station by a Target and figured it was on the way so it should be an easy stop. Boy was I wrong. When we pulled up there were 5 EVs all attempting to charge. I parked and chatted and the result was that only one station that was working which was not only occupied by a fully charged car, but also blocked by an airport taxi. I checked the EA app for options. Heading to South Bend was just out of range (100ish miles and the guess o' meter est. only 90ish miles), there was another station at a Target a couple of miles away but another person said they ripped those out of the ground (looking at plug share today it seems like that was misinformation since others checked in), or head to a Meijer which was about 15 miles away but in generally the right direction. So I picked the final option which turned out to be a bit of a nightmare. Only three stations worked and were filled by a Niro and two Bolts. After close to 45 mins of waiting I eventually got a stall only to find out it was derated and giving me just less than 50 kw.

After a long and slow charge I was finally out of the Chicagoland area and back on my way home. Luckily the rest of the trip was uneventful and just very long, so there isn't much to write about here because it just worked. We made stops at three more EA stations (one at a rest stop and two at Sheetz) which all provided high speeds and our general rule of thumb was to go 50 extra miles on the guess o' meter over what maps say it should be to get to the location. This seemed to work as that buffer generally would dip down to around 30-40 miles when we actually got to our destination to charge.

Overall I would say it was a somewhat successful trip. I wouldn't suggest anyone driving the distance we did on the final day (~900 miles) to do it in one shot with the current Mach Es. In my mind the charging curve isn't quick enough and you spend too much time waiting for the charge. But if you were looking to split up a trip like that into two days I would say go for it, but be prepared that everything might not go smooth.

Below is the breakdown of the travel days for those interested:
Day 1 (~650 miles and charged at 4 DC fast chargers and 1 L2 charger):
- Wilmington, DE (100%) -> 175 miles @ ~2.8mi/kWh -> Bedford, PA (34%) and charged to 80% in 26 mins
- Bedford, PA (80%) -> 105 miles @ ~3.1mi/kWh -> Pittsburg, PA (42%) and charged on L2 to 58% in 2 1/2 hrs
- Pittsburg, PA (58%) -> 71 miles @ ~3mi/kWh -> Girard, OH (30%) and charged to 85% in 34 mins
- Girard, OH (85%) -> 146 miles @ ~2.8mi/kWh -> Blue Heron Rest Stop in Genoa, OH (27%) and charged to 81% in 32 mins
- Genoa, OH (81%) -> 151 miles @ ~2.9mi/kWh -> South Bend, IN (21%) and charged to 80% in 36 mins

Day 2 (~170 miles and charged at 2 DC fast chargers):
- South Bend, IN (80%) -> 113 miles @ ~3mi/kWh -> Skokie, IL (35%) and charged to 44% in 8 mins
- Skokie, IL (44%) -> 52 miles @ ~3mi/kWh -> West Milwaukee, WI (10%) and charged to 81% in 58 mins

Day 3 (~900 miles and charged at 5 DC fast chargers):
- West Milwaukee (76%) -> 150 miles @ ~3mi/kWh -> Evergreen, IL (29%) and charged to 84% in 1 hr
- Evergreen, IL (84%) -> 192 miles @ ~3mi/kWh -> Tiffen River Rest Stop in West Unity, OH (13%) and charged to 89% in 55 mins
- Tiffen River (89%) -> 188 miles @ ~3mi/kWh -> Girard, OH (11%) and charged to 80% in 42 mins
- Girard, OH (80%) -> 202 miles @ ~3mi/kWh -> State College, PA (15%) and charged to 82% in 44 mins
- State College, PA (82%) -> 168 miles @ ~3.3mi/kWh -> Wilmington, DE (24%)

Nice write up.

For anyone traveling through chicago (city proper, not burbs) do yourself a favor and look for EVGo. They are typically at whole foods markets and are reliable and cheap ($0.26/ kWh).

 

[mpellerito]

We took a 8 hour trip not long ago, I doubt a BEV would have worked out well. We ended up going different routes due to traffic. Also we weren't even sure where we were going to be spending the nights. Plus we were rushing (when are we not) so stopping to charge for an hour (even when things go smooth) every couple hours would have been a real issue.

Agree with your wife with the PHEV, it's great around town and driving on electric and not having to worry about charging when out and about. So far we're about 70% electric 30% gas which for us is pretty good. If work was closer we'd be about 85/15.

Depending on where you're going the BEV makes it a little less flexible depending on where you can or can't get a charge. We had the approach heading out that we would see how far we could go and then possibly get a hotel, but I had a pretty good idea of where that might be going into the trip and knowing there would be a charger available. But on the way back we had a bit of a deadline to get back home before work started for a 7:30am call. Unfortunately we ended up back at home at 6am, so it was only time for a quick nap.

That sounds awesome with the PHEV. Even a 70/30 split is pretty nice to save a good amount of cash charging instead of paying for gas. My biggest concern with the PHEV was how to handle oil changes or gas possibly sitting in the car for an extended period of time. Both myself and wife work from home so it's only a more extended drive possibly once a month. So much of the driving should be in battery range.

 

[steveg95]

Wow, that's awful.
My wife and I haven't made the transition to BEV yet, I'm still on the sidelines about roadtrips and we drive a lot. I hate even being one behind at the gas station, let alone waiting to charge and than having to wait another hour for the charging to complete. In the meantime our PHEV is doing the job.

We were considering a plug in hybrid, but went full EV for several reasons. We had driven Hyundais and wanted their plug in hybrid, but they chose not to sell it in the Midwest at the time we were looking. We had solar panels installed on our house and were producing more power than we could use. Our electric utility doesn't buy it back and only gives you a small credit for it so we decided to use it to power our EV. 99% of our driving is within the range of the vehicle and I have a good home charger, so the charging on road trips has been a non-issue until this trip.

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