Future Battery Range of MME

[timbop]

Including better fast charging.

You mean better than the 50kw that was state-of-the-art in 2015?

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[devmach-e]

You mean better than the 50kw that was state-of-the-art in 2015?

Yes. 200 to 350 kW. Look up Ultium. Already rolling in the Hummer EV and the Lyriq.

 

[timbop]

Yes. 200 to 350 kW. Look up Ultium. Already rolling in the Hummer EV and the Lyriq.

I know. I was being sarcastic because GM "refreshed" the Bolt with the same 50kw and released the "new" Bolt EUV in 2022 with the same 50kw.

 

[Jake]

Oh no, not at all...I just raised my eyebrows at the range they were touting. Then vented out loud on this forum and came back to my senses. LOL

No it can be disappointing! The Mach-e could be a little more efficient. I had a Chevy Volt, and it would get up to 4 miles per kWh at best, but that dropped easily to Mach-e levels if it got cold at all. No power! Driving like grandma or else! Then 30-40 miles of range before switching to gas. So they will be looking at up to 50% reduction in cold if they’re not careful! Mach-e is the best vehicle!

 

[Jake]

If you want an "honest" answer to your question, I would suggest not asking on a forum where almost 100% of the people you are asking, did not wait.

If I were you (and take this with a grain of salt because I didn't wait either), I would look at your finances and gauge where "you stand" and make a determination from there.

I would treat it like buying any electronic device. If you want the best, wait. If you wait for the ultimate best, you will never end up buying one. See where this is going...........................

I would buy what you feel comfortable with today and not be tempted to look at short future vehicles and regret your decision. Once again, like all electronics (TV's and Computers especially) you will always find a better deal (via technology) down the road but you have to start somewhere.

Like others have said, if you keep an ICE vehicle in your stable I would buy what ever you can afford now and wait to replace your ICE vehicles (with other EV's) when "better technology" doesn't give you range anxiety.

Once again, if you want an opinion from those that didn't wait, I think you already know the answer.

If there were even something exciting to wait for… not seeing it. Maybe the Genesis/Hyundai/Kia offerings.

 

[Mini166]

No it can be disappointing! The Mach-e could be a little more efficient. I had a Chevy Volt, and it would get up to 4 miles per kWh at best, but that dropped easily to Mach-e levels if it got cold at all. No power! Driving like grandma or else! Then 30-40 miles of range before switching to gas. So they will be looking at up to 50% reduction in cold if they’re not careful! Mach-e is the best vehicle!

My sister had the plug-in Ford from 5-6 years ago. She didn't do the deep dives about battery degradation, and was SO disappointed how little mileage she got on her 15 mile commute every day over time. I told her the batteries have come a long way even since then...she thinks I'm nuts, and is afraid everything is going to catch on fire. (She doesn't have PHEV anymore...)

 

[devmach-e]

I know. I was being sarcastic because GM "refreshed" the Bolt with the same 50kw and released the "new" Bolt EUV in 2022 with the same 50kw.

I fully expected a refreshed model to retain the same peak 55 kW charging speed. They would've had to go to a new design to achieve something significantly higher. Sucks that the Bolt ended up being more of a technology proving ground, but it was a great reliable car for the 4.5 years and 44K miles I owned it.

 

[phil]

future tech will always be better...

Always?

 

[Larry Paul]

If one views the car as "technology", then waiting to buy is foolish. Technology is always changing. The in-car capabilities, in a decade, will be vastly different. The range will be dramatically longer in 10 years as battery technology evolves.

Our plan in retirement is to keep an EV no more than 3 years.

I agree with your observations in you first paragraph (don't wait because you will always be waiting). I also feel that getting a MME now does have some level of future proofing built in and it will work for us for way beyond 3 years.

I am confident that some cars can have longer range in the near future (the Lucid now has 410-516), I think most EV's having a 250-300 mile range is the sweet spot that most (but I did not say all) people need/are willing to spend money on. I typically charge my car to 70% SOC for our daily use. I am fine with under 200 miles of range at the ready if the car has a capacity of 250 and fast charging. I am confident that for where I live (yes California) that there are enough DCFC stations that I can top off at any time should I need it.

With DCFC I truly don't want to carry the weight of or pay for 500+ miles of battery range around with me to go 30-70 miles in a typical day or even 100-150 miles on most other days from our home for those rare occasions. This summer we did a round trip from LA to San Diego and it cost under $8 for the DCFC on the road. If we drive to SF stopping twice is not an issue to stretch my legs on the journey, but more than likely we will fly if/when we go somewhere more than 4 hours away from the house. The days of the long road trip are likely mostly behind us.

My wife and I have been driving pure Battery powered EV's since January 1999 and have driven over 340K miles of driving on battery power that is grid and/or solar fed during that time. We are still driving our 2002 Toyota Rav4EV that still has 80% of the range from when we drove it off the lot in 2002. Not bad for 20+ year old batteries that were designed almost 30 years ago.

Regarding the in car capabilities that will be "vastly different." statement: I anticipate that we can and will keep our 2022 MME GTPE for the next 20 years as it hits everything that we want in a car today and likely for years to come. It is seriously fun to drive, and checks the boxes and I don't need/want anything quicker, larger, a longer range or need a new style. We don't take long road trips the way we used to with our home being a starting place other than to head to the airport.

Hopefully Ford will continue OTA upgrades on our cars, but know that at some point it will not be able to upgrade to the latest, however, it sounds like our cars will get the upgraded BlueCruise 1.2.

https://electrek.co/2022/09/08/2023...ane-changes-with-fords-bluecruise-1-2-update/

(it says: "Ford states that BlueCruise 1.2 will roll out in 2023 Mustang Mach-Es directly off the assembly line, but any previous owners of other Ford vehicles (2022 Mach-E owners included), are going to have to wait."), so it sounds like it will happen...just later...

For most of what we interface with a car electronics...for me that is CarPlay. I think that our cars will take advantage of the latest Car Play integration expected at the end of next year, but if not what it is works fine for us (but a few too many bugs still-that I am hoping will get fixed).

https://appleinsider.com/articles/2...an-apple-car-preview---and-is-scaring-detroit

Chances are the next new car we get will be because of L4 or L5 autonomy...but that is years off. But chances are that won't replace the MME...as that car will be a vastly different "riding experience" not a driving experience.

my 2¢.

 

[MellowJohnny]

I keep joking with my kids that in 10 years one of them will come visit and incredulously remark "I takes how long to charge that thing? Wow, good thing you are retired now..."

Nice thing is if you buy now, at some point your next ride will leapfrog the MME, and you'll feel good about seeing progress.

 

[MME_Adventurist]

Watching football this evening and every ad is for the upcoming Chevy EV’s, advertising pretty high battery ranges.
Am I going to regret not waiting a year or two to see what Ford does with battery range? FWIW I didn’t order extended range because of the price.
(Est. Delivery of MME: 12/7-12/13)

For what it’s worth. Maybe to calm anxiety. I took my SR mach e from the Atlantic to the pacific in September this year… the standard range is good enough for small and large road trips

 

[Thesmoothdome]

I use my Mach-E around town and have taken it on a trip or too. It's my only vehicle. But if I want to go further than Tucson and not be overly anxious about it, I just borrow my parents' car or I rent something.

Tucson is a relatively easy run from SoCal, but it does add a couple of hours to the trip. We did a single day round trip from SD to Tucson with stops in Yuma and Casa Grande in each direction, rolling into each stop with 7-10% battery left. We do have the extended range battery though, so YMMV.

 

[SWO]

Chevy is touting ranges that are theoretical for the moment, as the cars they are advertising aren't being produced yet - so they are likely basing the range estimate on computer modeling. There is also a "hole" in the EPA mechanism for calculating range in that they allow manufacturers to run a "2 cycle" or "5 cycle" test to come up with the range figures. It turns out that the 2 cycle method is conservative when computing range and the 5 cycle method is overly generous. AFAIK only Tesla runs the 5 cycle tests, which is why their cars never live up to the EPA range estimates - whereas my Mach E occasionally surpasses its rating. It could be that Chevy is intending to run the 5 cycle tests to get the overly optimistic rating, but that is just a guess.

Chevy EVs that don't end in "olt" are pretty theoretical, at the moment.

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