Hello from the North Shore of Boston

[Eric_C_Boston]

Hello,

In 2015, I bought a new 2015 Fusion Hybrid to replace my 2006 Fusion ICE. I liked how the hybrid drove like my old ICE. My niece is still driving the 2006. Thanks to the Fusion Hybrid forum, I drove the hybrid more efficiently. The Fusions are great road trip cars, and I put on some miles with several trips per year.

I was interested in a BEV for a couple of years, but felt the range was not good enough with the poor charger infrastructure. I became very interested in the Mach-E and saw one under glass at the 2019 Boston Auto Show. I was more interested in the range rather than the pony badge.

I started to watch videos, and read webpages, including this forum. I liked what I saw, but did not pre-order. I decided to wait until the car was generally available, and I could see one. There was a slight chance I might not like it, and did not want to refuse the car. I figured toward the fall of 2021 might be a good time to buy. My range anxiety was reduced after reading this forum, but I still wanted a Mach-E RWD ER. The 0 to 60 time is still better than the Fusion. It is too bad most reviews are the AWD ER. I have yet to spot a Mach-E in the wild.

Unfortunately the situation changed in March when my hybrid got totaled at 105K miles. The car was still drivable, but the labor to disassemble the back of the car to replace the rear quarter panel pushed it over. I was debating on getting another used 2015 or later Fusion Hybrid. Since I planned on getting the Mach-E later this year, I decided to get an ICE 4WD vehicle for when I tackle Quebec Route 389 and drive to Labrador.

One of my two-vehicle friends is mostly WFH and offered the loan of a Niro EV for a couple of days. I looked at the Niro EV when it came out and decided it almost had the range I needed. I liked the car as it drove similar to the Fusion Hybrid without having the ICE coming on. It seemed hybrid driving techniques also worked with the BEV car. I got a better feel for range. I did a good amount of driving while going from near 100% down to about 30% SOC. I did my first DC Fast Charge to 80% and used my outdoor 110 outlet to trickle charge overnight before returning. I was surprised to see the car completely charged. The Niro EV would work as a commuting and errand car, but I still did not like the DC Fast charge speed for my long trips.

I have an older NEMA 10-50 outlet in the corner of the cellar nearest to where I park my car. The outlet box is grounded (done right!) and the circuit uses a 50 Ampere breaker. A current project is replacing the NEMA 10-50 with a NEMA 14-50. I will use the Ford Mobile Charger out a nearby cellar window. A future project is buying an EVSE, maybe an OpenEVSE charger kit, and running UF-B out to a deck post.

I have past experience with some Ford dealers offering cars while they are still in transit. The VIN Tracker was very useful for seeing if the car was delivered and if it was a customer order. I found a RWD SR locally and went over to see it. I liked the car, but really wanted an ER in another color.

I had decided on a used Ford Explorer as the alternate 4WD vehicle, and it came down to decision day. I checked Ford inventory one more time and spotted a recently added RWD ER at a dealership further away. I went to the dealer's website, clicked on buy, and setup an appointment for later that day. I fully expected them to say the car is not available, and then I would buy the Explorer. I was surprised when I got an email about expecting my visit.

The car was there! The person who ordered did not purchase it. I took the car for a brief test drive and it drove similarly to the Fusion and Niro. So I signed the papers and put down a deposit. My brother will drive me to pickup my new RWD ER this week. I am not totally thrilled that it is Speeding Ticket Red, but at least it is not white or black.

It will be interesting to do captures of CAN Bus traffic using my OBDLink MX Bluetooth, like I did with my 2015. I helped the Forscan developers in their Fusion Hybrid support. I see the Mach-E has even more CAN buses and more modules. I also have a Samsung Tab A that I may setup as a gauge bank.

Thanks to the members of the forum for all the help and discussion they provided. I apologize for "jumping the queue", but I needed transportation. I retired last year, but committed to do consulting work in an office starting next week. The office has two Level 2 EVSEs for employees.

Regards, Eric

Sponsored

 

[timbop]

Welcome. I have put 2000 miles on a Rapid Red ER RWD (actually the california route 1 version), and have had no issues with "police intervention" so far. To them I think it's just a red SUV and nothing to especially worry about.

 

[macchiaz-o]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your new vehicle!

In my state, the vehicle is registered as a station wagon.

And mine's not red, either, so nothing to worry about.

 

[Eric_C_Boston]

My first trip!

My brother drove me up to the dealership using the 2006 Ford Fusion ICE (180k miles) I gave my niece when I got the 2015 Hybrid. Recently she got a deal on a Ford Fiesta. My brother is now using the car, thought I was getting a C-Max, and has spotted a Mach-E in the wild at a Market Basket in Haverhill, MA.

The weather was forecast to be rain, so a downpour suddenly occurred just as we arrived at the dealership, of course!. I signed the papers and held the umbrella as the salesperson put on my plates. Setup of Fordpass and my Phone was easy since I downloaded the Fordpass app and entered the vehicle information previously. I already had a myFord account from my 2015.

I showed some of the features of my new car to my brother and then he left. I got in, adjusted the seats, reset Trip 1, and made a few notes. The car had 40.0 miles on the odometer with 100% SOC and 237 miles of range. I carefully drove out of the dealership and headed south on the highway. I always get concerned when I buy a new car that a runaway semi-truck will ram and total the car.

I went through areas of rain and wind on the way home. The only wind noise was what I normally heard in my hybrid when the ICE was not running on a windy day. I was able to try navigation and some other features of the new car. The navigation compared to Sync 2 is way better. I like how the navigation will call out added delays. Thanks to looking at videos, I was able to use the touchscreen and steering wheel controls right off.

I have not gone through the billions and billions of users settings yet, other than setting the drive mode to Engage. As I was crawling through rush hour traffic on city streets, I heard a turbine whine that changed pitch as the car changed speed. It went away at about 22 MPH. I like it as it reminds me of the batmobile sound.

I drove 38.5 miles of mostly highway driving and got 3.7 miles/kW, which seems decent. The SOC went from 100% to 90% and range dropped from 237 to 223.

Thanks, Eric

 

[Eric_C_Boston]

I detail my first CCS charge here. I got my RFID from EVgo. I signed up with EVgo to charge my friend's Niro EV. I have not tried charging through the Fordapp yet.

I got a chance to setup the car some more today. I like the automatic lift gate. I figured out how the two level back platform worked. I unpacked some of my mobile charger and put it in the Frunk. Still like the car, but hope some of the radio preset glitches are fixed soon.

My car was built in January 2021.

I have seen reviews where reviewers commented they could not find a Ford badge on the car. I wonder if that is pre-production, or Europe, as I have a Ford badge at the top of the windshield.

I suppose vehicles with no emissions have to have a sticker indicating zero emissions. i hope the local MA inspection station knows how to inspect the car. I am waiting on the registration as the RMV is slow for both registrations and inspections. One of the RMV's vendors got hacked and recovery is slow.