How to drive a Mach E in suburban city traffic

JamieGeek

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I am going to have to test this. I can't remember if I am mixing up the Mach E, with our Fusion Energi. In the Fusion Energi with CoPilot 360, you don't have to hit the accelerator to start again in stop and go. I know this because I used it this winter when we went to a Christmas light show in a park. It was the most relaxed I ever drove through one. The car followed the car in front of it like a duck following its mother. It stopped and started right along with the other car keeping the distance I had set without any pushing the accelerator. I am thinking the Mach E should do the same, but don't know for sure.
There is a timeout. If you're stopped for too long the dash will say "Stopped" and you have to hit the go pedal or tap the on/off button on the steering wheel.

Under that timeout (5-10 seconds..don't remember) it will pick right up and move along.
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eltonlin

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Living in SF, I was taught that the only time you left-foot brake was when you were stopped on an inline.

Now with Auto-hold, even in that situation, left foot is no longer needed.
 

JSW

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My initial reaction to the post was, hmmm - I disagree with most of the conclusions, and simply posted that I prefer 1PD.

Here’s what I liked about the post: (1) The OP didn’t just give his opinion, he provided context. This allows a reader to look at the post and say, “this doesn’t pertain to me,” or “I’ve been struggling to find the right settings/drive mode and this guy is a two footed driver like me - I’ll give it a try.” (2) He enjoyed his new MMe so much that he ventured out on a forum to share his experience and thoughts in the first 24 hours.

I enjoy this forum as source of information, a source of shared pride, and as a place to commiserate over my MMe’s problems. I recognize we’re different folks with different experiences, and I like this too.
 

Mickey the T

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Since this has become a discussion about OPD, I have a question for OPD fans. I see someone mentioned "foot fatigue". It seems like OPD would create a lot of foot fatigue because of how carefully you have to control the accelerator pedal and because your foot is in the same position all the time. Do you find that is true, or false?

In an ICE car, you can take your foot off the accelerator and coast, giving your foot a little rest. And the process of moving your foot over to the break and pressing the break pedal changes the pressure on the foot, also giving it a break. With OPD your foot is always in the same place, all the time. Yes? No? Thanks for your insight because I have never driven a car with OPD before.
I have had the leg fatigue hit a couple of times using 1PD in my i3. But it's been situations where I've been in stop-and-go driving on the freeway for a *really* long time, as in 20 miles or so. (Which is possible in Southern California.) It doesn't affect me as "foot" fatigue, but it's more my quadriceps from modulating the accelerator. But it's rare and I'm still a big 1PD fan...
 

zhackwyatt

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My initial reaction to the post was, hmmm - I disagree with most of the conclusions, and simply posted that I prefer 1PD.

Here’s what I liked about the post: (1) The OP didn’t just give his opinion, he provided context. This allows a reader to look at the post and say, “this doesn’t pertain to me,” or “I’ve been struggling to find the right settings/drive mode and this guy is a two footed driver like me - I’ll give it a try.” (2) He enjoyed his new MMe so much that he ventured out on a forum to share his experience and thoughts in the first 24 hours.

I enjoy this forum as source of information, a source of shared pride, and as a place to commiserate over my MMe’s problems. I recognize we’re different folks with different experiences, and I like this too.
Sure, but the arrogance is very off putting. I wasn't really joking in his other thread about side swiping. The self-centeredness and importance of his fun over my safety is not OK.
 


Tpaguy

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When I did my test drive last week the sales bro tossed me the keys and said have fun.

I got about a 45 minute drive in, set it to unbridled and flogged it as hard as was reasonable, considering, and when I was done I was amazed to see I had only used 1% of the available charge.

OPD was so intriguing I forgot to try heel/toeing. Anyone give it a shot yet?
I just tried 1PD out and it felt like, to me, that it restricted acceleration compared to unbridled mode on its own.
 

caca_on

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I stand by my recommendation to eschew the one pedal mode for anyone who hasn't previously driven an electric vehicle - particularly if they are trying to master the Copilot 360 features. The "Low" mode provides a very natural, intuitive transition to one pedal. It provides introduction/experience with the use of regenerative braking, without trying to simultaneously attempt to become proficient in both dominatrix regenerative braking and adaptive cruise control and lane assist.

Just begin with driving in "Low," while you become an expert in the nifty drive assist features. One pedal driving is the least useful skill to master. Save it to the end. Then think of it as a cherry on top.

I wish we had the option to generate an instant poll, as is popular on Twitter. How many people brake with the Right foot? How many with the Left? I spent decades of training my right foot to be the accelerator foot and the left to be the auxillary foot. The accelerator foot was constantly engaged with the accelerator. Removing and repositioning it in an emergency wasted precious milliseconds. The left foot was always primed and ready to go. In a stick shift car, I'd have it engaged above the clutch. In an automatic, primed above the brake. To this day, I'm sure I'd do a faster emergency stop with my left foot than my right.

Maybe I'm one in a thousand. I'd be curious to take a survey.

- Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach
Just preferences imo.

I learned how to drive on manuals, and own a mustang stick shift as a daily driver.

Just put the first thousand miles o my MME all in whisper and 1PD. Never had that option before and just love the feature. I can tell you that I'm going several days without using the brake pedal in that car.

And automatic transmissions I always use right foot for gas and brakes, since my left foot is "trained" to go deeper on the clutch.
 

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I'm basically looking to maximize my MPKw. I've seen articles saying that coasting provides more efficiency, and then people in the real world saying they think one pedal is better. With the Bolt and Tesla being one pedal and more efficient than the Mach E I'm not ruling anything out. So I'm doing my first 500 miles in whisper, which is more similar to my Energi, and then will do my second 500 miles in OPD. Whichever wins the MPKw battle will be the one I use going forward. Other than when I have passengers in the car, in which case I'll use whisper unless I get really good at OPD.
I've had my MME 4X for about 3 weeks now, and I've been driving it in Engaged mode the whole time, as I've found the coast setting to be the most familiar to me since this is my first EV. I normally average around 5.5km (3.4 miles) per Kwh on the highway, and about 7km (4.35 miles) per Kwh in city driving.

That being said two days ago I switched to whisper just to see if true coasting with next to no regen would make a difference. I immediately noticed I started hitting the high 9km to 10km (per kwh) which is just mental!

What I found was that the coasting literally seemed like it had zero regen and once you get up to speed I could coast for what seems like forever at city speeds as long as your not going uphill, and I just barely tap the accelerator when speed drops off a bit.

Driving this way has made a huge difference on my consumption, which is particularly noticeable on regular routes i take daily, like kids school drop offs etc where I have a pretty consistent 3 weeks of data to compare it to.

I guess this makes sense since any sort of energy conversion is going to have some losses, and using the momentum you've built up to coast and travel further rather than trying to turn it back into electricity and shove it back into the pack which then slows you down again, only to then use it again to get up to speed on a flat coast is likely not the most efficient way to coast.

I guess where regen (would) be most beneficial is when your obviously trying to stop, or slowly slow down like when doing a significant amount of downhill driving where the natural weight of the vehicle can provide the initial momentum which then can be turned into electrical power to recharge the battery somewhat and get some free range after the downhill. Where it also likely makes sense is on the highway where letting off the accelerator likely means you want to slow down without constantly tapping the breaks.

Anyhow I'm going to try the various different modes on the highway since I've so far only changed things up with Whisper recently on city commutes.

Lastly I know this is an electric Mustang and I love the performance it offers when I really want to feel it, but honestly it's becoming quite addictive to see how far I can get with as little energy use as possible.

I know that statement is likely causing some old die hard Mustang guys to die of an aneurysm right about now as they read this! But what can I say.. I'm a family man and this is a family hauler for me, that happens to look incredibly sexy and sophisticated and can really perform when I want it to, but it's also eco friendly and appears to be pretty damn efficient too!
 
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mamejunkie

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No kidding. I was taught never to use your left foot for braking. I guess I am just old school :)
...New School, Elementary School, High School. Think every school taught that.
 

AllenXS

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Since this has become a discussion about OPD, I have a question for OPD fans. I see someone mentioned "foot fatigue". It seems like OPD would create a lot of foot fatigue because of how carefully you have to control the accelerator pedal and because your foot is in the same position all the time. Do you find that is true, or false?

In an ICE car, you can take your foot off the accelerator and coast, giving your foot a little rest. And the process of moving your foot over to the break and pressing the break pedal changes the pressure on the foot, also giving it a break. With OPD your foot is always in the same place, all the time. Yes? No? Thanks for your insight because I have never driven a car with OPD before.
You will be surprised at how quickly you adapt and how natural it will feel. And yes I've driven stick.
 

Ma9573

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I've had my MME 4X for about 3 weeks now, and I've been driving it in Engaged mode the whole time, as I've found the coast setting to be the most familiar to me since this is my first EV. I normally average around 5.5km (3.4 miles) per Kwh on the highway, and about 7km (4.35 miles) per Kwh in city driving.

That being said two days ago I switched to whisper just to see if true coasting with next to no regen would make a difference. I immediately noticed I started hitting the high 9km to 10km (per kwh) which is just mental!

What I found was that the coasting literally seemed like it had zero regen and once you get up to speed I could coast for what seems like forever at city speeds as long as your not going uphill, and I just barely tap the accelerator when speed drops off a bit.

Driving this way has made a huge difference on my consumption, which is particularly noticeable on regular routes i take daily, like kids school drop offs etc where I have a pretty consistent 3 weeks of data to compare it to.

I guess this makes sense since any sort of energy conversion is going to have some losses, and using the momentum you've built up to coast and travel further rather than trying to turn it back into electricity and shove it back into the pack which then slows you down again, only to then use it again to get up to speed on a flat coast is likely not the most efficient way to coast.

I guess where regen (would) be most beneficial is when your obviously trying to stop, or slowly slow down like when doing a significant amount of downhill driving where the natural weight of the vehicle can provide the initial momentum which then can be turned into electrical power to recharge the battery somewhat and get some free range after the downhill. Where it also likely makes sense is on the highway where letting off the accelerator likely means you want to slow down without constantly tapping the breaks.

Anyhow I'm going to try the various different modes on the highway since I've so far only changed things up with Whisper recently on city commutes.

Lastly I know this is an electric Mustang and I love the performance it offers when I really want to feel it, but honestly it's becoming quite addictive to see how far I can get with as little energy use as possible.
I'm beginning to get a better feel for the car and how to maximize mpk, but it's not what I expected. My first 500 miles were in whisper and I averaged 3.5mpk, which is fine, but not as good as I was expecting considering I was basically driving to maximize efficiency. I do drive a significant portion on the highway, and my neighborhood is quite hilly though.

My last 200 miles have been in engaged, and I averaged 3.9mpk. I was still driving for efficiency, but not focusing on it nearly as much, and definitely accelerating more aggressively. This led to some more aggressive breaking (in regen), which must have led to the better efficiency. So despite what I've read about coasting and slower acceleration being better, plus my real world experience with hybrids and PHEV gaining more MPG in this way, I'm starting to think the regen braking may be better in the Mach E for my driving style. I also shared an anecdote in another thread where I let my dad drive the hell out of the car for about 8 miles, and he got 6.9 MPK so I'm questioning things lol.

Obviously you had the opposite experience with the drive modes lol

I reset the trip computer tonight and starting tomorrow will be in unbridled for 100-200 miles to compare the heavier regen to the other modes. I definitely preferred engaged over whisper from an enjoyment perspective, so I'm looking forward to see how unbridled works out mpk-wise.
 

SteveUk

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Is one pedal driving ok when you're trying to do close/slow maneouvers such as parking into your garage ?

I ask this because I saw on another thread how someone can't use 'auto hold' as it stops the 'crawl' you get with an automatic which means when you hit the accelerator pedal you move too quickly - which could slam your car into the garage wall!

I have never driven an auto - only manuals with a clutch until May when I get my mache.
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