Kentucky to Florida, 1300 miles round trip

[4TangledKites]

I really enjoy reading trip reports, so I thought I'd pitch in a bit. Premium Ext Range AWD.

Overall:
Car drives great, love driving it. As is well documented, software sucks (This is starting to drain on me, and if its not resolved in 6-8 weeks I may look to move on. Which is depressing considering how much I love driving it). My new thing is I've come to the conclusion the Navigation is utterly useless. Carplay & Google/Apple maps from now on.

The trip:
The trip started on rocky ground. First, we intended to leave Friday and drive to a hotel and charge. Life got in the way, and we couldn't leave until Saturday AM. I almost abandoned the MME for my ICE, but I couldn't resist.

The morning of the trip was cold (32F), so I intended to have a fully charged and warm car. But...the car didn't charge to 100% overnight. 80% is my norm, but I pressed the fordpass button for charging to 100%, and it seemed to accept it. Guess not. I also didn't understand pre-conditioning vs. just starting the car, so I started it 20min before we left. So this was a mixed bag on blame. First leg of the trip was interesting, with only 80% charge. I had to slow down as my GOM prediction approached my remaining miles.

The rest of the trip I was more conservative because of the unknown effect of temps on the range. I didn't drive nearly as fast as I do in the summer.

DC Fast charging notes:
9 charges total. Only 1 instance of slow charge, and it was noted on plugshare, I just didn't see it before plugging in. Switched plugs, and fast speeds returned. On the way down only saw 1 other car charging. On the way back there were more, including one stop with 3 Rapid Red MMEs (including me) charging at the same time.

My Navigation issue:
The Nav system kept trying to plot me to unnecessary chargers. Worst was the last leg of the trip. I had 133miles to go, and let the car get to 78% so I had some extra charge when we arrived (planned to use L2 in town and L1 at the rental house). Ford's stupid Nav kept wanting me to detour 50miles (each way) to EA. And when I tried to tell it not to add chargers, it freaked out and yelled at me to add them or I wouldn't make it. I'm done with that BS. I'll pre-research with EA and plugshare, and never use Ford's Nav again.

Here's the data for those inclined. Distance is accurate from Google. Speed is my best average guess, not always perfect. Enjoy.

Florida Trip										DC Fast Charge
	~T	Distance	~Speed	Start %	End %		KW Used	mi / kw		Start %	End %	Time	Avg KWh
Home-BG	32	148	68	80%	8%		63.4	2.34		8%	52%	22	105.6
BG-Franklin	40	85	68	52%	15%		32.6	2.61		15%	61%	24	101.2
Franklin-Athens	50	84	67	61%	22%		34.3	2.45		22%	59%	20	97.7
Athens-Alabaster	60	115	73	59%	9%		44.0	2.61		9%	57%	25	101.4
Alabaster-Greenville	65	110	73	57%	11%		40.5	2.72		11%	78%	39	90.7
Greenville-Seaside	60	133	55	78%	29%		43.1	3.08
Seaside-Greenville	55	133	55	100%	51%		43.1	3.08		51%	71%	15	70.4
Greenville-Alabaster	60	110	75	71%	26%		39.6	2.78		26%	75%	28	92.4
Alabaster-Athens	65	115	66	75%	33%		37.0	3.11		33%	52%	10	100.3
Athens-Franklin	60	84	75	52%	16%		31.7	2.65
Franklin-BG	40	85	75	100%	65%		30.8	2.76		65%	76%	11	52.8
BG-Home	45	148	75+	76%	6%		61.6	2.40

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[RickMachE]

It's well documented that the Ford navigation will try to get you to charge regardless. Yes, it does yell at you - first told me that I needed to seek a charger, then told said "Danger, Will Robinson, Danger". Basically that I had to plug in somewhere.

You want to use the Ford navigation, GoogleMaps, and ABRP all together.

 

[mkhuffman]

It's well documented that the Ford navigation will try to get you to charge regardless. Yes, it does yell at you - first told me that I needed to seek a charger, then told said "Danger, Will Robinson, Danger". Basically that I had to plug in somewhere.

You want to use the Ford navigation, GoogleMaps, and ABRP all together.

I found I had to cancel the previously entered navigation trip if I deviated from the system's plan. It wanted me to charge less at an EA stop than I wanted to. I knew if I charged more at that stop, I could make it home without stopping again. Even after I charged more than it recommended and obviously had enough charge to make it home, the route still included the other EA stop. After cancelling the route and starting a new one it was OK.

I really like how it shows estimated charge at arrival and how I can manage that value by changing how I am driving. I definitely favor using the MME navigation for that reason, but it needs more improvement for sure.

 

[RickMachE]

Agree totally. I never rely on any of the apps to tell me how much to charge, I use my brain. If I'm in a state where EA charges by the kWh, but headed into a state where they charge by the minute (which is much cheaper), I will charge less in state one and then charge more in state 2.

I've also learned that you can't trust that the next EA location will charge flawlessly, so I usually charge to 80% (likely 90% soon) each time, until I get to the last stop where I charge just what I need, plus a buffer. And of course modified as per the above state rules.

 

[4TangledKites]

I found I had to cancel the previously entered navigation trip if I deviated from the system's plan. It wanted me to charge less at an EA stop than I wanted to. I knew if I charged more at that stop, I could make it home without stopping again. Even after I charged more than it recommended and obviously had enough charge to make it home, the route still included the other EA stop. After cancelling the route and starting a new one it was OK.

I really like how it shows estimated charge at arrival and how I can manage that value by changing how I am driving. I definitely favor using the MME navigation for that reason, but it needs more improvement for sure.

Unfortunately, cancelling the previously entered trip and trying to plot 1 leg at a time still didn't avoid the Nav issues. I do like the interface (specifically "up ahead"), but its just not worth it...I forgot to mention that it frequently lags (one time I nearly missed my exit because the dash display said I had 15 miles to go), and then the routes it picks are questionable as well. The original course it wanted me to take from my house would have added 3 hours to my already 13 hour trip (and it didn't include the proper route as an option). At the rate Ford is going with the (lack of) updates, I'm not holding my breath on this getting resolved.

 

[Budman]

I will be getting my 2022 Mach e sometime next spring. I've been looking for a data set like this to understand the effects of speed and temperature on range. I put your data into a multiple linear regression analysis and came up with an equation that does a pretty good job at predicting the efficiency you saw in this data set as a function of temperature and speed.

If anybody else has data like this (Temp, Speed, miles/kW), post them and I can add them to the analysis to get a bigger data set on real world observations (The more data the better).

For the hard core statistics people out there here are the details of the analysis;

EDIT: An earlier version of the graph had a type. The equation should be 3.351 + 0.01315*Temp - 0.01931*Speed. A misplaced decimal point on the speed coefficient. Sorry.....

 

[smartino]

I learned on my first road trip not to use the Ford navigation to map out the route because the way it selects chargers is just crazy, it once wanted me to stop at a L2 charger at a Ford dealer for 6 hours . So as you mentioned I pre-map my route using the EA App, Plug Share and A Better Route Planner. Once I know the route and the chargers I want to stop at I use the Ford Navigation to route just to that charger. What is nice about doing that way is the navigation will tell you how much battery % you will have when you arrive at the charger. This prediction is usually spot on and helps me decide how much I have to charge up to, to reach the next charger.

 

[4TangledKites]

I will be getting my 2022 Mach e sometime next spring. I've been looking for a data set like this to understand the effects of speed and temperature on range. I put your data into a multiple linear regression analysis and came up with an equation that does a pretty good job at predicting the efficiency you saw in this data set as a function of temperature and speed.

If anybody else has data like this (Temp, Speed, miles/kW), post them and I can add them to the analysis to get a bigger data set on real world observations (The more data the better).

For the hard core statistics people out there here are the details of the analysis;

EDIT: An earlier version of the graph had a type. The equation should be 3.351 + 0.01315*Temp - 0.01931*Speed. A misplaced decimal point on the speed coefficient. Sorry.....

Nice! I'm disappointed in myself for not already trying to model my own data. So I have been tracking all my trips. Not sure how good my record keeping was for all of them (specifically for speed), so I had to exclude a few. I'll continue to add and see.

Of course this isn't factoring in elevation changes, rain, or weight in the car. But still pretty good estimate and way to show the negative effect of temp & speed. Also not factoring if the battery was pre-conditioned or not (mostly not).

 

[mkhuffman]

Unfortunately, cancelling the previously entered trip and trying to plot 1 leg at a time still didn't avoid the Nav issues. I do like the interface (specifically "up ahead"), but its just not worth it...I forgot to mention that it frequently lags (one time I nearly missed my exit because the dash display said I had 15 miles to go), and then the routes it picks are questionable as well. The original course it wanted me to take from my house would have added 3 hours to my already 13 hour trip (and it didn't include the proper route as an option). At the rate Ford is going with the (lack of) updates, I'm not holding my breath on this getting resolved.

When I picked my GT up in NJ, I didn't know if I should trust the Ford nav or not, but I know from experience Google Maps picks excellent routes most of the time. So I used Google Maps to get to the NJ Turnpike and for some reason, it was different from what the Ford nav wanted.

When the Ford nav finally lined up with Google (I was using both), my time of arrival to my home in Virginia improved by about an hour earlier from what it originally said. At that point I knew I should not rely on the Ford nav for a complicated route. Whatever it wanted me to do was literally an hour longer, but Google knew. (The Google always knows. Trust the Google. Except for your personal info. You don't want the Google to know that.)

If you know how to get to your destination, you can rely more on the Ford nav. If you don't know the way, I would not trust it to pick the best route. As @RickMachE recommended, I use multiple tools to find the best route and best charging stops. And now I always plan ahead before starting out. Never needed to do that with ICE. In many ways, it makes it more relaxing to know basically everywhere I am going to stop and for how long. Forced planning is actually a good thing! Not a good idea to wing it in a EV...

 

[mkhuffman]

I learned on my first road trip not to use the Ford navigation to map out the route because the way it selects chargers is just crazy, it once wanted me to stop at a L2 charger at a Ford dealer for 6 hours . So as you mentioned I pre-map my route using the EA App, Plug Share and A Better Route Planner. Once I know the route and the chargers I want to stop at I use the Ford Navigation to route just to that charger. What is nice about doing that way is the navigation will tell you how much battery % you will have when you arrive at the charger. This prediction is usually spot on and helps me decide how much I have to charge up to, to reach the next charger.

That is very similar to what I do as well. You can also tell the Ford app to only consider fast chargers, so it will ignore all the L2 ones. For the trips I have taken, it has worked out really well.

I missed an exit I was supposed to take to get an EA charge, and while I had to cancel the trip because the navigation system was yelling at me to turn around, once I got the new trip entered it found the next fast charger on my route and I stopped there. It would have been hard to use the other apps while driving so in that case I relied only on the Ford nav to tell me where to charge. And it worked!

 

[EVTRAVEL]

When I picked my GT up in NJ, I didn't know if I should trust the Ford nav or not, but I know from experience Google Maps picks excellent routes most of the time. So I used Google Maps to get to the NJ Turnpike and for some reason, it was different from what the Ford nav wanted.

When the Ford nav finally lined up with Google (I was using both), my time of arrival to my home in Virginia improved by about an hour earlier from what it originally said. At that point I knew I should not rely on the Ford nav for a complicated route. Whatever it wanted me to do was literally an hour longer, but Google knew. (The Google always knows. Trust the Google. Except for your personal info. You don't want the Google to know that.)

If you know how to get to your destination, you can rely more on the Ford nav. If you don't know the way, I would not trust it to pick the best route. As @RickMachE recommended, I use multiple tools to find the best route and best charging stops. And now I always plan ahead before starting out. Never needed to do that with ICE. In many ways, it makes it more relaxing to know basically everywhere I am going to stop and for how long. Forced planning is actually a good thing! Not a good idea to wing it in a EV...

Has anyone used ABRP Premium with Apple Carplay?

 

[ahg]

"Coefficient" "Regression" Going to have to be some changes before the average driver will be willing to take a BEV on a trip.

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