Long Road Trip: MME or ICE?

[dje4msu]

My wife and are are new owners of a Rapid Red MME Premium, AWD, ER. We are going to take a long road trip from Michigan to Tucson in January. I really want to take the MME, especially since our ICE option is a slightly smaller and less comfortable Ford Escape. The plan is four days of approximately 500 miles each: Michigan to St. Louis; Oklahoma City; Albuquerque; and Tucson. My friends are joking about authorities finding a pretty red car in the desert near dried out bones!

Has anyone made a similar trip? What are your opinions on this adventure? Do I need to be talked out of this plan and settle for the ICE?

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[RickMachE]

You should use ABRP (A Better Route Planner) to plan. Use GoogleMaps, then compare to what ABRP gives you to ensure you're not detouring too much or backtracking. GM says 1,900 miles or so, Another 90 miles with charging on a quick pass in ABRP. A 29 hour trip in GoogleMaps becomes 34 in ABRP without stops (so why 5 hours longer) and 11 hours of charging on top. You will need to manually slice into days, and lay out 4 different trips with the overnight stays.

Make sure you account for lower range with cold weather. Same car, I get 2.9 to 3.0 in warm weather at 73mph. In 20 degrees that will drop to 2.4 to 2.5. Plan on 2.2.

You will add roughly 20% overhead to the trip, assuming you arrive at a charging hotel with about 10%, charge overnight, and leave with 100% the next day. You will want to ensure that you put in the lower range by changing the settings in ABRP.

500 miles is long each day. Four 10 hour days?

 

[PupSideDown]

We recently did our first long road trip from Louisville, KY to Austin, TX. We used several route planning apps (Google Maps, PlugShare, etc.), and, of course the Ford Pass navigation. All will show you where DCFC are available along your route, as well as details about the status and availability of the charging stations. We booked overnight stays in hotels with L2 chargers, so we could charge up overnight.

Spend a bit of time planning your route, and include backup options in case there are any glitches along the way. Your Ford Pass points can be used for free DCFC at participating chargers. Using several apps helped us to drill down for more information about charging options as we planned our trip. Even with all the planning, we were a little nervous the first day, but once we got the hang of it, it was fine. The car is really great for long trips - comfortable ride, quiet, plenty of room for luggage.

 

[1969Camaro]

I did a 400 mile trip week 2 I owned my MME and ran into software charging issues. What was worse is finding this out in 116 degree heat 200 miles from home. I would say you need to shake the bugs out of the car before taking a long trip.

 

[ADDZ71]

I guess I would ask how long you plan to stay in Tucson and what options for charging you have once arrived. If you are going to be there for a couple of weeks or more I would take the MME and add a little extra time for the drive.

 

[RickMachE]

Your Ford Pass points can be used for free DCFC at participating chargers.

That's incorrect. You get 250kWh free at EA. You cannot use FordPass points.

 

[BigMach-E]

At this point, considering your plan is to tackle 500 miles in a day, I would say it would probably be best to take your ICE. If you are trying to cover that much distance in a day, charging will hold you up, at best not looking at the route, you will realistically need to charge at least twice to cover that distance, which means adding about an hour and a half to total time each day just for charging. Not to mention whatever diversion you have to add to get to the charger. It’s doable, but it adds a lot of complexity to your trip.

 

[DYohn]

Not quite as long, but I've driven from Phoenix to San Francisco round d trip three times now. Take the MME.

By the way it's about 750 miles one way and I've driven that in a day in the MME. Stopping more frequently to recharge makes the trip far more relaxing that driving full to empty in an ICE.

 

[Monke]

We drove 700+ miles for an overnight trip twice without any issue. One trip showed that the range was about 10-15% less than GOM. Another cold and rain trip indicated half of the EPA estimate 247mile was a comfortable range. EA stations were about 100 miles apart so we made it to the next station just fine but cold since we did not feel like we could turn on the heat. Both trips had 2700' grade change.

 

[satchel prefect]

My wife and are are new owners of a Rapid Red MME Premium, AWD, ER. We are going to take a long road trip from Michigan to Tucson in January. I really want to take the MME, especially since our ICE option is a slightly smaller and less comfortable Ford Escape. The plan is four days of approximately 500 miles each: Michigan to St. Louis; Oklahoma City; Albuquerque; and Tucson. My friends are joking about authorities finding a pretty red car in the desert near dried out bones!

Has anyone made a similar trip? What are your opinions on this adventure? Do I need to be talked out of this plan and settle for the ICE?

At this stage of ownership, I would lean toward taking the ICE car for a trip of that magnitude.

There are lots of situational considerations for attempting such a drive with an EV, not the least of which is the availability and spacing of charging stops. For every person that reports trouble-free charging on road trips, there are two or three with war stories about waiting in long lines because of inoperative chargers or stress over whether there's enough range left to make it to an alternative charging location.

If you were traveling alone and packing light, an adventurous spirit and some good fortune could tilt things more in the direction of the BEV. Honestly, this is the message I get from Rick's reply in post#2.

 

[JRSNoVa]

Make sure you account for lower range with cold weather. Same car, I get 2.9 to 3.0 in warm weather at 73mph. In 20 degrees that will drop to 2.4 to 2.5. Plan on 2.2.

Whether the trip is doable in the MME is entirely dependent on the route you plan to take. Someone else's experience over than same number of miles is not going to help you if your route covers different terrain and has different L3 charger availability.

EV trip planners like ABRP are key. If you tell ABRP when you plan to leave, it will make make some adjustments for normal expected weather.

 

[21st Century Pony]

I recommend taking the Mach E. You will learn much more about your new car this way, even with unforeseen hiccups. It's one thing to read blogs and theorize, and a whole other way to learn by doing. Besides, it's kind of fun. I mean... what is the worst that can happen, other than an inconvenience that turns into a great lesson? an added advantage is the forced DCFC charging time that'll actually get you out of the car seat and maybe walking around, getting fresh air, getting blood pumping and maybe discovering a cool sandwich shop etc... a recommended best practice on long trips which we all habitually ignore in gasoline cars.

This forced walk time is a great advantage when traveling with four-legged companions with wagging tails.

Good Luck and enjoy the trip any way you do it!

 

[Mach-Lee]

My wife and are are new owners of a Rapid Red MME Premium, AWD, ER. We are going to take a long road trip from Michigan to Tucson in January. I really want to take the MME, especially since our ICE option is a slightly smaller and less comfortable Ford Escape. The plan is four days of approximately 500 miles each: Michigan to St. Louis; Oklahoma City; Albuquerque; and Tucson. My friends are joking about authorities finding a pretty red car in the desert near dried out bones!

Has anyone made a similar trip? What are your opinions on this adventure? Do I need to be talked out of this plan and settle for the ICE?

ROUTE PLANNING is the key if you take the Mach-E. Know where all your stops are going to be ahead of time, and look at the charger reviews on PlugShare during planning so you know if the stations work.

In that distance you are likely to encounter at least one charger that doesn't work, so you might have to go to plan B and level 2 charge somewhere to get to the next DCFC. Also look into finding hotels with L2 chargers for overnight charging. Make sure you call each hotel and verify the L2 charger is working and available.

Also be prepared for the trip to take longer than you expect if you run into an issue. If you have something planned Tuscan arrive at least a day early in case of a delay.

If you can, take a day trip this month as a trial run. DCFC a couple different places. See how that goes and keep track of your efficiency and range during the trip for future reference.

 

[phil]

Rent a nice gasoline car, relax, and be comfortable.

 

[Tampamike]

“If anything’s gonna happen, it’s gonna happen out there!”

if you’re ever gonna road trip you’re MME, there has to be a first time. It’s an adventure and it’s fun. Blue Cruise makes it much easier. Speed limits will be high out west but remember that Blue Cruise only works up to 80. I think 500 miles a day is doable - 2 and 3 stops depending. Don’t count on hotel charging because you may be the 3rd car that arrives for the two plugs. Have a backup plan to get to the next charger just in case. If you’re taking interstates, Electrify America will be your plan A almost all the time. There are some other comparable brands that may be an option but they’re not as prevalent - like EVGo or high speed Chargepoints and some other brands I’ve only heard about out west. Plugshare - use it. It will save you some heartache by reading the Check-in’s. Put some index and paper towels or a squeegee in the frunk to clean your windows in the WalMart parking lots. Good luck!

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