Long Road Trip: MME or ICE?

[RickMachE]

I appreciated all the responses to my original post. I thought I would let you know my decision: I chose to travel in the Mach e. From January 11 to the 15th my wife and I made the approximately 1950 trip from southeast Michigan to the Tucson area. We drove in four legs: Michigan to just past St. Louis; St. Louis to El Reno, Oklahoma (just past Oklahoma City); then to Corrizozo, NM; and from there to Tuscon.

I am happy to report the vehicle performed flawlessly. Blue Cruise made driving much easier and less stressful. Cold weather reduced range but charging stations were adequately spaced for most of the route. I used all of the free 250 kws and then a smorgasbord of chargers (mostly EA, but also ChargePoint and one Francis Electric). At most stations at least one cabinet was down, but we only had to wait on one occasion for a charger; about ten minutes while a Porsche Taycan finished up on the only working station. Just as I finished charging an electrical contractor arrived with work orders on all four stations! We were lucky there.

To make the long story short, long road trips in the Mach e are doable. It does require planning and patience. We were driving for 8 hours a day and charging (or at least stopping) for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. In the cooler temps and at expressway speed we averaged about 2.4 miles per kw. All in all, not too bad.

Wait, wut? But you can't take long trips in the Mach-E in winter!

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[AllenXS]

Well done for trying and making it happen. Been through the HVBJB and have the robust one now. Done some Road tripping and looking forward to doing real ones like yours!

 

[Mach1E]

I appreciated all the responses to my original post. I thought I would let you know my decision: I chose to travel in the Mach e. From January 11 to the 15th my wife and I made the approximately 1950 trip from southeast Michigan to the Tucson area. We drove in four legs: Michigan to just past St. Louis; St. Louis to El Reno, Oklahoma (just past Oklahoma City); then to Corrizozo, NM; and from there to Tuscon.

I am happy to report the vehicle performed flawlessly. Blue Cruise made driving much easier and less stressful. Cold weather reduced range but charging stations were adequately spaced for most of the route. I used all of the free 250 kws and then a smorgasbord of chargers (mostly EA, but also ChargePoint and one Francis Electric). At most stations at least one cabinet was down, but we only had to wait on one occasion for a charger; about ten minutes while a Porsche Taycan finished up on the only working station. Just as I finished charging an electrical contractor arrived with work orders on all four stations! We were lucky there.

To make the long story short, long road trips in the Mach e are doable. It does require planning and patience. We were driving for 8 hours a day and charging (or at least stopping) for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. In the cooler temps and at expressway speed we averaged about 2.4 miles per kw. All in all, not too bad.

Glad it worked out.

Had you decided to drive the ICE vehicle, your story would have gone something like this:

I drove from Michigan to Arizona. End of story.

 

[JSeis]

We went out and back to Great Falls at about 1800 miles RT with no issues. I knew where most DCFC stations were and ABRP told me of a decrease speed option on one longer leg just under 170 miles but MT speeds would such that up, so it advised under 56 mph. We made w/40+ miles to spare. With an SR Select we tend to stay in the 150-180 mile range which turns out at 2+ hours, tends to ok with snack and potty breaks. The one element of note is that we averaged 38-45 minutes per charge with the one exception of charging to 90% for the Missoula-Great Falls leg. I found our charging starts where 18-25% and then up to 80%. Which means using 60% of battery. On our flat rural roads that’s like ~150 miles of range but at freeway speeds, less so. Stops tend to be every 2 hours +- as DCFC are available.

Also, a buddy who car camped through Utah with his Tesla, charged at RV parks. I also traveled with the mobile charger. Found out that hotels/businesses are adding chargers even in ICE dominated MT, so that makes nightly charging easy.

Glad you had fun! Planning still important as you noted.

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