Mach-E for newbies

[Lord Polymath]

I'm completely new to the EV world and was wondering if anyone has a good website or resource for learning about them. I'm somewhat familiar with caring for lithium-ion batteries because I use high powered flashlights and have an e-bike, but an electric vehicle is on another level. From charging to battery care to what happens when it's really cold outside - I have so many questions I don't know where to start.
Thanks for any help/suggestions!

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[JamieGeek]

Fire away here with your questions. Or, better yet, use search before posting as you'll likely find answers.

It really isn't as complicated as you think: The car will take care of itself for the most part. The basics are: Set it to charge to 90% (or less) at your house and go have fun driving it.

That is pretty much it.

 

[timbop]

This general wiki is a good place to start:
https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...manuals-and-web-sites-for-mach-e-owners.1660/

This is a great video to explain charging:
https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/electric-car-charging-how-long-does-it-really-take.284/

Another intro post from me:
https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/midwestern-hello.8851/post-228100

The rest of these are good things to know about the MME:
https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...ulate-how-far-your-mach-e-can-really-go.6104/

https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...ger-is-everyone-purchasing-for-home-use.5663/

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/how-to-enable-plug-charge-in-7-steps.3094/

 

[JohnnyForensic]

I'm completely new to the EV world and was wondering if anyone has a good website or resource for learning about them. I'm somewhat familiar with caring for lithium-ion batteries because I use high powered flashlights and have an e-bike, but an electric vehicle is on another level. From charging to battery care to what happens when it's really cold outside - I have so many questions I don't know where to start.
Thanks for any help/suggestions!

One thing I’ve noted about the Mach-E is that it can be very straightforward or very fiddly, all depending on the individual user. My wife can take the fob, get in, press start, put it in drive, and go about her business knowing nothing about the “EV-ness” behind it. I can sit there and carefully go through menu by menu, into each submenu, and tweak every setting ’till my heart’s content.

You’ll lose plenty of range in the winter apparently, but if you keep it on the charger and set a preconditioning time for your planned departure (I have one set for 7:45 AM every weekday to take the kids to school, but I don’t set an evening one because I don’t have a regular schedule), it will draw from your house power to warm/cool the batteries and interior cabin as appropriate, minimizing the impact that the cold weather will have. If you DON’T do that, everything will still work; you’ll just experience a lot lower range per charge.

So, I’d say go for it and make the order, because you’ll have six months at least to read this board before it delivers and you’ll know almost every setting by heart without having touched the manual. If you don’t want to read, look at enough to find where to set the max charge to 90% for your daily use, keep it plugged in when home, and that will take care of most of what you “need” to do anyway. I’ve been driving EVs all of seven days now, since I took delivery of my MME, and except for forgetting to close the charge port door once when backing out of the garage and nearly taking it off, it’s been an absolute pleasure and not at all difficult to learn.

 

[Lord Polymath]

This general wiki is a good place to start:
https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...manuals-and-web-sites-for-mach-e-owners.1660/

This is a great video to explain charging:
https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/electric-car-charging-how-long-does-it-really-take.284/

Another intro post from me:
https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/midwestern-hello.8851/post-228100

The rest of these are good things to know about the MME:
https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...ulate-how-far-your-mach-e-can-really-go.6104/

https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...ger-is-everyone-purchasing-for-home-use.5663/

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/how-to-enable-plug-charge-in-7-steps.3094/

This is great stuff, thank you!!

 

[Lord Polymath]

One thing I’ve noted about the Mach-E is that it can be very straightforward or very fiddly, all depending on the individual user. My wife can take the fob, get in, press start, put it in drive, and go about her business knowing nothing about the “EV-ness” behind it. I can sit there and carefully go through menu by menu, into each submenu, and tweak every setting ’till my heart’s content.

You’ll lose plenty of range in the winter apparently, but if you keep it on the charger and set a preconditioning time for your planned departure (I have one set for 7:45 AM every weekday to take the kids to school, but I don’t set an evening one because I don’t have a regular schedule), it will draw from your house power to warm/cool the batteries and interior cabin as appropriate, minimizing the impact that the cold weather will have. If you DON’T do that, everything will still work; you’ll just experience a lot lower range per charge.

So, I’d say go for it and make the order, because you’ll have six months at least to read this board before it delivers and you’ll know almost every setting by heart without having touched the manual. If you don’t want to read, look at enough to find where to set the max charge to 90% for your daily use, keep it plugged in when home, and that will take care of most of what you “need” to do anyway. I’ve been driving EVs all of seven days now, since I took delivery of my MME, and except for forgetting to close the charge port door once when backing out of the garage and nearly taking it off, it’s been an absolute pleasure and not at all difficult to learn.

Great reply, thanks!! I’m sure I’ll read about everything in the car before delivery, I tend to research a lot. The preconditioning aspect is very neat, I’ll definitely use that for taking the kids to school as well. My Mustang has a scheduled start feature but I can’t really use it with the garage door down.

 

[JohnnyForensic]

Great reply, thanks!! I’m sure I’ll read about everything in the car before delivery, I tend to research a lot. The preconditioning aspect is very neat, I’ll definitely use that for taking the kids to school as well. My Mustang has a scheduled start feature but I can’t really use it with the garage door down.

Hah, exactly. It still freaks my wife out when she sees me in the car on with the garage door down. Even though she KNOWS it doesn’t have emissions, it’s a very hard thought to break.

 

[timbop]

Hah, exactly. It still freaks my wife out when she sees me in the car on with the garage door down. Even though she KNOWS it doesn’t have emissions, it’s a very hard thought to break.

Huh. My wife has a different viewpoint - she gets a sly grin when I have the garage door closed and I'm in her Durango....

Might have something to do with me being worth more dead than alive, but I'm not sure.... ?

 

[Lord Polymath]

Here's another newbie question: Long story short, I have an electric bike that, when fully charged, has more "pep". I can tell a difference in the torque I guess...it takes off quicker when fully charged. So my question is whether or not that is true for the Mach-E - does the car feel like it has less power when the battery is low? Can you tell a difference at all?

 

[RickMachE]

Here's another newbie question: Long story short, I have an electric bike that, when fully charged, has more "pep". I can tell a difference in the torque I guess...it takes off quicker when fully charged. So my question is whether or not that is true for the Mach-E - does the car feel like it has less power when the battery is low? Can you tell a difference at all?

No.

 

[RockwallRick]

Here's another newbie question: Long story short, I have an electric bike that, when fully charged, has more "pep". I can tell a difference in the torque I guess...it takes off quicker when fully charged. So my question is whether or not that is true for the Mach-E - does the car feel like it has less power when the battery is low? Can you tell a difference at all?

I have an electric bike as well but haven’t noticed any difference in power vs charge on the bike or the car! The bike is kind of like a hybrid, more pedaling = more range! I call it a BPEV.

 

[timbop]

Here's another newbie question: Long story short, I have an electric bike that, when fully charged, has more "pep". I can tell a difference in the torque I guess...it takes off quicker when fully charged. So my question is whether or not that is true for the Mach-E - does the car feel like it has less power when the battery is low? Can you tell a difference at all?

Unless you have a dragy I don't think you'll notice much of an acceleration difference between 50% and 90%. Below 30% you might notice if you're paying close attention.

Oh, and you should set up your charging preferences at home to a max of 90% because it is better for the long term health of the battery. If you are planning a road trip then by all means charge to 100%, but in general keep it <= 90%. I have mine set for 85%

 

[yngwenli]

Unless you have a dragy I don't think you'll notice much of an acceleration difference between 50% and 90%. Below 30% you might notice if you're paying close attention.

Oh, and you should set up your charging preferences at home to a max of 90% because it is better for the long term health of the battery. If you are planning a road trip then by all means charge to 100%, but in general keep it <= 90%. I have mine set for 85%

For the ultimate battery health, if you don't need any range currently and don't care for performance, is the optimal battery SOC more like 50-60%? My Bolt sits at 70% now (was at 80% before WFH).

 

[Lord Polymath]

I have an electric bike as well but haven’t noticed any difference in power vs charge on the bike or the car! The bike is kind of like a hybrid, more pedaling = more range! I call it a BPEV.

What kind of bike do you have? I have a Juiced hyper scorpion. I love that thing, I can work my ass off if I want or just hit the throttle and have fun.

 

[timbop]

For the ultimate battery health, if you don't need any range currently and don't care for performance, is the optimal battery SOC more like 50-60%? My Bolt sits at 70% now (was at 80% before WFH).

Sure, the optimal storage SOC is 50% but as long as you do some occasional driving going to 80%/85%/90% is OK too. The difference should be negligible as the battery will likely outlive the car in either case

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