Mach-E Police Cars

[Jlaw276]

In the next couple weeks I will be going live with a MME standard as my take home patrol vehicle. This is our departments first electric vehicle and I’m the lucky one to run it through the mill. I have questions going in that maybe you all can shed some light on. BTW this is going to be my first experience with an EV.

I’m located in southern Indiana. I’m a patrol commander working morning shift. I work 8 hour days. I drive on average 50-70 miles a day. Roughly 15,000 mike a year. Since I’m working from the vehicle I will have lots of idle time. On board equipment includes emergency lights(led), Radio, laptop, printer, Internet hotspot. So my biggest question is HVAC while sitting stationary will the vehicle stay comfortable and also the affects on the battery life. Along with the electronics affect on battery life.

I will be charging at home with a Juicebox 40 and at work with couple different options. Probable a similar level two most of the time.

Let me know your thoughts on these matters and any questions.

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[ChasingCoral]

In the next couple weeks I will be going live with a MME standard as my take home patrol vehicle. This is our departments first electric vehicle and I’m the lucky one to run it through the mill. I have questions going in that maybe you all can shed some light on. BTW this is going to be my first experience with an EV.

I’m located in southern Indiana. I’m a patrol commander working morning shift. I work 8 hour days. I drive on average 50-70 miles a day. Roughly 15,000 mike a year. Since I’m working from the vehicle I will have lots of idle time. On board equipment includes emergency lights(led), Radio, laptop, printer, Internet hotspot. So my biggest question is HVAC while sitting stationary will the vehicle stay comfortable and also the affects on the battery life. Along with the electronics affect on battery life.

I will be charging at home with a Juicebox 40 and at work with couple different options. Probable a similar level two most of the time.

let me know your thoughts on these matters and any questions

Congratulations! They are trying out a couple of these here in Montgomery County Maryland as well:

The HVAC keeps the car pretty comfortable but I guess you may not have the heated seats and wheel. HVAC battery drain isn't too bad but it will be interesting to see how bad it is when combined with all of your electronic gear. Keep us informed. This sounds like a great test.

 

[timbop]

There's no reason it won't be comfortable for you when sitting idle, and it should be able to drive all of the electronics without an issue either. In winter the electric heating element will draw more power than you would expect it to, but assuming it has them you can also use the seat and steering wheel heater to and turn the cabin temp down a little bit. As long as you don't charge it over 90% daily and don't let it go below 15% or so the battery should be just fine charging nightly off of the juicebox.

 

[shutterbug]

Can't really help with your main concern, which is probably using heater in the winter, while idling. But I think the yellow lightning bolt on the rear panel is a nice touch.

 

[RedStallion]

That looks cool. I wish I could decorate my car like that ?
In my experience A/C works great, you can probably run it for a couple of days non-stop before depleting the extended range battery.

 

[ahg]

Congratulations! They are trying out a couple of these here in Montgomery County Maryland as well:

The HVAC keeps the car pretty comfortable but I guess you may not have the heated seats and wheel. HVAC battery drain isn't too bad but it will be interesting to see how bad it is when combined with all of your electronic gear. Keep us informed. This sounds like a great test.

Presumably the electronics are inside the car so any electricity they draw ends up as heat that will not be needed from the HVAC. In other words you don't need to add the electronics draw to the HVAC. Of course this is only for stuff inside the car, not the outside lights.

 

[ahg]

That looks cool. I wish I could decorate my car like that ?
In my experience A/C works great, you can probably run it for a couple of days non-stop before depleting the extended range battery.

I have sat with the A/C on in the summer. I would estimate it uses about 1% of the battery for each hour.

 

[Stangracer]

You're kind of in uncharted waters leaving the HVAC and electronics on all day but with 50 to 70 miles of driving on a car with a 270 mile range my semi-educated guess is you'll be fine. People have posted energy useage stats on road trips and consumption for heat and air is pretty low percentage wise.

 

[Kabish]

Interesting.. Michigan PD gave the MME a huge fail grade for the usability of an MME as a patrol car.

 

[RickMachE]

Interesting.. Michigan PD gave the MME a huge fail grade for the usability of an MME as a patrol car.

??

Ford Mustang Mach-E passes Michigan State Police test as 1st all-electric pursuit vehicle

https://www.freep.com/story/money/c...h-e-michigan-state-police-testing/5840913001/

 

[timbop]

You're kind of in uncharted waters leaving the HVAC and electronics on all day but with 50 to 70 miles of driving on a car with a 270 mile range my semi-educated guess is you'll be fine. People have posted energy useage stats on road trips and consumption for heat and air is pretty low percentage wise.

He said it was a Select (which matches the wheels), so the EPA rated range is either 211 or 230 miles. He'll be fine.

EDIT: zooming in on the badge it looks like a RWD, so 230 EPA miles. plenty of range even in cold weather.

 

[voxel]

??

Ford Mustang Mach-E passes Michigan State Police test as 1st all-electric pursuit vehicle

https://www.freep.com/story/money/c...h-e-michigan-state-police-testing/5840913001/

This.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/43453/turns-out-the-ford-mustang-mach-e-doesnt-make-a-great-police-car

I mean it's not a performance oriented EV not a comfortable cruiser IMO.

"Performance wasn't its only issue, either, as the Mach-E was ranked as the least comfortable and usable in several areas. Its steering wheel and adjustability, mirror controls, door locks, window switches, and stability control access were all dinged, as were dashboard and trunk accessibility. It was ranked as the least comfortable vehicle overall and had the poorest visibility, both likely due in part to the Mach-E's coupe-like roof."

"The Mach-E's poor performance appears to stem mainly from a combination of traits specific to it and fundamental limitations with electric vehicles. As an engineer would say, they're just not right for this use case; they're not the perfect tool for the job. That's not to say they don't have a potentially useful role with police departments or other governmental organizations—they just need to not be bought carelessly, lest they result in millions of wasted taxpayer dollars. "

 

[RickMachE]

You said failed. It passed.

 

[timbop]

This.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/43453/turns-out-the-ford-mustang-mach-e-doesnt-make-a-great-police-car

I mean it's not a performance oriented EV not a comfortable cruiser IMO.

"Performance wasn't its only issue, either, as the Mach-E was ranked as the least comfortable and usable in several areas. Its steering wheel and adjustability, mirror controls, door locks, window switches, and stability control access were all dinged, as were dashboard and trunk accessibility. It was ranked as the least comfortable vehicle overall and had the poorest visibility, both likely due in part to the Mach-E's coupe-like roof."

"The Mach-E's poor performance appears to stem mainly from a combination of traits specific to it and fundamental limitations with electric vehicles. As an engineer would say, they're just not right for this use case; they're not the perfect tool for the job. That's not to say they don't have a potentially useful role with police departments or other governmental organizations—they just need to not be bought carelessly, lest they result in millions of wasted taxpayer dollars. "

That article wasn't slanted against EV's at all.

It performed well enough to be one of only 11 recommended by the report. It's moving on to real world testing to see how well it does as part of a mix of vehicles departments have. It's certainly far more fuel efficient when "idling", which probably counts for more than "environmental control clarity" and steering wheel adjustments.

 

[ARK]

In general, the heater will use much more electricity than the a/c. This person camped out in her Mach-E in the summer and lost only 7% of battery overnight while letting the a/c run for close to 8 hours. However, that's 7% from the larger battery (would be around 9% on the standard range battery). No idea how much the heater would use for 8 hours straight, but seems like if you are only driving 50 to 70 miles, you should still very much be fine.

You may also want to disable the vehicle's idle shut off. If the Mach-E remains on for 30 minutes without anything happening, the default is for the vehicle to shut itself off. You can access this setting by going to Settings -> Vehicle -> Vehicle Power Down Timer (turn it off).

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