Ajax
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Ajax
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2021
- Threads
- 7
- Messages
- 84
- Reaction score
- 99
- Location
- Minnesota
- Vehicles
- Infinite Blue 4x Extended
- Thread starter
- #1
I had two weeks to myself while the wife and kids were visiting the in-laws, but I was getting bored and had some PTO to burn, so I surprised them by making a huge road trip out there to see them (and the in-laws) during the 4th of July weekend. I wanted to do a "dry run" of the trip alone because my kids are 4 and 6 and are not yet ready for multiple days of car travel, but it's a trip we might try next summer or the following one. I wanted to see if the Mach-E was comfy enough for me to sit in all day (check) and how much of a pain a longer trip would be (short answer: not bad at all).
Background: I was pretty reticent to make this trip in the first place with all of the HVBJB stuff posted on here in the last few weeks. I knew I'd be fast charging for 2-3 days straight each way and that L2 charging would be rare. I decided to do it anyway since, as mentioned, I was alone and wouldn't be bringing the whole family along for any unfortunate car issues that might crop up. For additional context, my Mach-E is extended range AWD and I sort of decided on a whim to go, so I didn't have time to get in for the dealer-based recall fix. I started with about 7.5k miles and ended with 10.5k miles.
Route: I planned out the route via ABRP and Apple Maps, but halfway through the outbound journey I ditched my "official" plans and trusted Apple Maps for the rest of the trip. Worked great with CarPlay and never led me astray. I think there was just one time where I wanted a supplemental charge for a leg, and the Ford nav was good at locating a charger for me.
I would NOT do this for a trip that wasn't 95%+ interstate driving—I'd still want a plan for anything that's well off the grid. I live in Minnesota and in some areas DCFC is only available every 1-2 hours, so you need to plan ahead. For example, I can get to my mom's house in northern MN starting with a full charge, but once I'm there I'd need to spend several hours at a L2 to get to a comfortable daily use level, so it's better to DCFC up to 60-70% halfway there so that I don't have to worry about daily use. But on this trip there were plenty of EA stations at Sheets or Walmart. I used EA exclusively, which was nice since I had the full 250kWh balance to burn. I think I spent a total of $100 on charging and half that on tolls for the entire trip. Most "fill-ups" at EA were between $10 and $15, and I was generally doing 20%>80% or 30% > 80% SoC. I was surprised at how fast I charged (even using just the 150 kW exclusively)—I was thinking I'd have time to go eat at a restaurant etc., but most stops were around 20-25 minutes total.
Stops
I am a bigger fella and like to get out and stretch my legs. I also don't like being in the car ALL day. I originally wanted to do the (24 driving hours) trip in 2 days, but after the first day (Minneapolis > Toledo, OH), I opted for 2.5 days each way to spread it out and not sit in the car as much. I also don't like night driving, so I generally drove from around 8-9 am to 8-9 pm with stops for meals, biobreaks, charging etc. I found I didn't really mind the DCFC stops and ended up liking them since I got to chat with folks including a new Lightning owner (see below), Mach-E owners, etc. I probably wouldn't do this trip in the winter, though.
Some takeaways:
I helped a new Lightning owner do their first DCFC! He had purchased it on Friday, this was from Sunday. The truck looks great.
Mach-E trifecta somewhere off the Ohio turnpike:
Look who decided to park next to me outside my hotel in Toledo!
Efficiency of 3.5 mi/kWh for the first leg of the trip. 2nd leg was pretty similar.
Background: I was pretty reticent to make this trip in the first place with all of the HVBJB stuff posted on here in the last few weeks. I knew I'd be fast charging for 2-3 days straight each way and that L2 charging would be rare. I decided to do it anyway since, as mentioned, I was alone and wouldn't be bringing the whole family along for any unfortunate car issues that might crop up. For additional context, my Mach-E is extended range AWD and I sort of decided on a whim to go, so I didn't have time to get in for the dealer-based recall fix. I started with about 7.5k miles and ended with 10.5k miles.
Route: I planned out the route via ABRP and Apple Maps, but halfway through the outbound journey I ditched my "official" plans and trusted Apple Maps for the rest of the trip. Worked great with CarPlay and never led me astray. I think there was just one time where I wanted a supplemental charge for a leg, and the Ford nav was good at locating a charger for me.
I would NOT do this for a trip that wasn't 95%+ interstate driving—I'd still want a plan for anything that's well off the grid. I live in Minnesota and in some areas DCFC is only available every 1-2 hours, so you need to plan ahead. For example, I can get to my mom's house in northern MN starting with a full charge, but once I'm there I'd need to spend several hours at a L2 to get to a comfortable daily use level, so it's better to DCFC up to 60-70% halfway there so that I don't have to worry about daily use. But on this trip there were plenty of EA stations at Sheets or Walmart. I used EA exclusively, which was nice since I had the full 250kWh balance to burn. I think I spent a total of $100 on charging and half that on tolls for the entire trip. Most "fill-ups" at EA were between $10 and $15, and I was generally doing 20%>80% or 30% > 80% SoC. I was surprised at how fast I charged (even using just the 150 kW exclusively)—I was thinking I'd have time to go eat at a restaurant etc., but most stops were around 20-25 minutes total.
Stops
I am a bigger fella and like to get out and stretch my legs. I also don't like being in the car ALL day. I originally wanted to do the (24 driving hours) trip in 2 days, but after the first day (Minneapolis > Toledo, OH), I opted for 2.5 days each way to spread it out and not sit in the car as much. I also don't like night driving, so I generally drove from around 8-9 am to 8-9 pm with stops for meals, biobreaks, charging etc. I found I didn't really mind the DCFC stops and ended up liking them since I got to chat with folks including a new Lightning owner (see below), Mach-E owners, etc. I probably wouldn't do this trip in the winter, though.
Some takeaways:
- Bluecruise was pretty great overall. I had to get used to it centering me slightly to the right of where I'd normally be in lanes, but sometimes it just had to ping-pong a bit before settling into a good groove.
- That said, there are times when I deliberately turned off Bluecruise, e.g. passing semis or when there was a lot of traffic or construction.
- Hotels that list EV charging generally do not have EV charging in practice, at least in my limited experience. If you know you want to get going early in the AM without charging first, it's best to charge up before you arrive at a hotel. More info: a hotel I stayed at around DC had 3 chargers that were all Level 1 and didn't work as well as a few Tesla-specific ones that were already occupied by Teslas. A second hotel in Milwaukee on the way back advertised EV charging and only had 1 Tesla tap.
- I only saw a few Mach-Es on the road but plenty at DCFC stations!
- Overall this is a very capable road trip car. I drove the mileage equivalent of Seattle to New York over 5 days and loved it!
- avoid fast acceleration and speeds (>80mph) 5 mins before and after DCFC — avoid fast acceleration in general, but this isn't always possible
- if it's hot out, wait 5 mins before starting DCFC and 5 mins after DCFC
- (questionable) remote start car so battery "vents" open and continue cooling battery — not sure if this is legit, just something I noticed when doing a remote start recently
- use whisper when getting on/off freeways after DCFC, wait a few minutes before going back up to Engage/Unbridled
- keep speeds under 80mph generally
I helped a new Lightning owner do their first DCFC! He had purchased it on Friday, this was from Sunday. The truck looks great.
Mach-E trifecta somewhere off the Ohio turnpike:
Look who decided to park next to me outside my hotel in Toledo!
Efficiency of 3.5 mi/kWh for the first leg of the trip. 2nd leg was pretty similar.
