JamieGeek

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Gas is different since there's stations everywhere and it only take 3 minutes to fill up. And there is a reminder in the car if you get to "almost out". We often aren't checking the gas gauge frequently to see if we're about out. Definitely had some "Oh crap, we need gas" moments. But it's an easy refuel.

We don't have that luxury with BEVs. It's not nearly as quick and easy to just pop in for 3 minutes and refuel when running around.

If there's no negative to just plugging in every single time you return home, then I'd agree -- just make it a habit. But there's some that say it shortens the life of the battery to keep doing more recharge cycles than you really need. I don't know if that's true or not. Is it the cycles, or the # of kWhs? Is it worse to do keep doing two 20 kWh charges than it is to do one 40 kWh charge?
But that was kind of my point: You just check the gauge when you get home and plug in or not. You've already said you're going to limit your Mach-E travels to just around town. That means after every trip when you come home you look: "Do I need to plugin?"

If you want to do the "do fewer large charges" idea then set a low percentage "I'll only charge up when its below a 25% state of charge--or if I need a long trip tomorrow". If you want to do more short charge cycles then simply plug it in every night (I hope Ford lets us pick the % to charge to--then either of these options becomes available).

You can see from my post above that I'm doing both with my Bolt: In winter I charge up every night and in summer I do fewer charges but they are deeper into the battery.

So far my Bolt hasn't shown any battery degredation at all--in fact none of my plugins have: The Focus Electric was still showing the same range/power usage the day I turned in the lease as it did the day I picked it up, my C-Max Energi was the same way. Granted you really shouldn't see much after only 3 years but "I have read on the internet" LOL.

I have noted that several battery "experts" define a charge cycle as using enough power to drain and fill the battery (thus 4 charges from 3/4 to full is the same as one charge from empty to full). By that definition it doesn't matter what your charge pattern is.
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agoldman

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With a 200+ mile range EV its the same: pull into the garage, look at the gauge and think "oh I have to plug in now". The only real difference here is where you "fill 'er up". Its very nice plugging in at home because it only adds like 10 seconds to your "pull into the garage" routine and you have a "full tank" in the morning...don't even have to think about it.
Unless you just get distracted and forget (has happened to me) at which point you wake up and need to let work know you're going to be a wee bit late... oh well...
 

Nak

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There is really no reason not to plug in your car every time you come home, assuming you have your charger right by your parking spot. Conversely, there is a reason you should plug in your car at every convenient opportunity. Just sitting there the car is using power. Perhaps not much, but it is still a drain. No one knows what the parasitic drain will be on the Mach-e, but it will be there. On the Tesla, enabling certain features--like sentry mode--can increase your parasitic drain up to 24 miles a day. If your car is plugged in, that power will be supplied by the charger, and not by the battery. That means that over time you are decreasing the number of battery charge cycles thereby reducing battery degradation.

If you trade in your cars every few years, this really won't affect you much. But remember, EV's are going to change the way we think about car age. There's no reason a well built EV can't last a half million miles on average. that extra battery degradation that builds up over the years is going to affect someone. Maybe even you if you end up keeping your car long term. Even if you sell the car in four years, a little less degradation might mean higher resale value.

I'm not suggesting you go through a big hassle to plug in your car. If it's a PITA to set up your charging, then it's probably not worth it. But if it is a PITA to charge, you might want to fix that anyways. I installed two wall chargers in my garage. One for each EV parking spot. You park, get out of the car, plug it in, and go inside. I mean Christ, you're talking a couple of seconds. Why wouldn't you plug it in?

All of that said, scheduling your charging is a great idea. Tesla has a great scheduler, and the Mach-e's is supposed to be even better. (The Ford app will allow you to set the schedule from the app, Tesla requires the schedule to be set in the car.) As long as the car is plugged in, parasitic power is drawn from the charger. Having the battery scheduled to reach your desired charge level just before you depart in the morning warms the battery up so that regenerative braking is more effective. (If your battery is cold, regenerative braking will be diminished until the battery warms up.) Your car will be toasty warm as soon as you get in. If your eco-conscious friends berate you for "wasting" energy pre-warming your car, just tell them you're doing it for the planet. Pre-warming the car uses energy from the grid, decreasing charge cycles on the battery and delays the day your battery will need to end up in a land fill. (At least the parts that can't be recycled.)
 

dbsb3233

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But that was kind of my point: You just check the gauge when you get home and plug in or not. You've already said you're going to limit your Mach-E travels to just around town. That means after every trip when you come home you look: "Do I need to plugin?"

If you want to do the "do fewer large charges" idea then set a low percentage "I'll only charge up when its below a 25% state of charge--or if I need a long trip tomorrow". If you want to do more short charge cycles then simply plug it in every night (I hope Ford lets us pick the % to charge to--then either of these options becomes available).

You can see from my post above that I'm doing both with my Bolt: In winter I charge up every night and in summer I do fewer charges but they are deeper into the battery.

So far my Bolt hasn't shown any battery degredation at all--in fact none of my plugins have: The Focus Electric was still showing the same range/power usage the day I turned in the lease as it did the day I picked it up, my C-Max Energi was the same way. Granted you really shouldn't see much after only 3 years but "I have read on the internet" LOL.

I have noted that several battery "experts" define a charge cycle as using enough power to drain and fill the battery (thus 4 charges from 3/4 to full is the same as one charge from empty to full). By that definition it doesn't matter what your charge pattern is.
No doubt that will be the intended plan -- keeping a much closer eye on that battery gauge than we're used to doing with the gas gauge. But at the same time, it's gonna be forgotten once in a while, just as we forget to plug in our cell phone every once in a while. All I'm saying is that it would be a nice feature to have (a configurable verbal reminder triggered when turning off the car).

It does appear that battery degradation is becoming less and less of a concern with newer batteries. If it's true that there's no significant difference in degradation between charging (for instance) 50 kWh all at once vs split up over 3 separate charges, it's all moot anyway. Easiest just to plug in every time you get home.
 

dbsb3233

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There is really no reason not to plug in your car every time you come home, assuming you have your charger right by your parking spot. Conversely, there is a reason you should plug in your car at every convenient opportunity. Just sitting there the car is using power. Perhaps not much, but it is still a drain. No one knows what the parasitic drain will be on the Mach-e, but it will be there. On the Tesla, enabling certain features--like sentry mode--can increase your parasitic drain up to 24 miles a day. If your car is plugged in, that power will be supplied by the charger, and not by the battery. That means that over time you are decreasing the number of battery charge cycles thereby reducing battery degradation.
Any idea if people have a problem parking a BEV at the airport for 2-3 weeks without use? 24 miles/day loss would be a problem for 2 weeks, but hopefully it's nothing close to that with extraneous features like that turned off.

If you trade in your cars every few years, this really won't affect you much. But remember, EV's are going to change the way we think about car age. There's no reason a well built EV can't last a half million miles on average. that extra battery degradation that builds up over the years is going to affect someone. Maybe even you if you end up keeping your car long term. Even if you sell the car in four years, a little less degradation might mean higher resale value.
Or simply replacing the battery pack. I'm hoping that becomes a more viable option in the future as battery prices keep dropping and battery capability (range and charging speed) improve.

While I'm not really expecting it, I'm not ruling out the possibility of a (much better) battery pack replacement in 5-7 years costing not much more than the $5000 I'm saving by not buying the ER battery now. If a 400+ mile 15-minute charge battery became available in the future, that would potentially turn it into the road trip vehicle too (which it won't be now with <200 effective range at 75 MPH and 30-45 minute recharges).
 


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Any idea if people have a problem parking a BEV at the airport for 2-3 weeks without use? 24 miles/day loss would be a problem for 2 weeks, but hopefully it's nothing close to that with extraneous features like that turned off.
I fly for a living, so I park at the airport a lot. The first time I left it at the airport, I lost 120 miles in range over 5 days. o_O:oops: I was down to 25 miles of range when I got to the car--170 miles from home. Fortunately there is a supercharger 5 miles from where I park. I learned then. Turn off anything that might draw power when you park long term. For a Tesla, that means "Sentry" mode and Summon standby mode. (It keeps the computers and cell network powered up so you can summon the car quickly.) All EVs need to have a "Long Term Parking" mode to cut parasitic loss to the bare minimum. The Tesla Model 3 does not currently have such a mode.
 

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Having the battery scheduled to reach your desired charge level just before you depart in the morning warms the battery up so that regenerative braking is more effective. (If your battery is cold, regenerative braking will be diminished until the battery warms up.) Your car will be toasty warm as soon as you get in.
Interesting, just charging the battery warms them up so much that it also warms up the cabin? So during cold overnights there's no need to pre-warm the cabin in the morning using the HVAC system if you've scheduled charging for right before you get in the car?

Anyone know if the app or onboard system allows you to schedule a time for pre-heating cabin btw?
 

ChasingCoral

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I would hope so. That feature is even built into my 2016 Nissan Leaf.
 

GoGoGadgetMachE

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Anyone know if the app or onboard system allows you to schedule a time for pre-heating cabin btw?
The Energis have had this forever (my 2013 has it - a few years back that was still impressive, even to Tesla owners), so I can't imagine they won't carry it over to this vehicle. At least in the Energis, it's three temperatures to choose from, and it's easily accessed in the (old, but recently majorly refreshed) MyFord Mobile app. They are called "Go Times."
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Nak

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Interesting, just charging the battery warms them up so much that it also warms up the cabin? So during cold overnights there's no need to pre-warm the cabin in the morning using the HVAC system if you've scheduled charging for right before you get in the car?

Anyone know if the app or onboard system allows you to schedule a time for pre-heating cabin btw?
I apologize as my post wasn't clear. What I meant was that when you schedule a finish time for charging, the Tesla also turns on climate control so that the car is at your set temperature at your scheduled finish time. My guess is that the Mach-e will do the same thing, but that is just a guess.
 

macchiaz-o

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I apologize as my post wasn't clear. What I meant was that when you schedule a finish time for charging, the Tesla also turns on climate control so that the car is at your set temperature at your scheduled finish time. My guess is that the Mach-e will do the same thing, but that is just a guess.
Yep. This is covered in the FAQ:

4. What can I do to help maximize my range?
a) Use Departure Times to begin cabin conditioning (heat or cool) while your vehicle is plugged in. This helps ensure that your vehicle is ready for the upcoming drive and you do not use the battery to heat or cool the cabin at the beginning of your trip. You can set departure times in the vehicle or using the FordPass™ App.

b) Use your vehicle’s heated accessories rather than cranking up the heat in the cabin. Heated accessories (steering wheel, seats, etc.) use less energy than heating the entire cabin.

c) Practice eco-driving. Using eco-driving techniques can help maximize your range all year round. Some eco-driving tips include watching your speed and minimizing hard starts. You can also visit www.FuelEconomy.gov for more EV eco-driving tips.

d) Brush the snow off your car before driving. Snow or ice on your vehicle adds extra weight that your battery and electric motor have to move and increases aerodynamic drag by changing your vehicle’s profile. (It is also safer to drive without all that snow on your car.)
 

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My Ford Escape 2018 has scheduled time that you can set via Ford Pass
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In the 10k-mile road trip that's playing out by username "louv" at the Taycan forum, he left his Taycan at the SFO airport for several days while going to Maui and back, and he found zero change in his battery range when he returned to his Taycan at SFO.
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