OP
OP
Mach_Enrique
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Chris
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2020
- Threads
- 6
- Messages
- 92
- Reaction score
- 310
- Location
- Denver
- Vehicles
- 2023 Lighting; 2021 Mach E GT;2018 Subaru WRX STI
- Occupation
- Finance
- Thread starter
- #31
(this post was also added to the first post so folks seeing this for the first time have one-stop-long read)
Epilogue - April 1st 2022 (no jokes)
Made the drive out to get my GT and brought her home. Happy to report the drive home was great and no issues. Three DCFC stops later and we were home. I had a great chat with the tech who did the work, he showed me a lot of pictures of the dropped battery, the BECM, etc. Was very cool to see (been a while since I watched the Munroe tear down). A few quick highlights of the trip home:
DCFC: The car got all the latest updates so I noted the new charging curve was in place. The car seemed to charge faster to 80% than I remember. It would peak at 160kWh on the EA charge at the start and seemed to by between 70-100 as it approached 80. I stayed much higher on the 80-90 I noticed when we stopped for lunch which was a one hour stop and I ended up going from ~8% to ~94% in that hour.
Range: I had the same experience on range as the first trip. With the 75-80 mph on I-70 we averaged about 1.9mi/kWh as it is a gentle up hill slope on average back into Colorado from Kansas. Not the best 80mph/80% SoC range (88kWh @ 80% = 70.4kWh * 1.9 mi/kWh = 134mi). So the roughly 100 miles of distance between EA chargers on Kansas I-70 is about right for the MachE. That is about 1.5-2 hour driving stretches which is not bad for most people...my traveling companions normally don't do well with longer sprints than that so it works out. For me personally, for highway trips I would like to have the option to run 200-250 miles between charges from 80%.
Blues Cruise: We used BC a lot on the way home. I stupidly forgot to ask the tech about what software updates they did (I was told before I picked up the car they did "all of them" but meant to get the list and forgot in my excitement to get on the road). BC did seem to behave a little better on the way home. I did not notice the "right side bias" as much. I was also impressed with how BC handled a Kansas cross wind. The drive home was pretty windy (as Kansas is, hence the massive wind farms you pass) and the BC handled keeping the car in lane fighting the cross wind and gusts. We mostly had hands on the wheel so BC continues to be more of a luxury to take your hands off the wheel to stretch, eat, take a cap off your drink with two hands, etc. Definitely helps on the long rides. Tough call to decide if I would pay a subscription for it vs. CP360 Adaptive Cruise.
Suspension: Quick word on suspension. Someone above pointed out how bad the roads are on I-70 once you cross into Colorado from Kansas. Holy bounce o rama Batman did I feel it the second we passed the "Welcome to Colorado" sign. I was in the passenger seat for this and must say it was pretty brutal. By the time we got closer to Denver and to better highway quality, I had wished I had gotten the GT PE. I was close to placing my order for PE back in early 2021 but that was before they updated the ranges and I did not like the look of the seats. But with 20/20 hindsight, the cooler wheels and magneride would have offset my dislike of the seats and I coulda/shoulda/woulda dropped $5K more.
Conclusion: Well that's all she wrote! Glad to have the car home, clean and ready to drive every day again. I still love my GT and still get excited every time I drive it. Despite the BECM brick issue that took my car out, the service and support made the year-one early adopter risk still worth it. Will I take long road trips (more than 1-2 DCFC stops) again? I will not. We will take our MDX. Maybe my next EV will have the range, comfort and confidence for long trips, but not the MachE. I have a ways to go before I can see becoming a two EV family. But I will, until I have to uber and mooch rides from my kids (aka get too old to drive), drive an EV. If Ford keeps up the pace they are on, my next one will be a Ford EV too.
Epilogue - April 1st 2022 (no jokes)
Made the drive out to get my GT and brought her home. Happy to report the drive home was great and no issues. Three DCFC stops later and we were home. I had a great chat with the tech who did the work, he showed me a lot of pictures of the dropped battery, the BECM, etc. Was very cool to see (been a while since I watched the Munroe tear down). A few quick highlights of the trip home:
DCFC: The car got all the latest updates so I noted the new charging curve was in place. The car seemed to charge faster to 80% than I remember. It would peak at 160kWh on the EA charge at the start and seemed to by between 70-100 as it approached 80. I stayed much higher on the 80-90 I noticed when we stopped for lunch which was a one hour stop and I ended up going from ~8% to ~94% in that hour.
Range: I had the same experience on range as the first trip. With the 75-80 mph on I-70 we averaged about 1.9mi/kWh as it is a gentle up hill slope on average back into Colorado from Kansas. Not the best 80mph/80% SoC range (88kWh @ 80% = 70.4kWh * 1.9 mi/kWh = 134mi). So the roughly 100 miles of distance between EA chargers on Kansas I-70 is about right for the MachE. That is about 1.5-2 hour driving stretches which is not bad for most people...my traveling companions normally don't do well with longer sprints than that so it works out. For me personally, for highway trips I would like to have the option to run 200-250 miles between charges from 80%.
Blues Cruise: We used BC a lot on the way home. I stupidly forgot to ask the tech about what software updates they did (I was told before I picked up the car they did "all of them" but meant to get the list and forgot in my excitement to get on the road). BC did seem to behave a little better on the way home. I did not notice the "right side bias" as much. I was also impressed with how BC handled a Kansas cross wind. The drive home was pretty windy (as Kansas is, hence the massive wind farms you pass) and the BC handled keeping the car in lane fighting the cross wind and gusts. We mostly had hands on the wheel so BC continues to be more of a luxury to take your hands off the wheel to stretch, eat, take a cap off your drink with two hands, etc. Definitely helps on the long rides. Tough call to decide if I would pay a subscription for it vs. CP360 Adaptive Cruise.
Suspension: Quick word on suspension. Someone above pointed out how bad the roads are on I-70 once you cross into Colorado from Kansas. Holy bounce o rama Batman did I feel it the second we passed the "Welcome to Colorado" sign. I was in the passenger seat for this and must say it was pretty brutal. By the time we got closer to Denver and to better highway quality, I had wished I had gotten the GT PE. I was close to placing my order for PE back in early 2021 but that was before they updated the ranges and I did not like the look of the seats. But with 20/20 hindsight, the cooler wheels and magneride would have offset my dislike of the seats and I coulda/shoulda/woulda dropped $5K more.
Conclusion: Well that's all she wrote! Glad to have the car home, clean and ready to drive every day again. I still love my GT and still get excited every time I drive it. Despite the BECM brick issue that took my car out, the service and support made the year-one early adopter risk still worth it. Will I take long road trips (more than 1-2 DCFC stops) again? I will not. We will take our MDX. Maybe my next EV will have the range, comfort and confidence for long trips, but not the MachE. I have a ways to go before I can see becoming a two EV family. But I will, until I have to uber and mooch rides from my kids (aka get too old to drive), drive an EV. If Ford keeps up the pace they are on, my next one will be a Ford EV too.
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