No more road trips with our Mach-E. A 2 hour drive to Joshua Tree turns into a 3 hour drive.

astronut325

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2021
Threads
10
Messages
315
Reaction score
336
Location
Los Angeles, CA
Vehicles
Mach-E Premium, Toyota Camry, Honda Odyssey
Occupation
Software analyst
Country flag
Went to Joshua Tree from eastern Los Angeles. It’s about 110 miles each way. Going there I decided to stop at the Cabazon Electrify America station because I didn’t want to stop at the station at night on the way back home.

Got to the station. Completely full. There is an EV GO station immediately next to the EA station. I park in the EV GO spot, get out in the pouring rain, and spend the next 5 or so minutes plugging and unplugging because the charger just wouldn’t communicate with the Mach-E. Then it finally worked! Yay! But it capped out at 9KW. I charged for a little over 20 minutes and got a whopping 2% charge. Then someone cleared out of one EA spot. In the 20 minutes I charged with EV GO, a few EVs came, waited and then decided to keep moving. In an effort to secure the EA spot I asked my wife to block the spot for our Mach-E. That pissed off a few people waiting.

But that’s not all. I had to plug and unplug the EA connector many times and it would fail every single time. I’m already late to get to my destination and this was really boiling my blood. I eventually call the EA number, they do something and it finally works. About 15 minutes elapsed from the time I parked in the EA spot and the time I got my first charge. Got 15 minutes of charge and then emptied the EA spot as there was a line.


My frustrations with my Mach-E grow day by day. And with each 100+ mile trip I feel my hatred for the vehicle ascend to heights I never felt before. I do concede this isn’t necessarily on the Mach-E. This was on EV Go and Electrify America. However, I passed a Tesla Supercharger with plenty of spots and seamless charging. And last week I went on a trip with a buddy in his Tesla. Never a single issue at any Supercharger. Just put the address in and go. The software figures out what and where and how much you need to charge. And every charger just worked. Why can’t it be like that in the Mach-E?

I’m thinking of calling around to get trade in values for the Mach-E.
Sponsored

 

Mach-Lee

Well-Known Member
First Name
Lee
Joined
Jul 16, 2021
Threads
203
Messages
7,730
Reaction score
15,307
Location
Wisconsin
Vehicles
2022 Mach-E Premium AWD
Occupation
Sci/Eng
Country flag
Went to Joshua Tree from eastern Los Angeles. It’s about 110 miles each way. Going there I decided to stop at the Cabazon Electrify America station because I didn’t want to stop at the station at night on the way back home.

Got to the station. Completely full. There is an EV GO station immediately next to the EA station. I park in the EV GO spot, get out in the pouring rain, and spend the next 5 or so minutes plugging and unplugging because the charger just wouldn’t communicate with the Mach-E. Then it finally worked! Yay! But it capped out at 9KW. I charged for a little over 20 minutes and got a whopping 2% charge. Then someone cleared out of one EA spot. In the 20 minutes I charged with EV GO, a few EVs came, waited and then decided to keep moving. In an effort to secure the EA spot I asked my wife to block the spot for our Mach-E. That pissed off a few people waiting.

But that’s not all. I had to plug and unplug the EA connector many times and it would fail every single time. I’m already late to get to my destination and this was really boiling my blood. I eventually call the EA number, they do something and it finally works. About 15 minutes elapsed from the time I parked in the EA spot and the time I got my first charge. Got 15 minutes of charge and then emptied the EA spot as there was a line.


My frustrations with my Mach-E grow day by day. And with each 100+ mile trip I feel my hatred for the vehicle ascend to heights I never felt before. I do concede this isn’t necessarily on the Mach-E. This was on EV Go and Electrify America. However, I passed a Tesla Supercharger with plenty of spots and seamless charging. And last week I went on a trip with a buddy in his Tesla. Never a single issue at any Supercharger. Just put the address in and go. The software figures out what and where and how much you need to charge. And every charger just worked. Why can’t it be like that in the Mach-E?

I’m thinking of calling around to get trade in values for the Mach-E.
I have a few points:
  • Are you using Plug & Charge? You shouldn't have to mess with station activation. You can also set up Autocharge+ on EVgo.
  • You can check EA live availability in the Ford navigation system. Assuming the data is correct, you could have seen the EA station was full on the way there and stopped somewhere else. Or done the same in the EA app.
  • After having trouble at the first EVgo station, why didn't you go to the other EVgo station 1 mile away that has great reviews on PlugShare? The one you tried has horrible reviews.
  • I think having your wife block a charging spot so you could jump the line wasn't cool. First come first serve is how it always should work.
  • If your car has trouble with DCFC stations, it may need an OBCC module update to improve compatibility. You can check with Mike G to see if it's available for you car (you may have gotten it as an OTA).
  • Tesla route planning and Supercharger availability is certainly better, but like you said you can only blame so much on Ford here. It's not Ford's fault the charging stations are busy or broken. The Ford nav also tells you where to stop and how much to charge too just like Tesla.
  • Stopping at the station at night on the way back probably would have been the better choice. Not as busy. Pro tip right there, travel/charge at night so you get empty stations and higher charge rates. 12 PM to 6 PM on a weekend is the worst time to go to an EA station.
In a nutshell, I feel like you took the EA station availability for granted traveling at a peak time, which caused you to get angry because it was busy. If you're in a hurry, you should check the station status on the way and divert to an alternate charging station if necessary. The EA stations can get really busy at peak times, which is why traveling early in the morning or at night is better. You should set up and use Plug & Charge to save the aggravation, that works way better than using a credit card. Getting that OBCC update may help too. But if you're that angry, go ahead and sell the Mach-E and get a Tesla. They're cheap right now.
 

RickMachE

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2021
Threads
200
Messages
13,134
Reaction score
17,853
Location
SE MI
Vehicles
2022 Mach-E Premium 4X, 2022 Lightning Lariat
Country flag
I read it as Plug and Charge didn't work, and OP didn't know to open app and swipe charger to activate.

Also, hasn't set the Ford nav to only find high speed chargers.

This seems to be a user issue.
 

heisnuts

Well-Known Member
First Name
Darrel
Joined
Dec 5, 2021
Threads
21
Messages
933
Reaction score
1,923
Location
Oregon
Vehicles
Model 3 Performance
Country flag
Although I love the car, we do not take it on long road trips if time is of the essence and/or there are limited DCFC options along our route. Like your story points out so clearly, the public charging infrastructure is just not there yet. To me it is just not worth the headache from not only dealing with the charging issues, but also having my wife say over and over again this is exactly why she was so hesitant about getting an EV in the first place 😅
 


GreaseMonkey

Well-Known Member
First Name
Steve
Joined
Oct 3, 2021
Threads
11
Messages
1,551
Reaction score
2,285
Location
Chicago, IL
Vehicles
2022 Mach-E Premium ER AWD
Country flag
It sure takes more planning to go on a road trip, but think it’s totally manageable, especially in the summer. However, winter range limitations in the Midwest makes road trips too inconvenient.

On another note, I think Ford is actually contributing to the DCFC solution by requiring Model E dealers to install chargers...a very courageous move.
 

Kmp14

Well-Known Member
First Name
Ken
Joined
May 30, 2022
Threads
22
Messages
280
Reaction score
192
Location
Chicago
Vehicles
2023 Mach-E Premium AWD Extended
Country flag
I know it's going to take a while, probably a couple years, but I sure hope Ford dealer start getting those DCFC chargers in soon! That will really help.
 

Electric Goat

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 31, 2021
Threads
12
Messages
808
Reaction score
1,656
Location
Twin Cities, MN
Vehicles
'21 Mach-E GT
Occupation
3x HVBJB Failure Tester
Country flag
My rule of thumb for Mach-E road trips:

Add 30% to the google maps travel time to account for charging. If the additional 30% does not work for my schedule then I'll just take an ICE car or fly.

I figure that I'll only have to suffer through this for a few more years until the charge network gets built out and charge speeds reliably increase.
 
OP
OP
astronut325

astronut325

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2021
Threads
10
Messages
315
Reaction score
336
Location
Los Angeles, CA
Vehicles
Mach-E Premium, Toyota Camry, Honda Odyssey
Occupation
Software analyst
Country flag
I have a few points:
  • Are you using Plug & Charge? You shouldn't have to mess with station activation. You can also set up Autocharge+ on EVgo.
  • You can check EA live availability in the Ford navigation system. Assuming the data is correct, you could have seen the EA station was full on the way there and stopped somewhere else. Or done the same in the EA app.
  • After having trouble at the first EVgo station, why didn't you go to the other EVgo station 1 mile away that has great reviews on PlugShare? The one you tried has horrible reviews.
  • I think having your wife block a charging spot so you could jump the line wasn't cool. First come first serve is how it always should work.
  • If your car has trouble with DCFC stations, it may need an OBCC module update to improve compatibility. You can check with Mike G to see if it's available for you car (you may have gotten it as an OTA).
  • Tesla route planning and Supercharger availability is certainly better, but like you said you can only blame so much on Ford here. It's not Ford's fault the charging stations are busy or broken. The Ford nav also tells you where to stop and how much to charge too just like Tesla.
  • Stopping at the station at night on the way back probably would have been the better choice. Not as busy. Pro tip right there, travel/charge at night so you get empty stations and higher charge rates. 12 PM to 6 PM on a weekend is the worst time to go to an EA station.
In a nutshell, I feel like you took the EA station availability for granted traveling at a peak time, which caused you to get angry because it was busy. If you're in a hurry, you should check the station status on the way and divert to an alternate charging station if necessary. The EA stations can get really busy at peak times, which is why traveling early in the morning or at night is better. You should set up and use Plug & Charge to save the aggravation, that works way better than using a credit card. Getting that OBCC update may help too. But if you're that angry, go ahead and sell the Mach-E and get a Tesla. They're cheap right now.
Thank you for this reply.
  • Not set up with plug and charge. That is absolutely my mistake.
  • I did check in the EA app as I was pulling in to the parking lot. It said one spot was available. When I got there it was full.
  • I didn’t think it was worth the risk after already dealing with a broken EV GO charger where we were.
  • When the EA spot opened only one other car was waiting. We were charging on the broken EV GO station. And for some reason, that other car left just as my wife got out of the car. So we didn’t jump the line. It was simply to make sure someone else that comes along doesn’t take spot while I unplug and move the car.
  • I’m on 4.1.2.
  • I do not agree that this isn’t Ford’s fault. I don’t see them contributing anything meaningful towards improving the availability of charging infrastructure. This never would be a point of discussion in a Tesla. This is what the rest of the manufacturers should be striving for. My buddy road tripped from CA to Florida in his Tesla. Not one broken charger in his entire trip and never had to check any apps, or make any help calls. Just set the route and go.
  • This is a good point. I do acknowledge that we were hitting a peak period and that charging on the way home would have potentially been better. However, we passed the Tesla Supercharger when entering the Cabazon outlet. 16 charging stations. EA had 4 and EV Go had 1. The Tesla Supercharger looked like it was at about half capacity.
I do realize that I was hitting peak demand, but it wasn’t an issue for the Tesla Supercharger in the same location. I will set up plug and charge. However, both my wife and I agreed and we won’t be doing anymore 100+ trips in the Mach-E. I did check the apps throughout the journey to monitor availability and it just didn’t pan out. Not connecting when plugged in was a much bigger issue.
 

HGxxx

Well-Known Member
First Name
Harish
Joined
Nov 16, 2022
Threads
0
Messages
260
Reaction score
304
Location
New york
Vehicles
Fusion energi, mach e premium standard range
Country flag
I think anyone buying a non Tesla, and planning road trips need to do their homework. If what Tesla offers is that important or that's what you absolutely need then buy a Tesla😁. I bought mach e as I don't want to be another white model y and my trips are usually less than 100 miles
 

AKgrampy

Well-Known Member
First Name
Mike
Joined
Jan 29, 2022
Threads
5
Messages
2,835
Reaction score
2,785
Location
Fairbanks, Alaska
Vehicles
Ford Expedition, Ford F-150, Mach E GT
Occupation
Retired
Country flag
It sure takes more planning to go on a road trip, but think it’s totally manageable, especially in the summer. However, winter range limitations in the Midwest makes road trips too inconvenient.

On another note, I think Ford is actually contributing to the DCFC solution by requiring Model E dealers to install chargers...a very courageous move.
A courageous move would have been Ford installing the chargers and not forcing it on the dealers to make the investment. Net overall effect though will be more DCFC available.
 
OP
OP
astronut325

astronut325

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2021
Threads
10
Messages
315
Reaction score
336
Location
Los Angeles, CA
Vehicles
Mach-E Premium, Toyota Camry, Honda Odyssey
Occupation
Software analyst
Country flag
I think anyone buying a non Tesla, and planning road trips need to do their homework. If what Tesla offers is that important or that's what you absolutely need then buy a Tesla😁. I bought mach e as I don't want to be another white model y and my trips are usually less than 100 miles
We absolutely won’t ever do any long trips in the Mach-E. We knew this prior to purchase. The hope was that it would at least do local day trips. Nope. No more.
 
OP
OP
astronut325

astronut325

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2021
Threads
10
Messages
315
Reaction score
336
Location
Los Angeles, CA
Vehicles
Mach-E Premium, Toyota Camry, Honda Odyssey
Occupation
Software analyst
Country flag
I know it's going to take a while, probably a couple years, but I sure hope Ford dealer start getting those DCFC chargers in soon! That will really help.
I’m having a really hard time understanding this plan. The need for fast chargers is along major highways and freeways. Especially in between major metro areas. I don’t see Ford dealers when I’m on the way out of town alongside the freeways.
 

RickMachE

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2021
Threads
200
Messages
13,134
Reaction score
17,853
Location
SE MI
Vehicles
2022 Mach-E Premium 4X, 2022 Lightning Lariat
Country flag
I’m having a really hard time understanding this plan. The need for fast chargers is along major highways and freeways. Especially in between major metro areas. I don’t see Ford dealers when I’m on the way out of town alongside the freeways.
Then you're not on the right highways... Ford has over 3,000 dealers. Many are visible from the highway.

Based on your comments, I wouldn't keep the car. It's not for you. Simply reading your posts since July screams that. And you've had it for 6 months and didn't turn on Plug and Charge, which is a day 1 thing to do, to use your free charging hours? What app are you using to charge?

But of course that's your choice to keep it or not, you've just had a pissed off bent for 6 months of posts.
 

tannerk89

Well-Known Member
First Name
Tanner
Joined
Oct 31, 2021
Threads
14
Messages
683
Reaction score
984
Location
Roanoke, VA
Vehicles
Mach-E P4X
Occupation
Project Manager
Country flag
Sounds like you don’t really know how to road trip in an EV and want to blame anything other than yourself. Learn to adapt or be miserable with your purchase 🤷🏼‍♂️. I had a similar experience on my first road trip to Charlotte, NC (about 110 miles from where I live) a week after I got the car. It was annoying but I got through the learning curve quickly after that and have done multiple road trips with my young kids over 1,500 miles with no issues whatsoever.

Also, there’s ford dealers literally all over the highways, within 2 miles of an exit, if you haven’t seen them you need a eye check.
Sponsored

 
 




Top