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

[HGxxx]

I'm very hesitant going on road trips during the holidays, theres just not enough charges.

But for me I wouldn't ditch the Mach-E, another option is get a car gas rental for holiday road trips. Even Tesla has availability issues during the holidays.
[/QUOT

The video below, reposted in another thread over a year ago, illustrates the long haul grass ain't any greener, just another shade of grey.

The solution isn't simply more taps, which, of course, is necessary, but a different approach to long haul traveling in the age of 65-75 kWh legs. Seems like there's huge opportunity here, but I don't see any significant investment in this future, even in Cali., though the Kettleman City station is a step in the right direction.

Long line of cars waiting for a charge.

I should have added that I went ev ( Tesla or non Tesla) because I don't road trip often. Back up car is a phev

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[Ghost Mach-E]

I,ll say it again has many have before me, EV's are not for everyone. Its takes a certain kind of person someone fun with basic technical knowledge, patience and good planners.

 

[RickMachE]

Because the income is pennies and doesn’t even cover the cost to retrofit the chargers (could be hundreds of thousand per location) and software development. Government needs to print more of that fiat money and dump it at the feet of Tesla via NEVI for it to happen.

Instead of getting angry at another random carmaker(that you don’t even own a car from) how about directing towards Ford? Mercedes and Rivian are building out a network. Same with GM.

What is Ford doing? Press releases about Charging Karens (I mean Angels).

Let's see - Ford is mandating that dealers put in DC fast chargers. There are about 2,000 dealers that have agreed to do so.

I'm not sure if I could handle waiting 45-60 minutes getting a charge even when things go smoothly, and that's not even considering being out in the rain, cold, heat.

You should never buy an EV. You get out, connect, get back in the car. When it's done (25 - 35 minutes, not 45-60), you get out and unplug.

But it's clear, EVs aren't for you. Don't buy one.

 

[BigMach-E]

Can you road trip in a Mach-E, even standard range, even in the winter? Yes, absolutely, it takes a lot more planning, and it’s easier if you have more time to stop and if a multi day trip, you get a Tesla tap equivalent, and stop at hotels that have chargers.

 

[jamelski]

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.

You sound like a whinny baby get over yourself

 

[macchiaz-o]

I am a bit jaded as my local dealer is opting out and after Dec there will be no service within 350 miles. There are only about 10 or 12 Ford EV’S in town so no need for DCFC. I am not 100% sure the Ford dealer in Anchorage is opting in either and if not the nearest service is 1500 miles.

Yikes. That is bad.

I think it's mostly due to the low population density where you live, though. Unless I'm reading this wrong, your closest Tesla Service Center is in Edmonton AB, Canada... about 1,800 miles.

If Ford ends up ending servicing in Fairbanks, it might be worth considering a GM product or whatever other brand is still viable there.

https://www.tesla.com/findus/list/services/United+States
https://www.tesla.com/findus/list/services/Canada

 

[MellowJohnny]

<snip>
The MME does require you to plan.

So did the Model T...and carry tools to fix it on the way, and buy gas at the hardware store. But you had an automobile! What an amazing invention, just a few years away from completely changing the entire landscape of the USA. Cutting edge stuff, that Model T.

The way I look at Mach-E ownership is basically like the modern equivalent of the Model T. Cutting edge stuff, but not without problems.

 

[gpgrim]

Can you road trip in a Mach-E, even standard range, even in the winter? Yes, absolutely, it takes a lot more planning, and it’s easier if you have more time to stop and if a multi day trip, you get a Tesla tap equivalent, and stop at hotels that have chargers.

Almost every major manufacturer claims they will eliminate ICE from their lineups by the mid-2030s. If BEV is *the* platform for ZEVs, and I don't see fuel cells overtaking anytime soon, (if you want a long haul nightmare try a Mirai) then the infrastructure has to massively mature to where "planning" comes down to "burgers or subs?" Regardless, folks will have to reset their expectations on travel times.

Personally, I see this as a huge opportunity, however, the lift is going to require massive massive investment. I'm optimistic though, particularly when you consider all the available dollars chasing infinitely more dubious investments these days.

 

[locks66]

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.

Broken chargers typically not an issue for Tesla. I have seen numerous posts in their forums as well though with people left waiting in line for a charger.

This is a greater us infrastructure issue.

While it may not feel like ev owners are early adopters. We still are at this point

 

[Pushrods&Capacitors]

I got dumber reading this thread.

Just go buy a Tesla. Too bad Mach E and everyone else’s trade values are down about 20% off their early last year peaks.

 

[alexgorod]

Almost every major manufacturer claims they will eliminate ICE from their lineups by the mid-2030s.

https://www.teslarati.com/wyoming-phase-out-evs-2035/

 

[RedStallion]

Having a second gasoline car makes sense. After our first long trip in MME when we wasted a lot of time trying different broken chargers, my wife said no more. I have to agree. Her SUV is definitely a better choice for long trips, no problems with charging on the road and more space for stuff, and even cost is lower.

 

[GreaseMonkey]

https://www.teslarati.com/wyoming-phase-out-evs-2035/

As CaliforniaWyoming goes, so goes the nation. I mean who would bet against the will of 0.15% of the country’s population.

 

[RedStallion]

Almost every major manufacturer claims they will eliminate ICE from their lineups by the mid-2030s.

Almost definitely, they will not. All that virtue signaling has no basis in reality.

The Coming Future Of Electric Vehicles: Something Here Does Not Add Up
https://www.manhattancontrarian.com...ctric-vehicles-something-here-does-not-add-up

 

[JSeis]

1600 round trip miles to Great Falls and back from the coast with a SR AWD MME No issues. Can’t believe the number of charging stations in East LA and east.

A colleague drove a Tesla off freeways through Utah and charged up at an RV Park which is the same backup plan I use. I’ve used motels with L2s, EA, EVGO, etc. of course LA has a lot of EVs whereas I’m like one of maybe a dozen in our rural county and we all charge at home for regular local driving/commuting. Road-trips require a bit of advance planning with ABRP, EA, ChargePoint, EVGo, etc.

I’d hate to deal with BEV density around LA Tesla/or any other BEV as I doubt there are enough to serve peak demand.

Road trips always require a different state of mind. Having lived through a couple gas crisis, weather interrupted power for days to a week, even when a new section of I5 was completed w/o fuel service (yes that happened), I take nothing for granted. What’s that saying? PPPPPPP!

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