Rory

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I just took my first long-distance trip in my '22 AWD ER Premium. Davis, California to Burbank. About 400 miles. I had one charger stop each way, because I felt that it was better to stay a little longer at one charger than it was to add extra time navigating to a second one just to add more "buffer" to my trip. This meant I was short on range when stopping for charging, which does have some impact in rural areas, as I found to my near dismay.

Some background: I've had electric or fuel cell cars since 1999 (GM EV1, and others since). Lots of experience with managing range and charging, but no trips where I've had to charge in the middle of the journey (as none of the prior cars except the fuel cell one had the range that would be acceptable to me to drive long-distance and use unfamiliar chargers).

Observations:

1. The range of the car was great. On the way back, charged at Kettleman City, drove 220 miles home, and had 50 miles left on the car (had charged to 95%). I drove on I5 about 72 mph 2/3s of the way, 75 mph for the other third once I saw my range-o-meter rising from the original 30 miles estimated left at end of trip. The weather was clear, about 65 degrees F.

2. Going over the Grapevine saw the range drop about 30 miles when going uphill, adding back about 27-28 miles going back down.

3. The Ford navigation on-board app sucks in so many ways but is necessary when wanting to precondition before a fast charge. A short incomplete list: 1) when traffic is bad on the freeway, the app will often reroute off the freeway even if the rerouted streets are also congested and even slower than the freeway; 2) the app will suggest a charge station for a stop even when all the chargers at that station are out of order (more below); 3) the menu system for the app is terrible, and it is hard to remove stops from the route (it added a charging station prematurely as I was going up the Grapevine, as it panicked and didn't account for the range increase on the downhill).

4. Minimizing charger stops means that the remaining range will be low when arriving at a charging station. If the station is unreliable and there are few alternatives nearby, this will not work well. On my drive down, I took 99 assuming that there'd be more stations. Yes, there were, but it turned out that in the area I ended up stopping, there were only 2 fast-charge stations within range of the car. The first one I went to (as suggested by the Ford navigation system), was down and appeared to have not yet been provisioned (it was at a Love's). I then found a second one at a Walmart that appeared to have 3 stations up and one down (EA). Went there and found that only one station was actually working and was occupied. EA tried to get me to use another station, but after that failed, the operator stated "Hmm, looks like we have a ticket on this station with the same problem." Thanks!!! Finally charged at the working station after the other driver was done. The station was a 150 KW station, and max charge was only about 70 kW, which startled me. Read https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...ates-even-on-200kw-stations.27048/post-620195 for the explanation. In short, charging at a station rated below 350 kW means you get a slow charge, even though the max rate for a Mach-E is probably about 160 kW. Turns out that that wasnā€™t the issue. Most 150 kW stations have adequate amperage, including most EA 150 kW stations. Must have been a malfunction.

5. Preplanning charge stations and carefully researching them helps on unfamiliar routes. After that first experience (which is not how you want to start a trip), all my stops were at stations for which I had read the reviews and counted carefully how many stations were available, and whether they were 350 kW or less. I also had a backup plan for each stop (except the Kettleman City stop).

6. Kettleman City has a large new EA installation and I noticed that there was spare capacity each time I checked. All are 350 kW. Some are "shared" with one power unit between two, but the key is that the cables are at least 400-amp cables, which is what counts for a 400V car like the Mustang, as the max rate will be less than 350/2. My initial charge rate was 160 kW! It wasn't the ideal spot to charge as it was not the half-way point (Harris Ranch would be better), but it appeared to be the most reliable. Given the distance between available chargers on I-5, choosing to charge only once meant I had to commit to a specific location to charge, as I would not have the range to switch locations if I encountered a problem. We had lunch and took a nice walk (which we like to do daily anyway) while the car was charging and visited the nearby Tesla supercharger site that had 40 superchargers and a building with a cafe and other amenities. Fewer than 10 of the supercharger sites were occupied (this was noon on a Monday). Charged the car to 95% that gave hope we'd make it home without charging again. As noted above, the initial range estimate of 30 miles was conservative, and we got home with a very comfortable margin (50 miles). Also, since we were coming home to an urban area with lots of chargers, I felt ok pushing the range a bit, as I knew I'd find a fast charger somewhere if I needed to.

7. The range-o-meter was pretty accurate, enough to be relied upon, except when going through significant altitude changes. I tracked the difference between the range remaining and the distance to the next stop, and most of the time it was very stable, except for the pleasant surprise going home from Kettleman City, when the difference between the two kept on increasing (at least until I started running at 75 mph, when the difference stabilized).

8. Blue Cruise 1.0 really makes it easier on long trips, but it is annoying that it usually drops out for about 1/8th of a mile if you're in the right-hand lane and pass an off-ramp. Fixing that is more important for me than giving me 1.2 with assisted lane changes.
Sponsored

 
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SWO

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I feel like I must be the only person who's really happy with the Ford navigation. I find it's pretty intuitive for me to use, and the routes and stops make sense. I've only had one issue with it freezing when changing a charger on a >600mi route which I documented in a post elsewhere. At least with EA, it has routed me around stations where all the chargers are OOC.
 

21st Century Pony

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I'm O.K. as well with the Ford Synch navigation.
I feel like I must be the only person who's really happy with the Ford navigation. I find it's pretty intuitive for me to use, and the routes and stops make sense. I've only had one issue with it freezing when changing a charger on a >600mi route which I documented in a post elsewhere. At least with EA, it has routed me around stations where all the chargers are OOC.
I'm O.K. as well with the Ford Synch navigation. I found its strengths began to come through the more I used it and eventually learned its tricks. Multiple multi-state trips since I bought the car, and now just over 30k on the odometer.
 

21st Century Pony

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I just took my first long-distance trip in my '22 AWD ER Premium. Davis, California to Burbank. About 400 miles. I had one charger stop each way, because I felt that it was better to stay a little longer at one charger than it was to add extra time navigating to a second one just to add more "buffer" to my trip. This meant I was short on range when stopping for charging, which does have some impact in rural areas, as I found to my near dismay.

Some background: I've had electric or fuel cell cars since 1999 (GM EV1, and others since). Lots of experience with managing range and charging, but no trips where I've had to charge in the middle of the journey (as none of the prior cars except the fuel cell one had the range that would be acceptable to me to drive long-distance and use unfamiliar chargers).

Observations:

1. The range of the car was great. On the way back, charged at Kettleman City, drove 220 miles home, and had 50 miles left on the car (had charged to 95%). I drove on I5 about 72 mph 2/3s of the way, 75 mph for the other third once I saw my range-o-meter rising from the original 30 miles estimated left at end of trip. The weather was clear, about 65 degrees F.

2. Going over the Grapevine saw the range drop about 30 miles when going uphill, adding back about 27-28 miles going back down.

3. The Ford navigation on-board app sucks in so many ways but is necessary when wanting to precondition before a fast charge. A short incomplete list: 1) when traffic is bad on the freeway, the app will often reroute off the freeway even if the rerouted streets are also congested and even slower than the freeway; 2) the app will suggest a charge station for a stop even when all the chargers at that station are out of order (more below); 3) the menu system for the app is terrible, and it is hard to remove stops from the route (it added a charging station prematurely as I was going up the Grapevine, as it panicked and didn't account for the range increase on the downhill).

4. Minimizing charger stops means that the remaining range will be low when arriving at a charging station. If the station is unreliable and there are few alternatives nearby, this will not work well. On my drive down, I took 99 assuming that there'd be more stations. Yes, there were, but it turned out that in the area I ended up stopping, there were only 2 fast-charge stations within range of the car. The first one I went to (as suggested by the Ford navigation system), was down and appeared to have not yet been provisioned (it was at a Love's). I then found a second one at a Walmart that appeared to have 3 stations up and one down (EA). Went there and found that only one station was actually working and was occupied. EA tried to get me to use another station, but after that failed, the operator stated "Hmm, looks like we have a ticket on this station with the same problem." Thanks!!! Finally charged at the working station after the other driver was done. The station was a 150 KW station, and max charge was only about 70 kW, which startled me. Read https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...ates-even-on-200kw-stations.27048/post-620195 for the explanation. In short, charging at a station rated below 350 kW means you get a slow charge, even though the max rate for a Mach-E is probably about 160 kW.

5. Preplanning charge stations and carefully researching them helps on unfamiliar routes. After that first experience (which is not how you want to start a trip), all my stops were at stations for which I had read the reviews and counted carefully how many stations were available, and whether they were 350 kW or less. I also had a backup plan for each stop (except the Kettleman City stop).

6. Kettleman City has a large new EA installation and I noticed that there was spare capacity each time I checked. All are 350 kW. Some are "shared" with one power unit between two, but the key is that the cables are at least 400-amp cables, which is what counts for a 400V car like the Mustang, as the max rate will be less than 350/2. My initial charge rate was 160 kW! It wasn't the ideal spot to charge as it was not the half-way point (Harris Ranch would be better), but it appeared to be the most reliable. Given the distance between available chargers on I-5, choosing to charge only once meant I had to commit to a specific location to charge, as I would not have the range to switch locations if I encountered a problem. We had lunch and took a nice walk (which we like to do daily anyway) while the car was charging and visited the nearby Tesla supercharger site that had 40 superchargers and a building with a cafe and other amenities. Fewer than 10 of the supercharger sites were occupied (this was noon on a Monday). Charged the car to 95% that gave hope we'd make it home without charging again. As noted above, the initial range estimate of 30 miles was conservative, and we got home with a very comfortable margin (50 miles). Also, since we were coming home to an urban area with lots of chargers, I felt ok pushing the range a bit, as I knew I'd find a fast charger somewhere if I needed to.

7. The range-o-meter was pretty accurate, enough to be relied upon, except when going through significant altitude changes. I tracked the difference between the range remaining and the distance to the next stop, and most of the time it was very stable, except for the pleasant surprise going home from Kettleman City, when the difference between the two kept on increasing (at least until I started running at 75 mph, when the difference stabilized).

8. Blue Cruise 1.0 really makes it easier on long trips, but it is annoying that it usually drops out for about 1/8th of a mile if you're in the right-hand lane and pass an off-ramp. Fixing that is more important for me than giving me 1.2 with assisted lane changes.
Good write-up.
 

Tampamike

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The station was a 150 KW station, and max charge was only about 70 kW, which startled me. Read https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...ates-even-on-200kw-stations.27048/post-620195 for the explanation. In short, charging at a station rated below 350 kW means you get a slow charge, even though the max rate for a Mach-E is probably about 160 kW.
I think the real reason you got a slow charge was that the unit ā€œhad a ticket on it.ā€
Typically, there is very little difference in charge times between ā€œworkingā€ EA 150 and 350 chargers on a MachE - maybe a couple minutes. Yes, the charge rate on a 350 will initially jump to 160 but it doesnā€™t last but about a minute before it starts throttling back. The post you referenced refers to EVGo chargers with their 200 amp cords. That cord difference was news to me. Thereā€™s so much to know.
 


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I feel like I must be the only person who's really happy with the Ford navigation. I find it's pretty intuitive for me to use, and the routes and stops make sense. I've only had one issue with it freezing when changing a charger on a >600mi route which I documented in a post elsewhere. At least with EA, it has routed me around stations where all the chargers are OOC.
I think it's okay. I have had two issues with it.

1) It likes to tell me to leave the freeway and then get right back on. At every exit. I just ignore it. It figures itself out.

2) It panics if I suddenly change my driving so the efficiency drops quickly. This makes it think I need to go to a nearer charger. At one point during one of my recent road trips, it navigated me to a 40 kW charger instead of the 350 kW charger I had originally plugged in. I wasn't familiar with the area and didn't notice the change. I took the opportunity to get out and walk around for 15 minutes while I was there. Might as well.
 

IgorKl

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Iā€™m going similar road next week, hope the warmer weather would help range. Iā€™m thinking about 2 charging stops since I prefer to charge to 80%.
I have mix fillings about Ford navigation. I usually activate it after I hit highway 152 or I-5 and rely on Google and Apple Maps for city or congested areas. Google is not perfect these days, lit sends me to closed roads periodically.
Itā€™s hard for me to keep 72-75 on I-5 if left line goes 80-90 so the car range drops significantly ;(
 

DevSecOps

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The station was a 150 KW station, and max charge was only about 70 kW, which startled me. Read https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...ates-even-on-200kw-stations.27048/post-620195 for the explanation. In short, charging at a station rated below 350 kW means you get a slow charge, even though the max rate for a Mach-E is probably about 160 kW.
That post doesn't apply to EA stations. Good charge etiquette at an EA station is to use the 150kW chargers (375A Cables), NOT the 350kW units. The 150kW EA stations are calculated like so: 375A @ 400V = 150kW. If you received less, it was either a faulty station or the car requesting less, not the fact that it was an EA 150kW station.

Some chargers, excluding EA, will not have the correct amp/volts to max out the MME at a rated 100/150/200kW (see below post for a detailed explanation). EA does, and the only benefit to using an EA 350kW charger is about 25.2 seconds of charge above what a 150kW will provide on the very beginning of the charge curve resulting in a difference of 0.42kW delivered. This extra amperage peaks above the limit of the MME (160 - as you observed) before getting de-rated by the car and leveling to the same as a 150kW unit. It amounts to less than 2 miles of range.

Therefore, occupying an EA 350kW charger should only be done if no 150kW chargers are available because the 800v architecture vehicles can take advantage of the full 350kW charge rate. By occupying one of these you are basically ICE'ing someone who can use it to it's full potential. You'll, rightfully so, get angry stare downs from Rivian, EV6 and Ioniq drivers for using the EA 350's.

For a deeper explanation of this please read here: https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/just-did-my-first-dcfc-at-ea-2-questions.21342/post-503433

I would suggest you modify your post so that you aren't encouraging new owners to use EA (specifically) 350kW chargers as it's not good etiquette.

Since I am on the topic of etiquette, you should also try to avoid EA stations with CHAdeMO plugs unless necessary because a Leaf may come along and not be able to charge if you're hogging it.
 
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Logal727

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I feel like I must be the only person who's really happy with the Ford navigation. I find it's pretty intuitive for me to use, and the routes and stops make sense. I've only had one issue with it freezing when changing a charger on a >600mi route which I documented in a post elsewhere. At least with EA, it has routed me around stations where all the chargers are OOC.
I think it's pretty great as well and it also has some advanced features, like you can set custom Avoidances, you can literally map out which roads you don't want it to use
 
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Rory

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That post doesn't apply to EA stations. Good charge etiquette at an EA station is to use the 150kW chargers (375A Cables), NOT the 350kW units. The 150kW EA stations are calculated like so: 375A @ 400V = 150kW. If you received less, it was either a faulty station or the car requesting less, not the fact that it was an EA 150kW station.

Some chargers, excluding EA, will not have the correct amp/volts to max out the MME at a rated 100/150/200kW (see below post for a detailed explanation). EA does, and the only benefit to using an EA 350kW charger is about 25.2 seconds of charge above what a 150kW will provide on the very beginning of the charge curve resulting in a difference of 0.42kW delivered. This extra amperage peaks above the limit of the MME (160 - as you observed) before getting de-rated by the car and leveling to the same as a 150kW unit. It amounts to less than 2 miles of range.

Therefore, occupying an EA 350kW charger should only be done if no 150kW chargers are available because the 800v architecture vehicles can take advantage of the full 350kW charge rate. By occupying one of these you are basically ICE'ing someone who can use it to it's full potential. You'll, rightfully so, get angry stare downs from Rivian, EV6 and Ioniq drivers for using the EA 350's.

For a deeper explanation of this please read here: https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/just-did-my-first-dcfc-at-ea-2-questions.21342/post-503433

I would suggest you modify your post so that you aren't encouraging new owners to use EA (specifically) 350kW chargers as it's not good etiquette.

Since I am on the topic of etiquette, you should also try to avoid EA stations with CHAdeMO plugs unless necessary because a Leaf may come along and not be able to charge if you're hogging it.
Done. And also note that, as stated in my post, shared 350 kW stations are fine for 400v cars like the Mustang. So, at stations like Kettleman City, where some of the stations share a power supply and some donā€™t, try to use the shared ones.
 

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Did a slightly longer trip on most of your route. Stopped to charge 6 times and the Kettleman City station was the only one where all the chargers were working. The one in Diamond Bar only had one charger working. Long way to go on infrastructure.
 

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Great write up. I've done this from Roseville a few times before. I've always gone hwy 99 as I'm able to avoid peak traffic and 99 has way more charger options. I always get worried that Bay Area to SoCal traffic will fill up I-5 chargers. Plus the hwy 99 chargers have more shopping attached to them. I might give I-5 a chance next time though given your review of the Kettlemen City EA chargers.

The grapevine/tejon pass always gets me with the GOM crashing and burning, but then with the drive into the valley I've actually seen the car gain charge. Not just range either, but actual charge. I think once I gained 3-5% or so.
 

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I just took my first long-distance trip in my '22 AWD ER Premium. Davis, California
ā€¦



6. Kettleman City has a large new EA installation and I noticed that there was spare capacity each time I checked. All are 350 kW. Some are "shared" with one power unit between two, but the key is that the cables are at least 400-amp cables, which is what counts for a 400V car like the Mustang, as the max rate will be less than 350/2. My initial charge rate was 160 kW!
I just made my first long-distance trip last weekend in my ā€˜22 CA RT 1 RWD from the East Bay to LA and back. Both my drive down and back were at night.

My experience was that I was able to get from the Bay Area to Kettleman City from 100% to 27% SOC (temps around 55 degrees), and fill up to a 96% charge get to Venice Beach (226 miles for me, as explained below) with a few percent left on the battery driving at flow of traffic speeds (~75 mph). At 27% charge to start, I still had an initial charge speed of 152 kWH, which declined after the first minute.

As you can see from the photo the new EA station is fantastic with 10 350 KWH newer EA chargers.
The station was pretty empty - I was joined by a Ioniq 5 that came and left in 20 minutes - because it was a Saturday night and unbeknownst to me the SB I-5 at Gorman in the Grapevine was closed due to a mudslide repair. So I stayed and got a full charge to accommodate a 50-mile detour. I didnā€™t realize some of these are shared chargers - how does one determine which was are shared?
Ford Mustang Mach-E NorCal / SoCal trip: Observations on chargers and strategies in rural areas. Great mileage! A4F0056A-6F96-4182-ABE4-A7E28EE7CF97

EA 350 KWH Chargers in Kettleman City


It wasn't the ideal spot to charge as it was not the half-way point (Harris Ranch would be better), but it appeared to be the most reliable.
I agree Harris Ranch is the midpoint and the ideal location, but only has two 350 KWH EA chargers with the remainder being 150 KWH chargers. I did make it home from LA/Torrance with 82% SOC to Harris Ranch with 2% SOC remaining (!) after driving 200 miles arriving at 12 am. I would not recommend cutting it close in terms of SOC or solo night driving, and I ended up staying the night at the Harris Ranch hotel and charging to 82%. That SOC got me back to Oakland with enough to spare to run errands until I got home.


I had the Ford navigation active to precondition my battery on the way to recharge to Kettleman City. It appeared to me that running Ford navigation prevented the BlueCruise from dropping out when I was in the slow #2 lane passing freeway exit ramps.
I havenā€™t verify this again, but it is something you may want to experiment trying.
 
 




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