Northern Europe Christmas roadtrip (800+ km) in Long Range AWD

therealpinto

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We took delivery of our LR AWD December 3rd, this is a car built in July but stuck on the boat, in Belgium etc along the way.

Living quite far north in Sweden (some 2 hours south of the Arctic Circle) the car was welcomed by - 25 degrees C (-13 F) on the second day of ownership. Needless to say it guessed pretty low range. But after using it for trips mostly around town - small town - we still started planning for using it on the Christmas trip down to the Stockholm region. Initially I felt that the 800 km plus trip in winter conditions would better suit our diesel Kuga (Ford Escape for you guys in the US) but we really liked the Mach-E.

Playing a bit with ABRP and using different consumption figures (as well as anticipating the cold) we got a decent plan.

Ford Mustang Mach-E Northern Europe Christmas roadtrip (800+ km) in Long Range AWD ABRP1


However this would mean using a very busy part of the road closer to Stockholm that we like to avoid the day before Christmas. The optional grey route takes us through a less busy part and is also a bit shorter.
Ford Mustang Mach-E Northern Europe Christmas roadtrip (800+ km) in Long Range AWD ABRP2

But there were more things to consider (and I don't have screen shots of all versions). Firstly, we had to work a full day and then leave, meaning two things. A hotel night along the way (Örnsköldsvik is around 3 hours south and a good place to stop). Secondly, we would have to eat dinner on the road and my energy needs dictated that stop to be no later than Umeå (just under 2 hours). Then we would also have to consider the lack of destination charging at my MIL. I would like at least a 20% margin as we arrived, I thought.

It had been around -20C all day but just an hour before we left it warmed up a few degrees. Along the road around - 10-15C. Our daughter (on a learners permit) begged to start driving, so I monitored range and consumption from the passenger seat. We started with 100% and soon came to the conclusion we probably could make it to the hotel with no extra charge. But barely.

So we took the planned dinner stop (well, gas station hot dogs) but the 50 kW charger was occupied by an ID4. We used the 22 kW to add 18 km during just over 30 minutes. The charger just started when plugged in. Not sure if it is connected to FordPass or just gives a free charge?

Then I drove the final stretch and we got to the hotel with 25% and a bit more than 50 km to spare. We left the car at a 22kW in a parking garage across the street. That one (another charging network) required their app to start it.

Next morning we started once again with 100% and set or sights at Sundsvall. That was our first DC charging with Ionity. Four stalls, one occupied by a Norwegian Audi eTron, one broken and the one I pulled up to had a broken screen. And seconds after a e-Golf stole the 4th.

The broken screen one would start with the Ionity App but no feedback about if it meant that we would pay standard price or get the Ford discount. But I was not in a mood to research further.

The over night charge was only 160 SEK for 80 kW so that weighs it up a bit.

We had a coffee at the gas station while charging from 55 to 81% in 35 minutes, adding 118 km.

Now we re-planned the charging stops a bit. Instead of going for the somewhat busy Ionity stations we felt that the small town of Söderhamn would suit us better for lunch.

The lunch stop was a bit complex. First try at the charger we had planned was derailed by an Audi that had "ICEd" the one spot beside the Kia that was charging. Second option was a McDonald's but that charger wouldn't start. Back to the first place that now had a 40-ish kW spot available. Soon after plugging in, the Kia left the quicker stall so we moved to that one. Then a 700 m walk into town and a nice Thai buffet. This ended up a perfect solution, better food and a good charge to a bit over 80% (in just over an hour, the time it took to walk and eat).

This meant just one more stop would suffice, if we could do it in the strategic place. But that's where the plan did not work. The quicker stalls in Sala (another smal town) were all very occupied. A slow 22kW charger and a cup of coffee...but we would need a stop in the next town too.

There the Christmas rush meant we had to use another slow stall to give us enough range to safely reach the target.

Overall, the trip was fine, bar the last stretch. Had we made a quick charger it would have been marginally slower that a normal ICE trip for us.

We made it with a bit over 50 km to spare. Good enough!

The lack of destination charging was solved by a nearby area of gas stations and fast food places. First we added 69 km or from 18 to 42% at a "semi-fast" (half-slow perhaps?) stall and the other day another 230 km (from 35 to 87%, after running some errands), in the preparation for the trip to my fathers house. That is another hours drive with the same lack of proper destination charging - and also no reasonably fast public chargers within walking distance.

As we drove the 100 km over to my fathers house, we had a plan to stop at an Ionity station on the way there, just to make sure we would have enough to start the trip back home. But that place was crazy busy so we just drove on.

Instead we did a shopping trip to a mall with a large number of outlets but it turned out the advertised 22 kW places were mostly giving a lot less. So instead we stopped at a gas station on the way back to my dad, where there were 4 newly installed fast chargers. Then we took a walk to a grocery store while charging to around 85 % so we could head north the next day with at least 80%. That night we also plugged in the portable charger in a wall outlet just to get the preconditioning going.

On the way home we had better planned stops and it was only really the last stop that was a bit of an issue - to few chargers, one almost ICEd (but I scared off the poor kid in a Volvo). It was a long drive but also a bit reaxing with the charging stops. The last leg was around 270 kms and we made it in one go, that's better than I expected. We got home with over 30 km margin so it was fine.

Looking at travel times, if we just forget about the last bit we didn't really do any more stops that we would have done in an ICE. We prefer to travel a bit "slower" these days with more stops anyway. Sure, some stops were a bit longer but all in all it was fine. Going back north without the hotel stay along the way added more time. Had we done the same hotel stop going home, it would have been better.

A note on our charging infrastructure - we really need more fast(ish) chargers. We now followed the main European road north/south, and as you can se from the map there are few options - this road passes all major cities, looking for a detour west to find a charger would yield only forest. Turning east would put you in the Baltic sea ;-) Now we could easily see that the fast chargers in the more busy areas were full and there are no real provisions for waiting for a charger - there is seldom room.

The range might not be super in the cold but OK-ish (and it gets better the more you drive). I refuse to do a trip like this with minimal heating, so we have had the temperature set at between 18.5 and 19.5 C. We started out in Auto (one or two dots) and that is fine for front seat passengers (or drivers...). But the rear seat gets chilly, we needed to manually set the air flow to "face" to get some warmth back there. For a Mach-E MkII (or facelift...) this thing really needs a heat pump or at least heated rear seats - the latter being the most important.

The car still is mostly great apart from phone as a key. That is NOT mature.

Fun thing; My brother surprised us as he showed up at my dads house in a new Tesla Model 3. Nice to be able to compare a bit. We both feel there are pros and cons with the different choices...

Greetings from Sweden :)
 

Maquis

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In the US, instead of “semi-fast”, or “half-slow”, we say “half-fast” and say it quickly!??
Seriously, thanks for the interesting narrative.
 
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Awesome report, thanks! I've done some road trips across Sweeden-Norway-Finland in the past, really want to return after the pandemic madness resolves.
 
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mkhuffman

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It is very interesting that your report sounds so similar to trip reports I have read from people in the US when it comes to charging infrastructure: it pretty much sucks. Luckily, most of our lives are not spent taking long trips and charging at home is more than sufficient.

When we start driving EVs with 600 miles of highway range, the charging infrastructure problems will be insignificant even if nothing improves. That will be a good day.
 
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therealpinto

therealpinto

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Thanks!

To be fair, it is better further south when the population density is higher. But this needs to work for the entire country. And guess the situation is the same in the US. Looking at Europe, there are rather few parts that are sparcely populated like this so we have to fight a bit.

At the moment you need to be fairly enthusiastic to have an EV as your main (or only) vehicle here up north, at least if you travel a bit. I have some work related travels that right now are really unsuitable to make with the Mach-E.
 


alexgorod

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Thanks for your report, very interesting! It's a good approach to install chargers at gas stations, I didn't see it in any of the US road trip reviews yet.
 

Tampamike

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Thanks for your report, very interesting! It's a good approach to install chargers at gas stations, I didn't see it in any of the US road trip reviews yet.
There are a few. I’ve been to at least three - a WaWa, a Sheetz and, I think a Shell. The WaWa was the best. There definitely needs to be more.
 

mkhuffman

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There are a few. I’ve been to at least three - a WaWa, a Sheetz and, I think a Shell. The WaWa was the best. There definitely needs to be more.
I had a good experience stopping at at Sheetz. It was comfortable enough and they have hot counter food, like WaWa I suppose.
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