Trick.Mach-E

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We took our first long road trip to Las Vegas over Memorial Day weekend and overall the trip went as planned.

We took off for Vegas at 5AM on Saturday and the plan was to stop in Barstow, CA for a 80% quick charge. I had planned on 3 people with luggage but our niece came with us so now we have 4 people with luggage. It is 240 miles from our home to Barstow, CA and I figured we would be able to make it on one charge but that didn't go as planned....

The 166 out of Santa Maria, CA to the I-5/R-99 near Bakersfield pretty much rises in elevation to a mountain pass heading in to Maricopa, CA. This is something I never really paid much attention to all the time I've driven it before. So with 4 people even at 65MPH we were getting about 2.5 kWh out to Bakersfield before going up the Tehachapi pass on Highway 58. By the time we reached Mojave, CA we had 71 miles to go to the EA chargers in Barstow with the GOM saying we had 68 miles of range.

The stretch from Mojave, CA to Barstow, CA on Highway 58 is usually very fast. Posted speed limit is 65MPH but everyone is easily doing 75MPH+ so I decided to not take a chance and stopped in Mojave for a 15 minute fast charge to 43%. Normally we would stop in Tehachapi for a quick bathroom break and maybe snack purchase so this 15 minutes in Mojave wasn't bad.

We rolled in to Barstow for the planned fast charge and ended up charging to 90% as we took our time eating breakfast.

We also filled the frunk with ice and drinks...

Ford Mustang Mach-E (Updated!) Our 1st long road trip with 4 passengers/luggage (440 miles each way) Frunk


The trip to Vegas was better than expected. With traffic on the I-15 from Barstow all the way to Baker along with the elevation going down we got to the Baker Grade with a 3.9 kWh! By the time we hit the top of Mt. Pass heading down to Primm it was 2.7 kWh. We got to our destination in Vegas with a 30% charge remaining.

I was able to get a 100% charge at a EA station on Sunday for our trip back on Monday and when we did leave for home we started out at a 95% charge.

No issues out of Vegas doing 70MPH and holding a steady 3.0 kWh up to the base of Mt. Pass and going up Mt. Pass was better than going up the Baker Grade. You climb so fast in elevation that we only dropped to 2.6 kWh by the time we were heading down to Baker, CA. We did 75MPH most of the way in to Barstow and arrived with a 35% charge remaining. We did a fast charge to 85% over breakfast and did a very fast run out west on Highway 58 to Bakersfield. At one point with zero traffic anywhere near us we did a fast jaunt up to 110MPH and spent most of the time at 75-80MPH in to Tehachapi???

A 20 minute stop in Bakersfield got us back to 80% and that was more than enough to get us back home.

We did 893 miles for the total trip and paid $107.93. Had we taken my Raptor it would have been $230 or more in gas. Had we taken our Fusion it would have been maybe $60... We took the Fusion once before and with a full tank we made it to Vegas and back to Barstow before having to fill up!

Which brings me to my only real complaint... I could not get off the FordPass Plug & Charge so I could charge via EA at a cheaper rate. The first time I disabled Plug & Charge EA failed no matter what. I re-enabled Plug & Charge and it was fine. It was not until I got home that I was successful in using EA to charge the car.... Plug & Charge was disable and I closed the FordPass app. That allowed me to pay via EA and get the discounted rate.

Is this the way you do it or is there another trick that I should be doing???

---

We now have a good idea what a long trip will be like with the Mach-E. Our son enters the Air Force in July which means we will go to Lackland AFB in San Antonio, TX sometime in September for his graduation. Our plan right now is to take the Mach-E. Having to stop every 200 miles or so for up to 40 minutes over a 3500 mile trip is a bit of concern time wise... It's not the end of the world but it will be different than what we are used to. We can easily do 400 miles without a stop when we want to. I guess we'll find out soon enough if it's a good idea or not!
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benk016

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I could not get off the FordPass Plug & Charge so I could charge via EA at a cheaper rate. The first time I disabled Plug & Charge EA failed no matter what. I re-enabled Plug & Charge and it was fine. It was not until I got home that I was successful in using EA to charge the car.... Plug & Charge was disable and I closed the FordPass app. That allowed me to pay via EA and get the discounted rate.

Is this the way you do it or is there another trick that I should be doing???

The trick is when you pull up to an EA station, Open the EA app, and slide to activate the charger, THEN plug in after the charger says its ready. That completely bypasses the step where it asks the car who you are and greatly reduces the time to start charging.
 

DanCoon

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I like reading everyone’s stories about road tripping, it gives me hope that my upcoming trip to Colorado won’t be a complete cluster.
I have a 1800 mile road trip coming up next month through the Southwest which includes a drive through Death Valley. I'm really hoping for no issues. My wife is extremely skeptical of this car on a long road trip like this and she would never let it go for the rest of my life if something goes wrong.
 

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Part of our last road trip covered a few similar areas (Vegas/Baker/Barstow) and for the the most part our results were very similar. While we didn't have 4 passengers with luggage, we had 3 people with a fairly loaded down hatch (i.e. we had 1 seat down in the back for "stuff") We also loaded up the "Ice Frunk" and it lasted longer than I expected. Not sure if it is "insulated" but it sure was nice getting out of the car and grabbing an iced cold beverage after plugging in.

Did you get any strange looks when you pulled out the beverages from the frunk?
 


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Trick.Mach-E

Trick.Mach-E

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I like reading everyone’s stories about road tripping, it gives me hope that my upcoming trip to Colorado won’t be a complete cluster.
We love long trips and do them all the time. One of our longest trips was 6300 miles from CA to South Dakota, then Wisconsin and over to Chicago (with lots of side trips on the way to Chicago) so we can cruise Route 66 back to CA. The following weekend after that 2.5 weeks on the road we did another 1000 mile trip!

This will be the 3rd time we road trip to San Antonio... 1st one was in 2012 when our oldest son graduated BMT at Lackland AFB. 2nd time was to visit my sister north of San Antonio in 2019.

So the 900 miles in one day then 600ish the 2nd day to San Antonio doesn't bother us and we never worried about range. The only real downfall with the Mach-E is you can't really be spontaneous and travel much off the planned route. Back in 2019 we decided to take a different route by heading out on the I-40 so we could see Roswell, NM. Not a single worry about "distance to empty" on that trip...

There are plenty of charging options heading to San Antonio though so in our case the trip should go pretty smoothly. I do predict we will see less efficiency with the Mach-E because so much of the trip from eastern AZ through most of TX will be very fast. We may end up charging more often because of that...
 
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Trick.Mach-E

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Part of our last road trip covered a few similar areas (Vegas/Baker/Barstow) and for the the most part our results were very similar. While we didn't have 4 passengers with luggage, we had 3 people with a fairly loaded down hatch (i.e. we had 1 seat down in the back for "stuff") We also loaded up the "Ice Frunk" and it lasted longer than I expected. Not sure if it is "insulated" but it sure was nice getting out of the car and grabbing an iced cold beverage after plugging in.

Did you get any strange looks when you pulled out the beverages from the frunk?
A couple laughed as they watched us put ice in the frunk at the Wal*Mart in Barstow. Nobody noticed me grabbing a drink at a rest stop near Mt. Pass and since it was pretty hot 95% of the ice had melted by the time we got to Vegas. The ice may have lasted longer had I filled the entire frunk with ice but I just got 2 7lbs bags and as you can see that only filled the center storage.
 

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A couple laughed as they watched us put ice in the frunk at the Wal*Mart in Barstow. Nobody noticed me grabbing a drink at a rest stop near Mt. Pass and since it was pretty hot 95% of the ice had melted by the time we got to Vegas. The ice may have lasted longer had I filled the entire frunk with ice but I just got 2 7lbs bags and as you can see that only filled the center storage.
We filled the entire frunk with ice (took between 40-50 lbs) and the ice in the center always melted first. Not sure if there is something behind it that generates extra heat or if it is due to the water flowing though the drain plug (in the center storage). Here is the after picture (after about 140 miles / 2 hrs @ 91 - 94 degrees), the ice was up to the dividers on all sections. The center compartment does seem to hold less ice, so that could also be the reason. At the end of the day, it is still super cool to have!

Frunk Ice After.jpg
 

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As a side note in case anyone wants to know... CalTrans has several free DC Fast chargers installed throughout central and southern California.

https://dot.ca.gov/news-releases/news-release-2021-001

I plan to try these out on my trip next month to save on my Ford Pass allowance.
 
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Trick.Mach-E

Trick.Mach-E

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We filled the entire frunk with ice (took between 40-50 lbs) and the ice in the center always melted first. Not sure if there is something behind it that generates extra heat or if it is due to the water flowing though the drain plug (in the center storage). Here is the after picture (after about 140 miles / 2 hrs @ 91 - 94 degrees), the ice was up to the dividers on all sections. The center compartment does seem to hold less ice, so that could also be the reason. At the end of the day, it is still super cool to have!

Ford Mustang Mach-E (Updated!) Our 1st long road trip with 4 passengers/luggage (440 miles each way) Frunk Ice After
Where is the beer?
 

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I like reading everyone’s stories about road tripping, it gives me hope that my upcoming trip to Colorado won’t be a complete cluster.
As someone who has driven their car from the middle of the country to the east coast (1500+ miles) take my advice that it is straight forward and fun, and don't let any of the one off horror stories or fear ruin the experience for you!
 

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I took possession of my MachE a week ago today. I have no idea what you are talking about as far as charging with EA, the Ford pass, DC through Cal Trans, etc. I guess I had better read up!
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