Rochester, NY to Cape Coral FLA (then in reverse)

[WWJPD]

Noob here. Just got my Mach-E a couple months ago. This Saturday (12/18) we’re packing up and heading to Cape Coral Fl.

I don’t know what to expect as far as range and charging times. I’ve seen the range severely degrade in low temperatures but we’re expecting unseasonably warm weather so that should help. Plus I hear it gets warmer as you go South

Leg 1 is to Washington D.C..

FordPass route is 500 miles and 10 hours 17 minutes.

ABRP says 449 miles, 8 hrs 55 minutes

ICE route is 390 miles, 6 hrs 14 minutes.

I don’t know what route to take so we’ll head south and figure it out.

I just went from CT to Rochester, NY. I agree with others, stick with EA and you will be fine. DO NOT depend on the FordPass app.

 

[Mockstang]

I wanted to give a quick update to this trip. We ended up taking the Amtrak from DC to Orlando, but the trip from Rochester to DC took a long time.

FordPass sent me through Elmira NY. The route utilized a charger at a Simmons Rockwell Nissan dealer. We got to the charger, plugged in, waited for the charging to start then went inside. They offered coffee which I accepted and picked up a magazine to pass the time. A half hour later I checked the app and found that the charging failed. I don’t know why but later read on PlugShare that other MME owners had the same problem. Other EVs did not.

Plan B, we went to a Chevrolet dealer with a L2 charger. It didn’t work either. They did have a L1 which we used while we got some lunch. 90 minutes later gained only 11 miles.

Without enough range to make it to the next planned EA fast charger, we were forced to continue to Binghamton before making our way back to the planned route.

The trip to DC ended up taking over 12 hours.

 

[RockwallRick]

I am still thinking about taking the Auto Train up to Virginia and then driving from there up to New Hampshire. Did you consider doing that?

 

[Mockstang]

I am still thinking about taking the Auto Train up to Virginia and then driving from there up to New Hampshire. Did you consider doing that?

That’s exactly what I did. I’d recommend a blindfold and earplugs to help you sleep.

 

[RockwallRick]

That’s exactly what I did. I’d recommend a blindfold and earplugs to help you sleep.

I’ve never been on a train ride that long but it would save me at least 1600 miles of driving for a round trip!!

 

[Logal727]

I’ve never been on a train ride that long but it would save me at least 1600 miles of driving for a round trip!!

My mom just took Amtrak from Daytona to Tampa, she loved it. Way better than driving I-4 for her!

 

[BruhMan E]

I am in NJ and purchased my Mach E Select last September. For the most part I have been very happy except for a few times when I start the car and my radio presets seem to have defaulted to some other setting. After stopping/starting a few more times as I am doing my chores it catches up I guess. I have taken only two long trips so far, one to DC and back, and the other to Rochester NY and back.

You definitely have to be patient driving distances with an EV as many have shared. Since I don't have an extended range (couldn't wait through the production horror stories), I must plan a lot better. I have learned to not solely trust the FordPass app EV suggestions. Once I missed the suggested charger and it led me to a dark state park that was closed. I also make sure that if I stop at hotels to make sure they have EV chargers so I can get an overnight charge. I also purchased a TeslaTap adapter so I can cheat occasionally, and as a backup. This has been great. Note: I purchased a luggage lock to secure it when I am not near the car.

For my NJ-to-Rochester trip, I was happy to find Electrify-America (EA) chargers, but I noticed that the one tied to the FordApp for free charging were the slower 150KW chargers. I instead opted to use and pay for the 350KW charging because I was on my way to a funeral and didn’t have the patience to use the other ones. Outside of the big EA chargers, I also used the Plugshare app, which was helpful. I like having the TeslaTap because pretty much all of the in-town chargers only delivered max 6KW (3KW average) charging, whereas the Tesla chargers delivered 16KW.

I would have loved to have the extended range EV, but couldn’t wait as I said. When the FordApp took me to the dark state park while going up Route 81, I stared to panic because I only had 29mi of charge left, fortunately I back-tracked to an EA in Scranton PA. If you know this Route its pretty much all mountainous travel, and the temperatures overnight dropped down to -10 degrees. I am still learning a lot as I go but the car drives absolutely wonderful. Btw, I also have a backup jumper box due to the issues I have read with the main battery losing charge. I am not suer this would help, but I have honestly always carried one with my cars because I use to drive an F150 Crew Cab, and not many other vehicles could provide a jump if needed, so I would rather be self-sufficient as much as possible.

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