MattG
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Matt
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2020
- Threads
- 8
- Messages
- 207
- Reaction score
- 370
- Location
- Colorado
- Vehicles
- Mach-E, Crosstrek, Lotus Elise, Jeep Wrangler LJ
- Thread starter
- #1
My wife and I frequently drive between Woodland Park and Ridgway in Colorado, a ~240 mile trip normally (that we stretched into 255 miles exploring charging options today). Here's the elevation profile:
So as you can imagine, we were nervous about what our range would be like in an EV with this sort of elevation change (the peak in the middle is Monarch Pass if you're curious). We decided to take our time on our first EV trip, stopping at most of the chargers along the way to check them out. There are three 50kW DCFCs on this route, those were our main focus though we also checked out various L2 chargers...a total of six plugs in all (there were a few more L2s we didn't bother to check out). Of those, the only failure was a DCFC in Salida that stopped charging after a few kWh, though credit where credit's due, ChargePoint's app warned us this station was at reduced power and providing 0, so we didn't expect much.
Car is a Premium, AWD, ER
Here's the DCFC we tried out in Buena Vista. Arriving there at a 73% SoC meant we hit the 80% cliff quickly, driving away with an 82% SoC (we started the trip at 100%).
Our dog Khaleesi settled in and was right at home, similar to the CX-5 we traded in for this Mach-E:
I found this map view interesting...it looks like it's showing how far we can go in any direction from our current position. One icon is the DCFC it's decided we should stop at, enroute to our final destination (Ridgway).
Finally, charging at home in Ridgway:
So, what's the verdict? Temperatures ranged from 29-45. We had the heat on manual...E-heat turned on, fan set to speed 1, seat heater on low for my wife's seat only. With all the detours we made to check out various chargers, our 240 mile trip ended up being 255...and we averaged a truly impressive 3mi/kWh!!! For reference, in an ICE, our best travel time would be about 4:15, for just under a 60mph average...this trip was longer due to all the charger stops! We set the cruise control to 3-5 over; speed limits were up to 65mph in places.
It should also be noted that for the first half or so of the trip, we were driving into very bad headwinds...forecast to be 20-30 and while I couldn't measure that, it felt like at LEAST 30.
This car was a dream to drive. Truly awesome, Ford did a great job. The lane centering took some getting used to...it doesn't recognize when a lane is diverging into two. It'll try to keep you centered between the two diverging lines, then when a new line appears in the center it freaks out and gives up. Also can't see lines that are covered in the dirt common to Colorado roads in the winter (no surprise there!). So, it's a very nice driver aid, but I can see why Ford is saying they'll only offer hands free on pre-mapped highways.
We had one CarPlay bug...wouldn't show the display and couldn't switch phones...but rebooting the car fixed that.
My only other gripe would be the built in nav...I liked how it planned a charging stop for us (even though we technically could have made it without charging), but we weren't interested in the L2 it chose and wanted to press on to the next DCFC...when we ignored its turn directions and continued on, it never adapted, it never recalculated...it kept trying to get us to turn around for the next 60 miles until we finally stopped at the 'wrong' charger.
We were both really impressed overall...we hit a 3mi/kWh energy consumption through the mountains of Colorado in a pleasant February day drive. Sure, in worst case winter conditions we'll need to really take advantage of one of the chargers we tried out, but most of the year, I think we'll be able to do this drive without stopping (once my wife learns to trust the range meter more!).
We do this drive frequently so I'll update this thread over time with more data. I'm especially curious about energy consumption on the return trip, where we'll gain elevation but typically have a tailwind.
So as you can imagine, we were nervous about what our range would be like in an EV with this sort of elevation change (the peak in the middle is Monarch Pass if you're curious). We decided to take our time on our first EV trip, stopping at most of the chargers along the way to check them out. There are three 50kW DCFCs on this route, those were our main focus though we also checked out various L2 chargers...a total of six plugs in all (there were a few more L2s we didn't bother to check out). Of those, the only failure was a DCFC in Salida that stopped charging after a few kWh, though credit where credit's due, ChargePoint's app warned us this station was at reduced power and providing 0, so we didn't expect much.
Car is a Premium, AWD, ER
Here's the DCFC we tried out in Buena Vista. Arriving there at a 73% SoC meant we hit the 80% cliff quickly, driving away with an 82% SoC (we started the trip at 100%).
Our dog Khaleesi settled in and was right at home, similar to the CX-5 we traded in for this Mach-E:
I found this map view interesting...it looks like it's showing how far we can go in any direction from our current position. One icon is the DCFC it's decided we should stop at, enroute to our final destination (Ridgway).
Finally, charging at home in Ridgway:
So, what's the verdict? Temperatures ranged from 29-45. We had the heat on manual...E-heat turned on, fan set to speed 1, seat heater on low for my wife's seat only. With all the detours we made to check out various chargers, our 240 mile trip ended up being 255...and we averaged a truly impressive 3mi/kWh!!! For reference, in an ICE, our best travel time would be about 4:15, for just under a 60mph average...this trip was longer due to all the charger stops! We set the cruise control to 3-5 over; speed limits were up to 65mph in places.
It should also be noted that for the first half or so of the trip, we were driving into very bad headwinds...forecast to be 20-30 and while I couldn't measure that, it felt like at LEAST 30.
This car was a dream to drive. Truly awesome, Ford did a great job. The lane centering took some getting used to...it doesn't recognize when a lane is diverging into two. It'll try to keep you centered between the two diverging lines, then when a new line appears in the center it freaks out and gives up. Also can't see lines that are covered in the dirt common to Colorado roads in the winter (no surprise there!). So, it's a very nice driver aid, but I can see why Ford is saying they'll only offer hands free on pre-mapped highways.
We had one CarPlay bug...wouldn't show the display and couldn't switch phones...but rebooting the car fixed that.
My only other gripe would be the built in nav...I liked how it planned a charging stop for us (even though we technically could have made it without charging), but we weren't interested in the L2 it chose and wanted to press on to the next DCFC...when we ignored its turn directions and continued on, it never adapted, it never recalculated...it kept trying to get us to turn around for the next 60 miles until we finally stopped at the 'wrong' charger.
We were both really impressed overall...we hit a 3mi/kWh energy consumption through the mountains of Colorado in a pleasant February day drive. Sure, in worst case winter conditions we'll need to really take advantage of one of the chargers we tried out, but most of the year, I think we'll be able to do this drive without stopping (once my wife learns to trust the range meter more!).
We do this drive frequently so I'll update this thread over time with more data. I'm especially curious about energy consumption on the return trip, where we'll gain elevation but typically have a tailwind.
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