Saint Paul to Fargo and back, traveling with my Mach E in the winter

[tuminatr]

Fellow Twin Cities dweller. I had those tires on my golf. How are they doing in the snow for ya? Trying to decide if I should just buy those, a separate set of winter tires, or just deal with standard Continentals on my standard GT

Overall very happy, this is the first year I have run them in the winter I usually buy a set of dedicated winters. The only shortfall I find over a dedicated winter tire is ice traction was slightly better with the Wintrac Pro's. They are way better than the factory tires.

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[locks66]

Overall very happy, this is the first year I have run them in the winter I usually buy a set of dedicated winters. The only shortfall I find over a dedicated winter tire is ice traction was slightly better with the Wintrac Pro's. They are way better than the factory tires.

I've never done the snow tire thing before, but I drive 3,000 miles a month for work and think this may be the year.

Appreciate your quick response!

 

[tuminatr]

I've never done the snow tire thing before, but I drive 3,000 miles a month for work and think this may be the year.

Appreciate your quick response!

Your welcome, if it were me driving that much get the dedicated winters.

Most think that winter tires are about acceleration and they do help but what they do best is give much better grip braking and cornering. My wife has been a skeptic and a few years ago I bought her a set of Wintrac Pro's, part of it was she had a 1.3 mile commute. After I put the winters on she called me from work and was excited she said I can't even tell there was snow on the ground.

Now she drives 20 miles each way to work and is happy she has them.

 

[locks66]

Your welcome, if it were me driving that much get the dedicated winters.

Most think that winter tires are about acceleration and they do help but what they do best is give much better grip braking and cornering. My wife has been a skeptic and a few years ago I bought her a set of Wintrac Pro's, part of it was she had a 1.3 mile commute. After I put the winters on she called me from work and was excited she said I can't even tell there was snow on the ground.

Now she drives 20 miles each way to work and is happy she has them.

You have been very helpful! Was a lot of work and saving to get this car and now I want to make sure I take care of it and me. I'll make some moves on tire rack!

 

[dono]

On a related note. I live in the twin cities also, St Paul side. Took my Mach-E Select AWD SR 18" wheel out this morning. 9 degrees out pre-condition worked fine. My street is gravel so when it snows it gets packed down and turns icy. It also has a fairly steep but short hill which is always slick. Fine with me I use it as a test area before I hit real roads. Lock the brakes up to test out the abs. First run with the Mach-E in engaged mode and 1 pedal drive it slowed down lust fine without the brakes. When I hit the brakes to engage the anti-locks the car actually sped up. I backed up the hill, it's a dead end road, and put it in unbridled which is a little more aggressive and in 1 PD it put he anti-locks on itself without me hitting the brake pedal. I didn't try it in whisper mode. Unfortunatly while I was messing around the car threw a 1 Pedal Drive error code. I'm sure the is no problem just me messing with it on the icy road and quick transitions from forward to reverse. I tried to get my ODB2 reader to clear it but it won't connect. I just ordered a new one to see how that works.

 

[Nklem]

Great numbers. Thanks for sharing…..

Was your climate Constant or off/on as needed? The usage for climate is lower than my test on my 19’s, but I was quite a bit colder and faster as well as constant higher climate temp settings.

Here are photos of my tests. The daytime one average was 18F-20F ambient, 72 MPH cruise, constant temp setpoint of 70f fan on manual 1, 1 person, average speed was 66 mph average distance/time) highway, Bluecruise , 2.2 mi/kWh.

The nighttime was 28F ambient, 72 MPH, Cruise, 70F, 2 people, average was 61.1 MPH highway, BC, 2.3 mi/kWh.

I see your weather was warmer by 10-20+ degrees and average speeds slower as you were 51 MPH, 56 MPH, and 57 MPH.

These are great data points, if we could only combine into a shared chart. Elevation would be only thing that we cannot quantify.

I just installed my 18” snows, Continental Viking Contact 7’s tonight. I must say the car will now coast and roll for miles. 40 PSI. So I will run my tests again with 18”. They absolutely ride better than the 19” Michelin’s, hands down, what an improvement.

 

[timbop]

The Quatrac 5 has been replaced by the Quatrac Pro. The Quatrac Pro is a better tire especially in the rain and quieter I had these Quatrac 5's on a previous vehicle so it was a bit of an experiment.

ah, ok. thanks

 

[Mopey]

...I just installed my 18” snows, Continental Viking Contact 7’s tonight. I must say the car will now coast and roll for miles. 40 PSI. So I will run my tests again with 18”. They absolutely ride better than the 19” Michelin’s, hands down, what an improvement.

Agree. The Wintercontact 7 is an outstanding winter tire. Great grip and quiet. GTPE 20"

 

[bgentilesco]

Thank you for this! A post with real numbers and results in cold weather driving. This makes me feel so much better about ordering a standard range battery.

 

[tuminatr]

Here is the next installment. Saint Paul, MN to Wausau, WI on a cold slightly windy night.

Also if anyone was wondering I have the drive mode set to engage. One pedal drive mode on. I normally use unbridled but in that mode there is too much regenerate breaking for my liking with the ice and snow around.

I was not able to preheat / set departure time because of a local appointment. When I left it was 5 degrees and when I arrived my phone weather app said -3 and the car did too untel I pulled into the ramp where the picture was taken. Wind was about 10mph although I did not feel it constantly. Picture is the second half of did essential the same 2.1m/kwh heat set to auto 65 degrees, Cruse control set to speed limit 65MPH

Overall happy with how it did considering how cold it was / is.

 

[tuminatr]

Great numbers. Thanks for sharing…..

Was your climate Constant or off/on as needed? The usage for climate is lower than my test on my 19’s, but I was quite a bit colder and faster as well as constant higher climate temp settings.

Here are photos of my tests. The daytime one average was 18F-20F ambient, 72 MPH cruise, constant temp setpoint of 70f fan on manual 1, 1 person, average speed was 66 mph average distance/time) highway, Bluecruise , 2.2 mi/kWh.

The nighttime was 28F ambient, 72 MPH, Cruise, 70F, 2 people, average was 61.1 MPH highway, BC, 2.3 mi/kWh.

I see your weather was warmer by 10-20+ degrees and average speeds slower as you were 51 MPH, 56 MPH, and 57 MPH.

These are great data points, if we could only combine into a shared chart. Elevation would be only thing that we cannot quantify.

I just installed my 18” snows, Continental Viking Contact 7’s tonight. I must say the car will now coast and roll for miles. 40 PSI. So I will run my tests again with 18”. They absolutely ride better than the 19” Michelin’s, hands down, what an improvement.

Viking contact are nice tires, only downside is they are not low rolling resistance. If I convert and do winters I will put on Wintrac Pros. They are not advertising the fact that 225/60/18 and 245/45/20 sizes are Low rolling resistance, but the euro labels show they indeed are. So is the quatrac in 18" and 20" according to the label and testing done the the EU

 

[mikenindorf]

thanks for the write.
i live in Denver. Same car. When cold, the range is dramatically reduced. Current estimator is 62 miles at 34% battery. Weather is in the upper 30s. Sits in the garage. (Summer time my MPe averaged 3.7, but the miles never took that into account)
How long does it take to preheat the car?
Working from home, there is no set time i leave. Would be very nice to have a preheat NOW button on the app.
Can the MME be preheated without being plugged in?
How was the charging time? (where you plugged in outstide in the cold)

 

[Billyk24]

Well we will get a chance to see that its 9 degrees today and I will be heading to Wausau, WI then Chicago tomorrow, Detroit Thursday busy week. I wont be able to set a departure time so no preheating because I have a appointment in town.

Wausau does not have any dcfc. Nether does Green Bay.

 

[hybrid2bev]

thanks for the write.
i live in Denver. Same car. When cold, the range is dramatically reduced. Current estimator is 62 miles at 34% battery. Weather is in the upper 30s. Sits in the garage. (Summer time my MPe averaged 3.7, but the miles never took that into account)
How long does it take to preheat the car?
Working from home, there is no set time i leave. Would be very nice to have a preheat NOW button on the app.
Can the MME be preheated without being plugged in?
How was the charging time? (where you plugged in outstide in the cold)

How long does it take to preheat the car?
Depends on the outside temp. 5-15 minutes should do. Departure times set to Warm seem to take about 20-30 minutes (because it's warming the battery as well as the cabin).

Working from home, there is no set time i leave. Would be very nice to have a preheat NOW button on the app.
Ford instead chose to label the button in FordPass as "Start".

Can the MME be preheated without being plugged in?
Yes

How was the charging time?
DCFC speeds depends on the battery temperature (cold or too hot = slower). Level 2 charging should be normal.

 

[rachitsh]

Thanks for the write-up. I also live in the twin cities and am waiting for my Mach-E to arrive. This makes me so much more confident that mach-e can thrive in the winter here with some prep work.

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