NestNowEmpty
Member
- First Name
- Rob
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2021
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- 1
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- 7
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- 34
- Location
- El Segundo, CA
- Vehicles
- Mach-E California Route 1
- Thread starter
- #1
My wife and I just returned from our second summer road trip in our June 2021 build 1 Mach-E California Route 1. Given all the concerns about charging, etc, I wanted to share because we had no issues and found the Mach-E to be a great car for road trips.
Our first road trip was 16 days from late July to early August. We traveled from Los Angeles to Seattle on the I-5 stopping at Crater Lake and Portland. After a few days in Seattle, we crossed the sound on a ferry, went across the Olympic Peninsula, and then worked our way down the coast. Since we lived in LA, we started and ended with long, all-day drives to/from Northern California, saving the rest of California for weekend trips.
The car was great on all fronts. Bluecruise hands-free worked well on the freeways, although the way California paints the lines with a break at the exits gave it some issues. We were mostly without hands-free on the way down the coast, but the lane centering worked well.
Most of our charging problems occurred on this trip instead of our trip to the midwest, which surprised me because the west coast should have the most robust charging infrastructure.
The EA at the Patterson, CA Walmart was a mess. Three chargers were not working, and the other ones were slow and occupied. So we went over to the Tracy, CA Walmart. Same issues there. We got a little electricity at a Chargepoint there in Tracy, CA, and then āfilled upā at the EA in Stockton, CA.
Our other issue was in Kelso, WA. We had left Portland with an 80% charge and wanted to "top off" to get to Mt Saint Helens and then to Seattle. Again, the chargers were not functioning. Even though it was tight, we pressed ahead and made it to the Mt Saint Helens overlook and then to Lacy, WA with 15% remaining in the battery. Regenerative charging is a great thing. It was the only range anxiety the entire summer.
To get to and explore Crater Lake we used the Chargepoint chargers in Klamath Falls, OR. They were perfect ā made the entire Crater Lake visit easy. They seemed pretty new. A great example of good charger placement.
We got around the Olympic National Park using the chargers at the lodges, which were reasonably reliable. I had it planned out to use the EA charger in Port Angeles, WA if the lodges didnāt work out, but it wasnāt needed.
On this trip, we logged 3,498 miles, charged at L2 chargers 4 times and L3 chargers 30 times. The total of all charging was 952 KWs costing $242.44 or $0.25/KW.
The second trip was 26 days and involved driving my son to college in Dayton, OH. After dropping him off, my wife and I slowly headed back across the country to visit family/friends and National Parks.
From LA, we traveled through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, reaching Dayton, OH in four days.
Heading back, we spent time with family and friends in Northern Indiana; Sheboygan County, Wisconsin; outside St. Louis, Missouri; outside Kansas City; Denver; and Silverthorne, CO. Then we went to Moab, UT to see Arches National Park and to Kanab, UT, visiting Bryce Canyon National Park on the way and Zion National Park while staying in Kanab. We took our boxer mix dog with us on the second trip.
There were very few issues with chargers on the second trip. I fought with a charger on the OK Turnpike, but in retrospect, I was trying to use my credit card, and I probably couldāve used the Ford app. The only other issue we had was limited L3 charging in Wisconsin. The Airbnb owner let us use their electricity (110V) to give us the boost we needed.
There are good Chargepoint chargers in Kanab, UT which were critical to getting us to Zion National Park (and if we had chosen to, the north rim of the Grand Canyon). Another case of good charger placement.
On this trip, we logged 6,429 miles, charged on our L1 charger twice, L2 chargers 12 times, and L3 chargers 50 times. We obtained 1,919 KWs of electricity for $414.58 or $0.22/KW. Our costs were cut in the final 2-3 days since EA was free because of the app maintenance.
Based on some posts in this forum, I was concerned about the motion sensors setting off the alarm on the ferry and when we left the dog in the car. But turning off the walk-away lock and the motion sensors worked every time (even if it was inconvenient to go into settings every time I needed the motion sensors off). Similarly, we found it easy to leave the dog in the car with the A/C on by turning off the shutdown timer and manually locking the car. The only downside was that it was inconvenient to go into the setting tabs and the double honk of the horn was a bit annoying, especially in the national parks. We left a sign on the console letting any snoopers know that the car was on for the dog and had no issues.
Apple Maps outperformed the Ford navigation, so we stuck to that for charging recommendations. Early on, Iād double-check with ABRP, but I found Apple Maps reliable and generally didnāt even check ABRP unless I was pushing it (for example, stopping at Bryce Canyon National Park on the drive from Moab, UT to Kanab, UT).
Hope this gets more people on road trips with their Mach-Es - we had a great time!
Our first road trip was 16 days from late July to early August. We traveled from Los Angeles to Seattle on the I-5 stopping at Crater Lake and Portland. After a few days in Seattle, we crossed the sound on a ferry, went across the Olympic Peninsula, and then worked our way down the coast. Since we lived in LA, we started and ended with long, all-day drives to/from Northern California, saving the rest of California for weekend trips.
The car was great on all fronts. Bluecruise hands-free worked well on the freeways, although the way California paints the lines with a break at the exits gave it some issues. We were mostly without hands-free on the way down the coast, but the lane centering worked well.
Most of our charging problems occurred on this trip instead of our trip to the midwest, which surprised me because the west coast should have the most robust charging infrastructure.
The EA at the Patterson, CA Walmart was a mess. Three chargers were not working, and the other ones were slow and occupied. So we went over to the Tracy, CA Walmart. Same issues there. We got a little electricity at a Chargepoint there in Tracy, CA, and then āfilled upā at the EA in Stockton, CA.
Our other issue was in Kelso, WA. We had left Portland with an 80% charge and wanted to "top off" to get to Mt Saint Helens and then to Seattle. Again, the chargers were not functioning. Even though it was tight, we pressed ahead and made it to the Mt Saint Helens overlook and then to Lacy, WA with 15% remaining in the battery. Regenerative charging is a great thing. It was the only range anxiety the entire summer.
To get to and explore Crater Lake we used the Chargepoint chargers in Klamath Falls, OR. They were perfect ā made the entire Crater Lake visit easy. They seemed pretty new. A great example of good charger placement.
We got around the Olympic National Park using the chargers at the lodges, which were reasonably reliable. I had it planned out to use the EA charger in Port Angeles, WA if the lodges didnāt work out, but it wasnāt needed.
On this trip, we logged 3,498 miles, charged at L2 chargers 4 times and L3 chargers 30 times. The total of all charging was 952 KWs costing $242.44 or $0.25/KW.
The second trip was 26 days and involved driving my son to college in Dayton, OH. After dropping him off, my wife and I slowly headed back across the country to visit family/friends and National Parks.
From LA, we traveled through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, reaching Dayton, OH in four days.
Heading back, we spent time with family and friends in Northern Indiana; Sheboygan County, Wisconsin; outside St. Louis, Missouri; outside Kansas City; Denver; and Silverthorne, CO. Then we went to Moab, UT to see Arches National Park and to Kanab, UT, visiting Bryce Canyon National Park on the way and Zion National Park while staying in Kanab. We took our boxer mix dog with us on the second trip.
There were very few issues with chargers on the second trip. I fought with a charger on the OK Turnpike, but in retrospect, I was trying to use my credit card, and I probably couldāve used the Ford app. The only other issue we had was limited L3 charging in Wisconsin. The Airbnb owner let us use their electricity (110V) to give us the boost we needed.
There are good Chargepoint chargers in Kanab, UT which were critical to getting us to Zion National Park (and if we had chosen to, the north rim of the Grand Canyon). Another case of good charger placement.
On this trip, we logged 6,429 miles, charged on our L1 charger twice, L2 chargers 12 times, and L3 chargers 50 times. We obtained 1,919 KWs of electricity for $414.58 or $0.22/KW. Our costs were cut in the final 2-3 days since EA was free because of the app maintenance.
Based on some posts in this forum, I was concerned about the motion sensors setting off the alarm on the ferry and when we left the dog in the car. But turning off the walk-away lock and the motion sensors worked every time (even if it was inconvenient to go into settings every time I needed the motion sensors off). Similarly, we found it easy to leave the dog in the car with the A/C on by turning off the shutdown timer and manually locking the car. The only downside was that it was inconvenient to go into the setting tabs and the double honk of the horn was a bit annoying, especially in the national parks. We left a sign on the console letting any snoopers know that the car was on for the dog and had no issues.
Apple Maps outperformed the Ford navigation, so we stuck to that for charging recommendations. Early on, Iād double-check with ABRP, but I found Apple Maps reliable and generally didnāt even check ABRP unless I was pushing it (for example, stopping at Bryce Canyon National Park on the drive from Moab, UT to Kanab, UT).
Hope this gets more people on road trips with their Mach-Es - we had a great time!
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