Terrible Highway mileage!

[tesla2mme]

I'm saying the the starting range is inaccurate. I'm simply asking for tips on highway driving not smart a$$ remarks. This was my first trip. I thought the Forum would be helpful? ?

you gotta drive way slower than 75-79 for more efficiency. When I road trip and need mileage, I set cruise to 65 and drive in the furthest right lane so I don’t get run over

I have a GT so this is especially crucial, because if I go 80, I’m down to 1.2 mi/kWh in a hurry… 65 is a good spot- dreadfully slow but a good spot

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[mkhuffman]

This was my first trip.

That explains why your range estimate wasn't accurate. The range estimate (otherwise known as GOM) uses your driving history to determine how far the car will go in the future. And since you have not taken a long highway drive, it is using all your more efficient low speed driving to estimate how far you can go.

You have nothing to worry about. All is good. And welcome to the forum!

 

[The Electric Duo]

I'm saying the the starting range is inaccurate. I'm simply asking for tips on highway driving not smart a$$ remarks. This was my first trip. I thought the Forum would be helpful? ?

I can get the EPA range or more in my Mach-E doing normal driving -- lots of suburban highway with city driving as well. But on long road trips, 2.4 mi per kWh is more likely and less in the winter (and now that we have a GT).

We did the opposite of your trip back in November. From Glendale to Quartzsite, we got 2.3 miles per kWh. That would be about 209 miles on full 100 - 0 percent run. That was also doing 75 to 80. If I dropped my speed to 70, it would have jumped up in efficiency. Check out InsideEVs 70mph range test: https://insideevs.com/reviews/520484/mustang-mach-e-range-test/

Over time, I have found the GOM to be fairly accurate unless A) speeds change suddenly (lots of city driving and then we go on a road trip), B) temps drop (or other weather changes), or C) terrain changes drastically (like heading into the Rockies).

Here's a screenshot from the car after we pulled into the charging station in Quartzsite (from a road trip video we haven't even edited yet).

 

[MachEMaster]

If Sammy Hagar had a Mach E, he would sing "I Can't BlueCruise 65!!!!!!!"

 

[AZBill]

+1 on skepticism of 3mi/kWh at 75. Drag increases with the square of speed. 3+ mi/kWh at 65 sure... at 75... highly doubtful. at 75+ I'm calling BS.

Secondly, I always look where the poster is located... The difference between battery capacity at 80 degrees F and 20 degrees F is ~20%. short winter range is not just the resistive heaters fault.

My CR1 with the 18 inch wheels with aero overs easily gets over 3mi/kwh at those speeds. It is also RWD, not AWD. Some data from trips:

Phoenix to Tucson, I-10 speed limit 75mph, went 153 miles using 51% of my battery. (3.4mi/kwh)

Did Phoenix to Carlsbad CA, stopped for a charge in El Centro, 226 miles, used 76% of my battery. (3.4mi/kwh) My speeds were between 70 and 75 on that leg.

 

[Fremont Kid]

One more tip I've found useful is to keep a steady speed on the freeway. Find a speed around 70-75, turn on your cruise control, let it keep you at that speed, and enjoy the ride. Passing other vehicles on the freeway sucks energy out of your battery very, very quickly.

Agreed. Even with cruise control, if you have to cancel cruise, slow, then increase speed to cruise again, this variation will consume energy. Not saying you are doing this.

 

[Fremont Kid]

Unrelated, but I drive like a mad man on the freeways because it's just too much fun driving the Mach E. I did a drive from Austin, TX to Houston, TX last night and got home with 2 miles to spare. I was going to be real embarrassed if my car died before I got to my driveway.

Here is hoping you have more than a trickle-charger.

 

[MellowJohnny]

Jack, the only way to get you on the Dallas is to fly you out there by chopper. And the only way we can get you that far north is to strip it down and turn it into a flying gas can.

#HuntForRedOctober

 

[bcaceres]

I have the CR1 RWD with ER battery. I did that very trip last July and left Quartzsite with 60% battery and arrived home with 15% (130miles). I drove 75 mph and had to drive through a dust storm with 50 mph cross winds around Tonopah.

I had charged to 55% in Indio, then arrived at Quartzsite with about 20% battery at that point (105 miles).

Generally at 70-75mph I get 3.3 to 3.4 mile/kwh, but high winds will reduce that. But the CR1 has more efficient wheels than the other models.

That ER battery ways a ton. My Nissan Leaf with its 40kwh battery gets 3.6 miles/kwh. If you are getting that in a Mach-E with ER battery at 75mph, I would suspect you are traveling downhill. Most posters on here talk about about getting 2.4 to 2.8 miles per kWh.

 

[MacherAWD]

The Nav is going to assume you will drive the speed limit. 75 mph max for that stretch of road. if you plan to drive faster then throw the range estimate out the window and expect it to be much less. Range drops drastically the faster you drive. Lots of EV drivers drive fast....they just account for the lower range when they plan their trips.

Now I do believe when I had intelligent range the car looked at the speed tolerance you have set and used that to factor into trip speed. So if the highways are all 65mph and you have a tolerance of 7mph it would assume you are doing 72. I do recall reading that, but not sure if it is in the regular ford Nav, or only when we had intelligent range pilot.

 

[Murse-In-Airy]

I saw this thread earlier while I was on a break and didn’t have a chance to reply. You’ve probably quit reading by now but just in case it helps, I wanted to let you know how I play the range game.
You’ve undoubtedly realized that speeds in excess of 55 MPH or so will not get you EPA standard guesses. You’ve also realized that highway speeds won’t yield range equal to the GOM (unless you ALWAYS drive 80MPH everywhere you go).
My driving is widely varied. Making my GOM completely worthless. What I resort to doing is setting my destination in my navigation app of choice. This morning my destination was 202 miles away. The GOM showed 253 miles of range. In a perfect world I should have 51 miles remaining when I get to my destination. So I check every once in a while. Is the difference going down? And how fast? Especially when getting close to a fast charger. When I passed one fast charger, I had driven 50 miles. Distance to destination is down to 150 miles. Range is showing 195 miles. My difference is down to 45 miles. So I’m using battery a little faster than the GOM predicted originally. But I’m pretty confident because over another 150 miles (3 times the distance already traveled) that would leave me using another 15 miles off my excess. So probably arrive home with 30 miles range left. It’s not the 51 miles excess I was originally quoted, but it’s enough.
Next charger I come to is 60 miles from my destination. GOM shows 87 miles. Again, battery is going down a little quicker than GOM predicted but I’m showing 27 miles of excess range. And I’ve only used up 24 miles of excess range in the last 140 miles.
I just play a game where I don’t really care about the charge. I do t really care about the GOM. I care about the delta between my waypoint and my GOM. If the delta is getting smaller, I can slow down or alter my charging plan as needed.

 

[devmach-e]

+1 on skepticism of 3mi/kWh at 75. Drag increases with the square of speed. 3+ mi/kWh at 65 sure... at 75... highly doubtful. at 75+ I'm calling BS.

Secondly, I always look where the poster is located... The difference between battery capacity at 80 degrees F and 20 degrees F is ~20%. short winter range is not just the resistive heaters fault.

In non-winter months I get 3+ mi/kWh on my commute. 80% of the 48 mile commute is at 75 MPH, with hills. Typically 3.7 in one direction, and 3.3 in the other. During winter, it's been 2.8 to 3.1 in one direction, and 2.4 to 2.8 in the other direction. Outside temp is in the 40s and 50s in the winter.

 

[AZBill]

That ER battery ways a ton. My Nissan Leaf with its 40kwh battery gets 3.6 miles/kwh. If you are getting that in a Mach-E with ER battery at 75mph, I would suspect you are traveling downhill. Most posters on here talk about about getting 2.4 to 2.8 miles per kWh.

Most posters here have AWD and less efficient wheels. I get that on flat ground. I did a trip Phoenix to Grand Canyon, which involves a 6000 ft climb and got 3 mile/kwh.

 

[shadowsjc]

So you're saying you used more energy on the highway? Wow, shocking.

If the OP is coming from an ICE vehicle (which statistically at least in the US is the case), then yes it would be shocking. ICE vehicles generally are more efficient on the highways. No need for snarky responses.

 

[SnBGC]

Now I do believe when I had intelligent range the car looked at the speed tolerance you have set and used that to factor into trip speed. So if the highways are all 65mph and you have a tolerance of 7mph it would assume you are doing 72. I do recall reading that, but not sure if it is in the regular ford Nav, or only when we had intelligent range pilot.

Speed tolerance? What is that? Is that a setting in the Navigation system?

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