Took my 2nd road trip - not great

Jeffvisor

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CarPlay is crap. It really is. It's a buggy slow pile of horse dung.

I struggled with it on my ID.4 as it fought the built-in nav + satellite radio system and I'm fighting it again with the Mach-E. I wish I could just use the built in Mach-E voice command system to control CarPlay apps but that doesn't seem possible.

I sticking with wired CarPlay and only allowing Spotify and maybe Google Maps + Waze. However, I plan to mainly use satellite radio and the built in nav most of the time - as it makes everything less frustrating.
I wish Ford would release separate apps like Spotify, Waze and YouTube when you have to wait in the car for something to watch.
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Most people are going to shop at their closest Walmart. If they charge at home they are not likely to charge at Walmart. I suspect that the universe of Walmart shoppers who have BEVs but no charger at home is pretty small.

People who have to charge while traveling are mostly going to be on interstates and equivalent roads and they are going to choose the closest charger which means a charger just off the interstate rather than a charger at a Walmart which may not be near the interstate.
I don't think Walmart is targeting locals with the DCFC stations; those bring in nonlocal customers that will need to do something for 20 to 40 minutes while charging. I can't speak for the rest of the country, but at least on the East coast many of those Walmart locations are within a quarter mile of interstates. The Walmarts in Abingdon MD, Stafford VA, FredericksBurg VA, Richmond VA, Henderson NC, Greensboro NC, etc etc etc all down the I-85/I-95/I-75 corridors are within that short distance of the highway. Many more like the Walmart in Charlotte are within a mile of those highways.

Believe it or not the people whose job is to figure this stuff out are not stupid.
 
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67 Stang Convertible

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  • Disable the "automatically add charger to route" in the Ford nav
  • You can reboot the infotainment screen by holding down the "right seek" and "volume down" buttons for 5 to 10 seconds. that should have rebooted the infotainment so you could have used carplay
  • I would have stayed at the EA stop for 5 more minutes to ensure you had more than you needed
  • preplan your trips with abetterrouteplanner.com, which does a far better job than the Ford nav by picking faster chargers over closer slow one. you can also explicitly configure ABRP not to use a specific charger
Hey my Apple Car Play has not connected to the car/screen now for 2 days (multiple trips). Will this trick (right seek & volume down) work for this application? Thanks
 

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CarPlay is crap. It really is. It's a buggy slow pile of horse dung.
I feel the same way about Android Auto. It works, but it kills my phone battery. My phone can barely keep up with the charge when it is connected, and if I listen to music and do Google Maps navigation at the same time, it kills the battery even on the charger. I like the MME navigation system anyway, and prefer to use that. I may turn off Android Auto and just use Bluetooth for music through my phone. I will miss the speed trap warnings though.
 

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I don't think Walmart is targeting locals with the DCFC stations; those bring in nonlocal customers that will need to do something for 20 to 40 minutes while charging. I can't speak for the rest of the country, but at least on the East coast many of those Walmart locations are within a quarter mile of interstates. The Walmarts in Abingdon MD, Stafford VA, FredericksBurg VA, Richmond VA, Henderson NC, Greensboro NC, etc etc etc all down the I-85/I-95/I-75 corridors are within that short distance of the highway. Many more like the Walmart in Charlotte are within a mile of those highways.

Believe it or not the people whose job is to figure this stuff out are not stupid.
I like having the chargers at Walmarts. It is fairly easy to kill 20-30 minutes if I go to the bathroom there and then pick up a few things I need at home, or need for the trip. At least you know you are not overpaying for that bottle of water!
 


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I like having the chargers at Walmarts. It is fairly easy to kill 20-30 minutes if I go to the bathroom there and then pick up a few things I need at home, or need for the trip. At least you know you are not overpaying for that bottle of water!
Yes, exactly. On my road trip last month it was nice having a decent bathroom (as opposed to a gas station's) and reasonably priced snacks/drinks available. Since Walmarts are in shopping areas when we stopped at lunch time there was always something decent to eat. In the afternoons rather than stopping at 10% or 15% SOC and charging for 40 minutes I stopped at 30% to 40% SOC for 20 minutes or so and it was a nice break to stretch legs without being tedious. Almost all of the stops were right at the highway so it was an easy on-and-off.

I'm generally a type A "just gotta go-go-go kind of person", but with the short breaks and driver assistance features I find the extended range Mach E to be an excellent travel car. I can understand the trepidation others have about long trips as I had them also, but if you are traveling along a more built-up charging corridor it does very well.
 

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I feel the same way about Android Auto. It works, but it kills my phone battery. My phone can barely keep up with the charge when it is connected, and if I listen to music and do Google Maps navigation at the same time, it kills the battery even on the charger.
That is very true, so for day long trips I plug my phone in rather than relying on the wireless charging. It's not as neat but plugged in the charging more than keeps up with AA, Waze, and podcast addict running the whole time.
 

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I'm generally a type A "just gotta go-go-go kind of person", but with the short breaks and driver assistance features I find the extended range Mach E to be an excellent travel car.
I feel the same way. The MME has forced me to slow down, relax, get something to eat, look at my email, read the latest MME Forum posts ;-), etc. Prior to this car it was a marathon to go as far as possible without stopping. And 2-2.5 hours is a pretty good chunk of time anyway. It feels good to stretch and slow down. I really like it. What I won't like is when all the charger stations are full. That has not happened yet, but I know it will. I may change my tune when that happens.
 

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The downside of locating the chargers at Walmart, Target, and grocery stores is multi-faceted:

1) The time it takes to leave the highway and get to the charging area is often a multi-traffic light / several mile approach. This can add 10 minutes, or more in peak shopping periods, to each stop. Sometimes it's nearly 10 minutes each way.

2) When the store isn't open, there's no bathroom and no people. That's both an inconvenience and a potential safety issue. When you're hooked up to a charger, you can't just leave if someone approaches. We charged at an EA at a grocery store in Ohio on our last trip, about 9:30 at night. Store closed, empty parking lot. Every fast food location bordering the store's parking lot was closed to walk-in due to staffing issues. We ended up waiting until we were done charging, and then driving to a nearby gas station and using their facilities. Walmart is no longer open 24/7 in many locations.
 

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I dream of a scenario where charging stations exist next to places I actually want to go into (NOT Walmart, Sam's Club, or a closed grocery store). Norway is leading the way...let's follow their lead:

Bjørn Nyland Presents Fast Charging Station Of The Future (insideevs.com)
The EA charge station I used at a Sheetz wasn't covered, but it looked very much like the Circle K one in the article. The bathroom was decent, they had a good selection of beer, wine, and other less important drinks. They also have a food counter that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. I ordered a hot grilled chicken sub, a nice cold beverage, and enjoyed my dinner at one of the eating tables inside. The Circle K station looks cool, but I doubt it would be much nicer than what I experienced at the Sheetz.
 

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We charged at an EA at a grocery store in Ohio on our last trip, about 9:30 at night. Store closed, empty parking lot. Every fast food location bordering the store's parking lot was closed to walk-in due to staffing issues. We ended up waiting until we were done charging, and then driving to a nearby gas station and using their facilities. Walmart is no longer open 24/7 in many locations.
I can't count how many unattended gas stations I have used late at night that were deserted and not near any open facilities. I definitely agree we need more EV charging stations, but charging alone late at night is not much different than what I have experienced getting gas. The difference is how long it takes, of course.
 

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I can't count how many unattended gas stations I have used late at night that were deserted and not near any open facilities. I definitely agree we need more EV charging stations, but charging alone late at night is not much different than what I have experienced getting gas. The difference is how long it takes, of course.
I guess we drive in different areas. I cannot recall every putting gas in my vehicles at a gas station that didn't have at least an attendant at it, unless I go back over 40 years to a station that had a machine where you inserted dollar bills to pre-pay for your gas.

I would never gas up at a closed gas station.
 

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The downside of locating the chargers at Walmart, Target, and grocery stores is multi-faceted:

1) The time it takes to leave the highway and get to the charging area is often a multi-traffic light / several mile approach. This can add 10 minutes, or more in peak shopping periods, to each stop. Sometimes it's nearly 10 minutes each way.

2) When the store isn't open, there's no bathroom and no people. That's both an inconvenience and a potential safety issue. When you're hooked up to a charger, you can't just leave if someone approaches. We charged at an EA at a grocery store in Ohio on our last trip, about 9:30 at night. Store closed, empty parking lot. Every fast food location bordering the store's parking lot was closed to walk-in due to staffing issues. We ended up waiting until we were done charging, and then driving to a nearby gas station and using their facilities. Walmart is no longer open 24/7 in many locations.
Exactly. Walmarts aren't really convenient. Although *some* of them are within a mile of a highway, most of the EA's I've used at Walmarts are 2+ miles (and several stoplights) from the exit ramp. I think I also visited the same station you were at in Ohio (west of Cleveland, right?). Had the same problem; store closed and the nearby Arby's was drive-through only. I peed in the trees near the EA station.
 

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Exactly. Walmarts aren't really convenient. Although *some* of them are within a mile of a highway, most of the EA's I've used at Walmarts are 2+ miles (and several stoplights) from the exit ramp. I think I also visited the same station you were at in Ohio (west of Cleveland, right?). Had the same problem; store closed and the nearby Arby's was drive-through only. I peed in the trees near the EA station.
Which tree? ?

Giant Eagle in Sheffield, Ohio.
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