Two-Year "Review": 33,500 miles, 24 months, Dozens of Road Trips...

[Jiji]

After 33,500 miles, we've spent about $50 on maintenance. For the first 10,000 mile maintenance service, my partner drove three hours round trip and paid $27 to the dealer. After that, I took care of the second and third routine maintenance myself. We bought new wiper blades and new washer fluid. And... That's about it. A total of about $50. In the same ~30,000 miles, we've had to pay a total of about $3,000, or an average of $500 for every 5000 miles service interval for the Tacoma.

Tires? Can’t find a mention of replacements and given how notorious OE tires can be for wear that would be amazing if they still worked well in winter.

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[SpaceEVDriver]

Tires? Can’t find a mention of replacements and given how notorious OE tires can be for wear that would be amazing if they still worked well in winter.

The tires have just over 3/32". I'll need to replace them soon. The wear is pretty perfectly even. I really don't do any hard acceleration. I tried it a couple of times just to feel it, but I'm no longer 20 and street racing just doesn't appeal to me like it used to.

The tires have been doing pretty well in the snow/ice here on the mountain. A purchase that I usually do when I need my first set of new tires is a second set of wheels for winter tires, but that's a cost I choose with every vehicle I own.

I did have to patch one tire because we ran over a screw, but since it's about time to replace them, I haven't worried about the patch--it's holding just fine.

 

[dbsb3233]

Tires? Can’t find a mention of replacements and given how notorious OE tires can be for wear that would be amazing if they still worked well in winter.

I got 49,000 miles out of the original Michelin Primacys, and they still had 4/32" when I replaced them a few months ago. If it were Spring I'd have kept them longer but had a few winter road trips coming up so I pulled the trigger. Almost went with the same tires as they were good, but decided on the Hankook iON's that were getting good reports. Seem pretty similar so far.

90% of our driving is highway, mostly road trips thru CO/UT/NV.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

I got 49,000 miles out of the original Michelin Primacys, and they still had 4/32" when I replaced them a few months ago. If it were Spring I'd have kept them longer but had a few winter road trips coming up so I pulled the trigger. Almost went with the same tires as they were good, but decided on the Hankook iON's that were getting good reports. Seem pretty similar so far.

90% of our driving is highway, mostly road trips thru CO/UT/NV.

Have you noticed a difference in road noise with the Hankooks?

 

[dbsb3233]

Have you noticed a difference in road noise with the Hankooks?

A little, but I got so used to the way it was before that it's hard to tell. And we always have the radio on. There may be more difference than I'm remembering, but they were pretty quiet before too. I should have taken more mental note of the noise level before. (Or a reading on my phone). But they're definitely quiet now, unless of course I hit one of those road stretches that has a lot of gravelly texture.

 

[Atxsw]

Great review and great photos!

 

[RussellDiaz]

Good writeup. I have a 2021 Premium with extended battery, and AWD. I use it as my commuter car. I have a round trip of 110 miles a day. After two years and 60,000 miles I am still happy with the car. The only time it has been in the shop has been for standard maintenance and recalls. I charge it at home in the garage every night to 95% because I don’t want to think about the range while driving back home after work.

At 51,000 I replaced the tires (tirerack.com). I see too many people with flat tires on the NY State Thruway almost every day, so purchase a spare tire kit from Modern Spare. Better safe than sorry.

Lack of L3 Public chargers are a problem in NY north of the NY City, so I don’t drive my car to places that will require public charging. The stress and range anxiety are too much to deal with, so I just use my other ICE car, no problem, no stress. When I start seeing L3 chargers on the highway rest stops I will enjoy the car for longer trips.

The Mach-e replaced my $500 monthly gas bill, and $100 maintenance bill with an $85 electric bill. So as a commuter car, I would buy it again. It did the job of saving me money.

Last note:

In 2021 I found a dealer online with this car in stock due to a canceled order, but it was 6 hours away from my home in Buffalo NY. I purchased it sight unseen. It took me 6 hours to drive to the dealer with my Cadillac XT5 making only one stop for 15 minutes. The next day, I left the dealership in my new car at 11:00 AM. On the way back, it took me 6 hours of driving as expected, plus 12 hours of charging time because I could only find L2 chargers on the way back home. I got home at 4:00 AM, never again! Did I say that I love driving this car?

 

[BadgerGreg]

Excellent recap of your adventures! I put on 25,000 miles in my first year owning a Mach E, and I thoroughly enjoyed all my road trips (although I was bitten by the HVBJB bug on one of those trips).

However, a true EV road trip warrior, at some point, arrives at a DCFC at 0%. You still need to work on unlocking that achievement

 

[dbsb3233]

However, a true EV road trip warrior, at some point, arrives at a DCFC at 0%. You still need to work on unlocking that achievement

That's not a road trip warrior, that's a road trip Russian Roulette player.

I did arrive at 2% one time on a road trip. Got surprised by a strong headwind that really sucked the juice down. All that did was reinforce my resolve to try and AVOID doing that. I usually DCFC up to 80% regardless, and leave lots of buffer for more safety and flexibility (to reach a backup DCFC if needed). I rarely plan DCFC stops for the last DCFC I can reach, I plan them for the 2nd-to-last. Which often means getting there with 30-40% left.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

That's not a road trip warrior, that's a road trip Russian Roulette player.

I did arrive at 2% one time on a road trip. Got surprised by a strong headwind that really sucked the juice down. All that did was reinforce my resolve to try and AVOID doing that. I usually DCFC up to 80% regardless, and leave lots of buffer for more safety and flexibility (to reach a backup DCFC if needed). I rarely plan DCFC stops for the last DCFC I can reach, I plan them for the 2nd-to-last. Which often means getting there with 30-40% left.

This is our typical approach too. We arrived at a DCFC with 4% once and don't intend to have that happen again.

On the way out on road trips, our last DCFC charge is often planned so that we arrive at our destination with 50% or so because we often don't have access to charging with better than 12 amps. On the way home, I do plan my last DCFC charge so that I arrive home with 20% or less so we get as cheap energy as possible.

 

[dbsb3233]

This is our typical approach too. We arrived at a DCFC with 4% once and don't intend to have that happen again.

On the way out on road trips, our last DCFC charge is often planned so that we arrive at our destination with 50% or so because we often don't have access to charging with better than 12 amps. On the way home, I do plan my last DCFC charge so that I arrive home with 20% or less so we get as cheap energy as possible.

Yep, last one of the day coming home is different because it's dependable and cheap there. And hotels often have free L2. Our destinations are usually cities where there's multiple backups closeby anyway.

Same way with a midday charge in a place that has multiple DCFC options. If there's a backup station 5 miles away, then I'm fine arriving at 10-20%. But if the closest backup DCFC is 70 miles away, then I'll leave 30-40%. It all comes down to my Backup Rule - leave enough to reach a backup DCFC (unless it's home). It does make route planning a little more involved, but I check all that out ahead of time anyway. All my road trips include extensive checking on Google Maps, Plugshare, and the EA map.

 

[BadgerGreg]

That's not a road trip warrior, that's a road trip Russian Roulette player.

I've landed three separate EVs at 0% at a DCFC charger: my original (2021) Mach E, a rented Tesla Model 3, and my BMW i4. Each situation involved deteriorating weather conditions (dry to wet, calm to windy, plunging temperatures, or a combination of all three).

In each case, I had a reasonable buffer to the charging station, but the buffer steadily deteriorated. I was able to manage it by steadily reducing my speed during the last 20-mile stretch, never having to go more than 5 mph below the speed limit, and then only for the last couple of miles. In each case, I didn't get to 0% until I was off the exit ramp and within a half mile of the DCFC station.

I've watched enough of Bjorn's and Kyle's (Out of Spec) videos to know that 0% isn't really "empty tank", so I didn't sweat it. I have to admit that plugging in at 0% gives one a great sense of relief...

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

... It does make route planning a little more involved, but I check all that out ahead of time anyway. All my road trips include extensive checking on Google Maps, Plugshare, and the EA map.

I've mostly stopped with the route planning. I check the super-conservative ABRP to see if it thinks I can make it. I check Plugshare to see if there are nearby chargers for DCFC options (within about 50 miles) and then again for L2 options (anywhere nearby).

Then I go.

[Note: This is also what I do when planning a road trip with a fossil fuel vehicle.]

But I also don't find the prospect of having to change my plans all that troublesome. Most of my work is remote, so even when I'm driving for a work reason, I can almost always adjust and make the event remote (except field work, but that's also flexible in a different way). If someone is depending on me to be at a place at a specific time, I almost always have the time to arrive early, which means I can plan on having at least one failure along the trip, whether that's flying or driving.

My history with truly unreliable cars and before cell phones, 24-hour gas stations, and credit cards makes road tripping in the Mustang super low-stress. I don't push the boundaries, but I also don't stress them.

 

[dbsb3233]

I've landed three separate EVs at 0% at a DCFC charger: my original (2021) Mach E, a rented Tesla Model 3, and my BMW i4. Each situation involved deteriorating weather conditions (dry to wet, calm to windy, plunging temperatures, or a combination of all three).

In each case, I had a reasonable buffer to the charging station, but the buffer steadily deteriorated. I was able to manage it by steadily reducing my speed during the last 20-mile stretch, never having to go more than 5 mph below the speed limit, and then only for the last couple of miles. In each case, I didn't get to 0% until I was off the exit ramp and within a half mile of the DCFC station.

I've watched enough of Bjorn's and Kyle's (Out of Spec) videos to know that 0% isn't really "empty tank", so I didn't sweat it. I have to admit that plugging in at 0% gives one a great sense of relief...

The time I got down to 2% (from Vegas to Cedar City UT) was a trip we'd done multiple times where I'd previously arrived at 15-20% in Spring/Summer. I got a little complacent on that one in the colder temps. It's a 4000' climb from St George to Cedar City, and the headwind was wicked. I did expect some loss but not 15%. Ever since we've just stopped safely in St George instead.

The one time I did have to slow down quite a bit was last Spring going west from Grand Junction to Salina UT. 206 miles, 80 MPH normally. Green River is the key station right in the middle. Notoriously iffy station, and it was completely down for a week or two at that time. Often windy too, although that time it wasn't, thankfully. Crept along at 68 MPH as everyone flew by me. Not only made it to Salina fine but just continued on to Richfield where we always spend the night (224 mi) on the way to Vegas. Speed makes such a huge difference when you get up in the 80 area.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Speed makes such a huge difference when you get up in the 80 area.

Yes!

I put a spoiler tag around the rest because it's just me nerding out.

Spoiler

On most of the freeways I frequent, it's safe enough to go the speed limit or even a bit lower, I'm usually still passing the large trucks and it wouldn't matter what speed I went, the full-sized F-150s, Rams, etc would pass me, so I feel it's safer just to stay out of their way.

I found 73 is a sweet spot for my efficiency vs time:
My most common trip is about 450 miles one-way on the freeway. If I averaged 80 mph, that's 338 minutes (5.625 hours). At 75 mph, that's 360 minutes, and at 73 mph, that's 370 minutes. Of course there are all kinds of factors that increase the total trip time because averaging those speeds is unrealistic.

Difference: 73 vs 80 mph: 32 minutes.

On these trips, my efficiency at 80 mph is about 2-2.5 mpk; at 75, it's about 2.7-3.1 mpk; at 73 it's 3.1-3.7 mpk (at 73, I can often find a semi to draft behind for long stretches).

This means that at 80 mph, I use 180 to 225 kWh; 145 - 167 kWh at 75 mph; and 129 - 145 kWh at 73 mph. I've averaged around 80-90 kW charging at DCFCs, but let's assume I get 100 kW average charge rates. Here, I'm going to assume a higher efficiency for 80 mph and lower for 75 and 73.

80 mph: 2.5 mpk = 180 kWh = 108 minutes of charging (80 kW -> 135 minutes).
75 mph: 2.7 mpk = 167 kWh = 100 minutes of charging (80 kW -> 125 minutes).
73 mph: 3.1 mpk = 145 kWh = 87 minutes of charging (80 kW -> 109 minutes).

Difference:
73 to 80: about 20 minutes extra time charging if I drive 80 mph instead of 73, assuming 100 kWh charge rate (26 minutes for the 80 kW charge rate).
75 to 80: about 10 minutes of extra charging if I drive 80 instead of 75.
73 to 75: about 15 minutes of extra charging if I drive 75 instead of 73.

Assuming I go from 85% to 25% on the battery between stops (use 60% of the battery, or 53 kWh):

I need 3.5 stops if I go 80 mph; 2.7 stops at 75 mph; 2.5 stops at 73 mph. This really translates to 4 stops at 80 mph and 3 stops at 75 or 73, but I'll have to spend a little more time at the stops if I go 75 vs 73.

Every stop requires at least 10 minutes just to get off the freeway, drive to the charger and get plugged in and charging, and then get back on the freeway. This assumes the chargers aren't busy. That means that because the 80 mph speed requires an extra stop it also requres another extra 10 minutes (assuming no troubles with charging) compared with 75 or 73 mph.

So, in an ideal, non-stop drive, the 80 mph might save me 30 minutes of time=distance/speed, but it'll also cost me at least an extra 30 minutes of stopping, charging, and resuming my trip, assuming there are no problems with the chargers and that there's no wait. It has become pretty standard to see a wait at at least one charger on this drive. Going 73 mph also allows me to consider skipping a stop, while 80 mph does not.

And this just gets worse as the distance of the road trip increases (until an overnight L2 charge resets everything).

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