Unplug after charging?

[Illinibird]

Of course, if it were me I'd be driving the Mach E to FL to avoid burning the gas.

How did I know you would say that! ? If I didn't have my 10 year old granddaughter with us and Sue and I were a few years younger and more adventuresome, we would take the Mach E. It would be a challenge though as it has a standard battery. I WILL BE taking the Mach E to Nashville this September when its just Sue and I and there are no time constraints for the trip.

As far as charge, the car is at 90% today and there is no way I can get it down to 50% as were leaving tomorrow morning. I thought the 50% recommendation was only for longer periods of storage.

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[ChasingCoral]

How did I know you would say that! ? If I didn't have my 10 year old granddaughter with us and Sue and I were a few years younger and more adventuresome, we would take the Mach E. It would be a challenge though as it has a standard battery. I WILL BE taking the Mach E to Nashville this September when its just Sue and I and there are no time constraints for the trip.

As far as charge, the car is at 90% today and there is no way I can get it down to 50% as were leaving tomorrow morning. I thought the 50% recommendation was only for longer periods of storage.

Keeping the battery around 50% is better, period. If I don't need to drive farther I let Marlin get below 50% (often to 40%) before recharging. Since your battery is already at 90% just leave it unplugged and you'll be fine. I lost less than 10% charge while Marlin was not charging at Maryland Collision Center for a month.

10-year old granddaughter doesn't like shopping in Walmart? Getting ice cream? Sitting down to eat? Traveling with a 10-year old makes it hard to keep gas stops under 15-20 minutes anyway. Charging is 30-35 depending on how far you drain the battery and how far you need to go to the next stop. While you make this trip, time your stops and intervals between stops. How long does it really take to stop for gas and a bathroom or food break? How long do you really go between stops. That will tell you how much driving the Mach E would really slow you down. In the meantime, remember the gas you are burning is impacting your granddaughter's life much more than yours. Hers is the generation that will feel the greatest impact of climate change.

 

[Stang68]

So I'm leaving for a 10 day trip to Florida to visit my younger daughter and will take my ICE vehicle (Acura MDX which burns premium gas - ouch!) and will leave the Mach E plugged in and set to 90% max SOC in my garage. Is this the general consensus on this thread for leaving the car "stored" for short periods of time? I know if the storage is a long period of time (like over the winter) it is best to leave the batteries around 50% but this is not a long period of time. I'm hesitant to leave it plugged in though as we won't be home and it would be left unattended during the entire 10 day period. On the other hand, I'm somewhat concerned about the HV battery losing charge or the ability to charge the LV battery if I do unplug the EVSE from the car.

What is the consensus or is this just personal preference?

Premium gas in an MDX??

 

[Illinibird]

Keeping the battery around 50% is better, period. If I don't need to drive farther I let Marlin get below 50% (often to 40%) before recharging. Since your battery is already at 90% just leave it unplugged and you'll be fine. I lost less than 10% charge while Marlin was not charging at Maryland Collision Center for a month.

10-year old granddaughter doesn't like shopping in Walmart? Getting ice cream? Sitting down to eat? Traveling with a 10-year old makes it hard to keep gas stops under 15-20 minutes anyway. Charging is 30-35 depending on how far you drain the battery and how far you need to go to the next stop. While you make this trip, time your stops and intervals between stops. How long does it really take to stop for gas and a bathroom or food break? How long do you really go between stops. That will tell you how much driving the Mach E would really slow you down. In the meantime, remember the gas you are burning is impacting your granddaughter's life much more than yours. Hers is the generation that will feel the greatest impact of climate change.

All very true but we are hauling more than the Mach E has room to carry (and we have a rooftop storage bin for the MDX that will be filled as well). If storage wasn't an issue and we had planned the trip for the Mach E I might have considered it. The trip to Nashville will only be the 2 of us. As for burning gas, that is true and why at 72 I decided to give a BEV a try and so far I like it. We had three hybrids before that so I consider it baby steps to a BEV. The country is going all EV as far as I can tell from what I'm reading/hearing so by the time Allison is grown up and 21, ICE vehicles will probably be something of the past (as will be their carbon emissions). Hopefully, when I replace the MDX they will have larger size BEV SUV vehicles (if they can build Hummers and F-150's that are BEV they will also have full sized SUV's).

 

[Illinibird]

Premium gas in an MDX??

Yes, it's a 2015 and they burn premium. The newer models burn regular (I was in the showroom last week looking at them and asked the sales lady that very question). I'm told you can use regular if premium isn't available but I don't know what long term effects of it would have doing that. Manufacturers recommendation is 93 octane gas. I also asked if Acura had a hybrid MDX and she told me they did one year but that they didn't continue it. I have never recalled seeing a hybrid MDX. The Lexus RX series has a hybrid model so I assumed Honda (Acura) would have one too.

 

[ARK]

I think on top of everything that has been said, I would add that whether you should plug in or not also depends on your local weather. If the weather will be mild at your home, you don’t need to, but if you lived somewhere like Phoenix and it’s 110+, it would be more important to.

 

[Illinibird]

I think on top of everything that has been said, I would add that whether you should plug in or not also depends on your local weather. If the weather will be mild at your home, you don’t need to, but if you lived somewhere like Phoenix and it’s 110+, it would be more important to.

Here in Illinois it can get in the 80's and 90's and the garage would be about 10 degrees cooler then ambient temps. Nowhere near Phoenix temps of 110+.

 

[ARK]

Here in Illinois it can get in the 80's and 90's and the garage would be about 10 degrees cooler then ambient temps. Nowhere near Phoenix temps of 110+.

Interesting, my garage is often hotter. But if your Mach-E will be out of direct sunlight in a garage where the temp is 70’s and 80’s, I think you are in a very good position to not have to plug in.

 

[Illinibird]

Interesting, my garage is often hotter. But if your Mach-E will be out of direct sunlight in a garage where the temp is 70’s and 80’s, I think you are in a very good position to not have to plug in.

Our garage is attached (three of four walls adjacent to townhouse) and I think it must derive some benefit of that. I know in the winter it is usually 10-20 degrees warmer (at least) from outside temps.

 

[digdug52]

You should not have an issue leaving it for 10 days, plugged or unplugged. I went to Colorado for 9 days the week before Memorial Day and I left my Mach-E unplugged the entire time (it was at 80% SOC). I had no issues with it when I returned. If you do decide to plug it in while you are gone, just lower the charge limit percent down to 50 or 60 percent, so it does not need to charge even with some phantom draining on the battery. Just set a reminder to change it back once you return home.

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