Which Battery and Powertrain Did You Reserve?

[Azuloval]

Which BATTERY and POWERTRAIN did you reserve? Please select one for each.

According to Ford:

• More than 80 percent of U.S. customers are reserving Mach-E with an Extended Range Battery
• About 55 percent are opting for all-wheel drive

Here are the other polls I created:

• Trim/Model
• Color

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[SSman]

Beyond the votes I'm really curious WHY people chose the standard vs extended battery and RWD vs AWD. I'm going back and forth so it would help to hear other's thoughts on this.

I'm considering having this be our only vehicle so range will be important even if we don't do extended drives/road trips often and the money saved from only one vehicle will more than justify the $5k premium.

 

[macchiaz-o]

Beyond the votes I'm really curious WHY people chose the standard vs extended battery and RWD vs AWD.

I plan to rent when necessary. Check out some of our other discussions: https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/deciding-between-a-standard-or-extended-range-battery.231/

 

[hybrid2bev]

I chose AWD because: Michigan.

I chose extended battery because: Road trips!!

 

[06VistaGT]

AWD to deal with New England winters, as the Mach E will be my daily driver. Went ER to alleviate any range concerns. When considering the known range reduction realities (cold weather, highway speeds, heat and a/c), starting with 210 miles has too high a pucker factor for me...

 

[horsevxi]

I chose AWD because I live in Michigan and will be selling my FJ Cruiser 4x4 to finance a Mach E. I also wanted better acceleration performance from AWD.

I chose the small "standard" range battery because my daily commute is only 50 miles and I will be able to charge both at home and at work. By "only buying the capacity I actually need", I will be rewarded with a 250+ pound weight reduction to give better driving dynamics and better overall efficiency. Even though the standard range battery limits traction power, it doesn't effect 0-60 time, so I'm guessing I won't be regularly driving fast enough to notice the extra power.

The only reason I would want the extended range battery would be resale perception/value and potentially longer useful battery life since it is easier to keep the battery between 40-60% SOC with more capacity for optimal health, and also losing 20% capacity due to old age after 10 years (if I kept it that long) wouldn't be a big deal. I also have a Flex and V8 Mustang for longer trips, so ultimate range doesn't matter to me.

 

[zhackwyatt]

Beyond the votes I'm really curious WHY people chose the standard vs extended battery and RWD vs AWD. I'm going back and forth so it would help to hear other's thoughts on this.

I'm considering having this be our only vehicle so range will be important even if we don't do extended drives/road trips often and the money saved from only one vehicle will more than justify the $5k premium.

RWD because Phoenix (sun isn't slippery like snow so saving $ and range). Extended battery because Phoenix. Everything is so spread out here. Also the heat is a killer to batteries so I want the extra buffer for degredation

 

[J Duce]

Thank you for the perspectives above, especially on the resale comment. I wasn't even considering that but it is good to know.

I chose the AWD and ER (through First Edition). I live in NYC so have the AWD provides flexibility during winter months. I rarely take long trips and if I do, it is within 200 miles so I would like need to charge once each way. Other than that, my normal commute is about 30 miles per day round trip so I could conceivably charge once every 3 to 5 days. Of course, the preference will always be to stay fully charged.

 

[AFVolt]

I’m coming from a Chevy Volt, so the most range is what I’m after.
Went with ER and RWD. I’m in Central Florida so don’t have to much need for AWD.

 

[TheSteelRider]

I live in Texas, where it might snow 1" on average once every 5 years, it might ice the roads on average once per year. I'm also a suburbanite commuting into the city, so I'm essentially in somewhat of a concrete jungle. For these reasons, I don't really need AWD, so I reserved RWD since it purports to have ~+30 miles extra range.

Both my wife and I have family that live about 300 miles away in Louisiana in a much smaller town. There are limited destination chargers in Louisiana (right now), and considering the state has such a small population (I mean, the entire state likely has less people than the Houston metro area does!) I don't expect much investment from charger manufacturers in the near future outside of the main corridors (such as I-10). Second, exactly 1/2 of the way we usually make a pit stop, but I'm kind of a "don't stop till you get there" kind of driver, so the pit stop is usually < 20 minutes, enough for fuel and snacks.

Additionally, I've given much thought to the "real" range an EV will likely get at highway speeds. I'm in close agreement with @dbsb3233 (and others) who point out in threads like How will Ford get over ‘Range Anxiety’ that all vehicles (regardless of power train) suffer exponentially at full highway speeds. If I remember the explanation from Jason at Engineering Explained correctly, this is because the force required to overcome air resistance is exponentially proportional to the wind speed. Meaning, for example, if I need "1" unit of force at 1 MPH, I might need "4" units of force at 2 MPH (e.g., not 2 units which would be linear). Couple this law of physics with the fact that these trips will be "loaded down", 4 passengers plus luggage, and I expect my range to be far less than 300 miles with the ER.

Last, we must be realistic at the state of the charging network "today". I've poured over abetterrouteplanner (small nit pick, jeez can those dudes please pay someone to make the site more user friendly!) and plugshare (kudos to the site creators, very user friendly although not perfect) and along this expected travel route there might be a grand total of 4 "great" options to charge along the way, and a total of 10 "acceptable" options. Unlike Tesla, who usually equips stations with 8+ chargers, it appears the others might have 1 or 2 and that's it, with one usually listed as broken. I have full faith this will change (customers will spend their $$$ to the ones with better networks, and thus the laws of supply/demand and consumerism will drive improvements), but I predict change will be slow and painful. Again, we must be realistic and the money to be made from EV charging is extremely minimal right now.

All that to say, I want a "cushion" of capacity to ride me through the inevitable mishaps ... when I get to a station and it is broken, or full. When my kids need to stop and pee 10 times along the way, but oops none of the stops have convenient stations, etc. So, I chose the big bertha of the batteries.

 

[dbsb3233]

Beyond the votes I'm really curious WHY people chose the standard vs extended battery and RWD vs AWD. I'm going back and forth so it would help to hear other's thoughts on this.

I'm considering having this be our only vehicle so range will be important even if we don't do extended drives/road trips often and the money saved from only one vehicle will more than justify the $5k premium.

I initially reserved RWD ER in order to get maximum range. But now I'm planning to reverse that (AWD SR), because upon further research, I don't think I'll ever drive it on a road trip. Just too much compromising.

The part I had not realized at first was how badly efficiency drops off at high speeds (~75 MPH). In my part of the county, just about any road trip is going to be mostly interstate driving at 75-80 MPH. BEV efficiency plummets at those speeds. Expect 25-30% less range at those speeds. Combine that with each retail charging stop being 30-45 minutes, every 160-200 miles (at 75 MPH driving), and it just isn't worth driving it on long road trips. I'll take my other (ICE) vehicle instead.

But for home-base driving (<150 miles) where I return home every day to recharge in the garage, it will be perfect. It'll just me my designated "home-base" car.

I'd suggest plugging some of your sample drives into ABRP (abetterrouteplanner.com) so you know what to expect on longer drives. It really just depends on what your expected usage is. For moderate road trips, especially if at slower speed roads, it's not as much compromise.

 

[dbsb3233]

Additionally, I've given much thought to the "real" range an EV will likely get at highway speeds. I'm in close agreement with @dbsb3233 (and others) who point out in threads like How will Ford get over ‘Range Anxiety’ that all vehicles (regardless of power train) suffer exponentially at full highway speeds.

I posted my reply before seeing yours. I could have just said "Yep, what he said".

 

[dbsb3233]

Thank you for the perspectives above, especially on the resale comment. I wasn't even considering that but it is good to know.

I have concerns about expecting much resale value. The improvement curve on battery technology is quite steep right now. Which means it's possible that in a few years, BEVs may be getting far more range and quicker charging times. Kinda like an iPhone 5 vs an iPhone 10.

I fear that resale value will fall rather fast because of that. Faster than an ICE vehicle where a 2015 isn't much different than a 2020 (in terms of functional capability). The difference between a 2021 BEV and a 2026 could be huge, causing resale value to be very weak.

On top of that, age/use degradation on battery capacity works against resale value too. Unlike ICE where a 15 gallon gas tank remains 15 gallons no matter how old the vehicle is.

I wonder what a full battery pack replacement/upgrade costs? (Assuming future batteries will even (physically) fit at all.)

 

[TheSteelRider]

I wonder what a full battery pack replacement/upgrade costs? (Assuming future batteries will even (physically) fit at all.)

I seem to recall seeing Rich from Rich Rebuilds (on Youtube) mentioning that a full battery from Tesla on a Model S was something like $15k - $20k, but don't quote me on that. Would love it know if anyone on this forum with a current BEV has had experience with a battery replacement?

 

[JamieGeek]

I seem to recall seeing Rich from Rich Rebuilds (on Youtube) mentioning that a full battery from Tesla on a Model S was something like $15k - $20k, but don't quote me on that. Would love it know if anyone on this forum with a current BEV has had experience with a battery replacement?

I have no direct experience but there were a few batteries replaced by members of the Focus Electric forum. I believe the FFE's battery was something like $10k--but not many paid for that as most of the replacements were warrantied.

If you look at the data it turns out that EV batteries are lasting longer than predicted.

(After 3 years and 30k miles on my Focus Electric I had no degradation when I turned it in.)

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