• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Guy takes Mustang Mach-E on long multi-state road trip

FelixDeCat

FelixDeCat

Lifer
This is a pretty long video, so I set to where the charging experience begins:




Look at the multitude of stops (just some of them) for the whole trip:


Capture.PNG


He said he went through the trouble of doing this so we can see what needs to be fixed with our charging infrastructure to make EVs more acceptable.

As is, it was a bad experience and might turn people off to EVs in general. He owns a Tesla and its worlds better than this, but not everyone will buy a Tesla,
so this video is for everyone else.
 
Last edited:
I will admit to being 100% wrong about the value of the supercharger network. My wife was all about that prior to our 3P and I was more along the mindset of Bolts.

She was completely right. While non Teslas are technically capable of charging at reasonable rates the utter lack of charging opportunity at those rates combined with the reliability of the few that exist make a non Tesla vehicle a hard sell.

If you can charge at home every day and have another vehicle you can use for long distance travel then it's viable. But for wider adoption this must be resolved. For now, at least for me, having one Tesla in the household makes a Bolt viable as a second car pending arrival of Cybertruck.

Viper GTS
 
Viper GTS said:
I will admit to being 100% wrong about the value of the supercharger network. My wife was all about that prior to our 3P and I was more along the mindset of Bolts.

She was completely right. While non Teslas are technically capable of charging at reasonable rates the utter lack of charging opportunity at those rates combined with the reliability of the few that exist make a non Tesla vehicle a hard sell.

If you can charge at home every day and have another vehicle you can use for long distance travel then it's viable. But for wider adoption this must be resolved. For now, at least for me, having one Tesla in the household makes a Bolt viable as a second car pending arrival of Cybertruck.

Viper GTS
Click to expand...

The Cybertruck sounds like fun. I hope you enjoy it.

He said he chose the Electrify America charging network since they have the highest possible charging rates and reasonable cost. The Mustang can take a 180kw per hour charge up to 80% and it slows to 25kw afterwards.

As it turns out the bugs he experienced in the first video were mostly resolved by the method of connection he was using. Instead of plugging in to activate the session (which gave him lots of technical problems, errors, machine malfunctions, etc., he simply "swiped" to activate the session (not sure of the difference since I've never used one these things).

Once he "swiped to activate" it was a lot better experience. Here is the return trip from CA to his home in CO:

 
RLGL said:
At tis point I feel Electrics are the way to go, as long as they are for local use only.
Click to expand...
Even in a single car household, people might not be making long enough trips per year to justify owning a gas car over an electric and could just resort to renting a car for those one-off events. But car buying is an emotional and irrational thing for many (eg, people buying oversized vehicles for extremely rare uses they have).
 
RLGL said:
At tis point I feel Electrics are the way to go, as long as they are for local use only.
Click to expand...
The transition will vary according to ease of use and cost.

Single family homes and certain types of townhouses with an exclusive driveway or garage will have a seamless transition as the house's logistics is sufficiently convenient and the cost of charging becomes "unnoticeable" and part of the electric bill. One can even say that EVs are literally perfect for suburban living as long as the person is either a homeowner or a responsible, long-term tenant that can afford such locations.

Places with "common area parking" or sidewalks as a barrier to the car will be less friendly for electrics. So are super old cities with street parking, etc.
 
RLGL said:
At tis point I feel Electrics are the way to go, as long as they are for local use only.
Click to expand...
Except for tesla's I agree. The supercharger network is a huge win for Tesla. I've done multiple 1000+ mile trips and loved it in a tesla.
 
Dulanic said:
Except for tesla's I agree. The supercharger network is a huge win for Tesla. I've done multiple 1000+ mile trips and loved it in a tesla.
Click to expand...

My experiences have been similar. Haven't done anything quite that long yet (thanks covid) but it's just a non issue to take off and drive anywhere you want knowing you'll get routed through a supercharger. I might check the route using ABRP ahead of time to have an idea where I will end up stopping but the car knows what it can do and will get you where you're going. The fact that the Mach-E apparently doesn't take elevation into account for route planning is absolutely unacceptable for an EV released in 2021.

Tesla is the experience to beat for this and nobody else is remotely competing.

Viper GTS
 
I really want to get an electric car but I can't accept that my route is dictated by charging locations. With gas, if I drive from the Northwest Chicago suburbs to Central Wisconsin, I have literally zero planning to do and I can take the most direct route. When I hit 1/4 tank of gas I start paying attention to gas stations. When I get to 20 miles left, I plan to pull at the next exit. Simple stuff.

I had a 93 octane only tune on my SHO for a few years. After a couple of gas stations in WI stopped carrying it and I had to side track to fill up, I was so frustrated that I bought a new tuner and tune. It adjusts based on the fuel I end up getting. To think I would be even more limited by charging stations makes EV not viable for me. If I had a traditional commute into the city with nightly charging, it would probably be okay.

Hybrids are still the closest option many people have. I would love to see a much broader deployment of charging options or better EV options across models.

Now if we could only make it so more of the electricity to charge these things came from renewable energy sources...
 
With fracking,, shale oil and tar-sands, we may have extended Cal-Tech's estimate of 100 years left of oil in the ground to 200 years. But so what? You going to drive your Mach-E through a flood from a hurricane, outrun a tornado, get around those massive pile-ups from storm-of-the-century blizzards with your Mach-E?

I'm sure the nfrastructure hassles will be resolved, but no soon enough for me. I have, with near finality, decided that I will not invest in ICE vehicles anymore, and I don't even want to buy a used one.

Hybrids -- another possibility -- I suppose. 72 mpg with a PRIUS makes it seem more acceptable . . .
 
RLGL said:
Nice that you have the ability to have one, most people can't!
Click to expand...

Yeah... so far, Tesla has failed to deliver on its promise to provide a long range electric car that's affordable to most people. I was hoping that the Model 3 was going to be a $35,000 car as promised, but instead it became a $50,000 dollar "$35,000" car once you added the options that most people wanted.

Elon Musk really needs to try again at making this promise a reality, and deliver a compact $25,000 long range electric car that only costs $35,000 if you load it up with options. Bonus points if you can buy it with Dogecoin 🙂
 
BonzaiDuck said:
With fracking,, shale oil and tar-sands, we may have extended Cal-Tech's estimate of 100 years left of oil in the ground to 200 years. But so what? You going to drive your Mach-E through a flood from a hurricane, outrun a tornado, get around those massive pile-ups from storm-of-the-century blizzards with your Mach-E?

I'm sure the nfrastructure hassles will be resolved, but no soon enough for me. I have, with near finality, decided that I will not invest in ICE vehicles anymore, and I don't even want to buy a used one.

Hybrids -- another possibility -- I suppose. 72 mpg with a PRIUS makes it seem more acceptable . . .
Click to expand...
Have you taken a Prius for a test drive?
 
What I dislike is Ford's tendency to make a product and then re badge it with another vehicle's name for the sake of marketing. I remember when the Ford 500 came out and people bought into it so Ford renamed it Taurus. Ugh. If I wanted a Taurus, I'd go back in time to the unreliable Ford years. Why call this a Mustang? If I want a Mustang it is because I was a car, not a crossover that was a result of some sort of corporate inbreeding. Just my $0.02
 
RLGL said:
At tis point I feel Electrics are the way to go, as long as they are for local use only.
Click to expand...

I don't understand why the big manufactures (GM, Ford, Etc) don't offer reduced rate ICE vehicle rentals to their EV customers. Maybe even go so far as to offer a number of free rental days each year. I think that would help overcome at least some of the range anxiety people have.

-KeithP
 
ultimatebob said:
Elon Musk really needs to try again at making this promise a reality, and deliver a compact $25,000 long range electric car that only costs $35,000 if you load it up with options. Bonus points if you can buy it with Dogecoin 🙂
Click to expand...

Yeah, you can forget the crypto purchases for now. And because of the scarcity of materials I doubt we will ever see a sub $20K EV from any maker (well, maybe from Duracell). 😀
 
FelixDeCat said:
Yeah, you can forget the crypto purchases for now. And because of the scarcity of materials I doubt we will ever see a sub $20K EV from any maker (well, maybe from Duracell). 😀
Click to expand...
Honda just announced the new Civic starts at $21,600, IIRC. Why should we expect EVs to be that cheap at this stage in the conversion/transition game?
 
KeithP said:
I don't understand why the big manufactures (GM, Ford, Etc) don't offer reduced rate ICE vehicle rentals to their EV customers. Maybe even go so far as to offer a number of free rental days each year. I think that would help overcome at least some of the range anxiety people have.

-KeithP
Click to expand...

BMW offered the "Flexible Mobility Program" to i3 owners where they'd loan you an ICE for long trips up to a max of 14 days per year. It isn't that well known and not all dealers participate.

The least complicated way to solve range anxiety seems to be bigger batteries and lots of fast charging availability, in that Tesla is way ahead of everybody else.
 
While Biden's running infrastructure, they need to setup a rail system along the interstates that EVs can jump on and ride using a 3rd rail that pushes DC to the motors.
 
Muadib said:
Have you taken a Prius for a test drive?
Click to expand...

Seems like trying to make too much out of getting from point A to B, a luxury where many exaggerations were necessary to keep the company afloat. At the expense of everyone else.
 
Last edited:
Imagine it's 1903 and people are saying the automobile will never succeed over the horse and buggy because gas stations don't exist and grass grows everywhere.
This thread is like the 2021 equivalent of that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top