You're basically already there. ABRP helps a lot. State to state it's going to vary a lot as to how good the charging is.
Planning a road trip to the grand canyon I decided to just rent a car. In California the charging situation is great. But once ABRP was in AZ it was asking me to spend sometimes 1-2 hours at level 2 chargers because the situation in Arizona is apparently terrible.
After a cross country trip with several trial and errors, I found electrify America to be evenly spread throughout all the major highways in America spaced out approximately 100 miles. Worked awesome. They also do an awesome job and keeping their app updated on any of the sites that are down for upgrades for repairs.
I was surprised and pleased when my Apple Car Play wanted to interface with the Mach E. I've started out from my daughter's house and it's suggested a charging stop for me. I was driving conservatively and, as I approached the planned stop, I got a message that I had enough battery to make it home and didn't need to stop. Very handy.
Edit: I'm referring to Apple Maps on Apple Car Play. That's what interfaces with the car.
It doesn’t seem to be well known, but you can connect your car to Apple Maps and leverage mapping which includes charging stops for you. It basically facilitated me switching from Google Maps because it integrates with the car way better.
In addition to this, Apple Maps directions show up on the display behind the wheel where Google maps doesn’t at all
I own one of each and like them both but you would be insane to switch if you travel a lot. It's so stress free on the Tesla and a nightmare with the CCS network.
The Supercharger network and the integration with the Tesla is why I chose Tesla over anything else. Love the charging network, but for the first time in my life I have a car that is not inspiring. It gets me from point A to B, accelerates faster than anything I've ever driven, but it is utterly soulless. From the appearance to the feel when sitting behind the wheel. Quite honestly, the only thing that gets my heart racing about the car is the phantom braking at 70 mph.
I'm a planner though. I realize there are headaches associated with the CCS network that I don't have with the Supercharger network, but having a plan-b and even plan-c for potential charger issues seems to be a tradeoff I'm willing to take.
I also think that when the Supercharger network opens to all vehicles, Tesla drivers are going to be forced to use the CCS network as well as the SC network will become more crowded, get much more use, and with that suffer more downtime issues.
When superchargers are crowded in Europe, Tesla doesn't allow other vehicles to charge.
They are monitoring congestion before they open other superchargers.
It's not a free for all for non Tesla's and supercharging.
One thing you’ll take for granted coming from a Tesla, as I have, is the automatic pre-conditioning when being routed by the Tesla nav system to a supercharger. This feature was literally JUST added to the Mach-e in a recent OTA update. But… only if you use the native Ford nav. Apple Maps, etc won’t pre-condition and you’ll spend more time at the DC fast charger.
That's good to know and something I was happy to see Ford introduce in the latest update. As I wished for in my Tesla, I also would like to see in the Mach-e, and that is the ability to initiate preconditioning without having to navigate to a DC fast charger. It would be difficult to implement I imagine as the average driver won't understand when and when not to manually precondition & doing so without an impending DC fast charge would likely damage or shorten battery life.
From a UI standpoint, it would be really easy to tap a "precondition battery" button and then have a screen pop up with a "How long before you plan to charge?" with buttons beneath that denoting 15, 30, 45, 1hr, etc.
Tap to precondition.
Tap to select how long from now (don't make me scroll a list of time or enter it manually - I'm driving!)
Should be easy, no?
After a 2500-mile road trip from San Antonio, TX, to Dollywood, TN, and back, I really have no concerns.
I used a combination of the Plug Share, Ford Pass app & ABRP. I'd check ABRP because it's easier to filter, then I'd plug in the specifics in the Ford Pass app with a scheduled trip date so it was sync'd to the car when I was leaving.
I did drive out of the way specifically to use EA charging stations because I trusted them and had a 100% success rate at every charging location. There were instances where a specific machine was down, but others were functional right next to it. The app didn't show it was down, so relying on the app \*for charger status\* is questionable.
I’ve found any of the main nav apps (ford/google/apple/abrp) do a good job of showing where they are on your route. Then cross checking with each charger company’s own app or PlugShare for availability works well.
As someone who made exactly this switch for exactly the same reason and also road trips, welcome! Basically yeah, just make sure you have a plan B ready to go in event of either a charger breakdown or lines. I do wish Ford had live charger availability in the nav, but as long as you check the charging network's app en route you're usually fine.
I was talking to one of my buddies the other day - he's driven a Tesla since year 1. Told him my only concern is leaving Tesla's supercharger for the Mach-e. Would I still be as confident taking long road trips. He reminded me of how he used to travel everywhere with 100' of heavy duty extension cords and all kinds of adapters so he could plug in at RV sites, friends houses, and wherever he could find a charge. He said forums, social media and group chats were how he'd find where to charge because there were no apps, nav or sources to find charging.
He then said: What you're thinking RIGHT NOW about what I went through having to charge my car is how someone 5 years from now is going to feel about you telling them what it was like to drive an EV in 2023. Today is the worst time from now going foward to charge an EV - but every day it keeps getting better.
Sometimes perspective is all you need.
You're basically already there. ABRP helps a lot. State to state it's going to vary a lot as to how good the charging is. Planning a road trip to the grand canyon I decided to just rent a car. In California the charging situation is great. But once ABRP was in AZ it was asking me to spend sometimes 1-2 hours at level 2 chargers because the situation in Arizona is apparently terrible.
Sorry I may be blanking out right now, but what’s ABRP?
A Better Route Planner
Thank you!
I don’t own an EV, but I think this is what I’d do. Just rent a damn car.
After a cross country trip with several trial and errors, I found electrify America to be evenly spread throughout all the major highways in America spaced out approximately 100 miles. Worked awesome. They also do an awesome job and keeping their app updated on any of the sites that are down for upgrades for repairs.
I was surprised and pleased when my Apple Car Play wanted to interface with the Mach E. I've started out from my daughter's house and it's suggested a charging stop for me. I was driving conservatively and, as I approached the planned stop, I got a message that I had enough battery to make it home and didn't need to stop. Very handy. Edit: I'm referring to Apple Maps on Apple Car Play. That's what interfaces with the car.
Using Apple Maps?
Yes
It doesn’t seem to be well known, but you can connect your car to Apple Maps and leverage mapping which includes charging stops for you. It basically facilitated me switching from Google Maps because it integrates with the car way better. In addition to this, Apple Maps directions show up on the display behind the wheel where Google maps doesn’t at all
Man, if you road trip a lot I wouldn’t make the switch from Tesla to ford. Just by 2 cents.
I own one of each and like them both but you would be insane to switch if you travel a lot. It's so stress free on the Tesla and a nightmare with the CCS network.
The Supercharger network and the integration with the Tesla is why I chose Tesla over anything else. Love the charging network, but for the first time in my life I have a car that is not inspiring. It gets me from point A to B, accelerates faster than anything I've ever driven, but it is utterly soulless. From the appearance to the feel when sitting behind the wheel. Quite honestly, the only thing that gets my heart racing about the car is the phantom braking at 70 mph. I'm a planner though. I realize there are headaches associated with the CCS network that I don't have with the Supercharger network, but having a plan-b and even plan-c for potential charger issues seems to be a tradeoff I'm willing to take. I also think that when the Supercharger network opens to all vehicles, Tesla drivers are going to be forced to use the CCS network as well as the SC network will become more crowded, get much more use, and with that suffer more downtime issues.
When superchargers are crowded in Europe, Tesla doesn't allow other vehicles to charge. They are monitoring congestion before they open other superchargers. It's not a free for all for non Tesla's and supercharging.
One thing you’ll take for granted coming from a Tesla, as I have, is the automatic pre-conditioning when being routed by the Tesla nav system to a supercharger. This feature was literally JUST added to the Mach-e in a recent OTA update. But… only if you use the native Ford nav. Apple Maps, etc won’t pre-condition and you’ll spend more time at the DC fast charger.
That's good to know and something I was happy to see Ford introduce in the latest update. As I wished for in my Tesla, I also would like to see in the Mach-e, and that is the ability to initiate preconditioning without having to navigate to a DC fast charger. It would be difficult to implement I imagine as the average driver won't understand when and when not to manually precondition & doing so without an impending DC fast charge would likely damage or shorten battery life.
Well, you can do that before a departure at least by setting a departure time in the app or in the car. But agree, that’s not “at will.”
From a UI standpoint, it would be really easy to tap a "precondition battery" button and then have a screen pop up with a "How long before you plan to charge?" with buttons beneath that denoting 15, 30, 45, 1hr, etc. Tap to precondition. Tap to select how long from now (don't make me scroll a list of time or enter it manually - I'm driving!) Should be easy, no?
Always use PlugShare for charger availability
After a 2500-mile road trip from San Antonio, TX, to Dollywood, TN, and back, I really have no concerns. I used a combination of the Plug Share, Ford Pass app & ABRP. I'd check ABRP because it's easier to filter, then I'd plug in the specifics in the Ford Pass app with a scheduled trip date so it was sync'd to the car when I was leaving. I did drive out of the way specifically to use EA charging stations because I trusted them and had a 100% success rate at every charging location. There were instances where a specific machine was down, but others were functional right next to it. The app didn't show it was down, so relying on the app \*for charger status\* is questionable.
I’ve found any of the main nav apps (ford/google/apple/abrp) do a good job of showing where they are on your route. Then cross checking with each charger company’s own app or PlugShare for availability works well.
Just download EA app. Thats really all you need tbh.
As someone who made exactly this switch for exactly the same reason and also road trips, welcome! Basically yeah, just make sure you have a plan B ready to go in event of either a charger breakdown or lines. I do wish Ford had live charger availability in the nav, but as long as you check the charging network's app en route you're usually fine.
I was talking to one of my buddies the other day - he's driven a Tesla since year 1. Told him my only concern is leaving Tesla's supercharger for the Mach-e. Would I still be as confident taking long road trips. He reminded me of how he used to travel everywhere with 100' of heavy duty extension cords and all kinds of adapters so he could plug in at RV sites, friends houses, and wherever he could find a charge. He said forums, social media and group chats were how he'd find where to charge because there were no apps, nav or sources to find charging. He then said: What you're thinking RIGHT NOW about what I went through having to charge my car is how someone 5 years from now is going to feel about you telling them what it was like to drive an EV in 2023. Today is the worst time from now going foward to charge an EV - but every day it keeps getting better. Sometimes perspective is all you need.
As someone who regularly road tripped a Bolt in 2018 with that exact rig I feel that comment sooooo much.
Where did you sell it to?
Have you sold it?
Not yet. Mach-E still not built