New to EVs? Learnings from Mach-E owners.

[sotek2345]

Great points! One thing I'd add... on the Mach-E forum we get a TON of posts in the winter about range. People think there is something wrong with the car. There isn't.

It is normal to lose range when the battery pack is cold. I'd lose maybe 10-15% if the temps were in the low 30°F's; more like 25% if the temps were around 20°F; and in single low single-digits ... range could be off 40%.

BUT... this is because the battery is cold. You can precondition the car/truck by leaving it plugged in at all times (whether or not it needs a charge) and setting a scheduled departure time (currently this is the ONLY way to pre-condition -- setting a "scheduled" departure time via the FordPass app but I'm told this will be changing to allow you to do it on-demand). You can set the schedule anytime you want prior to the actual time ... but the battery may need 1 hr or more to precondition. (Longest I've experienced was about 1h 15m). Doing a remote-start is NOT the same thing.

It will use the AC power from the charger to heat the battery and a warmed up battery works a charm even on very cold winter days. If your truck will fit ... park it in the garage.

One other thing to note about winter ... if you pull into a DC Fast Charger, you might notice the charger running and putting out kW's ... but not notice the vehicle charging. This is because it will use that power to run the battery pack heaters to bring them up to speed before it starts the charging process -- or it may charge more slowly until the batteries are warmer. It doesn't like to charge battery packs when they are cold.

Agree on all of that. You can speed up the DC fast charge speed if you "hot dog" a bit before the charger to warm the battery. Use that acceleration!

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[dfoisy]

@RickLightning, thanks for the info! I'm completely new to all of this, and I appreciate the advice that all of you experienced owners provide.

One critique though....you spelled OHIO wrong!

 

[Astraea]

Nice list! I'm so excited for so many people to be joining the world of EVs, my husband included when we get our truck! These kinds of lists would have been a life saver when I got my Mach-e last year so I really hope people look this over carefully and take some notes or better yet, bookmark this post for future reference for first timers.

 

[MostlySafeBear]

Just make sure you know how the process works. It's a little more involved than your regular gas pump.

If you are using Plug&Charge, you need to activate it before hand.

I use EA Pass+. The process I use is
1. Open the app and select the station number. It's usually at a the very top of the machine.
2. Plug in to the port on the vehicle
3. Swipe the bar on the app
4. The charge will start to initiate.....but there's a final step
5. On the charge station you will need to press the "Continue" button to actually start the charge session

All of this is not difficult, but can be frustrating when you don't complete the steps fast enough and the machine times out on you. You want to do it first while you have plenty of charge in the tank and not on a road trip with 5% left and no chance of going anywhere else.

How long is the timeout?

I'm VERY slow on forearm crutches, and depending on how it shakes out, it could take me up to a minute to do all those steps, especially since both of my hands are fully occupied when using my crutches.

 

[RickLightning]

Just make sure you know how the process works. It's a little more involved than your regular gas pump.

If you are using Plug&Charge, you need to activate it before hand.

I use EA Pass+. The process I use is
1. Open the app and select the station number. It's usually at a the very top of the machine.
2. Plug in to the port on the vehicle
3. Swipe the bar on the app
4. The charge will start to initiate.....but there's a final step
5. On the charge station you will need to press the "Continue" button to actually start the charge session

All of this is not difficult, but can be frustrating when you don't complete the steps fast enough and the machine times out on you. You want to do it first while you have plenty of charge in the tank and not on a road trip with 5% left and no chance of going anywhere else.

I do it differently.

Open app.
Swipe station.
THEN plug in.

Doesn't require any more steps.

 

[RonTCat]

Great points! One thing I'd add... on the Mach-E forum we get a TON of posts in the winter about range. People think there is something wrong with the car. There isn't.

It is normal to lose range when the battery pack is cold. I'd lose maybe 10-15% if the temps were in the low 30°F's; more like 25% if the temps were around 20°F; and in single low single-digits ... range could be off 40%.

BUT... this is because the battery is cold. You can precondition the car/truck by leaving it plugged in at all times (whether or not it needs a charge) and setting a scheduled departure time (currently this is the ONLY way to pre-condition -- setting a "scheduled" departure time via the FordPass app but I'm told this will be changing to allow you to do it on-demand). You can set the schedule anytime you want prior to the actual time ... but the battery may need 1 hr or more to precondition. (Longest I've experienced was about 1h 15m). Doing a remote-start is NOT the same thing.

It will use the AC power from the charger to heat the battery and a warmed up battery works a charm even on very cold winter days. If your truck will fit ... park it in the garage.

One other thing to note about winter ... if you pull into a DC Fast Charger, you might notice the charger running and putting out kW's ... but not notice the vehicle charging. This is because it will use that power to run the battery pack heaters to bring them up to speed before it starts the charging process -- or it may charge more slowly until the batteries are warmer. It doesn't like to charge battery packs when they are cold.

You need to have a poll...

Which forum user will be the first to post "My range used to be 300 miles, now it's 200 miles. Is there something wrong with my battery?" or "I bought an ER battery, but my range is 200 miles. Did they install a SR battery by mistake?"

 

[TRP]

I do it differently.

Open app.
Swipe station.
THEN plug in.

Doesn't require any more steps.

I guess I'm taking the long way around

Honestly I haven't done this in a bit so I was going off of memory

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