How Bad is an Electric Car Road Trip in the Mach-E?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ก.ย. 2022
- I do an 800 mile roundtrip road trip in our 2022 Mustang Mach-E with the Standard Range battery and AWD to see what it's really like to road trip in an electric car. Is it as bad as everyone makes it seem?
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I did 700 miles of driving in Washington 2 weeks ago. Never once had to think about how I'd refuel the car.
So did I, but I needed to think about my fuel stops because fuck OR and their full-serve bullshit ;).
Not sure if you were driving an EV or ICE, but it's not necessary to analyze the charging as much shown here. I did a 1400 mile round trip from CA to WA a few months ago in the EV Mustang. I didn't spend much time thinking about charging. It just worked.
You driving a perpetual motion machine? lol
Hahaha Matt thinks drivers will think of one another and be considerate.
Great video!
Yeah, when I heard "BMW driver" I knew they didn't give a damn about their fellow motorists... 😂
Lol yeah I guess that’s wishful thinking in America 😕
@@MattMaranMotoring That was hitting below the belt Matt. 😕👎
I LOL'd at that line
@@falxonPSN Hello nooo f being considerate...
This video is as real as it gets. No bias or excuses. Seems like for right now the trip can be painless or painful just depending on the outside circumstances.
Starting in spring of '24, a Mach-e road trip will become much less stressful when those vehicles can start using Tesla Superchargers.
Thanks so much Matt for taking the time to inform all of us of how Road Trippin in an Electric Vehicle is. Once again a Huge help to people that actually want to purchase an Electric Vehicle
A great video on Mach-E road trip. Thanks Matt. Happy new year!
Great video, Matt! We loooove our Mach-E and have only road tripped twice in 1.5 years, both times it was easy and uneventful, and wayyyy cheaper than paying for gas. The charging infrastructure definitely needs improvement, and it'll get that in the coming years, so I still recommend to people that are new to EVs or who road trip a LOT to get a Tesla or a PHEV so they don't need to think about it. But for most people who aren't road warriors, and who might only need to DC Fast charge once or twice a year, this is a far better daily driver than a Model 3 or Y (I know from experience) and I highly recommend it to those folks. TH-cam is mostly people showing bad charging experiences, while the normal 99% of us out there hardly have any problems, so I'm glad you showed that it's not all dread and drama. Just takes a bit longer than filling up at a gas station, but we always welcome the chance to stretch our legs and get a drink/snack/bathroom break. By the time we're done with that the car has easily reached 80% and we're back on the road. Never been a big deal.
Thanks, I’m glad I’m not the only one with a positive experience! Lol
Hot garbage definitely like the older Mustang better way more reliable than this junk and it doesn’t need a battery change in three years gets better mileage last way longer. I’ve seen gas cars with 1,000,000+ miles. Never electric car getting that without four battery changes and a new motors, if it doesn’t catch on fire by then when it gets colder, really hot outside a couple months and really cold environment. The battery is shot.
@@trainsnthings2086 Totally! Everything you said definitely makes sense and is well thought out.
@@AdamJakowenko it’s true you have to replace the battery every five years because batteries die they gradually lose their holding capability for charges they get weaker and weaker and you have to replace them and what do they do with the batteries after they replace them leave them in a landfill and the toxic material from the battery leaks into our water how do you like that?
@@trainsnthings2086 Totally agree!
Some people like myself don’t enjoy spending much time at gas stations. It’s just a place to pick up gas and use the bathroom 🚽 if there are no lines. It seems to me that for someone like myself, charging stations are going to be a nightmare. Great video 👍 keep’em coming.
It's still early days. More chargers are needed and better battery tech is still coming to market.
You don’t have to hang out in the gas station. Most of the people charging just hang out in their car and scroll on their phone.
Speed Chaser, that minor inconvenience for rare long trips is overwhelmed by the convenience of daily use when the car has a full charge every single morning.
Matt's specific vehicle is middle of the pack for range and charging speeds. There are others, mainly Tesla's, with a lot more range and much faster charging speeds. On long trips I often stop for 10 minutes or less and unplug. The net time spent is sometimes less than pumping gas because I can just plug in and leave. The time it takes to process your credit card, then pump, then park and go inside ends up evening out.
Keep driving gas cars then….
Thanks for the video Matt and the insight about that charge station life.
I appreciate you doing this Matt. This without a doubt is the number one reason I cant go electric yet. I live in LA and constantly drive down to San Diego & up to Davis.
*While we are probably 10+ years away from being "ready" for electric vehicles, the progress made so far is decent. There are nowhere NEAR enough charging stations though, the capacities of batteries are not good enough, and the backbone infrastructure of the United States' electric grid is not ready. I did a 2,200 mile (round trip) road trip a couple months ago, 16 hour drive each way. If I had an electric vehicle, it would have been nearly impossible. My car gets 380 miles a tank on highway (2012 Scion tC) even at relatively high speeds 😉, fill ups take 3-4 minutes start to finish for a full 380 mile fill up. Electric cars are not even CLOSE to this level of convenience. I didn't stop for more than 5 minutes on any stop for the whole trip. It was "efficient". But I thought about buying a Tesla but when I see how much I'd have to wait around and charge... it just doesn't make sense. Time is money!*
You definitely have a valid point. I own an EV (four months now, GV60). Everything I've heard and thought of an EV changed right away. For me, time=money too. I haven't been to a gas station in four months. Snapping that plug in every other night (or more if I wanted to) takes no time, so all the trips (and money) to the gas station have been saved. I think we need to consider that when calculating "time spent/saved" on a road trip. I mean, you're gonna stop anyway (food, wiz, stretch, etc)... so, all it all... it might be a wash. I've only charged 3X on the road. Twice because I just wanted to test it out, and once because I had to wait for a few hours (son plays ice hockey, in between games). Otherwise, always at home. I didn't get this thing to be "green" (because, that's debatable anyway), and I didn't get it to save money necessarily. I purely bought it because it's freaking cool as hell. Zero noise, blazing quick, and just a smooth pleasant ride. I thought it might make me "cooler", but that failed! :-)
@@starrick557 I might be an outlier, but I do not like to stop for food. Stopping to wizz is a 2 minute thing, so realistically, on my recent 16 hour drive to Florida (each way), it took me 25 mins roundtrip to fuel, wizz, etc., but I just mapped the route if I had a Tesla, long range, ugly Aero wheels etc, and it would be 6 hours ROUNDTRIP to charge. 3 hours each way. Absolute insanity. I get limited time on this earth there's no way I'm spending 6 hours of my life charging an EV when I could just fuel up in 3 mins per stop. But for everyday stuff yeah EVs are fine. They're just not ready for mass market yet IMO. Not enough infrastructure and charging is way too slow.
@@Slimothy But don't you think that "mass market" means the "daily driver" person who drives around town, to/from work and locally? I don't see "mass market" driving 16 hours to Florida. I do agree with you that this would be inconvenient to drive that far with an EV. I also have a gas car for long (albeit rare) long trips.
@@starrick557 most families take road trips though. And most families don’t have 50-60k for an EV. But I do agree with you. Running errands around town = best case for EVs. Aka California suburban living it’s perfect for over there
For everyday driving the EV has the convenience of charging at home. I leave home with 90% charge every morning. I have driven 10K in my EV and have only charged on the road out of necessity once. While the car was charging I had lunch at a cafe when I finished lunch I had enough charge to get back home. So my charging time for 10K miles have the time it takes me to plug it and unplug it at home every day, and a few minutes to plug the car once on the road.
Excellent report! Thanks.
great video thanks matt
I'm glad that your first road trip was successful.
This kind of reminds me back in the day when sports cars only took premium gas and not all gas stations had that available, and how your map atlas, if dated, wasn't always accurate in terms of road layout. Oh, how spoiled by convenience we become.
This was a good showcase on electrification is heading in the right direction. Good work Matt!
Thanks for the cool perspective, I never knew that was a thing!
@@MattMaranMotoring Yep, a quick peak at the history books will show you but too much noise and lights going on today that often phase history into a nonexistent memory.
After watching this video, makes more happy & appreciate my Tesla even more. Tesla’s charging network is way ahead of it’s competition, straight, fast, simple plug & pay.
I expected to hear about some of these problems after listening to Matt Farah talk about his challenges in California and Nevada.
Similar to Matt, I drive a Bolt EUV with super cruise, and make frequent trips from Washington D.C. to New York city (400 mile road trip). My family doesn't like to stay in the car the entire 5 hour trip if we were to drive a gasoline car. We often make the same stop at the rest areas with charging stations and restaurants to use the bathroom and get some lunch. By the time we're done, it's time to go. At our destination, we charge at my relative's house overnight and we can get "filled up" with a full charge and go the same route and stop on the way back. It was literally the same amount of time for us for our road trip, as compared to if we were to take a gasoline car.
I understand for a 1000 mile road trip, it would take longer, so taking a gas car may make sense at that point, but one or two stops where we take 20-30 minutes, there's no inconvenience. Plus super cruise takes huge driving fatigue off of us.
Definitely noticed the same with the lane centering feature in my F150. It wanted to be way closer to the cars in the adjacent lane than I would have wanted to be by myself
Matt, great video. I’ve owned a couple of EVs (Tesla Model 3 and Chevy Bolt EUV) and this mimics my experienced with EA. The Tesla Supercharger network is still so far ahead of the others, but had minimal issues with EA. I think we’re at the point now, too, where finding open chargers is more difficult but still not bad. Overall, I feel taking a trip in an EV is more relaxing and personally better for my bad back (more time to stand and stretch).
Great video Matt, glad you and your family had a great roadtrip/vacation!
Thanks Haris!
Great vlog! All together, despite a couple small hiccups, it sounds like a great trip overall. I've been curious myself about how a longer journey couple be in an EV compared to a gas vehicle. I really liked how you pointed out that the timeframe wasn't as drastic as many worry about or try to say happens. Granted if you're a get in/get out type, gas is going to be quicker in the overall scheme of things. The average driver though, between putting charge on, going to the bathroom, grabbing a bite to eat, is going to be similar like you point out. I've got a 3500 mile journey, not counting all the driving I'll be doing after I get to where I'm going, that I'm taking in my Mach-E Premium AWD Extended Battery. All said and done, I'll put about 5000 miles on with this journey.
Best of luck with your road trip! The bigger battery will definitely help!
Thanks Matt, great video! I want to go electric but I don't think we are there yet either. Hybrid is the way to go these days, best of both worlds.
Damn bruh what a mission lol
I do a similar trip (Albany NY area to Pittsburg and back) every few months and have had similar experiences with our Mach-e GT (though I take bigger risks than you and push much closer to 0 between stops).
In general I have had no issues with charging stops and find EV travelling much more relaxing than ICE road trips since you are "forced" to take a break every 2 to 3 hours.
Totally agree with your assessment. I LOOK FORWARD to charging stops now because it’s usually time after 2-3 hours and I go to the bathroom get food etc, it’s great and then I leave 15-20 minutes later. Some times it’s only 8-10 minutes sometimes it’s longer depending on what I’m doing or where I’m going.
I'm glad I'm not the only one that enjoys the stops! Haha
Learned alot
I remember we had a conversation in the comments a while back regarding charging at Walmarts I believe. I made the point that in a "real world" situation you plug in go inside shop for a bit and by the time you come out you'll have a decent charge. It wasn't "pointless" and actually a good idea. Glad to see you ha da decent experience on a road trip. Sure it's not as fast or convinient as gas but if you want to be an early adopter there are always bumps to smooth out along the way. I believe we'll get there sooner than we think. I'm looking forward to buying an electric vehicle once the family CX-5 needs replacing.
@@username8644 Yea, if you're constantly taking long trips then electric is not for you at this point.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for watching Rafee and thanks for becoming a member too!
Matt, You have created a TH-cam channel that is most excellent.
Stopping at those charging stations stops seems pretty relaxing and refreshing, and like you say most people don’t drive across the country every weekend (exaggeration) or to the point where it’s a hassle to own an electric car because of limited range
Yep, but of course the American way is to buy more capability than you'll ever need 99% of the time and not settle for anything less lol.
Thank you for the very helpful video.
Thanks for watching, I’m glad you found it helpful!
Hi Matt, I am a realtor and driving to open houses and such. As well as delivering Door dash. I've been wanting to get a Mach E. But really concerned about costs. From vehicle financing to charging. What are your tips/ tricks in that regard?
I'm impressed you actually found EA chargers which worked.
Very informative. Thank you. What type of charger do you have at home? Is it true that you can use regular home electric plug outlet to charge mach e?
I'm glad you liked it! We actually just use the Ford Mobile Charger and just plug it into a regular outlet. It charges pretty slowly but we don't drive very much so it's plenty still to keep up with our needs.
They have updated the charge speed curve a few times since you filmed this. In a GT I start at about 165 and stay over 130 kWh until 80% and then drops. But its better than it was and even 80-90% was pretty fast this last weekend.
Great video, thank you. Now can you do the same road trip in a hybrid and compare? Perhaps the new Sienna. Wonder how that MachE will do in winter.
Great to see your experience. Seems like with proper planning it’s not that much more inconvenient. I imagine in the early days of gas cars people had to deal with the same kind of problems
So how long did the 400 mi trip take? I ask because I can make this on one tank of gas in several vehicles with range to spare..
You had pretty decent weather it appears. I noticed not a single charging area is/was covered. Have you seen any that are? I am curious how well the receptacle is designed if you HAD to charge while it was sprinkling/raining, besides the inconvenience of standing in the rain is there a safety concern?
I'm not aware of any safety issues, but I do know that some future charger designs appear to be covered, so I'm assuming once these are more widespread, they'll get more space in a dedicated area with shelter instead of just a few spots in the back of a parking lot like they have now.
I have a 2021 Mach E4x. It’s about 350 miles Los Angeles to San Francisco and I have to stop just once in Tulare to charge to 90% which takes about 40 minutes. My wife and I grab lunch at a Mexican restaurant right next to the Electrify America station at the Walmart there. It’s really no more time than if we took our Ford Explorer. However on a recent trip to Toronto and back ( about 5000 miles) we chose to take the Explorer, as the Mach e would have added about 20 hours to this round trip.
I went on my first trip soon after I got my GT Performance in August and had no issues going from NYC area to Philly then just outside of Washington D.C. and returning. An EVGo station had just opened near my hotel so it was brand new and it worked flawlessly (It is next to a Tesla station so some may know where it is). My next trip is in 2 days up to Boston which has only one fast charger which has been low rated so I will charge as high as possible for returning halfway to a EA Charger: at least 4 on the route which is all withing a single charge range but it is winter now so an extra stop may be needed. The next trip is to Maine (8+ chargers along the route including the hotel) then in June out to Pittsburgh so I will be visiting 2 of the stations shown in this video.
WARNING: the Ford Pass App will have you paying E.A.'s highest rate versus just belonging to E.A., $0.43 vs. $0.31, so I have dropped it.
I drive an 18-wheeler for a living and I'm on a dedicated route. I drive the length of the PA turnpike every Monday. it is an enjoyable drive I get off at 376 which I hate that road with a passion lol.
Haha yeah 376 sucks but that’s cool that you’re on the turnpike every week. The tolls are pretty pricey these days but I still love driving it.
@@MattMaranMotoring my company pays the toll so I get all the scenery lol. I get off at somerset exit and sleep there usually
Nice, even better!
Great review, Matt. I also have a Bullitt, thank God. I am not against EVs out of some principle, but we’re about ten years away from EVs being convenient and so that you dont have to think, plan, etc. we need greater range, faster charging, and the infrastructure. It is early on in this process. We will get there. Until then, the Bullitt and my WRX are the vehicles of choice. Thanks, again, Matt.
Matt Maran loves Mustangs. ❤️
Bought a low mpg Bullitt and justified the carbon emissions with the Mach-E.
Matt Maran loves Mustangs. ❤️
Matt has the beard coming in. Great video too
I recognize that one charging station Thats the deptford Mall you still gotta a little ways to go before you hit the shore
Nicely presented were you using plug and charge?
Yep! And thank you!
Thank you for a real world test of driving an EV on road trip. I’ve been looking at the Mach E as a replacement for my current SUV. A key decision maker for me is DC fast charging in Bedford PA since that would be one of my road trip destinations.
SubaruWrxfan! I just rediscovered your channel!
Welcome back! Thanks for watching!
It's super nice to arrive home and to be able to charge without having to first stop at a gas station to fill up. I often fill up my gas car at Costco because it has the best gas prices. As a result I am often waiting in line for 15 plus minutes. However as more and more folks switch to all electric cars there will definitely be more demand for more chargers.
It’s way too soon for electric cars. The more cars the fewer stations available. I can see arguments happening over fueling stations spots
The more cars, the more stations they’ll build. It would be a waste of money to have way more chargers than people will use.
This is like playing an RTS on hard mode. Road trips should be stress free and you able to go to random interesting places too, this is like fighting with everything, not the way to have a fun road trip.
I guess it depends on your personality. I’m a planner so figuring out the stops and doing the research was fun for me.
Great review. My wife and I recently bought an EV and with how robust a charging system the US has, the range anxiety people have is completely unfounded.
Thank you for making this video Matt. It is important people see automotive journalists giving real world experience for EVs. Despite your positive experience, as well as many other EV owners, some will still have bones to pick. While road trips are a shortcoming of EVs at the moment, they are virtually superior in most other categories. I feel like people miss that.
Very true, thanks for watching Cash!
I loved the video! When I do road trips I like to stop top off and go. I’ll still wait for the infrastructure to improve. I Just did a road trip in my vehicle (NY-VA) 6 hours and I stopped once for 10 mins and kept it moving that is what I am use to but as things improve I will purchase an EV.
I love my Mach E. It's just different than the old way(ICE). Getting better every day no matter the "its a no for me" people. Buying expensive gas is becoming a no for me.
Maybe i missed it, but about how much total did it cost you for an 800 mile trip?
Thanks for sharing your experience, Matt. Like many others said, the EV experience is very much YMMV. On my long trips, I would never stop as often as you did, nor for as long. Also, given our dietary requirements, there is a level of complexity/inconvenience that we would also have to deal with. For my around-town uses and general commuting, an EV would work just fine. However, for road trips, it's a no-go until the charging network is much larger and more convenient.
Thanks for this video Matt! The Mach-E is high on my list of EVs when I pull the trigger next year.
Thanks for watching, I’m glad you liked it!
The infrastructure is far from ready. Easy another 5-10 years before this is feasible. I don’t like have to plan when I do a road trip sometimes I just like to pick up and go, the stress of having to worry about chargers along the way would be too much of a headache for me. Glad you enjoyed , for me and family at least it’s a big no for now.
If your family has a more than one vehicle you can have the best of both worlds. You can have an EV to for short trips and a gas car for long road trips. It has worked for my family. That what my family has done. Whoever is traveling farther in any given day within EV car range used the EV and the other person used the gas car.
I had broken pumps at the petrol station, so i had to switch to a another. That issue isnt exclusive to EV´s. there are just at ton of pumps and stations. (and you spend less time at each)
Sure would have been helpful to have more data rather than trying to tally it all up as I watch. How many times did you end up stopping? Total time spent sitting at charging stations? Total cost of all fill-ups if they hadn't been free? I've got about 450 miles of range with my car so a 400-mile trip for us would be one, 10 minute top-off/kid RR break. It seemed like you guys stopped a lot.
So how far is the nearest charger too your current address?
Seems like it will be a while till the infrastructure will be ready for all electric cars. What would be the amount difference if you took a regular gas SUV (paying for fuel)instead of the Mach E(paying for electricity)?
It would depend on the vehicle but if I had taken my Bullitt I would have easily spent at least $50 more in gas each way.
It’s not, but it appears your not and that’s fine
we have a machE and the car in itself is amazing, its the infrastructure for charging that is the pain. too many evs on the road and not enough chargers and also EA is notorious for having down chargers, its a crapshoot right now. Plugshare app helps in mapping out a road trip but still a reason we have a gas blazer suv ( 2 toddlers) sometimes we just want to get from point A and B asap without worrying is a station is down, congested line to charge etc lol.
Can't imagine the EV charge station lines in a couple of years! Thx Matt, very informative.
Thanks for watching Steve! Hopefully the amount of chargers will grow as demand grows for EVs, but we'll see.
Most people will charge at home on a daily basis. But as the amount of EVs grow the amount of gas stations will go down. So it might be gas car drivers that will find themselves in a long line to fuel their cars.
Awesome video! Can you please elaborate on how you got free charging? You spoke very quickly at that part and I couldn't make out exactly what you said. Thanks so much!
Thanks for watching! Ford includes a little bit of free charging as a promo when you buy a new Mach-E.
@@MattMaranMotoring ah, yes that. I was very disappointed to find out it's only 250kwh total while some other companies give 2-3 years of unlimited charging. I really wish Ford did better in that department. Thank you very much for clarifying though!
Road trippin tomorrow in my Mach E Premium SF to LA. No worries!
Been doing road trips for years in my ev!!!
EVs are not for long trips. Too frustrating to stop and keep charging. When I lived in Allentown, PA I could drive to Youngstown, OH to visit my mom in one tank. EVs more for local driving to and from work or errands, etc.
Ok but i don’t get a drink, snack, and bathroom every time i get gas. Plus, that’s adding more money. You said that each stop was max $10, but then you add 20 more for snack and drink for 2 people and now its $30 per stop for 3 stops, that’s 90 total. If you had gas, you’d only need to stop once, so its actually very similar
No I didn’t buy anything I wouldn’t have bought on a gas trip.
@@MattMaranMotoring ok well ik that on my road trips, ill only stop for food during breakfast, lunch, or dinner. If i need gas, ill stop for gas only. So for me, ev charge time still isnt fast enough
You gave your baby a top off lol!! Definitely a car guy :)
Good video! Do you have an estimate on how much you saved in gas if you hadn’t driven electric?
And how much coal was burned instead?
It’ll depend on the car. If I had driven the Bullitt I probably would have spent at least $50 more each way.
what app did u use
I’m sorry, but these road trips look stressful to me… constantly thinking about topping up, now imagine if you go on a 1000 mile trip? It also seems time consuming. Seems like it will take you longer to get somewhere.
I was stressed just watching this...especially when you wind up paying for the charging as well.
Yup. It's like playing a strategy game. Road trips should be fun and relaxing and you able to go to some area not planned sometimes. This is just awful.
1000 mile trips are so common…..
Everything you said was the exact opposite of the experience he had. Everything.
@@raremage he made a bunch of stops to top up on a 400 mile trip. 400 miles is nothing and really should only take 4.5hours. His trip seems like you was traveling across the country. I know he had a baby but come on how many times are you gonna stop to change and feed an baby on a four hour trip?
Nice his and hers Mustangs!
Pass, averaging 20-30 min at each stop and the stress of hoping it works or there is a spot. I’ll let others be the beta testers until more are built and the tech advances.
Hey Matt, did you compare cost of charging with electric vs if this was a gas trip?
This was free for him because the charger network was under maintenance or something of that nature. But otherwise judging based on the screens we saw in the video and some general estimation about $60 or so. Let's say $100 to be ultra conservative. 800 @ 30mpg is about 26 gallons, * $5 is $130.
So probably about ~$75 vs ~$130.
The drastic savings only happen when you're wall charging at home. Road tripping in an EV is still cheaper than doing it with gas, but it's far more costly than if you were wall charging.
It’ll depend on the vehicle but if I had done this same trip in the Bullitt I would have paid at least $100 more total for gas.
If I'm making a trip, and I stopped to get gas, I'm not going to spend 20 minutes at the snack bar. I'm going to spend 4 minutes filling my car with gas and I'm on my way.
I got to the gas station used the bathroom refueled and I was out on my way in less than 10 min. 😅😅
I don't know that EVs are all that cheaper to run. Looks like he averaged about $20 per full charge. Range (220miles)/$20 = 11miles/dolar. My gas car gets 340 miles/$38 = 9 miles/dolar.
yeah but once he gets home, he can save a ton of money by charging at home . if you travel long distances a lot, then that's a different story
Glad to see that you had a good EV charging experience!
Thanks Diego!
Bought my wife a Mach E - haven’t road tripped just yet, but I’m already nervous about electrify America stations and us having some technical difficulties with mapping them out - it seems finicky tbh…
Not me though… Bought myself a Tesla - chargers everywhere!
Had to buy a new car. Glad I went with a hybrid (2023 kia Sportage hybrid, with all the bells and whistles). One day, when our other car needs to go, we will get one and hopefully the infrastructure and bugs are worked out.
I agree with most of the other comments are saying, we've made great progress, but the infrastructure has a long way to go. I don't hate EVs, but they just don't suit my lifestyle yet. I have a 100 mile round trip commute for work 5 days a week. My 2020 Sonata can take me to work all week with one tank of gas. However, there is only 1 public EV charger in the town I work in. My house has street parking, so it would be a hassle to charge at home until I get a garage built. Nonetheless I'm open to EVs when their inevitable takeover comes, but until then I have to stick with ICE. My gf and I are looking at getting both a new Sequoia and eventually a Tundra, so we'll be hybridized at least lol (our decision was made thanks to your reviews, Matt).
Thanks for sharing your trip with us. I'm glad to see the Mach-E did well for you, and I'm glad that you can share your views as an EV owner. Looking forward to more content.
Thanks, I’m glad you liked the video and I’m glad to hear that the Sequoia and Tundra videos helped you too! I agree, for street parkers EVs don’t make any sense right now.
Try doing a much longer trip in cold weather. Your experience maybe very different.
On top of being heavy, ugly, expensive, inconvenient, and soulless, I also need to worry about being respectful of other people’s time when charging an electric car? What’s not to love?
Don't be so hard on yourself, I'm sure you're not completely soulless
What a pain, having to be considerate of other people…what a world we live in…
Hmm, IDK. It's not the extremely inconvenient picture that some people paint it to be, but at the same time it still looks a lot more of a pain in the ass than road tripping with fuel. When I road trip now I just point the car in the direction I want to go and go. There will be fuel stops along the way when I get down and that'll be that. And the time needed at them is small enough that there won't be a backup.
It makes sense for around town where you're going a few miles or a few tens of miles in 1 day and you can wall charge when you get home, but honestly road tripping in an EV just sounds like extra BS that I'd rather not do. It's certainly *doable* - you CAN do it, and it's *not* the end of the world, but it def. adds an extra layer of planning and thinking and such.
You're bang-on about how long gas stops take, too, it's easy to blow 20 minutes at a gas station. But you also have to think that you're traveling with a baby. Babies add considerable time to gas stops. If it was just you 2 or the kid was older, while gas stops can easily take 20 minutes, it's very possible to do a 5 minute gas stop.
True, it definitely will come down to the situation and driving style. Engineering Explained did a good EV road trip video (no kids) and for him, not rushing through the drive actually made the trip a little more relaxing and he felt less exhausted at the end of the driving day. It also comes down to personality types. I’m a planner, so charting out all the stops and doing the research was fun for me. But I know for people that hate planning stuff, it probably seems like extra work they don’t want to bother with.
@@MattMaranMotoring I would say a difference though with Jason's trip is that he had a Tesla, and they have their own ecosystem in that regard. From that perspective it's much more just punch in the address & go, a lot less planning oriented. Still has to stop, but the planning leg work is done for you, so I can imagine it being more relaxing than this. They also charge faster, too, no?
I would say by far Tesla provides the best road tripping EV experience, otherwise it seems a bit clunky. Now if we imagine 30 years from now, maybe there will be so many around it won't be clunk, just like gas stations are today, but presently it's hard to imagine that.
Tesla chargers are definitely more reliable, and they max out at 250 kW so it is faster than the Mach-E's 150 kW charge speed, but the best EVs actually charge faster than Teslas, and the Ioniq 5, EV6, Taycan and Lucid can do 350 kW charging, and that's what these Electrify America stations can max out at. But I agree, the reliability makes a Tesla road trip more relaxing, and they often have better charger placements too, so for now, I'd agree that in most cases a road trip experience in a Tesla is superior to other EVs, but the gap is pretty narrow these days and gets smaller every year.
After Farley and Musk’s announcement the other day, I’d be very interested to see if adopting the Tesla charger makes a big difference or not. Can’t wait for those tests
Id4's only seem to exist at EA chargers. I rarely see them on the road, but they are easily the most seen vehicle at EA stations.
This is from personal experience, but also just watching videos....an ID4 will be at that EA station.
And parked next to. Bullit edition Mustang GT in the garage?
Yep!
This was a great video showing some pros and some cons to EV Road Tripping. Pros are its cheap and if you have kids or baby by the time you are done fiddling with them the car will prolly be topped off on charge. Cons are 3 stops on a 400 mile trip is crazy what should be a 5 hour trip is now a 7nhalf hour trip losing a ton of time. Seems like EV just isnt there yet i know its still a growing and more improvements are coming but it seems the charging stations and time it takes to charge isnt there yet. As a single person and being it would only take me 1 stop and i dont buy snacks or use the restroom at gas stations too often my stop is no more than 10 mins Max. Ill wait till they force everyone to buy EVs to get one. Not that i dont like Ev vehicles just they dont fit my use case. I will say i am looking forward to the VW Van though.
For this trip it was only about an extra 45 minutes, it’s almost a 7 hour drive in a gas car. It’s definitely longer but not by a huge amount in most cases.
I'm not a Ford fan, but they did a great job on the exterior of that vehicle. I think the interior sucks though, it's all jumbled up.
Maybe people start hiding geocaches near these chargers to give you something to do while charging
Man this seems like a pain gas vehicles are so much better
It's good to hear about a full trip, rather than someone seeing one broken charger, and saying the whole network is garbage. I'll have to disagree with the stops though. I don't have a kid, so a 400 mile trip is one stop for gas with a bathroom run, so less than 10 minutes. I have a coworker with an Ioniq, who goes regularly from here in Ohio to Michigan to visit family, and he's never had an issue with charging.
Yeah, if you are the type of person that likes/can do quick stops, gas is definitely more convenient still.
It is good to save some money, but both of our ICE vehicles could the 400 miles one way without stopping. One would have cost just under $80.00 for fuel for a round trip and the bigger one, about $88.00 total.
We're not there yet, kids. See you in 5-10 years.
Seems like a case of range anxiety 😂😂😂