[Diogenes]

The MME will be my wife's vehicle. Title will be in her name and she'll be the primary driver and while her commute is short, her job does require travel around the county 1~3 days/week. She knows nothing about cars and doesn't care to know. The MME was a purchase at my suggestion.

Net, net... she's going to drive it like a "regular car". Heat, AC, heated seats, accessories, etc, etc all on... No changing of behavior because of the range or because it's a BEV.

She'll learn one pedal driving, plug it in each night (primarily to not to let the battery run too low and want the cabin pre-conditioning), and make a few other adjustments. She'll take the benefits of the BEV but won't ask any less of her car because it's a BEV.

That said... no different for me. I'm the "car guy" but aside from driving styles (unbridled for me and whisper for her), I'm not going treating it any different. Not going to be a "high-miler" or baby it to conserve range.

If on the coldest days of the year, from a full charge to 20% charge nets us 100 miles with the heat and heated seats blasting (my guess is that it'll be much better than 100 miles), that's good enough for 2~3 days without plugging in. So no need to "baby" it because it's a BEV.

So what about everyone else? Any "high-milers" out there? Anyone need to conserve range as their daily use case demands it?

 

[jolteon]

The MME will be my wife's vehicle. Title will be in her name and she'll be the primary driver and while her commute is short, her job does require travel around the county 1~3 days/week. She knows nothing about cars and doesn't care to know. The MME was a purchase at my suggestion.

Net, net... she's going to drive it like a "regular car". Heat, AC, heated seats, accessories, etc, etc all on... No changing of behavior because of the range or because it's a BEV.

She'll learn one pedal driving, plug it in each night (primarily to not to let the battery run too low and want the cabin pre-conditioning), and make a few other adjustments. She'll take the benefits of the BEV but won't ask any less of her car because it's a BEV.

That said... no different for me. I'm the "car guy" but aside from driving styles (unbridled for me and whisper for her), I'm not going treating it any different. Not going to be a "high-miler" or baby it to conserve range.

If on the coldest days of the year, from a full charge to 20% charge nets us 100 miles with the heat and heated seats blasting (my guess is that it'll be much better than 100 miles), that's good enough for 2~3 days without plugging in. So no need to "baby" it because it's a BEV.

So what about everyone else? Any "high-milers" out there? Anyone need to conserve range as their daily use case demands it?

Daily use is around 2-4 miles, pre-COVID. Now daily use is pretty much zero.

Yearly use is around 20,000 miles. Mostly long cross-country road trips.

Definitely won't be babying the car on either use mode. I doubt it will come out of Unbridled mode while I own it. I'm not going to leave the performance I paid for on the table.

 

[Summerlin Bob]

The MME will be my wife's vehicle. Title will be in her name and she'll be the primary driver and while her commute is short, her job does require travel around the county 1~3 days/week. She knows nothing about cars and doesn't care to know. The MME was a purchase at my suggestion.

Net, net... she's going to drive it like a "regular car". Heat, AC, heated seats, accessories, etc, etc all on... No changing of behavior because of the range or because it's a BEV.

She'll learn one pedal driving, plug it in each night (primarily to not to let the battery run too low and want the cabin pre-conditioning), and make a few other adjustments. She'll take the benefits of the BEV but won't ask any less of her car because it's a BEV.

That said... no different for me. I'm the "car guy" but aside from driving styles (unbridled for me and whisper for her), I'm not going treating it any different. Not going to be a "high-miler" or baby it to conserve range.

If on the coldest days of the year, from a full charge to 20% charge nets us 100 miles with the heat and heated seats blasting (my guess is that it'll be much better than 100 miles), that's good enough for 2~3 days without plugging in. So no need to "baby" it because it's a BEV.

So what about everyone else? Any "high-milers" out there? Anyone need to conserve range as their daily use case demands it?

With only approx. 20 +- miles of EV on my Fusion Energi I actually began to understand that it was not a life and death matter to be the first car to reach the next traffic light. The Mach E is an entirely different situation since when I'm not travelling to Utah my monthly mileage has been around 300 which means that the Juice Box won't be getting a heavy workout and I can resume my love of 'off the line' torque.

 

[MachDrive]

The MME will be my wife's vehicle. Title will be in her name and she'll be the primary driver and while her commute is short, her job does require travel around the county 1~3 days/week. She knows nothing about cars and doesn't care to know. The MME was a purchase at my suggestion.

Net, net... she's going to drive it like a "regular car". Heat, AC, heated seats, accessories, etc, etc all on... No changing of behavior because of the range or because it's a BEV.

She'll learn one pedal driving, plug it in each night (primarily to not to let the battery run too low and want the cabin pre-conditioning), and make a few other adjustments. She'll take the benefits of the BEV but won't ask any less of her car because it's a BEV.

That said... no different for me. I'm the "car guy" but aside from driving styles (unbridled for me and whisper for her), I'm not going treating it any different. Not going to be a "high-miler" or baby it to conserve range.

If on the coldest days of the year, from a full charge to 20% charge nets us 100 miles with the heat and heated seats blasting (my guess is that it'll be much better than 100 miles), that's good enough for 2~3 days without plugging in. So no need to "baby" it because it's a BEV.

So what about everyone else? Any "high-milers" out there? Anyone need to conserve range as their daily use case demands it?

I may ‘play’ with a trip or two to see what I can squeeze out of the battery. Its more for curiosity sake, so I know what I can make the MMe do real world for those few times I do travel beyond range.

However, like your scenario, my daily round trip commute is 36 miles daily (pre-covid). I will also plug in every night for preconditioning, but probably only schedule charging the battery twice a week.

In my youth, I used to love road-tripping. Who knows, maybe post-covid i’ll be taking more road-trips for leisure again.

 

[JTK44]

The MME will be my wife's vehicle. Title will be in her name and she'll be the primary driver and while her commute is short, her job does require travel around the county 1~3 days/week. She knows nothing about cars and doesn't care to know. The MME was a purchase at my suggestion.

Net, net... she's going to drive it like a "regular car". Heat, AC, heated seats, accessories, etc, etc all on... No changing of behavior because of the range or because it's a BEV.

She'll learn one pedal driving, plug it in each night (primarily to not to let the battery run too low and want the cabin pre-conditioning), and make a few other adjustments. She'll take the benefits of the BEV but won't ask any less of her car because it's a BEV.

That said... no different for me. I'm the "car guy" but aside from driving styles (unbridled for me and whisper for her), I'm not going treating it any different. Not going to be a "high-miler" or baby it to conserve range.

If on the coldest days of the year, from a full charge to 20% charge nets us 100 miles with the heat and heated seats blasting (my guess is that it'll be much better than 100 miles), that's good enough for 2~3 days without plugging in. So no need to "baby" it because it's a BEV.

So what about everyone else? Any "high-milers" out there? Anyone need to conserve range as their daily use case demands it?

I have been giving a lot of thought to this, actually because of Covid I have too much time on my hands and my wife says way too much thought!

I have reserved the FE, but the more I think about it a standard premium RWD may, at the present time, make much more sense.

Having spent three winters in Syracuse and countless trips to Vermont for skiing in rear wheel drive cars with snow tires, while AWD is better, RWD with snow tires was still OK. With the MME and the low center of gravity and weight, I think the RWD with all season tires (back then we used bias not radial tires and there were only summer or winter tires) in light snow will be just fine. I rarely drive when the roads are not plowed and snowfall because of climate change on Long Island is less and less each year.

So AWD may not be necessary.

But the reality is, again at the present time, unless you have access to super charging stations, a BEV is not a good choice for road trips: here is where Tesla is much better because of their charging infrastructure. Until there is a robust super charging system in place, a BEV, other than a Tesla, is not a good choice for long trips.

So the extended range may not necessary.

The Premium SR, RWD, after NY tax credits ($2,000) and Federal ($7,500) will be under $40,000. The reality is that for 95% of my driving the 230 mile will be sufficient, regardless of how hard I drive it. For that other 5%, snow and long trips, I have the Ford Edge.

Now all I need is a competitive lease from Ford and I am ready to put pen to paper!

Just my thoughts and $.01

 

[Diogenes]

Having spent three winters in Syracuse and countless trips to Vermont for skiing in rear wheel drive cars with snow tires, while AWD is better, RWD with snow tires was still OK. With the MME and the low center of gravity and weight, I think the RWD with all season tires (back then we used bias not radial tires and there were only summer or winter tires) in light snow will be just fine. I rarely drive when the roads are not plowed and snowfall because of climate change on Long Island is less and less each year.

So AWD may not be necessary.

We spend a lot of time in Vermont. In my 20s, I had a E30 BMW (I6, manual, wonderful car) and made many trips to Southern Vermont every year. Snows and several bags of sand in the trunk. My driving skills were honed and matured during this time. A big reason why I still prefer the driving dynamics of RWD or rear biased AWD vehicles.

That said, as I got older, I escaped the Southern Vermont ski scene to Central and Northern Vermont. Mellower but skiing, beer and food are way better. Different sport when it comes to Winter driving though... Anyone who climbed over 17 on the edge of Camel's Hump part across Long Trail would certainly prefer an AWD car with Winter tires, me included.

This is all moot though... The charging infrastructure in rural Vermont is just not there yet to take any EV on a trip there. Particularly in the Winter, even with extreme range "babying".

 

[Diogenes]

With only approx. 20 +- miles of EV on my Fusion Energi I actually began to understand that it was not a life and death matter to be the first car to reach the next traffic light.

I think we're leaving a LOT of emissions reduction off the table with the antiquated traffic light design.
With sensors and cameras, the lights could be prioritized based on traffic rather than timing. particularly during low traffic periods. Many intersections have cameras these days to catch people running lights. Why not put them to use?

 

[JTK44]

.

This is all moot though... The charging infrastructure in rural Vermont is just not there yet to take any EV on a trip there. Particularly in the Winter, even with extreme range "babying".

I think you are confirming my observation that the Premium SR, RWD rather than the FE, makes more sense. When you take trips in the winter to Vermont out of the equation, and long trips in general, both AWD and the ER become way less important and there is a savings of more than $10,000 vs. the FE.

If the cost of the Premium SR, RWD after taxes is under $40,000 and even if depreciation is 50% over three years, so the value is $23,000, the difference of what you paid, $39,000 and what the car is worth, $23,000, $16,000 over three years is not too much to absorb.

 

[Summerlin Bob]

I think we're leaving a LOT of emissions reduction off the table with the antiquated traffic light design.
With sensors and cameras, the lights could be prioritized based on traffic rather than timing. particularly during low traffic periods. Many intersections have cameras these days to catch people running lights. Why not put them to use?

I absolutely agree because this is a 'pet peeve' sitting at a traffic light with no cars for as far as the eye can see. Here in Las Vegas there are times where the turn lights are set to flashing yellow but the 'regular' intersection lights at major streets can have you sitting for several minutes for no reason. I posted a thread on doppler street signs that are readable by the vehicle why not 'smart' traffic lights.
PS: We used to have a saying in NYC way back when "Sitting at a Red Light after Midnight was Optional"

 

[SolarAB]

My daily work commute of 100 km round trip is ideal for an electric car. I held off on buying one until weekend trips to the nearest big city were also within the EV's range (270 km / 168 miles). This is the first year with options that meet these criteria that were not horribly expensive like the Model X.

 

[JTK44]

I absolutely agree because this is a 'pet peeve' sitting at a traffic light with no cars for as far as the eye can see. Here in Las Vegas there are times where the turn lights are set to flashing yellow but the 'regular' intersection lights at major streets can have you sitting for several minutes for no reason. I posted a thread on doppler street signs that are readable by the vehicle why not 'smart' traffic lights.
PS: We used to have a saying in NYC way back when "Sitting at a Red Light after Midnight was Optional"

Thank goodness for "Right turn on red light allowed"! (except NYC) and "stop and go" on most new cars

 

[Summerlin Bob]

Thank goodness for "Right turn on red light allowed"! (except NYC) and "stop and go" on most new cars

You reminded me with 'stop and go' about when I was leaving the Jaguar dealership with my brand new F Type. I hit the road and when I got to the first traffic light the motor 'died' and I thought, "typical Jag I only got 100 yards before there was a mechanical issue". What I hadn't realized was that the salesman had set the car into ECO mode. 🙃

 

[Diogenes]

Thank goodness for "Right turn on red light allowed"! (except NYC) and "stop and go" on most new cars

In my experience, on most cars, even very high end ones, "stop and go" sucks. There's always some jerk and vibration to get going. The exception is on some hybrids, even mild hybrids, that use the electric motor to get the vehicle going. Like the reviewers have mentioned on the MME brake engagement, SW needs to sort this out.