THE THREE-PIN PROBLEM

(1875km) With our office in Auckland and my home in Hamilton, it’s quite normal to see a fully charged EV down to 50 per cent by the time I rack up 130km and reverse into the garage. The Mustang Mach-E is similar, but better than many, with the standard drive resulting in at least 65 per cent remaining — plenty of power left for Hamilton chores and school runs over the following days.

But I also need to plan for the 130km trip back to work’s Wallbox charger, which is made a little harder by the fact the Mustang does not have an approved three-pin wall socket charger. It will still operate with an aftermarket charger, but one isn’t officially approved.

Big deal, some will argue (some in the office, even), but for me, by the time I drive to the nearest fast charger, wait for the better part of an hour, and then return to home while losing another 5 per cent, it can get less convenient.

But owners will have a home Wallbox, the chant goes — but for me and my situation, the lack of a threepin charger is worthy of a note, if nothing more.

Ford does however provide a Type 2 charging cable, which allows easier/ cheaper home installation than a full on Wallbox-style charger (that we thankfully have at work) — and also public AC charging, which will also be either good or not depending on your own specific situation.

With the Mustang sitting at the airport for a few days recently, I arrived at the Auckland office with range back down to 50km, and the range indicator on the dash changing from green to orange, and its overall performance noticeably hobbled; plugging into our Wallbox at 7.30am resulted in a 100 per cent charged estimate time of 7.30pm.

So unless you’re doing Hamilton to Auckland return on a daily basis, charging probably all works out fine in the Ford Mustang Mach-E.