ER Lightning- Cannot Charge Past 265 Miles?

[bydabeach]

Have had my Lightning for about a month now.

Last 2 days, have not been able to charge my Extended Range Lightning past 265 miles.

Range was down to 140 miles, plugged into FCSP at home, and charging stopped at 265 miles of range.

Unplugged FCSP. Went into vehicle, changed settings to 100% maximum charge. Started and stopped vehicle. Plugged in FCSP. Will not charge further. My maximum charge was previously set at 90%, which should reach 288 miles of range.

Any advice?

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[lightspeed]

Are you saying it won't charge past 90%? If so, it might be a bug. I have heard before that the Lightning doesn't like to start charging when it's already over 90%. Not sure if this is accurate or a rumor.

 

[Halbach]

Have had my Lightning for about a month now.

Last 2 days, have not been able to charge my Extended Range Lightning past 265 miles.

Range was down to 140 miles, plugged into FCSP at home, and charging stopped at 265 miles of range.

Unplugged FCSP. Went into vehicle, changed settings to 100% maximum charge. Started and stopped vehicle. Plugged in FCSP. Will not charge further. My maximum charge was previously set at 90%, which should reach 288 miles of range.

Any advice?

You shouldn't directly equate SOC with miles of range because it varies so much with driving history/weather/battery health. To actually be more helpful though, what %SOC was 265mi?

 

[bydabeach]

Are you saying it won't charge past 90%? If so, it might be a bug. I have heard before that the Lightning doesn't like to start charging when it's already over 90%. Not sure if this is accurate or a rumor.

The app and the vehicle said it was charged 100% at 265 miles of range.

 

[bydabeach]

You shouldn't directly equate SOC with miles of range because it varies so much with driving history/weather/battery health. To actually be more helpful though, what %SOC was 265mi?

I'm not familiar with the acronym SOC- I'm guessing that is "state of charge." The vehicle and app says 265 miles is 100% charged.

Yesterday in NJ, it was in the low 30's during my commute, which is 37 miles one way. The vehicle consumed 50 miles of range.

What I am trying to figure out going forward is this--if yesterday's commute is average or representative of my range, and I can only charge to 265 miles of range--I can only count on 5 trips to/from work for a total of 250 miles of range before having to charge? Relating that back to actual miles, does that mean that my actual range for my commute in the cold is only 5 X 37 miles or 185 miles for a vehicle rated with 320 miles of range? That seems messed up, as it is only 58% of the rated range.

I understand pre-conditioning, speed, heat use, etc and how it impacts range.

 

[Maquis]

Cold weather shrinkage. Normal for all vehicles, but more noticeable with an EV. My Mach-E is rated 270, shows 300+ in the summer, currently shows about 190 in 20F weather. It will do somewhat better than 190, the GOM seems to be a pessimist.

Unless I have a road trip pending, I don’t worry about what the GOM is trying to tell me.

 

[bydabeach]

Cold weather shrinkage. Normal for all vehicles, but more noticeable with an EV. My Mach-E is rated 270, shows 300+ in the summer, currently shows about 190 in 20F weather. It will do somewhat better than 190, the GOM seems to be a pessimist.

Unless I have a road trip pending, I don’t worry about what the GOM is trying to tell me.

Sorry, what is GOM?

 

[sotek2345]

Sorry, what is GOM?

GOM = Guess-o-meter. It is a bit of a derogative term for the vehicles range estimate since it is wrong so frequently.

I agree that what you are seeing is pretty normal cold weather range loss. You can get a bunch of this back if you precondition (set a departure time) before you leave, but this can be a bit flaky with the Lightning right now due to a suspected software bug.

Do you have charging at home? If so, I would suggest just plugging in every night and not worrying about it.

 

[bydabeach]

GOM = Guess-o-meter. It is a bit of a derogative term for the vehicles range estimate since it is wrong so frequently.

I agree that what you are seeing is pretty normal cold weather range loss. You can get a bunch of this back if you precondition (set a departure time) before you leave, but this can be a bit flaky with the Lightning right now due to a suspected software bug.

Do you have charging at home? If so, I would suggest just plugging in every night and not worrying about it.

Yes, I charge at home.
A problem with pre-conditioning for me is that I don't leave at a fixed time. I leave whenever I wake up and feel like leaving, which can be between 7 and 10 a.m. But yesterday, I pre-conditioned the vehicle by plugging it in and turning on the heat to warm up the vehicle, but I drove only with the heated seats and steering wheel most of the way.

And yes, I can charge every night, but our son's college is 160 miles from home. If I drive more aggressively averaging 80 mph will we make it one way without having to charge in cold weather?

This is disappointing. I expected some range loss, but if I can plan to only drive 185-190 miles in cold weather on a vehicle that is "rated" for 320 miles, the advertising is disingenuous. I am well familiar with battery technology and how cold weather impacts batteries, but 57% of max advertised range is ridiculous. This is worse than the actual mpg versus EPA rated MPG on the Maverick I got rid of for other reasons.

 

[Halbach]

Cold weather shrinkage. Normal for all vehicles, but more noticeable with an EV. My Mach-E is rated 270, shows 300+ in the summer, currently shows about 190 in 20F weather. It will do somewhat better than 190, the GOM seems to be a pessimist.

Unless I have a road trip pending, I don’t worry about what the GOM is trying to tell me.

 

[bydabeach]

That's the second time that meme came up in a week for a completely different reason.

 

[sotek2345]

Yes, I charge at home.
A problem with pre-conditioning for me is that I don't leave at a fixed time. I leave whenever I wake up and feel like leaving, which can be between 7 and 10 a.m. But yesterday, I pre-conditioned the vehicle by plugging it in and turning on the heat to warm up the vehicle, but I drove only with the heated seats and steering wheel most of the way.

And yes, I can charge every night, but our son's college is 160 miles from home. If I drive more aggressively averaging 80 mph will we make it one way without having to charge in cold weather?

This is disappointing. I expected some range loss, but if I can plan to only drive 185-190 miles in cold weather on a vehicle that is "rated" for 320 miles, the advertising is disingenuous. I am well familiar with battery technology and how cold weather impacts batteries, but 57% of max advertised range is ridiculous. This is worse than the actual mpg versus EPA rated MPG on the Maverick I got rid of for other reasons.

Note: Warming up the truck by remote starting (or starting in the truck) is not the same as preconditioning. Preconditioning warms the battery as well as the cab, with the battery taking (by far) the most energy. You can check in the infotainment system where you energy is going.

Also - don't rely on the indicated range. It is known to be wrong and pessimistic. What are you seeing for actual efficiency (mi/kWh). Take that number and multiply by 131 and that will give you a much better picture of your actual available range.

 

[FinsNBolts]

The range loss isn’t solely due to weather. It’s always a combination of factors. If you’re driving faster than 60MPH for periods of time, the range will go down. If you enjoy the lightning “punch” too much, your range will go down. Combined with cold weather, the truck is trying to match your driving habits with what it expects to happen with the cold weather and is giving you a very conservative estimate so you don’t end up stranded. If you really want to know the range, put it to the test and run it out to see if the GOM, gets more accurate when you run it dead.

 

[RickLightning]

Yes, I charge at home.
A problem with pre-conditioning for me is that I don't leave at a fixed time. I leave whenever I wake up and feel like leaving, which can be between 7 and 10 a.m. But yesterday, I pre-conditioned the vehicle by plugging it in and turning on the heat to warm up the vehicle, but I drove only with the heated seats and steering wheel most of the way.

And yes, I can charge every night, but our son's college is 160 miles from home. If I drive more aggressively averaging 80 mph will we make it one way without having to charge in cold weather?

This is disappointing. I expected some range loss, but if I can plan to only drive 185-190 miles in cold weather on a vehicle that is "rated" for 320 miles, the advertising is disingenuous. I am well familiar with battery technology and how cold weather impacts batteries, but 57% of max advertised range is ridiculous. This is worse than the actual mpg versus EPA rated MPG on the Maverick I got rid of for other reasons.

You actually don't understand pre-conditioning. Doing a remote start while plugged in is not preconditioning. You need to set a departure time.

320 is the EPA range. Did you question EPA's range on all your ICE vehicles?

The cold weather impact is measured from the warm weather efficiency you got to the cold weather efficiency you are getting.

You should also stop thinking of your charging in "miles". Why? Because in the summer you have say 275 miles of range at full charge. In the winter you get 180 miles (both numbers are made up by me). Same charge, same battery. What changed? MILES PER KILOWATT that you are getting in your DRIVING, not your charging.

Your battery is 131 kilowatt hours. You get say 2.2 miles per kilowatt in the summer. That's 288 miles of range. If it's 20 degrees out, that's probably going to drop 35%. You'll get 1.43 miles per kilowatt, for a range of 187 miles.

If this wasn't clear to you before you bought, you didn't understand EVs (and also PHEVs and Hybrids) well enough.

 

[Pioneer74]

Yes, I charge at home.
A problem with pre-conditioning for me is that I don't leave at a fixed time. I leave whenever I wake up and feel like leaving, which can be between 7 and 10 a.m. But yesterday, I pre-conditioned the vehicle by plugging it in and turning on the heat to warm up the vehicle, but I drove only with the heated seats and steering wheel most of the way.

And yes, I can charge every night, but our son's college is 160 miles from home. If I drive more aggressively averaging 80 mph will we make it one way without having to charge in cold weather?

This is disappointing. I expected some range loss, but if I can plan to only drive 185-190 miles in cold weather on a vehicle that is "rated" for 320 miles, the advertising is disingenuous. I am well familiar with battery technology and how cold weather impacts batteries, but 57% of max advertised range is ridiculous. This is worse than the actual mpg versus EPA rated MPG on the Maverick I got rid of for other reasons.

This is my Lariat ER. Temps were in the 20's and I drive mostly a highway commute.

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