High Battery Temp / Powertrain Malfuncion after DC fast charging

[rio]

Just came back from a weekend camping trip. On the way up (Friday), I stopped at the EA charger in West Lebanon, NH. It was about 100 degrees outside (car temp gauge read up to 102 sitting in the hot parking lot). I plugged into one of the 350kW stations and it began delivering 155kW. I don't do a lot of fast charging and this was by far the highest charge speed I've ever gotten (barely broke 100kW once). I was pretty happy with that, and decided to pop in to the adjacent Walmart for a quick bathroom break. I checked the app a few times and noticed that the charge rate was getting throttled way down. First to like 60kW and then all the way down to 15kW. When I got back in the truck there was a service warning and the battery gauge showed overheating (see picture below). Power was reduced to 48%. Being that I was so far from home and so close to my destination I decided to proceed with my trip and deal with this after the weekend. Here's a synopsis of what followed:

- During the remainder of the drive the battery temp came down some, and very slowly. The max power climbed up progressively. I think it got all the way to 100% by the time I reached my destination.
- FordPass notified me of "Powertrain Malfunction / Reduced Power", advising me to contact my dealer as soon as possible.
- About an hour after leaving the EA charger I stopped at another DC fast charger and plugged in for about 10 minutes getting 65kW (32% to 40%). It charged without issues. By the time I started the truck, the service light was gone. The battery temp gauge was still above halfway, but did not get any higher as a result of charging.
- By the next morning (saturday) everything was back to normal, and the truck behaved as if nothing had happened. Temp gauge was back to normal.
- Saturday night I went back to that nearby 65kW charger and plugged in for almost an hour (60kWh added - 21% to 81%). No issues, no warnings, no increase in battery temp.
- Today on our drive back to CT I stopped at the EA charger again, charged from 40% to 80% at high rate (160kW peak, 100kW towards the end). The service warning came back, but the battery gauge stayed in the middle, and my max power stayed at 100%. Powertrain malfunction warning on FordPass reappeared. Drove away without issues. Made one final quick charging stop a few hours later (43% to 59% at 100kW). Got a service warning again, but nothing on FordPass. The truck behaved completely normal the rest of the way home and the service light is once again gone. I arrived at home with 20% SoC and the truck is currently sipping on 3.6kW L2.
- Coolant reservoir is slightly above the MIN line.

I will be contacting the dealer and Ford Service first thing in the morning. I can't help but to wonder if this has something to do with the stress of DC fast charging at 150+ kW with 100 degree weather. But then again I had never hit that DC charge rate before in my truck. Are there known issues with fast charging during such heat waves? Not that 100 degrees is extreme.

I don't know what to expect at this point. There is clearly a DC fast charging issue with my battery. Any thoughts and suggestions are appreciated. I'll report back.

Sponsored

 

[RickLightning]

Truck should kick into cooling mode and charge fine, slowing down if needed. Were the fans loud like a jet taking off?

 

[rio]

Truck should kick into cooling mode and charge fine, slowing down if needed. Were the fans loud like a jet taking off?

I didn't notice anything unusually loud but it was a busy parking lot.

 

[RickLightning]

I didn't notice anything unusually loud but it was a busy parking lot.

You'd have to be deaf not to. Likely a cooling system issue.

 

[chl]

Just came back from a weekend camping trip. On the way up (Friday), I stopped at the EA charger in West Lebanon, NH. It was about 100 degrees outside (car temp gauge read up to 102 sitting in the hot parking lot). I plugged into one of the 350kW stations and it began delivering 155kW. I don't do a lot of fast charging and this was by far the highest charge speed I've ever gotten (barely broke 100kW once). I was pretty happy with that, and decided to pop in to the adjacent Walmart for a quick bathroom break. I checked the app a few times and noticed that the charge rate was getting throttled way down. First to like 60kW and then all the way down to 15kW. When I got back in the truck there was a service warning and the battery gauge showed overheating (see picture below). Power was reduced to 48%. Being that I was so far from home and so close to my destination I decided to proceed with my trip and deal with this after the weekend. Here's a synopsis of what followed:

- During the remainder of the drive the battery temp came down some, and very slowly. The max power climbed up progressively. I think it got all the way to 100% by the time I reached my destination.
- FordPass notified me of "Powertrain Malfunction / Reduced Power", advising me to contact my dealer as soon as possible.
- About an hour after leaving the EA charger I stopped at another DC fast charger and plugged in for about 10 minutes getting 65kW (32% to 40%). It charged without issues. By the time I started the truck, the service light was gone. The battery temp gauge was still above halfway, but did not get any higher as a result of charging.
- By the next morning (saturday) everything was back to normal, and the truck behaved as if nothing had happened. Temp gauge was back to normal.
- Saturday night I went back to that nearby 65kW charger and plugged in for almost an hour (60kWh added - 21% to 81%). No issues, no warnings, no increase in battery temp.
- Today on our drive back to CT I stopped at the EA charger again, charged from 40% to 80% at high rate (160kW peak, 100kW towards the end). The service warning came back, but the battery gauge stayed in the middle, and my max power stayed at 100%. Powertrain malfunction warning on FordPass reappeared. Drove away without issues. Made one final quick charging stop a few hours later (43% to 59% at 100kW). Got a service warning again, but nothing on FordPass. The truck behaved completely normal the rest of the way home and the service light is once again gone. I arrived at home with 20% SoC and the truck is currently sipping on 3.6kW L2.
- Coolant reservoir is slightly above the MIN line.

I will be contacting the dealer and Ford Service first thing in the morning. I can't help but to wonder if this has something to do with the stress of DC fast charging at 150+ kW with 100 degree weather. But then again I had never hit that DC charge rate before in my truck. Are there known issues with fast charging during such heat waves? Not that 100 degrees is extreme.

I don't know what to expect at this point. There is clearly a DC fast charging issue with my battery. Any thoughts and suggestions are appreciated. I'll report back.

Yes, a temperature issue when fast charging and the battery temp is up and the ambient temperature is up.

The active cooling of the battery must have been stressed and unable to cool the battery acceptably during the fast charging.

After driving the battery will be warmer than if it had been sitting idle.
When it is hot outside, over 80 degrees F, the battery will be warmer.
When fast charging the battery will be warmer.

Active cooling can only do so much to dissipate the heat.

Perhaps there was an issue with your active cooling system - mechanical and/or software - and it did not kick in properly?

Or maybe it did kick in but couldn't handle the heat.

Heat is the enemy of Li batteries.
Definitely have Ford check everything.

Yes, the battery cooled down and everything seemed to be back to normal, but your battery's life will be shortened if subject to high temperatures, and worse case scenario, if the cooling system is bad, a fire could result.

It sounds like your charge curve system reduced the power from the Lightning's max 155kw as things heated up which is the proper thing for it to do. But it was too late and overheating occurred.

155kw is the max fast charge rate for the Lightning. Think of red-lining an ICE engine.
Operating at the max capabilities of any system will take its toll.

It will be interesting to see if Ford diagnostics find an issue and a remedy.

Hot climates put a lot of stress on EVs. The early Nissan Leaf's had issue in Phoenix Az with early battery degradation, but the Leaf had no active cooling, it was air cooled.

Good luck.

 

[TaxmanHog]

Watching

 

[USA EV]

Sorry to hear about your issues, hopefully a simple cooling fan fix.

FWIW, seems like hitting over 170KW while charging is not uncommon. I've seen it on my 2023 SR Pro even.

 

[Zprime29]

I'll second what @RickLightning mentioned about the cooling system. It's like a full blown ICE engine is running when it kicks on. The Lightning is not a silent EV when the A/C is on. I remote started to cool off the truck after church and I could hear it several cars away.

 

[rio]

I dropped off the truck this morning. We'll see what happens.

I neglected to mention in my post something that might be relevant. About a week before, I had a weird issue where I started the truck (after it had been sitting for a few hours) and the display showed a "Motor Coolant Over Temperature" message, with the motor temp gauge pegged and red, and a sub message that power was reduced to 65%. As I drove the truck over the next few minutes the gauge reading gradually moved to the center and the max available power gradually made its way back to 100%. Then it behaved as if nothing had happened. I spoke with someone at Ford and they seemed to think this may have just been a software glitch (no way the motor would be overheating from just sitting there). Other posts on this form with similar experiences also seem to point to a software glitch.

When I posted this thread, I did not think these to be related. But Now I'm wondering if they are, and whether this whole thing might be a software issue. I'm crossing my fingers that this is the case.

 

[N0v0w3ls]

Definitely interested to hear what the outcome is.

When I remote started my truck with the AC on I was also surprised at how loud the fan can be. You may not hear it in the truck though, especially in a busy parking lot. It seems like a distinct possibility that you have a cooling fan related issue. It would explain why the battery temp went up so much while stationary and charging. It could also explain why the temperature still came down after you started driving again which would have restored airflow to the radiator.

 

[GoodSam]

Regarding the noisy fan of the radiator, My truck cover https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08J4BFLKB gets sucked in towards the air dam / radiator intake when remote started or pre-conditioning. I guess I need to put a mesh screen in the cover. Or what is the worst that could happen?

 

[rio]

Update: The dealer could not replicate the issue (as expected). They checked the codes and indeed found all the codes for overheating that I saw. But then cleared them, drove the truck, and codes did not return. They concluded that "issue may have been caused by charger itself, and no damage was sustained from event to truck". I find this very bogus and am not satisfied.

For one, they mentioned that they charged the vehicle in order to try to replicate the issue. I probed and as I suspected they did this using L2. I had to explain to the guy over the phone the difference between L2 and DC fast-charging. That was a very disheartening conversation (at one point the guy told me that our trucks are not supposed to be fast-charged). It was hard to have a useful discussion due to his lack of EV knowledge. (I'm not faulting him personally as EVs are still so new and rare within the Ford lineup). They of course have no DC fast chargers available so that alone makes it impossible for them to even attempt to replicate the issue. This, and the techs' limited experience with and understanding of EVs, are fundamental reasons why traditional dealers today are not properly equipped to address EV powertrain issues successfully.

Not sure what to do next. Can anybody recommend someone directly at Ford that I can contact with this issue? For all I know there is no issue beyond a software glitch, but I really would like to get to the bottom of it.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

Update: The dealer could not replicate the issue (as expected). They checked the codes and indeed found all the codes for overheating that I saw. But then cleared them, drove the truck, and codes did not return. They concluded that "issue may have been caused by charger itself, and no damage was sustained from event to truck". I find this very bogus and am not satisfied.

For one, they mentioned that they charged the vehicle in order to try to replicate the issue. I probed and as I suspected they did this using L2. I had to explain to the guy over the phone the difference between L2 and DC fast-charging. That was a very disheartening conversation (at one point the guy told me that our trucks are not supposed to be fast-charged). It was hard to have a useful discussion due to his lack of EV knowledge. (I'm not faulting him personally as EVs are still so new and rare within the Ford lineup). They of course have no DC fast chargers available so that alone makes it impossible for them to even attempt to replicate the issue. This, and the techs' limited experience with and understanding of EVs, are fundamental reasons why traditional dealers today are not properly equipped to address EV powertrain issues successfully.

Not sure what to do next. Can anybody recommend someone directly at Ford that I can contact with this issue? For all I know there is no issue beyond a software glitch, but I really would like to get to the bottom of it.

Hey there! Can you please send me a DM with your VIN and dealer name/location so I can look into this battery concern for you? I'd be happy to see what I can do to assist!

 

[RTanton]

Hey there! Can you please send me a DM with your VIN and dealer name/location so I can look into this battery concern for you? I'd be happy to see what I can do to assist!

Your direct response is appreciated by all of us on the forum!

 

[AZT9]

Strangely without any prior issues, my truck had been exhibiting the same issues driving home from work this morning. Left work without issue. Stopped to DCFC and was stuck at only 50kw on a 150kw stall(Thanks Electrify America) anyway noticed battery temp higher than it usually gets after a fast charge but strangely it never came back to normal after the 1.5 hour drive home. Got home and plugged into my Charge station Pro. No big deal. Unplugged it to head to the market at 50% SOC and my battery temp gauge was maxed out! Never experienced this in a year of ownership. Checked coolant level good. And no fans ever kicked on.

Sponsored