I live on a mountain, charge to 90% and end up at 93-94% by the time I get down into town. If I charge to 100%, what happens to the extra energy?

[Zaptor]

I like that the truck has regen, and I generally get 3-4% charge by the time I have descended over 1500' of elevation. I typically charge to 90% as recommended, but if I were to charge to 100%, how would the truck manage the excess power it would generate on the way down? Would it just use the mechanical brakes to avoid regen in excess of the 100% threshhold or is there a buffer beyond "100%" or what? Could I damage the battery, or are there protections in place for this scenario? Thanks in advance, can't wrap my head around where the excess electrons would go...
-Zap

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[KurtsRPMGarage]

The truck is smart enough to take care of itself. It will stop regenning somewhere between 95 and 100%. From there the truck will only use the friction brakes to slow you down.

 

[Amps]

To see how Chevrolet addressed this, Google: Chevy Bolt Hilltop Reserve

If you don't need the full 90% every day, lower your home charge limit to take full advantage of regen afforded by your location. The diminished regeneration from a full battery is noticeable, not dangerous. The friction brakes are fine, but wasteful if you don't need the full range.

 

[Zaptor]

Good info. I figured Ford had addressed the scenario, makes sense the system biases to the mechanical brakes. Thanks for the quick answers and have a good evening.

 

[Jseis]

I believe the earth will reverse rotation and youth will appear.

 

[cdherman]

This does beg the next question:

What if I am in a mountainous terrain where one would typically use engine braking instead of the friction brakes, to avoid overheating etc. What if in this scenario, I charge to 100% and thus defeat regenerative braking?

Am I going to overheat my brakes?

I think one could imagine a scenario where that could happen.

 

[KurtsRPMGarage]

This does beg the next question:

What if I am in a mountainous terrain where one would typically use engine braking instead of the friction brakes, to avoid overheating etc. What if in this scenario, I charge to 100% and thus defeat regenerative braking?

Am I going to overheat my brakes?

I think one could imagine a scenario where that could happen.

Gas vehicles drive down mountains everyday. Most people are clueless and don't even know what engine braking is. Its very rarely an issue unless your overloaded and riding the accelerator and brakes the whole way down.

So no it shouldn't be an issue in 99.9% of scenarios.

 

[petemill]

It's a fair concern since it's not only regenerative braking that's the issue, but the permanent magnet motors that are spinning due to gravity. They will add current into the battery and I'm not sure there is a way to switch that off (hence permanent). I believe that's why we're not meant to tow with any wheels on the road - because the charging cannot be stopped and so everything could overheat and overcharge.

So perhaps that's one of the reasons for the hidden extra battery capacity. Maybe you actually will charge to 101%, 102%, 104% of usable capacity, but the dash will still show 100%?

 

[Heliian]

I believe that's why we're not meant to tow with any wheels on the road

It's very common for vehicles to not be towed on the drive wheels. There is excess wear on the drivetrain. All of my awd vehicles have mentioned this.

I'm not sure how long it would take before overheating the motor/battery but the rivian adventure trip required them to be towed to recharge the batteries in dead zones.

 

[4Reeley]

When I'm at 100%, the green regen pulsing on the dash doesn't appear when braking and when coasting you can really feel the difference when there is zero regen. After getting used to the very slight regen feel during coasting, it really feels like the truck is getting away from you or even slightly accelerating when coasting with no regen. After a few miles of driving regen comes back and coasting feels "normal" again. So yes, I think the truck automatically turns off regen when the battery cannot take on any energy, then self adjusts when capacity is available.

 

[Peddyr]

I believe time travel is a consideration if you charge to 100% and go down the mountain. All kidding aside, this is a question I had pondered a few months back but forgot to ask, so thank you for posting it. The downside is the % lost going back up the mountain at the end of the day

 

[lancersrock]

If you go down the mountain backwards you can take the miles off your truck and not have to worry about regen, just keep it in D and give a little throttle when you think your going to fast. Should work out just fine.

 

[FirstF150InCasco]

Related question -- hopefully not a stupid question, on my part: Does Regen only work in "one pedal" mode? I've not used one-pedal as it seems so foreign to me. (Hell, having an automatic is foreign to me; I’ve always had manual transmissions since my first car 50 years ago!) So, does Regen only work in "one pedal" mode?

 

[Calvin H-C]

The charging system on EVs are designed to NOT start charging when the SOC is above some threshold, typically somewhere between 95% and 98%. I believe it can be adjusted with the necessary software.

This applies to both regen and plugging in and is designed to prevent overcharging.

My Focus Electric is set for 97%. I can't set my own charging limit like we do with my wife's Lightning (90% when home) and it will always charge to 100%. Except, if it is over 97% and I plug it in, it won't charge to 100.

I recently had the FFE charging in the garage and needed to take it out to load things, so I thought I would plug it in outside the garage to finish charging. Unfortunately, it was at 98% so it wouldn't start again. FordPass then sent me an alert saying the car "reached its target charge of 97%".

 

[4Reeley]

Related question -- hopefully not a stupid question, on my part: Does Regen only work in "one pedal" mode? I've not used one-pedal as it seems so foreign to me. (Hell, having an automatic is foreign to me; I’ve always had manual transmissions since my first car 50 years ago!) So, does Regen only work in "one pedal" mode?

Regen works in all modes, automatically. Be careful with your research on OPD, a large % of the information you will find posted by other users (more so outside of this forum), is incorrect. Best driving mode is personal preference. The truck will regen appropriately based on your drive mode and braking habits.

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