Unexpectedly low range

[Computermedic78]

You're doing nothing wrong.

Instead of offering a realistic glimpse into expected range, the EPA numbers are best-case scenario. The test itself favors low speed (well under 60 mph) in a favorable temperature. Manufacturers are also free to advertise a lower, more realistic range, but few actually do. The protocol needs an overhaul.

My gas car is a V8 with 24 mpg EPA highway. We see ~27-28 mpg on round trips at 75 mph. If you want to capture an accurate picture of the consumption/emissions the city range is there as well. A few EV companies advertise city/highway range, but not many. This leaves the buyer extrapolate a highway range number from the highway MPGe. How many here among the enthusiasts even know how to do that calculation?

Basically, the EV industry would rather over-promise and under-deliver at this point in time. Maybe it's a good strategy for adoption, but inaccurate range is the first thing new EV owners complain about.

I expected it to be lower maybe 250. 150 was unexpected and effectively left me with a lawn ornament.

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[Akbrian]

Remove some of the lead from your shoe. In winter you get a climate penalty 10-30% can’t change that. You get to decide whether you want range or speed can only chose one. Wait till it actually gets cold and that number is less than 1m/kwh.

 

[LightningShow]

1600 miles has me at 1.5.

Are you sure you're driving 70mph?

Just some quick math. My Trip 1 is at 1900 miles and 2.0mpk since October. 73% driving energy. So I've expended 950kWh driving 1900 miles. only 73% is driving, so it's 694kWh for 1900 miles, or 2.74mpk for driving only.

If you've driven 1600 miles at 1.5mpk (78% driving energy) that comes out to 1.92mpk for driving only. 2.74 to 1.92 is a pretty big gap. Also, I drive FAST. I'm regularly driving over 80 on the highway and most of my driving is commute which is 80% highway (though can be slow at times due to traffic).

I'd be very surprised if you were having efficiency that low for just 70mph highway driving. Tom Moloughney did a flat out winter range test in his Lariat ER and went 210+ miles at 17F and he has A/T tires on his truck so he loses some efficiency for the tires, too. His trip also included 1100 ft of elevation gain. That trip was 1.7mpk.

That's pretty much in line with my experience in the winter in New England. I do a 160 mile round trip up to the ski mountain most weekends in the winter and it never takes more than 70% of the battery, that would calculate out to about 230mi of range in very cold weather.

If you can confirm that you're actually only getting 1.5mpk (and it's not just a software glitch) then it's worth having the truck looked at.

IMPORTANT NOTE: When it's cold out and you start out at 100% (or close) the truck gives you an unrealistic range estimate (250 or 280 or whatever). It makes up for it by aggressively dropping range in the first half of the battery. You'll probably drop from 280 to 100 miles in the first 50% of the battery but in the second half the range estimate will be much more accurate and you'll probably get OVER 100 miles of driving from the time it says you have 100 miles left. It's just bad software design by Ford. They made that change last year because people were complaining that their truck was giving them a 220 mile range estimate when it was very cold out (even though that was pretty accurate).

 

[luebri]

The battery DOES precondition on level 1. Two trips on the same day, for the first I had preconditioned and I had 100% power available.

In your example above the reason your battery maintained 100% SOC has nothing to do with whether the battery was Warm or not, it was because the Resistive heater to warm the cabin used Wall Energy instead of Battery energy.

But either way, You are somewhat correct. The battery does partially "precondition" or WARM on Level 1. Especially if charging throughout the night, as charging heats the battery. However Level 1 will not heat it as much as Level 2. So you will get better battery warming (i.e. Preconditioning) on Level 2 (240v).

I did extensive trial and documentations on the topic last winter. You best get to reading if you truly want to understand the precondition process.

https://www.f150lightningforum.com/forum/threads/ideal-charging-practices.14066/post-294637

For the second I did NOT precondition and had 97% power available. It does work, but does slightly drain the battery. I am more concerned about losing half of the range than I am about the 2% I lose from the precondition process.

Apparently you need to get a OBDII reader and the car scanner app before you will believe us. The reason you had only 97% is because the battery used the energy to "Precondition" the cabin. That is where the energy went. There is a reason in the FORDPASS app it states "Precondition CABIN while unplugged". That is because that is all that is preconditioning when unplugged. NOT THE BATTERY. There would be literally no point to spend battery energy to warm a battery to get a more efficient battery with less remaining kwh, because the KWH were used to warm the battery. Insert favorite dog chasing tail GIF here!

 

[LightningShow]

I expected it to be lower maybe 250. 150 was unexpected and effectively left me with a lawn ornament.

You should be able to get 250 (except in the coldest weather, sub-20F) but it requires slower driving (65mph tops), battery pre-conditioning and very sparing use of the cabin heater. Like I said, even on 20 degree days I'll get 230 miles of range and I'm not terribly careful about speed or heat.

And, unfortunately, battery pre-conditioning requires being plugged in. You'll notice your battery temperature bar is significantly below the center point on cold days, even when you "pre-condition".

 

[Maquis]

Your truck performs pretty much the same as mine. At 30F, 70 MPH on the highway, and a decently heated cabin, I’ll get about 1.5 MPK.
The only difference is that I knew it would do this before I bought it.

 

[jdmackes]

I'm surprised at the number of people saying not to use 1 pedal driving. I use it exclusively because I want 100% of my regen as often as possible. I know when I was around 30 degrees I wasn't getting numbers this low. I was probably at 1.7-1.8 in my Pro. If you can use the seat heaters instead of the resistive heat, that will help some, but really it shouldn't be as bad as it is. Now, I have preconditioned every time using a level 2 charger, so that might make some difference, but I've never gone down to 1.3 for any extended period of driving, even at 70 mph.

 

[TaxmanHog]

This is an example of a Lariat-ER quarterly performance to date starting 10/1/2023
Southern New England weather conditions, remote starts on level 2 about half the time (am), then unplugged afternoons. Temps ~74° for the cabin, use seat & wheel heat when needed, most of the driving is local roads 75% of the time and interstate 25%. Normal drive mode with 1PD on.

1.8 MPK over 1090 miles over 68 days

 

[swajames]

I haven't found any difference between 1-pedal and the standard driving mode, and because the Lightning has blended brakes it's using regen to the extent it can anyway.

To the OP, just to confirm, it doesn't think you have a trailer attached? Have you checked in the towing menu? I've seen a lot of reports of unexpectedly low range where the cause was the truck still thinking it was towing.

 

[Grease Lightning]

I'm surprised at the number of people saying not to use 1 pedal driving. I use it exclusively because I want 100% of my regen as often as possible. I know when I was around 30 degrees I wasn't getting numbers this low. I was probably at 1.7-1.8 in my Pro. If you can use the seat heaters instead of the resistive heat, that will help some, but really it shouldn't be as bad as it is. Now, I have preconditioned every time using a level 2 charger, so that might make some difference, but I've never gone down to 1.3 for any extended period of driving, even at 70 mph.

I am with you. I exclusively use 1-pedal and get great mileage. I an averaging 2.4 m/kW over 5,500 miles and even in cold days 20’s, I am still getting 2.0 or better in most case.

 

[invertedspear]

I want 100% of my regen as often as possible.

And you get it from the brake pedal unless you are hitting the brakes much harder than the 1PD "brakes" It's going to regen all it can, unless you are stopping harder than regen can stop. Ford does really good with the blended brakes, it's one of the top reasons I wanted an F150L over an R1T, I want it to feel like driving my old ICE F150 because when I do go drive ICE (still fairly often) I don't want to mentally mess up because I expected the truck to come to a stop just cause I let off the gas pedal.

 

[Pioneer74]

I'm surprised at the number of people saying not to use 1 pedal driving.

Nobody is saying you shouldn't use 1 pedal drive. What we are saying is you don't need to use it to maximize regeneration.

 

[LightningShow]

This is an example of a Lariat-ER quarterly performance to date starting 10/1/2023
Southern New England weather conditions, remote starts on level 2 about half the time (am), then unplugged afternoons. Temps ~74° for the cabin, use seat & wheel heat when needed, most of the driving is local roads 75% of the time and interstate 25%. Normal drive mode with 1PD on.

1.8 MPK over 1090 miles over 68 days

23% climate!!! @TaxmanHog likes a toasty cabin!

 

[luebri]

23% climate!!! @TaxmanHog likes a toasty cabin!

Probably Mrs. Taxman while she is waiting in the cab... while he is in the bed of the truck doing his Magical kabuki dance underneath his favorite cell tower to try and get the next OTA update.

 

[sd25]

OP, as @TaxmanHog mentioned I think you'll get better results once you are able to use a Level 2 EVSE to precondition. It'll make a big difference in getting the battery warmed up prior to a long drive. That Level 1 charger is going to struggle to put any real heat into the battery pack in cold temperatures.

Also, is it windy where you are? A 10mph headwind driving at 70mph is going to hit efficiency like driving at 80mph on a calm day. I've found the Lightning really starts losing efficiency due to its aerodynamics above 65mph speeds.

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