120V Charging in Cold

[WattTruck]

Hey guys,

Looking at the possibility of getting a Lightning and had some questions on 120V charging. My understanding is you’re looking at 1-2 miles or range per hour of charging here which actually would work well most of the time for my purposes.

However I was curious how things are affected by cold (below 0F temps). Does charging slow down at those temps? If so curious by how much?

Secondly, at those temps even when fully charged and left plugged in, would power still be fed to the truck for battery warming or preconditioning etc.? If so, curious to learn how many watts that would be and if that would be going on constantly or intermittently etc. so I can determine approximate cost there. Thank you!

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[Tfarrell73]

Battery warming and preconditioning don't work on 120v. Need 240 to operate the heater

 

[RickLightning]

120v charging with the truck is not very viable, unless you don't drive far each day. As stated, it does not provide battery warming during the departure time. For a remote start, it also doesn't supply enough power for the cabin warming, so it would use battery also.

You get 1.2kW of juice per hour. You don't get miles. How many miles you can drive with that energy depends on many things, including temperature.

During very cold weather, some portion of the charging will go towards warming the battery, so it will be a little less efficient then.

With 120v charging, you can't use peak and off-peak hours really, because the vehicle will override them and say "I can't be done by XX:XX, so I'm going to start charging now.

 

[Maquis]

Additionally, 120V charging is the most inefficient of all charging scenarios simply because of the fixed amount of power required by the vehicle systems over a much longer charging period.

 

[WattTruck]

Thanks guys. Alright so with 120V sounds like warming, preconditioning, and preheating the cabin are lost if I’m reading right. You can still drive without all this though right?

However would it still charge at the same rate in really cold subzero F conditions?

I am guessing it would charge at that 1200 watt rate and then when / if fully charged go to standby since it wouldn’t be doing any warming or preconditioning?

Thanks!

 

[TaxmanHog]

We've read reports from some users of the 120v FMC to experience charging faults in extremely cold conditions, not certain that the FMC just tapped out or the truck told it to tap out because the pack temps were getting to cold for safe charging even at a snails pace.

You can still drive, but likely you're going to need to major boost up at your nearby DCFC to top off the battery for drives longer than you could recharge in daily drive cycles plus occasional long drives.

If your home system of electrical resources are limited (condo parking lots) then plan to make DCFC a part of your scheme, otherwise, look into power upgrades at your home to make 240v X 30 to 48 amp charging an option

 

[Heliian]

Just look for the evse's temp rating. I have successfully used 110v charging at around - 10degc. It was getting around 1% per hour. I use it while on the road to give me an added buffer at more remote locations.

 

[WattTruck]

Thanks, honestly I am sure I’d probably end up at 240 eventually. Will see if I can find a temp rating…see a few -22F references but not sure if that would only be for 240.

I drive just a few miles a day on average. According to Ford 120V will put out an average of 2 miles of range per hour which would be fine. Even if I got 1 mile per hour, that would probably work most of the time. If that drops to zero in the cold however could be an issue. Is there a certain temperature when issues start popping up?

 

[Maquis]

Thanks, honestly I am sure I’d probably end up at 240 eventually. Will see if I can find a temp rating…see a few -22F references but not sure if that would only be for 240.

I drive just a few miles a day on average. According to Ford 120V will put out an average of 2 miles of range per hour which would be fine. Even if I got 1 mile per hour, that would probably work most of the time. If that drops to zero in the cold however could be an issue. Is there a certain temperature when issues start popping up?

As Rick stated, charging is measured in kWh, not miles. How those kWh translate to miles will vary greatly. When you drive on the freeway in sub-zero temps, the 1.2 kWh you get in an hour could yield less than 1 mile.

 

[WattTruck]

Thank you, understood range will vary there just going of Ford’s average as stated in their literature as a general guideline.

Regardless, is there a temperature at which the battery will stop accepting the 1200 watts of power? If so does it stop completely or is it a reduced level?

If already at 100% I’ll assume no power would be accepted since the vehicle won’t precondition or warm anything on 120V if that’s right.

Thanks!

 

[TaxmanHog]

I've only used my FMC for a couple months of mild fall weather before getting my FCSP @ 80amps installed, so I don't have extensive cold weather experiences, I don't recall FoMoCo explicitly stating the minimum low temp at which charging might be disabled to protect the battery health.

The truck will remote start & departure timer will work to allow cabin warming.

The energy required to power the Ford PTC is apx 9KW, for up to 30 minutes maximum time [15m + 15m] before a run cycle is required, that is 4.5 KWH of energy, 3.9 will coming from the HVB, depleting the SOC by apx 2-3% from 100% while the FMC will give you 0.6KWH, which will barely make a dent in the consumption.

 

[Maquis]

Thank you, understood range will vary there just going of Ford’s average as stated in their literature as a general guideline.

Regardless, is there a temperature at which the battery will stop accepting the 1200 watts of power? If so does it stop completely or is it a reduced level?

If already at 100% I’ll assume no power would be accepted since the vehicle won’t precondition or warm anything on 120V if that’s right.

Thanks!

At 100% SoC, charging stops. But the truck can use shore power for things such as preconditioning.

 

[Pod]

My XLT SR charges fine in cold ish weather plugged in to garage standard outlet. Not sub zero but has been in below freezing to teens and draws 11% or so overnight. Yes, it is slow but works. I have a short commute so this works fine for me.

 

[WattTruck]

Thanks. Might get a bit colder than that here but that’s good to know. Even if I upgrade to 240 later I’d be highly curious to know what the limit is if I were to be out and about and 120V is all that’s available.

 

[Pod]

Patience is key. I do not mind plugging in every night For a 11%-15% charge. I have a system planned out. Helps they installed a 4 bank EA station right across the street if I need a quick boost. Really quite ideal for me. Love the Lightning.

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