Will Ford Ever Increase Lightning Charging Speeds?

[TheWoo]

I don’t think the truck is capable of more than 450A

Is that based on measured amp requests or other info? Because I have assumed it requests up to 500. The pack voltage would need to be 400v for a 450 amp draw to hit 180 kW, and I don't think our packs ever get that high.

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[Bills R Electric]

Just took my new A2Z adapter for a spin at the local Tesla Super Charger… SUCH a game changer knowing the unit would work over 99% of the time My experience this round was fantastic. Big kudos the the Ford team for making that possible

After watching the great Out Of Spec EV Truck race across the country, and seeing the high KW charge rate on all of the other Trucks (at least for the first 29%), it got me wondering if Ford engineers are currently (or would ever) contemplate adjusting the KW charge rate past 170KW for the lightning.

Current KW charge rate for the lightning seems like a significant disadvantage for road trips…

Meant to note that other the other trucks were pulling 250kw + on average

Not on our current 2022, 2023 Lightnings.

Hopefully the 2026 version of Lightnings will have much faster charging.

 

[luebri]

I've never seen more than 174 kW on a 350kW EA unit. I saw 173kW on a Supercharger. I don't know what to tell you.

100% correct.

I will ad my evidence to the record.

We can nerd out (included Car Scanner snaps) all we want regarding the limitations here and the limitations there. The fact of the matter is Tesla V3 Superchargers are capable of providing the equivalent performance as a EA 350kw. Here is my first Tesla Supercharger data from earlier this week. It is identical to what I have experienced on EA 350kw chargers, a boost near ~175kw over 5 minutes and then a tapering down sometime after 5 minutes to ~150kw. Once I saw the same thing occur in my test I unplugged. I had seen enough and had no reason to charge more.

20kw over 7 minutes = a average rate of 171.4kw

I have the whole session screen recorded if someone really needs to see all the data but a few screenshots should serve as enough evidence.

 

[RickLightning]

Rawlins, Wyoming. 193.87kW. EA. Shows it there or above 180 from 7:52PM to 8:09PM, 17 minutes.

 

[Pioneer74]

The fact of the matter is Tesla V3 Superchargers are capable of providing the equivalent performance as a EA 350kw.

And that is the game changer in all of this. As long as there isn't a need for the second stall you may be blocking, now 800v vehicles aren't going to get mad at us lowly Lightning and Mach-E drivers for "taking their charger". They all work the same.

 

[Hammick]

I am happy with the bulk charging power of our Lariat ER. What I'm not happy with is how it plummets at 80% SOC. Our Ionic 5 stills charges at around 111kw after reaching 80% SOC. I think Hyundai uses a pulsing charge during the absorption phase. I wish Ford would do something similar. Charging the Lightning takes forever when you need to get to 90% or more on a road trip.

 

[swajames]

I am happy with the bulk charging power of our Lariat ER. What I'm not happy with is how it plummets at 80% SOC. Our Ionic 5 stills charges at around 111kw after reaching 80% SOC. I think Hyundai uses a pulsing charge during the absorption phase. I wish Ford would do something similar. Charging the Lightning takes forever when you need to get to 90% or more on a road trip.

That's never been an issue for us as we've been able to get by with the current 80% threshold, but I think you are absolutely right and it would be helpful for everyone if it were possible to extend the charge curve so that the drop off is pushed out to say 90%.

 

[TheWoo]

I am happy with the bulk charging power of our Lariat ER. What I'm not happy with is how it plummets at 80% SOC. Our Ionic 5 stills charges at around 111kw after reaching 80% SOC. I think Hyundai uses a pulsing charge during the absorption phase. I wish Ford would do something similar. Charging the Lightning takes forever when you need to get to 90% or more on a road trip.

While true that's how the curve works, even with the infrastructure we have today it's so very rare I need to go beyond 80% (or even to 80%) to get to the next charger, so it hasn't impacted me. Curious where you are traveling with this use case - there certainly are some in more remote areas.

 

[luebri]

That's never been an issue for us as we've been able to get by with the current 80% threshold, but I think you are absolutely right and it would be helpful for everyone if it were possible to extend the charge curve so that the drop off is pushed out to say 90%.

Way less important to have higher 80-90 speeds now with the dramatic increase in DCFC options with Tesla access because there is likely less of a need to eke out every last mile of battery / range to be able to make it to the next charger. My thought now is I'm charging at 140+ or I am on my way to the next charger.

 

[Joe.....Montana]

Out here in Eastern Montana the chargers are few and far between...80% charge is sufficient in 50+ degree weather, but in the winter it can be real tight.

 

[djwildstar]

After watching the great Out Of Spec EV Truck race across the country, and seeing the high KW charge rate on all of the other Trucks (at least for the first 29%), it got me wondering if Ford engineers are currently (or would ever) contemplate adjusting the KW charge rate past 170KW for the lightning.

It seems unlikely. DC fast chargers are presently limited to 500A in charging current, primarily due to the charge cable. While the Ford battery pack is nominally a 400V architecture, Ford's engineering is a bit conservative, and the battery pack is closer to 370V in practice. This means that the best charge rate you're likely to see is 185kW (370V x 500A = 185,000W). Practically speaking, charge voltage may not be exactly 370, and charging current may not be exactly 500A, so anything north of about 165kW is doing pretty well.

Tesla tends to be a bit aggressive, and their 400V architecture vehicles tend to run a bit above 400V in practice, meaning that they can extract more charging power out of their DC fast chargers. The CyberTruck is technically an 800V architecture, but I believe is currently in 400V mode while the 800V software and chargers are getting finished up. I don't have good data on the Silverado EV's battery pack voltage, but I suspect that GM pushed it to or above 400V for the boost in charging speed.

So ultimately, the higher charging speeds for the other vehicles is due to technical decisions in the design of the battery packs. The F-150 Lightning does as well as it does because it has an arguably "better" charging curve than the Tesla or Silverado, which partially makes up for the handicap caused by the reduced charging voltage.

Ford may be able to tweak the charging curve slightly, but that isn't going to change the overall ranking. I suspect that the next-generation Ford EVs (coming in the 2026 model year) will likely be built on an 800V architecture so that they can offer significantly better charging speeds.

 

[Sedawk]

I think the charge curve is pretty optimal; however, the two changes that would be nice are:

1) After the boost have a linear decrease in charging rate from +150 kW to the 115 kW rate at 80%.

2) Better rate from 80% to 90%

This changes could cut some time from an 80% charge and those occasions where you need a little more than 80%. Of course I’m unsure if either are possible or practical from a battery physics or health POV, but those optimizations would be nice.

 

[GDN]

Batteries and voltage aren't my wheel house, but until someone can come up with some definitive reasons about all of the battery module replacements I figure Ford just walks on thin air not touching a thing. It seems to be SK was about the weakest or slimiest battery partner they could find.

So just why are those battery modules failing and the voltage falling out of spec? SW management? Build?

 

[RyZac]

I don’t think the truck is capable of more than 450A, and it will only hold that for ten minutes before cutting to 350A. That 100A is the difference between EA‘s 150 and 350 kW units, which can make a big difference if you’re trying to make time on a road trip.

We can only access V3 Superchargers which will provide 450A, so they are equivalent to the 350 kW EA units. I’m on the return leg of a 2,500-mile trip to Texas and have almost exclusively used Superchargers. I’d love faster charging, but I think this is the best it’s going to get unless Ford decides they can extend that 450A “boost” period beyond ten minutes.

how did the Lightning handle MN Winter? Even though this was the Winter that wasn't

 

[tls]

I've never seen more than 174 kW on a 350kW EA unit. I saw 173kW on a Supercharger. I don't know what to tell you.

Same here.

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