Battery went from 7% to 0 and left me stranded 6 miles from charger.

[AmandaB]

There was a recall on some BMS's. I know it was for updates, but I'm curious if anyone that had the recall done has had this issue. Or vice versa.

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[Yellow Buddy]

There was a recall on some BMS's. I know it was for updates, but I'm curious if anyone that had the recall done has had this issue. Or vice versa.

I had the BMS update when I ran out the 2nd time. I also had a module replaced which I’m told is supposed to help but I haven’t pushed it since then.

 

[AmandaB]

On a road trip to New Mexico, driving from Pueblo, CO to Wagon Mound, NM, all was going great. There was a brisk head wind so my efficiency was pretty bad, but by all indications I was going to make it to my charger with some range to spare. Then, all of a sudden, at 7% battery with 6 miles to the charger, the battery dropped to 0% and we were stranded. Had to call a tow truck which took over two hours and cost $250 to take us to the charger. I’m quite confused as to why the SOC dropped as if the BMS had been wrong. Any thoughts/ideas would be appreciated. Thanks!

I'm sorry this happened to you. Did the tow truck drop you off at a DC Fast Charger, and if so did you have any problems charging it from 0?

 

[AmandaB]

I had the BMS update when I ran out the 2nd time. I also had a module replaced which I’m told is supposed to help but I haven’t pushed it since then.

Can't say I blame you. It sounds like its not reliable to run the truck under 10%.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

Can't say I blame you. It sounds like its not reliable to run the truck under 10%.

Only on repeated charge cycles. I still trust her on a day to day basis.

 

[AmandaB]

Only on repeated charge cycles. I still trust her on a day to day basis.

Gotcha. So as little as two charges back to back? Or more than that you think?

 

[Yellow Buddy]

Gotcha. So as little as two charges back to back? Or more than that you think?

Yea, both of mine occurred after the 2nd DCFC before the 3rd.

Start 100%.
1st DCFC @ <5% up to 80%
2nd DCFC @ 30% up to 70%-80%

2nd time was the same except I ran her to 5-10% on both cycles instead of under 5%.

I’ve never had an issue normally or on AC or off a single DCFC. So I do still think there’s a software problem in interpreting the actual SOC.

But at that point we’re talking driving 600+ miles in one day and very little people do that.

 

[AmandaB]

Yea, both of mine occurred after the 2nd DCFC before the 3rd.

Start 100%.
1st DCFC @ <5% up to 80%
2nd DCFC @ 30% up to 70%-80%

2nd time was the same except I ran her to 5-10% on both cycles instead of under 5%.

I’ve never had an issue normally or on AC or off a single DCFC. So I do still think there’s a software problem in interpreting the actual SOC.

But at that point we’re talking driving 600+ miles in one day and very little people do that.

That's true and good to know. So far my longest trip has only required one good charge while on the road.

 

[YellowstoneLightning]

I'm sorry this happened to you. Did the tow truck drop you off at a DC Fast Charger, and if so did you have any problems charging it from 0?

The tow company required cash, which we didn’t have. We went first to the charger that was only six miles away, but it was late at night at this point and in a tiny little town, so nowhere was open to use an atm. I had the driver let me charge it while on the tow vehicle for a little while to ensure I’d be able to get it into neutral when we got to the next location another hour down the road at a bigger town that would have an atm open. The first charge worked with plum and charge. It stayed at 0% for an unnerving amount of time and was only taking a 38 kW charge rate, but after about 5 kWh it registered 1%. We charged it to 4% there then to 80% after the truck was freed from the tow truck. We ran out of juice at 5:20 PM and we weren’t off the tow truck until 11 PM. It was quite the ordeal.

 

[YellowstoneLightning]

It’s a BMS problem. The truck struggles with repeated charging / road tripping. It’s not a consistent thing, which makes it even worse.

The Out Of Spec guys had this happen to them twice as well when road tripping. Ford confirmed the BMS issue. The truck needs a resting period (IIRC 20-30min before charging) for the BMS to be accurate again.

I used to run mine down to 1-2%, but I’ve had this happen to me and now I don’t go under 10%….I also stopped taking my truck on long trips (500mi+), which sucks because it’s so such a perfect vehicle for it.

Thanks for the info!

 

[RickLightning]

We did a 5,300 trip over 22 days. It worked great. Then a 1,700 mile trip.

Weeks later, battery failure., going on 4 weeks.

Between the HVBJB failures on the Mach-E, and the battery failure on the Lightning (that I thought I escaped when the software was updated in the Fall and didn't detect an issue), I'm starting to wonder if Ford has these issues resolved, or if they're going to keep happening.

 

[RickLightning]

The tow company required cash, which we didn’t have. We went first to the charger that was only six miles away, but it was late at night at this point and in a tiny little town, so nowhere was open to use an atm. I had the driver let me charge it while on the tow vehicle for a little while to ensure I’d be able to get it into neutral when we got to the next location another hour down the road at a bigger town that would have an atm open. The first charge worked with plum and charge. It stayed at 0% for an unnerving amount of time and was only taking a 38 kW charge rate, but after about 5 kWh it registered 1%. We charged it to 4% there then to 80% after the truck was freed from the tow truck. We ran out of juice at 5:20 PM and we weren’t off the tow truck until 11 PM. It was quite the ordeal.

It's sad that you didn't know you have 5 years/60,000 miles of Roadside Assistance. Brochure comes with the car, and it's in the manual. If you have to pay, they reimburse up to a point.

 

[CyclopsThere]

It's sad that you didn't know you have 5 years/60,000 miles of Roadside Assistance. Brochure comes with the car, and it's in the manual. If you have to pay, they reimburse up to a point.

I am a new owner and honestly didn't know that-- I got some hints when I found the roadside assistance functions in the app and on the truck screen but assumed it would be pay out of pocket.

 

[Zprime29]

It's sad that you didn't know you have 5 years/60,000 miles of Roadside Assistance. Brochure comes with the car, and it's in the manual. If you have to pay, they reimburse up to a point.

Mine didn't have a brochure, though I have no excuse for not reading the manual. This thread is the first I've heard of this service being available.

 

[Newton]

If you use an ODBII scanner you will find that there are two state of charges - the one that is displayed and an internal state. They almost never agree and rarely show the appropriate percentage for the battery size. At higher states of charge the internal state is always *less* than the displayed state (by up to 7%), at lower it reverses although they are then closer.

The displayed state really drifts around, to the point that I consider it useless. The internal state will be higher immediately after a charge and will drop down over 20 minutes as reported.

The nasty trick to all of this is that when you charge the truck, it uses the displayed state to control - so when the displayed state hits 80% you drop down to 40kW. However, at that point the truck really thinks that the battery is at 72%. The power limitations seem to be software controlled, but I do not have enough data to know which of the two states of charge are used for that.

Honestly at this point if you want to extend range, I think that you need to follow the battery voltage which you can only see with an OBDII scanner.