Charging at 180+ kW!

[Texas Dan]

On my latest trip to Colorado my Lightning consistently charged at or above 180 kW. I was pleasantly surprised at first until the charge level dropped to about 30 kW at 80%. I was hitting some strong headwinds plus I was fighting an elevation rise so I really needed that extra juice.

In the past my Lightning didn’t always charge that fast but wouldn’t drop off as fast either. I think Ford changed the charging profile in one of the recent updates. Has anyone else noticed your Lightning charging faster but losing the charge rate at a lower SOC?

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[biers]

I agree. I hit an Electrify America station today and hit 182 kW in my SR. 54k miles and have never seen that much

 

[biers]

 

[electricpig]

Tom from State of Charge states on Friday morning Batteries Included podcast that Ford has been rolling out an update that improves charging performance. Will have a video on it soon

 

[NCevGuyF150]

On my latest trip to Colorado my Lightning consistently charged at or above 180 kW. I was pleasantly surprised at first until the charge level dropped to about 30 kW at 80%. I was hitting some strong headwinds plus I was fighting an elevation rise so I really needed that extra juice.

In the past my Lightning didn’t always charge that fast but wouldn’t drop off as fast either. I think Ford changed the charging profile in one of the recent updates. Has anyone else noticed your Lightning charging faster but losing the charge rate at a lower SOC?

Yes, I recently took a trip from North Carolina to Florida. At the Superchargers I was getting approximately 172 kW at maximum. However, as soon as I hit 80% SOC
It dropped to between and 50 and 60 kW per hour. Once it hit 90% SOC it dropped to 30 kilowatts. I also think that based on the temperature of the battery, it may throttle down charging to a lower rate per hour.

 

[bee-mal]

All fast charging rates drop dramatically after 80% - protecting your battery life. State of Charge does some great videos that plot the charge rate. Bottom line going last 80% gets slow and you’re better off charging more frequently if you can than trying to get past 80%.

 

[jetfixr1]

That would be incredible if Ford actually modified the charge curve and sustained peak charge for longer!

 

[Firn]

I did this test with update 10.1.1. No real difference i saw from 4.1. Now, updates to things like the BMS don't always follow the "numbered" updates, but i have to imagine there is some relation.

Fwiw, when charging in cold weather (<60f) with a battery temp below 60f the heater would kick in. This ment the truck would pull more from the charger (180kw) but still charge at the same rate of 450a into the battery. Bottom line, if it's heating the battery it will pull more from the charger but won't actually charge any faster.

Thinking about it more, this may be Ford trying to get more range. Even if the battery is maxed at charge rate, raising the battery temp will give it more power. It isn't "charging" faster, but it is gaining range faster. They can't put more amps into the battery, but they can pull more from the charger and instead put that into heat.

 

[TaxmanHog]

On my latest trip to Colorado my Lightning consistently charged at or above 180 kW. I was pleasantly surprised at first until the charge level dropped to about 30 kW at 80%. I was hitting some strong headwinds plus I was fighting an elevation rise so I really needed that extra juice.

In the past my Lightning didn’t always charge that fast but wouldn’t drop off as fast either. I think Ford changed the charging profile in one of the recent updates. Has anyone else noticed your Lightning charging faster but losing the charge rate at a lower SOC?

What year & trim Lightning are you driving?

BTW, make updates to Vehicle descriptions HERE: https://www.f150lightningforum.com/forum/account/account-details

 

[Texas Dan]

What year & trim Lightning are you driving?

BTW, make updates to Vehicle descriptions HERE: https://www.f150lightningforum.com/forum/account/account-details

‘23 Lariat ER

 

[Tom M]

My fastest is 192kW peak. I think it mostly comes down to state of charge at plug in and battery temperature.

 

[Pod]

This was/is my hope that Ford continues to tweak things. Upped charge speed would be really great. Dog mode next? Please…

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