Distance to empty dropped unexpectedly

[uniblab]

I have been enjoying my Lightning XLT SR since late February, with things going more-or-less as expected. I charge both at home and at work on a ~5Kw charging station, and typically charge to 100% at which time my driving range is usually between 230 and 250 miles. Two days ago I got up in the morning, saw a range of 245 miles on the dash, drove around all day (nothing atypical) and parked the truck in the evening with about 160 miles remaining. I did not plug the truck in. When I got up yesterday morning, the range was showing 115 miles... WTF? The state of charge of the battery was showing approximately the same as the night before, around 65%. Drove to work, plugged the truck in and at the end of the day I was back to 100% but only 198 miles of range.

I don't understand this abrupt change in miles-to-empty. The way I drive the truck hasn't changed, and the weather isn't much different either with temps ranging from the 70s to the 90s. The ONLY difference that lines up with this is that the humidity has been very high for the past two days but I don't see why that would cause a 20% reduction in range. Is this a seasonal change that Ford has pushed based upon where I live? Software bug?

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[Maquis]

Ignore the GOM.

 

[RickLightning]

The GOM was updated in a recent update, and caused this drop. You can reset the EV driving data if you want, or you can charge, and drive, and it will adjust. But nothing has changed regarding your actual range.

 

[Zprime29]

The range to empty is not reliable. Watch what % of battery you use on your commute. Has it drastically changed?

 

[uniblab]

No the %battery hasn't changed significantly. I understand that the distance to empty value is unreliable, I was just wondering if anyone else saw theirs drop 20% overnight.

 

[RickLightning]

Nearly everyone.

 

[Ffxdude]

No the %battery hasn't changed significantly. I understand that the distance to empty value is unreliable, I was just wondering if anyone else saw theirs drop 20% overnight.

It’s now showing about 215 for me when charged to 80% vs 260. Dramatically increased my range anxiety on the 450 mi trip i took today as a result of the changes. The mi/kw and actual range observed didn’t seem to change though.

 

[Maquis]

It’s now showing about 215 for me when charged to 80% vs 260. Dramatically increased my range anxiety on the 450 mi trip i took today as a result of the changes. The mi/kw and actual range observed didn’t seem to change though.

Ignore. The. GOM.

If the MPK didn’t change, neither did your range.

 

[Ffxdude]

Ignore. The. GOM.

If the MPK didn’t change, neither did your range.

Very true and I did, but it’s do when it’s wanting to add extra stops to an already long trip.

 

[Maquis]

Very true and I did, but it’s do when it’s wanting to add extra stops to an already long trip.

Understandable. My first EV was acquired in February, 2021, and initially I over-relied on the GOM. Now, I know the distance to my destination (be it final, or a charger) and keep an eye on progress vs % charge.

On a long trip, I enter the next charge stop as the destination rather than having the vehicle figure out charge stops.
I find that this MO gives me the best travel experience.

The last trip I took with my Mach-E was to the airport - 121 miles each way. Started at 100%, arrived at the airport at 57% remaining with the GOM showing 147 miles. That’s a bit better than normal, I usually arrive between 49 and 55%. Flew out, returned, just for kicks, I plugged “home” into the nav. The GOM immediately dropped to 120 and the nav dropped in a charging stop. Since I still had 21 kWh of gratis charge left at EA, and the only EA anywhere near me is close to the airport, I pulled in and charged just enough to used up the 21 kWh. It added 21% to my SoC which had dropped a couple % getting to the charger. I’m now sitting at 74% SoC. I arrived home at 27%, so theoretically, I would have arrived home at 6% without charging. If I didn’t have free charging that I wanted to use, I wouldn’t have bothered to charge.

This was a couple weeks ago and I’m going from memory, so the numbers could be off a bit, but the outcome is correct.

 

[RickLightning]

It’s now showing about 215 for me when charged to 80% vs 260. Dramatically increased my range anxiety on the 450 mi trip i took today as a result of the changes. The mi/kw and actual range observed didn’t seem to change though.

Which tells you that it was meaningless.

 

[Texas Dan]

I recommend using A Better Route Planner (ABRP) instead of the GOM. You can calibrate ABRP and it does a very good job of accounting for environmental conditions. ABRP has saved my bacon many times on long trips.

 

[Ffxdude]

Understandable. My first EV was acquired in February, 2021, and initially I over-relied on the GOM. Now, I know the distance to my destination (be it final, or a charger) and keep an eye on progress vs % charge.

On a long trip, I enter the next charge stop as the destination rather than having the vehicle figure out charge stops.
I find that this MO gives me the best travel experience.

The last trip I took with my Mach-E was to the airport - 121 miles each way. Started at 100%, arrived at the airport at 57% remaining with the GOM showing 147 miles. That’s a bit better than normal, I usually arrive between 49 and 55%. Flew out, returned, just for kicks, I plugged “home” into the nav. The GOM immediately dropped to 120 and the nav dropped in a charging stop. Since I still had 21 kWh of gratis charge left at EA, and the only EA anywhere near me is close to the airport, I pulled in and charged just enough to used up the 21 kWh. It added 21% to my SoC which had dropped a couple % getting to the charger. I’m now sitting at 74% SoC. I arrived home at 27%, so theoretically, I would have arrived home at 6% without charging. If I didn’t have free charging that I wanted to use, I wouldn’t have bothered to charge.

I do the same, was at the EA in DE and plugged in the EA in CT that I wanted to go to next and it added another charge stop to get to the charge stop. I've made that trip before and have gone the 180 miles without stop so I knew something wasn't right but was going to press on anyway without the intermediate stop. Long story short we ended up having to make the middle stop in NJ because we had to turn around and come home. So we juiced up to 90% and it was telling me that I'd have to stop and charge in MD for about 10 min. Had a sick kid onboard so decided to gamble and made it home after 230 miles with a 17% SOC and no charge stop.

Which tells you that it was meaningless.

I get it it's a guess and 90% of the time I agree with your statement - you have to look at all the info GOM, mi/kw use, and battery%. However there are times were it would be nice to have a relatively accurate measurement of how far you can expect to go. Especially when finding a fully functional DCFC may not be as easy as pulling off at the next exit.

 

[RickLightning]

I get it it's a guess and 90% of the time I agree with your statement - you have to look at all the info GOM, mi/kw use, and battery%. However there are times were it would be nice to have a relatively accurate measurement of how far you can expect to go. Especially when finding a fully functional DCFC may not be as easy as pulling off at the next exit.

I was merely pointing out what I said in post #3, that due to the update, the reading you saw was meaningless, and should be ignored, because it would adjust as you drove.

 

[uniblab]

I charged to 100% overnight last night and this morning the truck is showing 247 miles to empty, so back to "normal".

*shrug*

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