First year owner has battery question for winter

[Maquis]

<nerd mode>
Actually, wetter air is less dense than drier air (see below), but having blobs of liquid water falling through said air is another matter!

I suspect that water on the road substantially increases rolling resistance as the tires have to push that water out of the way in order to move, adding to the range loss.

Source: The Engineering ToolBox (2004). Moist Air - Density vs. Water Content and Temperature.
Available at: https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/density-air-d_680.html
</nerd mode>

I too was surprised by the way rain reduced the range of our Mach-E on one of our first road trips.

“Wetter air” is ambiguous. You are 100% correct regarding density vs relative humidity, but if by “wetter air” he means precipitation, the combination of liquid and gas will likely (depending on liquid/gas ratio) be effectively denser and negatively impact range.

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[mb0220]

“Wetter air” is ambiguous. You are 100% correct regarding density vs relative humidity, but if by “wetter air” he means precipitation, the combination of liquid and gas will likely (depending on liquid/gas ratio) be effectively denser and negatively impact range.

All I really meant was that when it's raining you get reduced efficiency (all other things being equal). But I can appreciate the scientific exhibition!

 

[Mach Turtle]

I think we've arrived at a consensus about rain and range. A question: How about snow and range? The effect of cold air is obvious, but what about the solid water? I haven't driven a Lightning in snow, but our Mach-E didn't seem to see much difference between rain and snow...except that slushy stuff got all over the front bumper and blocked the CCM radar, causing adaptive cruise control to fail until we descended to warmer air and the slush melted.

 

[SunMar10]

…
Preconditioning of the battery will only work if you have a departure time set and you're plugged into a charger.
…

Do I understand that starting (Fordpass app “fan” icon button) while plugged-in to the charger will only prepare cabin temperature but will not precondition the battery?

 

[TaxmanHog]

Do I understand that starting (Fordpass app “fan” icon button) while plugged-in to the charger will only prepare cabin temperature but will not precondition the battery?

Correct.

To condition your HV battery, you must schedule a departure time, keep truck plugged in and energy be available from the EVSE for the 1-2 hours prior to intended departure time.

I mention this for EVSE which have independent time / energy restrictions for TOU compliance, this could complicate the conditioning process depending on time frame conflicts.

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