Help - did my battery shrink? Weird range estimation changes

[richl025]

Took my first longish road trip (little over 300 miles) with my F150L yesterday / today - I have the ER battery pack...

BLUF: For some reason the computer thinks I will only get 210-230 miles out of the battery pack! This morning I started out with a range of 340 and before I drove 100 ft the total range reset itself to 232 miles! Is this just a computer hiccup somewhere (or a setting I can reset) - or do I have a bad battery pack???

Details: This may be an important detail: the days before my trip I was in the mountains nearby for a few days, making multiple elevation changes on dirt roads, not driving much more than 30 mph (except for the 30 highway miles back home) - my battery was pretty low before I started my road trip so I charged up at a DCFC before leaving town on my roadtrip yesterday morning. Just thinking about the 300 mile range, I thought I would have to recharge once but didnt pay much attention to the details.

I am not towing a trailer, have zero payload besides a small piece of luggage, the weather was clear to slightly rainy in the 50s-60s, and no significant winds. Average speeds were 65-70 mph for the trip.

Turns out I had to recharge twice because the computer kept barking at me that I was going to run out of juice!

On the way back home I took notes:

When I started Leg 1 of the trip, I started at 100% charge with a range estimate of 340 miles. Before I drove more than 100ft, the range estimate reset itself to 232 miles, after displaying the message "Range revised due to destination route". The computer said I would arrive at my charging station stop 166 miles away with 27% charge remaining (meaning I'm using 73% of the battery for a 166 mile trip - meaning a 227 mile full battery range)

I actually arrived at the charging station at 48% ( 166 divided by .52 yields a total battery range of 319 miles, this leg was easy highway driving, very energy efficient)

I charged up to 77% before leaving for home 133 miles away. The computer estimated that would get me 167 miles (again, acting like a 100% SOC would only get my 216 miles). I got home with a charge of 19%, which the computer told me was good for 39 miles ( 39 / 0.19 = 205 miles !) So THIS time the range estimate seemed accurate!!!

Does anyone have any idea what the HECK is going on here? Why would the range estimate start out at 340 miles and them IMMEDIATELY drop to 232 miles? (FWIW, the Ford Pass app on my iPhone pretty much mirrored this info).

This is kind of a deal breaker - I think I can live with a 300 mile range, but not a 220 mile range! I've heard that faster speeds will burn more juice, but THIS much more???

Any ideas here?

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[mme_and_lightning]

Sorry if this is not funny to you, but I thought maybe a laugh would be nice.

I find the Car Play Apple map works well to provide a pretty realistic range. This may not be helpful, but it is my best suggestion.

One other thing, how long have you had your Lightning. The computer estimates range based on the profile of the driver and their driving tendencies. Not being funny, have you been checking out performance from stop lights or something?

 

[eRockBoon]

You will never get 300 miles driving highway speeds. 250 is more realistic. Add in weather, wind, elevation, payload, and a lead foot and you can easily drop below 200.

 

[Pioneer74]

Forget about displayed range. Stop looking at the Guess-o-meter.

What was your efficiency? What speeds were you expected to drive in your route?

If you're driving highway speeds, best you can expect is around 260 miles of range with 2 mi/kWh.

 

[luebri]

If you're driving highway speeds, best you can expect is around 260 miles of range with 2 mi/kWh.

And by best… he means best! Ideal weather and elevation. Oregon doesn’t have Wisconsin cold but you are going to have weather that makes that number lower for sure. I had 280 mile round trip today and chose the wives ICE because of lack of good charging options and all interstate driving. That’s Why I’m ecstatic to have the compliment of one ICE and one BEV

 

[Zprime29]

As others have said, don't trust the range estimate, do the math yourself to determine your range.

Good weather, flat elevation, 70mph figure 2.1mpk to be conservative
75mph, best I've done is 1.9mpk
take off another 10% for additional weather elements
That's what you can use to ball park your range. I know I can do ~250 with a small buffer at 70mph

Keep an eye on the efficiency to see what you are getting and adjust speed based on how much buffer you need. If I know I have 100miles to go and 50% charge, then I ball park 65kWh * 2mpk = 130 miles. I know I should be able to make it and I ignore the truck's warnings. If down the road I see I'm only getting 1.8mpk, I slow it down. Your SoC and your efficiency numbers will give you a better idea than the truck's estimate for range.

The truck tries, but it just isn't very good at it. Nothing wrong with the battery, it's the software.

 

[Jseis]

I had an interesting transition from Great Falls to Spokane. Drove around GF then out to Fort Betton, easy 62-64 speeds. City and Highway averaged 2.4. Next day at 100%, I highball it to Spokane via MT200, Rogers Pass, Missoula, I-90 and lead foot it most the way 75-80. Charge in Spokane and on startup range resets to sub 200 ‘cause 75-80 into a 15+ mph headwind will do that as I averaged 1.5 Mi/KWh. Spokane west I took it easier & up to 2.3. But gone was that easy 2.5-2.6 so I plugged in Oly then drove 120 miles in pouring rain and just idled along at 55 mph through the coast range till 3:30 am. Next morning truck charged up to its typical 265 at 85% like I’d not been anywhere misbehavin’. The truck really reset rather quickly both ways. Was surprised how quickly it adjusted.

 

[RickLightning]

It looks at history. Reset EV driving history if the GOM bothers you.

 

[N402RH]

Does the range meter look at trip elevation changes or just recent driving history? I charged to 80% last night just south of Portland and it had an estimated range range of 250 miles. As soon as I entered Bend-Sunriver as our destination it changed to 192 mile range for our 160 mile trip trough the mountains. The computer predicted we would arrive with 32 miles left and we actually arrived with 40. The range computer seemed to be very accurate predicting the range on this trip.

 

[richl025]

OK, thanks to all for the replies. This is part of the learning process, I guess -

Is there a way to get the efficiency displayed on the "quiet screen"? I find it a little odd that I cant get the battery % and the efficiency displayed simultaneously...

 

[Pioneer74]

Not on the calm screen, but you can put it on your center display while using the calm screen.

 

[Grease Lightning]

It looks at history. Reset EV driving history if the GOM bothers you.

It helps but not always. Since I turned on departures two weeks ago now that we are dipping into the low 50’s at night and my kiddos are whimps in the morning, my GOM is constantly calculating the kW used for conditioning even when plugged in as lost range. Even after the resets, and even a battery pull to try to see if my modem needed a break to finally get an update, the GOM is still 20 ish miles off in the mornings. . Seems the GOM may look at total kW used dividend by miles to calculate the range rather then SOC divided by average mpk logged

 

[Maquis]

OK, thanks to all for the replies. This is part of the learning process, I guess -

Is there a way to get the efficiency displayed on the "quiet screen"? I find it a little odd that I cant get the battery % and the efficiency displayed simultaneously...

To add to what Pioneer said, have the “This trip” app running and minimized. The efficiency will show on the tile.

 

[Ventorum94]

Took my first longish road trip (little over 300 miles) with my F150L yesterday / today - I have the ER battery pack...

BLUF: For some reason the computer thinks I will only get 210-230 miles out of the battery pack! This morning I started out with a range of 340 and before I drove 100 ft the total range reset itself to 232 miles! Is this just a computer hiccup somewhere (or a setting I can reset) - or do I have a bad battery pack???

Details: This may be an important detail: the days before my trip I was in the mountains nearby for a few days, making multiple elevation changes on dirt roads, not driving much more than 30 mph (except for the 30 highway miles back home) - my battery was pretty low before I started my road trip so I charged up at a DCFC before leaving town on my roadtrip yesterday morning. Just thinking about the 300 mile range, I thought I would have to recharge once but didnt pay much attention to the details.

I am not towing a trailer, have zero payload besides a small piece of luggage, the weather was clear to slightly rainy in the 50s-60s, and no significant winds. Average speeds were 65-70 mph for the trip.

Turns out I had to recharge twice because the computer kept barking at me that I was going to run out of juice!

On the way back home I took notes:

When I started Leg 1 of the trip, I started at 100% charge with a range estimate of 340 miles. Before I drove more than 100ft, the range estimate reset itself to 232 miles, after displaying the message "Range revised due to destination route". The computer said I would arrive at my charging station stop 166 miles away with 27% charge remaining (meaning I'm using 73% of the battery for a 166 mile trip - meaning a 227 mile full battery range)

I actually arrived at the charging station at 48% ( 166 divided by .52 yields a total battery range of 319 miles, this leg was easy highway driving, very energy efficient)

I charged up to 77% before leaving for home 133 miles away. The computer estimated that would get me 167 miles (again, acting like a 100% SOC would only get my 216 miles). I got home with a charge of 19%, which the computer told me was good for 39 miles ( 39 / 0.19 = 205 miles !) So THIS time the range estimate seemed accurate!!!

Does anyone have any idea what the HECK is going on here? Why would the range estimate start out at 340 miles and them IMMEDIATELY drop to 232 miles? (FWIW, the Ford Pass app on my iPhone pretty much mirrored this info).

This is kind of a deal breaker - I think I can live with a 300 mile range, but not a 220 mile range! I've heard that faster speeds will burn more juice, but THIS much more???

Any ideas here?

Here’s a suggestion: monitor SOC, not “GOM” range.
(For ER pack) Read your current SOC and multiply by 3, and there’s your remaining range; subtract 10% if you’re driving over 60mph, or add 10% if you’re driving under 60mph. Easy mental math, update range in your head as often as you like, more reliable than the truck’s GOM.
(For SR pack) Read your current SOC, double the number, and there’s your remaining range; then subtract 10% if you’re driving over 60mph, or add 10% if you’re driving under 60mph. Easy mental math.
Repeat the little formula often while you’re driving, and you’ll never wonder where your range went.
And, if you find your remaining distance-to-charge closing in on your remaining range, drive 5mph under the speed limit and keep repeating the formula above, until you have sufficient remaining range.

 

[Zprime29]

That checks out. I drive 70 city/30 freeway on my daily commute, round trip of about 55 miles. Takes me on average about 15-16% SOC which equates to about 3.4x SOC. Good tip!

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