HV battery range seems very low after AC charging

[Literider150]

Sept.3 we leased a 2024 lightning Flash. So far we've only charged it twice. The last time I charged it at home on my Chargepoint home charger from about 30% to 75%. The mileage/range showing now on the truck is 195miles. That seems awfully low to me for 75% battery on a Flash with an extended range HV battery that is supposed to get @320miles!

I saw a video yesterday where an owner was noticing low range after charging. He said that another person had driven the truck and had a setting turned on that had to do with towing a trailer. As soon as he changed it - that there was no trailer attached - the mileage changed to something more reasonable. Is there something like this that I'm missing? If 195 miles range is observed with 75% of battery, another 25% wouldn't add up to anywhere near 320 miles. Believe it or not, I haven't driven the truck in a week after we did this home charge so maybe it will correct if I take it out.

Sponsored

 

[potato]

It should correct when you take it out. The Guess-O-Meter (it's called that for a reason) estimates range based on previous driving conditions. It can't accurately predict the future.

As you noted, you can go into the towing menu and make sure it doesn't think you have a trailer attached. You can also go into the settings on the instrument cluster menus (not the main screen) and somewhere in there should be an option to clear the driving history. That should get it back to the official factory guess rather than the guess based on previous driving.

 

[Henry Ford]

This time of year I get about 2.0 kWh/m with a combination of highway and city driving. 75% of your 131 kWh battery is 98.25 kWh. If you multiply that by 2.0 it equals 196.5. In other words, it seems pretty accurate if you drive like me.

In order to get 320 miles of range from a 131 kWh battery you would need to get 2.44 kWh/m. I have not been able to do this in my 2022 Platinum but it's EPA range is only 300 miles and I don't really care about efficiency.

If this is your first EV you are going to have to think about range a little differently than you have in the past. Range=kWh x kWh/m. The truck doesn't display kWh but each percept state of charge equals 1.31.

Okay...that sounds more complicated than it is. If I'm taking a trip that might test the range due to speed, temperature, or wind I figure out what kWh/m I need before I leave and adjust my driving style accordingly. Serious road trippers probably have better techniques.

The bottom line is the range displayed on the screen is not necessarily accurate because it can't account for all variables so have a plan before you set off on your journey.

 

[JRT]

@Henry Ford just gave you exactly what you need to understand. The EPA range is rarely possible by most and everyone that starts these threads seems to be learning the hard way that a brick driven at 70+ mph is going to get 2 m/kwh. Wait till you have a storm with a major head wind.

If you recharge at home then all this is just academic. Drive till you are around 30-40% and then recharge to 80%. Since it is a lease it's not like you have to keep it anyway.

 

[Henry Ford]

Since it is a lease it's not like you have to keep it anyway.

I'd be very tempted to charge a lease to 100% all the time. Just sayin'

 

[JRT]

Exactly, it has taken me a bit to adjust my habits. I started my EV journey with a 21 Mach-e SR. Because my father was sick in Atlanta I was on a short moment notice to have to leave so I kept at 100% everyday. With the ER Lightning, and access to a local Tesla SC, I don't worry any more about driving around at 50 to 70 % charge. If I had a need to leave I'd jump to the SC to 90% and be good to go. It takes time to switch mentality and everyone has their own use case to consider.

 

[Tony Burgh]

I'd be very tempted to charge a lease to 100% all the time. Just sayin'

Beat it like a rented mule.

 

[RocketGhost]

The range estimate is based on the most recent efficiency. Drive like grandma and it will show more range. Drive the shit out of it and it will show less. The range estimate has nothing to do with how the battery was charged.

If you put the center dash view on "this trip" and keep an eye on the efficiency you'll get a sense of how it works. When you notice high mi/kwh over a period of time and/or distance the range estimate will be higher than if you have low efficiency.

 

[Joe Dablock]

The miles versus the percentage is always a calculated value, based on latest miles/kw, ambient temperature and probably other things. So, if you were last towing (meaning miles/kw were low) then the calculated miles range will most likely be low. So, once you know your vehicle, just concentrate on percentage and know the miles range will adjust accordingly as you drive.

 

[Wendy]

I just did a test of the Guess-o-Meter processing I always charge at home, but we were doing a trip to Mt Baker (NW Washington state), staying at a hotel nearby. Charged it up to 100% (of course I had to manually control this telling it when to start so that it would get to 99.999 just before we took off). ABRP told me that I would be fine leaving with 100% and getting back with 10% no charge needed.

Note: I usually get 2.4, not too much high speed highway, and I'm guessing that the temperature here is good for the batteries (does anyone know the 'ideal' temperature for the batteries?)

I was going to top off at the hotel, but turns out they only had Tesla (even though website said 'electric car charging stations'), and my adapter order is 19,xxx so I'm still waiting for that. But using my gut I thought we would be fine. Once we got to the mountain parking area (5,000'+) with the highway driving and then mountain climbing we were down to 46% and Guess-o-Meter said 84 miles left. Knowing we would be going back down hill, and what we 'should' get I wasn't too concerned. The truck yelled at me "critical charging - find somewhere to go" (since it knew we were quite a way from a charging station).

Going back downhill we saw the battery charge up and the range go up, but rather slowly. I didn't want to be caught with my pants down so I stopped at an Electrify America and did my first Public Charge. Added 18.423kWh in 7 minutes, and got back home with more than that left in the tank.

Now I feel better about my own guess-o-meter in my head Use 54% of the battery going up hill and 36% going the other way.

 

[Al_V]

I was going to top off at the hotel, but turns out they only had Tesla (even though website said 'electric car charging stations'), and my adapter order is 19,xxx so I'm still waiting for that.

Well, your ford issued tesla supercharger adapter wouldn't work at a hotel destination charger anyway, it ONLY works on fast DC charging (Tesla superchargers).
You need one like this to use a level 2 tesla destination charger:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CC8J9TQ4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Edit; that one is no longer available, but here is one:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D458F2S...8KADP0T7&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_ov_lig_dp_it

 

[Maquis]

Having a destination set in the nav can also make the GOM stupid.

 

[Monkey]

I'd be very tempted to charge a lease to 100% all the time. Just sayin'

Not worth the extra charge time and rapid falloff of charging efficiency past 90%. Not to mention the bleed off of the HV battery. 100% is really only for starting out a long road trip where you may need the extra to meet your charging goals. The SR battery actually has a bit more overhead for charging to 100% and takes it a bit better than the ER battery. I get it when it’s a lease/rental, not to mention even if you own it the battery can take it and has that 8year/100K mile warranty anyway…. It’s just not worth the inefficiencies, IMO.

 

[invertedspear]

Good time to point people to the tool in my profile to help you figure out range at given charge level and driving efficiency.

Also, OP. Set your charge limit to like 80-90% at home and plug it in any time it's parked. Even if it's not charging, being plugged in allows the onboard systems to use plug power to do things like keeping the battery temp regulated and pre-conditioning.

 

[Henry Ford]

Not worth the extra charge time and rapid falloff of charging efficiency past 90%. Not to mention the bleed off of the HV battery.

What difference does extra charge time make if it's sitting in your driveway?

Are you saying there is more heat loss above 90% when charging on a level 2 charger? Please explain further.

I'm not sure what you mean by "bleed off of the HV battery."

Sponsored