Lightning range fail

[gorwell]

Sounds like a car issue, but... You really should be planning your trips, especially if you are new to EVs and are unfamiliar with what stations are on your route.

Zero situation that you should be on a road trip and think you should charge at a destination charger (@harely) unless that is at your final stop.

I live in California and still meticulously plan my trips ahead.

Here is ABRP for your route I think you drove:

https://abetterrouteplanner.com/?plan_uuid=c6882cd1-1845-470d-8b00-b1c26d680281

Sounds like you went North through Wyoming and ABRP really thinks thats a stretch given the lack of chargers.

Always prefer the route that has Electrify America, unless there are other 150kW chargers on the route.

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[sotek2345]

Something is wrong if you can't start it with a 5% charge in the traction battery.



The guess-o-meter (GOM) range calculator is going to be especially variable at low states of charge. I don't think the Ford trip planner GOM takes windspeed or direction into account. If you were driving into a headwind, you could easily fall short of estimated range. These are things you don't really need to account for in a gas vehicle because you can find a gas station pretty much anywhere when you get low.

This isn't a problem that's specific to Ford, although it sounds like their phone support could have been more helpful.

I-80 is a charging desert on the stretch you were traveling. It looks like there are a bunch of stations that are in various states of construction, so that should improve very soon.

Opposite on the GOM accuracy actually. Much more variable at high states of charges and gets more accurate at low states of charge.

If you have 90% battery remaining, the difference between 2.2mi/kwhr and 1.7mi/kwhr is ~60 miles: 0.9*131*2.2=~260mi / 0.9*131*1.7=~200mi

At 10% battery, the difference is down to ~7 miles: 0.1*131*2.2=~29mi / 0.1*131*1.7=~22mi

 

[Cruiser]

 

[Cruiser]

Sounds like a car issue, but... You really should be planning your trips, especially if you are new to EVs and are unfamiliar with what stations are on your route.

Zero situation that you should be on a road trip and think you should charge at a destination charger (@harely) unless that is at your final stop.

I live in California and still meticulously plan my trips ahead.

Here is ABRP for your route I think you drove:

https://abetterrouteplanner.com/?plan_uuid=c6882cd1-1845-470d-8b00-b1c26d680281

Sounds like you went North through Wyoming and ABRP really thinks thats a stretch given the lack of chargers.

Always prefer the route that has Electrify America, unless there are other 150kW chargers on the route.

Yup. Took the north route. The one charge EF has is at a Harley dealer. It was slow. It told me I would make it to the one in Wellington. Something happened to go from 35 miles of range down to it won’t start in 6 miles

 

[FlasherZ]

Yeah, that's a problem.

A friend of mine had this happen in his Tesla Model S early on, it stopped the car with 15 miles left on the meter.

I would call Ford's customer service number and tell them that the roadside team wasn't familiar enough with Lightning to help you (that they wanted to tow you to a Ford dealer without a charging capability). Also tweet at Farley and Levine.

 

[VTbuckeye]

That certainly looks like there is something wrong with the truck. Maybe a bad cell in the battery that is below pack voltage forcing a shutdown? I think that the Chevy bolt has issues initially with sudden range loss at the bottom of the pack voltage when a single cell dipped below the minimum leaving cars stranded.

 

[Gimme_my_MME]

You probably want to ensure you have enough 12v charge left when the tow truck arrives to be able to put it in emergency tow mode. I would stop trying to start it.
When the tow truck arrives you can get into tow mode via the sync screen even if you can't move the shifter (since it's locked since it won't power on)

 

[vandy1981]

Opposite on the GOM accuracy actually. Much more variable at high states of charges and gets more accurate at low states of charge.

If you have 90% battery remaining, the difference between 2.2mi/kwhr and 1.7mi/kwhr is ~60 miles: 0.9*131*2.2=~260mi / 0.9*131*1.7=~200mi

At 10% battery, the difference is down to ~7 miles: 0.1*131*2.2=~29mi / 0.1*131*1.7=~22mi

My point is that things can get squirrely at low SOC because of unpredictable drops in pack voltage.

Sounds like this happened to OP, whether it's because of an unbalanced pack or a bad cell.

Edit: plus, margins of error in charging strategy are tighter at very low states of charge because you have fewer opportunities for course correction.

 

[vandy1981]

Thanks for posting this video--it helps clear up some questions I've had. It sounds like the battery pack is out of balance or you have a bad cell. Tagging @Ford Motor Company in case they want to look into this.

Are you able to activate emergency tow mode through the screen?

Switching Emergency Tow On 1. Properly secure your vehicle to the tow vehicle. 2. Switching your vehicle on to accessory mode. See Starting and Powering Off (page 194). 3. Apply the parking brake. 4. Access the vehicle drawer on the touchscreen. 5. Press Settings. 6. Press Vehicle. 7. Press and hold Emergency Tow until a confirmation message appears on the touchscreen. 8. Press and hold the brake pedal. 9. Shift into neutral (N).​

Please keep us updated with the outcome.

 

[RickLightning]

Today, right now, you download your manual in PDF form to every device you own, including your PC. Ideally, you actually read the manual (most don't) before you even take delivery.

 

[adoublee]

I'd love to rag on the Ford system of charger routing that I don't think I will ever use, but in this case it appears to be a vehicle issue (sure hope it is which doesn't help the OP). Seems like internal systems might not be using the same data for SOC. I wonder if the vehicle has a valid control to prevent use of neutral when the traction battery is ACTUALLY depleted - maybe because the vehicle can't control the regen that could be induced into the pack or something. Then the issue just becomes how much charge is actually in the traction pack and why does the display say 5%.

Can I ask if you ran at 80mph+ on I80, which is easily done?

 

[RickLightning]

WARNING!

You need to stop playing around with stuff. If the 12V battery dies, you are hosed.

You should immediately put it into TOW MODE while the 12V battery is live. I saw that you seemed to have problems doing that, not sure why. I'm going to go grab the Mach-E directions first, then look for the Lightning ones.

 

[Theo1000]

---

I still think there is a possibility it is your 12v. At low 12v the BMS will transfer power to the 12v to keep the electronics running but will not allow you to move. But more likely there really is something broken.

Listen to Rick. Don't kill your 12v. Don't brick your truck. They will have to drag it onto the flat bed tire squealing....

 

[RickLightning]

Posted F-150L emergency tow instructions further down. These are Mach-E, which I had handy.

Max speed is 35. Max distance is 50 miles. This would be for your son to tow you.

Switching Emergency Tow On
1. Properly secure your vehicle to the tow
vehicle.
2. Switch your vehicle on to accessory
mode. See Starting and Powering
Off (page 155).
3. Apply the parking brake.
4. Access the vehicle drawer on the
touchscreen.
5. Press SETTINGS.
6. Press Vehicle.
7. Press and hold Emergency Tow until a
confirmation message appears on the
touchscreen.
8. Press and hold the brake pedal.
9. Shift into neutral (N).
Note: A confirmation message appears in
the instrument cluster display.
10. Release the parking brake.
11. Switch your vehicle off.
Switching Emergency Tow Off
1. Switch your vehicle on.
2. Press and hold the brake pedal.
3. Shift into park (P). A message displays
in the instrument cluster display and
park (P) displays in the instrument
cluster display and on the shifter.

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