Lightning range fail

[Amps]

I’m going with the wonky BMS theory.

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[Ford Senior Master]

I had a mach-e towed in last week. Same scenario. Display had 9% charge but would not allow taking it out of park or turning on. Also displayed battery needs charge. The problem was the LVB.

 

[rdr854]

I had a mach-e towed in last week. Same scenario. Display had 9% charge but would not allow taking it out of park or turning on. Also displayed battery needs charge. The problem was the LVB.

What does LVB stand for?

 

[SteffanG]

What does LVB stand for?

Low Voltage Battery (12V battery)
HVB = High Voltage Battery (the 400V 98/131kWh pack)

 

[Firestop]

What does LVB stand for?

Curious, have they given you a suspected cause of the LVB failure? (e.g. poor voltage regulation, bad battery, ????)

 

[Griddlez]

Didn't Kyle from out of spec talk a bit about the cells if not balanced causing a condition like this? He was super worried about something like this as he was doing a ranged testing, draining the battery almost all the way down.

The solution I thought was letting the truck charge up to 100% a few times and letting the computer leveling all the cells out.

 

[vbaker4444]

Mine came with the paper version as well, but solid joke.

 

[ExCivilian]

Curious, have they given you a suspected cause of the LVB failure? (e.g. poor voltage regulation, bad battery, ????)

My money is on how they're being treated pre-delivery.

These batteries probably sat in a shipping container at some port for months, then sat on a loading dock for months, then sat in a factory for months, and then sat in a field for months...I don't know but check the build dates. Our supply chains are so mangled that the only thing I can say with relative certainty is that these batteries aren't getting built in China, shipped over, and then parked in someone's garage within a month or two.

 

[bobinmi]

People have range anxiety. I, for one, will never, at least on purpose, take it down to 5 percent. I have owned a 2012 ford focus ELECTRIC and I would never bring it down that low. Just me....and now I remember why.

 

[Cruiser]

I pay my insurance for roadside assistance for all my EV's this exact reason. Has more than paid for itself.

TBH the one time I contemplated towing my Audi when the rear lights stopped working, they were a complete zero in terms of assistance. Called my insurance and they took care of it. Its something insurance does all the time vs ford where they are just not set up for it...

I have roadside through my car insurance also. However, since it was still withing the 30 days grace period I had not switched the insurance over on it. Shelter insurance gives you the best coverage you have on any other vehicle for 30 days after you buy a new vehicle. A previous agent told me to use almost the entire 30 days before getting coverage as it is one month free. But on Sunday night no one was available from Shelter to confirm this with the insurance roadside company. Which happened to be the exact same crappy company as Ford.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

My money is on how they're being treated pre-delivery.

These batteries probably sat in a shipping container at some port for months, then sat on a loading dock for months, then sat in a factory for months, and then sat in a field for months...I don't know but check the build dates. Our supply chains are so mangled that the only thing I can say with relative certainty is that these batteries aren't getting built in China, shipped over, and then parked in someone's garage within a month or two.

This is my thought as well. And it’s a tiny battery. 12V , 35Ah AGM.

I was looking at the battery service materials and it states drawing down to 40% on a regular basis - where the HVb will then kick in to recharge - will wear out the battery. That’s only about 253wh of power draw.

While it sits at the storage lot, with the connectivity on with us checking FordPass trying to hit activate.

I think I read somewhere that the vehicle uses 100-150wh/day even in standby, if the vehicle isn’t driven we’re looking at hitting that point every 3 days on the 12vDC.

 

[Cruiser]

Didn't Kyle from out of spec talk a bit about the cells if not balanced causing a condition like this? He was super worried about something like this as he was doing a ranged testing, draining the battery almost all the way down.

The solution I thought was letting the truck charge up to 100% a few times and letting the computer leveling all the cells out.

It was at 100% when I picked it up. First time I charged it back to 100%. Then I ran it down to 50%. Charged it back to 100% before my trip.

 

[Cruiser]

Well it sat at the dealership overnight and even with me calling to tell them to charge the truck up it is still sitting there with a dead battery. That has to be good for it.

 

[EVTruckGuy]

The guy is not saying that at all. He is basically expressing that he disagrees with the people who suggested the cause was anything other than the high voltage battery. He posted a video as evidence the problem wasn't the LVB, but the video doesn't provide any evidence the problem was the high voltage battery as he believes.

His truck wouldn't start. The high voltage battery still had some charge left. The cause could have been due to something else. Time will tell. Look back at a the post from a Mach E owner who had the exact same scenario last week.

It was towed, and a dealer confirmed the problem was the low voltage battery.

The reason his truck failed and wouldn't let him use the last 10 miles of range is almost certainly not because the guess-o-meter was incorrect and overestimated range as he stated.

It likely failed due to a BMS problem or something else leading to a drained 12v battery.

 

[greenne]

... Which still doesn't indicate the problem was due to the high voltage battery. His truck wouldn't start. The high voltage battery still had some charge left. The cause could have been due to setting else. Time will tell. Look back at a the post from a Mach E owner who had the exact same scenario last week.

It was towed, and a dealer confirmed the problem was the low voltage battery.

My bet is on a problem with the 12v battery. Its crazy, but it seems like the 12v battery "controls" things in Ford EVs. If the 12v goes bad you could have 100% in the High Voltage battery and it wouldn't start.

I had 2 Ford hybrids that were the same way..if the 12v battery goes dead its game over.

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