Looks like your F150 Lightning battery might last a long time

[Zprime29]

Why is charging once a week bad? Shouldn’t you charge when needed? I try to keep my Lightning between 50 and 80% SOC. And, I only charge to 100% for the initial leg if going on a trip.

The science says lots of small charges are better than one big charge. Charging once a week, say 30% to 80% is worse for the battery than charging 10% a day for 5 days. By how much remains to be seen in the real world, but lab testing is pretty conclusive.

I charge every night to whatever I think I'm going to need for the next day. Usually 70% for standard commute. Might do 80% if I'm planning to go up to the mountain or like you, 100% for first leg of a road trip.

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[Firn]

Word is actual ER battery capacity is 148-150 kWh.
So there’s a 13% buffer built in to the stated 131 kWh capacity.
Ford says you can routinely charge to 90%, so that’s 79-80% of actual capacity. Exactly what other Mfr’s recommed, 80%.

I’ve been driving Hybrid electric, plug-in hybrid electric and BEV for 20 years, never had any battery issues. Despite the naysayers and relatives warning me I’d be buying a new battery ”2-3 years” ,
lol. My experience has been little to no battery degradation, and nothing beyond tires, wiper blades and cabin air filters. (And 10K oil changes in the Prius’)

All were driven over 100K miles, some up to 180K miles.
Even more ironic is they‘ve all been driven more, and more frequently, than any ICE car I’ve had, so range anxiety is a myth too.

Name plate capacity is 141kwh. The voltage of the cells indicates this is true. Currently charging to "100%" gives a cell voltage of 4.09v, which if you track to a nominal nmc maximum voltage of 4.2v the numbers all align.

Recomended voltage for long life is around 3.92v per cell, or about 75% SOC displayed.

 

[mrau]

The sticker on the driver's side of the battery pack shows 143.4 kWh for my 2023 ER.

 

[rembrant]

The point is that charging from 80 to 90% 5 times is better than charging 40 to 90% once. The timing (weeks vs days) is irrelevant - it depends on how far you drive.

This is news to me. I thought and have been told by others that the battery is best to be drained before charging fully. If you don’t drain the battery it loses the ability to charge fully. I do not confess to knowing that this is correct. Please enlighten me. I’m very interested in your knowledge of this topic.
thank you.

 

[Grumpy2]

A place to start your battery instruction is here: https://batteryuniversity.com/articles

Search here for past posts by MickyAO for more specific info on your Lightning battery.

Your Lightning has a 90% Nickle battery that was just developed by SK On a few years before the 2022 Lightnings were built. So many changes of battery tech over the years.

I thought and have been told by others that the battery is best to be drained before charging fully.

What was a "fact" 5 years ago probably isn't now. The truck manual has good guidance on how to treat the battery.

 

[Firn]

This is news to me. I thought and have been told by others that the battery is best to be drained before charging fully. If you don’t drain the battery it loses the ability to charge fully. I do not confess to knowing that this is correct. Please enlighten me. I’m very interested in your knowledge of this topic.
thank you.

That is true of other battery chemestry, Nickle Metal Hydride iirc, but it is not true of Lithium. That was called "memory" but isn't a worry with our batteries.

 

[TMND]

I completely believe you as I know little to nothing about the battery chemistry. I gotta say, though every phone I’ve ever owned in the last 10 years is also li ion and I’m sure I experience “Battery memory”. Apple to oranges I know just a thought

 

[Lightning Rod]

Yes I heard best is to ABC, always be charging. 80% home target works for me.

Yep.

I charge to 70 percent on weekdays as my daily commutes are under 20 miles. Friday and Saturday night, I'll charge to 80 or 85 percent, as we do a lot of running around on the weekends.

I want to charge to 75 percent on the weekdays, but the Ford app will only let me charge to 70 or 80, even though the app has a slider adjuster with the numbers moving at single number increments, it will only allow 10 percent increments, until after 80 percent... then it will allow 5 percent increments.

@Ford Motor Company It would be nice to have 5 percent increments in the app.

 

[Firn]

I completely believe you as I know little to nothing about the battery chemistry. I gotta say, though every phone I’ve ever owned in the last 10 years is also li ion and I’m sure I experience “Battery memory”. Apple to oranges I know just a thought

Li Ion batteries are well studied.

Although phones typically use a slightly different chemistry, they don't suffer from the "memory" effect. What happens with them is just straight up battery degredation. First, their chemistry is more about weight and size, not lifespan. After that draining them significantly, and then charging to 100%, and frequently keeping them on the charger at 100%, is about the worst thing to do to a lithium battery. So, you are right in that you experience a lost of battery, what you see is just the battery failing due to use.

 

[TMND]

I’m saying when my battery won’t last me a whole day if I let it go completely dead and charge it all the way to 100%. It’ll last me a day and half. Versus if I just charge it to 100% every evening. Could that be something else or just some kind of bias in my head? sure, likely. still I swear it works

 

[Tony Burgh]

This thread reminds me of the “learned” discussions decades ago of adding STP to the car’s oil and when. Turns out it was all bull.
And the frame rusted out in 7 years anyhow.

 

[Refactoringdr]

I know I post this every time battery longevity comes up. I have a '23 Platinum ER and just crossed 70k miles after 23 months of driving it. I charge to 80% normally, but have no qualms about running it to 100% for long trips. I have occasionally rolled into my garage at single-digit SoC. (2% during a cold snap just last week when I forgot to plug in overnight before a medium trip). I'm also not afraid of fast-charging (especially when I'm towing my teardrop).

As a result of this usage pattern, when I ran the FDRS battery health diagnostic last week after updating modules, it report 98% health. I don't believe the battery capacity is going to be limiting factor on how long I keep this truck.

 

[Maquis]

This is news to me. I thought and have been told by others that the battery is best to be drained before charging fully. If you don’t drain the battery it loses the ability to charge fully. I do not confess to knowing that this is correct. Please enlighten me. I’m very interested in your knowledge of this topic.
thank you.

Many threads on here regarding battery performance, including input from a guy who tested batteries and cells for a living.
The only caveat to what I posted previously is that you need to do a full discharge cycle occasionally (once or twice per year) to ensure SoC display accuracy.

Here’s a good technical thread, for example:
https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...t-of-temperature-on-battery-cells-life.22914/

 

[MountainAlive]

Meanwhile, everyone leasing their truck is like “100% baby!”

 

[Hewiez]

Meanwhile, everyone leasing their truck is like “100% baby!”

Leasing here and I treat the car with respect. I think it's selfish and inconsiderate to do that to a car someone will purchase. Hopefully my thinking is that of the majority.

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