More charge after battery warms up?

[Zprime29]

Truck was outside overnight, low in the 30's. Had 100% charge from L1 outlet at the in-laws. Left around 11am to go to a steak house for lunch, drove 9.6 miles, mostly freeway around 50-60mph due to construction. I didn't pay attention to SoC when I parked. After lunch, it was 60F and I was flabbergasted to see I still had 100% charge. Would this be from the battery warming up in the parking lot? It was a slight elevation gain, there's no way I regened it all, so a warmer battery is all I can think of. My father in law now thinks my truck is magic

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[sotek2345]

Yes, that is pretty normal. The battery has more capacity when it warms. Mine goes up from 90% to 91% or 92% all the time.

 

[Danface]

If you drove to Arizona, you wouldn't have to charge it all!!

 

[TaxmanHog]

There's also some extra potential at 100% SOC, in a recent range test, I had to drive 10+ miles before the SOC dropped from 100% to 99%, the temps were steady though, but in your situation the warming temps also improved range capacity as well.

 

[Dan's Lightning]

I've had my Lightning for 3 months now have done several longer drives and learning to ignore the percentage charge remaining reading, it's only a vague guestimate (on current conditions, ) I've learnt and to concentrate on the remaining mileage number. When i active a destination in the navigation the distance number is displayed under the remaining number on the dash. Eg..
240km remaining
70km to destination
I ignore the % and subtract 240-70=170km remaining when I arrive to destination this is the number I look at it! As I'm driving to destination and my driving speed I re calculate that number to see if I'm using more range remaining, if I'm speeding or do a few sprints along the way that 170km remaining calculation will drop. That's what I look at, the percentage reading I ignore....

 

[Adventureboy]

I've had my Lightning for 3 months now have done several longer drives and learning to ignore the percentage charge remaining reading, it's only a vague guestimate (on current conditions, ) I've learnt and to concentrate on the remaining mileage number. When i active a destination in the navigation the distance number is displayed under the remaining number on the dash. Eg..
240km remaining
70km to destination
I ignore the % and subtract 240-70=170km remaining when I arrive to destination this is the number I look at it! As I'm driving to destination and my driving speed I re calculate that number to see if I'm using more range remaining, if I'm speeding or do a few sprints along the way that 170km remaining calculation will drop. That's what I look at, the percentage reading I ignore....

I've had my Lightning Lariat ER for a year now and calculating range based on the GOM alone may get you into trouble. In fact, I'd say your assumptions are backward. The %SOC is much more accurate than the GOM - it is a true percentage of the 131kWh ER pack and is accurate within a few percent. Your GOM (range) is only a best guess and will be much more accurate if you set the destination in your Ford Navigation app since this tells the GOM what kind of driving you will be doing. Essentially you can see how much power you are using and calculate how much SOC% you need. (ie. if I'm using 32kWh/100km and I have 50% SOC, then I have about 200km before empty and I'll be aiming for a charge station between 125km and 150km). I have found this to be very accurate.

Try this on your next trip. Note the GOM range. Then set a destination (in the Ford Nav App) to a few hundred km away and see the difference. GOM has no idea what kind of driving you will be doing until you set the destination and it will give you a "best guess scenario" number based on local (non-highway) driving. I'm not a fan of the Ford Nav App but always set it on longer trips for this reason. While not perfect, I've found it to be close. The GOM is pretty useless when no destination is set. When you do set the destination I find the GOM to be more accurate but still overestimates the actual range.

 

[Dan's Lightning]

I've had my Lightning Lariat ER for a year now and calculating range based on the GOM alone may get you into trouble. In fact, I'd say your assumptions are backward. The %SOC is much more accurate than the GOM - it is a true percentage of the 131kWh ER pack and is accurate within a few percent. Your GOM (range) is only a best guess and will be much more accurate if you set the destination in your Ford Navigation app since this tells the GOM what kind of driving you will be doing. Essentially you can see how much power you are using and calculate how much SOC% you need. (ie. if I'm using 32kWh/100km and I have 50% SOC, then I have about 200km before empty and I'll be aiming for a charge station between 125km and 150km). I have found this to be very accurate.

Try this on your next trip. Note the GOM range. Then set a destination (in the Ford Nav App) to a few hundred km away and see the difference. GOM has no idea what kind of driving you will be doing until you set the destination and it will give you a "best guess scenario" number based on local (non-highway) driving. I'm not a fan of the Ford Nav App but always set it on longer trips for this reason. While not perfect, I've found it to be close. The GOM is pretty useless when no destination is set. When you do set the destination I find the GOM to be more accurate but still overestimates the actual range.

Yes I do set the destination that is how you get the destination distance number to appear under the GOM range ... The GOM will adjust itself, eg. on this trip after I set this destination from the ford pass and before I left the drive way GOM dropped to 450km, (desination has a mountain road to go up) I rather see real time numbrs to go by than a % percentage number of the battery pack... that tells me nothing really, only good for planning charges stops on a very long trip and give a general idea... I want to see range numbers thank you.

 

[Adventureboy]

Yes I do set the destination that is how you get the destination distance number to appear under the GOM range ...

Yes, my response was probably more aimed at new owners who may try and use it to push to their destination unsuccessfully.

Simple example - if I'm traveling down the highway and my destination is 300km away. My %SOC is 80% and GOM says 400km. Set the destination and it moves GOM to 350km (because it now knows I'm doing highway speeds) leaving me 50km to spare - seems like no problem. 100km down the road it tells me I have 200km to go and 225km range (GOM doesn't know anything about the headwind or your speed). It looks like you may still make it, but you will not. In the next 100km all the bells and whistles will go off telling you to find a charge station or insert one along your route.

Using %SOC, I start at 80% (400km range) and start driving down the highway. Within 10-15 minutes the trip app tells me accurately that I'm burning 42kWh/100km based on actual conditions (cold, speed, headwinds etc). That means my range with 80% SOC is actually 250km (131kWh*80%SOC/42kwh*100km) while the GOM is telling me 325km. You know you need to stop before you get there within the first 15 minutes of your drive long before the GOM does and you can plan your stop at your preferred location along the route instead of biting nails in the last 1/3 of your trip.

GOM Range does not adjust how it calculates based on actual conditions, it just recalculates based on the same "ideal conditions" formula and will simply keep eating away at the reserve range until there is none and all the lights start flashing. As you said, it can be used as an indicator however most of the time that reserve range will decrease as you progress unless you have a nice tailwind or large decent.

%SOC is always accurate. Your trip kWh/100km is accurate based on the conditions for that trip so far and adjusts as the conditions change.

26,000km (many 300km trips) and this is the least stressful, most accurate method I've found.

 

[Zprime29]

Yep, 17k miles and I primarily watch SoC. I use the rule of three that someone suggested in another thread. I forget who it was or I'd give credit.

Estimate 3 miles per 1%, add 0.3 for city, subtract 0.3 for freeway or bad weather. It's been very reliable. With the exception of the magical parking lot I mentioned above.

 

[MickeyAO]

Truck was outside overnight, low in the 30's. Had 100% charge from L1 outlet at the in-laws. Left around 11am to go to a steak house for lunch, drove 9.6 miles, mostly freeway around 50-60mph due to construction. I didn't pay attention to SoC when I parked. After lunch, it was 60F and I was flabbergasted to see I still had 100% charge. Would this be from the battery warming up in the parking lot? It was a slight elevation gain, there's no way I regened it all, so a warmer battery is all I can think of. My father in law now thinks my truck is magic

As the cells warm up, the internal resistance goes down, which causes the voltage to go up. The BMS will base the SOC on the voltage.

 

[Mmiketa]

Yes, that is pretty normal. The battery has more capacity when it warms. Mine goes up from 90% to 91% or 92% all the time.

I wasn't paying too much attention, but I have my charge limit set at 90% and the other day when I got off work I was at 94% for some reason. It was like 29 degrees over night and 55 degrees during the day, could have been that.

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