Problems with charging to 100% -TANGENT

[dajohn3]

I have driven a lot of long distance miles with my 98KW Ford Lightning XLT and found that I need to charge six times to 90 percent per 550 miles of driving each day at 65 MPH on cruise control. Also each time you charge with a fast charger the process takes longer and longer to reach the 80 percent of charge (45 minutes by the 5th charge) and from 80 to 90 it takes about the same amount of time. I have even had the 150 KW fast charger drop down to 7 KWH when I was at 17 percent of charge. Ford severely undersized their standard battery and this fact becomes more and more apparent the longer the distance you travel. At 60 MPH, I can only drive 168 miles on a 100 percent charge so I believe that Ford owes me about 25 KWs of additional battery so I can make a 240 mile stretch on a 100 percent charge. I have put my truck in for service 3 times now since I bought it at the end of January 2024 and currently have over 6000 miles on the odometer so I have had plenty of time to evaluate the truck. I have a XLT model and I can't even make it to the first charging station pulling 7000 pounds in west Texas. I thought that the T in the XLT stood for Towing but I think with my Lightning the T stands for TERD. I have even been towed to a charging station on the 2nd day of a 949 mile trip to visit some family because I could only get 87 miles (at 65 MPH) out of my battery bank at 90 percent charge. This is unacceptable! Ford should do a recall on the 98 KW and put an auxilliary charging port in the bed of the truck along with 25 KW of additional battery with straps to secure the additional battery bank. I believe that they could connect it to the brake assist to lower their cost. I am sure that the people driving the 98kw battery packs around wouldn't mind so much on the loss of truck bed space if they could actually use their truck as a truck to pull a trailer.

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[Grumpy2]

You should keep your diesel.

 

[Pioneer74]

I have driven a lot of long distance miles with my 98KW Ford Lightning XLT and found that I need to charge six times to 90 percent per 550 miles of driving each day at 65 MPH on cruise control. Also each time you charge with a fast charger the process takes longer and longer to reach the 80 percent of charge (45 minutes by the 5th charge) and from 80 to 90 it takes about the same amount of time. I have even had the 150 KW fast charger drop down to 7 KWH when I was at 17 percent of charge. Ford severely undersized their standard battery and this fact becomes more and more apparent the longer the distance you travel. At 60 MPH, I can only drive 168 miles on a 100 percent charge so I believe that Ford owes me about 25 KWs of additional battery so I can make a 240 mile stretch on a 100 percent charge. I have put my truck in for service 3 times now since I bought it at the end of January 2024 and currently have over 6000 miles on the odometer so I have had plenty of time to evaluate the truck. I have a XLT model and I can't even make it to the first charging station pulling 7000 pounds in west Texas. I thought that the T in the XLT stood for Towing but I think with my Lightning the T stands for TERD. I have even been towed to a charging station on the 2nd day of a 949 mile trip to visit some family because I could only get 87 miles (at 65 MPH) out of my battery bank at 90 percent charge. This is unacceptable! Ford should do a recall on the 98 KW and put an auxilliary charging port in the bed of the truck along with 25 KW of additional battery with straps to secure the additional battery bank. I believe that they could connect it to the brake assist to lower their cost. I am sure that the people driving the 98kw battery packs around wouldn't mind so much on the loss of truck bed space if they could actually use their truck as a truck to pull a trailer.

I think it's terrible that you felt to vent that in somebody's thread when they are trying to get answers to a different problem than what you are experiencing.

You obviously didn't do your homework before buying what you did. You should so back to gas.

 

[Monkey]

I think it's terrible that you felt to vent that in somebody's thread when they are trying to get answers to a different problem than what you are experiencing.

You obviously didn't do your homework before buying what you did. You should so back to gas.

While I agree with what you’re saying here, the guy is obviously frustrated…. I have to say that based on his venting, we are not getting the full picture or accurate info about his driving or there is something wrong with his truck. I have an ER and easily get 250+ miles on a 90% charge with a lot of highway driving. I don’t see a significant impact to the rated range as long as I keep it under 70MPH and don’t stomp the accelerator at every green light. Ford bases their range for this truck on an average of 2.4mi/kWh. My average on this truck over 20K miles in 18 months is 2.3mi/kWh and the only reason it isn’t 2.4+ is because I’ve done a third of that driving in cold weather and a quarter of all of it towing a 5500 lb trailer. Something isn’t adding up for this guy and I can only assume he is pulling that 7000lb trailer he mentioned just about everywhere he goes and while he may be keeping it under 65, he may not be gentle on the throttle.

I’ll agree with his sentiment that Ford under-sized the standard battery. IMO, they should’ve not even bothered with the SR and simply found a way to make the ER for everybody. The ER should be bigger anyway…. It’s the size that it is because they had to shoe-horn a battery into the existing F150 platform. Obviously, this truck is not a good fit for him. I mean, I would not pick the Lightning if I had to tow for any distance or if I was road-tripping the thing regularly.

…Which leads me back to the OP’s issue…. Sounds to me like he’s not really familiar with EV charging even though he seems to own both the Lightning and Ioniq5. Seems a couple members here are gaslighting him somewhat too. No, just like OP is experiencing, DCFC charging past 80% slows down A LOT and it’s a crawl from 93%-ish to 100%. This is NORMAL. There really is no reason to DCFC to 100%… Ever. Only time to do that is if you absolutely need it to get to the next charge stop. Otherwise you’re just wasting time and energy. However, the truck SOC just jumping from 90% to 100% is not right. Perhaps there’s a glitch with the display portion, or maybe with the battery management system. Either way, I think that deserves some investigating/ diagnosing.

 

[ctuan13]

While I agree with what you’re saying here, the guy is obviously frustrated…. I have to say that based on his venting, we are not getting the full picture or accurate info about his driving or there is something wrong with his truck. I have an ER and easily get 250+ miles on a 90% charge with a lot of highway driving. I don’t see a significant impact to the rated range as long as I keep it under 70MPH and don’t stomp the accelerator at every green light. Ford bases their range for this truck on an average of 2.4mi/kWh. My average on this truck over 20K miles in 18 months is 2.3mi/kWh and the only reason it isn’t 2.4+ is because I’ve done a third of that driving in cold weather and a quarter of all of it towing a 5500 lb trailer. Something isn’t adding up for this guy and I can only assume he is pulling that 7000lb trailer he mentioned just about everywhere he goes and while he may be keeping it under 65, he may not be gentle on the throttle.

I’ll agree with his sentiment that Ford under-sized the standard battery. IMO, they should’ve not even bothered with the SR and simply found a way to make the ER for everybody. The ER should be bigger anyway…. It’s the size that it is because they had to shoe-horn a battery into the existing F150 platform. Obviously, this truck is not a good fit for him. I mean, I would not pick the Lightning if I had to tow for any distance or if I was road-tripping the thing regularly.

…Which leads me back to the OP’s issue…. Sounds to me like he’s not really familiar with EV charging even though he seems to own both the Lightning and Ioniq5. Seems a couple members here are gaslighting him somewhat too. No, just like OP is experiencing, DCFC charging past 80% slows down A LOT and it’s a crawl from 93%-ish to 100%. This is NORMAL. There really is no reason to DCFC to 100%… Ever. Only time to do that is if you absolutely need it to get to the next charge stop. Otherwise you’re just wasting time and energy. However, the truck SOC just jumping from 90% to 100% is not right. Perhaps there’s a glitch with the display portion, or maybe with the battery management system. Either way, I think that deserves some investigating/ diagnosing.

Another big deal is I believe the Lightning is the only electric truck to retain a traditional underslung spare tire. The Rivian has optional spare but it's stored in an under-bed compartment, which becomes useless if you're actually hauling something and every other electric truck, just straight up omits the spare all together. I think the Sikverado EV has something as well, but the release mechanism is in the bed, so again, inaccessible with the tailgate closed or bed filled with cargo. A significant amount of rearward space between the frame rails could be dedicated to battery pack size, without the spare, but I actually think they made the right choice to retain the spare.

Another thing is, they generally kept the same width between the frame rails, as the standard F150, like you said. If they'd simply widened the space between the rails (alot like the Ram REV), they could have maintained a true body-on-frame construction while allowing for a much larger battery pack.

 

[Lpotter86]

Ford owes you nothing. Should have done better research into the truck before purchasing.

 

[Grease Lightning]

I’ll agree with his sentiment that Ford under-sized the standard battery. IMO, they should’ve not even bothered with the SR and simply found a way to make the ER for everybody.

Ford did not undersize the battery. People bought the smaller battery. It was a personal choice. The small battery was intended for people that aren’t road tripping, companies that are staying local, the soccer parents, and people that don’t tow for more than 50 ish miles.

People’s choices are their own and I applaud Ford for making a version with a smaller battery that was 10k cheaper for the end user. If the owner’s did their research and don’t need to drive more then the truck can offer, it is a good deal. For my daily actions, a SR would have been enough, but since I only have the one car right now the ER and the “road trip” aspect was worth the extra 10K.

 

[Zprime29]

People’s choices are their own and I applaud Ford for making a version with a smaller battery that was 10k cheaper for the end user. If the owner’s did their research and don’t need to drive more then the truck can offer, it is a good deal. For my daily actions, a SR would have been enough, but since I only have the one car right now the ER and the “road trip” aspect was worth the extra 10K.

To be fair, that 10k price tag also included a whole host of other upgrades and the $1300 FCSP. But yeah, I agree. People need to do their research and Ford sales people need to educate buyers. It's not that hard to ask someone, "what do you plan on doing with a truck?" and then point out the appropriate pro's and cons.

 

[Zprime29]

I have even been towed to a charging station on the 2nd day of a 949 mile trip to visit some family because I could only get 87 miles (at 65 MPH) out of my battery bank at 90 percent charge.

Where you towing something on this trip? 1 mile / kWh seems crazy low.

 

[adoublee]

I am more and more convinced EVs aren't ready for low IQ consumers to own/operate.

 

[JRT]

I'm sorry for the OP for sure. Maybe he read all the amazingly m/kwh posting and said cool. My 8 month and 8k m/kwh is 2.1, my 1 month summer temps and 800 miles is 2.3. The truck is a brick and as usual nobody that buys an ER complains they should have bought am SR.

 

[ctuan13]

I have driven a lot of long distance miles with my 98KW Ford Lightning XLT and found that I need to charge six times to 90 percent per 550 miles of driving each day at 65 MPH on cruise control. Also each time you charge with a fast charger the process takes longer and longer to reach the 80 percent of charge (45 minutes by the 5th charge) and from 80 to 90 it takes about the same amount of time. I have even had the 150 KW fast charger drop down to 7 KWH when I was at 17 percent of charge. Ford severely undersized their standard battery and this fact becomes more and more apparent the longer the distance you travel. At 60 MPH, I can only drive 168 miles on a 100 percent charge so I believe that Ford owes me about 25 KWs of additional battery so I can make a 240 mile stretch on a 100 percent charge. I have put my truck in for service 3 times now since I bought it at the end of January 2024 and currently have over 6000 miles on the odometer so I have had plenty of time to evaluate the truck. I have a XLT model and I can't even make it to the first charging station pulling 7000 pounds in west Texas. I thought that the T in the XLT stood for Towing but I think with my Lightning the T stands for TERD. I have even been towed to a charging station on the 2nd day of a 949 mile trip to visit some family because I could only get 87 miles (at 65 MPH) out of my battery bank at 90 percent charge. This is unacceptable! Ford should do a recall on the 98 KW and put an auxilliary charging port in the bed of the truck along with 25 KW of additional battery with straps to secure the additional battery bank. I believe that they could connect it to the brake assist to lower their cost. I am sure that the people driving the 98kw battery packs around wouldn't mind so much on the loss of truck bed space if they could actually use their truck as a truck to pull a trailer.

Sounds like the Edison Motors design strategy for their 3/4 pickup conversion kit is a lot more what you're looking for. A long range plug in hybrid, with a diesel generator under the hood.

 

[hturnerfamily]

many people will 'complain' about almost anything - range for an EV 'while towing' seems to be a flash point.

but, for me, and my PRO, and over 42,000 miles, and over 20,000 miles of that WHILE TOWING our 3,000lb high-front camper, I can assure you that it's not the 'truck' that's ANY problem - it's probably the DRIVER, if anything, if you have any 'issues' with your LIGHTNING.

No one said, ever, that the PRO, whether SR or ER battery, was built for long-range heavy towing, without EVER having to stop and charge... that's simply not common sense.

But, if you use your truck as it is designed, and drive conservatively, and DON'T go 65mph the whole way, on 'cruise control', then, yes, it is QUITE capable of most ANYTHING you wish it to do.


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