Reduced Mileage versus Battery Percentage - help?

[Maxx]

Keep in mind, you still made it home with 60 miles range left. You were not stranded and did not have to do public charging and I am guessing even with the range loss, paid less for energy than you would have with an ICE F150 to make the trip. So even though reality has not met your expectations, the problem is mostly in your head.

I got my truck in January so my experience was the opposite of yours. In summer I felt like I am driving a truck with efficiency of Tesla model 3. An unexpected but welcome surprise. Now that it is getting cold, I feel like I am getting back to normal. My typical drives are short and we take an ICE on drives over 500 miles so range change has no noticeable impact on my life. In 2024 after Tesla superchargers open, my truck will likely be more capable. It is mostly about managing expectations.

When you talk about the truck capabilities, remember the acceleration, quiet comfortable ride, break pad replacement, oil change, ...... it is not all bad. Your relationship with your truck is like your relationship with anyone else, if you focus on only the shortcomings, you won't be happy with anyone or any truck.

p.s. Ford did push an update to make GOM more optimistic recently but even before then, I never took it too seriously and looked at the energy page and mi/Kwh to guess myself.

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[Zprime29]

Yes to both. 40 degrees is not cold. More than anything frustrated with myself for getting duped into this truck without fully understanding its (lack) of capabilities. oh well - buyer beware. 100% on me. thanks.

Buyer be educated...I think is what you meant. Dealerships are worse than the GOM at their job so we have to pick up the slack ourselves. Doesn't take but an hour of research to get all the pro's and cons. Well worth the investment, especially for something this pricey.

 

[grange]

Anyone want to purchase a 2023 Lariet Extended Battery with less than 4K miles in mint shape? Strongly recommend you don't have needs to travel more than 125 miles in the winter. Seriously disappointed in this trucks lack of cold weather performance. I expected range loss in the winter but 50% when it is only 32 degrees? What the hell is going to happen when it is -10? Yes - i am preconditioning the battery. No -i travel the posted speed plus 5 (70mph). Yes - i did not even use cab heat when driving. Why is this not a big bold term & condition when buying the truck *If you live in an area that experience cold weather conditions (below freezing) you need to be aware your range will be cut in half if not more. And, do not pay any attention to the GOM dashboard as it is worthless. I can't imagine if wanted to pull a trailer with snowmobiles - i am sure i'd be closer to 75 miles worth of range on full charge?
Thank you for letting me vent.

 

[bmwhitetx]

Time for the seasonal new thread every day from someone asking about range loss on the first cold day and everyone having to explain . @TaxmanHog - has admin ever considered putting a first thread hurdle that points to common questions and answers (or just this thread - good answers here) before allowing that first post?

Sorry to OP - most of us have gone through this when we bought.

 

[TaxmanHog]

Moved thread to the issues node, @grange are you new to EV's ?
The ideal EPA rated efficiency is based on 2.44 MPK with total 131KW battery going 320 miles in mixed road conditions.

With my driving style even in the best of weather, I'm only running 2.0 to 2.1 MPK
My Winter performance [Dec, Jan, Feb, March] is running around 1.5 MPK

Limiting your SOC to 80 or 90% inhibits total range as does leaving 10% at the bottom, but if you're planning on a long road trip, you can roll out starting at 100% and well conditioned / warm battery which will get you 177 miles, which is 55% of the ideal, but factoring in some reality of how I drive and what I do as far as cabin heating & cooling, the reality is my denominator is 2.0 not 2.44 so I'm getting 75% or losing 25%

I hope my perspective gives you some confidence, if your trips are within these ranges, otherwise, you're right the hybrid or ICE are likely the better tool for your needs.

 

[grange]

Moved thread to the issues node, @grange are you new to EV's ?
The ideal EPA rated efficiency is based on 2.44 MPK with total 131KW battery going 320 miles in mixed road conditions.

With my driving style even in the best of weather, I'm only running 2.0 to 2.1 MPK
My Winter performance [Dec, Jan, Feb, March] is running around 1.5 MPK

Limiting your SOC to 80 or 90% inhibits total range as does leaving 10% at the bottom, but if you're planning on a long road trip, you can roll out starting at 100% and well conditioned / warm battery which will get you 177 miles, which is 55% of the ideal, but factoring in some reality of how I drive and what I do as far as cabin heating & cooling, the reality is my denominator is 2.0 not 2.44 so I'm getting 75% or losing 25%

I hope my perspective gives you some confidence, if your trips are within these ranges, otherwise, you're right the hybrid or ICE are likely the better tool for your needs.

It does. but what am i going to see when temps are zero Farenheight? 55% ideal is not what i was expecting. ?

 

[Grease Lightning]

It does. but what am i going to see when temps are zero Farenheight? 55% ideal is not what i was expecting. ?

So maybe do the posted speed limit and get better efficiency .

You are complaining about the truck but you are the one trying to drive a less than aerodynamic brick through air, that during the winter is more dense,, thereby taking more energy to cut through the air.

So my suggestion is slow down a bit, and enjoy the ride. There is a fast charger just around the corner in most places.

 

[snowy_91]

Moved thread to the issues node, @grange are you new to EV's ?
The ideal EPA rated efficiency is based on 2.44 MPK with total 131KW battery going 320 miles in mixed road conditions.

With my driving style even in the best of weather, I'm only running 2.0 to 2.1 MPK
My Winter performance [Dec, Jan, Feb, March] is running around 1.5 MPK

Limiting your SOC to 80 or 90% inhibits total range as does leaving 10% at the bottom, but if you're planning on a long road trip, you can roll out starting at 100% and well conditioned / warm battery which will get you 177 miles, which is 55% of the ideal, but factoring in some reality of how I drive and what I do as far as cabin heating & cooling, the reality is my denominator is 2.0 not 2.44 so I'm getting 75% or losing 25%

I hope my perspective gives you some confidence, if your trips are within these ranges, otherwise, you're right the hybrid or ICE are likely the better tool for your needs.

This will be my first winter in South Dakota with the lightning, but experience with the MachE GTPE has taught me to adjust my speed to achieve at least 1.8MPK to make it to Sioux Falls and back in the winter. It's just a different way of thinking.

 

[sstevetx]

I watched a good video on cold weather driving the Lightning on the State of Charge YouTube channel. This will be my first winter and was nervous until I watched the video. It has some good tips and insights into how EVs work compared to ICE. If you precondition while plugged in, reduce your speeds and make use of your heated seats and steering wheel (if available) to minimize your heater usage then you shouldn't see as big of a hit. The video goes over all of that.

 

[AI_Speed]

I have not been able to find a thread so i am hoping someone can help with this question. I have 2023 Lariet with extended battery. 3000 miles (just took possession in early Aug). Full Charge my estimated travel is 340 miles. And up until this weekend it has been tracking pretty consistent. This weekend I took off on a 150 mile trip (weather was 40 degrees F and a mild head wind). I usually end this frequent trip with 150 miles left and about 45% remaining. This time - withing 15 minutes the mileage forecast lost about 75 miles - I ended the trip with 60 Miles left. ON the way home today, Full Charge 320 miles forecasted. in the first 5 miles I lost about 80 miles in the dashboard. It appears the percentage is accurate but the forecasted miles have been reduced by 25%. Is there a CTRL+ALT+DEL function to reset the dashboard computer? What is driving the forecasted miles to be reduced by 25-30%?
Thanks,

The temperature and the trip planning if you do that. Big loss in cold weather! And Ford doesn't share that readily. If you go to Settings / Vehicle / down at the bottom - Hold to Reset Driving History - do that right before a charge but you get 340 anyway so that is key.

 

[TaxmanHog]

It does. but what am i going to see when temps are zero Farenheight? 55% ideal is not what i was expecting. ?

When the temp's approach freezing, your Lightning is going to nag you every time you shut down that it would be best to remain plugged in, for charging and to have shore power available to assist the truck keeping the battery temps at a safe level when charging and to be ready for departure time pre-conditioning.

You can disregard the suggestion, and drive the truck the next negative degree day, performance will be inhibited while the battery warms up during the drive, both via electro-chemical heat generation and PTC (HEATER) action to warm up the battery, especially when using Ford navigation pointed to a DCFC charging station. The efficiency will be lost as compared to staying plugged in and preconditioning the battery with a departure time.

How bad ? I'm not sure, I'm in southern New England, last year we had a pretty mild winter, maybe some of our fellow Minnesotans or Alaskans could chime in with their real world examples.

 

[Newton]

You might want to get an bluetooth ODBII dongle (Vgate VLinker MC+) and some apps that work with it (ABRP - A Better Route Planner and Forscan. This gives you access to information that is not visible on the display screen and access to application that do a bit better job of range prediction.

You are not wrong, all of the EVs that I have had do a terrible job of dealing with the fundamental question of “how far can I go before getting towed?”. Tesla allegedly is better, but no range prediction can ever be accurate - I often don’t know if I am going to take the freeway or the back roads until I am near the exit. EVs need to tell you how many kilowatts are left in the battery, how many kilowatts you are burning now, the current grade, and the outside temperature in a format that lets you make decisions based on that information. My Garmin bike computer can mange that, and it is smaller than a phone.

EVs work differently than gas cars and it ultimately is a liberating experience when you get used to it. I do not care how many miles are left on the car when it is my garage at home, and I do not care how fast it recharges as long as it has sufficient range overnight to get to where I want to go. One can fret endlessly about how much range you have left and how it changed but if you don’t have to push it up your driveway you are fine. “Out Of Spec Reviews” does range testing to literally negative miles (there is a buffer), rolls into the charger and charges up and it is fine. Doing this every day for 10 years may not be the best thing for the battery but I guarantee that it won’t make a difference in the pathetic resale value that you get out of any older vehicle.

I understand your concern and I have not had my Lightning (or my Kia) through the winter so only people who have done it in really cold temps can tell you what will actually happen — but at 40 degrees you are already in the “cold“ condition so energy is already being used to condition the battery in a way that is not used at all at higher temperatures. There is a very basic and kind of frustrating “where did my energy go?” screen that will show you how much energy the battery conditioning is using.

 

[grange]

Thanks for all the feedback and comments (seriously - there has been some good insight/recommendations). I guess my chief complaint is this.....I did not do a good enough researching this EV truck. I fully expected to lose range in the winter. But I do a 160 mile trip most weekends. In the summer i arrived with 140 miles. With weather in low 40's i am arriving with 60-70 miles. I am concerned when i am driving and it is -10 below zero (very common) if i will make it. There are NO high capacity charging stations along my route within 50 miles. I won't even consider pulling a trailer of snowmobiles. Does anyone have any experience with driving any meaningful distance 120 miles or more in sub-zero blustery conditions?

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