Truck died 5 miles from home

[MM in SouthTX]

In my opinion, granted I have not read all of the posts, but people are missing the fundamental issue here. Fords BMS is abysmal. I had a similar issue, albeit only 800 yards from my house with 1% left on the Guess O Meter...I have driven many other EVs, none of which have had this problem. It would equate to your fuel indicator on your ICE vehicle showing above E, but running out of gas. This would not be acceptable for ICE, but for EVs, people attack the owner for not driving "efficiently," but my take is we need to not show battery availability if there is none.

Spot on. So many people have so much invested in EV’s being wonderful that when someone posts a not wonderful experience, he gets attacked. I don’t need people like that in my life.

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[flypony53]

There are a couple of things that I respectfully don’t agree with on this post.

1. Very few people have an OBD reader. We should use the 131 that Ford publishes, not 127.
2. I have made this run at least 6 times. Every time I have used 131 and every time the rate of energy usage has been linear and in accordance with my expected calculations. I keep the trip meter on the dash for the average and I continuously reset trip 1 and recalculate to make sure I know how much energy remains. Energy usage has always been linear down to sometimes below 5% with the exception of the time before this when in the last 2-3 miles I saw the % drop unexpectedly. This time the displayed percent charge started dropping in a fashion that did not correlate with the mi/kWh at somewhere around 15%. Below 10% I watched it drop to 3% over about 2 miles. That’s when I lost power.
(Edited to add #3)
3. 125 x .9 is 112.5 kWh. I averaged 1.7 over 178 miles (actually 175.6 because I came up 4.4 miles short), which is 104.7 kWh. So I should have had about 8 kWh in reserve even using your 125 when I made it home.
Please don’t tell me that this was my problem because I should have known better. This is a Ford problem.

Definitely agree with you on this one. If we are mandating or expecting the US to move away from ICE vehicles, then we have to expect our vehicles to perform based on vehicle data available to the average driver. I should not really even have to care about the total size of the battery, I should be able to rely on the numbers published to me as the customer. My current range based on my current consumption. Showing my current fuel economy as I see on nearly 100% of ICE vehicles, but very difficult to find the real time efficiency at that moment in most EVs, even my Tesla. The Rivian only publishes the numbers in the last 15. My Tesla used to have a published instant wh/mile, but my Model S no longer shows that, just a burn down and projection.

 

[Zprime29]

What I'm hearing in the past 12 hours:

Don't charge to 100% in heat.
DCFC will cause the BMS to go out of whack, so don't trust how much charge you have(?).
Don't be surprised if it dies when you get to 10%.

It all boils down to "sell the truck" if you want to drive it over 170 miles in South Texas. An electric truck is not for the open roads in Texas.

I can only comment on the heat aspect, I don't really have experience on multiple DCFC stops as I can make it to the in-laws with a single stop. Driving in the heat, however, I have ample experience. I have not encountered any problems road tripping in 110F heat. The DCFC was a little slower (avg'd around 100kW vs. 115kW avg in the spring) but with full A/C blasting for the family I can still do 2.0mpk or better at 70mph (bumping up to 75mph when I have traffic I can follow). I've done 240 miles in a single go (Tucson, AZ to Deming, NM) a couple times which isn't a flat drive and an overall increase in elevation. Takes 80-85% pending wind conditions. So I wouldn't worry about the heat.

I've gone to 15% several times without issue, but I don't feel comfortable going much below that. More because this is my first EV than fear of the truck misrepresenting my actual energy remaining. These first hand account of shenanigans under 10-15% make me feel better in my planning. I've accepted that I may not ever use the full range, but I've also never driven an ICE till it's empty either. Almost always filled up at 1/4 tank. A few times took it within 1.5 gallons of empty, which was still around 40-50 miles of range ( what I equate to 15-20% range at 2.0mpk ).

I appreciate letting us know what your truck is doing, even if it doesn't work out for you it helps us better understand its quirks.

 

[TheBigBezo]

I've taken mine as low as 4% on road trips in the heat but I guess I got lucky. Having read these threads, I don't think I'll take any chances. I will say that repeat DC fast charging in the heat does noticeably increase pack temp and usually derates charging (I've gone as low as 90kW at 50% SOC) but no other significant effects that I know of.

 

[artificial_airspeed]

I echo a similar experience with my 22’ Lariat SR and all the latest updates. I average 2mi/kwh with my 80/20 Hwy/City driving in Texas with fast speed limits. On several occasions I’ve had plenty of reserve (~10%) as I’ve neared my home area and the truck began aggressively dropping SOC, range, and down-regulating power output.

It used to be a lot more predictable when I first bought the truck used at 4,000mi. Now I try to keep my minimum planned at 20%.

 

[Newton]

The batteries do degrade over time, and the most degradation is in the first year so things that worked when the truck was new will not work a couple of years on.

I hate to say this on the Ford forum but from your use case you should be looking at the Silverado. If it gets anywhere near the claimed 450 miles you will be fine. Just wave to us as you pass the chargers!

 

[MM in SouthTX]

The batteries do degrade over time, and the most degradation is in the first year so things that worked when the truck was new will not work a couple of years on.

I hate to say this on the Ford forum but from your use case you should be looking at the Silverado. If it gets anywhere near the claimed 450 miles you will be fine. Just wave to us as you pass the chargers!

Or the Ram.

 

[flypony53]

The batteries do degrade over time, and the most degradation is in the first year so things that worked when the truck was new will not work a couple of years on.

I hate to say this on the Ford forum but from your use case you should be looking at the Silverado. If it gets anywhere near the claimed 450 miles you will be fine. Just wave to us as you pass the chargers!

Will know soon. My Silverado was produced early May, but still waiting on shipping. Will post back here. As an early adopter of the Lightning, it is disappointing that MANY of the promises/features of the lightning are still pending updates promised at the end of 2022. Blue Cruise is terrible, PaaK is hit and miss, usually miss and still do not have walk away lock that was advertised as a feature in the manual when I took delivery.

Listen, overall, I really like the Lightning, but it is not without its many flaws (as many vehicles have).

 

[Mcyclonegt]

Since having my lightning I have often thought of being in your situation. I grew up in Texas. If I had an EV in that state I think I would always have a 10kw generator in the bed with 10 gallons of fuel if I went on any road trip. It sounds ridiculous I know. As much fun as they are, they just aren’t right for your situation.

 

[VAF84]

Sorry you had to go through this. I remember us having this discussion about traveling south of San Antonio, and its challenges. It sounds like you arrived to the same conclusion I have. Either go back to ICE, or wait a little longer for the 450 mile range pickups to hit the lot. Still I'm surprised with your result. I would have planned (1.7kw/mi x 131kw x .80 = 178 range) That should have still given me a 22 mile buffer.

For the nay sayers on <2 efficiency; it is absolutely normal, if not standard, to have a 1.7 kw/mi efficiency on Texas road trips when following the speed limit. For the longest time I thought something was wrong with my truck, but it's the combination of speed limits, the large amounts of long and open roads, and how spread out things are, and climate/low elevation. If I were calculating a Texas trip, I'd never use anything more than 1.7 as my estimate.

So what's the scoop on this weird BMS issue? This is the 2nd thread I've read with the battery SOC tanking below 10%. I'm doing a ton of DCFC crossing the country and today I'm heading out from Austin to remote east New Mexico to see friends, I'm going to need all of the battery. Once I start DCFC am I safe if I hold it over 10%? I can do that, aim for 13-15% pulling into my next stop. I wish I had an obd so I could try and record some data for y'all. Definitely now what you want to read on a long trip, trucks rolling back to 0% because the indicator is off. I'd hate to get stranded out in the sticks.

I showed my standard calculations up top. TBH though, I use the 80/20 rule for long trips, especially in DC desert areas. My vehicle has been DC Fast charged for most of its time in my possession and haven't had any issues following this rule. Also had a few 900 mile trips. A few times I pushed past 20 since I now have the A2Z Tesla adapter, but never below 9-10%. Not worth the risk. Throughout the trip I'm multiplying my battery percent by the efficiency the truck is reflecting to make sure everything is kosher. Shouldn't have a problem operating that way.

 

[Hammick]

OP very sorry to hear the Lightning has to go. I love our Lightning but the recent announcement by the tesla lunatic has me pretty concerned. We split time between Kansas City and Red Lodge, MT. Getting there in the Lightning takes a lot longer than I would like and in the winter is a real chore. I have no hope that the V2 chargers will be upgraded any time soon if ever. The value of our trucks has plummeted.

Not sure yet what we are going to do. If chargers were spaced every 125 miles or less it would be a non-issue. Politics is killing the hopes of easy road trips in an EV.

 

[Hammick]

Paying attention @Ford Motor Company ?

He's at an AI convention

 

[tls]

The batteries do degrade over time, and the most degradation is in the first year so things that worked when the truck was new will not work a couple of years on.

Continuing to drive while at 3%-10% charge is not a thing that should "not work a couple of years on". No other manufacturer's EVs that I'm aware of have this problem.

Continuing to report the correct state of charge -- as opposed to diving suddenly from 22% to 10% etc as reported by the OP, while driving at the same reported energy use -- is not a thing that should "not work a couple of years on". We're not talking about estimated miles remaining, we're talking about the remaining percentage of the battery's total capacity. There is no guesswork involved with that. Or ought not be, unless the vehicle is, in a word, broken.

The truck should continue in forward motion, albeit perhaps with limited performance, until it actually hits 0% charge reported. And if driven under the same conditions in the same manner, it should not suddenly drop to 0% from 3%. It's not right that people who purchased vehicles that cost a large fraction of $100,000 should have to settle for less. @Ford Motor Company should address this.

 

[02Reaper]

@Ford Motor Company We can see your activity. Why are you not responding?

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