Truck Sitting at Dealer with 100% Charge

[mags]

My truck is waiting for parts at my local Ford dealer. At some point while diagnosing the truck they charged it to 100%. (I thought I set the default to 90 but the last report in Ford Pass reported 100%.) I have no ETA yet, right now the truck is parked and fully charged. I was told it’s not driveable until it’s fixed. Should I even bother worrying about battery damage or just cross my fingers it comes home OK?

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[TaxmanHog]

My truck is waiting for parts at my local Ford dealer. At some point while diagnosing the truck they charged it to 100%. (I thought I set the default to 90 but the last report in Ford Pass reported 100%.) I have no ETA yet, right now the truck is parked and fully charged. I was told it’s not driveable until it’s fixed. Should I even bother worrying about battery damage or just cross my fingers it comes home OK?

Not much you can do, SOC limitations set at other locations, home, work, etc. is specific to a GPS coordinate.

 

[Zaptor]

There's buffer at the top of the range so 100% isn't actually a "full" charge but if you are concerned, tell them to power up and run the heater for a day or even a few hours and it should drop a few percent since the climate control is a lossy system (well, moreso than the new heat pumps, presumably). I wouldn't stress over it though.
-Zap

 

[Hammick]

Use the remote start through the app to run the heater. Not sure if there is a limit on remote starting.

 

[mags]

Thanks for the tips! Unfortunately the heater is what’s broken LOL. Waiting on a coolant module. I’ll ask them to plug in a microwave for a couple days.

 

[WilliamRobert]

The service technician I go to says the high voltage battery state of charge must be at 100% before he can work on it, you should leave it be and the next time you need service have them order the parts before you give it to them! As far as using the PAAK to discharge the battery, bad idea, for "Safety" concerns I would never remote activate anything in a vehicle that is not in my possession!

 

[detansinn]

I wouldn't sweat this. These batteries are quite resilient. 100% isn't actually 100% either.
Hope that you get your truck back soon!

 

[RickLightning]

Use the remote start through the app to run the heater. Not sure if there is a limit on remote starting.

2 times is the limit.

 

[Peddyr]

During the winter months I charge to 100% 4 nights a week because my commute is over 100 miles. Had it 19 months, and as of yet no problems with the battery. I think you are good. Good luck with your truck, hope they fix it quickly.

 

[Amps]

"Run the heater to take the top charge off the battery."

Unfortunately the heater is what’s broken LOL.

This sounds like the story of my life in one sentence.

 

[IdeaOfTheDayCom]

There is nothing to fear at all. They wouldn't design the truck with a feature that pushes the batteries beyond their actual limits, just like how cell phones stop charging once the batteries are full or get hot.

The biggest problem with 100% charging is that it doesn't leave room for any additional power being pushed into it, such as from regenerative braking.

Even then, the problem isn't that bad because there's some wiggle room in the battery, so 100% still leaves some room, plus once your drive a couple of miles, it will definitely use up some of the power and start allowing regen breaking to start flowing back.

Temperature plays a role too. Batteries like to be about room temperature. Any higher or lower, they start to self discharge, so as it sits there it will slowly drain either way. How fast depends on the temperature.

Even when there's simply no room for any regen braking power pushing into it, it will just ignore the power, and use friction to slow you down.

 

[Pioneer74]

Use the remote start through the app to run the heater. Not sure if there is a limit on remote starting.

You can only remote start the vehicle twice, then it has to be driven to be remote started again.

 

[ctuan13]

There is nothing to fear at all. They wouldn't design the truck with a feature that pushes the batteries beyond their actual limits, just like how cell phones stop charging once the batteries are full or get hot.

The biggest problem with 100% charging is that it doesn't leave room for any additional power being pushed into it, such as from regenerative braking.

Even then, the problem isn't that bad because there's some wiggle room in the battery, so 100% still leaves some room, plus once your drive a couple of miles, it will definitely use up some of the power and start allowing regen breaking to start flowing back.

Temperature plays a role too. Batteries like to be about room temperature. Any higher or lower, they start to self discharge, so as it sits there it will slowly drain either way. How fast depends on the temperature.

Even when there's simply no room for any regen braking power pushing into it, it will just ignore the power, and use friction to slow you down.

Well of course they wouldn't design the system to operate under immediately dangerous conditions, but charging to 100% absolutely accrues more wear and degradation on the cells than 90% or 80%. And the longer it is held in this state, the more harm is done. Does this cause the battery pack to immediately fail or experience a Runaway thermal event? No, of course not. But damage is being done, however unnoticeable it might seem.

You mention mobile devices are the same way. We'll actually from a battery chemistry perspective, most smartphones using BMSs that push them to their very limits, albeit safely, meaning the most rated capacity for unit weight and size (which is what the phone makers want), but this means constantly charging your smartphone to 100% and keeping it there for hours overnight, will mean that it'll likely drop below 80% capacity in a couple years or less.

While this certainly isn't dangerous and doesn't stop the phone from functioning, if you're planning to keep the phone for let's say 4-5 years, this definitely decreases the functionality of your phone. That's what most of us who follow or try to follow best practices for charging are trying to achieve. Can I charge my truck to 100% every time and be "fine"? Sure. But I plan on keeping my truck, for quite a long time, so for me avoiding undue degradation on the battery is worth it to me.

So while, it's not dangerous, it's more than a bit dismissive to state that Ford "wouldn't design the truck with a feature that pushes the batteries beyond their actual limits". I think the OP was talking about cumulative damage, not one time catastrophic damage. But I am more that willing to be corrected if the OP wants to chime in.

 

[IdeaOfTheDayCom]

So while, it's not dangerous, it's more than a bit dismissive to state that Ford "wouldn't design the truck with a feature that pushes the batteries beyond their actual limits". I think the OP was talking about cumulative damage, not one time catastrophic damage. But I am more that willing to be corrected if the OP wants to chime in.

He stated he was worried that his truck was at 100% and hoping it comes home ok. That sounds to me like he was worried that this one time event could permanently damage his truck.

I stand by my opinion is that although it's not a best practice, his truck will be fine, especially since it will be slowly discharging while it sits there. I also stand by my opinion that Ford has more capacity than they show on the display, so even when it reaches 100%, it's more like 90-95% of the capacity.

In summary, people shouldn't charge to 100% that often, but when they occasionally do, they shouldn't worry about long term effects.

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