Will Ford Ever Increase Lightning Charging Speeds?

[RedLightning86]

I think the advantage of Ford's charging curve algorithm is that it holds the 170 kw rate longer than other EV's do. And if it helps the battery be healthy longer, I'm for it. But I can see someone who really is in a hurry sometime, as needing a faster charge, too.

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[Hammick]

While true that's how the curve works, even with the infrastructure we have today it's so very rare I need to go beyond 80% (or even to 80%) to get to the next charger, so it hasn't impacted me. Curious where you are traveling with this use case - there certainly are some in more remote areas.

From Kansas City to Red Lodge, Montana. Across I-90 in the Summer and I-70 in the winter. South Dakota and Wyoming are charging desserts. Having to charge to 95 or 100 percent takes forever.

 

[TheWoo]

From Kansas City to Red Lodge, Montana. Across I-90 in the Summer and I-70 in the winter. South Dakota and Wyoming are charging desserts. Having to charge to 95 or 100 percent takes forever.

Yeah, SD and WY are rough. I'm in KC, and drive I-70 a lot and have never had to charge beyond 80%, but once you turn north it gets sparse.

The addition of a few Superchargers is helpful, but there aren't any in SD and it's a miserable stretch for EVs.

 

[3121]

I’d rather they unlock more battery capacity

 

[JJ The Tahitian]

I really appreciate everyone’s input here, I’m learning a ton.

In the end, what started my original question here is that I have a cross country move coming up (SLC-Tampa) and unfortunately using the Lightning SR to tow really just wouldn't be an option (adding over 24 hours of charge time) much less, being able to make it to a fast charger every 60-100 miles would be questionable.

I love my Lightning for 95% of the use cases, but road trips/towing/cross country moves pose a significant challenge with Battery capacity/charge rate.

 

[eRock77]

I have an old RV, and it's amazing how easy it is to go from 6V to 12V to 24V. I could go to 48V if I ever found a reason to do it. You want to know how? I just switch the cables around. If I can do that with four old 6V lead acid golf cart batteries, easily and without blowing my face off, why could our lightnings not just wire in parallel to drive at 400V and then have a cheap contactor crossover so they can CHARGE at 800V? This is not tough engineering I'm talking about here.

 

[TheWoo]

I have an old RV, and it's amazing how easy it is to go from 6V to 12V to 24V. I could go to 48V if I ever found a reason to do it. You want to know how? I just switch the cables around. If I can do that with four old 6V lead acid golf cart batteries, easily and without blowing my face off, why could our lightnings not just wire in parallel to drive at 400V and then have a cheap contactor crossover so they can CHARGE at 800V? This is not tough engineering I'm talking about here.

My understanding is this is how the Silverado is doing it. I don't know the ups and downs of 800v charging outside of enabling higher speed/amperage

 

[GDN]

I have an old RV, and it's amazing how easy it is to go from 6V to 12V to 24V. I could go to 48V if I ever found a reason to do it. You want to know how? I just switch the cables around. If I can do that with four old 6V lead acid golf cart batteries, easily and without blowing my face off, why could our lightnings not just wire in parallel to drive at 400V and then have a cheap contactor crossover so they can CHARGE at 800V? This is not tough engineering I'm talking about here.

Because Ford wanted to be the first to market. You won't find market leading, just first to market here.

 

[davehu]

I think that it would involve changing the battery voltage which is too much of a change for what is rapidly becoming a legacy truck. No offense to Ford, how many actual EV trucks has Tesla, GM, or Hyundai sold? This is a generation or two back from the current state of the art but it works - and in some ways I prefer the approach of electrifying a good vehicle with minimal changes to the "reimagine the automobile" approach of other companies. The Lightning is not a class leading EV, but it is a great truck.

The Lightning is not a class leading EV, but it is a great truck. Exactly!

 

[Tom M]

I don't think they can? I don't recall the numbers off hand but basically from what I recall reading on the forums, the max current of the onboard charger combined with the battery voltage won't let the battery charge over a certain wattage.
Other vendors have achieved faster charge rates by using higher voltage battery packs which reduces the amount of current required during charging, thus allowing for increased charge rates.

The onboard charger is not a factor for DC charging. It is only used during AC charging.

 

[ytwytw]

I also wish the boost period can stay longer, especially in winter
continuous of 450Amp charging until 70% would be a dream from low SoC

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