Mach-E stranded on a 3,000+ mile road trip due to faulty HV battery module. Full battery swap required.

[deadduck]

Joe is bringing up some important items.

1. Ford needs to train the service people in BEV's especially if they are going to sell a trillion LIghtnings. If they don't they will get clubbed by their competitors about the shitty service.

2. Dealers should advertise or at least advise customers about their ability to service the cars they sell. Right now, we hear stories about the sales people not having a clue about the car they are selling and we are hearing the same about service. With catastrophic failures such as the main battery, this will not help sales. Ford needs sales based on their first half of the year.

3. Ford needs to create and offer a BEV maintenance plan. What they advertise now still talks about oil changes and spark plugs. I'm not even seeing the effort to be applicable. This should have been done at launch. Ford Protect is just as bad.

I really hope that the Ford people watching these forums can pass this along. Bad experiences are going to cost Ford a lot and they need this to be successful.

Forgetting the specifics, I agree that this is a different world for Ford. These are $60K vehicles after TTL. They need to realize that regardless of what we're buying, we're paying entry-level luxury prices. They need to get better.

Tesla, despite the crap quality, I think, tries to get this. They fail, but a lot of what they're doing, legitimate online orders, remote service, etc., are in the right direction.

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[Scrannel]

You know, Tesla builds quality cars, that's one reason they work so well. And sell so well. I've had everything from Ferraris to Porches, and even an original 66 Shelby GT350. My Tesla is an excellent car. So is the Mach E, if you give it a chance.

 

[TruWrecks]

The Mach-E is an excellent car hardware wise. It will have it's failures like all hardware. Software is a bit early but can and will improve in time.

I just hit 1100 miles on my MME and it is one of the best cars I have ever owned, and the best EV I have owned so far. With all of it's quirks it is a wonderful vehicle.

 

[snikt]

You know, Tesla builds quality cars, that's one reason they work so well. And sell so well. I've had everything from Ferraris to Porches, and even an original 66 Shelby GT350. My Tesla is an excellent car. So is the Mach E, if you give it a chance.

I saw an article earlier about issues with the new Bronco, owners were reporting bad quality paint on the roof, missing interior trim pieces, excessive panel gaps, etc.

That issue doesn't seem to be unique with Tesla, but it sure does seem to be reported and talked about more

 

[BillK]

Having seen a peek inside the battery on Munro's teardown and seeing the interview with the Ford project leader saying dealers could swap out modules I am disappointed they are unable to service the battery at the dealership. The components seem readily accessible. Maybe Ford want's to autopsy it to better understand the problem.

One way or the other I find it telling that Ford is using SK cells in the Lightning.

Sympathies to OP

 

[pt19713]

You know, Tesla builds quality cars, that's one reason they work so well. And sell so well. I've had everything from Ferraris to Porches, and even an original 66 Shelby GT350. My Tesla is an excellent car. So is the Mach E, if you give it a chance.

Ditto. 2 Teslas in the garage, zero mechanical or electrical issues. Most battery or drivetrain issues, if they do occur, typically happen in the first 1000 miles, if not sooner. They're reliable cars but social media (ie YouTube) likes to make the click bait videos on little issues. I'm starting to see it with the Mach-E now, too.

 

[Scarpia]

One way or the other I find it telling that Ford is using SK cells in the Lightning.

"Telling", because of quality issues? That's absolute speculation.

It's more likely that they are cost and supply chain variables. We're looking at huge quantities of these batteries over the next years - who will guarantee the necessary quantities to fulfill demand for the trucks? Where are they made, so they can be efficiently/cheaply transported to the auto factories? The batteries are large and very heavy. There are so many factors we aren't privy to, it's rather irresponsible to imply quality problems if there is no information to back it up.

 

[Scooby24]

With the recalls on LGC's batteries for the Kona and bolt and now these issues with the Mach-E, I wonder if Ford will be making the transition to SKI batteries for this platform?

 

[AlpaChino]

Electric for local, gas for distance. No drama.

That's not a solution.

 

[dtbaker61]

noise to information ratio is going up..... could we stick to thread topic of HV battery failure ?

I'd like to know if we can sort out whether its a hardware (bad chip, etc), software (bad parameter to start/stop cooling), or 'environmental' triggered issue that we may be able to avoid with altered driving habits until hardware/software is sorted out.....

 

[SnBGC]

Having seen a peek inside the battery on Munro's teardown and seeing the interview with the Ford project leader saying dealers could swap out modules I am disappointed they are unable to service the battery at the dealership. The components seem readily accessible. Maybe Ford want's to autopsy it to better understand the problem.

One way or the other I find it telling that Ford is using SK cells in the Lightning.

Sympathies to OP

The Work Shop Manual has step-by-step procedures for replacing individual modules. The battery pack design lends itself to that ability (feature?). I suspect individual modules are in short supply so a full battery pack might be more readily available (as crazy as that sounds...).

 

[dtbaker61]

The Work Shop Manual has step-by-step procedures for replacing individual modules. The battery pack design lends itself to that ability (feature?). I suspect individual modules are in short supply so a full battery pack might be more readily available (as crazy as that sounds...).

not crazy at all.... lets encourage ALL Dealerships to have a full pack on display in showroom for show and tell.... an ready to pop in into a vehicle that has a problem!

 

[EELinneman]

They do not use the same batteries as the Bolt, nor does Hyundai. LG supplies custom cells/modules for each car manufacturer. In fact the newer Bolt batteries are built at a GM/LG plant in Michigan, I am sure GM is not involved in supplying Ford.

Looks like GM's master plan for batteries isn't so master after all
https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/309283-gm-plots-an-ev-comeback-inside-its-secretive-battery-lab

 

[AZBill]

Looks like GM's master plan for batteries isn't so master after all
https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/309283-gm-plots-an-ev-comeback-inside-its-secretive-battery-lab

That article is about the Ultium batteries, which are not the same as the Bolt batteries. Even Ford is now looking to partner with SK to build their own batteries. Vertical integration can help the supply chain.

 

[FPLiptak]

The display wouldn't have to be shown in a numerical value but instead use the old-school colors. This would dumb it down for people less knowledgeable about cars. If the indicator is in the red, most can figure out that's not a good sign.

I don't ever recall seeing a temperature gauge where green was between yellow and red!

Green, Yellow, Red - Yes
Yellow, Green, Red - NO

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