Mach-E charging info from Ford engineer, including Preconditioning / Pre-warming update possibly coming

[Badmojo109]

I had an very interesting run in at a Electrify America charger Monday. I have only seen two Mach e in the wild since I bought the car in October. This time I pulled up and there is a grey premium charging and the driver sitting in the car. The temp outside was 10 degrees so very cold. I plug in and get back in my car. A couple minutes later he knocks on my window and introduced himself as a ford engineer working on the MachE charging. He asked me a few questions. He looked at my 40kwh charging rate and asked was I running the heat and I was not. He said good because that will reduce the charge rate even more. He asked if I was running the heat prior to charging and my reply was not for the last 20 miles or so because I was down to 16%.

He asked if he could Hook up a OBD, which I allowed.

Here is what I learned

1. He is working on and possible update, which will allow the battery pack to Start Pre-warming during cold weather if you route to a charger using the built in navigation.

2. In order to receive higher charging rates the pack needs to be warmed up to over 70%

3. The OTA updates are delivered in groups based on the following in this order:
A. most sold trim level
B. build dates and equipment list
Even though all the MachE were 2021’s they used different parts for cars as build dates aged.
So premiums are first, then selects and last GT’s

I asked why they drop the charge rate so drastically at 80% and the real truth is very simple. Warranty, Ford is not trying to replace $15k battery packs that degrade faster than the 7 year guarantee.

He also stated that you do not want to run your battery down to below 12% anything below that will divert power from your 12 volt battery and could kill it. The sweet spot for a long battery life is 12% to 80% so shoot for those ranges if possible.

So I am looking forward to the pre-warm update because sitting in a cold car charging at such a slow rate sucked.

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[Jbkimmel]

Thanks for sharing this - I still haven’t fully grasped the idea that my MME will improve over time. But I’m only a month into ownership.

 

[Badmojo109]

Thanks for sharing this - I still haven’t fully grasped the idea that my MME will improve over time. But I’m only a month into ownership.

Just as you can update your computer to get better performance from the same hardware you have because of software updates the same goes for MME you are driving a computer on wheels

 

[Sam James]

I asked why they drop the charge rate so drastically at 80% and the real truth is very simple. Warranty, Ford is not trying to replace $15k battery packs that degrade faster than the 7 year guarantee.

He also stated that you do not want to run your battery down to below 12% anything below that will divert power from your 12 volt battery and could kill it. The sweet spot for a long battery life is 12% to 80% so shoot for those ranges if possible.

Just recently put in my MME order, but if this was indeed a @Ford Motor Company employee its nice to see they're acknowledging they're only selling us 66% of what we expect. My ID.4 has essentially the same warranty, with three years of free EA fast-charging, and no cumbersome charge curve. They could at least offer a more lenient curve until you've exceeded a threshold, then a warning, etc.

 

[RickMachE]

Good info.

Battery warranty is 8 years, 100,000 miles, not 7 years.

I think you meant 70 degrees, not 70%.

That charge rate is why we took our truck on cold weather trip.

What's annoying is that the slow cold charging is not a surprise, and this should have been done pre-launch.

 

[AmbiguousPresentation]

He also stated that you do not want to run your battery down to below 12% anything below that will divert power from your 12 volt battery and could kill it. The sweet spot for a long battery life is 12% to 80% so shoot for those ranges if possible.

That’s weird. Why couldn’t the HVB just disengage from the 12V at that point? Power switching transistors are a thing…

I wonder if he meant that the HVB would no longer charge the 12V battery at that point, and would then get sucked dry by the non-traction loads.

 

[JimmyMachE]

This 12% SOC HVB threshold is very worrying, but probably only when car is off? Yet, still worrying.

We should test how the 12V battery is treated or mistreated when car is parked with HVB below 12% SOC - with car on, in accessory mode, or locked (12V voltage, current, SOC).

 

[JVMME]

Thanks for the info, I recently received all the new SW updates from the Dealer, but still could not get a SW ver displayed for either Sync or System. It showed up at the dealership, but no luck at home. I did confirm that I am connected to home wifi.

But today I went to start and got this unpleasant black screen.

After about 20 min of letting the car sit plugged in and off. I went to try and now have Sync SW listed and System SW ready to receive updates when available. I was glad that I was at home when this happened.
Has any one had this happen? I was thinking the car received an update?

 

[Rabidsquirrel22]

Thanks for the info, I recently received all the new SW updates from the Dealer, but still could not get a SW ver displayed for either Sync or System. It showed up at the dealership, but no luck at home. I did confirm that I am connected to home wifi.

But today I went to start and got this unpleasant black screen.

After about 20 min of letting the car sit plugged in and off. I went to try and now have Sync SW listed and System SW ready to receive updates when available. I was glad that I was at home when this happened.
Has any one had this happen? I was thinking the car received an update?

That black screen bug happens to mine all of the time. I have to use the volume down + seek right steering wheel button combo to reboot the center screen. Hopefully its fixed in an OTA update soon.

 

[backwardsfish]

Thank-you for this charging story. Taking a trip tomorrow into the Canadian Rocky Mountain Foothills. Padding the trip with some extra time for slower than expected charging just in case.

 

[fixed]

Thank-you for this charging story. Taking a trip tomorrow into the Canadian Rocky Mountain Foothills. Padding the trip with some extra time for slower than expected charging just in case.

i just did a 10 hour trip back and forth across western ontario. didn't get a charge rate at an electrify canada or EA charger over about 60kw. averaged about 45. so you need to plan on about an hour per charge. good luck!

 

[jonkMACHE]

I asked why they drop the charge rate so drastically at 80% and the real truth is very simple. Warranty, Ford is not trying to replace $15k battery packs that degrade faster than the 7 year guarantee.

I don’t mind this, and in a way, I’m glad they idiot-proofed the car. If the optimal battery life is 8 years, this means a good resale value if I opt to trade the car in at the 4 year mark. I will mostly be using L2 charging to drive to and from work, and in the event I was making a long trip, I’d would DCFC to 80% anyways and drive to the next spot. Very little bearing on my actual use.

 

[RickMachE]

I don’t mind this, and in a way, I’m glad they idiot-proofed the car. If the optimal battery life is 8 years, this means a good resale value if I opt to trade the car in at the 4 year mark. I will mostly be using L2 charging to drive to and from work, and in the event I was making a long trip, I’d would DCFC to 80% anyways and drive to the next spot. Very little bearing on my actual use.

Nowhere does it say that.

The warranty is 8 years / 100,000 miles, 70% capability guaranteed. Darren Palmer says they hope to beat the 70%.

But that doesn't mean that the optimal battery life is 8 years. Batteries last longer than 8 years, and what does "optimal" mean?

 

[jonkMACHE]

Nowhere does it say that.

The warranty is 8 years / 100,000 miles, 70% capability guaranteed. Darren Palmer says they hope to beat the 70%.

But that doesn't mean that the optimal battery life is 8 years. Batteries last longer than 8 years, and what does "optimal" mean?

At the rate I’ll use the car, I’m looking to come in at about 80,000 in 8 years. If I sell it in 4, hopefully I’ll still have around 85%-90% capacity

 

[louibluey]

...

He also stated that you do not want to run your battery down to below 12% anything below that will divert power from your 12 volt battery and could kill it. The sweet spot for a long battery life is 12% to 80% so shoot for those ranges if possible.

...

I suspect that was a reference to the inability of MME to charge the LVB (unplugged) below some low HVB soc number. I had read 15% somewhere, but 12% makes sense too.

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