Preconditioning the battery before fast charging is no longer happening

[Just Lurking]

• Having a hard time understanding the idea of being on a road trip and the DC charging stations (Electrify America) starting at ~120KW and then slowing down to 70-80KW. *Conspiracy Theory Alert* - Why the slow down? If it's about the wires getting hot, use larger wires. Seems like a money grab since the more time you're there, the more they can charge, especially after 80% when it drops to 30KW. Being on a road trip, I'm trying to charge up to 90% at least.

Does EA charge by time in your area instead of by kWh? In most places they charge by kWh so it's in their interest to let you charge fast and then vacate the charger so someone else can charge.

The charge rate is actually controlled by the car, and the reason it slows down is to protect the battery. As the battery percentage increases, charging at a high rate causes long-term damage to the battery. Due to original design decisions the Mach-E DC fast charges a little slower than the competition. Something that we hope will improve with Ford's next-gen EVs due around 2025/6.

You may not have noticed, but other electronics like your phone/tablet do the same thing (charge fast with low battery and then taper the charge rate as the battery fills up).

Would it be too difficult to add a "pre-condition" button so I can turn it on when I want to set a particular location that isn't in the "Ford Charging Network"?

Agreed; this would be nice to have.

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[SbN]

Does EA charge by time in your area instead of by kWh? In most places they charge by kWh so it's in their interest to let you charge fast and then vacate the charger so someone else can charge.

The charge rate is actually controlled by the car, and the reason it slows down is to protect the battery. As the battery percentage increases, charging at a high rate causes long-term damage to the battery. Due to original design decisions the Mach-E DC fast charges a little slower than the competition. Something that we hope will improve with Ford's next-gen EVs due around 2025/6.

You may not have noticed, but other electronics like your phone/tablet do the same thing (charge fast with low battery and then taper the charge rate as the battery fills up).

Didn't make that connection and I'll go ahead and take off my tin-foil hat. Thank you for the corrected information.

 

[RickMachE]

Let's also be clear that EA definitely slows the charge rate at many locations for a variety of reasons, sometimes intentionally, sometimes not.

 

[kltye]

At least for me. Just completed a trip, monitoring with CarScanner. No warming of battery approaching a DC fast charger, when set in the navigation, even set via Charge Assist. Nothing.

Was this a problem with multiple DC charger locations? I've found that the nav doesn't activate preconditioning for certain (new-ish) chargers, even though it's identified as a charger by the navigation. I've literally had to tell it I'm going to a different DC charger - one which I know worked in the past - for preconditioning to start.

 

[1CalifCowboy]

Just returned from a Selma Ca to Pheonix AZ run. 1200-mile quick turnaround 22 hours.4 charge stops going and coming. Charge Assist app worked for the first EA station and remained stuck on that station for the remainder of the trip. 1200 miles of problems activating the charging after we had plugged in the Mustang for the first charge, before the update 6.1.0 and charge assist app everything was working, except for the long charge times to 80%, this is our 4th trip,
The KW starts at 120 to 150 and drops down to sometimes 35, but if I stop it and re plug to continue charging it will jump back to 150 for a while and then slow again. Anyone else experience this? Explanation as to why?

Ford has a great thing, just need to shake out the bugs. and get 3.0 mikes per kw above 75 mph
common who is going to drive across the desert at 59 mph

 

[RickMachE]

Just returned from a Selma Ca to Pheonix AZ run. 1200-mile quick turnaround 22 hours.4 charge stops going and coming. Charge Assist app worked for the first EA station and remained stuck on that station for the remainder of the trip. 1200 miles of problems activating the charging after we had plugged in the Mustang for the first charge, before the update 6.1.0 and charge assist app everything was working, except for the long charge times to 80%, this is our 4th trip,
The KW starts at 120 to 150 and drops down to sometimes 35, but if I stop it and re plug to continue charging it will jump back to 150 for a while and then slow again. Anyone else experience this? Explanation as to why?

Ford has a great thing, just need to shake out the bugs. and get 3.0 mikes per kw above 75 mph
common who is going to drive across the desert at 59 mph

Your charging speed issue is due to EA's charger.

If Charge Assist gets stuck, try swiping the app off the tray down to close it, and reopen it.

 

[1CalifCowboy]

Tried that and still stuck. When I did a sync reboot it worked at the last charge station, The battery preconditioning didn't seem to be working no matter what I tried, We use the Ford Nav for the trip and charge stops, compared to past trips charging time remained the same. I think the precondition button would be a great add.

Thank you for the response!

 

[RickMachE]

Tried that and still stuck. When I did a sync reboot it worked at the last charge station, The battery preconditioning didn't seem to be working no matter what I tried, We use the Ford Nav for the trip and charge stops, compared to past trips charging time remained the same. I think the precondition button would be a great add.

Thank you for the response!

Apparently Charge Assist means no battery preconditioning.

 

[DustyShades]

Having to use Ford’s nav is a price too high. No preconditioning for me. I wish they would give us the option to use with other nav systems. It would be nice to charge quickly and move on.

Have you used it? I drove down the west coast using it and it’s actually pretty good. Doesn’t feel much different from google maps, tbh.

 

[Howard]

I did a road trip in early December from Memphis TN to Columbus OH to Kingsport TN and then back to Memphis TN over the course of 4 days. I DCFC at 6 different EA stations along the routes; I created my route in FP app and downloaded it into Nav system in the car. On the initial trip to Columbus, my first charge stop was at a Chargepoint 125kw charger in a small town in south of Nashville (this was also my last stop on trip home). This charger was included in my trip I created in FP app. I used Charge assist to activate the charger both times; I have also used Charge assist to activate Chargepoint chargers in Bristol TN with no issues also. I have not used Charge assist to send the destination to nav system; if the charging session is not part of a longer trip, I select it from the charger list in the nav system. On all charging stops during the trip, the battery was preconditioned during the last 20 miles prior to reaching the charger unless battery temperature was high enough that preconditioning was not necessary. If you have made it this far, I know that all of you don't believe me that I was able to get a map to download from FP app to nav system lol. No changes were made during the download either. I've actually never had any issues using this trip feature.

 

[SbN]

Ford has a great thing, just need to shake out the bugs. and get 3.0 mikes per kw above 75 mph
common who is going to drive across the desert at 59 mph

Can't agree more. Having to drive under 70mph (on a highway that is rated for 75mph) to keep it at 3mi/kwh, isn't great for long road trips. Got all sorts of cars passing me as I try to drive behind a semi to knock some of the wind resistance down.

 

[SbN]

Tried that and still stuck. When I did a sync reboot it worked at the last charge station, The battery preconditioning didn't seem to be working no matter what I tried, We use the Ford Nav for the trip and charge stops, compared to past trips charging time remained the same. I think the precondition button would be a great add.

Thank you for the response!

"Sync reboot"? Is there a button for this?

 

[RickMachE]

"Sync reboot"? Is there a button for this?

Hold volume down and right seek buttons on steering wheel...

 

[1CalifCowboy]

Coming home from Pheonix on 10 I tried to get the m/kw up to 3 so I started drafting behind trucks, Girlfriend asleep in passenger seat so I have blue cruise set minimum distant, was drinking coffee eating cookie, love blue cruise for that, Girlfriend wakes up in total panic and ask what I think I am doing, I told her it's like in the movie Talladega nights, "we are preparing for a sling shot honey"

No more blue cruise with coffee and cookies

 

[Howard]

OP: Rick, the wife and I did an unplanned day trip to Fort Campbell base in Clarksville, TN this past Saturday in our 23 premium ER RWD MME. Once she decided she wanted to go, I plugged MME in and charged from 83 to 93% while we were getting ready. Temperatures outside were in the upper 30's and never got above 41F during the trip. Base was 191 miles from our house. We mostly took 2 lane backroads on the way to the base so our efficiency was really good at 3.5 mi/kwh on roads that were 55 mph. Once we left the base, we went to a Chargepoint 125kw charger in Clarksville near I-24. I selected the charger in Ford nav system and heaters immediately came on (I had turned heaters off prior to setting the route and was monitoring with Car Scanner app). Battery temperature started out at 48F and was at 80F when we arrived at the charger (19 miles from base). Once at the charger, I used Charge Assist app to activate the charger and car charged just fine. On the trip back, we took a different route (2/3 of trip was on I-40) and our efficiency was at 3.0 mi/kwh). Our 23 MME is updated through 6.13.0. Thought I would give you a data point where battery did get preconditioned while heading to a DCFC after recent round of updates. I've used Charge Assist app a lot since it was installed on the car and have had zero issues. I've never tried to use it to get a route setup for navigation though. I either setup a trip in FP app and send it to the car or I setup the route in Ford nav system.

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