Charging Problems

[PleasantFields]

My Mach E lost its entire charge overnight and does not accept a charge. Had to have car towed to the dealers. Will know more today. Anyone had a similar experience?

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[RickMachE]

It is highly unlikely that it lost the charge in the HVB. More likely it has a dead 12v battery, and yes, many have had this issue.

 

[AKgrampy]

And the question will now be why? Bad LVB, parasitic drain, or bad on board battery management? Do you have anything like traffic cam wired into system?

 

[Vulnox]

As was mentioned but to provide some detail if needed, your car has a HVB (High Voltage Battery) and a 12v LVB. The LVB runs almost everything you interact with, lights, instrument cluster, locks, windows, etc. Like any other car you have owned.

Also like any car you have owned, a 12V battery that is dead will prevent the car from working, even if you have a full tank of gas/full HVB.

Now this shouldn't happen with a healthy 12V battery and battery maintenance system, which on an ICE is usually the alternator charging the 12v as needed and in an EV there is a battery management system and DC to DC converter that uses the HVB to charge the 12V as needed.

For whatever reason your 12V was drained or otherwise failed. It could be a load as others have mentioned, like an accessory you installed that isn't turning itself off properly, or some other fault in the car itself to maintain the 12v properly, or maybe a faulty battery from the start that is just now making issues for you.

That said, this likely wouldn't have required a tow. You most likely could have just charged the 12V or jumped it to get the car started and it would have gone back to maintaining the 12V. There are jump points on the front of the car to access the frunk, then you remove a plastic piece under the frunk to access the 12V and use a jump box or 12v charger on it.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

My Mach E lost its entire charge overnight and does not accept a charge. Had to have car towed to the dealers. Will know more today. Anyone had a similar experience?

Hi Robert! I can look into your Mach-E's charge concern on my end. To get started, could you please send a private message over with the name/location of your local Ford dealer and your Mach-E's VIN?

 

[kltye]

My Mach E lost its entire charge overnight and does not accept a charge. Had to have car towed to the dealers. Will know more today. Anyone had a similar experience?

Lost entire charge from the HVB? What SoC did you leave it at?

 

[PleasantFields]

It is highly unlikely that it lost the charge in the HVB. More likely it has a dead 12v battery, and yes, many have had this issue.

Thank you...makes sense.

 

[PleasantFields]

And the question will now be why? Bad LVB, parasitic drain, or bad on board battery management? Do you have anything like traffic cam wired into system?

No, nothing additional wired into the system. Never had the problem before.

 

[PleasantFields]

Lost entire charge from the HVB? What SoC did you leave it at?

Fully charged....230 miles

 

[PleasantFields]

Hi Robert! I can look into your Mach-E's charge concern on my end. To get started, could you please send a private message over with the name/location of your local Ford dealer and your Mach-E's VIN?

My car is at the dealer(Sheehy Ford in Gaithersburg, MD) right now....expecting a phone call this afternoon.

 

[PleasantFields]

As was mentioned but to provide some detail if needed, your car has a HVB (High Voltage Battery) and a 12v LVB. The LVB runs almost everything you interact with, lights, instrument cluster, locks, windows, etc. Like any other car you have owned.

Also like any car you have owned, a 12V battery that is dead will prevent the car from working, even if you have a full tank of gas/full HVB.

Now this shouldn't happen with a healthy 12V battery and battery maintenance system, which on an ICE is usually the alternator charging the 12v as needed and in an EV there is a battery management system and DC to DC converter that uses the HVB to charge the 12V as needed.

For whatever reason your 12V was drained or otherwise failed. It could be a load as others have mentioned, like an accessory you installed that isn't turning itself off properly, or some other fault in the car itself to maintain the 12v properly, or maybe a faulty battery from the start that is just now making issues for you.

That said, this likely wouldn't have required a tow. You most likely could have just charged the 12V or jumped it to get the car started and it would have gone back to maintaining the 12V. There are jump points on the front of the car to access the frunk, then you remove a plastic piece under the frunk to access the 12V and use a jump box or 12v charger on it.

Couldn't open the door to get into the car. Also no additional car available to use to jump it. Towing was my only option

 

[RickMachE]

Couldn't open the door to get into the car. Also no additional car available to use to jump it. Towing was my only option

How did you get a new battery then? How did you open the frunk?

And the tow truck simply hooks up to the bumper lead, gets the frunk open, connects to battery, and viola, you're running.

 

[PleasantFields]

How did you get a new battery then? How did you open the frunk?

And the tow truck simply hooks up to the bumper lead, gets the frunk open, connects to battery, and viola, you're running.

What new battery. They just towed the car away....It was also stuck in park so he had to put the car on special rollers to tow it away. He offered to advice about what the problem could be.

 

[RickMachE]

What new battery. They just towed the car away....It was also stuck in park so he had to put the car on special rollers to tow it away. He offered to advice about what the problem could be.

Sorry, got confused with another thread.

All he had to do was connect to the front leads, pop the frunk, then charge the battery enough to get it running.

 

[kltye]

This really sounds like a dead 12v battery, rather than a drained HVB. Two glitches occurred: 1) something drained the LVB; 2) the DC-DC converter didn't kick on to charge it back up when it was low. It's not supposed to happen, but it's been known to happen. I'd be concerned only if this keeps occurring.

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