What is the normal percentage of charge to get 300 miles range on ER RWD?

Ricmic8560

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Nobody talks about the actual charging percentage on the long range rear wheel drive Premium trim level? If the large battery is 99kWh with 88kwh usable. Does Ford recommend charging up to 80% or 100% of 88kwh? If it's 100%, then 300 miles range should be achievable? Correct me if I am wrong.
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The EPA rating says 300 miles which is charged to 100%.

Ford recommends (in the owner's manual) a daily charge to 90% but you won't get 300 miles out of 90% (well you may depending on how you drive it).

As with all EVs it depends on how you drive it. Find a not too busy 2 lane road, set cruise to 50 mph and I bet you'll go 350 miles on 100%. Drive 70+ mph down the freeway and you'll be lucky to hit 270 miles on 100%.
 

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Nobody talks about the actual charging percentage on the long range rear wheel drive Premium trim level? If the large battery is 99kWh with 88kwh usable. Does Ford recommend charging up to 80% or 100% of 88kwh? If it's 100%, then 300 miles range should be achievable? Correct me if I am wrong.
Yes, charging the ER RWD to 100% of the usable capacity (88kwh) will get you 300 miles range - assuming the driving pattern matches the one used to get that 300 mile range EPA estimate. The manual says to charge to 90% (of the available 88kwh) on a daily basis to get the most longevity out of the battery. That doesn't mean you can't charge to 100%, or that doing so will significantly harm the battery. It's no different than Ford telling you to change the oil after 3500 miles in an ICE. You can go 4500 miles between changes, but it does wear the rings and other parts more. If you only own the car for 100,000 miles then it probably makes no difference.

As for "usable" 88kwh vs "actual" 99 kwh on the ER: all that matters is the definition of "usable". The extra kwh is "walled off" so you as the user never see it, so when the car reports x% SOC it is always relative to the "usable" amount. For all intents and purposes, all that matters is the "usable" when charging or doing any range calculations. However, since Ford could change the size of the "walled off" area it is nice to know how big it is even though you cannot currently access it.
 

dbsb3233

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Nobody talks about the actual charging percentage on the long range rear wheel drive Premium trim level? If the large battery is 99kWh with 88kwh usable. Does Ford recommend charging up to 80% or 100% of 88kwh? If it's 100%, then 300 miles range should be achievable? Correct me if I am wrong.
Just charge to 100% when you really think you'll need a long range day. It's fine occasionally. But most days, 90% (or even 80 or 85) is more advisable for battery longevity.

300 miles is the estimated range for the full 0% to 100% (drive it till it dies) at slower speeds (<50 MPH), and without heat or A/C. But if you're driving somewhere at, say, 65 MPH using climate control in modest weather, and running it from 100% down to 10%, I'd estimate that range to be roughly 220-240. If it's quite cold out, subtract another 10%. If 75 MPH+, subtract another 10%.

Those are just my estimates, but that's fairly consistent with other BEVs.
 

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I will plan to only charge to 100 percent the night before a long trip.
 


GoGoGadgetMachE

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Me too! Inquiring minds want to know, LOL.
the idea is that it allows the car to not appear to lose usable capacity over time, because the car can "backfill" capacity... most BEVs and PHEVs (not all) have some amount of reserve for that purpose.
 

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also lots of posts around on this search for "11% reserve"
Search tools are great, I often recommend them on other forums. But they are useless if you don't know the proper search term.

"11% reserve" just does not compute for an ICE guy on a BEV forum. :)
 

GoGoGadgetMachE

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Search tools are great, I often recommend them on other forums. But they are useless if you don't know the proper search term.

"11% reserve" just does not compute for an ICE guy on a BEV forum. :)
and now you know why I both answered you directly and gave you specific search terms for more information?
 

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the idea is that it allows the car to not appear to lose usable capacity over time, because the car can "backfill" capacity... most BEVs and PHEVs (not all) have some amount of reserve for that purpose.
Or part of the idea, at least. The other part (likely the main part) is that both ends of the SOC are the most harmful for a battery (running it super low or filling it super high). So there should always be some buffer on each end to protect the battery.

Another theory on why Ford set it at a very conservative 11 kW is that they want to be overly sure at first that the batteries are doing fine. And probably collect user data (battery temps and such) for a while, and if it's all looking good, maybe they'll unlock a bit more of that 11 kW buffer with an OTA update. (Perhaps that's more hope than theory.)

Or as you suggest, they may keep it locked and only unlock a smidge at a time as each car ages in order to maintain the 70% range guarantee for 8 years.
 

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Why is there the walled off 11kwh area?
Me too! Inquiring minds want to know, LOL.
As an addition to the replies below here's some added information: Li-ion batteries don't like to be discharged too loo nor charged too high. Doing so too frequently can degrade the battery's performance and decrease how much charge it will hold.

Probably a better search is to google "lithium ion battery degradation" or "how to care for a lithium ion battery". There's lots of information out there about the topic, but the short answer is that the "walled off" portion (referred to as the "buffer") helps to ensure that the battery holds a consistent charge for the lifetime of the car.

the idea is that it allows the car to not appear to lose usable capacity over time, because the car can "backfill" capacity... most BEVs and PHEVs (not all) have some amount of reserve for that purpose.
Or part of the idea, at least. The other part (likely the main part) is that both ends of the SOC are the most harmful for a battery (running it super low or filling it super high). So there should always be some buffer on each end to protect the battery.

Another theory on why Ford set it at a very conservative 11 kW is that they want to be overly sure at first that the batteries are doing fine. And probably collect user data (battery temps and such) for a while, and if it's all looking good, maybe they'll unlock a bit more of that 11 kW buffer with an OTA update. (Perhaps that's more hope than theory.)

Or as you suggest, they may keep it locked and only unlock a smidge at a time as each car ages in order to maintain the 70% range guarantee for 8 years.
 

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There is a bit of marketing involved too. My Chevy Bolt has a 59 kWh battery that it lets me use but I have often argued that the capacity is arbitrarily assigned by the manufacturer. It could be a 65 kWh battery that they rate for 59 kWh.

So Ford could have called the extended range battery 99 kWh with an 11% reserve or they could have called it an 88 kWh battery with no reserve.
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