Battery Just died…It went from 49% to ZERO % in less than 2 mins.

[Adventureboy]

I doubt the update ate up the battery - way too much power to disappear that fast but I think the update glitch is on the right track. I expect the update may have affected the battery systems and hung up the SOC meter while driving and just didn't show the true SOC. Definitely not something you want happening while out on a trip so a follow-up with Ford is in order. I expect it might just be an anomaly of that update and your battery is probably fine. Have them check the State of Health on the HVB when they check it out.

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[Toreus]

interested to hear how this gets resolved OP. I’m nearby you and also interested to hear how Crossroads handles this for you (I’m assuming that’s your dealer, it’s mine as well). Hope you get a solution quickly.

 

[Jerrytball]

interested to hear how this gets resolved OP. I’m nearby you and also interested to hear how Crossroads handles this for you (I’m assuming that’s your dealer, it’s mine as well). Hope you get a solution quickly.

Hopefully crossroads can take care of you. I’ve bought many cars from them when I lived in Clayton but now I live in Mississippi wish I was back in Clayton lol

 

[Gimme_my_MME]

https://www.ford.com/support/how-to... (LFP) batteries,charge and distance to empty).

Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) batteries: Set the maximum charge level to 100%. Charge to 100% at least once per month to maintain estimated in-vehicle range accuracy (both state of charge and distance to empty). If not charged to 100% at least once per month, owners may experience degraded vehicle performance and a decrease in the accuracy of the vehicle's estimated range.

 

[PorkChopExpress]

Thank you everyone for your comments and recommendations. I am set to take the vehicle in to Crossroads (Apex NC) on 8/8 (next Thursday). That’s the earliest they could see me.

The battery appears to be normal the past two days. I did charge it to 100% last night. I drove it to work today and made it home with no problems. The battery is currently at 80%. I’m a little hesitant to take the battery down to 50% until closer to my appointment. I will probably do that around Next Tuesday or Wednesday. That way in case it happens again, I will have an appointment already scheduled. I’m planning on keeping it charged around 90 to 95% the next week.

My gut tells me this is a one-time software glitch, but obviously I want it checked out so it never happens again. It would have really sucked if I was stranded out on some country road 50 miles from home. I was very fortunate this happened so close to my home and only had to wait 90 mins for a tow truck to bring me a mile back home and I could get it charged back up overnight.

 

[VaporTrails]

I issued a rather glib response earlier, but to be clear, 50kwh of energy does not disappear in 2 minutes without a visible thermal event. When we tested the 100kw generator at work, it made a 100kw locomotive brake glow hot for a solid hour. You are talking about dissipating that energy in 2 minutes? Didn’t happen. So that battery either wasn’t _REALLY_ at 49% or it wasn’t really discharged. Car was dead so my money is on the. 49% being the lie. The GTPE drives 2.7 mi/kw and the pack is 94kw. So …250mi is a reasonable number. If the GOM is giving you numbers that are 5-6mi/kw… it is lying. I did notice when I got the 24-PU0102-FTDI-FX update, my battery charged to 100%. I wonder if the re-baselining 100% is part of the fix. All that to say…your battery is almost certainly just fine.

 

[Mach-Lee]

So as stated, this occurred because you have a LFP pack and you probably haven't charged it to 100% in some time.

It's very important that you regularly charge a LFP battery to 100% to calibrate the BMS.

Because of the extremely flat voltage curve of LFP cells, it's very difficult to estimate the energy in the battery unless it's been recently charged to 100%. That's why you suddenly ran out of energy, because of the BMS error. The battery had less energy in it than it was expecting due to lack of recent calibration.

Again, make sure you charge your LFP to 100% at least once a week to avoid this situation from happening again in the future. You should set your charge limit to at least 90% the rest of the time.

LFP do not suffer the same voltage degradation that NCM packs do, therefore it's safe to charge to high levels with an LFP all the time. The warning to only charge to 80% or less for long life apply to NCM packs only, not your pack.

 

[Gimme_my_MME]

Again, make sure you charge your LFP to 100% at least once a week to avoid this situation from happening again in the future.

Once a month is fine

 

[PorkChopExpress]

So as stated, this occurred because you have a LFP pack and you probably haven't charged it to 100% in some time.

It's very important that you regularly charge a LFP battery to 100% to calibrate the BMS.

Because of the extremely flat voltage curve of LFP cells, it's very difficult to estimate the energy in the battery unless it's been recently charged to 100%. That's why you suddenly ran out of energy, because of the BMS error. The battery had less energy in it than it was expecting due to lack of recent calibration.

Again, make sure you charge your LFP to 100% at least once a week to avoid this situation from happening again in the future. You should set your charge limit to at least 90% the rest of the time.

LFP do not suffer the same voltage degradation that NCM packs do, therefore it's safe to charge to high levels with an LFP all the time. The warning to only charge to 80% or less for long life apply to NCM packs only, not your pack.

Thank You Mach-Lee! I’ve been hoping for you to respond. You sound like a pretty knowledgeable dude! I have been charging the battery to 95% almost every day. I did take it to 100% last night and will plan on doing 100% once a week.

I really appreciate this forum and how much helpful everyone has been. I’ve been reading posts since I got my Mach-E (3 months ago) and the information has been invaluable. Now I feel like an actual contributor and might help someone avoid this same problem in the near future ? Thank you!

 

[Mach-Lee]

Thank You Mach-Lee! I’ve been hoping for you to respond. You sound like a pretty knowledgeable dude! I have been charging the battery to 95% almost every day. I did take it to 100% last night and will plan on doing 100% once a week.

I really appreciate this forum and how much helpful everyone has been. I’ve been reading posts since I got my Mach-E (3 months ago) and the information has been invaluable. Now I feel like an actual contributor and might help someone avoid this same problem in the near future ? Thank you!

Yeah if I had a LFP car I'd set it to 90% daily and hit the button to charge to 100% overnight every week or two.

 

[electric-in-the-desert]

Interesting, I knew LFP packs needed to be charged to 100% with some regularity, but I definitely didn’t realize the “accuracy degradation” was potentially so extreme when they haven’t been calibrated recently.

 

[JimmyMachE]

49% SOC to ZERO%. In under 2 mins. The warning came up once I started up my car. I wasn’t paying much attention to the battery since i was close to home and had 49% when I parked it at Publix. This was the lowest Ive had my battery since getting the Mach E 3 months ago.

Interesting, your LFP battery was requently charged to 95%, and has never been below 49% since the car was new.

Your SOC calculation seems to have drifted away in 3 months. Voltage curve is extremely flat in LFP, the BMS can correctly calculate the SOC by learning at least one end of the voltage curve, otherwise there a large degree of uncertainty (according to the article below).

source: https://powerup-technology.com/nmc-vs-lfp-safety-and-performance-in-operation/

 

[Mach En Cheese]

My wife has a tesla with an LFP battery and they recommend to set the target charge to 100% and fully charge at least weekly.

I'm not sure there is a benefit to setting the target to 90%-95% and occasionally modifying it to 100%. Your regular driving routine will naturally bring it under 100%, if you're worried about holding it at a full SOC. Just top off occasionally.

 

[Mach-Lee]

I'm not sure there is a benefit to setting the target to 90%-95% and occasionally modifying it to 100%.

It saves some battery degradation to do that. It's not as sensitive as NCM but LFP still benefits from longer life with lower charge levels.

 

[Guss-E 2021]

I'm curious to know if anyone at the dealership explained the particulars of your battery chemistry to you?

I'm aware of the charge tolerance of LFP packs but didn't know it was a requirement to hit 100% periodically. This is the kind of thing dealerships should be trained on.

EDIT/UPDATE: I totally get the laughing emoji responses to my statement above, I really do. However, the Mach-E has been out for years now. Initial sales staff ignorance in the first year or so, though disappointing, is understandable. But I'm not laughing anymore. At this point in time, with the total number of BEVs Ford has sold to date, the apparent lack of knowledge displayed by Ford dealership sales personnel regarding EVs is no longer funny to me. It's annoying.

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