Battery life

[deni1460]

I have 70,000 miles on my Mache, it is no longer charging to 95% when down to 20% for over night charging. Is this a sign that I may need a new battery? Is there a diagnostic test for battery life?

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[RickMachE]

Your post is unclear. It sounds like your charger is not finishing the charge in the time allotted, with the car still charging but not reaching 95% by morning? If so, check the charger for warning lights BEFORE plugging in, then plug in and observe lights. Ford's Mobile Charger's lights are explained in the manual, and frequently fails. Also check the outlet for melting.

 

[rhougey]

I have 70,000 miles on my Mache, it is no longer charging to 95% when down to 20% for over night charging. Is this a sign that I may need a new battery? Is there a diagnostic test for battery life?

Rick is correct. This does not sound like a battery problem, but more of a charge speed problem. Whatever EVSE you are using is not delivering the charge speed that it once did, assuming you are still using the same EVSE that you previously did. If you are using the Ford travel unit, it is probably faulting as Rick stated. And you should also check outlet/circuit/breaker for overheating as Rick suggested. What EVSE are you using?

 

[E90alex]

Echo the posters above. Could be a problem with your EVSE or wiring and it’s de-rating the charge speed from overheating or some other issue.

But also unless you are truly using down to 20% from 95% everyday, there is no need to wait until 20% before plugging in to charge. Set a lower limit and plug in every day to recharge, which is 1) healthier for the battery and 2) less stressful on your EVSE and wiring because you aren’t pushing out high voltage/amperage for such long periods at a time which means less heat build up.

 

[HuntingPudel]

I guess the question we should be asking is: To what State of Charge is the car getting in the overnight time frame? If it's less than the 95% you're targeting, that's a charge rate issue. ??

 

[superdave80]

My Ford charger would start out fine, but then over time would overheat and reduce the charging speed. Then once it would cool down, it would ramp back up to full charge speed. So the overall charge speed was reduced to about half. And unless you happened to look at the charger during one of it's overheating periods, it would look fine (no error lights).

 

[Teslaeata]

Maybe too obvious a question to ask but could it be a target charge setting on car or charge point?

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

I have 70,000 miles on my Mache, it is no longer charging to 95% when down to 20% for over night charging. Is this a sign that I may need a new battery? Is there a diagnostic test for battery life?

Hi Denise, as others have noted, it is unlikely that your battery is the source of this issue. Battery degradation generally shows as a reduction in available range when fully charged. It is possible to check the battery state of health (SOH) using an OBD-II reader and the CarScanner app, but again, that's not likely what's happening here.

If your EVSE (charger) isn't completing a charge it can be a symptom of a serious defect in either the EVSE or the wiring to the EVSE. There have been many such instances here on the forum and in some cases the outlet and/or cable were actually melted or even burned.

So that we can better help you, please provide the following information:

• What percentage did your battery show in the morning?
• What EVSE (charger) do you have and do you know its amperage?
• Were there any fault lights on either the EVSE or the lighted ring next to the charging port of the Mach E?
• Is your EVSE hardwired, or does it have a plug? If it has a plug, can you unplug it and look carefully to see if anything looks odd (e.g., signs of black film, scorching, melting, burning on either the plastic or the metal of the plug and the outlet)? (Note: Be sure the EVSE is not plugged into the car when you unplug it from the outlet!)
• As mentioned above, is there any chance your charge target was accidentally changed?
• Similarly is there any chance the car "thinks" its in a different location where the charge target is different? (Charge History in the FordPass app indicates where your car was charged, so you can look it up there.)
• While the car is charging, look at the Energy tab in the FordPass app on your phone and let us know what Charge Rate it is showing (see example)

If you find any signs of heating on the EVSE plug or outlet, please call a licensed electrician (ideally one that is familiar with EV charging) and in the interim stop using the EVSE until it can be looked at.

With answers to the above we can try to help you figure out what's going on and how to resolve it.

 

[deni1460]

Thanks for all the advise! My charge rate is not showing on my app, it’s blank. I have my target charge set to 95% but it only charges to94%. I had a new charger installed 4 months ago by an electrician, worked fine for a few months.

 

[GreaseMonkey]

Thanks for all the advise! My charge rate is not showing on my app, it’s blank. I have my target charge set to 95% but it only charges to94%. I had a new charger installed 4 months ago by an electrician, worked fine for a few months.

That’s a common problem. I charge to 90% but the car often shows 89%. Annoying but very common and not a reason to be concerned.

 

[rhougey]

Thanks for all the advise! My charge rate is not showing on my app, it’s blank. I have my target charge set to 95% but it only charges to94%. I had a new charger installed 4 months ago by an electrician, worked fine for a few months.

So what Charger did you recently have installed?

 

[HuntingPudel]

If you have never done it, you might want to force the car to recalibrate the Battery Management System. You can do this by driving the car to below 20% (below 15% is better), then charging it up to 100% and letting it sit for at least 8 hours after that. It might just be a calibration/cell balance or display issue. ??

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

Thanks for all the advise! My charge rate is not showing on my app, it’s blank. I have my target charge set to 95% but it only charges to94%. I had a new charger installed 4 months ago by an electrician, worked fine for a few months.

Good, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. As Steve noted, it is very common for stuff like this to happen. While it seems like it should be absolutely accurate, in reality the reported SOH (state of charge, i.e., % full) is an estimate. It varies depending on many things, including battery temperature. And since the temperature of the battery can be different from the time the car is charging to the time you look at the display (or your phone), the estimated SOH can vary too. One or two percentage difference is common, but even as much as 5% (perhaps more) is possible. This doesn't mean you've lost any charge - it just means that the estimate of how full the battery has changed.

Oh, and the charge rate only shows while your car is actively charging.

 

[ChrisO]

Just something that you might not have thought of when talking about just 1%.

One might think that the SOC estimate is rounded to the nearest percentage, but from what I have seen it isn't.

This is something that I have noticed. If I charge 100%, it shows 100%, I start the car and back out of my garage, which is just two car lengths. It now shows 99%.

This makes sense if the value is truncated instead of rounded up. The moment you start drawing power you are by definition lower than 100% (or 90%, ...), something like 99.99%

The bottom line is like the others have said it is an estimate, and given this nature of truncating the percentage value, it wouldn't take much to show 1% off.

 

[McQueen]

If you have never done it, you might want to force the car to recalibrate the Battery Management System. You can do this by driving the car to below 20% (below 15% is better), then charging it up to 100% and letting it sit for at least 8 hours after that. It might just be a calibration/cell balance or display issue. ??

Thank you. Can that be done with L1 (120 volt) charging?

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