Any way to check battery health?

ripperAZ

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How does Ford calculate if the battery is over 80 percent still useful as that is their Methodology for the eight year battery warranty

They must have a way to calculate it right ha ha Ha ha ha
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dtbaker61

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My MME Premium AWD range estimates have gone down dramatically since i first purchaeed the car about a year ago. I am a pretty conservative driver and mostly drive around town. Recently i reset the history a week ago and for a 90% charge the estimated was 230 miles but when I first got the car that would have been closer to 270 ( yes I onow thats the rated range for 100% charge on this car). Today with a 90% charge it gives me 192 miles.
Is there any way to check battery health like you can on an iphone or macbook?
The 'estimated range' displayed on the GOM (guessOmeter), is JUST AN ESTIMATE based on driving history, and more importantly temperature.... if you reset your history, and the outside ambient temp is around 70 F, you will see the 'factory estimate'.

Consider your HV battery 'healthy' otherwise, and get used to your actual range varying +/- 15% with temperature, elevation change on one-way trips, amount of highway versus in-town stop and go (with regen).... etc. etc
 

jbirdzee

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Try recurrent, their blurb is "Recurrent provides transparency so you can have confidence in your EV and its battery."

"FOR EV OWNERS
Connect your car once and we take care of the rest. We monitor 4 data points daily to build your monthly report - that’s it!"

Sign up link for EV owners to get a report:

https://www.recurrentauto.com/for-owners

Disclaimer: I haven't used it but I'm signing up now :)
I am curious about everyone's' thoughts on recurrent........ I tried that out for 3 months. They came back saying my car had already lost 10% of pack capacity after that short period, and that I should really never have the battery above 80%. If I understand their business model correctly, they want to be able to give used EV buyers confidence in the battery performance specific to that VIN. I was immediately concerned that any assumptions they make, (especially if they are wrong) would ultimately devalue my car just they way Carfax issues would if their database becomes something buyers will lean on in the future.
 

dtbaker61

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Today I'm showing 172 miles at 90%. 32 degrees and snowing. Will be charging to 100% tonight, preconditioning for an early departure tomorrow. Hoping to squeak 210+ miles (need 200) out of the first leg of the trip.
It's a VERY bad idea to plan a leg where you only have 10 theoretical miles of range left, when it's cold, highway, and unknown elevation change on a one-way highway leg. It would be MUCH safer to plan a stop in the middle, even just briefly, to be sure you are not below 10% actual battery at the end.
 
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dtbaker61

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I am curious about everyone's' thoughts on recurrent........ I tried that out for 3 months. They came back saying my car had already lost 10% of pack capacity after that short period, and that I should really never have the battery above 80%. If I understand their business model correctly, they want to be able to give used EV buyers confidence in the battery performance specific to that VIN. I was immediately concerned that any assumptions they make, (especially if they are wrong) would ultimately devalue my car just they way Carfax issues would if their database becomes something buyers will lean on in the future.
looks to me that their business model simply preys on Owner's anxiety.
 


RickMachE

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looks to me that their business model simply preys on Owner's anxiety.
One other thing - on selling your data. They stated one thing when they posted here, I called them on it, and they didn't address it.
 
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RickMachE

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It's a VERY bad idea to plan a leg where you only have 10 theoretical miles of range left, when it's cold, highway, and unknown elevation change on a one-way highway leg. It would be MUCH safer to plan a stop in the middle, even just briefly, to be sure you are not below 10% actual battery at the end.
Thanks, I'm comfortable with my planning. I'll make a decision at one point, then have one other 90 minutes later. As long as when I get to that location I have enough to comfortably get the rest of the way, I'm good. It's not an unknown route, just first time in colder weather. Tomorrow's expected wind coupled with very cold temps may require the stop, we'll see.
 
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macgyver60

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The 'estimated range' displayed on the GOM (guessOmeter), is JUST AN ESTIMATE based on driving history, and more importantly temperature.... if you reset your history, and the outside ambient temp is around 70 F, you will see the 'factory estimate'.

Consider your HV battery 'healthy' otherwise, and get used to your actual range varying +/- 15% with temperature, elevation change on one-way trips, amount of highway versus in-town stop and go (with regen).... etc. etc
I do realize its an estimate. Im just trying to determine why two GMO estimates done a year apart under similar conditions are significantly different. A year ago I was actually getting ridiculously high estimates of over 300 miles. Anyway my original question was answered. Apparently there is no way to get an accurate objective assessment of battery health that is completely independent of environmental influence
 
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macgyver60

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I am curious about everyone's' thoughts on recurrent........ I tried that out for 3 months. They came back saying my car had already lost 10% of pack capacity after that short period, and that I should really never have the battery above 80%. If I understand their business model correctly, they want to be able to give used EV buyers confidence in the battery performance specific to that VIN. I was immediately concerned that any assumptions they make, (especially if they are wrong) would ultimately devalue my car just they way Carfax issues would if their database becomes something buyers will lean on in the future.
I had the same experience with recurrent but I suspect some of the issue is that their database for the MME is relatively small so far
 
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macgyver60

macgyver60

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These are the updates your car has available:

1647010295507.png
Thanks. So I assume that means those were not done and need to be done at the dealer? I understand there have been some issues with dealers not wanting to do updates and customers being left with no other options. As I mentioned the dealer had my car for almost 3 weeks. I woild have hoped they would have done any necessary updates during that time especially since software issues were part of the problem they had with the car and Ford even sent a field engineer to work on it with them
 

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Thanks. So I assume that means those were not done and need to be done at the dealer? I understand there have been some issues with dealers not wanting to do updates and customers being left with no other options. As I mentioned the dealer had my car for almost 3 weeks. I woild have hoped they would have done any necessary updates during that time especially since software issues were part of the problem they had with the car and Ford even sent a field engineer to work on it with them
The PCM, SOBDMC, and SOBDMB should have been done as part of 21P22. The RFA should have been too, but a new RFA update just came out yesterday.
 

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I think your best bet, if your truly concerned, would be to get one these OBD scanners people are using. Run your battery almost dead then see how many KWH it takes to get to full charge. Make sure you’re looking at the battery power, not what the charger says it’s delivering.
 

AZBill

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You reset the history…..
So, do you recall all the threads last year about the car being super conservative on the GOM for the first taking 1000 miles in order to calibrate to your driving style? They were the threads from new owners before all the threads about low range from cold weather. You started that all over.

I think the best you could do would be to put electrical tape over the GOM, charge to 100%, then do your own EPA test. Find a 135 mile route that is 50% highway (Don’t drive over 60 MPH) and 50% city with lots of stopsigns/light (Average 35 MPH during this part). See if that uses 50% of your charge.

Short of using a rectal thermometer in the tailpipe, you can’t really check the battery health.
This is it. Prior to getting the 21P22 software update I would see 240-260 miles of range on the GOM, charging to 80%. When charging to 100% it would always exceed 300 miles (I have the CA RT 1 with 305 EPA). After the update it has dropped to 200-220 on the GOM. I took a trip from Phoenix to Tucson recently, driving at 70-75mph the entire trip. I used 49% of my battery to go 153 miles, but the GOM started out at 270 miles at 100%, with all the recent driving history being in town. The real world and the GOM do not match. After arriving in Tucson, the car was reading much less than 150 miles, even though I had just driven that much and used less than half the battery.

What is irritating about the Ford GOM, is that it does not seem to adapt to current driving conditions very well. I own a Bolt and the GOM adjusts to current conditions fairly rapidly, after 30-40 miles into a road trip, it will be very accurate for miles remaining at highway speeds.
 

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The PCM, SOBDMC, and SOBDMB should have been done as part of 21P22. The RFA should have been too, but a new RFA update just came out yesterday.
If I were @macgyver60, I'd ask the dealer if they performed 21P22 when they had the car. Of course I don't think any of us know which module on the list of 13 is the one that changes the range estimation.

I'd also suggest that you can't just say "same time of year". I just got this email from my utility company:

Dear Richard,

Account Number: ********

For your home, managing your costs is a priority, and DTE is here to help. We have programs, tools and tips to help manage your energy use, and reduce your energy bill.
We have compared your current natural gas usage against the same time period last year. We estimate that you have used 100 CCF of gas so far this month. At this rate of use, we project your next energy bill to be higher than last year during the same time.

GAS USAGE SUMMARY
DATE RANGE
BILL AMOUNT
Prior Year Bill
02/26/2021 to 03/25/2021
$148.15
Prior Month Bill
01/26/2022 to 02/24/2022
$324.99
Projected Bill
02/25/2022 to 03/25/2022
$211.29 to $224.64

So, have I used more gas than last year, or is it just more expensive? According to my app, 1/2 way through the month I've used 144 CCF, last year I used 178 the entire month. Yet they're both late Feb to late March...

Last Feb was coldest in 30 years though.
 

dtbaker61

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I do realize its an estimate. Im just trying to determine why two GMO estimates done a year apart under similar conditions are significantly different. A year ago I was actually getting ridiculously high estimates of over 300 miles. Anyway my original question was answered. Apparently there is no way to get an accurate objective assessment of battery health that is completely independent of environmental influence
small changes in test conditions can make 'significant' changes in range estimate calculations...

There are objective ways to test battery capacity of course... but it would require:
- charging to 100% in a controlled temp environment (probably 70 degrees F)
- applying a load, probably on a dyno, until battery voltage drops to the voltage considered 'empty', which is the setpoint programed to read 0% (useful capacity)
- review the 'trip' data to find out what the actual Energy (kWhr) consumed was compared to the 'new' useful capacity.
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