charge limit

[Space_Pony]

Looking for the 90% charge limit recommendation as I remember seeing it somewhere. Now though, when looking in the manual I see this:


Overnight Charging
You can increase the longevity and performance of your high voltage battery by using the charge scheduling and departure and comfort settings on your touchscreen or in the FordPass app.
With charge scheduling, you can improve the high voltage battery's longevity by delaying the start of charging and setting a maximum charging limit. Set your preferred charging times to be at least 2-3 hours after your typical plug in time. This allows the battery to cool before charging begins. Additionally, setting the maximum charge level to be less than 100% for everyday usage reduces strain on the battery.


Seems all other manufacturers recommend charging to 80%, but Ford did say 90%. Now they say "eh, just don't charge to 100% every day, we think".

Anyone else kinda confused by this?

This is what is in the manual that I downloaded when I purchased our car.

Overnight Charging
You can increase the longevity and
performance of your high voltage battery
by using the charge scheduling and
departure and comfort settings on your
touchscreen or in the FordPass app.
With Charge Scheduling you can improve
the high voltage battery's longevity by
delaying the start of charging and setting
a maximum charging limit. It is
recommended to set your preferred
charging times to be at least 2-3 hours
after your typical plug in time. This allows
the battery to cool before charging begins.
Additionally, setting the maximum charge
level to 90% for everyday usage reduces
strain on the battery.
You can improve driving range and
performance by scheduling departure
times and cabin comfort level with the
Departure and Comfort feature. This will
not only warm or cool the cabin but also
condition the battery to ensure best driving
range and performance by the set
departure time.

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[Teslaeata]

Not confused, not interested, not worried

Charge to 100% when I need to road trip which is around 2-3 times per week.

If charge state is low when not out on road trip next day then cut an hour and a half off projected charge time to full.

Oh, and if I need to DCFC I will do that as often as I like/need which is probably around 150 times in 29mths.

SoH still 96%

If battery can’t take that then the car’s history but on my experience this just won’t happen.

 

[generaltso]

Looking for the 90% charge limit recommendation as I remember seeing it somewhere. Now though, when looking in the manual I see this:


Overnight Charging
You can increase the longevity and performance of your high voltage battery by using the charge scheduling and departure and comfort settings on your touchscreen or in the FordPass app.
With charge scheduling, you can improve the high voltage battery's longevity by delaying the start of charging and setting a maximum charging limit. Set your preferred charging times to be at least 2-3 hours after your typical plug in time. This allows the battery to cool before charging begins. Additionally, setting the maximum charge level to be less than 100% for everyday usage reduces strain on the battery.


Seems all other manufacturers recommend charging to 80%, but Ford did say 90%. Now they say "eh, just don't charge to 100% every day, we think".

Anyone else kinda confused by this?

The manual for 2021 Job 1 cars said 90%. For Job 2, Ford changed it to “less than 100%”. Then for 2022 they changed it back to 90%.

 

[933233311602]

Don't believe in shortchanging myself like filling your ICE gas tank 80% which is ludicrous IMO.

Just checking that you know that recharging a battery and refulling a gas tank are not alike things at all?

Just checking that you know that charging to 100% every time is shortchanging yourself because the battery will be weaker in future years?

 

[milepost1]

To answer your actual question, my 2023 manual says this in the “preserving your high voltage battery” section:

“Extended Range Nickel Cobalt Manganese (NCM) Batteries
Set your preferred charging times to be at least 2-3 hours after your typical plug in time. This allows the battery to cool before charging begins. Additionally, setting the maximum charge level to 90% for everyday usage reduces strain on the battery.”

Nickle Cobalt batteries are DIFFERANT than lithium Ion batteries. They have differant charge requirements. My understanding higher state of charge 100% vs 80% with less degradation and more power density. So could it depend on battery type? Or how Ford set up buffer? Or both?

 

[milepost1]

100% every time - once a week.

Don't believe in shortchanging myself like filling your ICE gas tank 80% which is ludicrous IMO.

Why do you charge 1x a week? Are you not shorting yourself everytime u leave after the first drive?

 

[DevSecOps]

Nickle Cobalt batteries are DIFFERANT than lithium Ion batteries. They have differant charge requirements. My understanding higher state of charge 100% vs 80% with less degradation and more power density. So could it depend on battery type? Or how Ford set up buffer? Or both?

Yeah, that's not correct. Nickel Manganese Cobalt is a type of Lithium-Ion battery, likewise LFP is also a type of Lithium-Ion battery. And if you're going to YELL words you should probably spell them correctly.

Here's some Lithium-Ion battery education for you and this also explains why going too low or too high SOC is potentially bad. These cars have buffers on both ends, so just charge to whatever you want and drive the car. Let the BMS handle the battery.

 

[jasdf2345]

"These cars have buffers on both ends, so just charge to whatever you want and drive the car. Let the BMS handle the battery."

This is what has had me wondering for a while, the cars have buffers to not allow full charge or depletion. However, the GM manual for the Lyriq states to charge to 80% so that you can maximize the use of regenerative braking.

Is that the only reason then for charging less than 100%? So that you can use regen braking?

 

[Teslaeata]

Overthinking this spoils the enjoyment in my view, so long as I don’t leave it at 100% for more than an hour or so until 1st journey after full charge I’m content

Let BMS do the worrying!

 

[RickMachE]

The manual for 2021 Job 1 cars said 90%. For Job 2, Ford changed it to “less than 100%”. Then for 2022 they changed it back to 90%.

The 2024 manual says the following:

Charge to whatever percentage you want to. We don't give a rat's ass what you do. At 8 years / 100,000 miles, despite what the Car Scanner app tells you, we're going to run a proprietary calculation to show 70.0001% battery capacity. So have at it, and beat the leaving crap out of your battery!"

 

[Joel Morgan]

80% is the normal recommend upper limit unless you’re taking a long trip and need a full charge.

 

[generaltso]

80% is the normal recommend upper limit unless you’re taking a long trip and need a full charge.

To the best of my knowledge, Ford has not made that recommendation.

 

[Joel Morgan]

To the best of my knowledge, Ford has not made that recommendation.

I may be wrong but I think I saw it in the user guide.

 

[Joel Morgan]

I may be wrong but I think I saw it in the user guide.

My mistake. Please see the attached. It’s 90%.

 

[GatorGrowl]

I appreciate your knowledge. Thank you. I'm guessing this is probably too much work for most people to stick to, though.

Yea, I agree. The simple answer for most people is to average the drop in SOC from wherever you start over a couple weeks. Take that percentage, divide it by two and add the result to 50. That’s your best max charge setting. Feel free to charge higher time to time if you need it, and don’t worry about it.

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