Charging Curve Is.. Terrible

[COACH CHRIS]

Any idea what’s happening here? Trying to figure out if it’s the charger or the car. It happens consistently enough at this charging location but haven’t had a chance to test elsewhere. (I don’t often have opportunities to fast charge.) I suspect the latter, but really don’t want to give my car up to Ford for however long while they diagnose.

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[flapjake314]

what is the outside temp, what is your state of charge

i generally only get 49kw also, between 20%-80%. you only tested 1 charger, i've used maybe a dozen and it's generally always been the same. however, when the whether is warm sometimes i'll get 63kw

 

[zvez]

this is a vid inside evs did on the charging curve, this is an older report tho. https://insideevs.com/news/492727/ford-mustang-mache-fast-charging-analysis/

 

[COACH CHRIS]

At the time of the screenshot, the SOC was ~70%. It’s about 55°F out.

I admit I’m not experimenting very well with only one charger. Will make a point to find my way to another.

 

[alexgorod]

At the time of the screenshot, the SOC was ~70%.

That's why.

 

[bshaw]

At the time of the screenshot, the SOC was ~70%. It’s about 55°F out.

I admit I’m not experimenting very well with only one charger. Will make a point to find my way to another.

55 deg ambient is too cool for the battery if you want a good DCFC rate.
Use Ford nav to set the DCFC destination and disable cabin climate control.
You need to get the battery to like 80–90 deg F for the car to request higher rates of DCFC.

 

[silverelan]

What charger are you using? Do you have a link to the PlugShare listing for it?

 

[Tampamike]

Yeah, that looks about normal. I have an extended range battery and at 70% in the charge cycle I’m getting about 80kw until the drop off at 80%.

If you want to experiment, start at a much lower charge state, like 20 or 30%.

 

[ToOldForThis]

At the time of the screenshot, the SOC was ~70%. It’s about 55°F out.

I don't think 50kw is unusual, when starting around 70% SOC, and 55 temp.

 

[BadgerGreg]

Your numbers look normal, but this is not a typical use case. Most people plugging in at a DCFC are at a low SOC (usually less than 20% and often less than 10%), at which point you get faster charging (at least through 50% SOC). Plugging into a DCFC at 60%-70% isn't something most drivers would normally do; in fact, most EV road warriors would have unplugged and continued their journey at 60%-70%.

That said, the Mach E's charging curve is anything but fantastic. Given the size of the battery and the considerable top/bottom buffer, this car should charge faster; especially between 0% and 60%. I think that Ford is being hyper conservative with their first EVs. If their first crop of EVs make it to 100,000 miles without much battery degradation, I would expect that they might get a bit more liberal with the charging curve. Until then...enjoy a long bathroom break and additional rest at each stop.

 

[Blue highway]

I don't think anything is wrong with the charger or your car based on the info provided.

To see a higher charge rate, navigate to the DCFC to let the battery pre-condition. And as stated above, you will see much faster charge rates at a lower SOC.

For perspective, pre-conditioning really matters with ANY EV. I fast charged my Y from 50-80% twice last week, once pre-conditioned, once not. Outside temps ~50 degrees. The pre-conditioned charge rate was 120KW to start...(at 50%) the non pre-conditioned charge rate was 60KW (at 50%) to start. Warm batteries really matter for charge rate.

I'd really like a "precondition now" button on the car when I'm going to a DCFC but not navigating there.

 

[emichnov]

Yes, it is your very high SOC - not the intended use case for fast charging. I fast charged many times on a recent road trip. If I started at a low SOC, say below 30%, and warm temperature (say above 70 degrees), I would routinely start at above 150 kW, although it would ramp down rapidly to about 110 kW. Still pretty fast. Above 70%, it would ramp down further, to about 80 kW. Your rate less than that is due to battery temp.

 

[COACH CHRIS]

Sorry I should clarify about the SOC: when I plugged in it was at ~55%. I had been driving for 90 minutes. The drop felt fairly precipitous (the graph shows only 4 minutes) but as the SOC rose, the speed leveled to around 30kw.

 

[COACH CHRIS]

I hear what y’all are saying though: this is probably normal. ?

 

[RickMachE]

Sorry I should clarify about the SOC: when I plugged in it was at ~55%. I had been driving for 90 minutes. The drop felt fairly precipitous (the graph shows only 4 minutes) but as the SOC rose, the speed leveled to around 30kw.

You should almost never see 30kW on a DC fast charger. If you started at 55% and now are at 70%, the battery should be warmed up.

At 80%, it slows to around 44kW.
Just over 90% it drops to around 32 or so as I recall.

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