Departure time charging

[ex2bot]

The extended battery has a sizable reserve (9 kWh), so if you set your home target charge to 70%, the lowest possible setting I believe, that should get you close to what you want.

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[MotorPsycho]

To the original question.

You can set "charging times" in the car (and in the FordPass app), but also note that the car will charge outside of these time windows if they are insufficient. At least mine did.

So if you want to try, set a 1-hour charge window prior to your departure, and monitor to see what the car does, it might be what you want.

Yes, both the MME and my EVSE will allow charge windows, so if I do the math, I can achieve similar results to departure charging. I’m using that approach today for a long drive.

It was just easier with the Chevy. Figure out when you are leaving , what charge you want to depart with, plug them in and “Bob’s your uncle.”

 

[MotorPsycho]

What credentials does the author of that video possess, that allows him to make the claims that he does in the video???

Feel free to research it, if you are curious. ?

 

[Mach-Lee]

Nope. The study produced almost triple, est 300,000 to est 800,000. I was being conservative saying double, but I won’t always stop at 60%. Occasionally, I need 80-100%.

A possibly larger consideration for me is that I don’t put a lot of miles on my EV. The years take a toll as well.

Here’s the video link. The chart I recalled is about 10 minutes into the video.

That's an incorrect interpretation of the data. The guy in the video doesn't fully know what he's talking about (as I like to say, "knows just enough to be dangerous"). The x axis is in test (DST) cycles, one cycle is the discharge and charge to the target percentages listed. The graph is not compensated for total (100-0%) cycles. The magenta line represents only a 30% depth of discharge per cycle, versus a 75% depth of discharge for the black line. So just from differences in depth of discharge in the different test cycles, I would expect the magenta line to be 2.5x more cycles. It's actually 5x more, so that means the effect on battery life is at most 2x in this particular test.

100% charge in these tests is usually 4.20V/cell, if you charge the Mach-E to 100% the voltage is more like 4.12V which is already much less stressful on the cells. So it would be better to imagine a curve somewhere between 100% and 85% starting percentage representing 100% charge on a Mach-E. We should also compare curves that are the same depth of discharge percentage (e.g. 30%, but the dataset makes that difficult). Last, another issue is the capacity loss from 100% to 90% is more rapid than loss to a typical 70% replacement threshold. If you account for all these factors, the the lifetime gain from charging to 100% vs 60% is at most about 1.4x (40% more).

In reality the difference is smaller than that, because in most cases the battery will die from calendar aging way before you cycle it to death. That graph represents like 300,000-400,000 miles of driving, the car isn't going to be driven that much before it reaches 20 years old and is junk.

The effect of choosing a lower target charge percentage becomes smaller the further away you get from 100% charge (diminishing returns). Dropping the target charge percentage down from 100% to 80% will already give you about 70% of the maximum possible lifespan increase (which would be at maximum only charging to 50%).

In summary, in a real word EV situation you're not really prolonging the life of the battery that much more by charging it to 50% or 60% verses 80%. 80% is sort of the sweet spot where you get the most range for the least degradation, which is why it's used at a suggested reduced charge limit in many lithium battery applications (such as your smartphone).

Put another way with diminishing returns, charging to 90% is a lot better than charging to 100%. Charging to 80% is a fair bit better than charging to 90%. Charging to 70% is only marginally better than 80%. And charging to 60% or less is only a tiny bit better than charging to 70%.

 

[vsguru]

Feel free to research it, if you are curious. ?

Welcome to the Forum!

Here's the thing. You joined this forum in February 2025. Many members have been here for multiple years and have consistently proven to be extremely savvy, offering great advice to the rest of the community time after time. When they and Ford suggest charging to 90% daily and 100% occasionally (for example, monthly), we tend to believe them. Anyone can do whatever they want, of course. I am among the 99.9% who do not expect to drive my MME anywhere near 300,000 miles, let alone 800,000. Do you realistically? The information and video you supplied are somewhat irrelevant, if not inaccurate. I appreciate the added level of comfort that comes with knowing I can drive, if I need or want to, with a significantly longer range when the MME is charged to 90% than when it's charged to anything less.

 

[MotorPsycho]

Welcome to the Forum!

Here's the thing. You joined this forum in February 2025. Many members have been here for multiple years and have consistently proven to be extremely savvy, offering great advice to the rest of the community time after time.. …

Not a particularly welcoming post.

Once again, I will point out that I did not open this thread about charging to 60%. I asked about departure charging.

The thread took on a life of its own. I frankly don’t care how others charge their cars. I’m struggling to understand why anyone cares that I frequently charge to less than 90%.

If I post here again, I’ll be more careful to limit details to the specific topic at hand.

 

[E90alex]

Not a particularly welcoming post.

Once again, I will point out that I did not open this thread about charging to 60%. I asked about departure charging.

The thread took on a life of its own. I frankly don’t care how others charge their cars. I’m struggling to understand why anyone cares that I frequently charge to less than 90%.

If I post here again, I’ll be more careful to limit details to the specific topic at hand.

I charged my Tesla to 55% and will charge the Mach-E to 60%. No, it doesn’t work for everyone but it works for me and I have zero range anxiety doing so. It would give me no benefit in my daily usage to charge any higher.

My Tesla still had like 97% battery capacity after 3 years/34k of mostly charging to 55%, which is well above fleet average. So must be doing something right. ??‍

 

[MotorPsycho]

I charged my Tesla to 55% and will charge the Mach-E to 60%. No, it doesn’t work for everyone but it works for me and I have zero range anxiety doing so. It would give me no benefit in my daily usage to charge any higher.

My Tesla still had like 97% battery capacity after 3 years/34k of mostly charging to 55%, which is well above fleet average. So must be doing something right. ??‍

I'm relatively new to EVs, but I've been using high quality fully synthetic motor oil in my ICE vehicles for decades. Doing the best I can manage to take care of an EV is just normal behavior for me.

 

[ChrisO]

Not a particularly welcoming post.

Once again, I will point out that I did not open this thread about charging to 60%. I asked about departure charging.

The thread took on a life of its own. I frankly don’t care how others charge their cars. I’m struggling to understand why anyone cares that I frequently charge to less than 90%.

If I post here again, I’ll be more careful to limit details to the specific topic at hand.

I'm sorry if I gave the wrong impression, and I'm pretty sure nobody including me cares if you charge to 60% or whatever. The only thing I was pointing out was that the statement of charging to 60% would double or triple the life of the battery is not backed up by all the research I've seen.

And even that statement wasn't meant as a criticism, just making sure that you're aware of the other points of view.

 

[MotorPsycho]

Learning how to minimize battery degradation is not the sort of topic I would learn about on a user forum. I tend to do deep dives on YouTube and the internet to acquire that sort of understanding.

I’d come to a source like this for things like information on how to access a MMEs battery state of health using OBDII and an app, basically technical information specific to the MME.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

I traded a Chevy Bolt in on a MZmE. The Bolt had a feature where you could set the departure time and the Bolt would complete charging right before departure.

I’ve searched YouTube videos, this website, the settings on the MME and the manual and haven’t found this feature. Does the MME have departure driven charging capability?

While not exactly what you're after, here are the recommendations from Ford to maintain battery health.

The FordPass app allows you to set departure times to pre-condition the cabin, or cabin and battery for departure when plugged in. You can also set charge limits in the vehicle and FordPass app.

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