FORD HAS NO FIX - No heat in -15c and colder temps

Mach-Lee

Well-Known Member
First Name
Lee
Joined
Jul 16, 2021
Threads
203
Messages
7,729
Reaction score
15,303
Location
Wisconsin
Vehicles
2022 Mach-E Premium AWD
Occupation
Sci/Eng
Country flag
What is the idea with this? Just keeping it warm for something todo? Costs about 2$ per precondition where I am. You could set two per day and keep in a reasonable range I suppose incase one had to go somewhere in the cold.
It reduces the amount of work the heater has to do when you go for a drive. It only takes 2-3 kWh to heat the battery, so cost will be less than 50¢ for most people. Having the battery warm increases the amount of heat for the cabin since the heat doesn’t have to be diverted to heat the pack.

It’s my recommendation that you should always plug in when it’s below 0°C, and always set a departure time when it’s below -15°C if you want decent heat. You should also be parking inside a garage to increase shielding and reduce heat loss rate.

Parking outside unplugged when it’s -20°C is a bad idea, you will not have much heat since the car cannot make up that deficit quickly. It’s going to take the car at least an hour fully to warm up from that. Sometimes it’s unavoidable, but at home you should always be plugged into a Level 2 at night during the cold winter.

“Keep the battery warm“
 

gordonf238

Well-Known Member
First Name
Gordon
Joined
Aug 26, 2021
Threads
31
Messages
192
Reaction score
220
Location
NYC
Vehicles
Mach-E AWD, Ext. range
Country flag
All this preconditioning, keeping the battery warm, etc. is really silly to me. Electric cars are supposed to be simpler than ICE, not more complicated, and certainly not something that should require this amount of micro management.

Ford should have more thoroughly tested this vehicle in temperate climates, especially in places like Canada, Sweden, etc.

You should be able to turn the car on, turn the heat on max, and be able to drive. If it requires battery power to keep the battery itself warm when parked outside, so be it. But there's no reason why people should be freezing in their cars when it gets cold.
 


Mirak

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2020
Threads
109
Messages
3,658
Reaction score
5,839
Location
Kansas
Vehicles
"Sonic" 2021 MME Grabber Blue First Edition
Country flag
Buy an EV to fight global warming… not happy about EV performance in extreme cold…

Ford Mustang Mach-E FORD HAS NO FIX - No heat in -15c and colder temps 1675884375032
 

mkhuffman

Well-Known Member
First Name
Mike
Joined
Nov 19, 2020
Threads
24
Messages
6,070
Reaction score
8,015
Location
Virginia
Vehicles
2021 MME GT, Jeep GC-L, VW Jetta
Country flag
All this preconditioning, keeping the battery warm, etc. is really silly to me. Electric cars are supposed to be simpler than ICE, not more complicated, and certainly not something that should require this amount of micro management.

Ford should have more thoroughly tested this vehicle in temperate climates, especially in places like Canada, Sweden, etc.

You should be able to turn the car on, turn the heat on max, and be able to drive. If it requires battery power to keep the battery itself warm when parked outside, so be it. But there's no reason why people should be freezing in their cars when it gets cold.
And this is why every BEV owner is an early adopter. The average person will not put up with what we have to do to enjoy our cars.

Of course it will get better as batteries get bigger and heating systems improve. Maybe in 5-10 years BEVs will be ready for the average driver.
 

SashaLondon

Well-Known Member
First Name
Sasha
Joined
Sep 11, 2020
Threads
32
Messages
1,384
Reaction score
1,493
Location
London
Vehicles
MME AWD SR
Country flag
Wow bad times. I wonder if an usb heater would supplement the car heating when it’s really bad?
 

tuminatr

Well-Known Member
First Name
Brian
Joined
Apr 22, 2020
Threads
41
Messages
1,546
Reaction score
1,512
Location
Saint Paul,MN
Vehicles
2021 MME, 1964 G1 Mustang, 1993 Mustang
Occupation
Sales
Country flag
It's true we are all early adopters and most of the issues will go away in future generations of EVs. Heat pump technology will be a big step forward for ford in terms of efficiency. And it seems they need to step up the heat output for some areas.

I like the preconditioning and my last ICE actually had this feature although it more about the cabin temp as the Lincoln MKX was not a BEV or PHEV. It also had auto stop and I liked that a bunch
 

HGxxx

Well-Known Member
First Name
Harish
Joined
Nov 16, 2022
Threads
0
Messages
260
Reaction score
304
Location
New york
Vehicles
Fusion energi, mach e premium standard range
Country flag
Setting a departure schedule through the app works for you?
I find that it works reliably if you like lock/unlock the door first to establish connection with the car and app, and then set the departure time, I use it on days where temp is below freezing like 15 min before I leave with cabin temp set to off to help warm the battery a bit ( It does not get crazy cold near NYC, but I do it as mach-lee points out that the car puts too much Regen energy back into a cold pack)
 
OP
OP
shadowchan454

shadowchan454

Active Member
First Name
Nikki
Joined
Jan 30, 2023
Threads
1
Messages
32
Reaction score
14
Location
MB Canada
Vehicles
2022 MME Prem AWD ER
Country flag
I find that it works reliably if you like lock/unlock the door first to establish connection with the car and app, and then set the departure time, I use it on days where temp is below freezing like 15 min before I leave with cabin temp set to off to help warm the battery a bit ( It does not get crazy cold near NYC, but I do it as mach-lee points out that the car puts too much Regen energy back into a cold pack)
PAAK works as a connection too. It never failed me with starting.
 

Shayne

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 9, 2020
Threads
18
Messages
3,340
Reaction score
2,487
Location
Northern Ontario Canada
Vehicles
2021 MME4x Prem
Occupation
Retired
Country flag
PAAK works as a connection too. It never failed me with starting.
Paak and remote start work here too it is schedule that does not. I have tried the wake it up trick a few times and it works the problem with that thou is it is not consistent for me. Just confirmation that it does not work well for @HGxxx either. Play games and babysit the car.
 
OP
OP
shadowchan454

shadowchan454

Active Member
First Name
Nikki
Joined
Jan 30, 2023
Threads
1
Messages
32
Reaction score
14
Location
MB Canada
Vehicles
2022 MME Prem AWD ER
Country flag
I now have a claim with Transport Canada. They will be likely coming down to see my vehicle when the engineer from Ford Canada comes down.

Lets hope something good comes from it!
 

mkhuffman

Well-Known Member
First Name
Mike
Joined
Nov 19, 2020
Threads
24
Messages
6,070
Reaction score
8,015
Location
Virginia
Vehicles
2021 MME GT, Jeep GC-L, VW Jetta
Country flag
Wow bad times. I wonder if an usb heater would supplement the car heating when it’s really bad?
I picked up one of these to play around with:

Ford Mustang Mach-E FORD HAS NO FIX - No heat in -15c and colder temps 1675976817634


It is a 350 Watt heater. Of course you cannot just plug it into the MME directly, but with a 500 Watt inverter connected to the LVB, it will crank out some serious heat for a small enclosed space. It can heat up a bedroom, so definitely it would work in a car I think. And 350 Watts would not be a significant range impact. Turn off E-Heat and let this heater warm the cabin and the car's heater can give its full power to keeping the battery warm.

Of course I don't live in the Great White North, and I have not tested it. There will definitely be a fogging issue so fresh air will need to come in somehow. Which means it will be fighting against cold air coming in. But I bet the right mix of fresh air and this heater could be a good solution when the 5 kW MME heater cannot keep up.

If I lived up there, I would definitely give it a shot instead of suffering through such a cold cabin.
 
 




Top