How long do you wait to charge after driving?

[kltye]

I've said this before, but I think the "cooling off period" is just a carbon copy from the Fusion or Cmax hybrid manuals. On those cars the battery actually gets pretty hot while driving and they had an abysmal air cooling system that didn't work very well, so you wouldn't want to charge those right when you got home if you can help it.

Yup, and on 240v those cars would be charging at 0.5C ?. And those packs were really stressed - if you leave it in auto mode, the computer will just drain the battery up until 85mph, I believe, before going into hybrid mode.

In all those years, I've heard of maybe a handful of CMax Energi owners who had to have their packs replaced due to premature failure/poor state of health. And those people were charging on L2 chargers during the day under the summer sun.

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[nmope]

Thanks for this thread. I have always wondered if I was in the minority of not waiting to level 2 charge at home.

 

[Teslaeata]

It’s on page 157. This is really for optimal battery health - obviously not for DCFC.

Very many thanks for that.

We appear to have slightly different versions of the handbook each side of the pond and I have two versions on the FordPass app.

The earlier version I read when I first bought the ‘Stang simply said on page 139 allow battery to cool before overnight charging at home whilst the latest version is online style which has links to pages not page numbers and recommends the 2-3 hours wait time with which I always am able to comply.

In addition, though, it says “Frequent use of DC charging could result in reducing your battery's efficiency and lifespan” with which I have no hope of complying with 56,000 miles on the clock under 2 years which means by definition “frequent use of DC” is unavoidable.

I’ll take my chances on “reducing battery’s efficiency & lifespan” as I won’t be going back to ICE and will NEVER give up the MME.

Bring on solid state batteries!

Enjoy yours, all!

 

[ekopka11]

Page 157 in my manual under “Overnight Charging.” I double checked before posting—I didn’t want @RickMachE to call me out for not reading the manual!!!!

 

[ekopka11]

I have had Mach E for 18 months and just started to get a home L2 charging issue. If plugged into my home charger immediately upon return home, charging fails. Wait an hour and the car fully charges. Does the battery need more time to cool during colder outdoor temps? This seems strange.

 

[dbsb3233]

I have had Mach E for 18 months and just started to get a home L2 charging issue. If plugged into my home charger immediately upon return home, charging fails. Wait an hour and the car fully charges. Does the battery need more time to cool during colder outdoor temps? This seems strange.

I haven't heard of that being an issue.

Only 2 things that come to mind are an EVSE that could be failing?

Or maybe you have a charge schedule set and you happen to be plugging outside the time window?

How is it failing... red flashing charge circle?

 

[Vulnox]

Yeah I agree with the above, that sounds like an issue with setting maybe Time of Use on your EVSE or setting the car to only charge during certain periods.

We have had the car for over two years and we always plug in right after getting home and have no issues. We do have time of use charging on as well, but that's only during the week. I have done plenty of long and short trips and plugged in and it immediately starts charging when outside the ToU hours.

Most EVs put more power back into the battery through regen (one pedal driving) at full regen than any L2 EVSE can put in. So there's almost no way it would have anything to do with pack temp. People way over estimate how much impact L2 charging has on a battery this size in terms of heat. DCFC of course is different as that's over 10x as much energy.

 

[ekopka11]

I haven't heard of that being an issue.

Only 2 things that come to mind are an EVSE that could be failing?

Or maybe you have a charge schedule set and you happen to be plugging outside the time window?

How is it failing... red flashing charge circle?

No charge schedule set. Flashing charge circle. What is curious: 1. this issue just started a few days ago. 2. Disconnect the charger and reconnect after waiting, it charges fine.
The problem only occurs if connecting immediately after driving. I can institute a charge schedule. But why now after 18 months?

 

[Space_Pony]

The same amount of time I wait to fill up my gas tank after driving.

It's not recommended to put gas in your charge port.

 

[phil]

It's not recommended to put gas in your charge port.

I'll make a note of it.

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