How to reset the guess-o-meter

[lifebythemile]

Over the past 2.5 months of owning the car I’ve noticed that distance has slowly decreased. I’m not seeing any reason for it, my most recent trip is 5.6km/kWh, lifetime for the vehicle is 5.3km/kWh. If you take those numbers and multiply by the battery capacity of 72kWh it should give me a range of 403km which is exactly what this car is rated for.

I also track each charge and those numbers match as well. The electric used and distance driven between each charge gives me a theoretical range of anywhere between 375km and 410km. The distance to empty also goes down at a rate that would indicate a 350-400km range. Yet my guess-o-meter is giving me a (calculated) 100% range of 244km.

I’ve tried resetting EV Driving History and I cannot find anything in the manual. How to I reset that so it’s not telling me low battery at 25% charge?

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[keithnteri]

You did the proper thing by resetting driving history. That resets the meter that tracks your driving habits over time.
It takes a bit of new driving history to get an accurate GOM gage. Just give it a couple of days.

 

[MatchaGT]

When is the last time you charged to 100%? I have heard that it makes difference and allows the system to recalibrate and will be more accurate in reflecting your distance

 

[RickMachE]

Over the past 2.5 months of owning the car I’ve noticed that distance has slowly decreased. I’m not seeing any reason for it, my most recent trip is 5.6km/kWh, lifetime for the vehicle is 5.3km/kWh. If you take those numbers and multiply by the battery capacity of 72kWh it should give me a range of 403km which is exactly what this car is rated for.

I also track each charge and those numbers match as well. The electric used and distance driven between each charge gives me a theoretical range of anywhere between 375km and 410km. The distance to empty also goes down at a rate that would indicate a 350-400km range. Yet my guess-o-meter is giving me a (calculated) 100% range of 244km.

I’ve tried resetting EV Driving History and I cannot find anything in the manual. How to I reset that so it’s not telling me low battery at 25% charge?

You are confusing several things.

First, like many, you seem to think that EPA range is actual range you will achieve. Did you get the EPA number on your gas vehicles?

This Trip shows you the efficiency you are achieving. Multiply that by 72 and that is the range you will get if you then drive the same way you did since your last restart. If you drive locally at 45mph, and then get on the highway and drive 75mph, your range will drop...

Lastly, you ask about the alert at 25% charge. In your settings, you will see that you can reset the warning (which is based on remaining miles, not % of charge) lower if you want.

New owners should sit in the vehicle and go through all setttings, as well as downloading the manual in PDF form to all their devices.

 

[lifebythemile]

You are confusing several things.

First, like many, you seem to think that EPA range is actual range you will achieve. Did you get the EPA number on your gas vehicles?

This Trip shows you the efficiency you are achieving. Multiply that by 72 and that is the range you will get if you then drive the same way you did since your last restart. If you drive locally at 45mph, and then get on the highway and drive 75mph, your range will drop...

Lastly, you ask about the alert at 25% charge. In your settings, you will see that you can reset the warning (which is based on remaining miles, not % of charge) lower if you want.

New owners should sit in the vehicle and go through all setttings, as well as downloading the manual in PDF form to all their devices.

Holy condescending Batman…

First, I did RTFM… I think I even mentioned it in my post.

Second, I actually got exactly the EPA rated mileage with my previous gas car over lifetime average. I’m also consistently getting EPA rated mileage with the Mach E. Hence my calculations in the first post. EPA range when translated to Canadian is 404km. 5.6km/kWh when multiplied by 72 is 403km. How did I know the EPA rating for my car? I read the manual.

Lifetime average works out to 381km 100-0 range. My point of posting both was to demonstrate that the 5.6km/kWh of the most recent trip was not a “fluke” but representative of an average trip. My commute home from work frequently nets me 9.1km/kWh which is 180% of the EPA rating (and no, there’s almost zero downhill on that trip).

Third, I have the warning set to the lowest distance available (30km) and it’s giving me the warning at 25%. How did I know to check where I can sent the low battery warning range? You guessed it, I read the manual.

 

[lifebythemile]

You did the proper thing by resetting driving history. That resets the meter that tracks your driving habits over time.
It takes a bit of new driving history to get an accurate GOM gage. Just give it a couple of days.

That’s what I was thinking too! Unfortunately it has been about a week and 400km of driving since I reset it and still continues to go down.

I even had a 26km downhill stretch coming off a mountain pass, the battery % increased by 2 (49% SOC at the top of the hill, 51% at the bottom) and my range actually dropped 10km while the battery went up.

When is the last time you charged to 100%? I have heard that it makes difference and allows the system to recalibrate and will be more accurate in reflecting your distance

I have read that as well, I do follow the manual’s recommended 100% charge of at least once per month, in practice it’s actually closer to once every 1.5 weeks with my LFP battery. Unfortunately, every charge to 100% the estimated range actually keeps going down, not by much, but it never increases.

 

[AngryMan]

So many variables but one people seem to forget is tire pressure . You good there ? You pick up a nail and now 1 tire is low thereby hurting yer efficiency ?
After 3+ years I stopped trying to figure out what's happening THIS time . Updates , software tweaks , driving habits , weather , built in navigation vs Android Auto ....UGH !

 

[lifebythemile]

So many variables but one people seem to forget is tire pressure . You good there ? You pick up a nail and now 1 tire is low thereby hurting yer efficiency ?
After 3+ years I stopped trying to figure out what's happening THIS time . Updates , software tweaks , driving habits , weather , built in navigation vs Android Auto ....UGH !

Ahh, good point. It is one thing I didn’t think about, but all good there.

Based on my “fill up” tracking, I am actually realizing the full 350-400km range “per tank” that I should be getting, it’s just the DTE calculations are wildly inaccurate. If it would give me 170-180km DTE at 50-55% I wouldn’t even think twice, but it’s consistently showing 130km, 125km, now 122km, at 50%, at 80% it’s giving me 175km (calculated to 218km for 100%). When I go to charge again at 10-15% I’ll have actually travelled about 230km.

 

[Tampamike]

If it’s any consolation, my GOM has gotten really flaky. In a way it’s better because it’s looking at my navigation routes more realistically but it can vary wildly. The other day I was driving a route and I had to cancel it and re-enter it along the way. When it it recalculated, the range went up about 40 miles on the same route. By the time I arrived at the destination, the range was pretty much back down to where it was on the first go-round.

I’m pretty much just doing the math in my head now - about 2.5m/kw highway and 3.0 around town.

 

[zvez]

Ahh, good point. It is one thing I didn’t think about, but all good there.

Based on my “fill up” tracking, I am actually realizing the full 350-400km range “per tank” that I should be getting, it’s just the DTE calculations are wildly inaccurate. If it would give me 170-180km DTE at 50-55% I wouldn’t even think twice, but it’s consistently showing 130km, 125km, now 122km, at 50%, at 80% it’s giving me 175km (calculated to 218km for 100%). When I go to charge again at 10-15% I’ll have actually travelled about 230km.

THe GOM has never been the most accurate tool, but am I reading this right, that you've calculated actual mileage driven and determined that you're getting the appropriate range? I know over the 3+ years of mach e ownership, some of the OTAs have had a big effect on stated range of GOM. not sure any solution that will fix that short of something in an OTA by ford.

 

[lifebythemile]

THe GOM has never been the most accurate tool, but am I reading this right, that you've calculated actual mileage driven and determined that you're getting the appropriate range? I know over the 3+ years of mach e ownership, some of the OTAs have had a big effect on stated range of GOM. not sure any solution that will fix that short of something in an OTA by ford.

Correct. Based on actual distance driven and kWh replaced to bring it back up to full, if I were to drive it down to 0% battery I would be in the 380-400km range when the “fuel level” would show empty.

Is there a way of having the car display the EPA rated range remaining rather than have it calculate based on driving data? IE if the battery is at 46% it would show you 46% of 250mi as your DTE (in this case it would be 115mi of range). Since I’m pretty consistent in getting the EPA rated economy it would work out better for me. I had a search but didn’t see anything about that in the manual, maybe a forscan mod?

 

[zvez]

Correct. Based on actual distance driven and kWh replaced to bring it back up to full, if I were to drive it down to 0% battery I would be in the 380-400km range when the “fuel level” would show empty.

Is there a way of having the car display the EPA rated range remaining rather than have it calculate based on driving data? IE if the battery is at 46% it would show you 46% of 250mi as your DTE (in this case it would be 115mi of range). Since I’m pretty consistent in getting the EPA rated economy it would work out better for me. I had a search but didn’t see anything about that in the manual, maybe a forscan mod?

not that I'm aware of. I'm retired and I drive virtually the same roads every week, so my GOM is spot on when I compare actual miles driven.

 

[OH2AZ2OH]

I got my estimated range to be more in line with reality by letting the battery get down below 10% and then charging all the way to 100%, which gave me about 15% estimate boost. Note: there was no change in my actual range from doing this, just what the estimated range was showing. The next 85% charge showed a 5-10% range drop, and the next was basically in line with previous charges.

It seems like (i have no confirmation other than my experience and what you are seeing) that Ford is heavily weighting the EPA range estimate in the battery calculation. It also seems to weight factors that would reduce range heavier than factors that would increase range. Getting stranded with an EV is really inconvenient, so my guess is Ford would rather under report and over deliver on range.

 

[profdraper]

I got my estimated range to be more in line with reality by letting the battery get down below 10% and then charging all the way to 100%, which gave me about 15% estimate boost. Note: there was no change in my actual range from doing this, just what the estimated range was showing. The next 85% charge showed a 5-10% range drop, and the next was basically in line with previous charges.

That sounds about right and corresponds with BYD’s advice for their EVs & the GoM issue, ie: let the battery run down to 10% every six weeks or so, then charge to 100%.

In my case with a relatively new 2023 MME Select (LFP battery), I notice that the GoM is steadily increasing over time & with LFP I always charge to 100%, usually from around 40% or so. When I first started & reset the driving history, it was a bit annoying that the car always showed 430k on a full charge despite the WLTP range being advertised as 470k. Slowly though, the last full charge now shows 465ks. Not bad.

Still, I do wish the MME GoM was a little more ‘straight up’ than trying to be ‘intelligent’. eg with my last Chinese EV (also LFP) this always showed the full WLTP rating when fully charged; it did however have varying depletion rates across a logarithmic curve & depending on driving conditions, style etc, and resulting in a GoM that seems to be atypical for most EVs.

One thing not mentioned here: on my past EVs it always made sense & was recommended to zero the trip meter(s) before a full charge, giving the best GoM etc. I don’t see this anywhere for the MME although one post here suggested that it was useful to never reset the Trip 2 meter & keep full records etc. I can’t say I’ve noticed any difference yet with resetting either or both of the Trip meters before a full charge, but perhaps others might?

 

[lifebythemile]

So an update, and resolution to this.

My Mach E did the 6.14 update last weekend. I noticed an immediate improvement to the range given, but still not “realistic”, but going in the right direction. While charging tonight, was going to let it go to 100% (was at 8%) and see if that helped. 100% range was better, but still only 280km. I decided to try the “reset EV driving history” again and see what would happen. This time it instantly reset my GOM to 386km. As it turns out the “reset history” button was broken.

So I guess the update fixed that “bug”. Unfortunately it broke a few other things; kinda curious to see what the next update will fix and what it will break.

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