Is there a correlation between fast charging and HVB issues?

[Kitten]

*apologies in advance if there are numerous threads already addressing this. I did a search and came up with too many general posts to adequately assess. If it's been addressed, please link the thread(s)"

As anyone who has spent time on these forums knows, you can become skittish with the horror stories. I try to temper that with the understanding that most people don't come on just to post "car is awesome, no problems." We come here with questions and issues, which taken at face value, could give the (hopefully false) impression that this car is a lemon.

I have noticed that some people seem to have had issues, particularly HVB and/or 12V issues that "brick" their cars after fast charging at EA or other public facilities. Is there a correlation here? With the HVB recall and overheating issues, can an assumption be made that fast charging can contribute to heating the battery to a level that could trigger the recall issue? I have kinda sorta avoided charging anywhere but home for this reason.

I have an 2021 MME GT with an August 2021 build date. If you look at my post history, I have had a lot of questions and little to no complaints. I will leave it at that, for fear of jinxing myself. I considered making a road trip recently to a place 185 miles from my home. The trip planner had one 20 minute charging stop each way, but in the end I opted to take my ICE vehicle instead because of my (irrational?) fear of fast charging on the road.

Thoughts?

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[AKgrampy]

The answer is yes but the vast majority of owners are doing just fine using DCFC. If I were able to take a long trip I would not hesitate using it but can’t do it when not available. I am not sure it would make a difference but if I were to use DCFC I certainly would not follow with a Wide Open Throttle.

 

[Kitten]

Thanks. I rarely go above 90, and when I do it's not for sustained periods of time. I like to goose it now and then for fun, but generally keep it at 85 and below. 75% of my driving is on 35 mph or less roads around town.

 

[Benjamin Kegele]

I drive probably 75% freeways but mainly 65ish. I used fast charging probably around 20 times in the last year other than that level 2. I never had an issue "crossfingers" I am not too worried about it.

 

[Ming]

Thanks. I rarely go above 90, and when I do it's not for sustained periods of time. I like to goose it now and then for fun, but generally keep it at 85 and below. 75% of my driving is on 35 mph or less roads around town.

Driving at steady speed shouldn't be an issue. Assuming 2.5 miles/kWh @90, it's 36kW, much less than typical DC charging.

It's fast acceleration that really takes high current.

 

[RickMachE]

You should lose your irrational fear. Charge your car. I've DC'd charged 30+ times. I'm sure some have done 100+. Someone's car bricked on their first trip. Enjoy your car!

 

[BigMach-E]

It can happen without DCFC, too. It happened to me after I hadn't fast charged for well over a week. There are mitigation steps, but even not following those mitigation steps, you are still reasonably unlikely to have this happen.

 

[mkhuffman]

People have reported the failure even though they never used a DCFC. Don't worry about it. Drive your car and take it on trips. I am. I have over 10,000 miles now and I have done many WOT runs, as well as many DCFC trips. The general advice is to avoid WOT when your car is hot, but other than that, I would just drive it the way you want to drive it.

 

[npgeorgeuw]

I think your critical word of choice was "irrational" fear of DCFCing. Drive it and charge it how you need and be gentle on the throttle if you're worried. I don't believe anyone from Ford or anyone on here has said do NOT DCFC ever. I know for a fact that there are people on here who didn't DCFC it then drive like an idiot and still bricked and likewise I'm 100% certain that Ford is just listing those as possible causes (excuses) as it's a weak part that will fail it's just a question if it's ok 10 days or ten years and how much current goes through it.

Ultimately no one knows though and it's your perogative if you are going to change your lifestyle because of a miniscule singular part in an EV. Our Mach E is one of three options for the family and although it's the best driving it's not the best distance EV for our family.

Have we changed a thing about how we drive it? Hell no. Would I DCFC it? Yes, if I need to.

 

[VaderMachE]

So far, so good! Go drive that beast and enjoy!

 

[Prodigymd]

My car had the dreaded stop safely error. Interestingly, it was plugged in to a 110v for 16 hours or so (at work). I took it out for a 6 mile drive. Parked it at the same place. Plugged it in again (110v) and then got the error. It just wouldn’t start. I hadn’t charged it DCFC for a a couple of days. And prior to that, it was parked for a week at the airport. So I’m not sure how DCFC was contributing

 

[GordonW]

I took a 7000 mile road trip around the southwest when I took delivery of my Mache (RWD, Ext Batt.) during the month of September, and within 2 days of fast charging I lost 50 miles of range overall, then it settled there for the rest of the trip. As a side point, the only time I had to change my route was going to Page, AZ., I had to go around the west side of Grand Canyons from Flagstaff through St. George, UT., then Kanab, UT., to get the charging I needed to make it to Page, which had a slow charger at a hotel I stayed at. Back to my battery, since I have gotten back the lost range has increased to 100 miles, I'm fortunate to get 200 miles at 90% charged, and that's with an extended range battery. Before the trip, I charged it to 100% one time and got 325 miles of range. Also, the regenerating feature is almost nil. This was all before temperatures in the northwest started to drop. I just turned over 10k miles so am going to arrange the 10k checkup at my dealer and see if they see anything (who, by the way, found a way to give me my agreed to price for my car even though Ford raised their MSRP and battery prices from the time I ordered the car to the time it arrived) (Fugate Ford in Enumclaw WA., GREAT dealer). No errors, recently got firmware update that said it would better protect my HVB against fast charging "because we know you like to fast charge". Creepy. So, I understand your concern, Kitten. My first post...Any thoughts about my battery situation would be appreciated...I love the car.

 

[woody]

Yes, there is a correlation. Ask any legitimate Ford tech.
The HVBJB is defective and will fail. When it fails is a crap shoot.
If you are willing to gamble, then do so.
No one should have to pay for a vehicle that has a known defective part that the manufacturer will not replace, until catastrophic failure occurs.
Ford is only able to get away with this due to its enormous clout (w/ media, government agencies, etc.).
We can come up with reasons and excuses, but none are valid.
Ford's response and actions regarding this issue are unconscionable and unacceptable.
I should be able to drive my MME w/o worry. NO EXCUSES ARE VALID.
One must re-evaluate whether or not to remain a Ford customer, even though we love our MMEs. Unfortunately, Ford is far behind in the EV arena and falling further behind daily. (just look at GM)

 

[mkhuffman]

Yes, there is a correlation. Ask any legitimate Ford tech.

There is no correlation with DC fast charging using the data that has been collected in this forum. The correlation is with high speed driving.

 

[Ghost Ryder]

There is no correlation with DC fast charging using the data that has been collected in this forum. The correlation is with high speed driving.

I'm not sure if anyone has done a mathematical analysis to say that there is no correlation. Does the HVBJB wear out over time or does it overheat and fail all at once? Conventional wisdom would say that it usually wears out over time with causing more resistance and therefore more heat until it dies/melts. So therefore DC fast charging will have some affect, especially if you floor the car up a long grade immediately after DC Fast charging.

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