L2 charging speed recently dropped 33%

[kennethjk]

The other alternative is that Ford will claim all EVSE’s across the country are now faulty and we should by the Ford product instead since it’s a known quality product.

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[Shayne]

I will keep this thread updated. The update mentioned in the SSM is the one the dealership was instructed to install. But then it wasn’t available and my tech had to call the engineer to find out… oh, it’s been delayed. So a waste of everyone’s time at that moment. But it does confirm that the update was the correct one, if it ever gets released.

Also, after downrating the Grizzl-E Classic, I don’t think it’s helping with the charging speed. At 40 amps, things heat up and then charging slows down. At 32 amps, things don’t seem to heat up and are just slow overall. So same result.

This one? SSM 51513 - High Voltage Battery Stops Charging states charging will not take place and the current solution is keep trying. One of these time it may actually work for a bit. 4 months and counting since the first SSM and now pushed to August. Wonder how many cars suffer from no home charging and constant monitoring and replugging (babysitting) is the current solution. Have not experienced that yet, good I missed it and hope that is not where we are going. That same SSM is also our solution? A bundled version of different fixes or same problem different symptoms I wonder?

So this seems to be one of those situations where it's the port, the software update, or both. At this point I am hoping to get this update and that it resolves the issue. I hate having parts changed on a brand new car, especially if it doesn't resolve the problem.

Sounds like a charging port replacement has fixed a couple. Have not heard of anyone being fixed via software to date. Software was to come in June and now August maybe? Thinking we got the June addition. That informed us our charging port has problems.

We need a poll: Will the crippled L2 charging be fixed by A: Hardware or B: Software or C: Not at all.

 

[kennethjk]

There seem to be 2 potential issues

1: charging does always occur but if EVSE is set at 40 or above charging will continue to charge but will jump Up and down between 40 and 32

2: charging stops altogether

Not sure if same problem or 3 different ones.

1: Solution for no charging at all- change port
2: yo yo charging- software fix
3: yo yo charging port fix

Since Ford doesn’t seem to know how to communicate, who knows

 

[Shayne]

There seem to be 2 potential issues

1: charging does always occur but if EVSE is set at 40 or above charging will continue to charge but will jump Up and down between 40 and 32

2: charging stops altogether

Not sure if same problem or 3 different ones.

1: Solution for no charging at all- change port
2: yo yo charging- software fix
3: yo yo charging port fix

Since Ford doesn’t seem to know how to communicate, who knows

My problem appears to be none of those mine will charge at 8.? KW for the first 15 minutes and then will drop to 6.? KW for what appears to be the remainder of the charge cycle. Every time I charge now it will average around 6.5 KW into the car. Use to be 8.3 KW until recently. That works out to 2 hours longer to charge from 20 to 80% and 20% slower than advertised. Would like my speed back and my dealer is still waiting for the next steps from Ford. I understand owners that can not home charge reasonably need to be fixed first and I'm glad I still have 32 amp; not happy but grateful.

 

[SpeedRacer72]

My car was doing the same thing, start out at 8KW charge and then drop to 6. and it started after the most recent update in June.
Seeing that most people feel the issue is tied to the charge port temperature, I started using an IR temp gun and checking the temp, the charge cable handle was running around 130-150°F
I put a fan onto the cable and now it is staying at 8KW the entire time. I am in California and it has been over 100°
This is day 3 of using the fan and I have not had any issues with it backing down to 6kw and before the fan it was doing it every day.
It seems stupid to have to do this, but until Ford gets their sh*t together, this is how I have to charge

 

[mkhuffman]

My car was doing the same thing, start out at 8KW charge and then drop to 6. and it started after the most recent update in June.
Seeing that most people feel the issue is tied to the charge port temperature, I started using an IR temp gun and checking the temp, the charge cable handle was running around 130-150°F
I put a fan onto the cable and now it is staying at 8KW the entire time. I am in California and it has been over 100°
This is day 3 of using the fan and I have not had any issues with it backing down to 6kw and before the fan it was doing it every day.
It seems stupid to have to do this, but until Ford gets their sh*t together, this is how I have to charge

I think you have the solution! No OTA update needed!

I have only observed the charge rate throttling once, and it was when my car was parked outside, in the sun, in the paved driveway, easily exceeding 100 F ambient. Yep.

 

[generaltso]

I have only observed the charge rate throttling once, and it was when my car was parked outside, in the sun, in the paved driveway, easily exceeding 100 F ambient. Yep.

I don't charge at home very often since I have free charging at work. But the few times I have since receiving the update, my 11kW charge has periodically dipped to 8kW. This is in a garage with a temp of about 60F, so it doesn't seem that ambient temps even need to be high for this to happen.

 

[mkhuffman]

I don't charge at home very often since I have free charging at work. But the few times I have since receiving the update, my 11kW charge has periodically dipped to 8kW. This is in a garage with a temp of about 60F, so it doesn't seem that ambient temps even need to be high for this to happen.

So it seems I do not have the same problem you do. Even though we are on the same OTA version. Interesting.

 

[generaltso]

So it seems I do not have the same problem you do. Even though we are on the same OTA version. Interesting.

Yeah, it’s weird. Kinda like the automatically engaging parking brake that people are reporting. I’m up to date, but don’t have that.

 

[Murse-In-Airy]

So weird that people with the same software on the same car are seeing different outcomes. /s

Almost like software is being written and deployed by RNG.

At this point, I really wish OTA wasn’t a thing. My wife loved the car as we bought it. Sure it was short 3KW on the battery and the fast charging curve was slower, didn’t have BlueCruise and the UI on the sync screen was different.
But what we did have worked solidly. Charged well at home (where she does 98% of her charging anyway). She rarely use BlueCruise (actually can’t right now because her eye nanny camera needs to be replaced which wouldn’t have been an issue without the hands free update). And my wife preferred the old UI.
Oh and the games… don’t even get me started on adding games to a car. The only update I actually want for her is a Frunk button on the sync screen and in FordAss but apparently unless I become a computer programmer as a side hustle, I can’t get that either. But I’m actually fine without it because I know as soon as I get an update to add a Frunk button, the turn signal or some other feature won’t work anymore.

(End rant)

 

[Spock151]

Agree with the sentiments here. The biggest failing is that Ford can’t figure out how to be transparent with their customers directly. Ford makes direct changes to our cars, but no one knows what exactly changed. Release notes a mediocre at best, dealers don’t know (in my case they don’t even have a circuit >32A to test), and all we want to know is if it’s a known problem or unknown.

IMO, this is the failure that will lose Ford its vocal early adopters who would love to rave about the car. I’m sure there are a ton of people at Ford Co who think that providing detail to the customer is bad, risky… but not doing so is certainly losing the faith of many.

I believe Ford is trying, but they certainly are on a path to cause me to look elsewhere for my next vehicle and not recommend Ford EVs to others.

@Ford Motor Company - Please share this thread with HQ teams. This is the precise type of issue Ford needs to go on record with a plan.

 

[Mach-Lee]

We saw some improvement in charge derate after cleaning the charge port. Even though it was about 10ºF warmer than the previous session, the derates took longer to start and were less frequent (I recycled my previous diagram here to overlay the new session, same time scale, sorry it's messy).

I wrote a topic about how to clean your charge port if you wanted to try and see if there's any improvement: How to Clean Your Charge Port

 

[Shayne]

@Ford Motor Company - Please share this thread with HQ teams. This is the precise type of issue Ford needs to go on record with a plan.

That's the sound of silence. The number one reason some will think twice next time. With tech there is problems leaving the geeks with nothing but silence for extended periods of time may not serve them well. The unknown is always twice as bad as the real problem and the wait also feels twice as long. Their current PR may not guide them smoothly into the future. They have a high tech car and act like it is still a straight 6.

Been a month since my service informed me they are waiting for the next steps from Ford with nothing more since then. Nada nothing. Makes you feel like a somebody.

We saw some improvement in charge derate after cleaning the charge port. Even though it was about 10ºF warmer than the previous session, the derates took longer to start and were less frequent (I recycled my previous diagram here to overlay the new session, same time scale, sorry it's messy).

I wrote a topic about how to clean your charge port if you wanted to try and see if there's any improvement: How to Clean Your Charge Port

Great post and thankyou for your help. I have a small compressor with a water remover on it for electronics as the cans of compressed air are a bit costly for air. 99% rubbing alcohol is not a problem? I have checked my port and the charger handle and it is not that dirty living in a blue sky region and the way I treat/maintain my machines.

Still have to say that this happened to most of us after the charging software was updated and all fingers point to whatever was changed (monitored) in that update. My last charge was down to 6.2 KW average and ran well past what use to be normal. Something is still not right with my car. Can see that cleaning it may reduce some of the heat but still not the fix as far as I see. I charged at 14C and will say ambient temp is not the problem but it could be the heat generated from the charging process itself. 15 minutes charging at 40 amp than drops to 32 amp and stays there.

 

[mkhuffman]

I previously posted that my car doesn't have this problem. I was wrong. I just didn't charge it for long enough to see it occur.

Yesterday I did a 5-hour charge. After about 2 hours, the charge rate started throttling. I left it alone until it reached around 85% and then I disconnected the charge. At the end, it was severely throttled.

For the first two hours, it maintained 11 kW like normal. Near the end? Well, see the chart above. I may try cleaning the port like Lee suggested, but it never used to do this before. Is it software, or wear and tear? Maybe both?

The car was parked inside the garage, which was around 82 degrees. Not very hot at all.

 

[mpshizzle]

Yeah, it’s weird. Kinda like the automatically engaging parking brake that people are reporting. I’m up to date, but don’t have that.

I got the dreaded "parking brake malfunction". When they charged out my wiring and fixed that, that's when mine started auto engaging

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