Let the battery cool after driving?

[bshaw]

Anyone have additional info on the recommended "let the battery cool before home charging" advice?
Drove for 4-hours straight at highway speeds and HVB temp was only 84 deg F (ambient was 81 deg F).
The front vents did not even open when I plugged in immediately after arriving at home.

Seems like the HVB was ok to start L2 charging immediately?

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[dtbaker61]

Anyone have additional info on the recommended "let the battery cool before home charging" advice?
Drove for 4-hours straight at highway speeds and HVB temp was only 84 deg F (ambient was 81 deg F).
The front vents did not even open when I plugged in immediately after arriving at home.

Seems like the HVB was ok to start L2 charging immediately?

highway driving is actually pretty easy on the batteries...maybe 20-50kw depending on grade and speed. When I watch the charger temps (I have ChgACTemp and ChgDCTemp displayed on my CarScanner dashboard, closest sensors to the battery) driving at highway speeds the temps level out 5-10deF over ambient. repeat WOT/regen up and down a mountain at 'lower' speeds the temps seem to climb up to ambient +30-40F.

I can't imagine there is any really problem starting a charge as long as the charger temps are below max rated. The batteries hardly budge in temp because of the mass, but the charger and HVBJB temps can get faily high with high current output or regen....

 

[4sallypat]

If it's really hot, like in So Calif, I get this message pop up.

Just wants to cool off and run the fans while plugged in to avoid using the onboard power.

110 degree day for the past week:

 

[RedHookEnzo]

This reminds me of the 80’s turbo cars like my old Saab where you would need to let the turbos cool down a minute or so after a hard run

 

[RickMachE]

Anyone have additional info on the recommended "let the battery cool before home charging" advice?
Drove for 4-hours straight at highway speeds and HVB temp was only 84 deg F (ambient was 81 deg F).
The front vents did not even open when I plugged in immediately after arriving at home.

Seems like the HVB was ok to start L2 charging immediately?

Actually, the recommendation from the manual is:

It is recommended to set your preferred charging times to be at least 2-3 hours after your typical plug in time. This allows the battery to cool before charging begins.

I've never returned from a trip with the car that hot, or in very hot temps, because I have a few miles of local driving after getting off the highway. Since our charging doesn't start until 7PM during the week, most of the time it sits for hours before charging.

 

[MME_Adventurist]

When I watch the charger temps (I have ChgACTemp and ChgDCTemp displayed on my CarScanner dashboard, closest sensors to the battery) driving at highway speeds the temps level out 5-10deF over ambient.

I have been wanting to buy the OBDII scanner that goes with the CarScanner app for my Iphone. Which OBDII did you purchase to connect with the CarScanner app?

 

[dtbaker61]

I have been wanting to buy the OBDII scanner that goes with the CarScanner app for my Iphone. Which OBDII did you purchase to connect with the CarScanner app?

I've posted a couple threads about CarScanner... try searching by Member ID. One is
https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...stom-data-display-ver-1-87-1-and-later.12627/

 

[Mach-Lee]

Anyone have additional info on the recommended "let the battery cool before home charging" advice?
Drove for 4-hours straight at highway speeds and HVB temp was only 84 deg F (ambient was 81 deg F).
The front vents did not even open when I plugged in immediately after arriving at home.

Seems like the HVB was ok to start L2 charging immediately?

I think that’s mostly a copy/paste from Ford’s plug-in hybrids, which do heat up the battery significantly while driving. The Mach-E battery is so big it doesn’t really heat up. And most of the time it doesn't matter when you plug it in. But to be easier on the power grid, you should set your charge schedule to charge at night rather than right away when you get home (4-7PM is the worst time to charge, avoid).

If you get the message about plugging in due to high outside air temp, then you should do that right away when you get home.

 

[bshaw]

[...]
But to be easier on the power grid, you should set your charge schedule to set at night rather than right away when you get home (4-7PM is the worst time to charge, avoid).
[...]

Our Massachusetts utility provider (Eversource) needs to roll out a residential TOU program. I currently have no economic incentive to wait until a certain time to plug in.

Also, a significant amount of utility solar has been built out across the state, so consuming energy during daylight hours can draw from those sources.

 

[Mach-Lee]

Our Massachusetts utility provider (Eversource) needs to roll out a residential TOU program. I currently have no economic incentive to wait until a certain time to plug in.

Also, a significant amount of utility solar has been built out across the state, so consuming energy during daylight hours can draw from those sources.

Yeah it bugs me when utilities don't want to offer TOU, but then want to raise your rates when their costs skyrocket as a result of not educating consumers nor controlling demand during peak times. To me that's not addressing the issue. If everybody thinks the same way and charges EVs/runs AC as soon as they get home, then the rate hikes will start happening. So it's to everyone's benefit to avoid charging during peak 4-7PM times (even if there's no financial benefit in doing so) to slow down utility rate increases.

Solar is a consideration, it's best utilized in the 8AM-4PM timeframe.

 

[bshaw]

Yeah it bugs me when utilities don't want to offer TOU, but then want to raise your rates when their costs skyrocket as a result of not educating consumers nor controlling demand during peak times. To me that's not addressing the issue. If everybody thinks the same way and charges EVs/runs AC as soon as they get home, then the rate hikes will start happening. So it's to everyone's benefit to avoid charging during peak 4-7PM times (even if there's no financial benefit in doing so) to slow down utility rate increases.

Solar is a consideration, it's best utilized in the 8AM-4PM timeframe.

Interestingly, we do have a program that lets the utility control my AC by sending a signal to my Ecobee thermostat. It tries to keep the AC from coming on until 7pm, like you said.
I think that system was built out by Ecobee, and then the utility just had to connect up.

I need Ford to build something similar where owners could enroll/authorize their vehicle charge settings to be directly controlled by a utility. Of course, there would be an override if you really need to charge immediately.

 

[Mach-Lee]

I need Ford to build something similar where owners could enroll/authorize their vehicle charge settings to be directly controlled by a utility. Of course, there would be an override if you really need to charge immediately.

Ford actually did have a pilot program for that called SmartGrid Rewards, which has since ended. I don't think the utilities really made good use of it, and there were problems with the cars resuming their normal charge schedules afterwards.

https://www.ford.com/grid/dte

 

[bshaw]

Ford actually did have a pilot program for that called SmartGrid Rewards, which has since ended. I don't think the utilities really made good use of it, and there were problems with the cars resuming their normal charge schedules afterwards.

https://www.ford.com/grid/dte

Yes!
The program description is exactly what I was looking for. They should run another trial in MA. There are at least 3 other MMEs in my neighborhood, and currently 5 on the lawn down at the Ford dealer.

The problems resuming sound like as much a problem with FordPass vs being anything to do with the program. Hopefully those FordPass reliability issues can be ironed out.

 

[Whoosahh]

Our Massachusetts utility provider (Eversource) needs to roll out a residential TOU program. I currently have no economic incentive to wait until a certain time to plug in.

Also, a significant amount of utility solar has been built out across the state, so consuming energy during daylight hours can draw from those sources.

Although there is not an economic incentive to wait to charge, it is essential to not pull from the grid during high usage times so as to conserve resources. Hmm, which is most important, possibly pulling from an electric pool others rely on for cooling, lighting etc. or charging a car that will not be used until the next day? God forbid we be selfless.

 

[RedStallion]

Yeah it bugs me when utilities don't want to offer TOU, but then want to raise your rates when their costs skyrocket as a result of not educating consumers nor controlling demand during peak times. To me that's not addressing the issue. If everybody thinks the same way and charges EVs/runs AC as soon as they get home, then the rate hikes will start happening. So it's to everyone's benefit to avoid charging during peak 4-7PM times (even if there's no financial benefit in doing so) to slow down utility rate increases.

Solar is a consideration, it's best utilized in the 8AM-4PM timeframe.

Our utility company cares a lot about customers. Just recently they sent an email to customers with "Great News" in the subject line. I thought they finally solved the problem with outages. Well, they kinda solved it. ?

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