New Mach E Owner - Battery Woes :(

[BetterDavid]

Im a new 2023 Mach E Route 1 owner, and I’m a bit surprised by my battery performance. I just got it 2 weeks ago (brand new) and am seeing like a 7 percent drop (from 80 to 73%) from driving 13 miles… It’s like 60 degrees outside in California with minimal traffic. I’m trying to keep to 65mph and following all of the tips that I can find.

This range is terrible right?

I’m using unbridled, and I haven’t done the whole trip reset yet. Will it really make that much of a difference… I love this car, other than this!

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[Marv Hound]

From a percentage view, that seems high. What is it reporting as your mi/kWh? That might help understand the situation. At you running the heat or defroster on high or anything else like that?

 

[BetterDavid]

I’m using the automatic climate control and letting it regulate itself (since I heard that’s more efficient). I’m letting it keep itself at 65 degrees.

I’m going to check the Kw/h and see. I’m a noob, so I haven’t figured out how to check that aspect yet.

 

[BetterDavid]

Maybe when I drive back home I’ll disable everything again. This is the kind of range i’m sorta getting no matter what I do though.

 

[Arsenic17]

Drive it for a few months and then check back in and see how you feel.

Anyways just focus on your efficiency. At 65MPH, you should be seeing 3.2 to 3.7 mi/kWh for CR1 with temperature around 60°. dont worry too much about range estimate or battery percentage.

The car will get well calibrated after 2-3 months and everything will be more accurate.

 

[Vulnox]

I think your issue is largely the distance traveled and outdoor temp. While 60 is great for human comfort, the battery likes to be about 10-15 degrees warmer. When only driving 13 miles and not preconditioning before leaving, the car is going to run the heater to warm the battery. That is probably 3-4% of your battery loss in that time.

As a comparison we are in Michigan and even on a very cold 30 degree morning my wife's drive to work she will go from 80% to 75 or 76%, and that is an 11 mile one way drive. But we have departure times set so the car is preconditioned before she leaves.

When she drives home, same distance just reversed, there is no preconditioning and she will go from 75% to 68%.

She sometimes has to go to another office branch that is 60 miles away, and when preconditioning before leaving she will go from 95% (we charge higher because of the round trip distance) to about 70% or so, but then on the drive home it's 70% to about 35-40%.

That battery is a massive piece to warm up, and while your needed warmth isn't as much as us going somewhere when it's 30 out, it will still have an outsize impact on a shorter drive.

Putting it in ICE vehicle terms, if I drive the kids to school in the morning in the F-150, my fuel mileage is about 15-16 in the winter. The engine is cold, less efficient, and it won't shut off the engine and run in electric only (it's a hybrid) basically the entire drive to school. But on the way back from school my fuel mileage climbs to 19 or so. Engine is warm, if the speed is steady it may even run in all electric.

ICE or EV, if it isn't running in its optimal range, then it's going to have to spend some fuel to get there. I bet if you do a 30 mile trip you would find your consumption levels out, or if you preconditioned.

 

[DRCal68]

Congratulations on your new EV. I am also a new MME owner, now with about 600 miles on it. This is my 3rd plug-in car, and it is getting expected efficiency on longer drives. I would advise to give it some time and miles to break in the tires and other moving parts, and take some longer drives (out and back home). It is hard to get a good measurement on efficiency with short drives.

 

[BetterDavid]

Good tips. I’m actually doing the preheating thing as of today, but I’ll give it more time to calibrate.

 

[MellowJohnny]

<snip>
I think your issue is largely the distance traveled and outdoor temp.
</snip>

This.

I notice when it is properly cold here (-15c or below), driving on the highway, range will look like it's falling off a cliff, but after driving a decent distance the range estimator (we like to call it the Guess-O-Meter on this forum) get it's legs under it and has a better time estimating remaining range. So I may loose a sharp amount at the beginning, but it levels off to a steady state and range decreases in a more linear fashion.

It's essentially a real-time calculation, so that may be a bit jarring at first.

 

[AKgrampy]

Do you have it in a garage or is it kept outdoors? In my case it is quite extreme but I have left my house at 90% and driven 10 miles and ended up at 93% SOC. My garage was 55F and outdoors -10F. SOC just shifted based on temps even though I was consuming kWh. I alway have MyTrip up on Sync screen and it gives me a good indication the car’s usage.

 

[BetterDavid]

It’s in the garage in california, so the coldest it’s really going to get is like 50 degrees. Most of today it was 60-70 though.

So you’re battery charge went UP 3% - I want that problem, haha.

 

[AKgrampy]

It’s in the garage in california, so the coldest it’s really going to get is like 50 degrees. Most of today it was 60-70 though.

So you’re battery charge went UP 3% - I want that problem, haha.

My point is taking it out from the garage will also cause a temperature change which can affect the GOM but really does not affect the actual charge of the battery. Just another thing that can affect the guess o meter on short drives. I think monitoring MyTrip will give you a better feel especially if you do a lot of similar driving day to day.

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

Im a new 2023 Mach E Route 1 owner, and I’m a bit surprised by my battery performance. I just got it 2 weeks ago (brand new) and am seeing like a 7 percent drop (from 80 to 73%) from driving 13 miles… It’s like 60 degrees outside in California with minimal traffic. I’m trying to keep to 65mph and following all of the tips that I can find.

This range is terrible right?

I’m using unbridled, and I haven’t done the whole trip reset yet. Will it really make that much of a difference… I love this car, other than this!

Hi David, you have a CA Route 1 trim so you want to get the best range possible. That's understandable. However unless you have one hell of a commute, you can safely ignore the total range right now. Over time you're start to get a sense for the Tao of GOM, but it takes time. Time both for you learn about the car and time for the car to learn about how you drive, what it's like where you live/drive (temps, hills, wind), etc.

The only time the GOM is really important is if you're on a road trip. In that situation, best practice is to plan arriving at charging stops at around 20% and then charge to 80%. That's the sweet spot both in terms of battery health and charging speed.

The rest of the time try to just enjoy your awesome car and charge it to 80-90% whenever you're home.

Have fun!

 

[BetterDavid]

Is the GOM the same thing as the actual percentage? I don’t really pay attention the expected range metric - only really looking at the percentage so far.

 

[Space_Pony]

Select "TRIPS" in your apps and advise what the ?/kwh is showing.

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