Poor fast charge rate, I think

[Bender]

Poor fast charge rate!

Hi all. I have a 2022 premium ice. I think there may be a problem with my fast charge. I preconditioned battery today (turned off heater 20 mins before arriving at charger and had charger selected for 40 mins prior to arrival in ford navigation) ) turned off car plugged into a 150 kw charger and the highest charge rate I saw was 73 for first min then dropped to 54 kw and stayed there for 10 mins. Started charge at 51% after 12 mins it was at 63% and charge rate dropped to 46 kw. I think this should be higher no??? Temperature outside is cool which I know affects it (-14 C) but when new I saw faster charge rates. Please let me know what you’re getting for fast charge speed.
Thanks

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[Howard]

Chargers can also de-rate due to cold or hot temperatures and if maintenance is due on the charger. Best way to figure that out is to put an OBDII reader/scanner in the car and use an app like Car Scanner Pro. You can then see what the car is calling for from the charger and comparing that to the amount of power the charger is sending. If the car is requesting more than the charger is supplying, then the issue is with the charger and not the car. Hope this helps.

 

[Mach-Lee]

Poor fast charge rate!

Hi all. I have a 2022 premium ice. I think there may be a problem with my fast charge. I preconditioned battery today (turned off heater 20 mins before arriving at charger and had charger selected for 40 mins prior to arrival in ford navigation) ) turned off car plugged into a 150 kw charger and the highest charge rate I saw was 73 for first min then dropped to 54 kw and stayed there for 10 mins. Started charge at 51% after 12 mins it was at 63% and charge rate dropped to 46 kw. I think this should be higher no??? Temperature outside is cool which I know affects it (-14 C) but when new I saw faster charge rates. Please let me know what you’re getting for fast charge speed.
Thanks

If the battery started at -14°C, it’s going to take more than 20 minutes to warm up to DC fast charge temperature. More like an hour of heating with HVAC off. Preconditioning does not start early enough to allow that much heating, so it’s impossible to get it fully warmed up in time starting that cold. So the rate will be less than optimal.

In the winter you really want to plug-in and set a departure time first, in addition to using en route preconditioning to get full DC charge speed.

 

[superdave80]

I have a 2022 premium ice. I think there may be a problem with my fast charge.

I think I've found your problem...

 

[bbulkow]

Poor fast charge rate!

Hi all. I have a 2022 premium ice. I think there may be a problem with my fast charge. I preconditioned battery today (turned off heater 20 mins before arriving at charger and had charger selected for 40 mins prior to arrival in ford navigation) ) turned off car plugged into a 150 kw charger and the highest charge rate I saw was 73 for first min then dropped to 54 kw and stayed there for 10 mins. Started charge at 51% after 12 mins it was at 63% and charge rate dropped to 46 kw. I think this should be higher no??? Temperature outside is cool which I know affects it (-14 C) but when new I saw faster charge rates. Please let me know what you’re getting for fast charge speed.
Thanks

Hey. There's a serious industry problem because the charger has "150kw" printed on it, but that's not the whole story. I say this as a likely thesis given your exact number, 73kw.

I went down this rabbit hole for MONTHS because, like you, I thought my car might be broken. Hopefully I can save you some time.

Chargers are rated for max amps and max volts. Then the charger gets printed on the side these two numbers multiplied together. A "350kw" charger could be 1000A and 350V, or it could be 1000v and 350A. And it's true: that's the max the charger will deliver.

Our cars charge between 350 and 380V, since we have a 400v architecture. At least, that's the number I see on my car in carscanner pro. As the car charges, the number floats up a bit, and temperature matters.

Now, let's say your charger can deliver 200A and 1000V and is thus listed as a 200kw charger (around here, there are EVGo chargers that are very tall which are exactly this way).

200A, times the 370V our cars charge at, is just about 74kw. Which means one can be at a charger labeled "200kw" and is charging at 74kw and *everything is working as designed* at the fastest rate.

This is also true with "50kw" chargers which are actually 100A and 500V. Working *as designed* these charge our cars at about 37kw (again, I have EVGo's near me that are this way).

Which means it seems likely you were charger-limited to 200A.

Whether that was the model of the charger, or an issue with the cable, or load balancing with other loads at the station, is hard to say. Chargers will absolutely go into modes and restrict.

If you get an OBD-2 dongle, and Carscanner Pro (free app), you can eyeball various charging parameters. Notably "volts requested" , " volts delivered", "amps requested", "amps delivered". These 4 parameters tell you A TON about what's going on in a fast charge. Some car manufacturers (I hear Rivian?) actually display all this when you're charging, right on the front panel inside the car. It would be a huge help if MachE's charging app did the same thing, but there's very little information on the in-car screen, and just the KW speed in the app. However, you can achieve the same result with a $25 buck bluetooth dongle and some time spent learning how to drive the Carscanner interface. You can also geek out on things like the battery temperature, the amount of power divered to warming the battery, all kinds of things!

If your car is not requesting between 350V and 400V, you should get along to a dealer.

 

[Bender]

If the battery started at -14°C, it’s going to take more than 20 minutes to warm up to DC fast charge temperature. More like an hour of heating with HVAC off. Preconditioning does not start early enough to allow that much heating, so it’s impossible to get it fully warmed up in time starting that cold. So the rate will be less than optimal.

In the winter you really want to plug-in and set a departure time first, in addition to using en route preconditioning to get full DC charge speed.

I did, drove 150 km before I got to the next charging station.

 

[Bender]

On way home now plugged into a 50 kw charger and it’s been steady at 46kw. Will hit a different 100 kw charger on way home see what I get there. Been messing with this last few weeks and never see about 65 kw even at 350 ke charger (hopefully it would put out at least 100 if car requested it). Temp is now only -2c also. I will report here later what I see at next charger

 

[Bender]

Hey. There's a serious industry problem because the charger has "150kw" printed on it, but that's not the whole story. I say this as a likely thesis given your exact number, 73kw.

I went down this rabbit hole for MONTHS because, like you, I thought my car might be broken. Hopefully I can save you some time.

Chargers are rated for max amps and max volts. Then the charger gets printed on the side these two numbers multiplied together. A "350kw" charger could be 1000A and 350V, or it could be 1000v and 350A. And it's true: that's the max the charger will deliver.

Our cars charge between 350 and 380V, since we have a 400v architecture. At least, that's the number I see on my car in carscanner pro. As the car charges, the number floats up a bit, and temperature matters.

Now, let's say your charger can deliver 200A and 1000V and is thus listed as a 200kw charger (around here, there are EVGo chargers that are very tall which are exactly this way).

200A, times the 370V our cars charge at, is just about 74kw. Which means one can be at a charger labeled "200kw" and is charging at 74kw and *everything is working as designed* at the fastest rate.

This is also true with "50kw" chargers which are actually 100A and 500V. Working *as designed* these charge our cars at about 37kw (again, I have EVGo's near me that are this way).

Which means it seems likely you were charger-limited to 200A.

Whether that was the model of the charger, or an issue with the cable, or load balancing with other loads at the station, is hard to say. Chargers will absolutely go into modes and restrict.

If you get an OBD-2 dongle, and Carscanner Pro (free app), you can eyeball various charging parameters. Notably "volts requested" , " volts delivered", "amps requested", "amps delivered". These 4 parameters tell you A TON about what's going on in a fast charge. Some car manufacturers (I hear Rivian?) actually display all this when you're charging, right on the front panel inside the car. It would be a huge help if MachE's charging app did the same thing, but there's very little information on the in-car screen, and just the KW speed in the app. However, you can achieve the same result with a $25 buck bluetooth dongle and some time spent learning how to drive the Carscanner interface. You can also geek out on things like the battery temperature, the amount of power divered to warming the battery, all kinds of things!

If your car is not requesting between 350V and 400V, you should get along to a dealer.

I will order one right away. Getting close to ext warranty up need to get to bottom of this asap

 

[Bender]

I will order one right away. Getting close to ext warranty up need to get to bottom of this asap appreciate the info.

 

[Phil-Springs]

Hey. There's a serious industry problem because the charger has "150kw" printed on it, but that's not the whole story. I say this as a likely thesis given your exact number, 73kw.

I went down this rabbit hole for MONTHS because, like you, I thought my car might be broken. Hopefully I can save you some time.

Chargers are rated for max amps and max volts. Then the charger gets printed on the side these two numbers multiplied together. A "350kw" charger could be 1000A and 350V, or it could be 1000v and 350A. And it's true: that's the max the charger will deliver.

Our cars charge between 350 and 380V, since we have a 400v architecture. At least, that's the number I see on my car in carscanner pro. As the car charges, the number floats up a bit, and temperature matters.

Now, let's say your charger can deliver 200A and 1000V and is thus listed as a 200kw charger (around here, there are EVGo chargers that are very tall which are exactly this way).

200A, times the 370V our cars charge at, is just about 74kw. Which means one can be at a charger labeled "200kw" and is charging at 74kw and *everything is working as designed* at the fastest rate.

This is also true with "50kw" chargers which are actually 100A and 500V. Working *as designed* these charge our cars at about 37kw (again, I have EVGo's near me that are this way).

Which means it seems likely you were charger-limited to 200A.

Whether that was the model of the charger, or an issue with the cable, or load balancing with other loads at the station, is hard to say. Chargers will absolutely go into modes and restrict.

If you get an OBD-2 dongle, and Carscanner Pro (free app), you can eyeball various charging parameters. Notably "volts requested" , " volts delivered", "amps requested", "amps delivered". These 4 parameters tell you A TON about what's going on in a fast charge. Some car manufacturers (I hear Rivian?) actually display all this when you're charging, right on the front panel inside the car. It would be a huge help if MachE's charging app did the same thing, but there's very little information on the in-car screen, and just the KW speed in the app. However, you can achieve the same result with a $25 buck bluetooth dongle and some time spent learning how to drive the Carscanner interface. You can also geek out on things like the battery temperature, the amount of power divered to warming the battery, all kinds of things!

If your car is not requesting between 350V and 400V, you should get along to a dealer.

Really would be nice if we could get a few "details" screens provided by FORD in an OTA for charging and range estimation.

 

[Bender]

Hit a 50 kw charger for 15 mins, half way home. Turn int temp off 45 mins prior, charger in nav to attempt preheat. -4c outside here getting only 32 kw.

Will hit the 100 kw charger 45 mins south of here will report back that charge speed.

My son’s Tesla kicks my ass at fast charge. Good thing I rarely use them or I’d be switching to Tesla (I do really like this car though, hoping can fix this a bit).

 

[Bender]

Really would be nice if we could get a few "details" screens provided by FORD in an OTA for charging and range estimation.

My range estimate off by roughly 20% consistently on highway. Pretty good city driving. Unfortunately I’m 98% highway driving this car

 

[hybrid2bev]

Hit a 50 kw charger for 15 mins, half way home. Turn int temp off 45 mins prior, charger in nav to attempt preheat. -4c outside here getting only 32 kw.

Will hit the 100 kw charger 45 mins south of here will report back that charge speed.

My son’s Tesla kicks my ass at fast charge. Good thing I rarely use them or I’d be switching to Tesla (I do really like this car though, hoping can fix this a bit).

It’ll fix itself in late July or early August.

 

[Bender]

It’ll fix itself in late July or early August.

Unfortunately I think your right…

 

[bbulkow]

Hit a 50 kw charger for 15 mins, half way home. Turn int temp off 45 mins prior, charger in nav to attempt preheat. -4c outside here getting only 32 kw.

Will hit the 100 kw charger 45 mins south of here will report back that charge speed.

My son’s Tesla kicks my ass at fast charge. Good thing I rarely use them or I’d be switching to Tesla (I do really like this car though, hoping can fix this a bit).

If you use the supercharger network like your son, your fast charge will improve like 2x.

Not as fast as most Tesla, but should go up to respectable.

Are there none in your route?

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