Revised Charging Curve: Video and Data! (Nearly 1 Hr Faster!)

[Arjan]

After plugging in at 24% the charging started at 162 kW. I always thought that this was limited at 150?.

When the battery reached 50% this was best ng brought down to 100kW. Not at once but slowly.

At 80% i disconnected at drove off. But it seems that the temperature still was way to high, because the power was limited.

Is this something that happens often ? Pic was taken when standing still after a few miles.

 

[scoopman]

After plugging in at 24% the charging started at 162 kW. I always thought that this was limited at 150?.

When the battery reached 50% this was best ng brought down to 100kW. Not at once but slowly.

At 80% i disconnected at drove off. But it seems that the temperature still was way to high, because the power was limited.

Is this something that happens often ? Pic was taken when standing still after a few miles.

You got higher kw because the charger you were at was a high amp charger. Electrify America chargers max out generally at 350amps which can give energy like you saw. My video was unfortunately shot at a 150kw charger, no 350kw were open and working at the time.

 

[Accord07]

Yes I agree, the evidence does seem somewhat indeterminate actually.

I show 90.4 (I think offhand) usable kWH after full to 100%. Does anyone have actual OBD-II PID data from their non-updated car to show whether it reports 88 kWH so we can compare?

Nice work!

The only way to confirm for sure whether usable capacity has increased post-update is to have measured it before and after the update, and most importantly around the same battery temperature.

I rarely charge mine to 100%, but often with nothing better to do while waiting, I use the Energy to Empty vs SOC Displayed (usually around 80%) to extrapolate what 100% would be. Data logged by Car Scanner on my phone confirm my recollection. The lowest came in while the car was sitting in a parking lot in Vermont back in January; the highest came in just a few hours later at the end of a charging session at Electrify American in Albany, NY.

Location	Capacity Guesstimate	Ambient Temperature	Battery Temperature
Parking Lot, West Dover, VT	64.0 kWh	-20 °C	-10 °C
EA, Albany, NY	90.8	-4 °C	38 °C
EA, Pompton Lakes, NJ	89.4	0 °C	34 °C
Volta L2, Quakertown, PA	85.3	22 °C	24 °C

For those of us with cold winter days, our range is hit both by lower battery capacity after the car has been left outside for hours as well as higher energy consumption for heating.

Try charging to 100% on Level 2 at home, I bet your Energy-to-Empty value will drop below 90 kWh.

The other thing I have done while waiting was to calculate the buffer size at the top and the bottom, based on Energy-to-Empty at various levels, SOC, and SOC Displayed, with the assumption that Usable_Capacity=Energy_to_Empty/SOC_Displayed, SOC=(top buffer+UsableCapacity+bottom buffer). They always came out be roughly equal sized.

 

[HuntingPudel]

After plugging in at 24% the charging started at 162 kW. I always thought that this was limited at 150?.

When the battery reached 50% this was best ng brought down to 100kW. Not at once but slowly.

At 80% i disconnected at drove off. But it seems that the temperature still was way to high, because the power was limited.

Is this something that happens often ? Pic was taken when standing still after a few miles.

The MME will temporarily charge at that rate. Each time I have used a DCFC machine, I have seen the charging start in the 160s and then trend downward.

 

[scoopman]

The MME will temporarily charge at that rate. Each time I have used a DCFC machine, I have seen the charging start in the 160s and then trend downward.

In my experience, that's only happened when I've used a 350 kW unit from EA. The 150 units only will take you up to 130 kw or so. Others have suggested to me it's because the 350 units have higher amperage.

 

[HuntingPudel]

In my experience, that's only happened when I've used a 350 kW unit from EA. The 150 units only will take you up to 130 kw or so. Others have suggested to me it's because the 350 units have higher amperage.

True. I have only used one 150 KW DCFC machine and it started in the high 130s then tailed off after a while.

 

[AZBill]

Signet chargers have 500A limits and I have gotten the full 150kw on those, and up to 160kw on those 350 units. Even the ABB 350kw units have a 400A limit, so that can affect the peak seen. The MME can pull about 450A, based on my estimates. Rumor is that even the ABB 350 units are now limited to 350A, I saw that on a charger in Tucson recently.

 

[Arjan]

You got higher kw because the charger you were at was a high amp charger. Electrify America chargers max out generally at 350amps which can give energy like you saw. My video was unfortunately shot at a 150kw charger, no 350kw were open and working at the time.

It was a 300 kW charger in my case.

 

[silverelan]

In my experience, that's only happened when I've used a 350 kW unit from EA. The 150 units only will take you up to 130 kw or so. Others have suggested to me it's because the 350 units have higher amperage.

I’m curious if the > 150kW peak on a 350kW charger is held for longer than the < 150kW peak on a 150kW charger. In other words, does the MME hold 125-130kW for longer than 162kW peak?

I’m still convinced that the MME is limited to gaining 30% SoC in 15 mins and 40% in 20 mins, then it just sits at 75-80kW until it hits 80%.

 

[mkhuffman]

Yes I agree, the evidence does seem somewhat indeterminate actually.

I show 90.4 (I think offhand) usable kWH after full to 100%. Does anyone have actual OBD-II PID data from their non-updated car to show whether it reports 88 kWH so we can compare?

I also don't charge to 100% very often, so I don't have a lot of data to really compare. But since I got the new charging curve software updates, I once saw 91 kWh Energy to Empty at 100% SOCD. Interestingly the SOC was not 100%. I can go back and get the exact percentage, but I think it was 95%. I thought that was very strange.

Prior to the software update the max I measured at 100% SOCD was 88 kWh, but it was also colder outside then. Coincidence? Or did we get more capacity with the charging curve update?

 

[mkhuffman]

I just thought of this: my car was updated on February 7. Look at my range history and what happened that week - a huge improvement in range. Of course there were some really, really cold days prior to Feb 7, but there was not a huge change in climate that week that explains the range improvement. Maybe it is due to more battery capacity?

 

[s7davis]

That's not going to tell you anything without knowing the exact losses in the charging process.

WOW 939 minutes charging and not even halfway yet lol.

You must have a special Mach-E with a 3k kw battery lol.

 

[generaltso]

WOW 939 minutes charging and not even halfway yet lol.

You must have a special Mach-E with a 3k kw battery lol.

Sorry, not sure what you’re referring to.

 

[ebeponyan]

After plugging in at 24% the charging started at 162 kW. I always thought that this was limited at 150?.

The Mach-e's internal charger is limited to putting 150kW into the battery, but a DCFC may supply more than that in order to run heating/cooling systems in the car and also to account for general charging losses. It's normal to see 5-10% more power delivered to the car than what ends up going into the battery.

 

[Metal_Horses]

I think the Job 1 cars that got the update are still at 88kWh.

When I take 67.71/.8, I get 84.63, which is my guess on how to calculate the 100% kWh available

When I take 67.71/.7635, I get 88.68kWh.

Either way, I'm not seeing 91kWh.

Coincidently, I'm charging up to 100% tonight for a trip tomorrow, so I'll see what it says then.