Turtle Mode With ~30% Left (Cold Weather Warning)

[Fremont Kid]

Here in Colorado Springs the temps have been single digits and negative for several days overnights and early a.m. I've been diligent plugging in the L2 charger every time parking in the garage. The % battery energy to overcome external temps has been in the high teens, rather than low single digits. This is the only difference I've noticed. But, I've also kept the SOC above 40%.

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[Sam2084]

What was the ambient outside air temperature when you experienced the loss of power and the turtle symbols?

Somewhere between -8F and 0F.

 

[Sam2084]

Yes I agree, it can become a bit of a potential safety issue. luckily the reduction happens after warnings and the reduction is very gradual...but a very unsettling feeling for sure.

Reduction was not gradual for me. It was less than 5 minutes from all good to red turtle mode and 63 MPH max speed.

 

[GarageWarrior2023]

I left the car outdoors without any ability to charge for several nights over the last couple days in Wisconsin. The battery was in the low single digits F in the morning, with the coolant temp below zero. No turtle mode with SoC at ~50%. I noticed the car was aggressively warming up the battery as soon as it started up. I let it do its thing for a 10 minutes or so before I turned on the heat, at which point of course the heater exclusively warmed the cabin. Got to a 50kW charger at about 32% SoC and charged without any issues.

I think the problem happens because the car can't seem to warm the battery while warming the cabin, no matter the set temperature (even if the cabin set temperature is reached and the PTC is cycled off). I think it would be perfectly fine doing a 50/50 split between the cabin and the battery when it first starts for a few minutes, and then a 30/70 split until the battery gets up to temperature.

Edit: Forgot to mention that this was driving at around 55-65 mph to get to the 50kW charger.

Well this is a bit more reassuring that more than likely at higher states of charge there shouldn't be any issues. I looked up the temperatures there and they appear to be about -20c-ish or around there, so I think this a great example, thanks!

 

[GarageWarrior2023]

Reduction was not gradual for me. It was less than 5 minutes from all good to red turtle mode and 63 MPH max speed.

I was going 63mph and was reduced to 50mph relatively quickly, it wasn't instant but noticeable enough. after that initial drop it was very gradual down to 30mph.

 

[aberberich]

I shared this in another thread but thought I would share here as well.


Finding this thread just now after having a pretty scary experience yesterday.

I went to ski at a resort an hour from my house. It was 1 degree F out with a windchill of -21. I charged the car to 100% and warmed it up before leaving. Arrived at the resort at 65% (had a seasucker ski rack mounted as well). Skied for 4 hours and then went home. While taking off my gear I ran the heat at full blast (it was still -21F windchill). The cabin warmed up enough during this time and off I went. The drive is mostly highway and I held 85MPH comfortably and safely. With the heat set to 85 Auto Speed 2. Around 45 minutes in I began to notice the heat was not as warm but really didn’t think much of it. Then suddenly I see a yellow turtle on my dash. As this happens the speed of the car begins to reduce (even though cruise is enabled and set to 85). Eventually it settles at 70MPH. Im only a few miles from my exit so I opt to just keep going vs pull over etc. Suddenly the turtle turns red and my speed drops again. The car is now struggling to hold 55 (in a 70 ). Luckily I am only half a mile from my exit. Upon getting off and slowing down (thus engaging the regen) the turtle is gone. I safely drive the car home. It’s worth noting this all happened when I had 22% down to 18%. The battery was not even in single digits.

does anyone have advice on how to prevent this in the future? I plan to follow the advice of this thread however I don’t have a charger at the ski resort and I did drive home with the heat on auto 2. Perhaps next week I will turn the temperature down and try driving 75 instead of 85?

had the car 2 years now and have never had an issue like this, however it typically does not hit -20 windchill where I live. Usually a week of 0 or -5 at the lowest.

 

[kkgg]

I think its the same case with with any EV. funny how the manufacturers tests this and knows about this and not mentions

 

[kltye]

I shared this in another thread but thought I would share here as well.


Finding this thread just now after having a pretty scary experience yesterday.

I went to ski at a resort an hour from my house. It was 1 degree F out with a windchill of -21. I charged the car to 100% and warmed it up before leaving. Arrived at the resort at 65% (had a seasucker ski rack mounted as well). Skied for 4 hours and then went home. While taking off my gear I ran the heat at full blast (it was still -21F windchill). The cabin warmed up enough during this time and off I went. The drive is mostly highway and I held 85MPH comfortably and safely. With the heat set to 85 Auto Speed 2. Around 45 minutes in I began to notice the heat was not as warm but really didn’t think much of it. Then suddenly I see a yellow turtle on my dash. As this happens the speed of the car begins to reduce (even though cruise is enabled and set to 85). Eventually it settles at 70MPH. Im only a few miles from my exit so I opt to just keep going vs pull over etc. Suddenly the turtle turns red and my speed drops again. The car is now struggling to hold 55 (in a 70 ). Luckily I am only half a mile from my exit. Upon getting off and slowing down (thus engaging the regen) the turtle is gone. I safely drive the car home. It’s worth noting this all happened when I had 22% down to 18%. The battery was not even in single digits.

does anyone have advice on how to prevent this in the future? I plan to follow the advice of this thread however I don’t have a charger at the ski resort and I did drive home with the heat on auto 2. Perhaps next week I will turn the temperature down and try driving 75 instead of 85?

had the car 2 years now and have never had an issue like this, however it typically does not hit -20 windchill where I live. Usually a week of 0 or -5 at the lowest.

Eighty-five degrees??!?!! Do you drive in your underwear? I set it to 60 and at times it's a bit too warm for me.

 

[Hammered]

I think the AGW crowd has been over-doing their prayers!

I still believe a diesel heater w/ liquid tap should be seriously considered as an option for EVs. Sounds silly until you realize there's damn near 140,000 BTUs of heat in a gallon. For a resistance heater to produce the same amount of thermal energy in 1 gallon of diesel requires 40kWh of power. Small price to pay for no cold weather hit.

 

[woody]

The news just keeps getting worse for us COLD winter drivers. Does anyone know if other electric vehicles are experiencing this issue?

I doubt it. At least not w/ the Bolt.

 

[woody]

And the beat goes on.
And they had the audacity to brag about their thorough cold weather testing!!
Must now assume there is no end to MME faults/defects.
I was naive enough to think that there was light at the end of the tunnel of MME madness.

 

[therealpinto]

Interesting. I have not had this happen to our Job 1 2021 AWD ER. But we in Europe are behind on OTAs.

I know I took it down to 26% on January 3rd, after trip where -35 C was the lowest (started at -31 or so). Plugged in on our Level 2 home charger before departure but I doubt it had any preconditioning since the load balancer prioritizes the house heating at these temperatures.

 

[KevinS]

Well, Looks like I'm going heated seats only (and defrost only when needed) on really cold days until this gets sorted out. The charger I usually hit when on road trips is at a rest center off of the left lane on I-95. I don't want to see turtle mode in those conditions.

 

[RickMachE]

I shared this in another thread but thought I would share here as well.


Finding this thread just now after having a pretty scary experience yesterday.

I went to ski at a resort an hour from my house. It was 1 degree F out with a windchill of -21. I charged the car to 100% and warmed it up before leaving. Arrived at the resort at 65% (had a seasucker ski rack mounted as well). Skied for 4 hours and then went home. While taking off my gear I ran the heat at full blast (it was still -21F windchill). The cabin warmed up enough during this time and off I went. The drive is mostly highway and I held 85MPH comfortably and safely. With the heat set to 85 Auto Speed 2. Around 45 minutes in I began to notice the heat was not as warm but really didn’t think much of it. Then suddenly I see a yellow turtle on my dash. As this happens the speed of the car begins to reduce (even though cruise is enabled and set to 85). Eventually it settles at 70MPH. Im only a few miles from my exit so I opt to just keep going vs pull over etc. Suddenly the turtle turns red and my speed drops again. The car is now struggling to hold 55 (in a 70 ). Luckily I am only half a mile from my exit. Upon getting off and slowing down (thus engaging the regen) the turtle is gone. I safely drive the car home. It’s worth noting this all happened when I had 22% down to 18%. The battery was not even in single digits.

does anyone have advice on how to prevent this in the future? I plan to follow the advice of this thread however I don’t have a charger at the ski resort and I did drive home with the heat on auto 2. Perhaps next week I will turn the temperature down and try driving 75 instead of 85?

had the car 2 years now and have never had an issue like this, however it typically does not hit -20 windchill where I live. Usually a week of 0 or -5 at the lowest.

Windchill has no impact on the car.

Going 85 in those temps is a killer. I would go 65.

Setting the heat on 85 is no different than 75, until the vehicle reaches 75 to my knowledge.

 

[DaMeatMan]

I think it is just the coldest winter on record since the Mach E has been released. We're seeing a much larger sample size of extreme cold in these vehicles than we ever have before.

They may have adjusted it though as I don't remember seeing any reports like this last year from the few people who did have Mach E's in extreme cold. Again though, much larger sample size now.

This sort of thing makes me wonder what in the heck the engineers are testing when they do their "cold weather testing" on a frozen arctic track?

I am pretty well versed in QA scenarios, and this seems like an immediately obvious test case. Or did the folks at Ford only "cold weather test", after preconditioning, and coming off of a 90% charge??

This seems pretty crazy, particularly and totally unreasonable from a consumer safety perspective, let alone what a consumer expects out of ordinary vehicle behavior and performance. To be clear by "performance" I mean being able to safely maintain highway speeds at a minimum, while you are not riding on empty. Anything less, and it should not have been certified road worthy!

That said, all of this sounds software limited to me, as ive never heard of anything like this with any other EV, and it's likely the result of Fords incredibly conservative (to a fault) approach to engineering, and this needs to be fixed asap via a priority update (given present conditions in North America), even if it is hard on the battery!

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