[UPDATED with Ford Norway's Response] Reports of Steep Downhills / Descents Overheating Mach-E

[jlauro]

Is there a way to get the temperature readings of the internal sensors? Maybe with OBD2 if they haven't added it to the gui yet? I wonder if that could detect / avoid the issue by monitoring the temp and other items.

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[Tyldum]

I'm planning trips up to Yosemite and Sequoia National parks. Should I drive with 1PD off when coming back down? Now I'm wondering if I should even take my car up there as it will just be myself and my 11yo. I definitely don't want to end up stranded up there.

Based on information from Ford Norway, which may not be relevant to US vehicles:
The issue is present on cars made before 21st of March, and is fixable through an upgrade at the dealers or in the fall OTA scheduled for September/October (EU). The exact road this has occurred on is extremely steep and the descent is 55km/34mi long with regen all the way.

My car is affected, but not updated and has done long descents with up to 4 percentage points added to SoC without problems. Many has done way more. I wish Ford would say more on what the problem is and what the fix does, though. Too many silly speculations going around.

 

[macchiaz-o]

I'm planning trips up to Yosemite and Sequoia National parks. Should I drive with 1PD off when coming back down? Now I'm wondering if I should even take my car up there as it will just be myself and my 11yo. I definitely don't want to end up stranded up there.

Until we have more definitive information from Ford, there is no reason to believe that 1PD has anything to do with this. Some of the replies in this thread are stating as fact things that are at best speculation and may be based on wrong information.

My understanding is that the Mach-E's regenerative braking functions operate the same across all drive modes and "gears," as long as you are driving at a fixed speed. The modes only affect pedal mapping, steering stiffness, and visual effects. I could be wrong, of course.

I'm considering the same trip, except coming up to those parks from Phoenix and heading back down by way of the west coast (Rt 1 to LA and back to Phoenix).

 

[Tyldum]

My understanding is that the Mach-E's regenerative braking functions operate the same across all drive modes and "gears," as long as you are driving at a fixed speed. The modes only affect pedal mapping, steering stiffness, and visual effects. I could be wrong, of course.

I share your understanding.
If you are worried, then putting the car in neutral at some point and then the brake pedal will only use mechanical braking. Haven't tested this myself, but makes sense to me.

 

[macchiaz-o]

I share your understanding.
If you are worried, then putting the car in neutral at some point and then the brake pedal will only use mechanical braking. Haven't tested this myself, but makes sense to me.

I am not sure how that helps. If it were true that neutral mode only used mechanical braking, where will the vehicle send all the energy is generating from the wheels' rotation?

If converted to heat, where will that heat be sent? If stored as potential energy (i.e. to the batteries), then given a fixed velocity of travel, neutral is equivalent to Drive. Right?

 

[Mari76]

Until we have more definitive information from Ford, there is no reason to believe that 1PD has anything to do with this. Some of the replies in this thread are stating as fact things that are at best speculation and may be based on wrong information.

My understanding is that the Mach-E's regenerative braking functions operate the same across all drive modes and "gears," as long as you are driving at a fixed speed. The modes only affect pedal mapping, steering stiffness, and visual effects. I could be wrong, of course.

I'm considering the same trip, except coming up to those parks from Phoenix and heading back down by way of the west coast (Rt 1 to LA and back to Phoenix).

We just drove the Rt 1 on our way back home to Oceanside from Monterey on 4th of July weekend. We started at Monterey and drove to Cambria and It was so beautiful out there and the drive was awesome. We stopped A LOT along that route as we saw whales and my husband was wanting to get a closer look.

That part of our drive back home literally took us half the day but was well worth it. We took our time and enjoyed the scenery.

Thanks for the info... Enjoy your trip here in Cali!

 

[Tyldum]

I am not sure how that helps. If it were true that neutral mode only used mechanical braking, where will the vehicle send all the energy is generating from the wheels' rotation?

If converted to heat, where will that heat be sent? If stored as potential energy (i.e. to the batteries), then given a fixed velocity of travel, neutral is equivalent to Drive. Right?

Maybe my wording was bad, but in this case you would use the conventional brakes, which means it turns to heat. The brake disks are huge heat sinks.

I would switch half way down such a steep descent until patched. Plenty of old cars have brake-failures in that particular hill due to stress on the discs.

 

[macchiaz-o]

Maybe my wording was bad, but in this case you would use the conventional brakes, which means it turns to heat. The brake disks are huge heat sinks.

I would switch half way down such a steep descent until patched. Plenty of old cars have brake-failures in that particular hill due to stress on the discs.

No, your wording is great. It was a parse error in my noggin.

I understand now and this makes sense. Thank you!

 

[bruceski88]

I'm planning trips up to Yosemite and Sequoia National parks. Should I drive with 1PD off when coming back down? Now I'm wondering if I should even take my car up there as it will just be myself and my 11yo. I definitely don't want to end up stranded up there.

Have driven from Truckee CA to Sacramento several times 7200 ‘ elevation loss in both engaged and unbridled modes with no issue.

 

[Scarpia]

The exact road this has occurred on is extremely steep and the descent is 55km/34mi long with regen all the way.

This is an extreme situation in Norway. The fact that the problem is just appearing now, many months after the car was introduced, would indicate there is very little danger of it happening in less strenuous conditions.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

You think it only uses your last trip in the determination

No clue really. It makes sense though. Otherwise, it’s way off and worthless. I’m inclined to go with worthless atm.

How fast are you driving average up and down?

No freeways here. All two lane roads. Average speed heading into town is under 60. In town? Under 50. Probably lower than that in town.

On the return I’m climbing from about sea level to 6000 feet in rolling hills trending upwards. There’s a 10 mile stretch that’s all uphill and over 7% grade. Then the rollers again and switch backs to 6000 feet. After that it’s a descent in rollers for the last 7 miles down to 1330 meters/4360 ft. The speed in the 10 mil stretch can vary from 45 to 80 but averages 65. The rest of that 50 Mike drive would average under 60.

The miles/kWh on the 10 mile climb vary from 1.6 to 2.1. Lifetime average on the car overall though is 3.7

 

[GrumblesTheDog]

This is an extreme situation in Norway. The fact that the problem is just appearing now, many months after the car was introduced, would indicate there is very little danger of it happening in less strenuous conditions.

It certainly seems like it's an extreme case alright, and not likely to be an issue from day to day. I can't remember the post/username, but someone here encountered a similar issue after coming down Mt Washington, which has an average grade of 11% - not your typical highway descent...

 

[Shayne]

No clue really. It makes sense though. Otherwise, it’s way off and worthless. I’m inclined to go with worthless atm.

No freeways here. All two lane roads. Average speed heading into town is under 60. In town? Under 50. Probably lower than that in town.

On the return I’m climbing from about sea level to 6000 feet in rolling hills trending upwards. There’s a 10 mile stretch that’s all uphill and over 7% grade. Then the rollers again and switch backs to 6000 feet. After that it’s a descent in rollers for the last 7 miles down to 1330 meters/4360 ft. The speed in the 10 mil stretch can vary from 45 to 80 but averages 65. The rest of that 50 Mike drive would average under 60.

The miles/kWh on the 10 mile climb vary from 1.6 to 2.1. Lifetime average on the car overall though is 3.7

Bizarre actually and you would think the GOM would be closer to your lifetime as not much changes. Mine is fairly accurate so it may have something to do with those small hills at your end and it using recent history? I have been thinking in percentages. It takes 10-15% to run into town and back. Have you asked your service team what's up?

I thought with your average consumption numbers that the roads/speed limits were a bit slower there. Except for those 5 0 guys I see on TV .

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

thought with your average consumption numbers that the roads/speed limits were a bit slower there. Except for those 5 0 guys I see on TV

Oahu has freeways. The H-1 Parking Lot, the H-2 Nowhere and the H-3 “Let’s ruin a pristine Natural area.”

No such things on this island. SR 200 is through the middle of the island and sparsely patrolled by HPD (Hawaii (county) Police Department— the other HPD) so speeds creep up there. The posted speed is 60.

 

[SnBGC]

Bricked tends to mean permanently broken.

Nothing is permanently broken.

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