Why is my range so bad?

[DaMeatMan]

I have an extended range Mach e and I'm only getting 330kms at full charge. What is going on. The best i got was 430kms in the summer, but now it's 330 at best. Is there something wrong here?

Almost everyone who makes a post like this and say "they are only getting xxx km or miles at full charge" are simply looking at the the GOM (Guess'o meter).

With that said, if you actually go out and DRIVE the vehicle from 100% to 50%, I'm fairly certain you'll come to an amazing realization. Which is that you actually get far more than was projected, particularly if you don't have the heat cranked. So do yourself a favor and start there.

With that said, Ford is being super pessimistic to ensure that their customers who are likely first time EV drivers, get a projected figure that (at least) projects what is actually achievable in the real world, rather than assuming customers know about cold weather range losses, showing them the same figures they saw in the summer and then leaving them stranded on the side of the road.

Given that temps have suddenly dropped recently, they also assume you're going to do what anyone does when it gets cold (crank the heat), and that my friend uses ALLOT of energy. Just assume that if you do actually do that, you're going to lose about 100km right there. If you don't do that, then you will likely go quite a while before the GOM's projected range starts to decrease. But understand that ANY vehicle in the colder weather, particularly with snow on the ground is going to run allot less efficiently. Once you have snow or slush on the ground you can add increased drag to the equation as well. But the big one is heating the cabin.

Things you can do to minimize losses in an electric vehicle during colder months is:

- minimize use of cabin heat and use seat warmers or steering wheel heater. This draws hundreds of watts vs thousands of watts for cabin heat. In a combustion engine vehicle this heat is practically free since it's normally radiated out into the air anyway and the produce 70% waste heat and 30% locomotion. But with electric vehicles that are over 75% - 80% efficient you need to actually WASTE energy ON PURPOSE to produce heat in the cabin.

- if you plug in at night always precondition the cabin while plugged in since it takes less energy to maintain that heat, and it's initial heating which uses most energy and you want to draw that power from the wall outlet, and not your battery

- re-inflate tires to offset pressure losses due to colder air (cold air contracts)

- Don't drive like a maniac and keep at or below speed limits.. ya I know that's boring but speed kills range

- pay attention to your current consumption and adjust behaviors (before) range loss, rather than after range loss and then end up scratching head wondering where it all went. For context the extended range MME 4X requires an efficiency of 5km/kwh to achieve its rated range of 440km. So if your seeing 3 or 4 km/kwh, ask yourself what u can do to fix that. This is a metric that is dynamically changing, and you can see in near real time how your behavior changes this stat. So forget the GOM, and pay attention your efficiency. A realistic number to shoot for is about 4 - 4.5 km/kwh in winter driving, which would net you about 350km - 396 km which would be considered very good for the cold winter months.

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[JohnnyForensic]

What's preconditions going your car?

If you set “Departure Times” in your FordPass app or in your car (in the car seems to work more reliably), you can set it to be one of three temperature levels: “Cool,” ”Medium,” and “Warm.” You can set up to two times per day for each day of the week.

For example, I have mine set for “Medium,” Monday through Friday, at 7:45 AM when I take the kids to school. At about 7:30 AM or so, the car will begin warming the cabin and the batteries to reduce the impact of the cold weather on the other side of the garage door. It does this from the car’s batteries, but it’s immediately also replacing most of that energy from the wall charger because it’s plugged in.

When I get out to the car at 7:45 AM, I unplug it. The car will be warm, and the batteries will be better able to handle the cold temperatures outside.

You can do the preconditioning with or without being plugged in, but the point is you’re hopefully doing it while plugged in, allowing the wall power to do most of the work for you.

As for the meter itself, it’s a REALLY wild-assed estimate. I rarely see my GOM get over 250-260 in my 270 rated 4X. However, when starting a trip with the GOM in the 250s last Friday, I drove almost 300 miles before pulling into a charger still with 15% on the battery. So don’t let the GOM fool you. Teslas will absolutely lie about their range numbers to make it look consistent, but most Tesla owners never see that range. Ford’s estimates are much more conservative, and when driven to empty, are almost always much lower than what you can actually get if you’re mindful of your EV best driving practices.

 

[connoisseurr]

Something else to not that others have not mentioned in this thread, is that Tesla has a more efficient cold weather thermal management system - for the batteries and cabin. Ford uses components that are power hungry in colder climates.

It is what it is until these components are replaced with their more efficient counterparts.

 

[seattledan206]

Put on your coat, hat and gloves and turn off the heat, and do a real range test. Nothing zaps power more than baseboard heat.

 

[theo1000]

Something else to not that others have not mentioned in this thread, is that Tesla has a more efficient cold weather thermal management system - for the batteries and cabin. Ford uses components that are power hungry in colder climates.

It is what it is until these components are replaced with their more efficient counterparts.

BS. Just because TSLA claims it does not make it so. TSLA simply cuts cabin comfort and battery heat to get to its claims. Most TSLA do not have a heat pump even. Almost all its efficiency is aero, that weird turtle like look. You can't beat physics. TSLA just let the bottom drop out of its range. You will go from 100 miles remaining to to zero for far less than 100 miles of driving.

Ford does not make power hungry anything like you claim. Where are you making this up from? They make things that match their ICE performance. There won't be any replacement with 'more efficient' components. Not even sure what that means. A few extra kwh battery is all that is needed. But they are all working on it.

 

[timbop]

Set departure times in the car. So if you leave for work at 8:00am each day, then set the departure time for 8am. That way #1 your car will be nice and warm on the inside, and #2 it will get the battery to the temperature to give you the best efficiency possible.

With the caveat being that the car should be plugged in or the battery will take the hit on heating, which would lead to lower computed km/kwh

It was 1c this morning, gom said 335km, I did 380km, and had 15% left over, even running the new winters I had installed this morning

EXACTLY.

Something else to not that others have not mentioned in this thread, is that Tesla has a more efficient cold weather thermal management system - for the batteries and cabin. Ford uses components that are power hungry in colder climates.

It is what it is until these components are replaced with their more efficient counterparts.

Fallacy #4 of the "tesla is superior" playbook. Yes, Tesla finally put the heralded heat pump in their cars- but Tesla also has a bogus EPA rated range so they still fall short of that rating in any weather.

 

[theo1000]

Put on your coat, hat and gloves and turn off the heat, and do a real range test. Nothing zaps power more than baseboard heat.

Actually speed zaps more but yes you could turn on the seat heater and get just as much comfort. Set moderate heat, w/ s and drop to 65-68 mph. Feather the accelerator and coast in neutral more. I'm still getting 270-280 miles in the 30f range. Easy 3.5 m/kwh numbers.

 

[Jimct]

Don't panic until you've gone a couple of charge cycles. I used the heat for the first time last week in my 2021 Kona and it dropped 60 miles from full charge 280 to 220. My first reaction was "my 2019 Kona didn't lose that much!!". After charging to full and using the heat again today it dropped only 20. Also once the car warms up inside it drops the demand for heat and the GOM adjusts accordingly. After an 80 mile round trip it was down only about 8 miles (instead of the original 20) to a combined 272.

 

[Murse-In-Airy]

Well said @DaMeatMan and everyone else.
Two weeks ago I went on a 450 mile round trip. If I only looked at the range on the instrument cluster I wouldn’t have gone. It said I could go 220 miles on a full charge. I actually went 200 miles and still had over 38% battery left. So total would have been over 300 miles if I wanted to drive to empty. Your range will be less in the cold. But accepting the days board display is like trusting delivery date for an MME.

 

[kulaga]

Real question here, not trying to be funny... If I keep driving like a madman, never precondition and blast the heat (70° F) is the only consequence less range and more frequent charging? Right now I only charge 1-2 times a week. I'm OK if that goes up to 3-4 times a week during the winter in order to be comfortable and enjoy the car, I just don't want to cause any long-term issues.

 

[generaltso]

If I keep driving like a madman, never precondition and blast the heat (70° F) is the only consequence less range and more frequent charging?

Pretty much.

 

[DaMeatMan]

Real question here, not trying to be funny... If I keep driving like a madman, never precondition and blast the heat (70° F) is the only consequence less range and more frequent charging? Right now I only charge 1-2 times a week. I'm OK if that goes up to 3-4 times a week during the winter in order to be comfortable and enjoy the car, I just don't want to cause any long-term issues.

Your not going to hurt the car by driving it inefficiently. So long as your not always charging to 100% to compensate for the lack of range due to your inefficient driving habits. Beyond that the BMS and Ford's incredibly conservative settings do a really good job of protecting the most vital component of the vehicle (the battery) from the user. So at the end of the day just enjoy the dam thing, and drive it like you stole it if that makes you happy lol! ?

 

[kdryden99]

I've always focused more on the percentage remaining rather than the range and its always served me well. Think about it like this, when you use your phone do you look at how much time you have left or your percentage? I guarantee you look at your percentage because the time remaining is variable. Same thing with ICE vehicles before efficiency was calculated and displayed in the car. You always went, 100, 75, 50, 25, reserve% in yhe tank. Dont worry to much about the actual range.

 

[Gary Hankins]

I have an extended range Mach e and I'm only getting 330kms at full charge. What is going on. The best i got was 430kms in the summer, but now it's 330 at best. Is there something wrong here?

While it is true that temperature has a direct negative affect on the chemistry of battery charging. It is not so simple. Everything we use and enjoy in our EVs is powered by the batteries. The heating system is the largest consumer of electricity other than the propulsion system. This also applies to lights at night; defroster; heated seat and steering wheel. Unfortunately, there is no tech magic that can eliminate these drains. The question is how we manage the various accessories and how comfortable we wish to be. Should we dress warmer or accept that our Winter's range will be shorter in relation to how much power we devote to non-propulsive applications.

 

[connoisseurr]

BS. Just because TSLA claims it does not make it so. TSLA simply cuts cabin comfort and battery heat to get to its claims. Most TSLA do not have a heat pump even. Almost all its efficiency is aero, that weird turtle like look. You can't beat physics. TSLA just let the bottom drop out of its range. You will go from 100 miles remaining to to zero for far less than 100 miles of driving.

Ford does not make power hungry anything like you claim. Where are you making this up from? They make things that match their ICE performance. There won't be any replacement with 'more efficient' components. Not even sure what that means. A few extra kwh battery is all that is needed. But they are all working on it.

Watch the Munro videos where PROFESSIONALS, unlike yourself, have torn down every single component of the Mach-E, and compared it against the other big market players (Tesla, ID.4, GM, etc.)

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