Driving and Charging the Lightning at -40F\-40C. A Real World Test.

[DevonD]

Curious what you don’t like about the selection of 20” winter tires for the lightning? I put some Michelin X-Ice’s on a few weeks ago and am very happy with them. Nokian also has the R5’s and studded R10’s that are both supposed to be fantastic as well. I picked the Michelins because they’re supposed to have lower rolling resistance and I do quite a bit of highway driving

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[Bandit216]

Curious what you don’t like about the selection of 20” winter tires for the lightning? I put some Michelin X-Ice’s on a few weeks ago and am very happy with them. Nokian also has the R5’s and studded R10’s that are both supposed to be fantastic as well. I picked the Michelins because they’re supposed to have lower rolling resistance and I do quite a bit of highway driving

As you mentioned, there are some excellent EV winter tire choices, if you buy your own tires in the after market - which I've done with both of my Mach Es. My dislike of the Lightning's tire selection is related primarily to the barely adequate winter driving characteristics of all of the Ford factory tire options. I've had to replace the OEM tires of my last 4 Ford purchases. I would prefer they add a winter tire option to their new cars so I don't have to deal with the additional cost and associated tire storage\disposal issues getting rid of the OEM tires.

 

[GoGoGadgetTruck]

Using iOS. CarPlay options don't seem to exist for Car Scanner for me anywhere in the phone (or I'm missing something real obvious). So I'm guessing you're running the Android version of Car Scanner on the linked Carlinkit box? That'd make sense! (But makes me wish I could find one of those boxes running a newer version of Android than 11)

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For the first time yesterday I plugged into 110 while at the in-laws and the preconditioning before the drive home made a huge difference in range. That said, the "departure time" seems to be the only way I've seen that actually preheats the battery... am I wrong on that? No sub-freezing temperatures (cabin heat on or off) has come with any battery heating. HVB steadily cooling while driving. Strange.

According to testing in Mach-E land, this is correct. Mach-Lee's Mach-E Cold Weather Testing [Taking Requests] | MachEforum - Ford Mustang Mach-E Forum, News, Owners, Discussions

 

[TaxmanHog]

For the first time yesterday I plugged into 110 while at the in-laws and the preconditioning before the drive home made a huge difference in range. That said, the "departure time" seems to be the only way I've seen that actually preheats the battery... am I wrong on that? No sub-freezing temperatures (cabin heat on or off) has come with any battery heating. HVB steadily cooling while driving. Strange.

Any effort helps, but on the 110/120 volt FMC, you're marginally supplementing the battery SOC when much more of its energy is used to warm the cabin 4 to 8 KW vs the 1.5 KW the FMC can restore.

Yes, departure time is the only way implement battery conditioning, again, it will be at a substantially reduced rate since the FMC has limit to how much current can give.

 

[TaxmanHog]

According to testing in Mach-E land, this is correct. Mach-Lee's Mach-E Cold Weather Testing [Taking Requests] | MachEforum - Ford Mustang Mach-E Forum, News, Owners, Discussions

Great read, and this nugget is worth the time!!
https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...her-testing-taking-requests.24393/post-567699

 

[GoGoGadgetTruck]

how dumb!


Oh yeah, on 110 I wasn't expecting to do anything more than precondition the battery! That alone really helped.


I just don't really get the logic of not warming the coolant in these temps. I'd balance not heating the cabin if it heated the damn battery a little. It's shared to be able to do that, but just... doesn't? ? how dumb!

again using the Mach-E as a parallel, which I believe is reasonable, from early on there's been requests for things like preconditioning the battery when approaching a charging station. There's a long list of "things people wish were done to make the EV part better" that so far, haven't been touched, mostly. (Some things have - I know this isn't a popular position, but the GOM is a lot more accurate for me now in both vehicles since the GOM update, for example, mainly because it seems to react a lot quicker to changing consumption...)

But smarter preconditioning, controlling charge rate at the car side, more IPC display of charge/discharge data (which the Lightning generally does better actually)... it's a non-zero list.

There's some disappointment at the rate of updates on these things. But we also know from Mach-E sites that @Ford Motor Company is watching, and there's multiple employee vehicle owners, at least one of whom I know for a fact is in the software side, who are actively participating in forums, so it's not like nobody is aware of these requests.

Without special knowledge, I believe we're seeing a very cautious approach to changes, plus ongoing upskilling at Ford, plus some weird things with field updates that weren't expected. Will that ever come to anything? Who knows. It will be interesting to see if we see changes in some of these things after the 4.1.2 (?) UI updates, which clearly have been a high priority (and actually pick up some of the other requested changes, like an always-available camera button on the 15.4" screen, or consolidation of the confusing Controls/Settings tabs into one list)...

Edit: one other thing to consider - it's all tradeoffs. What does a normal person expect (someone that doesn't really know EVs) - preconditioning or faster charging? preconditioning or cabin heat? A knowledgeable EV owner is prepared to make these decisions and trade-offs - a normal person is not. Time and again, in both the Mach-E and the Lightning, it's clear that whenever Ford is faced with this, the answer was "as close to what an ICE driver expects as possible", even if that's not ideal EV behavior for some owners. Just go look at the Mach-E sister site to this one and the seemingly-never-ending Start Button discussion fiasco. The unstated goal that seems clear is "make this an EV that is as normal as possible so that it's not a weird learning thing." Is that good? depends on who you are and what your expectation is.

 

[Gimme_my_MME]

preconditioning the battery when approaching a charging station

Keep your eyes peeled for this

 

[TaxmanHog]

Oh yeah, on 110 I wasn't expecting to do anything more than precondition the battery! That alone really helped.

Check this post on a Mach-E mind you
https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...her-testing-taking-requests.24393/post-570716

 

[GoGoGadgetTruck]

Great read, and this nugget is worth the time!!
https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...her-testing-taking-requests.24393/post-567699

I don't 100% agree with everything the OP states in that thread, but it's very hard to argue with the data collection, and the data appears to support the stated conclusions.

It would be nice if Ford documented all of this - it doesn't feel unreasonable to tell us. I think Ford underestimated the knowledge level, determination, and skill of some future owners.

 

[Bandit216]

Keep your eyes peeled for this

But will you be able to designate whether a destination is a charging location, or will it only work automatically for the Ford Network chargers? I've found there are many DC fast chargers out there that are not shown when you are searching Sync nav for the nearest charger - either they are too new or they are not part of the Ford network

 

[Bandit216]

...I think Ford underestimated the knowledge level, determination, and skill of some future owners.

And over-estimated the knowledge level and skill of others.

 

[Gimme_my_MME]

But will you be able to designate whether a destination is a charging location, or will it only work automatically for the Ford Network chargers? I've found there are many DC fast chargers out there that are not shown when you are searching Sync nav for the nearest charger - either they are too new or they are not part of the Ford network

Very valid point, however initially it will only work if the destination is navigated to via the Ford Sync Navigation. So it will not be toggleable but should work even if it isn't part of the Ford charging network but it knows it is a charger

 

[vandy1981]

Impressive post. Thanks for sharing!

How on Earth do you keep the truck so clean in the dead of winter?

 

[Bandit216]

Impressive post. Thanks for sharing!

How on Earth do you keep the truck so clean in the dead of winter?

It's easy. You wash the vehicle just after the first snowfall in October and, since the snow doesn't melt until April, it stays clean. (Also, they don't use salt on the road to melt the ice because it doesn't work.)

 

[vandy1981]

they don't use salt on the road to melt the ice because it doesn't work

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