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Charge_Rob
Well-known member
Every F-150 Lightning was built with the software to pre-cool the battery before fast charging - and at that time the only way to do that was using Connected Navigation because Google Maps EV Routing for Android Auto didn't exist.
The software to add pre-heating before fast charging was launched in 2023 and OTAed back to older trucks. All your trucks should have that software. By the time Google Maps EV Routing for Android Auto launched and OTAed back to the fleet your trucks should have been able to do preconditioning from both Connected Navigation and Android Auto.
If you have a truck and it is NOT pre-heating the battery we would want to investigate that. If you have any logs or evidence of a time you are confident it did not precondition and should have, happy to receive it via DM and have the engineers look at it.
Keep in mind there is no customer-facing notification of preconditioning, the battery temperature target is variable depending on the power level of the charger you're heading to, and the battery shares the heater with the cabin, and the cabin is given priority.
jpatt2020
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Should work fine. Don't go too cheap on the android phone or AA won't be smooth. Get a decent used Samsung off Ebay. I run a Samsung S24 Ultra and an Iphone 17 Pro Max. Android Auto is so far superior to Apple Car Play you'll never go back!!
PJnc284
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What it's "supposed" to do and what it does are two different things since Ford sucks at software hard. One should be able to easily tell using an obii dongle and an app like carscanner to monitor thermal mode and Coolant Heater power. I've checked a few times on my 23 annd, even with the cabin heater off, I saw no change in the thermal mode or any chp drawn with a DCFC about 20 miles away set in the ford nav or Google Maps/AA. Outside temp in the teens with battery in the low 20s. Still had about 40% battery remaining so i wasnt due to the SOC being too low. Would be nice for ford to confirm the actual requirements such as min battery temp, distance to charger, etc.
Charge_Rob
Well-known member
The requirements are different by battery and by which charger power the vehicle receives from the navigation source. A slower DCFC may not result in any heating at all. The battery does not heat simply because a charger is selected - the battery heats when heating is needed for charging performance.
The F-150 Lightning's battery is also much more tolerant of lower temperatures than for example the Mustang Mach-Es - a F-150 Lightning will precondition less often because it's not as necessary.
And agreed that it should be visible via OBDII reader, as I've seen it do many times on my 2024 and other F-150 Lightnings I've driven, but the battery has only ever been significantly cold when I've watched (-17C was the last time I even thought to look).
Unfortunately it's summer now or I'd be looking for 2022s to test.
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RickLightning
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That's not correct. It may be your understanding, but it is not correct. Ford has confirmed to me, in writing, that the 2022s cannot precondition. My vehicle has had every software update there is. I have confirmed that it doesn't work as recently as my 5,400+ mile trip to Canada in March. And I use CarScanner to verify.
In January 2025, they emailed me "We are working to release that update for the 2022 MY vehicles and you will receive a notification once it is released".
In December 2025 Brian, not AI, confirmed to me that they were still working on it.
This is a major failing on Ford's part. It's pretty clear that nobody is working on anything, because if they were we'd have had it long ago.
I say "major failing" because 2022s have been through the winters of 22-23, 23-24, 24-25, and now 25-26. That's 4 years since they came out - and no preconditioning. If that doesn't spell "yeah, we're not pushing our vendor / staff to make it work for 2022s", I don't know what does.
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Charge_Rob
Well-known member
The software was deployed, Brian may have been confused about if it had happened - I'll talk to Brian today about it.
Your vehicle would then have the software that enables it - it was delivered in 2023 - so if you do not believe it's working I would love to dive deeper via DM to see what is going on.
RickLightning
Well-known member
Then Ford's Early Access team is also confused...
I know it is not working, as does @taxmanand others. I confirmed it in repeated tests. And, it works fine in my Mach-E, which I have also confirmed with the same tests.
Charge_Rob
Well-known member
That's very possible. I'll talk to them too...
I await a DM so we can diagnose your truck.
RickLightning
Well-known member
DM sent, with list of updates from day 1.
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jwrezz
Well-known member
Ford is WAY behind on this front. Kia/Hyundai, GM, Rivian, Tesla all have a UI feature to precondition (AFAIK). Ford's only option is to set a departure time (limited to 14 times per week or 2 times per day and changing those when ever one needs to precondition is a PITA), or navigate to a DCFC that is recognized in the Ford Nav (or maybe Google maps). Many DCFCs are not recognized by those apps. Just having the option to manually precondition seems obvious. It also doesn't seem to be too much to ask in a software update.
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I recall the development and rollout of the upgrade, but it doesn't work {IN MOTION} on 2022's
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Actually, I didn't say much about it, didn't want to sour the positive vibe everyone had celebrating the event.
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I monitored with car scanner enroute, modulating cabin heat from normal warm, to low, to off, the battery warming mode never turned on while in proximity <20 miles/minutes to the high power DCFC (Ionna) station.
Once I got to the DCFC station, plugged in, then repeated modulation of cabin heating, I was able to see the HVB heating mode switch on accordingly as to what level of demand there was from cabin heating, low or no cabin heating activated battery heating.
Unfortunately it doesn't follow the intended logic enroute.
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HaOsLsE
Member
These were some great "gentlemen-like" conversations and analysis going on here. Appreciate all the input and data you guys are gathering and sharing. Will follow this thread for any future output.
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