Charging Rate Limited in the Heat?

[TheBigBezo]

I tried searching and didn't see much; As someone enjoying heat indexes in excess of 115F, I've noticed I can't pull more than 60kW from any DC fast chargers. I saw that rate with some 85kW Charge point chargers, with EA 150kW stations, so on.

I imagine the truck is throttling itself to protect the battery but man this has really slowed down my cross country trip. I can hear the fan roaring, it's louder than my old Ranger in first gear lol.

Anyone else also experiencing this or is it something unique to me?

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[RickLightning]

I tried searching and didn't see much; As someone enjoying heat indexes in excess of 115F, I've noticed I can't pull more than 60kW from any DC fast chargers. I saw that rate with some 85kW Charge point chargers, with EA 150kW stations, so on.

I imagine the truck is throttling itself to protect the battery but man this has really slowed down my cross country trip. I can hear the fan roaring, it's louder than my old Ranger in first gear lol.

Anyone else also experiencing this or is it something unique to me?

Without an OBD reader, you can't tell if the truck is throttling or the charger is throttling, except on the newest EA chargers that display both values.

I would suspect that it's the EA chargers. Have you checked them on PlugShare?

 

[TheBigBezo]

Yah, some said throttled some said good, I will say I'm on a 350kW station right now and only drawing 110kW. It might be a mix of both, I just figured it was the truck since 4 different stations were giving me 60kW.

 

[Texas Dan]

The lightning has battery active cooling so ambient temperature should not affect charging speed. The lightning has a battery temperature gauge right on the instrument panel so you can easily see how hot your battery is. Towing may cause the battery temperature to rise but if you bought the max towing option with the added cooling I wouldn’t expect the battery temperature to rise much.

 

[astricklin]

Do you have max tow package or not? It's entirely possible that a truck without max tow could see thermal throttling in these sort of summer temps.

That said depending on duration of charge and battery percentage, 110kw is probably not an unusual rate.

 

[Pioneer74]

Yah, some said throttled some said good, I will say I'm on a 350kW station right now and only drawing 110kW. It might be a mix of both, I just figured it was the truck since 4 different stations were giving me 60kW.

110kW could be normal, depending on your state of charge.

 

[TheBigBezo]

I do not have Max Tow, I was seeing as high as 150kW at first but then it bounced between 90 and 110kW from 10 - 80%. My battery temps were hanging out from slightly high to halfway up the high side of the bar, so the truck clearly thought it was warm. No other faults seen, the battery almost seemed to cool a bit while charging vs driving.

 

[Amps]

I do not have Max Tow

My truck has the ER battery with Max Tow. I've never seen the temp gauge perceptably move above the center while fast charging. I suspect that extra Max Tow cooling loop was engaged. I don't think the truck knows heat indexes, but this was in 90ºF outdoor temperatures.

 

[Calvin H-C]

How busy were the sites you were charging at?

It may be the charger that is limiting the rate and temperature may not be the only factor.

For instance, I've seen a site with four chargers that could only put out about 160 kW in total when I was there, so that was split between those charging.

Additionally, many sites have local storage because their connection to the grid is not capable of pulling what even one EV can take, let alone multiple. They can recharge at whatever rate their connection can handle round the clock in order to supply more when EVs need charging. It's possible the local storage is running a little low when you arrived and the site has to throttle down.

 

[RickLightning]

I do not have Max Tow, I was seeing as high as 150kW at first but then it bounced between 90 and 110kW from 10 - 80%. My battery temps were hanging out from slightly high to halfway up the high side of the bar, so the truck clearly thought it was warm. No other faults seen, the battery almost seemed to cool a bit while charging vs driving.

As it should.

You should look up each location in PlugShare, find the working charger(s) at that location, and avoid ones noted as issues.

 

[TheBigBezo]

I was charging this morning at an EVGo station and pulled 160kW for most of the curve. The other stations had one to two vehicles there, maybe 50% occupied. I have to imagine it's a combination of all of the above: more grid demand due to heat, multiple vehicles charging, and the truck protecting itself. At the end of the day, driving 80mph for hours on end and fast charging in 115F mid day temps can't be easy. Does the truck use solely a radiator to cool the coolant or does it also us refrigerant?

As for plugshare, many of these stations don't get many reviews but I was using ones marked as being good and not throttled.

 

[Amps]

Does the truck use solely a radiator to cool the coolant or does it also us refrigerant?

Without Max Tow, it uses the cabin AC compressor and coolant loop. Max Tow adds an additional compressor with dedicated battery loop.

 

[TheBigBezo]

Without Max Tow, it uses the cabin AC compressor and coolant loop. Max Tow adds an additional compressor with dedicated battery loop.

Well, that's my probably the answer there, I've been keeping the truck on since I'm traveling with my dog. I'll close the moon roof and throw in the dash shade to help, but I have to imagine running cabin AC degrades cooling to the battery. If I can find somewhere cool to hang out with the pup I'll see if I notice a difference in charging rates. We go for walks while charging but with this heat I keep it short so she won't get sick.

 

[Amps]

Max Tow is still quite a mystery to me. I should have added that the Primary Cabin/Battery AC handles both battery and cabin until Max Tow is needed for the battery. IIRC, Kyle Connor said this in a media first drive event after speaking with some Ford engineers.

 

[Sneakypetie78]

Good info to know before I get my lightning and I'm frequently out in this weather in the summer.

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