I charged to 100% and my Lightning said 379 miles!

[Rip]

It didn't drop that fast. I don't think I actually get 379 but it didn't drop that quick either (I expected it too). I was surprised.

I've been surprised lately that I get over 300 (usually around 320-330). I chalked it up to warmer weather. I bought my Lightning in December in Maine, and in winter usually only see around 240-260 after a full charge.

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[22legit2quit]

I rarely charge to 100%. I have it set to 80% standard, but I was planning on a long trip, so I topped it full. (I also read it’s good for the battery to do this from time to time.)

When I started my trip in the morning, I was surprised to see my truck say I had 379 miles of range! In the past, when I have charged to 100%, I have seen it say up to 340 miles.

Has something changed with the way the battery calculates range?

I use a Ford Pro Charging station and have an extended range battery.

This is one of those that you want to see on yours but realize that some people still believe in Santa Claus too. It’s all about driving habits and ambient temp, nothing based in reality unless you are driving only city miles. Sorry.

 

[Nikos]

I rarely charge to 100%. I have it set to 80% standard, but I was planning on a long trip, so I topped it full. (I also read it’s good for the battery to do this from time to time.)

When I started my trip in the morning, I was surprised to see my truck say I had 379 miles of range! In the past, when I have charged to 100%, I have seen it say up to 340 miles.

Has something changed with the way the battery calculates range?

I use a Ford Pro Charging station and have an extended range battery.

Get used to it. Mine does the same, 345, 348, 354, and it is 3 years old with ER battery. I know all the folks will tell you to drive it a bit and it will drop back down to normal. It will drop but not fast. I have done all kinds of scenarios, even getting it to the interstate rather quickly to monitor the drop. Those extra miles of range come handy, at least for me. Monitor and reply back. More observations will help the rest of us to compile info and compare ranges.
Good luck.

 

[lipnorth]

This is one of those that you want to see on yours but realize that some people still believe in Santa Claus too. It’s all about driving habits and ambient temp, nothing based in reality unless you are driving only city miles. Sorry.

On my latest long trip, I was getting 320 miles to the charge. But maybe I drive like an old man.

 

[Traconesu]

Ignore him. Seriously, just put that one on your ignore list.

I agree 100% . I just ignore his comments. Often very sarcastic.

 

[Traconesu]

I don't understand this mentality, it was exactly the same with ICE vehicles. If I drove 100 miles in my PowerBoost F-150 I could get 24-25 MPG. With a 30 gallon tank, it would tell me at fill up that it estimated 750 miles on the tank.

If I then drive around a town, like let's say I was driving that 100 miles to a destination, and was averaging 18 MPG, my DTE would drop like a rock. From 750 to 500 just from me driving 20 miles and getting lower efficiency.

It's essentially the same as people complain about with the EVs. The major difference is the DTE in an EV takes more factors into account than ICE vehicles typically have, like outside temp. But outside temp impacted your ICE vehicle as well, you just had to drive and actually get the lower mileage for it to show on the DTE.

All that is to say, I don't know why people really trusted the DTE on ICE vehicles either. It was always just an estimate, and an estimate based on history. You only took it as fact because nobody ever actually drives it from full to complete empty and compares it to what it said at the start. Also since you were dealing with large numbers (750 or whatever) for the DTE, you didn't notice if it dropped to 500 as much as you notice 300 to 150.

I ignored all that on my ICE vehicle and just watched the fuel Guage. Now with my EV I focus on my SOC and when it gets low I try to be close to home.

 

[MidAtlanticLightningClub]

I rarely charge to 100%. I have it set to 80% standard, but I was planning on a long trip, so I topped it full. (I also read it’s good for the battery to do this from time to time.)

When I started my trip in the morning, I was surprised to see my truck say I had 379 miles of range! In the past, when I have charged to 100%, I have seen it say up to 340 miles.

Has something changed with the way the battery calculates range?

I use a Ford Pro Charging station and have an extended range battery.

Clearly you are paying extra for those premium electrons!

 

[ClevelandBeemer]

But how far did you go on that charge???
The GOM figure means NOTHING…. It’s an indicator that is easily misled. I highly suspect I can get my Lightning ER to estimate over 400 miles, but again it means nothing.

Range is simple math: available energy x average (actual) efficiency = available range.

So for your GOM to be accurate you need to be averaging 2.89M/kWh. 379/131=2.89….

 

[Vulnox]

I ignored all that on my ICE vehicle and just watched the fuel Guage. Now with my EV I focus on my SOC and when it gets low I try to be close to home.

Exactly, I think it's the ICE part that surprises me most when it comes to EVs because it's not new that these are just "guesstimates" and can vary significantly for a mountain of reasons that may not apply to your next drive.

It seems on the surface to be a small issue, but I worry about people being caught off-guard because of how much they worry about that number. Especially since one thing EVs are different from ICE vehicles on when it comes to range is that highway mileage is typically worse than city mileage.

So if someone gets OPs 379 miles, they may be overconfident on what they plan on a road trip and end up in a rough spot, as they are (hopefully) not driving 45 MPH on 70 MPH highways.

It's important to pay more attention to that percentage and use a couple tools like ABRP/Apple or Google Maps with EV integration (depending on your phone OS) to get a better idea of where you need to charge. At worst, you may find as you get close to a charge stop you can skip it or you arrive with a bit more charge than estimated. Way better than being on some remote highway in the middle of a state with infrequent EV infrastructure approaching 10% charge about 100 miles earlier than some meter "estimated".

 

[Heliian]

Imagine someone that doesn't know better

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/electric-vehicle-trip-charging-infrastructure-1.6932074

 

[MidAtlanticLightningClub]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/electric-vehicle-trip-charging-infrastructure-1.6932074

That story's a year two years old.

 

[Heliian]

That story's a year old.

2 years old actually. Never underestimate the lowest common denominator.

 

[Traconesu]

IMO the difference is in the availability of charging and the rate at which you consume battery.

The very few times I have had the gas light come on unexpectedly the worry was basically zero, I knew there was a fueling station within range and all i had to do was move my eyes to find one. The rest of the time I would hit 1/4 of a tank and do some quick mental math to see if i was filling up now, or tomorrow.

With the Lightning that's not possible, I need to know ahead of time if I will need to charge, and if so where is that going to be. If traveling, its a very real possibility there ISNT a charger in range. There is no ability to look down and think "eih, I'll wait a bit more then start looking". This is compounded by the great variability in charging speeds, and the amount of time it takes to charge.

Bottom line, you dont want to recharge too early, that just wastes a lot of time. But you also cant just wait until its reasonable low and then start watching for a charger.

This is changing as more stations come online, but it does not seem like its quite there yet.

I've said it many times. I love my lightning and I'm thankful my traveling days are over with, because if I had to depend on public chargers I wouldn't have purchased my lightning.
Our EV infrastructure just isn't ready for them Yet. And to be honest I wouldn't pay the 4-5 times more that public chargers cost per kwh than home charging, even if the chargers were available.

 

[Firn]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/electric-vehicle-trip-charging-infrastructure-1.6932074

Well, to be somewhat fair, it said ChargePoint AND charging infrastructure in MN is f-inf awful, especially up north.

 

[Heliian]

Well, to be somewhat fair, it said ChargePoint AND charging infrastructure in MN is f-inf awful, especially up north.

True, I almost sympathize with the guy, he was just sold on the guess o meter. It's not just that one case though, I'm sure lots of people were caught off guard. Good news is that in those 2 short years, the infrastructure has gotten better, it can only get better.

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