Increased Range at 100%

[chl]

They always show unrealistic range when charged to 100% and then it drops quickly as you drive. My Platinum ER is only rated at 300 miles but I’ve seen it show 320 after one of the battery updates in early 2023. It seems to forget your driving habits when it’s at 100% and show optimistic ratings.
also, it’s good to charge to 100% twice a year or so and leave it plugged in for several hours after it gets to 100% so it can fully balance all the cells, then go and drive it some to at least get it down to 90%.
if you never charge to 100% then you can end up with out of balance cells which can become battery warnings and shutdowns if the cells get too far out of balance

Ford doesn't mention that cell balancing method anywhere for the Lightnings which have NCM batteries, that I am aware of, but that's not saying it is not a good idea or that it is a bad idea.

They seem to be using passive balancing which happens during charging, but we don't know much more than that, at least I haven't seen anything more.

Ford does recommend that for LFP battery vehicles, but not NCM battery vehicles, so I wonder if just going to 90% per their recommendation is enough?

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Charging Recommendations
Ford has different recommendations to help maintain your vehicle depending on where you are charging it. Choose one of the options below to learn more.

Home Charging Recommendations (Level 1 & 2 AC Charging)

• Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) batteries
  • Set the maximum charge level to 100%.
  • Charge to 100% at least once per month to maintain estimated in-vehicle range accuracy for state of charge and distance to empty.
    
    Important: If not charged to 100% at least once per month, you may experience degraded vehicle performance and a decrease in the accuracy of the vehicle's estimated range.
• Nickel Cobalt Manganese (NCM) batteries
  • Set the maximum charge level to 90% to reduce strain on the battery.
  • Set the maximum charge level to 100% to provide a full range for long trips.

https://www.ford.com/support/vehicl...aintain-my-electric-vehicle-battery/overview/

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My Nissan Leaf also uses passive balancing and there have been many forum posts about charging slowly to 100% and leaving it plugged in for about a hour afterwards to allow time for the cell balancing to do its thing.

Some swear by it, but others say it is not any more effective than not doing that.

I wonder if anyone has anyone done what you suggest in the Lightning and looked at the cell balance before and afterwards to see how well it worked?

My truck is a little over 2 years old and I have only charged to 100% once - by accident recently when an update eliminated my 80% limit and charge locations - and I have not received any warnings or shut-downs or other problems. I always charge to 80%.

I haven't looked at the state of balance of the cells, so I can't say what it is one way or the other.

If I got a warning or shut down I think my first assumption would be a bad battery module causing an imbalance the BMS cannot correct, and head straight to Ford for a check.

Bad modules have been an issue, after all.

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[Jim Lewis]

also, it’s good to charge to 100% twice a year or so and leave it plugged in for several hours after it gets to 100% so it can fully balance all the cells, then go and drive it some to at least get it down to 90%.
if you never charge to 100% then you can end up with out of balance cells which can become battery warnings and shutdowns if the cells get too far out of balance

I don't think balancing only occurs when charged to 100%. Before I left San Antonio yesterday, using OBDLink MX+, I had 0.0% voltage difference between cells, 0.6% charge difference at 50% SOC, ~70° F outside temperature. Charged to 80% at ~5 kW (took ~8 hours). Drove ~85 mi to Austin. 0.8% charge difference between cells, battery down to ~54% SOC. Truck sat, slept > 6 hours. Drove home at ~60 to 65 mph because of heavy traffic, IH-35 construction delays. ~27% SOC at home, 0.3% charge difference between cells. Charged overnight back to 50% SOC. 0.6% charge difference between cells. My truck is ~3 years old. Only has ~10K mi on it. Has never had a charge difference over 1% between cells. The 0.6 to 0.8% charge difference between cells is pretty good, I think. I almost always charge slowly at home. Have only DCFC'd on one long road trip this past summer.

I might have accidentally charged my truck to 100% when I first got it. Other than that, I've only charged it once to 85%. Otherwise, about once every two to three months, to 80%. For daily use in city driving, I just charge it to 50% and rarely drive more than 10 miles from home.

 

[chl]

I don't think balancing only occurs when charged to 100%. Before I left San Antonio yesterday, using OBDLink MX+, I had 0.0% voltage difference between cells, 0.6% charge difference at 50% SOC, ~70° F outside temperature. Charged to 80% at ~5 kW (took ~8 hours). Drove ~85 mi to Austin. 0.8% charge difference between cells, battery down to ~54% SOC. Truck sat, slept > 6 hours. Drove home at ~60 to 65 mph because of heavy traffic, IH-35 construction delays. ~27% SOC at home, 0.3% charge difference between cells. Charged overnight back to 50% SOC. 0.6% charge difference between cells. My truck is ~3 years old. Only has ~10K mi on it. Has never had a charge difference over 1% between cells. The 0.6 to 0.8% charge difference between cells is pretty good, I think. I almost always charge slowly at home. Have only DCFC'd on one long road trip this past summer.

I might have accidentally charged my truck to 100% when I first got it. Other than that, I've only charged it once to 85%. Otherwise, about once every two to three months, to 80%. For daily use in city driving, I just charge it to 50% and rarely drive more than 10 miles from home.

Yes, if passive balancing ONLY occurred when charging above 90%, then OEMs would not be saying charge to 80% or 90% for everyday use and to prolong battery lifespan.

It depends on how the BMS is set up to operate, that is, what cell voltage is selected to then apply a resistance to the higher charged cells to drain some energy as heat so they and the lower charged cells have the same/similar (or approx) voltage/state of charge.

Passive balancing does have a voltage threshold where it kicks in, but Ford has not given us much info about the details.

Ford does also say when a module has been replaced that it can take over a month for the modules to become balanced.

EVs with lots of miles and many charges on them often have larger cell imbalances than lightly used EVs due to battery degradation over time and use. Cell differences get locked in as the battery ages and the weakest cells dictate when the BMS will stop charging.

It is generally recognized that slow charging sessions help with the imbalances because more time is available for the passive cell balancing to occur so the weaker cells have more time to reach their capacity. It also puts less heat stress on the battery cells.

So to my way of thinking the slower the charging the better for battery health in the long run.

 

[B177y]

I don't think balancing only occurs when charged to 100%. Before I left San Antonio yesterday, using OBDLink MX+, I had 0.0% voltage difference between cells, 0.6% charge difference at 50% SOC, ~70° F outside temperature. Charged to 80% at ~5 kW (took ~8 hours). Drove ~85 mi to Austin. 0.8% charge difference between cells, battery down to ~54% SOC. Truck sat, slept > 6 hours. Drove home at ~60 to 65 mph because of heavy traffic, IH-35 construction delays. ~27% SOC at home, 0.3% charge difference between cells. Charged overnight back to 50% SOC. 0.6% charge difference between cells. My truck is ~3 years old. Only has ~10K mi on it. Has never had a charge difference over 1% between cells. The 0.6 to 0.8% charge difference between cells is pretty good, I think. I almost always charge slowly at home. Have only DCFC'd on one long road trip this past summer.

I might have accidentally charged my truck to 100% when I first got it. Other than that, I've only charged it once to 85%. Otherwise, about once every two to three months, to 80%. For daily use in city driving, I just charge it to 50% and rarely drive more than 10 miles from home.

Contrasting your driving/charging routine to mine....

Me:
Approx 35,000 miles in one year, currently 50,600 miles in 17 months.

Charge to 80%-90% at home regularly, 100% about 3 times per month to drive about 290+/- miles round trip. Road trip with multiple DCFC and tow a 24' travel trailer each a few times per year. Approximately 50 DCFC so far.

Carscanner HVB SOH still shows 100% with 0.4% cell variation pretty much every time I have checked.

I must say, please let us know if you ever trade or sell your Lightning, it will be the definition of a "cream puff" on the used market.

 

[Jim Lewis]

I must say, please let us know if you ever trade or sell your Lightning, it will be the definition of a "cream puff" on the used market

Especially since I plunked down the big bucks for a Home Integration System, I'm keeping my Lightning ~forever unless an EV comes along that is fully self-driving or has a 700-mile+ range and charges in 10 minutes. My reasons for getting the Lightning were EV, Home Integration System, BlueCruise driving to and from Austin, and hauling stuff for both inside and outside the house. At age 80, I'm not likely to need another vehicle.

Here's what ChatGPT says about the "data" I reported in my previous post just above, FWIW:

Yes — what you observed is consistent with balancing occurring during driving or other non-charging states, and your data is actually a good example of how the Lightning’s BMS behaves in the real world.

For your 2023 Ford F-150 Lightning, the important point is that voltage equalization can appear to occur during driving, but the mechanism is slightly subtle.

1. Passive balancing itself usually happens when the truck is charging or near the top of SOC
Most EVs (including Ford packs) use passive balancing resistors that:

• bleed off a small amount of charge from the highest cells
• work slowly
• usually operate when SOC is relatively high and the vehicle is awake

This is when actual charge is redistributed.

2. But the measured “cell imbalance” can change during driving
Your observation:

Event	SOC	Charge difference
Before trip	50%	0.6%
After charge to 80%	~80%	not noted
After drive to Austin	54%	0.8%
After drive home	27%	0.3%

The key point: the reduction from 0.8% → 0.3% probably did not require active balancing during the drive.

Instead, two things happen while driving:

A. Voltage dispersion shrinks when the pack is under load
Cells that looked different at rest often move closer together under current flow because:

• internal resistance differences dominate
• voltage curves flatten

So the apparent imbalance changes with load.

B. SOC estimation is recalculated continuously
The BMS constantly refines SOC estimates using:

• coulomb counting
• voltage curves
• temperature compensation

During a long drive, the BMS often re-estimates cell SOC, which can change the reported imbalance.

3. Your data pattern fits this exactly
Your sequence suggests:

1. Small apparent imbalance at rest
2. Slight increase after charging
3. Large pack discharge while driving
4. BMS recalculation → smaller reported difference

That’s a normal recalibration effect, not necessarily balancing during the drive.

4. Your battery health looks excellent
For a 3-year-old pack with ~10K miles, your numbers are unusually good:

• Max imbalance ever <1%
• Slow AC charging (~5 kW)
• Almost no DC fast charging
• Operating mostly in the middle of the SOC window (≈50%)

All of those are very favorable conditions for pack longevity.

5. One more interesting point about the Lightning
Ford left large hidden buffers in the pack:

• Top buffer
• Bottom buffer

This means that even when you stop at 80% displayed SOC, the cells themselves are still far from their true maximum voltage, which reduces stress and keeps the pack well balanced.

Bottom line
Your observations are exactly what one would expect:

• The Lightning does not need 100% charges to stay balanced.
• The change you saw during driving was probably BMS recalculation, not active balancing.
• A <1% difference is excellent and indicates a very healthy pack.

Your charging habit of mostly staying around 50% SOC with slow charging is actually close to ideal for long-term battery life.

 

[chl]

Especially since I plunked down the big bucks for a Home Integration System, I'm keeping my Lightning ~forever unless an EV comes along that is fully self-driving or has a 700-mile+ range and charges in 10 minutes. My reasons for getting the Lightning were EV, Home Integration System, BlueCruise driving to and from Austin, and hauling stuff for both inside and outside the house. At age 80, I'm not likely to need another vehicle.

Here's what ChatGPT says about the "data" I reported in my previous post just above, FWIW:

The Ai often gets biased by what people post on threads like this. SO grain of salt!

Also we don't really know at what level of charge the passive balancing kicks in in the Lightnings - Ford hasn't published the details as far as I know. Or that the Ford balancing is entirely "passive."

If an OEM says charge to 80% or 90% for daily use, the we must assume their balancing occurs in that range and that it is adequate to maintain battery health for the warranty period - the OEM is not going to want owners to drive around with unbalanced batteries that could result in warranty replacements.

I tend to believe that long slow (low current) charging to 80% or 90% works adequately to maintain SOH and longevity, if that is the goal. It may not fit with some people's use requirements however, it works for me.

There is only so much a passive balancing system can do, but it is simple to implement:

Passive balancing involves the equalization of cell SoC by redirecting excess charge from the cells exhibiting the highest charge (highest SoC) to their corresponding shunt resistors, typically dissipating this energy as heat.

In practical terms, passive or dissipative balancing schemes provide quite a modest balancing capability when compared to non-dissipative or active balancing methods.

This is primarily because passive methods inherently dissipate energy, which can be both wasteful and challenging to manage, especially in applications with limited space constraints (Kivrak et al., 2019).

For battery packs utilizing passive balancing, only the minimum cell capacity can be reclaimed during discharge (assuming it cannot be bypassed cell), upon reaching the cut-off voltage limit of the cell with the lowest capacity (lowest SoC cell), the discharge operation needs to be halted (Newbon et al., 2015).

This method is simple in construction and has low maintenance costs. This method is classified into two types: fixed switching shunt resistor and shunt resistor techniques
(Rahimi-Eichi et al., 2013 - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352484724002506#bib93 )

See: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352484724002506#keys0005

 

[Jim Lewis]

@chl. There is also the old adage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." So, I think as long as I stay below 1% charge difference between cells, I won't charge to a high % SOC. If you follow the threads, Darren Palmer, the VP of EVs at Ford ostensibly created the recommendation that it's best to charge to 90% to dissuade owners from charging to 100% every night, which he said in a 2023 YouTube State of Charge video interview with Tom Moloughney that owners were tending to do. So, yes, perhaps Ford wouldn't be recommending charge to 90% if there weren't a reason, but perhaps you picked the wrong reason. One shouldn't need to rebalance the battery cells every night, so I don't think that's the reason.

Link to comments on Darren Palmer 2023 interview: https://www.f150lightningforum.com/forum/threads/top-battery-off-to-90-every-day.17738/post-357055

BTW, Palmer "retired" from FMC in November 2025. He was then only about 48 years old.

 

[chl]

@chl. There is also the old adage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." So, I think as long as I stay below 1% charge difference between cells, I won't charge to a high % SOC. If you follow the threads, Darren Palmer, the VP of EVs at Ford ostensibly created the recommendation that it's best to charge to 90% to dissuade owners from charging to 100% every night, which he said in a 2023 YouTube State of Charge video interview with Tom Moloughney that owners were tending to do. So, yes, perhaps Ford wouldn't be recommending charge to 90% if there weren't a reason, but perhaps you picked the wrong reason. One shouldn't need to rebalance the battery cells every night, so I don't think that's the reason.

Link to comments on Darren Palmer 2023 interview: https://www.f150lightningforum.com/forum/threads/top-battery-off-to-90-every-day.17738/post-357055

BTW, Palmer "retired" from FMC in November 2025. He was then only about 48 years old.

I didn't interpret it as charge to 90% every night, I read it as meaning 90% is enough for daily driving needs if you need to charge, and don;t go to 100% unless you a going on a trip then 100% is ok.

Probably 80% is fine too.

Rebalancing is important for battery health and longevity, but how often? Hard to say.

I'll have to look at the Palmer interview, thanks, had not seen it.

Retiring at 48, must be nice, eh, assuming it wasn't for any serious health reason.

I waited to 'semi-retire' until the kids had all finished college and had 'fledged' and I reached the minimum age to take social security (62). They 'reduce' the monthly benefits but base it on what you'd get if you lived to 82 (or 84?) so I figured take the money now while I am young enough to enjoy it, pay off any debts, etc., and if I live to 82, I'll have no regrets. Also I thought, you never know what Washington R's might do to social security one day if they got their way.

I think I might be busier now as a semi-retired person then I ever was when I worked over 40 hours as a patent atty, lol.

 

[chl]

Doing a full 100% charge just to get the guess-o-meter to be a bit more accurate is a fools errand imho.

It won't make the battery any stronger, weak cells will remain weak and be the limiting factor, and since Ford recommends 90% that ought to be adequate to balance cells sufficiently.

A lower current charge will do a better job because it will give the BMS more time to work on balancing.

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