Lightning DCFC behavior that makes you go "duh"

[On the Road with Ralph]

I am not a newbie - I have over 15K on my 2023 Lightning, over half of it on the open road, and I have over 75 DCFC charging sessions under my belt.

But sometimes I learn something new about my EV truck.

I was at a ChargePoint DCFC the other day. I was topping off (already slightly above 90%) because I was about to cross an EV (and literal) desert of over 200 miles, with some significant elevation changes (thousands of feet), and I wanted a bit more margin on the total range.

I plugged in, the charger began initiating the session, and then stopped. No fault or error; just stopped. After a couple tries, I hopped to the adjacent charger and got the same results. Then I moved to a Level 2 AC charger and the charge began, no problem.

After getting some coffee at a nearby donut shop (it was VERY early in the morning) and starring at the truck for a bit, I finally realized that the problem was NOT WITH THE CP CHARGERS. I was MY set-up instructions in the truck, which tell the Lightning to cut-off DCFC charging at 90%. Well, I was just above that, and both the charger and the truck were doing EXACTLY what I had told them to do.

The Lesson? Sometimes a frustrating charging experience doesn't have anything to do with a bad charger, or a problem with the EV. Sometimes, you just need some coffee to think through the situation and realize that what is happening is exactly what is suppose to happen.

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[Pioneer74]

Did you try to set the one time charge limit to 100%?

 

[On the Road with Ralph]

Did you try to set the one time charge limit to 100%?

No, at that point (after getting my coffee) the Level 2 speed got me the extra electrons I needed and I moved on. But yeah, I am sure that if I changed the one-time limit to 100% it would have been fine.

Side note: I did fine on the desert crossing. Arrived at my destination with 30+ miles to spare.

 

[hturnerfamily]

One thing that comes to mind, since you mention this situation, is the sometimes 'disconnect' between engineers who design the truck, and it's internal software and driver info output, and the engineers who design the FordPassApp: the app might give some similar information, and at other times, might NOT give you what you would 'assume' you would be given:

I think you reveal one of those - the 'set' SOC Charge Percentage for DC Fast Charging.

While this DOES show on your driver screen, when you plug into a DC Fast Charger and the truck and charger communicate, I'm NOT sure this shows anywhere on your APP, which is where I tend to 'look' to keep up with the charging while it's happening. It would be easy, as in your situation, for this to be a confusing circumstance. I'm not sure why, either, the set SOC would be any different whether you are using a DC Fast Charger, or a Level 2 charger.

I would appreciate sometimes this info that applies to what you are doing at the moment to be HIGHLIGHT, in BOLD, and maybe also in RED, to catch your attention a little more than the typical 'same font' as everything else.

 

[On the Road with Ralph]

One thing that comes to mind, since you mention this situation, is the sometimes 'disconnect' between engineers who design the truck, and it's internal software and driver info output, and the engineers who design the FordPassApp: the app might give some similar information, and at other times, might NOT give you what you would 'assume' you would be given:

One of the serious problems with Ford's software is much of it is shared between the ICE and EV models. The FordPass app, in particular, is hamstrung by its roots in the original ICE app.

This is a chronic problem with the legacy OEMs. Until they completely separate their ICE and EV platforms, and have different development teams working on each, they will never replicate the software quality/experience/features you find on Tesla, Rivian and Lucid vehicles.

 

[RickLightning]

One of the serious problems with Ford's software is much of it is shared between the ICE and EV models. The FordPass app, in particular, is hamstrung by its roots in the original ICE app.

This is a chronic problem with the legacy OEMs. Until they completely separate their ICE and EV platforms, and have different development teams working on each, they will never replicate the software quality/experience/features you find on Tesla, Rivian and Lucid vehicles.

You mean like MyFordMobile that they had for years with the PHEVs?

 

[On the Road with Ralph]

You mean like MyFordMobile that they had for years with the PHEVs?

Yup. I owned a 2016 Ford C-MAX Energi for six years. Actually, a nice car, but they never fixed the modem problem that made using the MyFordMobile app unreliable and eventually EOL'd the whole remote services capability for the vehicle when their wireless carrier stopped supporting 3G. MyFordMobile was replaced by FordPass - I guarantee you they shared code - and it was originally and primarily intended to support ICE and hybrid vehicles. Sync has similar scar tissue. Until there is a ground-up rewrite (which will never happen), the Ford software experience will never be great, or even consistently good.

 

[frost22]

They also slow down considerably at 80% charge.

 

[cal]

Did you try to set the one time charge limit to 100%?

I really believe this is exactly what Ford intended for that setting. The only time I would ever set it for 100% is in this situation. Long trip to ensure I have enough to get to the next station. I never need 100% for my daily driving.

 

[Pioneer74]

I really believe this is exactly what Ford intended for that setting. The only time I would ever set it for 100% is in this situation. Long trip to ensure I have enough to get to the next station. I never need 100% for my daily driving.

I use it all the time at home. When I drive the Lightning to work, I charge to 85%. When my wife is going to take it, she has a shorter commute and I set the one time charge to 65%.

Funny thing is, the Mach-E doesn't charge the same way. It will go to 100% on DCFC and there is no "One Time" charge setting. I wish Ford was more consistent with their products.

 

[cal]

I just daily charge to 80%. My point was that it defaults to 100% by design. You can certainly change it each time you charge (thank god). I initially had problems getting the regular daily charge set to anything below 100% so I used this quite a bit.

 

[GoodSam]

set-up instructions in the truck, which tell the Lightning to cut-off DCFC charging at 90%.

And then there are times when the "One-Time Max Charge Limit" settings revert by themselves to 100% and the Home location charge limit setting is not recognized because Home location is not recognized anymore. This just happened to me and I think I need to reset the Home location to hopefully stop a wayward "one-time" 100% charge that @MickeyAO , our battery expert, frowns upon having a battery holding at.

 

[WhipSticks]

Sometimes, you just need some coffee

That sums up my life right there.

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