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Lightning's range in cold weather... not very good

sotek2345

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I did, put it on the charger for 30min, in a heated garage. Pre conditioned the cab to so everything was warm when I set out.
That isn't preconditioning. If you set a departure time (at least a couple hours in advance), the truck will heat the battery was well as the cabin, which will significantly help your winter range.
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Vithar

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That isn't preconditioning. If you set a departure time (at least a couple hours in advance), the truck will heat the battery was well as the cabin, which will significantly help your winter range.
I had the departure time set in the navigation system, the battery was preconditioned. I was just adding that on top of that, it was in a heated garage, etc... Battery temp as dead center on the indicator, and according to my CarScanner apps history it was 54F, when I started out. Safe to call that a preconditioned battery?
 

sotek2345

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I had the departure time set in the navigation system, the battery was preconditioned. I was just adding that on top of that, it was in a heated garage, etc... Battery temp as dead center on the indicator, and according to my CarScanner apps history it was 54F, when I started out. Safe to call that a preconditioned battery?
No, a preconditioned battery would be closer to 85 or 95. Setting a time in the Nav system won't do it, you need to set it as a departure time in the charging settings.
 

Vithar

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Good to know. Over the entire drive including when hooked up to the 50kW and 150kW chargers, the battery never got over 60F. The heater must have been running at max and barely holding its own against that 4F outside temp, if it should have been in the 80 to 90 F range when operating.
 

RickLightning

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No, a preconditioned battery would be closer to 85 or 95. Setting a time in the Nav system won't do it, you need to set it as a departure time in the charging settings.
I don't believe this is correct.
 

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RickLightning

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Good to know. Over the entire drive including when hooked up to the 50kW and 150kW chargers, the battery never got over 60F. The heater must have been running at max and barely holding its own against that 4F outside temp, if it should have been in the 80 to 90 F range when operating.
You're supposed to turn the heat off when DC charging per Ford.
 

RickLightning

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I did, put it on the charger for 30min, in a heated garage. Pre conditioned the cab to so everything was warm when I set out.
If you set a departure point, but you aren't plugged in, it likely didn't work. You should plug in well before 30 minutes in advance of departure.
 

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You're supposed to turn the heat off when DC charging per Ford.
I was referring to the battery heater not the cab heater, I had the cab heat off most of the drive, just toggling it to clear fog from time to time. That said, I rather hope there isn't any potential for damage by running the cab heater when on DCFC because at 4F outside, I'm not turning the cab heat off well I nap for an hour.
 

Vithar

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If you set a departure point, but you aren't plugged in, it likely didn't work. You should plug in well before 30 minutes in advance of departure.
Its probably true that the feature didn't work based on how I plugged things in and what not. But the entire truck was in the garage overnight and all day with the garage temp set to 50F. So the entire truck was 50F at departure, regardless of conditioning or not, app reported battery as 54F at departure. Considering it was 8F when I hit the road, that should still be big leg up for the heating system vs being parked outside all day.
 

RickLightning

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I was referring to the battery heater not the cab heater, I had the cab heat off most of the drive, just toggling it to clear fog from time to time. That said, I rather hope there isn't any potential for damage by running the cab heater when on DCFC because at 4F outside, I'm not turning the cab heat off well I nap for an hour.
There is one heater. It heats the battery and the cab. Ford suggests turning it off during DC charging in the winter, because they're trying to use it to keep the battery warm, and you're pulling heat into the cabin. Running the heat won't damage anything, it will prolong your charging session by a) having the battery be cooler and b) using energy that the charger has to replace.
 

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Vithar

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There is one heater. It heats the battery and the cab. Ford suggests turning it off during DC charging in the winter, because they're trying to use it to keep the battery warm, and you're pulling heat into the cabin. Running the heat won't damage anything, it will prolong your charging session by a) having the battery be cooler and b) using energy that the charger has to replace.

Why would the battery be cooler with the heater running?

I assumed b would be the case, but it wasn't concerned with it, the amount of charge I missed out on wasn't supper critical, I charged for an hour and could have gotten where I needed with 45min of charging (assuming no heater loss), so my safety buffer eats that heater loss just fine. I was starting to question if there was a deeper reason since I started seeing it all over the place.
 

RickLightning

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Why would the battery be cooler with the heater running?

I assumed b would be the case, but it wasn't concerned with it, the amount of charge I missed out on wasn't supper critical, I charged for an hour and could have gotten where I needed with 45min of charging (assuming no heater loss), so my safety buffer eats that heater loss just fine. I was starting to question if there was a deeper reason since I started seeing it all over the place.
There is one heater. If you heat the cabin, it's providing less heat to the battery. Simple.

In a message via FordPass to owners on 11/18/22, Ford said:

5. When charging, turn off the heater - especially when you use Direct Current Fast Charging (DCFC).
 

Vithar

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There is one heater. If you heat the cabin, it's providing less heat to the battery. Simple.
That makes sense, for some reason I thought there was a separate system between the battery vs the cabin.

As to the other thing, I got the FordPass message. I'm aware of wat ford said, but I'm still going with a hard NO when I'm going to be sitting in the cab for an hour or more at 4F or colder. If there was somewhere to go well charging, then I would do that but most of the 50kW DCFC chargers along the route I'm using are in the middle of nowhere and don't have anything in walking distance so its just not an option to go do something else. I'm going to have to make this drive a few more times this winter, and very likely to be in the -10F to -30F range for at least a couple of them. That cabin heat is staying on for sure when charging if its that cold out.
 

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There is one heater. If you heat the cabin, it's providing less heat to the battery. Simple.
This is something I’m digging into a little deeper with my limited knowledge of the system design/operation. While there maybe one heater for both, my anecdotal observations of my CarScanner data from the Coolant Heater Power PID is showing it draws Power only when the E-Heat is in the ON position, even with a Battery Temperature in the mid-30s degF.

My concurrent Coolant Temperature readings are showing 59 degF, so I’m trying to verify that PID is a reading associated with the Battery System; but, there appears to be at least some subsystem that heats the cabin that has a differentiated Power draw🤔.

Any additional insights are appreciated 👍
 

TaxmanHog

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My concurrent Coolant Temperature readings are showing 59 degF, so I’m trying to verify that PID is a reading associated with the Battery System; but, there appears to be at least some subsystem that heats the cabin that has a differentiated Power draw🤔.

Any additional insights are appreciated 👍
This diagram of the Mach-E system gives us insight on how the Lightning system might work, though the Max Tow package would have 2 AC units one dedicated to battery and the other to the cabin.

I speculate, the E-heat switched off just stops the cabin blower, but possibly the PTC heater might still run and diverter valve channel red 3, sends the hot coolant to battery pump 2 circuit, through the battery, through the proportioning valve back to the diverter valve channel blue to the cabin pump and through the PTC. Possibly the PTC only heats when the battery temps are critical during DCFC, then it stops as the DCFC charging produces it's own heat.

Ford F-150 Lightning Lightning's range in cold weather... not very good 1670024266823
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