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Potential to upgrade Lightning to 350kw in future?

Theo1000

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The CCS2 connector is rated 400A. You’ll never see over 160KW for more than a few minutes before the temperature sensor on the connector tells the truck to throttle back. Ford has been criticized for 2 years now for choosing the 400V architecture for this very reason. Our wishful thinking won’t fix that.
CCS2 is EU only. Ours is CCS1 but get what you are saying.

Even 3 years ago 800v stuff was basically unavailable. Porsche got away with it because they do everything in-house. I think Ford and everyone will switch. though more likely to 920v than 800v.
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Maquis

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Some EA chargers are 500A capable and Rivian (while being ~400A) is able to charge >200kW at these chargers.

I was clarifying that 400A is not a hard limit for a 400V architecture. It's a limit of the typical charging infrastructure, perhaps, but there are hundreds of thousands of Teslas charging faster than 160kW on 400V architecture. Rivian, as well.
400A is the continuous current limit of the connector unless it has some special (such as liquid) cooling provisions.
 

Kev12345

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I bet it's limited by software for now while they review charge data. 350kw seems unlikely but 200-250kw software upgrade would be cool.
 

sotek2345

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Part of the issue is that Ford uses a lower average pack voltage (mid to high 300's, not truly 400) vs. Rivian which uses a higher average pack voltage - even though both are nominally rated at 400V. This means Rivian can get to a higher kW rating at the same Amperage. It is worth noting though that the Rivian can't sustain that rate long and drops off much faster than Ford. The Lighting has a great charging curve compared to most other EVs with high sustained rates.

If you want to get to an 800V architecture now, the cheapest way would probably be to by an EV6 or Ionic 5 and swap the drivetrains. Some custom fab required - performance may vary. :LOL:
 

Blainestang

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400A is the continuous current limit of the connector unless it has some special (such as liquid) cooling provisions.
Rivians can charge >400A all the way to 50%.

See Out of Spec's video documenting it on an EVGo charger.

160kW is not the "absolute max", as you claimed.

It's not even the *current* max.
 

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Maquis

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Rivians can charge >400A all the way to 50%.

See Out of Spec's video documenting it on an EVGo charger.

160kW is not the "absolute max", as you claimed.

It's not even the *current* max.
I just took the Engineering specs and did the math. Can manufacturers cheat the specs? Sure. Let’s see how that plays out.

Here is recent Rivian test. Average charge rate is the same as the Lightning.
Ford F-150 Lightning Potential to upgrade Lightning to 350kw in future? 3CD15042-0857-469A-AB83-098FDE0E556B
 
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Blainestang

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I just took the Engineering specs and did the math. Can manufacturers cheat the specs? Sure. Let’s see how that plays out.

Here is recent Rivian test. Average charge rate is the same as the Lightning.
You're moving the goalposts to "average charge rate" because you're wrong about your max claims.

160 kW isn't the "absolute max" for the Lightning. It isn't the "absolute max" for 400V. And 400A isn't the limit for CCS.

Lightning ER has a pretty flat charging curve. That's great, and it means it overcomes its unexceptional max rate when charging to 80%. But OP has an SR, not an ER, he was asking about max rate, not average rate, and your claims about max rate aren't accurate.
 

astricklin

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If I'm not mistaken, ccs supports a maximum of 500amps, not 400.
 

Maquis

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You're moving the goalposts to "average charge rate" because you're wrong about your max claims.

160 kW isn't the "absolute max" for the Lightning. It isn't the "absolute max" for 400V. And 400A isn't the limit for CCS.

Lightning ER has a pretty flat charging curve. That's great, and it means it overcomes its unexceptional max rate when charging to 80%. But OP has an SR, not an ER, he was asking about max rate, not average rate, and your claims about max rate aren't accurate.
I guess I should have said “useful“ or ”practical” rate instead of max, since that’s the only thing that matters.
Have fun with the big numbers….the bottom line is that the current generation Lightning will never charge at 350KW, which was the original question.
 

Blainestang

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Have fun with the big numbers….the bottom line is that the current generation Lightning will never charge at 350KW, which was the original question.
It won't go to 350kW, agreed, especially because OP was asking about an SR Lightning, but there's certainly some theoretical room for improvement above where the Lightning currently charges, but way below 350kW.

The average charge rate of the Lightning ER is fairly good, but the SR certainly leaves something to be desired.
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