[THEsocalledfan]

Does no one look at the colorful gauge that is on the left side of the ring on the left of the screen to get the SoC of the battery? It's broken into segments and it's easy to see roughly where your battery is in broad terms (100%, 75% 50%, etc). I get wanting that exact % value to be shown, but the rough SoC is displayed, if only graphically. Does that not cut it for most people? How did we survive all those years looking at a gas gauge that wasn't reading tank contents to the single digits?

%SOC X usable battery X consumption (mi/kwh) = a much better guess o meter value

granted, you are right you don't need it every second....but darn right I'm going to use it a lot when pushing the range which I will have to regularly do.

 

[ChasingCoral]

How did we survive all those years looking at a gas gauge that wasn't reading tank contents to the single digits?

Much better, actually. Such gauges gave you an approximation you worked off of rather than expecting absolute accuracy of a range estimate to the nearest km!

 

[Voltz]

we’ve seen an average range of about 170 to 185miles prior to the Jan 9 update (in the summer we were seeing 240s of course). As I said - with the update now looks to be about 210 mile range

It's not really range, it's a guesstimate that is now playing Pollyanna instead of Chicken Little.

I think this update makes people feel better about their range after charging, but is very misleading.

This! The EV analogue to a Participation Trophy. "I don't really drive over 180 miles a day, but seeing a big GOM number makes me feel better!"

Does no one look at the colorful gauge that is on the left side of the ring on the left of the screen to get the SoC of the battery? It's broken into segments and it's easy to see roughly where your battery is in broad terms (100%, 75% 50%, etc). I get wanting that exact % value to be shown

I see it. It's very pretty. I would much rather the pretty be enhanced by ability to see a large SoC percentage number in place of the GOM number. SoC % and mi/kWh trip consumption are the two most important numbers to me. That's your reality-check-0-meter.

 

[tdmone1]

Hi Folks,

At the last software update, related to range - my range drastically dropped.
I figured it was just a winter thing so ignored it.

Then yesterday, I applied the 22-PU1009-MIL-DTE update (Received Jan 08) and after a full 100% charge my range went to 515 km!!!

I checked again and now it's reporting 505km.

I'm using the Ford Charger Pro.

Has anyone else seen an over-reporting charge?

View attachment 5590

View attachment 5591

I find that the algorithm has been adjusted to be at the EPA estimated range, so my truck reported 325mi at 100% charge. With a 131kWh extended range pattern this calculated to an average driving usage of 2.48 miles per kWh. I routinely drive at speeds and conditions that result in 2.2 miles per kWh, so my range consumption can be expected to be about 12% greater than the truck’s prediction. I am finding that to be accurate…if I drive my commute of 33 miles, my reported remaining range drops about 37 miles….
It seems to be pretty consistent and reflective of my higher speed average driving.

 

[priccijr]

I look at it this way. You phone doesn’t tell you how many hours of charge you have left before it dies it just shows you battery percentage. I look at my truck battery the same way I don’t care what the mileage says I care about the battery SoC.

 

[hilltown]

I installed the update last night, starting at 10PM, while the truck was charging. Until last night, my 90% charge limit with get me 148 miles or so. With the cold here in the northeast, that varied 20 miles either way. When I started the truck today the range was 218 miles! I bought the truck a month or so ago and I've never seen anything over 170. After a very hilly journey of roughly 80 miles, my stated range was 113 miles, which given all the hills, I think is pretty good. I'll see how it goes in the next few weeks.

 

[Kawartha Lightning]

So I tried eight times and it didn’t work. Tonight I hooked up my battery charger to the tiny little starter battery in the lightning (it’s hilarious that it’s the size of my garden tractor battery). Anyway. It worked. I think the reason it failed to update eight times is because the truck was turned off and there wasn’t enough juice in the starter battery to complete the update or so the Ford computer thinks. I live in a cold climate so the starter battery is probably not at an optimal level and people in warmer climates may not be experiencing the update failure as much as we are. maybe they are too Anyways, that worked for me and it may not be related, but it seems more than coincidental. If you have one, try hooking up a battery charger to your starter battery to see if that gives it the stability to complete the update. It worked for me.

 

[KElkhorn]

Why not tie range to trip meters. Display percent or kWh number with the gauge. Have this trip/trip 1/ trip 2 calculate mi/kWh * kWh remaining.

 

[Spiffster]

The update keeps failing for me but I am not in any hurry to get this update anyway. Nothing exciting in it for me.
(Really wish they would fix the heated seats button so the lame slider would be optional, but I digress.)
I think maybe what is happening are the algos for the GOM have changed and perhaps all the driving variables have gotten reset so the truck needs to learn everything again. IDK. Giving you some optimistic, warm and fuzzy range estimate because a small minority of karens dont like reality seems stupid to me. In any case, I dont drive more than maybe 50 miles a day so I dont really pay too much attention to it anyway.

 

[R.I.P.]

So I tried eight times and it didn’t work. Tonight I hooked up my battery charger to the tiny little starter battery in the lightning (it’s hilarious that it’s the size of my garden tractor battery). Anyway. It worked. I think the reason it failed to update eight times is because the truck was turned off and there wasn’t enough juice in the starter battery to complete the update or so the Ford computer thinks. I live in a cold climate so the starter battery is probably not at an optimal level and people in warmer climates may not be experiencing the update failure as much as we are. maybe they are too Anyways, that worked for me and it may not be related, but it seems more than coincidental. If you have one, try hooking up a battery charger to your starter battery to see if that gives it the stability to complete the update. It worked for me.

There have been references to the Lightning being designed so as to provide charging to the 12 volt battery as long as the vehicle is plugged into an EVSE.

I think it is now proven that this is not the case. Unfortunate, but at least we know.

 

[THEsocalledfan]

There have been references to the Lightning being designed so as to provide charging to the 12 volt battery as long as the vehicle is plugged into an EVSE.

I think it is now proven that this is not the case. Unfortunate, but at least we know.

So, the question is, when exactly does the big battery charge the little battery?

 

[R.I.P.]

So, the question is, when exactly does the big battery charge the little battery?

In the vast majority of modern EVS, the computer will fire up the DC to DC converter when the ignition is turned "on". There is some loss involved in chopping the voltage, so this prevents excessive parasitic draw from the high voltage battery when left sitting over time.

Based on evidence at hand, there is little doubt this is the scenario for the Lightning. In some vehicles, this is a computer-controlled sequence that was later addressed with over the air updates. If Ford built the vehicle with this capability, it can be addressed. Having seen much of the way this vehicle is put together now, however, I think it is more likely a "dumb" relay. A lot of those are Incorporated in this system. This type of relay cannot be upgraded over the air, so the fix would have to be incorporated into later models of the vehicle.

A simple fix would be to increase the size and power of the auxiliary battery. If I still had a Lightning, I would probably put in a Zero Gravity lithium-ion Harley-Davidson battery in its place, and I'm betting it would solve the problem permanently. These batteries idle at a higher voltage, and I believe would keep the electronics in the truck very happy. It would not be subject to the voltage sag that appears to be tripping the "save myself" mode that the truck is going into.

 

[THEsocalledfan]

In the vast majority of modern EVS, the computer will fire up the DC to DC converter when the ignition is turned "on". There is some loss involved in chopping the voltage, so this prevents excessive parasitic draw from the high voltage battery when left sitting over time.

Based on evidence at hand, there is little doubt this is the scenario for the Lightning. In some vehicles, this is a computer-controlled sequence that was later addressed with over the air updates. If Ford built the vehicle with this capability, it can be addressed. Having seen much of the way this vehicle is put together now, however, I think it is more likely a "dumb" relay. A lot of those are Incorporated in this system. This type of relay cannot be upgraded over the air, so the fix would have to be incorporated into later models of the vehicle.

A simple fix would be to increase the size and power of the auxiliary battery. If I still had a Lightning, I would probably put in a Zero Gravity lithium-ion Harley-Davidson battery in its place, and I'm betting it would solve the problem permanently. These batteries idle at a higher voltage, and I believe would keep the electronics in the truck very happy. It would not be subject to the voltage sag that appears to be tripping the "save myself" mode that the truck is going into.

Make me wonder if they continues to be a major issue, that Ford will do a recall and do something similar.

 

[R.I.P.]

Make me wonder if they continues to be a major issue, that Ford will do a recall and do something similar.

25 years ago when I was building EV conversions we incorporated a simple 12 volt battery charger connected to the auxiliary battery that fed power off of one side of the HV battery charger. I got tired of having angry customers upset that their EVs would not start, so I fixed it with this simple solution.

Tesla went surprisingly long without learning this lesson, but now charges the 12 volt battery when the vehicle is plugged in. Rivian just flat copied that design with a bunch of other stuff, so they are covered. Anecdotally, the Lightning was supposed to have the 'charge-12-volt when plugged in feature' as well, but evidently either it does not, or it is not working.

For years GM also lacked that small additional charger. It's a bean counter thing. That little charger really racks up in price when you multiply it by hundreds of thousands of vehicles manufactured.

If in fact Ford did not include the 12 volt charging system in the vehicle while it is shore powered, it is actually a pretty straightforward aftermarket edition. Almost tempts me to come out of retirement.. 🤔

P.S.
An additional auxiliary charger is one way to address this issue. A simpler, and possibly more elegant solution is to just power the DC to DC converter anytime the EVSE is connected. I believe that is incorporated into GM's newest designs.

 

[THEsocalledfan]

25 years ago when I was building EV conversions we incorporated a simple 12 volt battery charger connected to the auxiliary battery that fed power off of one side of the HV battery charger. I got tired of having angry customers upset that their EVs would not start, so I fixed it with this simple solution.

Tesla went surprisingly long without learning this lesson, but now charges the 12 volt battery when the vehicle is plugged in. Rivian just flat copied that design with a bunch of other stuff, so they are covered. Anecdotally, the Lightning was supposed to have the 'charge-12-volt when plugged in feature' as well, but evidently either it does not, or it is not working.

For years GM also lacked that small additional charger. It's a bean counter thing. That little charger really racks up in price when you multiply it by hundreds of thousands of vehicles manufactured.

If in fact Ford did not include the 12 volt charging system in the vehicle while it is shore powered, it is actually a pretty straightforward aftermarket edition. Almost tempts me to come out of retirement.. 🤔

P.S.
An additional auxiliary charger is one way to address this issue. A simpler, and possibly more elegant solution is to just power the DC to DC converter anytime the EVSE is connected. I believe that is incorporated into GM's newest designs.

RIP, you are the best. I have my motorcycle battery on a tender for the winter. That tender should be enough to do the job, correct? (it is just a little motorcycle one.....) Figure this will be an issue for me at some point.....

 

[Voltz]

So, the question is, when exactly does the big battery charge the little battery?

In my observations of the digital voltmeter in my 12V socket, HVB hits the LVB hard with a charge as soon as you get in and push the button (contactors engage). Almost always ≥ 14.8V, sometimes above 15V. It then drops down to a fairly consistent 13.8V. When the 12V socket first wakes up, I'm seeing 12.33-12.66V from the LVB.

 

[R.I.P.]

RIP, you are the best. I have my motorcycle battery on a tender for the winter. That tender should be enough to do the job, correct? (it is just a little motorcycle one.....) Figure this will be an issue for me at some point.....

Yep.

 

[R.I.P.]

In my observations of the digital voltmeter in my 12V socket, HVB hits the LVB hard with a charge as soon as you get in and push the button (contactors engage). Almost always ≥ 14.8V, sometimes above 15V. It then drops down to a fairly consistent 13.8V. When the 12V socket first wakes up, I'm seeing 12.33-12.66V from the LVB.

12.7 volts is the charged resting voltage for a lead acid 12 volt battery. Most protection algorithms will kick in no lower than 12.5v. The numbers you provide make it pretty clear why the updates don't want to come in with that little battery sitting that low.

By comparison, the resting voltage of a 12 volt lithium ion motorcycle battery is 13.1 volts. If you ask Ford techs, they tell you to only use their battery, and are pretty emphatic about that. Still, I can't help thinking a lithium motorcycle battery would solve these problems...🤔

 

[cwstnsko]

The update keeps failing for me but I am not in any hurry to get this update anyway. Nothing exciting in it for me.
(Really wish they would fix the heated seats button so the lame slider would be optional, but I digress.)
I think maybe what is happening are the algos for the GOM have changed and perhaps all the driving variables have gotten reset so the truck needs to learn everything again. IDK. Giving you some optimistic, warm and fuzzy range estimate because a small minority of karens dont like reality seems stupid to me. In any case, I dont drive more than maybe 50 miles a day so I dont really pay too much attention to it anyway.

This DTE software was already on my truck when I took delivery (11/14 build, 2023). I have driven 2400 miles including driving the truck from AZ to WA and back to OR. It still behaves exactly the way it did when I took delivery.
I picked up the truck with 276 miles on the GOM at 90%. If I L2 charge to 90% today, in weather 30 degrees colder than AZ, the GOM will be within 2 miles of what it was when I took delivery. I don’t think it takes any recent driving into account once the L2 charge goes above about 80% (I need to try 70% as a test.)
I would actually reduce my home charge target to under 80% if it would cause it to retain the recent driving history and give a more accurate estimate.
Never underestimate the amount of influence that a vocal minority can have. :-(

 

[Holy_crap]

My '23 keeps telling me the software is up to date. Lariat ER, I have automatic updates configured for every day at 1 am when the truck is in WiFi range.