Sudden range loss of 30%!

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Motozeke

Member
Joined
Nov 23, 2014
Messages
6
Hey team:

The Sunday after Thanksgiving, I climbed into my 2012 Focus EV (18K miles) and the fully-charged range dropped from the usual low 60s-low 70s to the low 40s, and after several re-charges the result hasn't changed. This was quite sudden.

The only thing I can think of is that was anything like unusual is that we did have some rain Saturday evening and Sunday morning.

Temps in SoCal (where I live) have been in the upper 40s at night and the mid-upper 60s during the day. So it hasn't been particularly cold.

I understand the Focus has two separate L-ion packs; is it possible that one has failed?
 
Motozeke said:
Hey team:

The Sunday after Thanksgiving, I climbed into my 2012 Focus EV (18K miles) and the fully-charged range dropped from the usual low 60s-low 70s to the low 40s, and after several re-charges the result hasn't changed. This was quite sudden.

The only thing I can think of is that was anything like unusual is that we did have some rain Saturday evening and Sunday morning.

Temps in SoCal (where I live) have been in the upper 40s at night and the mid-upper 60s during the day. So it hasn't been particularly cold.

I understand the Focus has two separate L-ion packs; is it possible that one has failed?
Click to expand...

Has your energy usage (wH/mi) changed significantly as well? I also live in SoCal, and while it has been a bit chillier the last few days, I haven't seen a big change in energy usage (went from 245 to about 255).

Keith
 
campfamily said:
Has your energy usage (wH/mi) changed significantly as well? I also live in SoCal, and while it has been a bit chillier the last few days, I haven't seen a big change in energy usage (went from 245 to about 255).

Keith
Click to expand...

Nope. Same driving habits as always. 80% of my driving is suburban streets, the other 20% being brief shots on the freeway. As you can see by my mileage (18K), I do not use this car heavily at all.
 
Motozeke said:
Nope. Same driving habits as always. 80% of my driving is suburban streets, the other 20% being brief shots on the freeway. As you can see by my mileage (18K), I do not use this car heavily at all.
Click to expand...
What is your average Wh/mi? If you don't know, reset your trip meter, and after a few trips (to create a meaningful average), report back the Wh/mi that it says.

If you're in the "low 40s" for estimated range, and if everything is working normally, then your average Wh/mi must be somewhere above 400. That would be pretty high for mostly "suburban street" driving, but still be possible if you are using a lot of energy somehow.

For example, if you are:

  • running the heater a lot.
  • driving on flat tires or very low PSI (creating excess drag).

The Energy view (on the left hand dash) will alert you to high energy usage for the heater. Sometimes, the heater comes on when you don't realize, and can use up to 5 kW. The heater usage is included in the average Wh/mi and can seriously degrade the range estimate.

Of course, it may be true that something has "suddenly gone wrong" with your FFE. But, I would verify your average Wh/mi energy usage first. The car may simply be dutifully estimating the range based on your (somehow high) energy usage.
 
WattsUp said:
What is your average Wh/mi? If you don't know, reset your trip meter, and after a few trips (to create a meaningful average), report back the Wh/mi that it says.

If you're in the "low 40s" for estimated range, and if everything is working normally, then your average Wh/mi must be somewhere above 400. That would be pretty high for mostly "suburban street" driving, but still be possible if you are using a lot of energy somehow.

For example, if you are:

  • running the heater a lot.
  • driving on flat tires or very low PSI (creating excess drag).

The Energy view (on the left hand dash) will alert you to high energy usage for the heater. Sometimes, the heater comes on when you don't realize, and can use up to 5 kW. The heater usage is included in the average Wh/mi and can seriously degrade the range estimate.

Of course, it may be true that something has "suddenly gone wrong" with your FFE. But, I would verify your average Wh/mi energy usage first. The car may simply be dutifully estimating the range based on your (somehow high) energy usage.
Click to expand...

Sound advice, will do so!
 
I live in the Los Angeles area and noticed the same thing too. Typically a full charge is about 80-90 but it dropped to about 65-70 full charge when the cold spell hit. Very abrupt. Either it is charging less in the cold or maybe related to using the heater. It was first time I used it since I bought my FFE in March.
 
Well, mystery (sort of) solved: I switched off the climate control and now the range is back up to the low 60s when fully charged. The issue is, I've owned the car for a couple of years now and I've never seen this much of a drop when using the climate control. Odd.
 
Ah cold weather. I think the magic words were spoken, the temperatures dropped a lot - near 40 degrees. You're now using two heaters, the cabin and the battery heater (that's if the batteries got cold sitting outside). As Wattsup explained, the car is simply telling you that more electricity is being used (wh/mile). 45 degrees is the magic temperature where the battery starts heating, and energy use goes way up.

We see this in Chicago (the Midwest and East Coast) every season.
 
Yep in Northern Ohio now that it's in the 30's at night and rarely above 50 during the day I'm averaging 315-320 Wh/mi with moderate climate control usage. My GOM has my range in the 50's. Time to bring my FFE into the warm garage at nite...
 

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