only 45 miles of range?!

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NorthVanFocus

New member
Joined
Jan 23, 2017
Messages
3
I've had my FFE for nearly 4 years now, and I have recently noticed a massive decrease in my range. The dealer says this is normal, but I do not understand how a battery can deteriorate over 40% and still be considered normal and acceptable. They say they tested it, but have provided no docs, reports, or numbers at all as to what they tested, and how exactly they were able to determine that this is 'normal'. Really at a loss as to how to proceed, as my new commute is 44 miles (70km). I literally get to work with 1km left some days, and "pull over now" on other days. The commute itself is 80% highway and 20% city driving, all at or near sea level. I have even slowed down to 50 mph of the highway to ensure that I can make it in each day, and then again for my commute home each day. Any suggestions at all?
 
ive only had mine for over a year but i may be in the same area as you in the lower mainland if i guess the meaning of your name. I do notice a drop in the colder months especially with this current winter we are having.
I also notice a significant difference between driving through Vancouver to get to Langley for example vs taking the freeway. I can get a lot farther driving through the city at lower speeds.
Heater chews up a lot... in the summer months i could do my 65km round trip for work and still have 60-80km on the GoM. In the current winter months and trying to limit heater usage i still roll in with maybe 30km left. But all city... i don't have any freeways in my commute.

For example on road difference, I did the 65km round trip for work and then the 40 km round trip down the highway to 200th and highway1 and came home with 19km on my battery. The next week i decided to take the highway from work instead of going through the city and this time i charged fully at work. Leaving work with a full battery so only 32km back and the 40km round trip to langley and I came home with the same 20km of battery.... surprised at how much even the highway burns the battery or at least how it affects the GoM.

Starting to master it!
 
NorthVanFocus said:
I've had my FFE for nearly 4 years now, and I have recently noticed a massive decrease in my range. The dealer says this is normal, but I do not understand how a battery can deteriorate over 40% and still be considered normal and acceptable. They say they tested it, but have provided no docs, reports, or numbers at all as to what they tested, and how exactly they were able to determine that this is 'normal'. Really at a loss as to how to proceed, as my new commute is 44 miles (70km). I literally get to work with 1km left some days, and "pull over now" on other days. The commute itself is 80% highway and 20% city driving, all at or near sea level. I have even slowed down to 50 mph of the highway to ensure that I can make it in each day, and then again for my commute home each day. Any suggestions at all?
I noticed you joined today? if so welcome.
would be nice to know year of car, miles and temperature...assuming Canada with km.
Anyhow you need to read the KWH used during the trip so we can discuss if it out of range with what other people are seeing.

I have not seen anything below 15.2Kwh on this forum; I am still getting 19Kwh on my '16FFE with 16,000miles...typical range are 55 to 70 miles for me.

Also as mentioned the cold temperature is the biggest differential in range. However I have driven in below freezing weather without the heat on and not lost much range.
 
NorthVanFocus said:
I've had my FFE for nearly 4 years now, and I have recently noticed a massive decrease in my range. The dealer says this is normal, but I do not understand how a battery can deteriorate over 40% and still be considered normal and acceptable. They say they tested it, but have provided no docs, reports, or numbers at all as to what they tested, and how exactly they were able to determine that this is 'normal'. Really at a loss as to how to proceed, as my new commute is 44 miles (70km). I literally get to work with 1km left some days, and "pull over now" on other days. The commute itself is 80% highway and 20% city driving, all at or near sea level. I have even slowed down to 50 mph of the highway to ensure that I can make it in each day, and then again for my commute home each day. Any suggestions at all?

Try driving without the ac fan on. The car stupidly turns on the heater if you leave the temp higher than environmental temp. I've lost charge on accident just by this. Also annoying is it will start on outside air instead of recirculate for no reason. Then I notice what happened when I smell the exhaust of a smog violator in my electric car.
 
NorthVanFocus said:
I've had my FFE for nearly 4 years now, and I have recently noticed a massive decrease in my range. The dealer says this is normal, but I do not understand how a battery can deteriorate over 40% and still be considered normal and acceptable.
The range estimate and battery capacity can often have no correlation. The range estimate is just a computation... based (partly, yes) on battery capacity but also your rate of energy consumption (measured from past trips).

Has your rate of consumption drastically increased recently?

For examples:
- Is the weather very cold?
- Are you using the climate controls heavily?
- Are you driving a new route with more inclines now?
- Are your tires very low on pressure?

But, perhaps most tellingly... what is your average Wh/mi? If you don't know, reset one of the trip meters and then let it accumulate, say, at least 100 miles (maybe more) by driving your normal routes. Then, see what the average Wh/mi is.

There is also a way to measure your actual battery capacity (independent of range estimate), by performing the "heater run down" test.

To perform the test:
1) Fully charge your car.
2) Turn it on and reset one of the the trip meters to zero. (Also make sure the meter is in "advanced" mode, so it will display the total kWh used.)
3) Turn on the climate control heater at "HI". (Probably also leave all the Windows down.)
4) Leave the car for a few hours until the battery is empty and cold air is blowing. (Probably best to check on it every hour to make sure all is okay, but the entire test WILL take a few hours.)

After you complete step #4, the trip meter will be displaying the total kWh used for the "trip", which will reflect your battery capacity.
 
Pretty much what everyone already said. Assuming you're in a cold climate 45mi range is normal. If you need to go farther you can; not use any climate control, preheat/condition the car with a L2 EVSE capable of 30A, and slow down as methods to increase range. If none of that is an option for you, it may be time to get a new car with more range.
 
The part that is confusing is that you've owned the car 4 years and not had this problem. It happened all of a sudden. I'm assuming you didn't just move from someplace warm to someplace cold.

Assume that something has changed - it isn't all the common things new owners run into, meaning it just got cold outside and you don't have as much range - you should have gone through 4 winters already and understand that.

The only real way to figure this out is to determine if your battery has degraded somehow. The test WattsUp mentioned is the first place you need to start. Figure out if the battery has the full capacity or it is significantly down.

After you do the test to figure out how much capacity you have, then you can start looking for other reasons (maybe a broken heater, or broken thermostat in your battery circuit).

One thing you might check, the coolant level. If it is really low (as in non visible), that might be a big problem.
 
OK so it has been a while.... The short version of the story is as follows. On January 11, 2019 my car died and it has since been towed to the dealership 4 times in the past 7 months. Over the past 7 months the Ford dealer has replaced my motor, much of the wiring, and now finally the propulsion batteries. My concern is that from a fully charged battery 100% all the way to 0% I am only getting 15.0 kWh out of this battery which is exactly what my old (since replaced) battery was giving me. I suspected my battery was replaced by the Ford dealer with a used battery (likely six or seven years old as the degradation matches almost exactly that of my old battery). Has anyone else heard of this? Is this allowed? Is this legal?
 
There are two battery packs in the car. Did they forget to hook up the 2nd one? Can you look at your repair order, did you get the bigger battery as part of your repair?
 
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