Focus has limited performance due to hot temperatures

[kmaluo]

I've twice gotten a text to my phone saying "Focus Electric has limited performance due to hot temperatures. Please plug the vehicle in.
"

What exactly is happening and what triggers the error? I assume they battery is hot and I shouldn't drive until I run the car tethered to cool it down faster? Wouldn't driving slowly also adequately cool the battery? Thanks.

 

[WattsUp]

Well, what was the ambient temperature at the time you got the texts? Very hot those days?

If the battery gets too hot or too cold, it does not perform well and/or may lose charge. The battery temperature is influenced by charging (which causes it to heat up) and the ambient environment. So, if the environment alone becomes too hot or cold, the car may attempt to regulate the battery temperature at any time, even when not charging and not plugged in. You could also get the same notification from the car if you parked the car in a very cold environment.

In any case, regulating the battery temperature consumes power itself (running the liquid pumps, cooling fans, heating elements, and/or refrigeration compressor). Because the car doesn't want to drain its own energy by, possibly, needing regulate the battery temperature "indefinitely", it asks to be plugged in. For this reason, the manual recommends that you keep the car plugged in whenever you are not using it.

If you live in a moderate climate, you can get away with not leaving the car plugged in under normal circumstances. But, you live an extreme environment, more often than not you may need to plug in (and the car will let you know).

 

[kmaluo]

Ah, so the car is regulating the battery temperature even when not plugged in. Funny though, it gave me that message right after I unplugged it, so it must have been in the process of cooling. It was about 84 degrees on Oahu today, but unfortunately I leased a black car. Next time I will go with a lighter color. Thank You.

 

[vivavegas]

So kmaluo, did you pre condition your car ? And ouch Black paint.

I live in Vegas, and have a White FFE, and drive with my AC on, and have yet to get any message. (ran a diagnostic test and came back good). It was 102-105 out this week in the sun, (temp gauge showed 106 downtown while driving). So far no problems and im still getting great milage (no difference between now and a month ago when it was cooler). Of course before I leave I always pre condition the car (for 10min), guess that makes a huge difference. Im going to try and hit Death Valley in a month (Vegas to Parumph to my friends warehouse who is getting a 220 charger for his cmax energi, to Death Valley, and ill charge up overnight in DV at the Furnace Creek Inn) Now that will be a true test. (by then the temps should be at 110. (which in reality the car temp gauge will say about 115-118 while driving).

If I have problems till then ill post about it. (the white really stays cooler then my wifes dark blue car).

 

[dmen]

I don't know about hot weather behavior, but in cold weather, (down to 10F in my experience), the thermal management system does NOT kick in unless it's plugged in or turned on. The driver display flashes a yellow warning upon powering down in very cold weather saying "it's cold outside. Plug me in". But I don't obey because I have to park streetside at work. After 10 hours, battery charge level is unchanged. Once I had to leave the car unplugged for a week in an unheated detached garage with average lows in the teens, highs in the 20 to low 30s- the battery charge level remained unchanged after the full week.
In cold weather, the only harm I understand will be reduced effective battery capacity while the battery's cold, and reduced efficiency. But the battery isn't supposed to suffer long-term damage from being exposed to cold, at least from what I've read. So it probably made more sense to the engineers to encourage plugging in for driving efficiency, but not to use battery capacity to keep it warm so that it can keep capacity- kind of shooting itself in the foot that way.
In hot weather, the battery can suffer long term damage in terms of accelerated deterioration, again from what I've read. No firsthand knowledge or education background to support this. So it could well activate thermal management even if it's not plugged in. I imagine you would hear a fan humming, same as I do when it's plugged in in cold weather. Did you hear anything like that, kmaluo?

 

[v_traveller]

Ah, so the car is regulating the battery temperature even when not plugged in. Funny though, it gave me that message right after I unplugged it, so it must have been in the process of cooling. It was about 84 degrees on Oahu today, but unfortunately I leased a black car. Next time I will go with a lighter color. Thank You.

Aloha, Bruddah! (No, I did not learn that from Hawaii Five-0)

So you unplugged it right before getting the message? Did you have a full charge at the time? A similar thing happened to me (I think), but I didn't get the message. What did happen is that I went out to unplug after achieving a full charge about 2 hours prior, and I heard the thermal management system running. Ambient was 80F. When I unplugged, the noise stopped, but no message. But I have a white car, and it was about 8am, so maybe my car didn't have a chance to absorb as much solar energy as yours did....

I remember reading something on Li-ion battery life being adversely affected by high temps, especially when fully charged. So I googled "lithium ion battery life" and found a number of articles that recommended avoiding temps above 86F, especially at full charge. So I'm thinking that the thermal management system kicks on somewhere around 80F when the battery is at or near full charge, and at some higher temperature when not at full charge - one post on an MFM Discussion reports that the message to plug in came up when the temp was at about 100F - I'm guessing that the battery in that case was not near full charge.

 

[kmaluo]

Aloha guys... I don't precondition the car because I try to save on my household electric bill. Rolling down the windows cools it down pretty quick. I really regret the black, but it was $20 a month cheaper. I learned my lesson.

 

[jstack6]

I live in the Phoenix area so I will see how it does in the extreme heat this summer. We can hit 120 +-4 in the summwer, sitting on parking lots can even get to 160F.

I've had a LEAD for over 2 years with no heat message or problems except the battery life goes down faster, 10% a year instead of their predicted 5%. I just got a 2013 FFE ice blue (lighter colors are cooler) . I want to get a dash cover too since my dash is black!

Does any one know of a smart phone app that reads batter temp and other data off the ODBE? Scan Gauge may offer one soon. Some owner wrote one for the LEAF that I use on an android phone off blue tooth to the ODBEII! nice data.

 

[Jasper7821]

I live in the Phoenix area so I will see how it does in the extreme heat this summer. We can hit 120 +-4 in the summwer, sitting on parking lots can even get to 160F.

I've had a LEAD for over 2 years with no heat message or problems except the battery life goes down faster, 10% a year instead of their predicted 5%. I just got a 2013 FFE ice blue (lighter colors are cooler) . I want to get a dash cover too since my dash is black!

Does any one know of a smart phone app that reads batter temp and other data off the ODBE? Scan Gauge may offer one soon. Some owner wrote one for the LEAF that I use on an android phone off blue tooth to the ODBEII! nice data.

I live in Tucson and work in the middle of the desert between Tucson and Phoenix at a old Army base and the tarmac here gets 120 in the summer.
I got got my 2013 FFE white platinum leather a few days ago and the afternoon is already 100 and man the black dash is baking hot.

I think I'm just going to get a cheap car cover (Costco $30) and unscrew the roof antenna and that should help keep the battery cooler and the car too.
I had a black car and if you touched it in the afternoon you could totally burn your hand.

 

[vivavegas]

I live in Tucson and work in the middle of the desert between Tucson and Phoenix at a old Army base and the tarmac here gets 120 in the summer.
I got got my 2013 FFE white platinum leather a few days ago and the afternoon is already 100 and man the black dash is baking hot.

I think I'm just going to get a cheap car cover (Costco $30) and unscrew the roof antenna and that should help keep the battery cooler and the car too.
I had a black car and if you touched it in the afternoon you could totally burn your hand.

Jasper7821, being in Vegas we have about the same temp problems youz do. What I did was get the proper tint on the windows. And im not talking about dark tint. What you need is the crystalline/nano tint. (you can get it in all shades, i got a tint thats almost transparent). With the crystalline/nano tint youll pay a few hundred out of pocket, but the car stays beyond cool, its amazing, and having the clear on the front window my dash stays nice and cool. Best investment ever. (find a dealer that carries it and ask for a demonstration, youll be hooked). This is the stuff I got on my car: http://luxurywindowtinting.com/nano/

 

[Jasper7821]

I live in Tucson and work in the middle of the desert between Tucson and Phoenix at a old Army base and the tarmac here gets 120 in the summer.
I got got my 2013 FFE white platinum leather a few days ago and the afternoon is already 100 and man the black dash is baking hot.

I think I'm just going to get a cheap car cover (Costco $30) and unscrew the roof antenna and that should help keep the battery cooler and the car too.
I had a black car and if you touched it in the afternoon you could totally burn your hand.

Jasper7821, being in Vegas we have about the same temp problems youz do. What I did was get the proper tint on the windows. And im not talking about dark tint. What you need is the crystalline/nano tint. (you can get it in all shades, i got a tint thats almost transparent). With the crystalline/nano tint youll pay a few hundred out of pocket, but the car stays beyond cool, its amazing, and having the clear on the front window my dash stays nice and cool. Best investment ever. (find a dealer that carries it and ask for a demonstration, youll be hooked). This is the stuff I got on my car: http://luxurywindowtinting.com/nano/

Cool, thanks. I'll check it out.
The car came tinted dark in rear and medium in front but I'm sure it was a cheap a** tint job as it seems to reflect no heat at all.