Charge Time Estimate Garbage Since Upgrading Modem

[calvinhc]

It may be a co-incidence, but ever since upgrading the 3G modem to a 4G modem, the estimated time for charging has been garbage, and I cannot use Value Charge.

The modem was replaced back in the first week of March 2020. Prior to that, when the car was in Charge Now mode, when it was shut off the time indicated in the dash was a reasonable estimate of when it would really be finished. If it was in Value Charge mode, where I had it only charge between 11 pm and 6 am, the dash would estimate starting at 11 pm and finishing at a reasonable time later. By reasonable, I mean something around 5.5 hours for a full charge, pro-rated to the percentage needed (e.g. if the charge level was at 60%, then the estimate was about 40% of 5.5 hours). The old app would reflect this as well.

When I got the car back after the modem upgrade, in Charge Now mode, it would say that full charge would take 0.1 hours, regardless of how much charge the car had. If it was in Value Charge mode, it would indicate the start time was 11 pm, with a finish time 0.1 hours later, BUT it would start charging immediately as if it were in Charge Now mode. For the first while while charging, the new app would always indicate the car would be finished charging at some fixed point in the past, something like 7:32 pm on the day the modem was changed. It continued to say this for a couple of months.

When I contacted Ford back in the spring, they indicated that the problem would be fixed with a software upgrade coming in the summer. At one point, the charge time did change from 0.1 hours to 0.6 hours, but still did not have any regard for the charge level. The app's estimated finish charging time did change, but continued to be some weird time, sometimes in the past, and sometimes several DAYS in the future.

While stopping to get a fast charge, the Charge Settings screen often warns (in red text) that there is insufficient time to charge before the next Go Time comes up. I would get this when fast charging on a Saturday when the next Go Time was Monday morning at 7:15 am.

I recently had the vehicle into the dealers for a general service and mentioned this issue. They tried doing some sort of system reboot, but the problem remains. It actually reverted back to the 0.1 hour estimate after being at 0.6 hours for the last couple of months.

Has anyone else had this problem, and was there some procedure to clear it?

I should add that my Level 2 charger at home has a delay feature, so I can have it wait until off-peak times to charge the car. Of course, the app sends me a notification that "Vehicle did not start charging at scheduled charge time" every time I do this - more to be annoyed about!

[Anti_Climax]

I'm having the same problem and I think at least one other person has reported something similar. They need to fix it, there doesn't seem to be anything we can do on our end of things.

[scottt]

Yep, having the exact same problem.

I have to stay up till 1am on the weekend (so I can plug it in) to value charge my car now.

And to add insult to injury, Ford CHARGED us money for this.......sigh.

[calvinhc]

Thanks for the confirmation that I am not alone with this issue.

Before ordering (and paying for) the new modem, I asked about the continued use of it. I seem to recall that there was no subscription fee for the first five, if not six, years, and wanted to know what would be the cost going forward as November will be five years since I received my FFE. I was told by the dealership that Ford had been extending the free service each year, and while they could stop doing that at any time, there was no indication to them that this would change any time soon. I didn't want to spend $400 on the modem only to find it would cost a hundred or two per year to use it.

Never did I expect that the value charging would be messed up, let alone a number of degradations in the "new" app over the old one.

I do hope they get their stuff together and fix this soon.

[scottt]

URGENT for those of you who are having the issues after your modem upgrade.

Check your settings (panel to the left of the speedometer).

I am missing the ability to change how the lights, wipers, remote start, etc work.

I noticed it today when my lights did not automatically come on when I turned on the wipers. Figured a setting got reset. The setting isn't even there.

Is anyone else experiencing this?

[Heima]

I don't know if my vehicle is affected, because I do not remember there being that functionality in the first place.
I just checked now and I can configure a few things there. I see Auto Light Rain. A headlight delay. The climate control settings when I do a remote start.
Ok, I am in the car:
Settings: Driver Assist, Vehicle, MyKey, Display
Driver Assist: Traction Ctrl, Home Range warn, Rear Park Aid
These parameters are either on or off.
Vehicle: Lighting, Remote Start, Tire Mobility Kit
Lighting: Auto Light Rain, Home Light
These parameters are on or off, or Manual and 20, 40, 60 seconds
Remote Start: Climate Control, Duration, Quiet Start, System
Climate Control: Heater - A/C, Front Defrost, Rear Defrost
These parameters are Auto or off
Duration: 5, 10 or 15 minutes
Quiet Start: on or off
System: Enable or disable
Tire Mobility Kit: 1, 2,3,4 years
MyKey: I have never configured this, so it is requesting to create a MyKey.
Display: Language, Units, Brake Coach, Regen Display, Lifetime Summary
Language: English, Espanol, Francais
Units: Distance, Temperature
Can set metric or English units.
Brake Coach: on or off
Regen Display: on or off
Lifetime Summary: resets the summary
Thats it.

[scottt]

It was extremely bizarre. They're back now.

Sorry for the panic alarm. I thought it might have been related to the modem upgrade. I am now able to set the wipers (BACK) to the setting where I had it, so that they'll come on during the rain.

Now just need to get back home and go drive in the rain

Thx all

[Paramedicjoe]

Having the same issue. The vehicle is in for service now to possibly have the battery changed out. It's a 2017 ...range is down to less than 50 miles.

Thank you for posting I don't feel like I'm the only one with this issue now.

[calvinhc]

50 mile range on a 2017 - man that's bad. What sort of mileage do you have on the vehicle?

Hopefully, your problem is a software issue, where it is saying that is the range you have when it is really more.

I had noticed that each year, my 2017 FFE was losing about 3-4% of its maximum range, given similar weather/temperature conditions. In the first couple of years, many days from May to September starting with a full charge would see 198-204 km (123-127 miles), but this dropped by 4-5 km in the third year and another 4-5 this past year. My vehicle has just over 113,000 km (70,625 mi) on it.

All through this past spring, it seemed rare to see a full charge range in the 180s. Then, when the car was in for servicing, I asked them to try some sort of reboot in the hopes that the charge time estimate problem might get corrected. The problem continued, but suddenly, I have had many times after a full charge showing 200+ km range, including one that started with 213.

I understand that the charge systems on EVs are designed to not provide all of the battery's capacity when it shows 100% charged to protect the battery from being overcharged. I had wondered if manufacturers build in a buffer so that it can be bumped up a little as the battery ages so the end user doesn't see the degradation of the battery as it ages, or at least doesn't see it as bad. It almost seems the bump-up required whatever "reboot" they did instead of it doing so automatically. I can't say for sure what is really at work here, just describe the symptoms.

[Anti_Climax]

Might be worth a full discharge and a cell check using OBD. The full capacity is dictated by any one single cell hitting the highest or lowest allowable voltage. So if one of two cells are misbehaving it can really screw stuff up.

Connect up to L2 and let it sit for like a week and it should try to rebalance individual cells.