Michigan Cold Draining My EV Battery

I charged my truck to 90%, drove a bit, parked after work with 81%, and woke up to it being at 70%. This cold weather is no joke—definitely plugging it in tomorrow morning when I get home.

ABC: Always Be Charging.

Greer said:
ABC: Always Be Charging.

I usually only plug it in once a week since my commute is only 10 miles.

Tyler said:

Greer said:
ABC: Always Be Charging.

I usually only plug it in once a week since my commute is only 10 miles.

Even a small daily charge can help in the cold.

Heating drains the battery fast. I drove home today without heat and got 2.7 mi/kWh in 15°F weather—pretty decent.

Marlon said:
Heating drains the battery fast. I drove home today without heat and got 2.7 mi/kWh in 15°F weather—pretty decent.

I’m getting 1.6 because I’m using the heat so much—oh well.

@Tyler
Yeah, my truck was tolerable today thanks to some sun, but I’ll definitely be using heat tomorrow morning.

Marlon said:
Heating drains the battery fast. I drove home today without heat and got 2.7 mi/kWh in 15°F weather—pretty decent.

What speed were you driving to get 2.7 mi/kWh in 15°F? Or is that km/kWh?

@Yan
City driving, so 30-35 mph.

@Yan
I got 1.5 mi/kWh doing highway speeds in 18°F weather. Highway driving in the cold is brutal.

-10°F here. Charged to 90%, which normally gives me 211 miles (I have the ER), but today it said 113 miles. Yeah, it’s cold.

I use a Level 2 Tesla charger for regular charging, but for overnight battery maintenance, I use the Ford charger that came with the truck. A 1.2 kW trickle charge overnight keeps the battery happy and preheats the interior without losing range.

Precondition before leaving. Letting the battery warm up while plugged in can save up to 7% drain from the cold.

Paris said:
Precondition before leaving. Letting the battery warm up while plugged in can save up to 7% drain from the cold.

These trucks won’t precondition the battery unless plugged into a Level 2 charger with a scheduled departure time.

Paris said:
Precondition before leaving. Letting the battery warm up while plugged in can save up to 7% drain from the cold.

What does precondition mean?

Tyler said:

Paris said:
Precondition before leaving. Letting the battery warm up while plugged in can save up to 7% drain from the cold.

What does precondition mean?

You can set a departure time in the FordPass app. The truck will warm the battery and cabin using power from the charger, not the battery. This requires a Level 2 charger (220V).

It’s 10°F in the Midwest with a -10°F wind chill. My battery reduced power to 84% within 30 minutes of leaving home, even though it was plugged into a 40-amp charger.