Battery loss? Nothing from 2 Ford dealers as to warranty :-(

[shaggy314]

So I used to get 22+ miles from the battery, now 18ish after 48,000 miles (summer, winter is 14-16). So I've asked two Austin Ford dealers what kind of loss constitute a possible warranty claim. I'm only told 8 years 100,000 on the hybrid components... but nothing about battery loss. One said he didn't think there was any that would be covered.

 

I'm now concerned I should ditch the car in the next year or so while I still can show the car charging and have it hold any resale value. Specifically not mention EV range at all.

 

Unlike Nissan which finally came out with numbers, has Ford ever said anything?

[dlb92]

Contact me if you would like to write a letter to the law firm that won the leaf case as I have their email and they are looking into perhaps pursuing the case against Ford (for free).  No point in selling your car, I had the same thoughts at first but it has already lost 65% of its value and the battery will likely not affect the resale.  

 

Over at the Cmax energi forum we have a lively discussion going with at least 6 of us that have had corporate tell us they won't replace our batteries.  The first guy got his replaced at 4.2kwh back in April 2016, but none since with even lower values.

 

Or you can use it as a hybrid as it still gets great mileage until maybe a class action goes through and then you get a brand new battery in a couple  years.

Edited September 27, 2016 at 12:11 AM by dlb92

[jeff_h]

It's noted in the owner's manual and gradual degradation is normal, but there's not a threshold number noted and I guess that's why.

 

This is one reason why I sold my Energi and got a Volt (the larger HVB being the primary reason, but the degradation being the secondary reason) as I had lost capacity on my red Energi after 65k miles (same as wife's Blue after 54k miles) and I had been reading threads on the Volt forum that the Thermal Management System (TMS) that GM uses was better and owners there noted they were over 80k miles on their Volts with no degradation, so I switched and am now at 11 months and 35k miles and everything is the same as the day I drove away from the dealer.

[shaggy314]

Yes and being in Tech for 24 years, I know about battery loss...

 

However, this isn't a laptop with poor to no battery temp management. It is a car battery to not be replaced in 3-4 years like on a laptop. I expect to outlast or be defined what is out of norm for me.

 

I really would like a Ford answer besides, 'we told you so'. I went 18 months before learning that hot charging was VERY bad and not to keep it at 100%. I've since switched to 5 AM charging and even delaying for an hour when I get into work so the battery can cool some, but I'm one of Several people at work needing a charge so I get it when I can.

 

How can Teslas go over 100,000 without this kind of loss? More thought into battery temperature management. Ford didn't. Now we are paying for our own ignorance.

[murphy]

How can Teslas go over 100,000 without this kind of loss? More thought into battery temperature management. Ford didn't. Now we are paying for our own ignorance.

Tesla reserves about 10 kWh of the battery for battery protection.  There is a buffer at the bottom to prevent bricking and possibly a buffer at the top.  In any event the maximum charge point for a Tesla can be set anywhere between 50% and 100%.  For daily use no more than 90% is recommended. If a 100% charge is needed for a long trip the recommendation is to start driving within an hour or so of reaching the 100% charge.  There is degradation in a Tesla battery but a 1 kWh loss in a 90 kWh battery is not as significant as a 1 kWh loss in an Energi 7.6 kWh battery.

 

The only way to stop charging before 100% in my Energi is to monitor the charge and go to the garage to manually stop it.  Supposedly the Energi battery is designed to last the life of the car.  However the life of the car has not been defined in anything that I have read.

[Russael]

I found this in an article:

 

 

 

The average life expectancy of a car was 8 years or 150,000 miles up till few years back. Now due to improved design and technology, life expectancy of a car is considered at 200,000 miles done or 10 years. In the old days a car reaching 70,000 miles was not considered as better option to buy. As per the available statistics a personal car shall be covering 10,000 to 15,000 miles in a year. A car which is 3-4 years old or done between 30,000 to 40,000 miles is considered the best to buy. Considering the technical innovations, normally new generation cars are designed to provide better service up to 10 years or 200,000 miles.

 

Came from here:  https://www.cardealpage.com/column14.html

[shaggy314]

Oh, then I REALLY screwed up getting 220,000 out of my first new car, a 1993 Acura. I'm a bad man. I guess hoping that 20 years later I could expect half that from a new Ford was just unrealistic on my part.

 

When I finally got rid of the Integra, it was STILL giving me over 33 MPG (4 miles over it's original rating). Now we are not ever going to depend on battery miles per charge. How sad. As I said elsewhere, I guess I should try to sell the car before people/dealers know to look for EV driving use on the battery.

 

Nisson did eventually step up to plate with numbers for replacement. Surely a US company can too. 4 kW charge on the battery would be nice to see in writing.

[flyingcheesehead]

It's noted in the owner's manual and gradual degradation is normal, but there's not a threshold number noted and I guess that's why.

 

This is one reason why I sold my Energi and got a Volt (the larger HVB being the primary reason, but the degradation being the secondary reason) as I had lost capacity on my red Energi after 65k miles (same as wife's Blue after 54k miles) and I had been reading threads on the Volt forum that the Thermal Management System (TMS) that GM uses was better and owners there noted they were over 80k miles on their Volts with no degradation, so I switched and am now at 11 months and 35k miles and everything is the same as the day I drove away from the dealer.

 

The other thing with the Volt is that it doesn't come anywhere close to using the entire capacity of the battery. GM designed it that way to avoid degradation, and it works. A Volt battery should last basically forever. Too bad Fords won't.