How to prolong life and charging capacity of HVB in Ford Fusion Energi

[My14Energi]

My daily drive costing me $.17 cents more now than it did two years ago is trivial. Sorry buddy.

Edited April 24, 2019 at 04:49 PM by My14Energi

[jsamp]

If you're happy with your car's performance, more power to ya.     :thumbsup:

[Fgolman]

Thinking of the summer, would it be advisable to have a fan running in the garage? Pointing to the underside of trunk? Perhaps with sunroof slotted open for ventilation? Obviously, I can also keep back door of garage cracked open a bit that would help to reduce the pent up heat rather than having the car soaking in it? Any other suggestions to keep the heat off the battery while recharging?

[jsamp]

Thinking of the summer, would it be advisable to have a fan running in the garage? Pointing to the underside of trunk? Perhaps with sunroof slotted open for ventilation? Obviously, I can also keep back door of garage cracked open a bit that would help to reduce the pent up heat rather than having the car soaking in it? Any other suggestions to keep the heat off the battery while recharging?

 

If you have a way to vent your garage that would be the most beneficial - do you have a window in your garage?  The car uses outside air (in your case the garage air) to cool the battery while charging, but in an enclosed small garage there is only so much air available to cool.  People in warmer climes have reported very hot garages when charging, and also hot air in the trunk.  An abundance of caution would be to open the trunk and vent the garage, if possible.  Charging during the coolest time of the day obviously helps as well.

 

[jsamp]

I think I posted this, but must have been in another thread.  I did the test at 60k miles: 5.5kWh from 100% to the switch to hybrid mode*, and 28.5 miles.   Conditions were perfect: 74 degree day, city/country roads of gentle rolling terrain at <45MPH.  

 

* For those unfamiliar, the test is until the car switches to hybrid mode (ie: locks you out of EV mode), not until the gas engine fires up.  The switch to hybrid mode comes less than half a minute after the charge reaches 0%.

Edited April 28, 2019 at 04:50 AM by jsamp

[jj2me]

That's fantastic.  Continue whatever you're doing, and your engine will die before your battery.

 

Thanks for that note about the battery capacity test's end.  I had mistakenly thought it was at the engine firing up. 

[jsamp]

Tested again today at 70k miles:  5.4kWh and 28.7 miles from 100% to 0.

[Timewellspent]

I tested mine today at almost 72k miles:  4.3 kWh and 17.0 miles from Full to switch over to hybrid. I still charge 2.5 times a day using the 115v EVSE.  I charge from 2am to full.  I drive to work using the full charge and charge from 9am until I run out for lunch.  Usually around 3/4 full charge and don't use it all on my trip. Plug back in when I return and charge to 100% for drive home using the full charge.  This is how not to prolong life :)

[jsamp]

8 months later... I'm now at 80k miles and ran the test today, same route as 60 and 70k miles:

 

5.4kWh and 28.7 miles.  Same as last time. 

 

It was a little warmer this time, ~79°F outside, so that may have helped a little.

 

I also continued to drive it 'til the gas engine fired up and got total 5.8kWh

 

 

[muzicman61]

Nice... one hot summer in Phoenix really took a toll on my battery.  I was getting around 5.5 with 45K miles but now I'm down to about 5.1 and hope it doesn't drop again this summer.

 

And something is definitely broke around here as you can't seem to respond to any new messages.

[Davidoo]

I'm in Phoenix and my 2017 took a big hit the last 2 summers.  I'm lucky to get 4.0 out of mine.  Still, in the cooler months without AC I can get 27 or 28 miles from a charge.

[jsamp]

Do you Phoenicians plug in during the hot season?  bdginmo and others in hot climes have resorted to not plugging in during the hot months and instead just driving it as a hybrid.  This seems to be a successful method for saving the battery from massive degradation each summer.

[muzicman61]

I do charge in the hot months but always at 11pm.  Still, in Phoenix it can be over 100 degrees at that time during the hot months.  I don't know if it helps but I always open my trunk when I'm charging.

[Fgolman]

Even though it rarely gets that hot here in Chicago, in the summer I always leave the trunk lid open with a fan going. If the garage is particularly hot I'll also open the garage back door for extra cooling. 

 

[sjgbam]

Have a 2014 for about 4years. Now have 66k miles. Just noticed the overnight charge off 110v has jumped to up to 31 miles, from 20/21. Is this something to be concerned about? Also, noticed that fan in trunk now runs most of the time while car is running but not when car is off. Does run while car is charging as usual.

[jsamp]

I've noticed since Covid reduced my driving to local grocery trips only that my guess-o-meter has been climbing as well.  Now it regularly says well into the mid 30's where it was upper 20's before.  I assumed that's because we're doing a lot more EV driving and only short trips around town.  No commute and very little freeway.

[bdginmo]

I have a 2015 at 87k miles now. I estimate that I've ran 3600 KwH out of the battery. This is equivalent to about 480 discharge cycles. I believe my last test was 5.3 KwH to the switch to hybrid mode. I'm going to roughly estimate that my battery is close to 95% of its original capacity. I avoid charging in the summer or when the temperature is > 90F. My vehicle goes long periods of time with 0% charge. I'm pleased with how well the battery has held up given that my vehicle is over 5 years old and has had plenty electrons run through it. We have cheap electric rates here in St. Louis so I estimate that I've saved $2700 in fuel expenses relative to a standard Fusion. Just thought I'd pass along my report.

Edited January 16, 2021 at 11:59 PM by bdginmo

[bdginmo]

So my last test I got 5.3 KwH out the battery. That was more than 6 months ago. I've seen a very noticeable change in battery capacity during this time. I'm estimating that I've ran 4070 KwH through the battery. My most recent test was 4.8 KwH. Testing conditions may not have been ideal and I did make one extended stop that can sometimes skew my results low, but I really don't think my HVB holds more than 5.0 KwH at the most now. My charge times have dropped to about 1:50 at 240v. I was getting 2:10 charge times. So both KwH and charge time drops suggests my capacity is about 85% of original. I'm not sure why I've seen such a dramatic drop over the last 6 months or so. I will say that I've been charging a lot lately and my car is now 6 years old with 90k miles. 

[jsamp]

Well that's disappointing.  Typically we see a slow decline.  Not sure why it would change so quickly.  I typically do my test every 10k miles, but I've only put 5k on my car since Covid hit, so I'm only at 85k now.  Like yours mine has been near 5.4kWh, and I will be crossing the 6 year mark in July.  I haven't noticed any change in charging or capacity in the last year, but haven't run the test either.

[murphy]

Do you live in the snow belt?  The capacity of the battery is temperature dependent. My range is cut in half when it is below freezing.

The battery is divided into three regions.

EV driving 5.6 kWh

Hybrid driving 1.5 kWh

Battery protection 0.5 kWh

Total battery size 7.6 kWh

 

When the EV driving display goes to zero the battery is actually at 2.0 kWh.

[bdginmo]

The temperature was around 60F, but it was cold the night before. Once it gets into the 70's I'll do the test again hopefully without having an extended stop mixed in. 

[bdginmo]

I did perform another test. Conditions were 80-85F and sunny. I turned off the HVAC and had the moonroof open. I got 4.8 kWh from full to the switch to hybrid mode. I charged just before. It took 1:50 on 240v. So yeah I can confirm that I'm 86% of original capacity. It is slightly disappointing, but I'm certainly not losing sleep over it. I did do a lot of charge/discharge cycles recently and the vehicle is 6 years old now so that probably played a role. I still got 25 miles out of that test. I'll keep monitoring to see if degradation continues. I am still happy with the vehicle. I wouldn't hesitate to by another EV.

[jj2me]

I just re-did my capacity test, 4 years later.  Temps in the mid '70s, windows closed, no accessories running except the fan.

• June 2017, 10.5K miles: 5.5 kWh, 26.3 miles
• June 2021, 27K miles: 5.5 kWh, 27.4 miles

Pretty surprising.  While I don't much reach 55 mph in EV or Auto mode, there were 3 or 4 occasions when I've left it at 100% charged for several days in hot weather (90s to low 100s), which is considered bad for the battery.  

[jsamp]

A few occasions of fully charged and heat likely doesn't do a lot of damage, but regularly doing so can.  Like a lot of things in life, it is the cumulative effect that does the damage.

[jj2me]

On 6/17/2021 at 11:24 PM, jsamp said:

A few occasions of fully charged and heat likely doesn't do a lot of damage, but regularly doing so can.  Like a lot of things in life, it is the cumulative effect that does the damage.

 

Analogous to that, a top Japanese expert tuna buyer once stated that he could tell the grade of the tuna in seconds just by looking at it.  But cut a slice through it and he could tell where and how well it wintered each year.  A few days of bad behavior won't show, but cut a slice through us and for most of us our 20s would show as bad winters.