Instrument Cluster display of EV milage factors

[MarcoTom]

I would appreciate any thoughts as to what constitutes "other" factors listed in the third bar of the "Next Full Charge" screen displayed at key-off.  I live in southern Florida where temperatures range from 70's in winter to low 90's in summer.  My routes vary with 90% suburban streets with speed <50mph and the rest is highway driving (in hybrid mode).  What perplexes me is that despite widely varying temps, route, driving style, climate control usage, etc., etc.,  the "Outside temp./other" metric is always a significant negative influence on my estimated range;  it never changes much.  It's a big fat amber bar stretching far to the left, all of the time.  And this happens even in the winter months with outside temps nearly ideal in the 70s.  Maybe this factor could be improved if only I knew what "other" entailed.  The owners manual is less than helpful in this regard.

 

I have a 2017 FFE with ~45,000 miles and get 22-23 miles on a full charge at present.  Charge exclusively on 110v.  OEM tires.

Edited April 29 by MarcoTom

[muzicman61]

Wow, I'm here in Phoenix and it's really hot, yet I never see that bar go that far left.  I'd be curious to know what "Other" refers to as well.

[QuandAns42]

On 6/29/2020 at 4:02 PM, MarcoTom said:

I would appreciate any thoughts as to what constitutes "other" factors listed in the third bar of the "Next Full Charge" screen displayed at key-off.  I live in southern Florida where temperatures range from 70's in winter to low 90's in summer.  My routes vary with 90% suburban streets with speed <50mph and the rest is highway driving (in hybrid mode).  What perplexes me is that despite widely varying temps, route, driving style, climate control usage, etc., etc.,  the "Outside temp./other" metric is always a significant negative influence on my estimated range;  it never changes much.  It's a big fat amber bar stretching far to the left, all of the time.  And this happens even in the winter months with outside temps nearly ideal in the 70s.  Maybe this factor could be improved if only I knew what "other" entailed.  The owners manual is less than helpful in this regard.

 

Edited April 29 by MarcoTom

Honestly?  Could be a fluke with your cluster.  Maybe check with these folks and see if they've heard of it - they're a pretty good resource in my experience.  https://www.instrumentclusterstore.com/Ford_instrument_clusters.htm

[murphy]

Does your outside temperature display the temperature correctly?  If anything happens to the connection to the sensor it will revert to 50° F.

 

[Cfioretti]

I have the same issue.  2017 FFE with 55k miles on it.  I am only getting 15-16 miles per charge however, even though I still put in 5.2kw into the car when it charges.  I used to get 25 miles per charge as early as last year, but now I don't even get close to that despite similar driving habits and temps that are mild (here in Dallas).  I also thought the other metric might be causing the poor range, but I also don't know what that means.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.  

[theterminator93]

How are you getting the 5.2 kWh figure? Are you measuring wall draw with a Kill-A-Watt (or similar), adding up the kWh used on the cluster display or MFM for your trips, or are you looking at PIDs from the PCM with a scan tool?

 

One thing to keep in mind when measuring the electrical energy going into the car from the wall is that the amount going into the battery will be about 30% less than what comes from the wall. This is mostly due to efficiency losses in the AC-DC conversion (charging from 120 will have a ~10% lower efficiency than charging from 240), but no battery pack is 100% efficient at charging/discharging either (that's where all that heat comes from). So if you are putting in 5.2 kWh as measured from your home's outlet, the battery is likely seeing about 3.6 kWh. With a "neutral" battery temperature in the 60-70 degree range, full capacity for EV now mode would have been 5.6 kWh, so if this is your scenario getting 15 miles out of a battery that holds ~65% what it did when new is not bad at all. Though that sets us up for a whole set of other questions on battery degradation!

 

If 5.2 kWh is your battery capacity and not the wall draw, then yes - there's some room for improvement. What are your driving scores like, does the software think there's a lot of room for improvement based on driving style?

 

I too am also curious to know what is included with the "other" metric. I can think of things like accessory draw (heated seats, radio, vehicle electronics etc.) and headlights but I thought those ran off the 12V battery (which recharges periodically when plugged in overnight) and not the HVB - meaning it shouldn't be factored into EV range metrics.

 

Right now, here in the Cleveland suburbs of NE Ohio, the "other" bar on my trips is usually about 1/3-1/2 to the left of center. Temps right now are fluctuating from the 20s into the 30s and with no heater/defroster use the climate bar is a tad to the right even. It doesn't seem to move much, despite varied use of electronics in the car. This would seem to support the hypothesis that accessory/cabin use of electronics isn't a factor by running off the 12V battery.

 

[murphy]

When the car is on the 12 volts is supplied by the DC to DC converter. It is not coming from the 12 volt battery since it is impossible to charge and discharge a battery at the same time.

[MarcoTom]

Good idea about the possibility of erroneous outside temperature readings causing the "Outside Temp/Other" gauge to display inaccurately.  Fact is, however, that my exterior temp readings are accurate so there must be another cause. The search for an answer goes on.

[theterminator93]

I was paying closer attention to the "Other" meter in the last few times I drove the car and it is indeed apparently all the way to the left with temps in the mid-low 30s. Despite that, I still have no problem getting 20-22 miles/charge without using the climate or heated seats. Tire pressure is good. All accessories are off.

 

I was thinking it might include things like the temperature of the eCVT, since the cold weather observations thread made it pretty clear that cold, thick transmission fluid contributes considerably to the increased energy required to move the car in the cold. But that doesn't account for a full negative reading when temps are as mild as they would be in Texas.

 

Murphy - if I may ask, where does your extensive knowledge of this platform stem from? Do you have a copy of the FSM and/or an Alldata subscription?

[murphy]

16 minutes ago, theterminator93 said:

Murphy - if I may ask, where does your extensive knowledge of this platform stem from? Do you have a copy of the FSM and/or an Alldata subscription?

I'm an Electrical Engineer (retired) and I bought the Wiring Diagram manual for the car.

 

[theterminator93]

Ahhh, those are great resources - I can imagine how in-depth it would be on a modern car like these (I'm used to my late-90s Thunderbird and Mark VIII's FSM and EVTMs). I'll plan to get a copy of each for the Energi as I'm sure they will be invaluable as I do my best to understand the platform better.

[theterminator93]

I was thinking about this today, now that we're into the "Goldilocks zone" of temperatures for EV range. Since I've been keeping an eye on EV mode battery capacity and know that my battery has degraded about 12-15% from new, I wonder if the car also "knows" this is a factor detracting from range, and incorporates it into the "other" factor on the cluster after shutdown.

 

Anyone else observed something similar? Or am I barking up the wrong tree?