Thermal battery management only works on 240V and RTD?

[WattsUp]

Delaying the start of 120V charging at work when not absolutely necessary is a good idea. Then the car can use all the 120V power for TMS and not for charging when the TMS is needed.

Agreed. There is little need to second-guess the car. If it needs to manage the battery temperature in favor of charging (at L1 or L2) it will do so.

Just drive it when you want, and plug it in when you need to. By all signs, Ford has done an excellent job with the battery management in this car. I've had my FFE for nearly two years with no noticeable degradation in range so far.

 

[studio460]

Posted on 03/01/2014 on the myfordmobile BEV discussion site:

. . . I got the prototype ScanGauge from Linear Logic and can read the battery temp, state-of-charge (SOC) and 16 other codes. I'm having [another owner] read a Washington state FFE so I can compare . . . Mine showed I lost 10% battery capacity from one summer of Phoenix heat. The battery cooling only works if you are running or plugged in. I park 8-10 hours a day in a work lot with partial shading and the heat got the FFE . . . --JTurner, from the myfordmobile site.

As I mentioned, I've never heard my FFE's TMS turn on when plugged into just 120V power, only when the car is "ready to drive," and/or when plugged into a 240V EVSE. I park on completely unshaded asphalt where I work (where I only have a 120V-access), where ambient air temperatures can reach as high as 117-degrees during the summer.

I also typically get to work around midday or early afternoon, allowing plenty of time for the asphalt to heat up prior to my arrival. The experiences I've had so far seem to show that battery-cooling would in fact be desirable under such conditions, but the TMS simply isn't active when only plugged into 120V power.

I believe this is a design oversight which can and will lead to accelerated battery degradation under such conditions. One remedy would be to provide a soft-switch in a future firmware release to "force" TMS cooling, regardless of remaining SOC or EVSE Level. As a work-around, perhaps the limited run-time from engaging the remote-start (after parking) could dissipate enough heat to avoid most of the battery damage.

 

[hybridbear]

Posted on 03/01/2014 on the myfordmobile BEV discussion site:

. . . I got the prototype ScanGauge from Linear Logic and can read the battery temp, state-of-charge (SOC) and 16 other codes. I'm having [another owner] read a Washington state FFE so I can compare . . . Mine showed I lost 10% battery capacity from one summer of Phoenix heat. The battery cooling only works if you are running or plugged in. I park 8-10 hours a day in a work lot with partial shading and the heat got the FFE . . . --JTurner, from the myfordmobile site.

As I mentioned, I've never heard my FFE's TMS turn on when plugged into just 120V power, only when the car is "ready to drive," and/or when plugged into a 240V EVSE. I park on completely unshaded asphalt where I work (where I only have a 120V-access), where ambient air temperatures can reach as high as 117-degrees during the summer.

I also typically get to work around midday or early afternoon, allowing plenty of time for the asphalt to heat up prior to my arrival. The experiences I've had so far seem to show that battery-cooling would in fact be desirable under such conditions, but the TMS simply isn't active when only plugged into 120V power.

I believe this is a design oversight which can and will lead to accelerated battery degradation under such conditions. One remedy would be to provide a soft-switch in a future firmware release to "force" TMS cooling, regardless of remaining SOC or EVSE Level. As a work-around, perhaps the limited run-time from engaging the remote-start (after parking) could dissipate enough heat to avoid most of the battery damage.

Just be glad you don't have a Leaf, Soul EV, eGolf, etc with no active cooling period.