mtb9153 Posted June 14, 2013 Report Share Posted June 14, 2013 Last weekend I was driving over to the coast on highway 17 to Santa Cruz. In the valley we were having a warm day pushing the 90 degree mark. So as always this leads to an exodus of motorists heading for the beach to cool off. As I got to the summit and could look down at the coastline, it was shrouded in coastal clouds. Never saw the sun all afternoon. Now the reason for my writing this. As I got caught up in the typical beach traffic pattern while climbing up towards the summit at 1800' above sea level my batteries were taking a beating since I was using the A/C with the blower speed at 4 bars. Was trying to see if the steep climb had any effect on the ICE temps with A/C? ICE was on allot of the time during the ascent. But on the other side the traffic continued to be bad and required me to ride the brakes allot off and on. I looked down at the battery level which had been pretty low on the climb up, but now it was nearing a full charge. Eventually it was reading completely full. I wondered if it was possible to hurt the batteries from over charge? I'm sure Ford thought of this and designed a safeguard. Any thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jus-A-CMax Posted June 14, 2013 Report Share Posted June 14, 2013 Last weekend I was driving over to the coast on highway 17 to Santa Cruz. In the valley we were having a warm day pushing the 90 degree mark. So as always this leads to an exodus of motorists heading for the beach to cool off. As I got to the summit and could look down at the coastline, it was shrouded in coastal clouds. Never saw the sun all afternoon. Now the reason for my writing this. As I got caught up in the typical beach traffic pattern while climbing up towards the summit at 1800' above sea level my batteries were taking a beating since I was using the A/C with the blower speed at 4 bars. Was trying to see if the steep climb had any effect on the ICE temps with A/C? ICE was on allot of the time during the ascent. But on the other side the traffic continued to be bad and required me to ride the brakes allot off and on. I looked down at the battery level which had been pretty low on the climb up, but now it was nearing a full charge. Eventually it was reading completely full. I wondered if it was possible to hurt the batteries from over charge? I'm sure Ford thought of this and designed a safeguard. Any thoughts? Nope, I have maxed my battery charge levels many. many times especially coming down Sherwin grade south before Bishop and also Box Canyon and Kanan Rd towards PCH. What happens is that the Cmax wil just stop charging the battery when it is capacity. No more regen...boo hoo hoo and your brakes will feel different. Not sure why but it does. The CMax is fine and no issues at all. High SOC is preferred on freeway/highways but for surface street, I am leaning on 2/3 max at best so I can utilize ICE only and save the batts for the added "sustained" glide phase - hell, how do u figure I get 76% EV ;) hybridbear 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fotomoto Posted June 14, 2013 Report Share Posted June 14, 2013 I can max out the battery on level ground with big doses of heavy regen from high speeds. Yes, rest assured the engineers have accounted for this. Use the Engage screen to watch how they do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noah Harbinger Posted June 14, 2013 Report Share Posted June 14, 2013 Also, the battery level displayed to you is not the complete limit of possible charge - it is the limit of the charge that your car will allow the batteries to be given. I don't know if there is anything analogous with Lithium Ion batteries, but with Nickel-Metal Hydride batteries there is an optimal charge range, between 25% and 75% of the battery's capacity. If you never leave that range, the batteries would last practically indefinitely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSmith1915 Posted August 23, 2013 Report Share Posted August 23, 2013 Your C-Max has a pretty sophisticated Battery Management System to control the charging and discharging. Lithium Ion batteries can not tolerate an overcharge or a charge depletion without overheating or suffering some sort of internal failure due to a low charge. The Battery Management System manages all this without user input. Just drive and enjoy and let the computer manage all that under the hood stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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