After Update, Ford Mustang Mach-E Charges Faster Beyond 80% SOC!

The eagerly anticipated update of the Ford Mustang Mach-E‘s fast charging capabilities at high levels of state-of-charge (SOC) – particularly beyond 80% SOC – is here, as promised by Darren Palmer, Ford General Manager Electric Vehicles, during an InsideEVs Podcast in September.

We don’t have our own data yet, but the reports from users – shared on the Ford Mustang Mach-E Forum, indicate that the issue called the “charging cliff” is solved.

Let’s recall that the charging power previously decreased to about 11-12 kW after reaching 80% SOC (see our analysis from March and April). Ford Mustang Mach-E’s example fast charging session:

According to Ford Mustang Mach-E Forum user Cherlin – who has received at a dealership the 21P22 Software Calibration Update – after crossing the 80% SOC, the car maintains a more reasonable charging level of 40-50 kW up to 90% SOC.

He shared images showing: 43 kW at 81% SOC and 42 kW at 83% SOC at an Electrify America station.

“Not sure exactly what the updates were but seemingly tucked inside was an increase to my charging speed over 80%. Yesterday I fast charged going to visit family and we were still pulling between 40-50 kw/hr up to 90%. I was completely surprised and extatic.”

Later, he added that the higher output is available all the way into 90%:

“It seems to go above 90% as well, I didn’t snag a photo. It today I was charging and it stayed at 40kw all the way and into 90% where I finally unplugged”

Another report comes from Ford Mustang Mach-E Forum user kltye, who initially noticed 28-30 kW at 80% SOC in a car with cold battery and then about 40 kW once the temperature went up.

In an outstanding video, he presents the results of early tests (multiple sessions) and we can see 45 kW at 85% SOC.

New Mach-E Charging curve past 80% (source: Kuo-Lun Tye)

He explains that there are no signs of higher peak charging level and that it’s still available only for a short time, in the beginning of a charging session, kind of regardless of the starting SOC or temperature.

“I restarted the charging session a couple times once the battery warmed up to see if it would hold the peak charging speeds longer, but it didn’t.”

“In late November 2021, Ford published an update for their DC fast charging strategy. At launch, the Mach-E had a charging cliff at 80%; it would charge at 11-12kW once it hit that state of charge until the end. Now, though, it looks like things have improved somewhat. Sadly, there doesn’t look to be any improvement in peak charging speeds or how long it holds those peak speeds for.” – Kuo-Lun Tye/YouTube

It’s great news that there is a new software update for the Ford Mustang Mach-E that improves fast charging as the charging cliff at 80% SOC was kind of artificial, and unfounded we think.

The power output north of 40 kW between 80-90% SOC is much better and we are now waiting to see more data.

It would be pretty good if Ford would also improve the availability of the peak charging power.

Another area to improve is to add a pre-conditioning feature for the battery, so users could warm-up the battery ahead of fast charging session for maximum performance (we guess, it would help a bit too, especially in winter).

On the downside, as we understand, the update is available only through dealers.