Ford's Plug & Charge ... now what ???

[Deleted member 3569]

The Plug & Charge feature on Mach-e, based on protocol J5118 works flawlessly on any of the EA dcFast chargers I have connected in NJ, NY, PA, DE, MD & VA ... of course I was using the 250 kwH initial freebie. I see that Shell's Greenlots is also part of the Ford network but I have to yet find one that is suitably located along the routes of my road trips. My question is what happens once the initial freebie of 250 kWH is depleted? Does anyone have experience on what happens after the depletion of 250 kwH? Will the EA membership account be recognized? ...Does anyone have charged on any of the Shell's Greenlots?
I have a total of five account memberships: EA, evGo, greenLots & chargePoint .... in addition to PlugShare & ABRP apps!!! This is absolutely INSANE !!! Ford must seriously consider integrating all these accounts and apps into their nav system & Plug & Charge feature.
PS: The only viable charger on any long trip is the Electrify Americas dcFast chargers either the 150 kW or the preferred 350 kW chargers in my opinion. I wish Tesla's Supercharger network be opened to us here in the US, as well which is what will be happening in Norway (so that Tesla can enjoy the enormous government tax incentives been promoted there) based on what I have read, in EU Tesla adheres to SAE J1772 plug standards.

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[generaltso]

Once your free charging from Ford is depleted, you'll be charged the full non-member rate for using an EA station with plug and charge. You're better off just using the EA app to get the member rate.

 

[OlyPen]

After the intial free kwh, you get charged the guest amount at EA chargers... NOT the lower members amount. To get that, you need to use the EA app to initiate the charger instead of plug and charge. Not sure if that will ever get fixed, but hopefully Ford is working on that. It, yeah, plug and charge is useless of you always have to pay 25%+ or more because of it.

 

[Deleted member 3569]

After the intial free kwh, you get charged the guest amount at EA chargers... NOT the lower members amount. To get that, you need to use the EA app to initiate the charger instead of plug and charge. Not sure if that will ever get fixed, but hopefully Ford is working on that. It, yeah, plug and charge is useless of you always have to pay 25%+ or more because of it.

Ahhhh ... Ford at its best again! ...just like the ePAS part 573 recall fiasco (electronic power assist system).

 

[Deleted member 3569]

After the intial free kwh, you get charged the guest amount at EA chargers... NOT the lower members amount. To get that, you need to use the EA app to initiate the charger instead of plug and charge. Not sure if that will ever get fixed, but hopefully Ford is working on that. It, yeah, plug and charge is useless of you always have to pay 25%+ or more because of it.

.... this really sucks!

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

We have only Greenlots DCFC in Hawaii. There are no superchargers or EA out here. Greenlots works fine. What I’ve discovered is that despite the the claim they are plug and charge capable, they aren’t actually. You’ll need to activate the pump through an app.

Once your “free” kWh is used up, you will be charged full retail price when using FordPass at any of the participating networks. At least got now. If you want the lower club rates, you’ll need the use the individual network apps. Hopefully that will change soon.

 

[Deleted member 3569]

We have only Greenlots DCFC in Hawaii. There are no superchargers or EA out here. Greenlots works fine. What I’ve discovered is that despite the the claim they are plug and charge capable, they aren’t actually. You’ll need to activate the pump through an app.

Once your “free” kWh is used up, you will be charged full retail price when using FordPass at any of the participating networks. At least got now. If you want the lower club rates, you’ll need the use the individual network apps. Hopefully that will change soon.

Thank you for enlightening me on Greenlots ... I have yet to seen one in the greater NJ/NY/PA area and certainly not here in central FL either. Initially I thought they were Canadians ....

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

Thank you for enlightening me on Greenlots ... I have yet to seen one in the greater NJ/NY/PA area and certainly not here in central FL either. Initially I thought they were Canadians ....

Well technically, Dutch. They are owned by Royal Dutch Shell.

 

[OlyPen]

.... this really sucks!

I think it's a technical limitation from the charging networks, not a function of Ford Pass at this point. Each network has a propietary member price activation protocol through their own proprietary app and they *need* to develop an open API standard to share member data between them. And still comply with California's data privacy rules for software. It's probably way more complicated than it needs to be and something of a software developers' nightmare.

 

[Deleted member 3569]

I think it's a technical limitation from the charging networks, not a function of Ford Pass at this point. Each network has a propietary member price activation protocol through their own proprietary app and they *need* to develop an open API standard to share member data between them. And still comply with California's data privacy rules for software. It's probably way more complicated than it needs to be and something of a software developers' nightmare.

.... very interesting! At some of the newer looking EA dcFast charger stations I see the inscription of VW Corporation as the owners of the EA dcFast charer, but the VW's own ID.4 does not incorporate this feature.... nor does the Porsche Taycan. or Audi's eTron

 

[OlyPen]

.... very interesting! At some of the newer looking EA dcFast charger stations I see the inscription of VW Corporation as the owners but the VW's own ID.4 does not incorporate this feature.... nor the Porsche Taycan.

EA is owned by VW. It was created out of the settlement with VW from the Dieselgate scandal. Instead of fining the company and giving the money to the government, VW agreed to spend $6 billion building out a nationwide public EV charging network. But, they aren't permitted by law to favor VW vehicles. Although they do include 2 years of free EA charging with the id4 (using the plug and charge "handshake protocol" that is now standard in the US in new vehicles).

 

[generaltso]

.... very interesting! At some of the newer looking EA dcFast charger stations I see the inscription of VW Corporation as the owners of the EA dcFast charer, but the VW's own ID.4 does not incorporate this feature.... nor does the Porsche Taycan. or Audi's eTron

The 2021 Taycan does support plug and charge and VW has said that it will come to the ID.4 through an OTA update.

 

[Mirak]

Once your free charging from Ford is depleted, you'll be charged the full non-member rate for using an EA station with plug and charge. You're better off just using the EA app to get the member rate.

I suspect that Ford might be working on this issue with EA so that in the future you’ll be able to access membership rates through FordPass. Not a huge deal but it would be one more small step in providing a more integrated charging experience.

 

[generaltso]

I suspect that Ford might be working on this issue with EA so that in the future you’ll be able to access membership rates through FordPass. Not a huge deal but it would be one more small step in providing a more integrated charging experience.

I certainly hope so. If not, they're going to have a really hard time convincing anyone to pay a membership fee for the FordPass Charging Network when our free trial ends.

 

[OlyPen]

Interestingly (or not), I noticed a change in the "handshake" today at an EA station to plug and charge. After the handshake, the screen showed a verification of the vehicle plugged in and current state of charge then indicated the pricing (in this case 0.00 because of the included FordPass kwh balance remaining), then waited until after I hit "continue" before initiating the charge, which was a new step that wasn't there before. On that verification screen, it gave options for "member price" that were greyed out because of the remaining free time.

Other folks pulled up with a brand new Chevy Bolt and they were EA members (no plug and charge--there was definitely jealousy happening). They also said the initiating process was different for them vs what they normally experience and they're EA members as well. Added step to verify EA membership and it recognized their credit card on file instead of using the mobile app in their phone to initiate to give them member rates.

So.... MAYBE.... Member pricing through plug and charge is being tested by Ford and EA at certain stations with EA introducing new ways to verify membership pricing applicability outside of the EA mobile app?

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