Is the EA $4mo membership worth it? My experience

[TRP]

I wasn't sure if this would be a good deal for us long term. Figured maybe use if for a month and shut it off until needed again some months later.

Recent trip to MD from TN and back. Paid the $4. You also have to decide how to reload the account when it falls below a certain point. I chose $40.
First DCFC stop cost $19 and saved $7, 31cents/kw vs 43cents.
Next stop saved $6. Already saved enough to pay half a year, almost.

On the way home stopped in Staunton VA at a Walmart with EA chargers. Plugged into a 350kwh machine, swapped phone and started charging. Pretty much as fast as plug and charge. Hit 80% in 25 min. Stopped the session and it showed no charge/fee. Free session? Seems to be so. Why? ?‍

We have 2 more stops to get home and will see what they charge us, if any and report back.

Anyway, back to my original point. If you are wondering if paying for an EA membership is worth it, consider that with 2-4 sessions you have saved half of the yearly cost of $48.
I'll likely just keep the account open since I forsee a few more trips to Baltimore in the cards for us this year.

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[woody]

I wasn't sure if this would be a good deal for us long term. Figured maybe use if for a month and shut it off until needed again some months later.

Recent trip to MD from TN and back. Paid the $4. You also have to decide how to reload the account when it falls below a certain point. I chose $40.
First DCFC stop cost $19 and saved $7, 31cents/kw vs 43cents.
Next stop saved $6. Already saved enough to pay half a year, almost.

On the way home stopped in Staunton VA at a Walmart with EA chargers. Plugged into a 350kwh machine, swapped phone and started charging. Pretty much as fast as plug and charge. Hit 80% in 25 min. Stopped the session and it showed no charge/fee. Free session? Seems to be so. Why? ?‍

We have 2 more stops to get home and will see what they charge us, if any and report back.

Anyway, back to my original point. If you are wondering if paying for an EA membership is worth it, consider that with 2-4 sessions you have saved half of the yearly cost of $48.
I'll likely just keep the account open since I forsee a few more trips to Baltimore in the cards for us this year.

Did you use your 250kWh (or 500kWh as the case may be) of free charging at EA already?

 

[TRP]

Yes, I used up the Free 250Kwh Ford gave out.

This car has become much more of the road warrior that I ever expected it to be

 

[Machine-E]

Hi OP,
I’ve purchased MME couple of weeks back and haven’t used my free 250kwh. I went to a nearby EA charging station to charge my car and was charged for the session although I didn’t use up my free 250kwh. Wondering if I’m missing anything?
I did register for the blue pass and also have an EA account.

Thanks.

 

[TRP]

Hi OP,
I’ve purchased MME couple of weeks back and haven’t used my free 250kwh. I went to a nearby EA charging station to charge my car and was charged for the session although I didn’t use up my free 250kwh. Wondering if I’m missing anything?
I did register for the blue pass and also have an EA account.

Thanks.

Make sure the Ford Plug and Charge is active on your phone. With P&C you should just have to plug in and the car will do the rest.

With the EA account you have to hold your phone near the machine to authorize payment. Without an EA account you can swipe a credit card to activate the session and charge, you will pay at the higher rate tho.

 

[timbop]

Hi OP,
I’ve purchased MME couple of weeks back and haven’t used my free 250kwh. I went to a nearby EA charging station to charge my car and was charged for the session although I didn’t use up my free 250kwh. Wondering if I’m missing anything?
I did register for the blue pass and also have an EA account.

Thanks.

If you used your EA account, then that is why. If you used the Fordpass app to start the session or plug-n-charge, then that is a mistake on Ford's part. That actually happened to me about a month ago, and they refunded the fee.

 

[Brutakus]

I really hope Ford integrates Plug and Charge with EA memberships otherwise Plug and Charge becomes sort of useless for EA besides using your free Kwh.
Maybe even an option to prepay for Kwh for Plug and Charge at a discounted rate would be a good option as well.

 

[Machine-E]

If you used your EA account, then that is why. If you used the Fordpass app to start the session or plug-n-charge, then that is a mistake on Ford's part. That actually happened to me about a month ago, and they refunded the fee.

Thanks. I did open my Ford pass app when I first plugged in. But I couldn’t find any option to start charging. After few minutes EA screen asked me to unplug. Happened thrice and I gave up and used EA account. I just downloaded plug and share app. Not sure how the integration works with Ford pass.
Do I need to create and account in plug and share providing my vehicle details and I then get my free charging up to 250kwh?
sorry I’m totally new to the “Ford” EV part. I had a Tesla earlier and it was simply go and plug at the supercharger.

 

[Machine-E]

I really hope Ford integrates Plug and Charge with EA memberships otherwise Plug and Charge becomes sort of useless for EA besides using your free Kwh.
Maybe even an option to prepay for Kwh for Plug and Charge at a discounted rate would be a good option as well.

So I’m guessing we need to create a plug and charge account, go to EA and start the chargin from the plug and charge app to get the free kWh ?

 

[Machine-E]

I wasn't sure if this would be a good deal for us long term. Figured maybe use if for a month and shut it off until needed again some months later.

Recent trip to MD from TN and back. Paid the $4. You also have to decide how to reload the account when it falls below a certain point. I chose $40.
First DCFC stop cost $19 and saved $7, 31cents/kw vs 43cents.
Next stop saved $6. Already saved enough to pay half a year, almost.

On the way home stopped in Staunton VA at a Walmart with EA chargers. Plugged into a 350kwh machine, swapped phone and started charging. Pretty much as fast as plug and charge. Hit 80% in 25 min. Stopped the session and it showed no charge/fee. Free session? Seems to be so. Why? ?‍

We have 2 more stops to get home and will see what they charge us, if any and report back.

Anyway, back to my original point. If you are wondering if paying for an EA membership is worth it, consider that with 2-4 sessions you have saved half of the yearly cost of $48.
I'll likely just keep the account open since I forsee a few more trips to Baltimore in the cards for us this year.

Oh yeah. I charged twice at EA without the $4 monthly pass trying to figure out the free KWH and figured out the monthly pass is well worth it ?

 

[Brutakus]

So I’m guessing we need to create a plug and charge account, go to EA and start the chargin from the plug and charge app to get the free kWh ?

To use the free kWh you have to ONLY use Plug and Charge. No need for an EA account to use the free kWh but obviously you might want one in general.
My issue is after the free kWh are depleted, if you continue to use Plug and Charge, you pay the non-member price at EA stations even if you have a membership. To get the membership prices you HAVE to disable Plug and Charge because it automatically uses that when activated.

 

[Kabish]

To get the membership prices you HAVE to disable Plug and Charge because it automatically uses that when activated.

This... I don't think enough people realize that either and are paying the $4 not realizing that they are paying money for nothing. Ford / EA REALLY should of had this figured out from the get go IMO. I believe EA joined the party late (I could be wrong) so maybe that is why that disconnect is there, but its still not really an excuse.

 

[RickMachE]

So I’m guessing we need to create a plug and charge account, go to EA and start the chargin from the plug and charge app to get the free kWh ?

No. Plug and Charge means you do just that. No app.

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/how-to-enable-plug-charge-in-7-steps.3094/

 

[Machine-E]

No. Plug and Charge means you do just that. No app.

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/how-to-enable-plug-charge-in-7-steps.3094/

Gotcha. Thanks a TON man for the clarification and link ??

 

[timbop]

To use the free kWh you have to ONLY use Plug and Charge.....
To get the membership prices you HAVE to disable Plug and Charge because it automatically uses that when activated.

This is somewhat incorrect. You can use your free charging without P&C as long as you initiate the charge with the Fordpass app and not EA's. You absolutely can ALSO use the EA rate with P&C enabled as long as you initiate the charge on the EA APP before plugging in - although leaving P&C enabled in that case is a waste of time.

I'll defer to @dbsb3233 for corroboration, as I know he has done a lot of P&C and EA membership charging

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