Fun with public charging (not) --

[OhioTodd]

I purchased a 2023 Mach-e three weeks ago. I have a home charging station that works fine. I have tried 4 different charging locations near my home to practice so when I make a trip out of town, I will have confidence that I can charge when I'm not near my own charger. So far, I have had very limited success with 4 different chargers. Are there any "best practices" or hints and tips to successfully charge at a public station. Here are my experiences:

First time: A Shell network L3 charger that is listed in FordPass and shows as In network. 2 charging stations. It is newly installed at a local gas station with free charging and showed multiple successful uses on PlugShare, I think.
Tried the first pump. Activated it with the App, plugged in no success. I tried with and without plugging in first several times. the app said it activated the pump.
Switched to the second pump. Similar results. One of the attendants in the gas station noticed me and came out to see if he could help. We tried plugging and unpugging. No joy. He called the help number on the charger and they reset it and had some kind of failure. The attendant suggested switching pumps and tried a credit card. It kind of started. I heard a clunk in the big control unit like I might expect to hear if you were flipping a switch on a high current electrical circuit. But, then it got a fault. The attendant called the number on the charger and the reset the charger. I plugged it back in, swiped the credit card and it worked! I put in about 25 KWH. Hurray. But, not exactly reassuring.
Secong, I tried a Chargepoint level 2 charger at a local park that was sponsored by the local electric utility that was in network for the Fordpass appp. I plugged in, selected the charger in Fordpass and activated the pump. The app stayed in the circling arrow for several minutes and never successfully activated the charger.

A couple weeks later, I went to a Meijer store that had Shell network. It seems most of the Meijers in these parts have Shell network chargers. I tried one charge station a couple times, activating from the app. I forget exactly what happened, but the chargers did not activate. I switched chargers and tried again, and I got it to start. Hurray! I'm not sure what was different.

Today, I went back to the gas station with the first place and tried again. No success. I tried through the app and also with a credit card on both chargers. No luck. I called the help number on the chargers. They had me unplug, replug, restarted the charger, several times with no success. The charger reported a fault on the charger itself. The help person reset the charger remotely It had seemed to kind of activate, but didn't start charging. I got an email that I activated the charger. But, I got an error on the console in the car.

So, I am wondering, with so many tries with so little success, maybe I'm the problem. Does anyone have any suggestions as a method that usually works? Or, am I just unlucky, or stupid? I've watched the video for the Blue Oval network on the Ford site and it seems like a no-brainer. But, I'm not having that kind of success.

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[RickMachE]

It's hard to diagnose after the fact, and without specific errors noted and recorded. Shell locations appear to be problematic.

Find an EA location, test there. Plan on using EA for your trips, fastest chargers, and that's where your free 250kWh are.

Sorry for the O_io, that could be the reason... ?

 

[bshaw]

Recommend to not use the term "pump" when referring to a charging station. Nothing is being pumped when charge is added to your battery.

+1 to finding an Electrify America (EA) location, preferably with other EVs present. If theirs are working, then you know its something your vehicle.

 

[GreaseMonkey]

EA is the mainstream option on road trips. I also find EVGo great in large cities especially the ones pricing by the min. They are way cheaper than EA (after you spend your free kWhs, of course) and offer a seamless plug and charge feature through their app.

 

[OhioTodd]

I don't think there are many EA locations around these parts (Ohio). It seems most are Charge Point, and Meijer seems to have mostly Shell Recharge and a few ChargePoints. There are Meijers all over in these parts and most seem to have DC chargers. There is one EA location on the west side of town, about 20 miles from me. There's one in the Dayton area, one on the southeast side of Toledo. 2 in Cincinnati area. Not
Sorry about the "pump" reference. I changed several to recharge stations, but apparently I missed one or two. Old habits die hard.

 

[alexgorod]

Is it possible to charge using a credit card payment, similar to gas stations? I'm planning a trip to an area that has a few Blink chargers - do I really need to load their app?

 

[HuntingPudel]

Re: “Pump” there are people who refer to the charge connector on the end of the cable as a “nozzle” so I wouldn’t worry too much about it. We know what you mean, but it would be best to not perpetuate it. ?‍?

I second EA and EVgo as the ones to try. Pretty much every other brand of DC charge station has one or more compatibility issues with either our cars or another car. ?‍?

 

[mkhuffman]

Recommend to not use the term "pump" when referring to a charging station. Nothing is being pumped when charge is added to your battery.

+1 to finding an Electrify America (EA) location, preferably with other EVs present. If theirs are working, then you know its something your vehicle.

I have called the dispensers "pumps" many times. I don't see the issue with that. It's pumping electricity into your car. It gives you a visual even though I agree there isn't liquid flowing.

But back to the OP. You have discovered what most of us have already learned: public charging sucks. At least until we can use the Tesla network.

 

[Bikespace]

Go try EA with your plug-n-charge credit. I travel a lot, and use EA, EVGo, and free Tesla destination chargers exclusively.

You haven't had it fail yet, but here's my procedure for EA:

Get the app, create an account.
Go to the EA charge location, park your car in a open spot that doesn't have a bricked pump (or "charger")
Open the app, find the site on the map, scroll down to find the pump (numbered), initiate charge from the app.
ONLY THEN plug the nozzle into the fuel receptacle in your car.

 

[deadduck]

Took a drive today. Stopped at EA on the way home as I still have some of the free charging left. Nope, wouldn't charge and the other slots were full. Looks like I could have paid for it, just wouldn't recognize what's left of the 250. I've used this location before.

There was another EA closer to home so I drove to it. It was a single charger, in a very busy parking lot, and occupied.

So, I headed on home and plugged in there.

 

[axelheimer24]

I usually just go into the gas station and say “$50 on pump #2”

 

[Susanne76]

I mostly charge at home but last weekend I did some extra driving and decided to stop by an EA location I have used a few times. It was full and when a station finally became available it was stuck on the previous user’s account. The screen was frozen on “Unplug your vehicle” and warnings about idle charges. I tried all the buttons on the screen and it wouldn’t re-set.

So I left and went to a nearby Chargepoint station I have also used before. That one gave me the orange flashing circle of lights on my charging port and a “Charging Station Fault.” Ended up going home where my car charged normally.

Just sharing my story. This has got to get better with more and more EVs on the road!

 

[mkhuffman]

I mostly charge at home but last weekend I did some extra driving and decided to stop by an EA location I have used a few times. It was full and when a station finally became available it was stuck on the previous user’s account. The screen was frozen on “Unplug your vehicle” and warnings about idle charges. I tried all the buttons on the screen and it wouldn’t re-set.

So I left and went to a nearby Chargepoint station I have also used before. That one gave me the orange flashing circle of lights on my charging port and a “Charging Station Fault.” Ended up going home where my car charged normally.

Just sharing my story. This has got to get better with more and more EVs on the road!

Yet another example. Public charging sucks.

 

[Jiji]

EA at Walmart in Mansfield

https://www.plugshare.com/location/169426

While you can use the EA app I would use FordPass to select the location and charger number and then the charger should display ‘plug in now’. This confirms you have FordPass setup for charging and billing.

Wise of you to try this out and get any kinks worked out. But once you get setup and get comfortable you can be confident on a road trip.

 

[mkhuffman]

EA at Walmart in Mansfield

https://www.plugshare.com/location/169426

While you can use the EA app I would use FordPass to select the location and charger number and then the charger should display ‘plug in now’. This confirms you have FordPass setup for charging and billing.

Wise of you try this out and get any kinks worked out. But once you get setup and get comfortable you can be confident on a road trip.

When I tried multiple times to get a charger to work, and then called EA, this is what they told me. And it worked - finally. So your advice is good.

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