Ford Confirms: Owners Won't Need Tesla App to Supercharge

[kltye]

Ford's BOCN will not allow MME owners to link their EA membership to Plug & Charge on our cars. The result is that owners must choose to either pay extra for using BOCN's P&C feature or disable the feature in order to pay less $$ via direct activation with EA.

I think this is mostly due to Ford's inability to figure out how to give discounted rates to P&C users (i.e., incompetence), rather than anything malicious like wanting to make BOCN a profit center. A few members were able to get the discounted rate back when the $50/year rate was first introduced (I was/am one of the lucky few).

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[DustyShades]

Will Ford make owners pay more to use BOCN than going directly with Tesla? It's not unreasonable to think that Ford will give owners the same treatment using Tesla as it does with Electrify America.

Ford's BOCN will not allow MME owners to link their EA membership to Plug & Charge on our cars. The result is that owners must choose to either pay extra for using BOCN's P&C feature or disable the feature in order to pay less $$ via direct activation with EA.

You can leave plug and charge disabled and still use your EA membership, fyi. Just activate the EA charger first and then plug in second. This is actually my go to routine for charging the Mach e because it’s faster. Also always have my plug and charge turned on

 

[RickMachE]

I agree - If you want a dozen apps on your phone to deal with as well as a dozen unique accounts, sure, by all means.

I find charge assist app the simplest solution there is. Pull up to a charger, plug in, if plug and charge doesn't work, enter / select the charger number in charge assist and hit GO. If you've used charge assist you wouldn't be advocating for a dozen phone apps with a dozen accounts. After all, the best app is no app.

Charge Assist has some major issues. Besides always displaying the wrong charging speed and price, many times it shows a charger unavailable. I plug in, and Plug and Charge works fine.

My question would be: does it work with a Tesla app?

We are likely to install a Tesla level 2 shared charger (the only universal level 2 charger on the market) and the only way to activate is through the Tesla app. I’d like to pay for one app if possible.

Pay for one app?

 

[music_cities]

I agree - If you want a dozen apps on your phone to deal with as well as a dozen unique accounts, sure, by all means.

I find charge assist app the simplest solution there is. Pull up to a charger, plug in, if plug and charge doesn't work, enter / select the charger number in charge assist and hit GO. If you've used charge assist you wouldn't be advocating for a dozen phone apps with a dozen accounts. After all, the best app is no app.

how can I get “charge assist” if it’s not coming over OTA?

 

[silverelan]

Continuing your example: you have the choice of using the EA APP with your EA account that has the 25% member discount, or use BOCN/P&C with the regular rate. OK, that's a little inconvenient to get the 25%, but it works. That doesn't necessarily mean anything because the deal in question is between Tesla and Ford, and none of us have any idea what the fine print on that contract is.

Since we have no idea of the details, maybe we should wait until we find those out before we start lighting torches and sharpening pitchforks?

No pitchforks or negativity here, just merely doing a thought exercise based on what we know Ford has already done with BOCN + Electrify America, then extending that same logic to Tesla.

It's not a big stretch to think, like EA, Supercharging through BOCN will be more expensive than having Tesla's membership pricing, nor is it difficult to imagine that a Tesla membership will also not be applicable within a BOCN account.

 

[Hammered]

how can I get “charge assist” if it’s not coming over OTA?

Not sure if it's in canada or not. It's an app already in the head unit. Look for it with the other apps.

 

[ChasingCoral]

I would prefer they launch the adapters now to anyone willing to use the Tesla app.
...

Agreed

 

[ChasingCoral]

Will Ford make owners pay more to use BOCN than going directly with Tesla? It's not unreasonable to think that Ford will give owners the same treatment using Tesla as it does with Electrify America.

Charge more? No.
Charge full retail without discount programs? Yes

At this point, if you want discounts you will have to sign up and use the charge providers’ apps.

 

[RickMachE]

how can I get “charge assist” if it’s not coming over OTA?

Besides rebooting Sync, nothing else to try.

Volume down and right seek buttons.

 

[A-A-Ron]

This is really easy to implement.

It took them 2 years to deliver a frunk button and all the hardware was in place...

 

[ChehRob]

Like most of us, I will not be doing all that much charging at Level 3s. While I expect reasonable pricing, what I really want is convenience and reliability. No hassle.

 

[AZBill]

Not sure if it's in canada or not. It's an app already in the head unit. Look for it with the other apps.

My car still does not have it and I am up to 6.7. Which OTA installed the charge assist app?

 

[RickMachE]

My car still does not have it and I am up to 6.7. Which OTA installed the charge assist app?

No OTA. It has nothing to do with a module update. The app appears on the home page, it's server-based. Have you rebooted Sync at any point?

 

[timbop]

It took them 2 years to deliver a frunk button and all the hardware was in place...

That's true - for OTA delivery of the update. After they got regulatory approval for the electronic frunk release they began enabling the button in cars rolling off the line, and not long afterward they made the updates available for dealers to install. I know because I had them enable the remote release when I got the glass recall done. Now, was that long OTA delay because they are incompetent, conservative, or just didn't consider the remote frunk release important enough to schedule in an OTA despite @Jimrpa 's campaign?

Based on the fact that the magic docks work without any update on a Mach-E or Lightning, I suspect that the cars probably don't need a software update. Since Jim Farley is giving away $50M worth of adapters, I would expect any backend server work needed to make them work will be a far higher priority than the OTA of the frunk release.

I don't ever recall seeing an interview where Farley said that the frunk release was critical for EV adoption, but I have seen many interviews since the Tesla agreement (including the announcement of the agreement itself) in which he stated that the deal was critical for EV adoption by the mainstream customer.

 

[apwelsh]

Yup. Yet it keeps being questioned.

And it will continue to be questioned until they finally make it happen. Promises from an automaker are as empty as a dried up lake.

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