Ford Mobile Charger: MachE did not reach target charge

[AMachE]

I searched & read threads in the Charging topic, but I haven’t come across anything about this exact issue. Apologies if this post seems repetitive. I am not as well versed in the technical aspects as many of you, but I will do my best to explain clearly.

I have owned my 2024 MachE Premium since December & I exclusively use the Ford Mobile Charger. It is plugged into a NEMA 14/240 plug with a 50 watt circuit breaker at the panel, both professionally installed. It is mounted outside using the Ford bracket to avoid stress on the neck and cable. I generally observe a charging rate of about 6.8kw in FordPass. I am not on a managed electric plan from my utility company and the charging rate is not affected by time of day, etc.

I have a charging schedule set to charge from 11 pm to 6 am. I have a daily departure time scheduled for 6:20 am. My charge limit was set to 95% last night (it is almost always set to 85%, but I needed a little more range today). As far as I know, my car is running up to date software from Ford.

Yesterday I plugged the car in at 8:30 pm and FordPass (iOS 18.5, app version 5.22.0) indicated “Waiting to charge at 11 pm”. If it is relevant, it was about 72 degrees out all day.

At 11 pm charging initiated as scheduled with a prediction in FordPass that the target charge would be reached a couple of hours before the scheduled end of the charging window at 6 am. This was typical & I have found that the app predictions are usually close to accurate.

Checking my phone first thing this morning I saw that I did not receive the expected “Charging complete” notification during the night. I checked FordPass at 6:10 am and it said “Preparing cabin for departure” so I assumed it was just a notification glitch for the charging complete message.

Then I realized at 6:25 am or so that I did not receive the “Cabin ready for departure” notification as I normally would.

When I went outside, the blue light on the mobile charging unit was flashing as it does during charging and when I started the car, the battery level read 94%, seeming to indicate that the car never reached the target charge of 95%.

I unplugged the car and checked FordPass for the charging session from the night before & it read:

Charge 24% (+72miles)
Time Charging 7 hrs 29 min
Energy Added 22kWh

Start 11 pm 70%
End 6:28 am 94%

It seems as if the car was charging continuously from 11 pm until I unplugged it this morning, which doesn’t seem normal. Was it possible that the car never reached the target charge? If so, that never happened to me before.

Unfortunately, using the mobile charging cord seems to limit the data I can get about the full charging session, but as far as I know there were no energy reductions in my area (we usually get notice from the utility company if that is necessary, such as during heat waves).

I am obviously going to watch & see if it happens again when I charge overnight tonight, but I guess my question is, has anyone else experienced this? If so, did you find a fix? Have I missed something and this is normal behavior? Should I be concerned?

Thanks in advance.

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[ChasingCoral]

Two options I can think of:

1. You almost made it to a full charge but there wasn't quite enough time.
2. It is quite common for the battery to slip back as much as 2% from the target charge amount. A drop from 95 to 94 (or in my case 85 to 84) is quite common. 95 to 93 isn't unusual either.

%SOC is not an absolute amount. A battery that is 95% when it ends charging can cool down or rebalance internally and drop a percent or two.

Lesson for the future: If you absolutely need 95%, set a target of 100%. Charging to 100% and then driving will have no harmful effects on your battery. If I'm starting a road trip, I'll always set the target at 100%.

 

[Maquis]

Don’t use a schedule if you don’t have a TOU rate plan.

 

[AMachE]

Chasing Coral - Based on past charging behavior, I am fairly certain that there were enough hours in the scheduled time to reach the set maximum, but I do see what you mean about “slipping charge” by a percentage or two. Is it normal behavior for the charger to reinitiate charging to meet the desired maximum? I’ve never gone to the car in the morning & had it still charging, even when I’ve plugged it in with a battery at 40% vs the 70% I was at last night before charging.

Maquis - I always used a schedule because I thought it was smart to let the battery “settle” temperature-wise before charging if one could. Or is that just another battery myth?

Thank you both for your insights.

 

[ChrisO]

There is something that everyone needs to know about the SOC shown on the Mach-E. It is truncated to the nearest integer. What that means in layman’s terms is 99.9999% will be shown as 99% Not 100% as one might expect. If one looks at the SOC using a OBD scanner that should show it with some amount of factional digits like 99.98%

So, for instance if I charge to 100% the moment I move the car it will show 99%. in this case, for all practical purposes 99% is the same as 100%.

 

[AMachE]

There is something that everyone needs to know about the SOC shown on the Mach-E. It is truncated to the nearest integer. What that means in layman’s terms is 99.9999% will be shown as 99% Not 100% as one might expect. If one looks at the SOC using a OBD scanner that should show it with some amount of factional digits like 99.98%

So, for instance if I charge to 100% the moment I move the car it will show 99%. in this case, for all practical purposes 99% is the same as 100%.

Thank you. I genuinely appreciate the reply. I understand that the reported state of charge is never exact and I’ve witnessed the same behavior you describe when driving away after charging at home.

Even if 94% is virtually 95%, why would the charger still have the flashing blue light & seem to be continuing to charge? Would it not have stopped by then?

What concerns me is that the car appeared to still be charging to reach the target, (in this case 95%), 7.5 hours after beginning to charge. At a 6.8kw or so charging rate with level 2 charging, it should have been done charging hours before that, I assume.

I did not plug in last night, but will do so tonight & will have to see what happens tomorrow morning when I check the charger.

 

[E90alex]

We don’t know what truly happened unless you can monitor the whole charge session.

It could have finished on time, then restarted when it was preparing for departure because it had dropped below 95% after it settled.

I believe the “time charging” in app just shows the time it has been plugged in, not the duration of actual charging.

 

[Unclespike102]

You have a recent model, therefore my experience may not be helpful.
I bought the latest revision of the mobile charger - my charge rate immediately doubled. (I have a 2021 Mach e).
Based on that, all mobile chargers are not created equal.
maybe charge yours at a dealer and see if you get different results.

 

[RickMachE]

Check the lights on the charger, and make sure it's only blue while charging, not yellow.

You have a recent model, therefore my experience may not be helpful.
I bought the latest revision of the mobile charger - my charge rate immediately doubled. (I have a 2021 Mach e).
Based on that, all mobile chargers are not created equal.
maybe charge yours at a dealer and see if you get different results.

Your charge rate doubled from what? If you're saying it doubled from a 2021 Ford Mobile Charger, than you had a malfunctioning one, there is no difference.

 

[ChasingCoral]

Check the lights on the charger, and make sure it's only blue while charging, not yellow.



Your charge rate doubled from what? If you're saying it doubled from a 2021 Ford Mobile Charger, than you had a malfunctioning one, there is no difference.

Actually, there are two versions, the Mach E version (32A) and the Lightning version (30A). Of course, in 2021 only the Mach E version existed.

 

[Unclespike102]

Mache lee.
You’re the smartest person on the forum, so i always consider your comments.
The new charger looks different and has a much higher revision number.
Maybe mine went bad - but it was out of warranty (?).
I plotted the charge rates and times - have a spreadsheet if you’d like to see it.

 

[Unclespike102]

Lee, the unit was faulty - I tried all types of rebooting, resetting etc. and the lights on both the charger and car reflected errors.
Regardless, now the charge rate is the fastest now - faster than ever. So I’m happy (but $200.00 lighter).

 

[ChasingCoral]

Chasing Coral - Based on past charging behavior, I am fairly certain that there were enough hours in the scheduled time to reach the set maximum, but I do see what you mean about “slipping charge” by a percentage or two. Is it normal behavior for the charger to reinitiate charging to meet the desired maximum? I’ve never gone to the car in the morning & had it still charging, even when I’ve plugged it in with a battery at 40% vs the 70% I was at last night before charging.

Since these are dumb chargers, you would have to have some sort of system monitoring the electrical flow to the charger to know for sure how it behaves throughout the charge cycle. However, I have often found my EVs at a percent or two below the target after a charging session. That's true of when I use the Ford Mobile Chargers (I have a 32A Mach E version and a 30A Lightning version) and my Clipper Creek dumb charger that is hardwired in at home.

Maquis - I always used a schedule because I thought it was smart to let the battery “settle” temperature-wise before charging if one could. Or is that just another battery myth?

Thank you both for your insights.

Settling a couple of hours after driving isn't a bad idea. It is certainly gentler on the battery and reduces the amount the cooling system will have to run during the charge session.

We've been going through a major heatwave. While I was charging on demand or during the day to get the juice straight off our solar, right now I'm charging after 9:00 pm. The EVs were having to run their cooling systems hard when charging during the day.

BTW, if you want someone to see a post, type the @ symbol immediately followed by the user name. You will see it listed and you can select it. The result is @AMachE, which not only tags them in the conversation but also can alert them they've been tagged.

 

[ChasingCoral]

The new charger looks different and has a much higher revision number.

Pictures please? All the Ford Mobile Chargers I've seen look the same.

 

[Unclespike102]

The units have the same case

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