Are other EVs this bad?

[Zardoz]

I’m trying to figure out how typical my experience is, and if anyone has any suggestions as to how to get Ford to stand behind their cars. They’re all over me about extending Blue Cruise, but want nothing to do with warranty issues.

Also, from my experience, all the issues I've experienced are similar to ICE. Recalls where the dealer is a dick and won't give me a loaner. I have to argue that they can't have it overnight and they get all defensive. Ugh. Oh, and not having Blue Cruise for 3-4 months due to software updates. They did comp me the time with an extended Blue Cruise subscription though... after a month or two of emails. Some people have had reliability issues with HVJB and other things.... I have not with my GT. I have had no reliability issues that prevented travel. Car has always gotten me where I need to go (I have had to plan ahead though). 30,000+ miles and 2.5 years.


EDIT: You blaming the car for the airport charger is similar to blaming an ICE car for getting water in the gasoline from a pump. Or the fuel was swapped with diesel. The car will fail, but it is not the cars fault.

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[bvelderman]

Sounds like you are dealing with a bad dealer staff member. If I knew this dealers name from you I would never stop by there. I have bought numerous fords over the years. Not only because I like the vehicles but mostly how great the dealer has been. Like fixing the car for free when it is 10 miles past its warranty. It seems extremely shortsighted to not replace your charger. If I was the owner of the dealership I would put that staff who gave you that answer on probation. So another approach could be is writing a compelling email to the owner of the dealership. I bet you they are not aware of their staff’s behavior.

 

[LudlowLawyer]

There are a lot of responses, but I'll give you a minute or two:

• broken mobile charger that ford won’t replace
  • If this is under warranty, try again. Not a dealer, contact ford directly. Most dealers are crap with this stuff, ICE or BEV or others.
• range under 200 miles
  • This is probably a cold weather thing. ICE have the same issue. Also, your range will effectively be less than advertised. You don't take your ICE to empty on the gas tank either.
• stranded at the airport because the public charger provided drained the battery instead of charging it.
  • This is almost certainly not a Ford problem. This is a charger/airport problem.

Thanks for your thoughtful response.

I've been in contact with Ford corporate regarding the broken charger. They are adamant that it's a dealer issue. Believe me, I'm not about to give up. But the fact that the immediate response was to spew excuses for why they shouldn't have to honor the warranty was a bad sign. If I ever have a serious claim, I'm sure I'll be in for a dog fight over getting Ford to live up to their end of the contract.

The range thing has me a bit confused. I fully expected a reduced range in the winter, but not by 30% when it's 55 degrees out. I suspect this isn't a "problem", but just how the cars - EVs - degrade when temperatures dip below 60. What got me salty was Ford's inability to address my questions on this. So I agree: I probably had unrealistic expectations.

The airpot thing may be a charger issue, but the car shouldn't be so easily disabled by something that has a reasonable chance of happening anytime I use a public charger. It was disappointing to know that simply plugging in my new car would result in such a hassle. I guess we'll have to wait for the technology to mature on this, and I should think of an EV and supporting infrastructure as more experimental than as a reliable commodity.

 

[LudlowLawyer]

I guess this could be so but unfortunately there are too many variables to pin it on someone. If I leave the ignition on in an IcE vehicle it’s going to do the same thing at some point. An ICE vehicle has options to avoid this as well but not many manufacturers have not included it. It’s called a low voltage cutoff system. It looks like you are hyper critical to EVs for whatever reason.

Leaving the ignition on in an ICE vehicle would be doing something incorrectly. An accurate analogy would be to fill your ICE vehicle at a station and have that action kill your battery and leave you stranded...and then have some "person" tell you that if this annoys you, you're being hyper critical to ICE vehicles. ?

Think it through next time

 

[LudlowLawyer]

Also, from my experience, all the issues I've experienced are similar to ICE. Recalls where the dealer is a dick and won't give me a loaner. I have to argue that they can't have it overnight and they get all defensive. Ugh. Oh, and not having Blue Cruise for 3-4 months due to software updates. They did comp me the time with an extended Blue Cruise subscription though... after a month or two of emails. Some people have had reliability issues with HVJB and other things.... I have not with my GT. I have had no reliability issues that prevented travel. Car has always gotten me where I need to go (I have had to plan ahead though). 30,000+ miles and 2.5 years.


EDIT: You blaming the car for the airport charger is similar to blaming an ICE car for getting water in the gasoline from a pump. Or the fuel was swapped with diesel. The car will fail, but it is not the cars fault.

You are, of course, absolutely correct that the type of vehicle has no bearing on whether the dealer honors the warranty in a decent manner. My beef on that is purely with Ford - but that's why I asked about other EV makers as a comparison.

I'm blaming the car for handling a routine action - charging the car - so poorly. It could be the charger's fault, but I talked with the guy who maintains them, and he keeps them maintained very well. Of the 150 chargers at the airport garage, only 1 or 2 are ever out of commission at any time. Doesn't mean it wasn't the charger's fault, but it does mean that this event happened with a well maintained charger - not some neglected outpost somewhere. Bottom line: the car shouldn't have handled the situation so poorly, and that's on the car. There is a seemingly related recall that may be in play - I'll check that out.

Glad to hear you've had no issues with yours. One thing I learned from posting here is that most people have had good reliability experiences with the car. I was all set to take the $10k hit and ship the 3 month vehicle off to Carvana for maybe an Ioniq or something, but I've reconsidered. Thanks!

 

[dbsb3233]

The range thing has me a bit confused. I fully expected a reduced range in the winter, but not by 30% when it's 55 degrees out. I suspect this isn't a "problem", but just how the cars - EVs - degrade when temperatures dip below 60.

There's hundreds of threads on this topic, but the first thing to ask is are you referring to the range display on the dash, or how far you were actually able to drive?

The range meter is affectionately referred to as the Guess-O-Meter (GOM) for a reason. It's often pessimistic, being too reliant on recent driving patterns and conditions. If you're talking temps in the 40-60F range, odds are your *real* range isn't down 30% from EPA, even if your GOM displays it as such. 10-20% sounds more reasonable at those temps. EVs are far more effected in cold temps, most notable because the heat isn't "free" like it is with a gas engine (waste heat), it has to be created using the battery. But for other reasons too.

Of course, high speeds have an impact too, and other driving factors. But for the most part, 30% loss in those temps sounds like typical GOM exaggeration.

The airpot thing may be a charger issue, but lthe car shouldn't be so easily disabled by something that has a reasonable chance of happening anytime I use a public charger. It was disappointing to know that simply plugging in my new car would result in such a hassle.

I doubt that's what it did.

 

[LudlowLawyer]

Sounds like you are dealing with a bad dealer staff member. If I knew this dealers name from you I would never stop by there. I have bought numerous fords over the years. Not only because I like the vehicles but mostly how great the dealer has been. Like fixing the car for free when it is 10 miles past its warranty. It seems extremely shortsighted to not replace your charger. If I was the owner of the dealership I would put that staff who gave you that answer on probation. So another approach could be is writing a compelling email to the owner of the dealership. I bet you they are not aware of their staff’s behavior.

I need your dealer, lol!

Someone here suggested I go to a different dealer than where I purchased, so I'm going to give that a try. I've also thought of dragging the charger into the middle of the showroom on a busy Saturday and loudly demand to know why my warranty isn't being honored. I'll save that for a last resort.

 

[LudlowLawyer]

There's hundreds of threads on this topic, but the first thing to ask is are you referring to the range display on the dash, or how far you were actually able to drive?

The range meter is affectionately referred to as the Guess-O-Meter (GOM) for a reason. It's often pessimistic, being too reliant on recent driving patterns and conditions. If you're talking temps in the 40-60F range, odds are your *real* range isn't down 30% from EPA, even if your GOM displays it as such. 10-20% sounds more reasonable at those temps. EVs are far more effected in cold temps, most notable because the heat isn't "free" like it is with a gas engine (waste heat), it has to be created using the battery. But for other reasons too.

Of course, high speeds have an impact too, and other driving factors. But for the most part, 30% loss in those temps sounds like typical GOM exaggeration.

I doubt that's what it did.

Thanks for your insight. I have to agree to disagree on the airport issue. I plugged the car in - nothing else was out of the ordinary. This result shouldn't have happened given that - that's my opinion anyway.

 

[janstubbs]

I was so excited to buy my first EV in December - a new 2024 extended range Mach E Premium!

it’s been downhill from there - broken mobile charger that ford won’t replace, range under 200 miles, and getting stranded at the airport because the public charger provided drained the battery instead of charging it.

I’m definitely done with Ford, but I’m wondering if other EVs have these same issues. Anyone have any experience with Hyundai or any other EV makers? I won’t do Tesla- I don’t need the public blow-back.

I’m wondering if I should give another EV model a try, or just go back to ICE cars because maybe EV technology hasn’t come far enough to produce an every-day reliable car. Thoughts?

I have a 2022 Select Base Mach E, with 54,000 miles, I would rate it as very reliable. I got a new Ford Charger from Ford dealer after they confirmed it was bad after 6 months of use.. But you can buy a better one on Ebay for $99. My Base model range claims 241 miles with a 100% home charge now, down from 245, but when using fast DC chargers on a trip that drops to 180 miles or less if its cold. That is normal for all EVs, and works for me.

Have not experienced what you did with a public charger. I am very happy with my MME, and would not go back but I do have a backup ICE Corvette that I drive rarely.

 

[HuntingPudel]

<SNIP>
The big take away for me is that I can't just plug the car in and not worry about it. It's a a precarious process dealing with new-ish technology that is far from bullet-proof.

This is an incorrect assumption, as the one action isn’t causal to the effect that you experienced. Charging the HVB has nothing to do with your 12V system other than the logic for the charging module running off of 12V power. There are many reasons for the 12V battery to have gone flat. Some 2024 models are affected by a logic issue that causes a drain (as was mentioned in an earlier post). A third party piece of software may be keeping the car awake, causing drain. A third party piece of hardware may be causing a drain. There are many other possible reasons. Stating that charging the HV battery causes the 12V battery to die is like saying that the reason I bagged a Canada Goose is because a robin pooped on my car. ??

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

Now imagine if you did just that, and a chunk of plastic broke off. Now you have the mental picture.

Sorry but terminology matters. Proper terminology and a detailed description aids in diagnosing and offering suggestions. Your initial post was long on anger and quite short on details. You left out an awful lot of information that has had to be brought out from you through repeated questions. Be all that as it may, good luck to you. I honestly believe you need to reconsider your EV commitment,

 

[Russ]

Sounds like you are making quite a few assumptions.

What, exactly, is the app saying, since that's all you are going by?

I think it's more likely your car got stolen. The car saying the alarm is going off and the door is open "because of a dying battery" isn't a thing either.

Now, if you left your car on and you didn't properly plug in the car and left the door open...
I don't know what happens in that case.

But if you did that and blame Ford for selling bad cars....?

This is a thing.. It happened to me 6 months ago while I was at an airport. I got back and the car was fine. Turned out to be a bug, it was reported the next day...

 

[Red Hawk]

Thanks for your thoughtful response.

I've been in contact with Ford corporate regarding the broken charger. They are adamant that it's a dealer issue. Believe me, I'm not about to give up. But the fact that the immediate response was to spew excuses for why they shouldn't have to honor the warranty was a bad sign. If I ever have a serious claim, I'm sure I'll be in for a dog fight over getting Ford to live up to their end of the contract.

The range thing has me a bit confused. I fully expected a reduced range in the winter, but not by 30% when it's 55 degrees out. I suspect this isn't a "problem", but just how the cars - EVs - degrade when temperatures dip below 60. What got me salty was Ford's inability to address my questions on this. So I agree: I probably had unrealistic expectations.

The airport thing may be a charger issue, but the car shouldn't be so easily disabled by something that has a reasonable chance of happening anytime I use a public charger. It was disappointing to know that simply plugging in my new car would result in such a hassle. I guess we'll have to wait for the technology to mature on this, and I should think of an EV and supporting infrastructure as more experimental than as a reliable commodity.

As you can tell, there are many people who are willing to help and answer questions! I have a 2021 MME with AWD and extended range battery. I've only driven it in Engage mode so it usually displays 250 or maybe 235 miles at 95% on the GOM. It's never ever given under 200 miles. My guess is that you've driven in Unbridled mode? Or the 1-pedal mode? Unbridled might reduce your expected range. (Guys, anyone know that?)

And I am curious how long you were gone on that plane trip. I did not read all 9 pages of comments so if you stated the length of time your MME was connected to a public charger, forgive my question. Did you have Departure Times set-up? Before you left, did the airport charger indicate that charging had started? Did the blue indicator lights near the charge port go on? Is it possible that you didn't have it seated firmly and didn't actually initiate charging?

As most of the responses have stated, it is nearly impossible for a public charger to actually drain an HVB. Like I can't imagine how that could be possible. The charge stream would have to reverse or something would have to pull electricity FROM the HVB but the circuitry is not set up to do that.

I'm hoping that your MME that was purchased in December (of 2024?) is running as it should now. Since I haven't reviewed all 9 pages in this thread, did anyone see if the Ford Rep who monitored some threads has reached out to Ludlowlawyer about these issues? They're usually pretty responsive. L-L you might try doing a search for the Ford Motor Company rep and contact them about your broken charging unit.

Good luck! I love love love my MME! I hope you will, too.

 

[Herbknowsit]

I don't doubt one whit that the plastic Ford plug could break since I've seen some high cost products do just that. I'm hoping when he gets back to his MME he finds that maybe, like me on two occasions 20 years apart-I arrived at an airport so early it was dark. I needed to turn on the cabin lights to locate luggage and travel items and in my haste-left em on. Yup...several days later dead battery when I returned to my car. Don't know if that is possible in the MME and don't want to test it!

 

[shutterbug]

Or "passenger", depending on how soon robotaxis become common. (I'm guessing closer to 2035 than 2030 on that though.)

Here in Phoenix, Waymo robotaxis are already damn common. I haven't taken a trip in a couple of months without seeing a bunch of them.

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