Are other EVs this bad?

[LudlowLawyer]

OK, well having established it was his LVB, you can count 2. I definitely had that happen, specifically with the mobile power cord, because the evse faulted. The car alerted me to the drain and I went to find out the charger faulted. The car kept cycling through trying to charge, which kept the system on and drawing 12V. So there is some situation where having a non-fast charger connected can do this.

I've never seen a public charger, L2 or otherwise, that allowed long term parking. But the car does not lose much charge when simply parked, even if it is cold. I noticed it does not want to be parked with a LOW charge on cold days ... it warns about it.

This sounds plausible for my situation. The chargers - and there about 150 of them and they’re always full- are L2 chargers.

So if it’s my 12v battery, where does that leave me? I’m actually still on my trip and haven’t flown back yet - I’m going by what the app tells me. I’m expecting to show up to a dead car.

one more thing: as the battery nearly drained, I received a message that the alarm went off and the door was opened - something I attributed to the dying battery.

I noticed the battery draining on my app as I was boarding my flight - about 2 hours after parking.

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[LudlowLawyer]

There's a recall on some 2024 MMEs related to the 12 Volt battery charging (or in this case discharging). Recall is new, from February 20, 2025. I'm getting my recall performed next week when I have the dealer look at something.

Link:
https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...24my-12v-battery-full-or-partial-drain.43153/

I'll check that out. Thanks!!!

 

[benk016]

I've never seen a public charger, L2 or otherwise, that allowed long term parking.

One of the parking garages at the airport here in Tulsa has chargers for their customers. It is definitely a thing

 

[LudlowLawyer]

One of the parking garages at the airport here in Tulsa has chargers for their customers. It is definitely a thing

From my airport's web site:

 

[silverelan]

I researched. I didn’t see anything about charges sometimes draining your battery. Learned the hard way.

I’ve literally never heard of such a thing. Presumably the outlet was a wall outlet that just trickle charges. That should be more than enough to slowly charge the car in even the coldest temps. Your app would have told you if the car wasn’t actually charging. Even if it wasn’t charging, it’d just sit idly with very little vampire drain.

As for the mobile charger, that’s weird. Superficially it should be in good shape. If it’s coming apart due to workmanship (not abuse) it should be warrantied out by Ford. Your dealer should just handle it.

I’ve had my MME for 3+ years and it’s been no issue.

 

[devmach-e]

You just said something that caught my attention.

The message from the app just said the battery was being drained - likely from 3rd party after market device. Then the car went dead as far as the app is concerned But it didn’t say which battery.

If it was just the 12v battery, what are the ramifications? Would that cause the app to not be able to “see” the car? How would I get that 12v battery recharged?

I’m positive the car was off - it loudly alerts when you open the door and the car is still on. I wasn’t in a rush (this time). And it initially showed a charging error on the app.

Thanks for the 12v insight!!!

That definitely sounds like the 12V battery was the problem. Probably not related to using public chargers. Were you able to get the car started when you came back from your trip? If the 12V battery goes dead, you aren't getting into the car easily. And the car won't report its status, or be able to turn on preconditioning.

There is a process to get into the frunk to get access to the 12V battery to jumpstart the car, but it is a bit cumbersome. Check out this thread on how to make it a bit easier to access the jump points:

https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...n-points-hv-disconnect-relay-for-safety.4107/
and
https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/guide-better-jump-point-access-battery-access.10976/

 

[Teslaeata]

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?

Really sorry for what you’re experiencing.

I’ve done 109,000 miles in 42mths and more than satisfied - far be it from me to suggest but could it be you instead of Ford, Mach-e or EVs in general you seem quick to blame??‍

 

[GreaseMonkey]

This is a fun thread to follow

 

[GreaseMonkey]

Really sorry for what you’re experiencing.

I’ve done 109,000 miles in 42mths and more than satisfied - far be it from me to suggest but could it be you instead of Ford, Mach-e or EVs in general you seem quick to blame??‍

That’s just cold, I have to say.

 

[Teslaeata]

That’s just cold, I have to say.

Maybe, sorry ludlowlawyer?

 

[LudlowLawyer]

Thanks to the help of some knowledgable people here, it seems my 12v battery was drained by a faulty charge. I researched this, and it can be jumped like a normal ICE battery jump, which the parking garage people will be able to help me with.

I’ve literally never heard of such a thing. Presumably the outlet was a wall outlet that just trickle charges. That should be more than enough to slowly charge the car in even the coldest temps. Your app would have told you if the car wasn’t actually charging. Even if it wasn’t charging, it’d just sit idly with very little vampire drain.

As for the mobile charger, that’s weird. Superficially it should be in good shape. If it’s coming apart due to workmanship (not abuse) it should be warrantied out by Ford. Your dealer should just handle it.

I’ve had my MME for 3+ years and it’s been no issue.

It's an L2 charger at my airport's garage - they have 150 of them there.

2 hours after parking, I received the message:
"There is an electrical drain, possibly caused by after-market device(s)"

5 hours later, I got:
Alarm Triggered. System has detected door opened and triggered alarm.
I called the garage, and a maintenance guy swapped out the cable twice to see if it would start charging. It didn't. But I suspect that's due to the 12V battery being drained? I'm learning as I go...

 

[LudlowLawyer]

This is a fun thread to follow

I posted it very annoyed. But I've got such great info from forum people that I'm actually now enjoying the trouble-shooting aspect of it.

 

[LudlowLawyer]

That’s just cold, I have to say.

Insecure people like to pretend they're either funny or tough online. I just laugh at them.

 

[LudlowLawyer]

Really sorry for what you’re experiencing.

I’ve done 109,000 miles in 42mths and more than satisfied - far be it from me to suggest but could it be you instead of Ford, Mach-e or EVs in general you seem quick to blame??‍

#ironic

 

[LudlowLawyer]

That definitely sounds like the 12V battery was the problem. Probably not related to using public chargers. Were you able to get the car started when you came back from your trip? If the 12V battery goes dead, you aren't getting into the car easily. And the car won't report its status, or be able to turn on preconditioning.

There is a process to get into the frunk to get access to the 12V battery to jumpstart the car, but it is a bit cumbersome. Check out this thread on how to make it a bit easier to access the jump points:

https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...n-points-hv-disconnect-relay-for-safety.4107/
and
https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/guide-better-jump-point-access-battery-access.10976/

I'm actually still on my trip and haven't returned yet. I called the parking garage, and the guy there swapped out the charging cable twice to try to fix it, but it's not charging.

I think you're spot-on regarding the 12v battery. I found the directions to get into a car w/ a dead 12v - it's a bit much, but seems doable. Should be fun at 10:00pm on Sunday night with all my luggage as I try to figure it out.

Thanks for the advice and the links!!!!!!

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