Changes coming to Public Charging app

[Mache_Nor]

Preconditioning? I have seen it plenty of times via my Car Scanner Pro app and OBD2 reader.

It’s more in the direction that we can’t manually precondition, we can’t use google maps with CarPlay to precondition, we could not use the charge app to navigate to charger to precondition and we can’t use the native nav to navigate to Teslas to enable precondition. Living in a cold country it is crucial function for me.

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[YeOldeTraveller]

Plug Share and ABRP are both available on Android Auto and CarPlay iirc, although if your phone is in limboland, that won't be a bunch of help.

True, but, unless I am missing something, they are removing the ability to initiate a charge through the In-Vehicle app. I was at the site and plugged into the charger, but the phone was OTL. In that instance, it was very handy that the In-Vehicle app could start the charge.

Of course, if all charging posts could be initiated with a credit card, this would be completely moot.

 

[Misterrobot]

Prior to my first road trip I asked a Tesla owner how they planned for their 2000 mile road trip. They entered the destination into the touchscreen and the CHARGERS APPEARED THERE ON THE SCREEN. Bam.

I kid you not @Ford Motor Company my grandson and I used 6 apps during our trip. We wanted to enjoy the ride in the wonderful Mach e but ended up having range anxiety the whole trip.

Oh, every charger on the route was plug and pay. Except. The one Ford DCFC where I spent 5 minutes trying to initiate the charge only to discover I needed to do it from the Ford Pass app.

Ford, you're world class. Don't blow this like you did with Sync all those years ago and had to have Blackberry bail you out...

Capt Ron

 

[Tampamike]

Prior to my first road trip I asked a Tesla owner how they planned for their 2000 mile road trip. They entered the destination into the touchscreen and the CHARGERS APPEARED THERE ON THE SCREEN. Bam.

I kid you not @Ford Motor Company my grandson and I used 6 apps during our trip. We wanted to enjoy the ride in the wonderful Mach e but ended up having range anxiety the whole trip.

Oh, every charger on the route was plug and pay. Except. The one Ford DCFC where I spent 5 minutes trying to initiate the charge only to discover I needed to do it from the Ford Pass app.

Ford, you're world class. Don't blow this like you did with Sync all those years ago and had to have Blackberry bail you out...

Capt Ron

Ya know, the MME in-car navigation will do the same thing.
If you like the Tesla charging infrastructure, they have some Teslas for sale. It’s been a major selling point for years - it’s homogenous, ubiquitous and well-tested. It’s not a fair comparison to the rest of the charging universe but it is improving. @Ford Motor Company only has to make one change to make a huge leap in the right direction and that is to update the MME’s nav database with all available-to-us chargers and keep it updated. Activating the chargers via the car or FordPass is neither here nor there for me. Being able to find and navigate with the car’s nav is the the weak link that needs to be fixed. Then our only concern is “Does it work?” That’s improving though.

 

[MacherAWD]

Prior to my first road trip I asked a Tesla owner how they planned for their 2000 mile road trip. They entered the destination into the touchscreen and the CHARGERS APPEARED THERE ON THE SCREEN. Bam.

I kid you not @Ford Motor Company my grandson and I used 6 apps during our trip. We wanted to enjoy the ride in the wonderful Mach e but ended up having range anxiety the whole trip.

Oh, every charger on the route was plug and pay. Except. The one Ford DCFC where I spent 5 minutes trying to initiate the charge only to discover I needed to do it from the Ford Pass app.

Ford, you're world class. Don't blow this like you did with Sync all those years ago and had to have Blackberry bail you out...

Capt Ron

My car has been awesome on trips, but now seems like it will get worse.

When I took delivery in early 2022 I could plan a route fully from my phone, then send it to car. It was awesome, plan your trip at night from home, send to car and away we go. They took that feature away.

Then we got public charging (I got this very early in EAP) and we use it all the time on trips, my wife and I have no other apps, no accounts, we just activate the charger from in car. My wife uses it by herself alot, and has never really used the Ford Pass app. But now it looks like this is going away.

Lets break this trend or taking away features from our working cars......

 

[Jimrpa]

From Ford:

Based on how owners are charging on the go, we are enhancing the FordPass app experience and turning off the in-vehicle Charge Assist/Public Charging app starting today.


How you can find, activate, and pay for a charger.

· FordPass App – your FordPass app is the easiest and quickest way to locate, activate and pay for charging at all 14 BlueOval Charge Network partner networks.

o Activate the BlueOval Charge Network

· Plug & Charge – Just plug in at Tesla Supercharger (adapter needed) and Electrify America charging stations and charging will begin automatically, using your BlueOval Charge Network account for payment.

· In Vehicle – Through the in-vehicle screen, you can continue to enter your trip details and route to a charger using Connected Navigation. You can also use Apple Maps EV Routing in CarPlay and Google Maps EV Routing for Android Auto.



Here’s how the Charge Assist/Public Charging App will change:

If you have a BlueOval Charge Network account and open the in-vehicle Public Charging app you will see:



If you do not have a BlueOval Charge Network account and open the in-vehicle Public Charging app you will see:

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out and we thank you for your continued support with the Ford Electric Vehicle Community.

Best,
Emily & The Model e Team

Thanks Mark! How are we supposed to “reach out to Emily & the Model e Team”? There’s no contact info provided in what you posted.
Also, is this going out to owners, or was it in a PR or something?

 

[Jimrpa]

What are the enhancements to our @Ford Motor Company FordPass app experience?

Will we be able to access FordPass charge station options through Android Auto or Apple CarPlay, for example?

Why is this in-vehicle option being removed prior to updating the in-vehicle navigation app database?

And, will Tesla SuperChargers be added to the Ford Navigation system? After all, some of us feel sorry for Elon and want to make it rain for him ???

 

[Jimrpa]

When I bought my Mach-e the app was amazing, could trip plan, send trips to in car, then that was rem

My car has been awesome on trips, but now seems like it will get worse.

When I took delivery in early 2022 I could plan a route fully from my phone, then send it to car. It was awesome, plan your trip at night from home, send to car and away we go. They took that feature away.

Then we got public charging (I got this very early in EAP) and we use it all the time on trips, my wife and I have no other apps, no accounts, we just activate the charger from in car. My wife uses it by herself alot, and has never really used the Ford Pass app. But now it looks like this is going away.

Lets break this trend or taking away features from our working cars......

As much as I like Ford Motor Company, the concept of “decontenting” is so firmly embedded in their corporate culture, that it will never go away.
I’ve nothing against “optimization” or “continuous improvement”. An example of where Ford ALMOST got this right was when the removed the “interior” open/close button on the hatch. But, they screwed it up - they should have moved the existing, illuminated button, along with its instruction decal to where the current exterior button is located, rather than just deleting the interior button. I understand why they chose the “quick and dirty” route though.

 

[Jimrpa]

Ya know, the MME in-car navigation will do the same thing.
If you like the Tesla charging infrastructure, they have some Teslas for sale. It’s been a major selling point for years - it’s homogenous, ubiquitous and well-tested. It’s not a fair comparison to the rest of the charging universe but it is improving. @Ford Motor Company only has to make one change to make a huge leap in the right direction and that is to update the MME’s nav database with all available-to-us chargers and keep it updated. Activating the chargers via the car or FordPass is neither here nor there for me. Being able to find and navigate with the car’s nav is the the weak link that needs to be fixed. Then our only concern is “Does it work?” That’s improving though.

I would add that Ford should work with other networks (at least in the “Blue Oval” umbrella to expand the “plug and charge” experience. As much as I despise Tesla, I really respect that they worked with Ford to make that experience work, quickly and seamlessly.

 

[MacherAWD]

As much as I like Ford Motor Company, the concept of “decontenting” is so firmly embedded in their corporate culture, that it will never go away.
I’ve nothing against “optimization” or “continuous improvement”. An example of where Ford ALMOST got this right was when the removed the “interior” open/close button on the hatch. But, they screwed it up - they should have moved the existing, illuminated button, along with its instruction decal to where the current exterior button is located, rather than just deleting the interior button. I understand why they chose the “quick and dirty” route though.

Sadly in my world of software we are also decontenting, raising our prices, while decontenting, what a windfall for our customers

 

[Jimrpa]

Sadly in my world of software we are also decontenting, raising our prices, while decontenting, what a windfall for our customers

In my experience, software vendors have usually just moved those features to a more “premium” tier ?

 

[Jimrpa]

Ok, after whining a bit, I just played around with FordPass and Public Charging in FordPass DOES list compatible (and incompatible) Tesla SuperChargers. It also will create a route to them in Apple Maps or Google Maps. The only thing that seems to be missing are:
1. An “offline” capability
2. The ability to send a route to the in-vehicle navigation system.
I haven’t verified if you can initiate a charge session from FordPass, but that would be reasonable.

 

[ChasingCoral]

Thanks Mark! How are we supposed to “reach out to Emily & the Model e Team”? There’s no contact info provided in what you posted.
Also, is this going out to owners, or was it in a PR or something?

Short of giving you her email, which I don't think I should do, the best bet is reaching out to her on social media.

I have emailed Emily and am awaiting a reply.

 

[music_cities]

From Ford:

Based on how owners are charging on the go, we are enhancing the FordPass app experience and turning off the in-vehicle Charge Assist/Public Charging app starting today.


How you can find, activate, and pay for a charger.

· FordPass App – your FordPass app is the easiest and quickest way to locate, activate and pay for charging at all 14 BlueOval Charge Network partner networks.

o Activate the BlueOval Charge Network

· Plug & Charge – Just plug in at Tesla Supercharger (adapter needed) and Electrify America charging stations and charging will begin automatically, using your BlueOval Charge Network account for payment.

· In Vehicle – Through the in-vehicle screen, you can continue to enter your trip details and route to a charger using Connected Navigation. You can also use Apple Maps EV Routing in CarPlay and Google Maps EV Routing for Android Auto.



Here’s how the Charge Assist/Public Charging App will change:

If you have a BlueOval Charge Network account and open the in-vehicle Public Charging app you will see:



If you do not have a BlueOval Charge Network account and open the in-vehicle Public Charging app you will see:

We thank you for your continued support with the Ford Electric Vehicle Community.

Best,
Emily & The Model e Team

This is terrible. I don’t always have my phone with me, and even if I do I want to be able to drive my car independently of my phone.

 

[ChasingCoral]

Ok, after whining a bit, I just played around with FordPass and Public Charging in FordPass DOES list compatible (and incompatible) Tesla SuperChargers. It also will create a route to them in Apple Maps or Google Maps. The only thing that seems to be missing are:
1. An “offline” capability
2. The ability to send a route to the in-vehicle navigation system.
I haven’t verified if you can initiate a charge session from FordPass, but that would be reasonable.

Unfortunately, what is missing is a safe way to do this while driving. You are right that you can choose Superchargers and route to them while using your phone, in your hands, reading small print. That's hardly a safe thing to do while driving. It is also illegal in my state and many others.

That's what the big screen is for.

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