Charge Assist (Public Charging) Feature is Rolling Out!

[Ford Motor Company]

Hi Owners – Charging is about to get even better with another way to activate your charge experience!

Now, with Charge Assist, soon to be known as Public Charging, you will be able to search for and start a public charging session on the BlueOval® Charge Network right from your vehicle’s touchscreen. The best part? You now have the option to use either the vehicle’s touchscreen or the FordPass App on your phone to charge your car and complete a payment. This is especially helpful if you need to lend your car to a friend!

You will also be able to filter charging stations by charging speed and network and have a more seamless way to receive real-time information on new chargers, like availability and those in-repair all from inside your vehicle.

Just like you could before, you can still use the FordPass App – we are just giving you more choices for how you charge. As a reminder, the BlueOval Charge Network, North America’s largest public charging network by an automaker, is a “network of networks” that provides Ford EV drivers with access to a variety of charging providers without the need for multiple apps and memberships. Charging providers currently include Shell Recharge Solutions, Electrify America, EVgo, ChargePoint, FLO, Blink, EV Connect, and Electric Circuit, with more on the way.

If you aren’t enrolled in BlueOval Charge Network no problem. You will see a QR code on the screen that will prompt you to enroll.

Below is a guide of how to use the new feature and you can find more information here. Let us know what you think!

How To Use Charge Assist:

Navigating to a Public Charger:

1. Select Home button
2. Tap Charge Assist
3. Adjust filters if desired then tap charger location for details
4. Click the distance button to navigate to charger. Once you are at the charging location, click I’m Here Now

Start a Charging Session:

1. Select Home button
2. Tap Charge Assist
3. Match charging stall name to the one you are parked at and click Activate
4. Plug in the charger once you see the prompt change
5. Charging will begin! When the blue bar reaches desired state of charge press stop
6. Unplug the charger one the prompt appears

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[Mirak]

Hi Owners – Charging is about to get even better with another way to activate your charge experience!

Now, with Charge Assist, soon to be known as Public Charging, you will be able to search for and start a public charging session on the BlueOval® Charge Network right from your vehicle’s touchscreen. The best part? You now have the option to use either the vehicle’s touchscreen or the FordPass App on your phone to charge your car and complete a payment. This is especially helpful if you need to lend your car to a friend!

You will also be able to filter charging stations by charging speed and network and have a more seamless way to receive real-time information on new chargers, like availability and those in-repair all from inside your vehicle.

Just like you could before, you can still use the FordPass App – we are just giving you more choices for how you charge. As a reminder, the BlueOval Charge Network, North America’s largest public charging network by an automaker, is a “network of networks” that provides Ford EV drivers with access to a variety of charging providers without the need for multiple apps and memberships. Charging providers currently include Shell Recharge Solutions, Electrify America, EVgo, ChargePoint, FLO, Blink, EV Connect, and Electric Circuit, with more on the way.

If you aren’t enrolled in BlueOval Charge Network no problem. You will see a QR code on the screen that will prompt you to enroll.

Below is a guide of how to use the new feature and you can find more information here. Let us know what you think!

How To Use Charge Assist:

Navigating to a Public Charger:

1. Select Home button
2. Tap Charge Assist
3. Adjust filters if desired then tap charger location for details
4. Click the distance button to navigate to charger. Once you are at the charging location, click I’m Here Now

Start a Charging Session:

1. Select Home button
2. Tap Charge Assist
3. Match charging stall name to the one you are parked at and click Activate
4. Plug in the charger once you see the prompt change
5. Charging will begin! When the blue bar reaches desired state of charge press stop
6. Unplug the charger one the prompt appears

Here is the announcement I’d like to see:

Hi Owners – you asked, we listened! We are pleased to announce a number of updates that will make driving your Mach E even better.

Coming Soon:

1. Nobody likes an earful of static while backing out of their driveway. We’ve fixed it so that the radio won’t turn on on its own anymore!
2. You know that setting which allows you to turn off interior motion sensors? Now it actually works! No more duct tape over the sensors! Feel free to run that errand without your poodle or family member setting off the alarms!!
3. Nobody wants to feel forgotten. And from now on, we’re gonna remember your profile even if you remote start your car!
4. Now you can tap a button on the top of the Home Screen to open your trunk! Because this should be easy. And because opening a trunk is not a “setting!” Obviously.
5. Feeling foggy about how the Max Defrost button works? Not anymore! Now, one tap of the max defrost button will turn it on, and a second tap of the button… will turn it off. Revolutionary!
6. While we are making refinements to the home screen, we ditched the clipart house icon used for the app tray. Silly us… a house isn’t a car, and an app tray isn’t a Home Screen!

We appreciate your patience as we assembled the Top Minds to fix these complex issues. We hope you enjoy your new and improved Mach E!

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

Here is the announcement I’d like to see:

Hi Owners – you asked, we listened! We are pleased to announce a number of updates that will make driving your Mach E even better.

Coming Soon:

1. Nobody likes an earful of static while backing out of their driveway. We’ve fixed it so that the radio won’t turn on on its own anymore!
2. You know that setting which allows you to turn off interior motion sensors? Now it actually works! No more duct tape over the sensors! Feel free to run that errand without your poodle or family member setting off the alarms!!
3. Nobody wants to feel forgotten. And from now on, we’re gonna remember your profile even if you remote start your car!
4. Now you can tap a button on the top of the Home Screen to open your trunk! Because this should be easy. And because opening a trunk is not a “setting!” Obviously.
5. Feeling foggy about how the Max Defrost button works? Not anymore! Now, one tap of the max defrost button will turn it on, and a second tap of the button… will turn it off. Revolutionary!
6. While we are making refinements to the home screen, we ditched the clipart house icon used for the app tray. Silly us… a house isn’t a car, and an app tray isn’t a Home Screen!

We appreciate your patience as we assembled the Top Minds to fix these complex issues. We hope you enjoy your new and improved Mach E!

Brilliant! Clearly you have a future in marketing!

 

[mkhuffman]

I used Charge Assist a couple times and I think it is an improvement over using Ford Pass. I just wish it worked while the car is moving. The NAV works while the car is moving, and so should Charge Assist especially if we are to use it as part of the navigation process.

 

[Scooby24]

I used Charge Assist a couple times and I think it is an improvement over using Ford Pass. I just wish it worked while the car is moving. The NAV works while the car is moving, and so should Charge Assist especially if we are to use it as part of the navigation process.

I just came here to post exactly this. I found it really helpful but NOT when you can't use it while you're driving. It seemed pretty simple to utilize and I don't think there's any reason why we couldn't utilize it while driving. I don't always plan out my trip from the garage before I leave...or if I'm getting close to the destination and there are several charge options in the region I'd like to be able to quickly check before I get there which charger has availability and plan accordingly. I don't want to have to pull over and THEN check to see that my destination has no chargers open so I need to adapt.

 

[ShawnMakie]

I used Charge Assist a couple times and I think it is an improvement over using Ford Pass. I just wish it worked while the car is moving. The NAV works while the car is moving, and so should Charge Assist especially if we are to use it as part of the navigation process.

Better yet, why is this a separate app? Having this capability native to the navigation app would be very intuitive for us pesky end users.

 

[kltye]

This is especially helpful if you need to lend your car to a friend!

I will admit I didn't think of this use case - which makes a lot of sense, but the app is ridiculously clunky to use and an antithesis to how charging works today. You can't use this while the vehicle is moving >5mph, it doesn't show a map of a list of stations, and it's not even directly integrated into the nav! Worse still, having to "match" the station and tapping "I'm here" is just a horrible UX.

And if I'm lending a car to a friend, how do I explain to them that there's charging stations in the built-in navigation, but there's also a separate app to... find charging stations? Please please ask your UX people what they think of that user story.

And yes, I've used this as part of the EA and submitted a lengthy email to detailing the terrible experience. This feels like a proof-of-concept app that some intern wrote to show that you can call FordPass/BOCN APIs from within the car. Honestly, I think this needs to go back to the drawing board.

 

[ChasingCoral]

I used Charge Assist a couple times and I think it is an improvement over using Ford Pass. I just wish it worked while the car is moving. The NAV works while the car is moving, and so should Charge Assist especially if we are to use it as part of the navigation process.

I can assure you the people in the EAP have heard this point.

 

[DevSecOps]

I can assure you the people in the EAP have heard this point.

They hear a lot of our points, but they don't do anything about it. They just keep releasing more broken, 1/2 baked products that infuriate us even more. I think people would be happier if they attempted to fix all the shit they broke.

This is exactly why post #2 by @Mirak will be the top liked post of this entire thread.

 

[ChasingCoral]

I will admit I didn't think of this use case - which makes a lot of sense, but the app is ridiculously clunky to use and an antithesis to how charging works today. You can't use this while the vehicle is moving >5mph, it doesn't show a map of a list of stations, and it's not even directly integrated into the nav! Worse still, having to "match" the station and tapping "I'm here" is just a horrible UX.

And if I'm lending a car to a friend, how do I explain to them that there's charging stations in the built-in navigation, but there's also a separate app to... find charging stations? Please please ask your UX people what they think of that user story.

And yes, I've used this as part of the EA and submitted a lengthy email to detailing the terrible experience. This feels like a proof-of-concept app that some intern wrote to show that you can call FordPass/BOCN APIs from within the car. Honestly, I think this needs to go back to the drawing board.

Yes, Charge Assist as currently implemented is free-standing and not interfaced with the Nav. I expect that it will remain separate because Charge Assist is doing a lot to communicate with any available charge network and keep track of financial transactions. However, I really hope they update Charge Assist and the Nav to pass information back and forth. If I tell the Nav to navigate to a charger, it should hand me off to Charge Assist once I arrive there. If I use Charge Assist to identify the next charger I want to go to, it should pass that to the Nav to give me directions.

 

[kltye]

I expect that it will remain separate because Charge Assist is doing a lot to communicate with any available charge network and keep track of financial transactions.

Well, the Charge Assist app itself doesn't really do any accounting - it just signals to the BOCN servers that a charging session has started at a particular station, and when that charging session ends. The backend does all the computing of how many kWhs have been dispensed, etc. I assume it basically calls the same APIs as the FordPass app does.

At least, that's what I'd do - I've written a lot of web apps and native phone/tablet apps that integrate with common API endpoints. The frontend is just a fancy way to get information into the API, which is where the grunt work is done (well, technically whatever service the API then calls internally).

 

[Mike G]

I used Charge Assist a couple times and I think it is an improvement over using Ford Pass. I just wish it worked while the car is moving. The NAV works while the car is moving, and so should Charge Assist especially if we are to use it as part of the navigation process.

^^^^^^
This. All day long. And you can throw in the fact that it doesn't provide visibility on any chargers that are above 150Kw. So if any 350Kw chargers are available you'll never know....

 

[Mach-Lee]

There, I fixed the instructions:

How To Use Charge Assist:

Navigating to a Public Charger:

1. Select Home button
2. Tap Charge Assist
3. Pull over on the side of the interstate
4. Adjust filters if desired then tap charger location for details
5. Click the distance button to navigate to charger.
6. Merge back onto the interstate
7. Once you are at the charging location, click I’m Here Now

 

[macchiaz-o]

There, I fixed the instructions:

How To Use Charge Assist:

Navigating to a Public Charger:

1. Select Home button
2. Tap Charge Assist
3. Pull over on the side of the interstate
4. Adjust filters if desired then tap charger location for details
5. Click the distance button to navigate to charger.
6. Merge back onto the interstate
7. Once you are at the charging location, click I’m Here Now

Why not use Navigation to navigate to charge stations, and Charge Assist to activate an individual stall? Doesn't navigation provide the same details, other than user submitted photos and the option to activate a stall?

I agree with some of the earlier comments that Charge Assist and Nav should handoff to each other, or that Charge Assist should be part of Nav, but ... baby steps. Also, by keeping them separate, I can use the FPCN without paying for a Connected Navigation subscription.

Charge Assist was already implemented for FordPass so for now they've just taken the easy step of projecting it as a simple web page to the vehicle screen, authorized as a proxy of the primary owner's FordPass account.

 

[RKinWA]

Wonder if I will be able to use it with 3.5.3, that would be awesome!

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