Charge station woes

[JoeBeach]

EA Charging kiosks - Ok, I know this has probably been beaten to death, but if you have a dead cell phone you are going to have to go to the credit card route and pay a higher price. It is hard for me to believe that EA doesn't have all the info they need when you plug in to your car, to be able to charge you via Ford pass or their app. But they do not do that and instead make you use a iPhone with a wireless connection or some other technique involving the phone. Why can't they just charge your account when you plug in?

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[RickMachE]

EA Charging kiosks - Ok, I know this has probably been beaten to death, but if you have a dead cell phone you are going to have to go to the credit card route and pay a higher price. It is hard for me to believe that EA doesn't have all the info they need when you plug in to your car, to be able to charge you via Ford pass or their app. But they do not do that and instead make you use a iPhone with a wireless connection or some other technique involving the phone. Why can't they just charge your account when you plug in?

They can. It's called Plug and Charge, and it goes through your Ford account. So, if you have an EA Pass+ account, you lose that discount. If not, it works fine.

 

[JoeBeach]

They can. It's called Plug and Charge, and it goes through your Ford account. So, if you have an EA Pass+ account, you lose that discount. If not, it works fine.

did you note the part about a dead cell phone? why should i need a cell phone to charge my car? They should have all the data they need when i plug in the car.

 

[737flyer]

No cell phone needed if you have and account set up.

 

[JohnnyForensic]

did you note the part about a dead cell phone? why should i need a cell phone to charge my car? They should have all the data they need when i plug in the car.

You only need to turn on Plug and Charge in your FordPass app once. Then it stays on regardless if your phone is charged, dead, or not with you. You don't get an EA membership discount, but if you just want to drive up and plug in, it works great.

 

[RickMachE]

did you note the part about a dead cell phone? why should i need a cell phone to charge my car? They should have all the data they need when i plug in the car.

Apparently you don't know what Plug and Charge is.

 

[JoeBeach]

No cell phone needed if you have and account set up.

Yes, you would think. That is why i have Ford pass with some hours still on it and a membership with EA. And with FPL and with Duke electric. And i have Plug and Charge and it would not initiate. This is not the first time i have had similar problems with EA.

 

[737flyer]

I’ve use EA plug & charge about 20 times. Only once it wouldn’t connect so I went through my ford pass. If you phone is dead plug it in the usb on the center console then use the app.

 

[JoeBeach]

I appreciate the suggestion, but I have a problem with my cell phone in that it doesn't want to seem to charge from the vehicle whether it is the charging pad or the USB. I don't understand that but I will be talking to Apple about it. Unfortunately i still have the car charging problem.. And i cannot call them to try to fix it when i am there with a dead phone.

 

[Fremont Kid]

Joe, I have Plug and Charge but it has failed twice during 1.5 years. Could not determine the root cause. Still I charged against my credit card. Overall, EA and P&C has been quite reliable for me.

I'll change the topic just a bit. I don't understand other EV charging companies requiring an account or downloading their app. I want as few accounts as possible. Same downloading apps. Should be able to just plug in, swipe credit card, charge then leave.

 

[RickMachE]

I don't understand other EV charging companies requiring an account or downloading their app. I want as few accounts as possible. Same downloading apps. Should be able to just plug in, swipe credit card, charge then leave.

1) They want your data.
2) Card readers break, people put card skimmers on top and steal card info.

 

[RickMachE]

Yes, you would think. That is why i have Ford pass with some hours still on it and a membership with EA. And with FPL and with Duke electric. And i have Plug and Charge and it would not initiate. This is not the first time i have had similar problems with EA.

So you have successfully used Plug and Charge, but your complaint in this thread is that it failed? And you're wondering why you can't simply use Plug and Charge with EA, instead of going through EA to Ford? You realize that anyone needs to verify your information in the cloud before authorizing a charging session, right?

 

[JoeBeach]

Not sure what you mean by authorizing my information. Actually, your sentence really isn't very clear. When I Plug and Charge it is supposed to go through EA to Ford to get to my account. So I don't understand what you mean. Plug and Charge in my car did work at least once, so that leads me to suspect that the problem is not with Ford but with EA. This is bolstered by the fact that even their app doesn't always work when i use it. I have tried to use the app and then had to switch to the credit card in the past. EA's reliability in the Software domain seems to be sketchy at best.

 

[RickMachE]

Not sure what you mean by authorizing my information. Actually, your sentence really isn't very clear. When I Plug and Charge it is supposed to go through EA to Ford to get to my account. So I don't understand what you mean. Plug and Charge in my car did work at least once, so that leads me to suspect that the problem is not with Ford but with EA. This is bolstered by the fact that even their app doesn't always work when i use it. I have tried to use the app and then had to switch to the credit card in the past. EA's reliability in the Software domain seems to be sketchy at best.

Authorizing your information means that when you plug in, your vehicle information goes to EA. EA sends it to Ford, who then looks you up and says "yup, his credit card is good" and tells EA "go ahead, bill us, and we will bill him".

If that communication cannot take place, Plug and Charge will fail.

Your "it worked once" so the problem is with EA has no basis. You have no idea where the problem is.

If the location you charge at cannot communicate with the cloud, then no method of payment will work - not Plug and Charge, not direct with EA, not credit card.

If Plug and Charge fails, and you want it to go against your Ford account, use FordPass and swipe to activate the charger.

But, if your phone is dead or has no signal, then Plug and Charge and a credit card reader are your only options.

 

[ipca204]

I stopped reading right after " EA Charging kiosks - Ok, I know this has probably been beaten to death".....

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