charging door opening out instead of up

[janitorjim]

Just noticed that the charging door opens out instead of up like the tesla.
Find this a bit weird as my brain says that is going to knocked off or bent more easily. If it was a gas cover not big deal since you fill and go but charging in places like this and left alone seems a bit like an issue
Post 1: 999 more to go

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[JamieGeek]

The Bolt's door opens that way, no issues so far.

Its a much better way than the cheapy circular thing Ford used on its earlier plugins.

 

[ajmartineau]

Opening up makes it harder to see the plug socket at night. up = bad. IMO

 

[dbsb3233]

Just noticed that the charging door opens out instead of up like the tesla.
Find this a bit weird as my brain says that is going to knocked off or bent more easily. If it was a gas cover not big deal since you fill and go but charging in places like this and left alone seems a bit like an issue
Post 1: 999 more to go

Remember that the charger handle will be plugged in whenever that door is open. That pretty well blocks anyone from just brushing by and bumping the door. They'd hit the charger handle first.

 

[Mockingbird2004]

I've had 3 plug in vehicles. All flip out not up. Its more important to have the plug point up in front of the car though as pulling into a charging spot is easier than backing into one.

 

[timbop]

Its more important to have the plug point up in front of the car though as pulling into a charging spot is easier than backing into one.

That's what I've always thought, too. I am terrible backing into a parking space, even with a backup camera. MME's active park assist solves that, but the Tesla does not have such a thing.

 

[Mockingbird2004]

I wonder how quickly park assist does park. I've tried it on other cars and its way to slow for an active parking lot. Even Telsa goes at a snails pace. Fortunately our MME has the plug in the right spot for most charging spots.

 

[Raymondjram]

The classic gasoline filler cover had diiferent positions in older cars. Some had it behind the rear license plate, and others had it integrated in the left tail fin. I know because I was an employee of a gasoline station in the 1970s and I had to find all the different gasoline filling points for each car. Modern cars have the cover on the rear fender, and, if you have not known it, the tiny gas pump icon in the dashboard near the fuel gage points to the side (left or right) where the filler cover is.

As for the cover themselves, the modern ones always swing out toward the front. So the charge post cover, as a replacement for the gas filler, will do the same on most cars. But most electric vehicles has that charge por on the left front fender near the driver. Only a few (the Nissal Leaf in the front center, and the Tesla in the rear fender) are different.

I expect future electric vehicles to have wireless charging, either overhead or underneath the floor.

 

[MerryBrown]

I expect future electric vehicles to have wireless charging, either overhead or underneath the floor.

I have heard of the chargers in the floor. This makes all the sense in the world. I wish they would get on that! No more attaching long hose like lines. Just drive onto the pad and use your phone or your charging key pad to set up the schedule. That would be excellent.

 

[macchiaz-o]

Modern cars have the cover on the rear fender, and, if you have not known it, the tiny gas pump icon in the dashboard near the fuel gage points to the side (left or right) where the filler cover is.

The questionable history of the pointing triangle:

https://jalopnik.com/the-inventor-of-the-little-arrow-that-tells-you-what-si-1829601068

 

[ARK]

I have heard of the chargers in the floor. This makes all the sense in the world. I wish they would get on that! No more attaching long hose like lines. Just drive onto the pad and use your phone or your charging key pad to set up the schedule. That would be excellent.

I think we are some way off from wireless charging being an economic alternative to plugging in. The wireless chargers that exist now for phones are very inefficient compared to physical wires - see here. It might not be a big deal for a phone, but if wireless charging will increase your energy consumption 50%+, I don’t think people will want to regularly charge their cars like that.

 

[ChasingCoral]

I've had 3 plug in vehicles. All flip out not up. Its more important to have the plug point up in front of the car though as pulling into a charging spot is easier than backing into one.

I have a 2016 Leaf it’s an up.

 

[ChasingCoral]

I think we are some way off from wireless charging being an economic alternative to plugging in. The wireless chargers that exist now for phones are very inefficient compared to physical wires - see here. It might not be a big deal for a phone, but if wireless charging will increase your energy consumption 50%+, I don’t think people will want to regularly charge their cars like that.

There are some really efficient wireless charging systems now:
https://insideevs.com/news/425972/momentum-dynamics-wireless-charging-efficiency/

 

[opennetus]

I like that it is in the front, as I almost always pull into spots instead of backing in (exception being attending an event where everyone leaves at the same time and you need to nudge your way out in order to ever be able to leave the spot). While reverse parking has been growing in popularity, I think overall front parking is still the most popular way to park (particularly in the typical single family home garage where most charging is likely to occur), so it makes sense that Ford would design it in a way that works best for the majority of people. Hopefully most charging stations have long enough cords that it won't matter regardless of how you park.

I do think that in the future, reverse parking will become more popular as it does have several advantages and the main disadvantage (having to carefully steer backwards into a small space) will be fully mitigated by automated self-parking technology. Considering that the Mach-E can self park (at least the premium?), maybe a rear charging port would have been reasonable. It could also be that Ford picked the front location simply so it wouldn't clash with the "smooth, large rear fender" design language they are shooting for.

I also prefer a side-opening port cover. I am 6'4 and I imagine the visibility of the port might be worse if the cover plate flips up. Also, I see no advantage to having it setup that way. Like others have said, with a handle plugged in the socket, no one will be able to bump the port cover anyway so it doesn't really matter which way it flips open.

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