Disappointed with Mach-E charging procedures

[astrorob]

I set my limit at home to 90% but when I travel, I usually want 100% when overnighting at a hotel with an L2. It’s nice not to have to mess with setting anything. I don’t have any time restrictions set.

ok - i see. the only long trips i’ve taken are in my tesla and it’s pretty easy to temporarily slide the limit to whatever you want when you plug in at a supercharger. plus the app and the car are truly as one, so setting it back to 80% is very easy.

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[DaMeatMan]

I don't know either, and Ford has not explained such rationale in the manual. I've also been thinking about that. One possible reason is to identify a WiFi connection with the charger location to help synch settings and push OTA updates. But a charger location should not be necessary if charge settings were made at the vehicle only, rather than also using the Ford Pass app.

Also, we know the settings aren't synchronized well anyway - which is what started this this thread.

I think the only thing that makes sense about the location based logic is the ability to specify a charge window to save on off peak electricity rates for homeowners who specify their home location.

However the way they implemented this is absolutely absurd, and acts in a way that completely negates their own advice to limit charging to 90% unless needed for a road trip. As is, a customer who fail (or can't for whatever reason) setup location based charging will simply plugin and have their vehicle charged to 100% DAILY. This is insane logic!! Which is one way of saying their logic is setting themselves up for some completely unnecessary battery warranty claims, and if for no other reason they should immediately change this. I honestly don't know how we are 3 model years into the Mach-E with this flawed logic not yet addressed. I had high hopes when I saw (what looked like a slider) over the battery on the charge settings screen after the UI refresh and I thought they finally addressed this. But nope.. it was just a line to indicate current charge setting. Stop trying to re-invent the wheel @Ford Motor Company and just give us a freaking slider on the charge setting screen like every other EV out there to define (default charge behavior) for all charging that occurs in a location that is not yet defined!

 

[Mirak]

The logic Ford used for setting charge times is deeply flawed, and is dependent upon GPS location to work accurately. If for whatever reason the vehicle does not accurately detect your home location, as is often the case particularly after OTA updates, it will just default to charging to 100% whenever plugged in.

Ford really needs to set a default charge setting that can be set within seconds via a charge slider on the battery that you can simply slide with your finger within the charge setting screen. They can keep their location based charge settings, but this default setting should define the default charge behavior for any charging that takes place at a location that is not already pre-defined. Like when traveling on road trips etc..

How and why they expected a user to define and save a location, and depend upon GPS to set the behavior for every single location you plug into is beyond absurd, and is so basic an oversight I truly believe it came from engineers that have never driven EV's in their lives.

I honestly cannot understand how they don't grasp that drivers do not want to fiddle with these charge settings every single time they plug in at a new location. People have lives, and just want to define this stuff once and then be able plug in ANYWHERE and have the vehicle behave according to that setting any time and ANYWHERE. Why do they expect the user to get involved with new settings for every plug-in session??! That's bonkers!

Spot On. Ford made a number of decisions that have never been explained, and make zero sense. Requiring a specific programmed location to set a charging limit is one of them.

I’ll give you two more:

WHY does the car revert to guest profile every time you remote start? That makes absolutely no sense, but if it’s a bug it hasn’t been fixed in two years.

WHY, after max defrost is activated, and you tap max defrost again to turn it off, does the car instead revert to Auto-Medium and leave the rear defrost on? Who the hell set that up? Tapping max defrost once should turn it on, and tapping again should turn it off, period.

I know this falls on deaf ears, but…
@Ford Motor Company

 

[RickMachE]

Ford expects to be able to meet the 70% or greater warranty even if a customer charges to 100% and uses fast charging too much. For those that follow the guidelines, battery capacity should be way above the warranty percentage.

 

[S.B.]

A glitch of some sort may have been introduced recently. I’m getting a momentary charge error every single charge over the past two weeks. This is immediately followed by the car charging to 100% rather than the set 80%. I have to go out, unplug the car, start it up, shut it down and wait a few minutes then plug it back in to get things back to normal. That may not be possible for most who charge at night. Our off peak hours are te middle of the day here.

Same. Very glitchy this week. I set it to 70 or 80% over and over, but no matter how many times I change setting for home location, Target Charge is always 100%. Charging just stopped suddenly. Unplugging and replugging got it back started—to 100% Target. ?

 

[Old_Norm]

Same. Very glitchy this week. I set it to 70 or 80% over and over, but no matter how many times I change setting for home location, Target Charge is always 100%. Charging just stopped suddenly. Unplugging and replugging got it back started—to 100% Target. ?

Exactly my situation. Setting level to 90% in the car and the app. But when scheduled charging (off peak) starts the car charges to 100%. The play store is full of thousands of apps that just work. What is wrong with Ford?

 

[Tampamike]

Here’s one that got me in the beginning.

Charge Settings: Preferred Charge Times - Don’t select “Charge when plugged in.” If you do, it will ignore all settings for your location, including Charge percentages. Make sure you select “Use Preferred Charge Settings,” and then set the times and percentage for your location.

FWIW, and I hope that helps.

 

[Maquis]

Exactly my situation. Setting level to 90% in the car and the app. But when scheduled charging (off peak) starts the car charges to 100%. The play store is full of thousands of apps that just work. What is wrong with Ford?

Charge levels and schedules are controlled by the car, not the app. Still no excuse for how poorly it works.

 

[Old_Norm]

Charge levels and schedules are controlled by the car, not the app. Still no excuse for how poorly it works.

The 90% charge level was set in both. But why have the ability to set the level in the app if it has no effect on the car?

 

[Maquis]

The 90% charge level was set in both. But why have the ability to set the level in the app if it has no effect on the car?

That’s not what I said.
The way it’s supposed to work is that the car is in control, but those settings can be made in the app which are then transferred to the car. The app is just a way to setup the car remotely.

The car always is in control of its charger.

FWIW, I have no problems making settings in the app and having them reflected in the car. I don’t have time restrictions, but I do set limits and departure times.

 

[Old_Norm]

That’s not what I said.
The way it’s supposed to work is that the car is in control, but those settings can be made in the app which are then transferred to the car. The app is just a way to setup the car remotely.

The car always is in control of its charger.

FWIW, I have no problems making settings in the app and having them reflected in the car. I don’t have time restrictions, but I do set limits and departure times.

If you say so.

 

[danielcb]

The car will ONLY charge to the set % at a saved location that you have set in the car, ie work/home. You have to charge at these locations BEFORE you can set as a preferred location. Once set, it "should" save the location and % charge. If you charge anywhere else (AC or DC) the car will automatically charge to 100%

This is the dumbest thing that @Ford Motor Company ever introduced to their EVs. All other EVs have a universal setting that works regardless of GPS signals. Just give us a simple slider to control that and drop this GPS and Location BS @Ford Motor Company @Ford of Canada

I charge inside of a concrete building, I'm wondering if the lack of GPS and 4G signals is the culprit in my case where the car always charges to 100%, even though ford APP alerts me that the charging reached the desired amount of 80%...

 

[S.B.]

Just wanted to follow up my issues with my MME charging to 100%. I believe it may indeed be related to glitches with my GPS location lately as noted on the app. I noticed that when I am having the “no less than 100%” charging issue, my FordPass is telling me my vehicle is somewhere other than home. I even had to look in my garage last night to make sure my car was there and not 10 miles away at a sports complex as my app was showing it to be. It was indeed there—but thinking it was somewhere else charged to 100%. ??‍

 

[RickMachE]

Just wanted to follow up my issues with my MME charging to 100%. I believe it may indeed be related to glitches with my GPS location lately as noted on the app. I noticed that when I am having the “no less than 100%” charging issue, my FordPass is telling me my vehicle is somewhere other than home. I even had to look in my garage last night to make sure my car was there and not 10 miles away at a sports complex as my app was showing it to be. It was indeed there—but thinking it was somewhere else charged to 100%. ??‍

That is absolutely the issue.

 

[ryano7700]

Had my MME for 6 months. Set the charge level to 80% at home in the app. No problems for 25+ charges. However, awoke today (at home) to a 100% charge.
After a short bit of upset/panic feeling and checking my app to see it still has the “80% setting at home”, I quickly went to this forum.
I think I can chalk this up to gremlins. Right? Can I trust the MME to charge correctly next time?

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