Electrify America Mach-E Charging Issues

[silverelan]

If all of the stations weren't in use with another person waiting, is it really "hogging"

They were camped there for several hours instead of getting what they needed so they could move on to the next station and as @MerryBrown said, the others weren't usable. Is that not hogging?

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[dbsb3233]

They were camped there for several hours instead of getting what they needed so they could move on to the next station and as @MerryBrown said, the others weren't usable. Is that not hogging?

That's a tricky one. I get what you're saying -- if they really only "need" 50 kWh instead of that additional 17 kWh that gets them from 80% to 100% SOC that takes another 80 minutes in the MME, is it wrong for them to do so? For the most part I'd say no. But if there are other cars lined up waiting for a charger, the polite thing to do would be to give up the charger, yes.

We did that at one charger on our recent trip. At one stop we decided to walk across the street for a sit-down meal at Chili's, and just let the car charge past 80% (knowing it would slow to 12 kW). There was no one else using any of the 4 chargers though, and highly unlikely they'd fill up. But we couldn't know for sure that 4 other CCS BEVs wouldn't show up 10 minutes after we walked away. In 2021, that's probably a 1000:1 chance, but in 2025 it might only be 20:1.

That's the problem with basing things on "need". It's different for everyone. Someone could be planning a trip off the interstate to a national park from there and truly need 220 miles of range that 80% wouldn't give them.

 

[macchiaz-o]

That's a tricky one. I get what you're saying -- if they really only "need" 50 kWh instead of that additional 17 kWh that gets them from 80% to 100% SOC that takes another 80 minutes in the MME, is it wrong for them to do so? For the most part I'd say no. But if there are other cars lined up waiting for a charger, the polite thing to do would be to give up the charger, yes.

We did that at one charger on our recent trip. At one stop we decided to walk across the street for a sit-down meal at Chili's, and just let the car charge past 80% (knowing it would slow to 12 kW). There was no one else using any of the 4 chargers though, and highly unlikely they'd fill up. But we couldn't know for sure that 4 other CCS BEVs wouldn't show up 10 minutes after we walked away. In 2021, that's probably a 1000:1 chance, but in 2025 it might only be 20:1.

That's the problem with basing things on "need". It's different for everyone. Someone could be planning a trip off the interstate to a national park from there and truly need 220 miles of range that 80% wouldn't give them.

If you watch the guy's video, he charges to 97% at the Paso Robles EA, then he heads to his nearby hotel room where he uses the hotel's free charger to complete his fill to 100% overnight.

?

 

[COLabLover]

We used an EA charger on Saturday and had no trouble once we finally got to use the 1 working one out of four. We plugged in and it recognized the car automatically and deducted from my available free 250kwh.

I used EA chargers several times on my recent trip from Colorado - Arkansas. Most reliable charger on my trip. I did have to call support once, but they are available and got the machine to do a remote startup.

 

[burtonhen]

Was able to get P&C to “work” last night at a nearby EA station after it didn’t the first time. However, after a successful charging session, I ended the session on the station, waited for the confirmation and unplugged. I got the red flash on the external charging indicator and a “charge station fault” when I started the car.

1. Is there something I messed up/can do to avoid this?
2. If not, it isn’t a huge deal, because as I said, the charge worked and I got the fill up, but the only way I can get the error message to go away on the Instrument Panel is to shut off the car and start back up. Is there another way?

Thanks in advance if anyone has answers.

 

[dbsb3233]

Was able to get P&C to “work” last night at a nearby EA station after it didn’t the first time. However, after a successful charging session, I ended the session on the station, waited for the confirmation and unplugged. I got the red flash on the external charging indicator and a “charge station fault” when I started the car.

1. Is there something I messed up/can do to avoid this?
2. If not, it isn’t a huge deal, because as I said, the charge worked and I got the fill up, but the only way I can get the error message to go away on the Instrument Panel is to shut off the car and start back up. Is there another way?

Thanks in advance if anyone has answers.

Seems like there's 4 ways to end a charge session:

1. End it on the charger screen itself
2. End it in the app
3. Press the button on the car inside the lighted circle next to the port
4. Press & hold the release button on the charger handle for a few seconds

I've tried 3 of the 4 (not the app one) and they all seem to work, but not sure if one might work better than the others on various chargers. I assume ending it on the charger screen is probably considered the "cleanest" way, but who knows. Ending it from the car side (3 or 4) seems like it might be more prone to trigger a fault error, but it usually works for me.

 

[burtonhen]

Seems like there's 4 ways to end a charge session:

1. End it on the charger screen itself
2. End it in the app
3. Press the button on the car inside the lighted circle next to the port
4. Press & hold the release button on the charger handle for a few seconds

Tried the first two, didn’t know about the second two. I get the fault alert every time, even though from the station end, everything is successful. I wouldn’t care that much except for the life of me, I can’t figure out a better way to clear the fault message from the driver instrument display other than powering off the car and powering back on again. There’s gotta be a better way to clear non-safety related messages.

I've tried 3 of the 4 (not the app one) and they all seem to work, but not sure if one might work better than the others on various chargers. I assume ending it on the charger screen is probably considered the "cleanest" way, but who knows. Ending it from the car side (3 or 4) seems like it might be more prone to trigger a fault error, but it usually works for me.

 

[dbsb3233]

Tried the first two, didn’t know about the second two. I get the fault alert every time, even though from the station end, everything is successful. I wouldn’t care that much except for the life of me, I can’t figure out a better way to clear the fault message from the driver instrument display other than powering off the car and powering back on again. There’s gotta be a better way to clear non-safety related messages.

Usually any error/info messages on the driver screen can be cleared by pressing the OK button on the steering wheel. That's the volume rocker on the right side, except instead of pushing it up/down to change volume, you push it straight in.

 

[SPatil]

We used an EA charger on Saturday and had no trouble once we finally got to use the 1 working one out of four. We plugged in and it recognized the car automatically and deducted from my available free 250kwh.

 

[DaveQ]

Stopped at EA in Tampa tonight and was charged through Ford Connected Services for a session of 27.00kWh ($11.61) to my credit card, even though I had a balance of 294 kWh from Ford. They also deducted 22 kWh from my account following this session. What is going on? Have not have any trouble until now.

 

[timbop]

Stopped at EA in Tampa tonight and was charged through Ford Connected Services for a session of 27.00kWh ($11.61) to my credit card, even though I had a balance of 294 kWh from Ford. They also deducted 22 kWh from my account following this session. What is going on? Have not have any trouble until now.

Hey, @Ford Motor Company maybe you need to look into this. I sent you a DM last Saturday about it.

 

[DaveQ]

Stopped at EA in Tampa tonight and was charged through Ford Connected Services for a session of 27.00kWh ($11.61) to my credit card, even though I had a balance of 294 kWh from Ford. They also deducted 22 kWh from my account following this session. What is going on? Have not have any trouble until now.

Case number opened with Ford. Should hear something from them within 2-3 days.

 

[DaveQ]

Case number opened with Ford. Should hear something from them within 2-3 days.

No response from Ford yet on this case. Kilowatt hours not restored and credit card not refunded. Disappointed. @Ford Motor Company, what action should I take now?

 

[Old Guy]

Dispute the charge with the cc company.

 

[shadowsjc]

I've had extremely hit or miss experiences with EA. When it works, it works great. When it doesn't, it's extremely frustrating. I've started a charging session but then it stops on its own after 1 or 2 mins (usually once I'm already walking inside the adjacent WalMart). And this was at 2 different EA locations!

Not sure if it's an EA issue or something with the handshake between the MME and the station (starting to think the latter because i had a similar issues happen to me once at an EV Go station). These types of problems need to be squashed out because it will make the car useless for anything other than short local drives.

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