Fed up: Charging Edition

[HuntingPudel]

AFAIK, CA is requiring charging on new construction of apartments. Old buildings are not currently required to have EV charging available that I know of. I am not sure if the management or owners can prevent you from having an EVSE installed, however. Maybe you can share the cost of installation with another resident of your building.

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[Wallace]

So there are things I love (power, comfort, sportiness) and things I don't love (creakiness, glitchiness, size) about my Mach-E, but if there is one thing that borderline makes me hate it, it's the charging experience. I have had such bad luck here I'm just about fed up and am considering selling it.

Before that, I thought I'd check here to see if anyone else has had some luck improving their Fast Charging experience. My problem is that I do apartment living and the garage doesn't have a EV hookup, so I need to go to a Fast Charge station to avoid sitting there charging for a full day. After 2-3 minutes, the thing fails. I sat at a station for an hour yesterday trying to get any of the chargers to work and just kept getting an error. I've had the same problem at other stations and the provider doesn't seem to matter (or they all stink perhaps). The car tells you _nothing_, no logs, no error codes, just look in the manual (thanks)! I'm at 15% right now and am not sure where I should gamble trying to get back to 80%.

It's all the stress of my own personal and recurring gas shortage. Maybe it's the chargers/charging network. Maybe it's the car. Frankly it doesn't matter - the experience sucks and gives me major buyers remorse.

Does anyone have any advice as to what I could do about this?

As you tried a lot of different chargers you most probably have a car issue: go directly to your dealer and they should try to fast charge your car (or install an update)... If they are able to do so, they should come with another EV to the closest charger of your home and test charge there, so you'll find out, if the charger there is the (or also a) problem... good luck

 

[kdryden99]

I think that for those who want an EV unless you can charge at home, unfortunately you should wait. Public networks are not up to par yet but definitely get the car updated as others have suggested.

This charging dilemma is not a Ford issue but an EV issue. Tesla chargers can experience issues as well. Here is an article below regarding a Taycan expressing the same issues.
InsideEVs : Shmee Is Really Frustrated With Charging His Porsche Taycan.
https://insideevs.com/news/507695/shmee-frustrated-charging-porsche-taycan/

 

[Carsinmyblood]

I would not recommend EV ownership without the ability to top up at home.

That's kinda the point, except for long trips of course.

I had a talk with a couple of friends about the impending delivery. It took a bit of time to get them to understand that I'll never leave the house with less than a full tank.

 

[RockwallRick]

I had 45 days where my home charging would not work at 240. Problem with car and Comed. Seems to be fixed after ford installed an update. During that time I plugged my charger into a 110- outlet whenever at home and was able to keep my battery at 85%.

I think that for those who want an EV unless you can charge at home, unfortunately you should wait. Public networks are not up to par yet but definitely get the car updated as others have suggested.

This charging dilemma is not a Ford issue but an EV issue. Tesla chargers can experience issues as well. Here is an article below regarding a Taycan expressing the same issues.
InsideEVs : Shmee Is Really Frustrated With Charging His Porsche Taycan.
https://insideevs.com/news/507695/shmee-frustrated-charging-porsche-taycan/

Our car has not arrived yet but I have already installed a 240 outlet in the garage just for EV charging. Tested it out over the weekend using our dealer’s demo MME. So nice to be able to leave the house in the morning with a full charge and not have to worry about it!

 

[theo1000]

Hah! Should have installed 2 outlets. Certainly something I recommend to everyone if it is physically possible. I have had to go back and add the second outlet at my different properties.

 

[Scrannel]

I think that for those who want an EV unless you can charge at home, unfortunately you should wait. Public networks are not up to par yet but definitely get the car updated as others have suggested.

This charging dilemma is not a Ford issue but an EV issue. Tesla chargers can experience issues as well. Here is an article below regarding a Taycan expressing the same issues.
InsideEVs : Shmee Is Really Frustrated With Charging His Porsche Taycan.
https://insideevs.com/news/507695/shmee-frustrated-charging-porsche-taycan/

Tesla issues are few and far between -- in two and a half years never had supercharger fail. This was and apparently still is, an EA issue according to my friends with other EVs. That said, yes, make sure your car has its updates. I recall an "Out of Spec." motoring vid where they were running into repeated charge errors and it seemed to be the car.

 

[RW Journey]

I am sorry to hear you are having charging issues and would definitely get it back in the shop for updates.

DCFC Experience:
After rolling over 6200 miles and completing my first multiday BEV road trip from Dallas -> Vegas -> Burbank -> Laughlin -> Dallas last week where I had to DCFC along the entire route (expcept once in Laughlin). I only experienced 1 issue at an EA station on the way back in Oklahoma where all 4 stations were down and EA couldn't revive any of them. Having only 12%, I stopped at the local Ford Dealer to add enough miles to comfortably get to the next 2 DCFC's along the route (in case the first one had issues). The first one was good and it was clear sailing the rest of the trip. All this to say most DCFC I have dealt with have been fine...so far.

Updates:
Since picking up the car in Feb 21, I haven't been back to the dealership for any updates as I tend to follow the logic of "Don't fix something that isn't broken". If the vehicle did have any issues, my first stop would be the dealership for any/all updates.

Charging and apartment life:
Although I do have 240V charging at the house in TX, if I lived in an apartment without the ability to charge, I might still consider a BEV. On the recent roadtrip, I spent about 10 days in an apartment in Burbank which didn't have charging. Luckily there was a charger about 8 miles away and only had to charge to 80% once. While I don't recall seeing any driving range from the OP, if my daily commute was short and I could get 7 - 10 days between charges, then 45 min to DCFC wouldn't be a big issue to me, given there was one in a reasonable proximity.

 

[littlD]

Sounds like you need to go to the dealer first. No matter what charging options you have close to you, your Mach-E should charge more reliably than that. It's a well designed EV and should charge without issue (except for plug-n-charge currently).

As for me, I've been successful in the past with apartment life with an EV. The key is DC charging within minutes of your complex and/or 120V/240V options at the complex.

 

[sockmeister]

To echo everyone else's statements:
1. Go to the dealer to get your fast charging situation ironed out. Those problems have NOT been the norm for others on this forum, but merely the exception.
2. You really need to figure out a home charging solution. Regularly charging at DC fast chargers is going to kill your long term battery life. I would suggest apartment hunting for ones in the area which have charging in the parking lot so you can top up to 90% on a daily basis.

If you can't find one or it's not feasible, I don't think at this point in time an EV is going to make your life easier. It may not be for you, just yet.

 

[llinthicum1]

Range, charging, and lack of infrastructure are the hurdles that BEVs must overcome before consumers will consider replacing gas powered vehicles. It's going to take improved technology and a lots of money to build infrastructure. These hurdles can eventually be resolved, but whether they can be resolved within the next decade is doubtful. A lot depends on who will be setting policy in Washington.

 

[Noctivigan]

So there are things I love (power, comfort, sportiness) and things I don't love (creakiness, glitchiness, size) about my Mach-E, but if there is one thing that borderline makes me hate it, it's the charging experience. I have had such bad luck here I'm just about fed up and am considering selling it.

Before that, I thought I'd check here to see if anyone else has had some luck improving their Fast Charging experience. My problem is that I do apartment living and the garage doesn't have a EV hookup, so I need to go to a Fast Charge station to avoid sitting there charging for a full day. After 2-3 minutes, the thing fails. I sat at a station for an hour yesterday trying to get any of the chargers to work and just kept getting an error. I've had the same problem at other stations and the provider doesn't seem to matter (or they all stink perhaps). The car tells you _nothing_, no logs, no error codes, just look in the manual (thanks)! I'm at 15% right now and am not sure where I should gamble trying to get back to 80%.

It's all the stress of my own personal and recurring gas shortage. Maybe it's the chargers/charging network. Maybe it's the car. Frankly it doesn't matter - the experience sucks and gives me major buyers remorse.

Does anyone have any advice as to what I could do about this?

Before I had my Level 2 charger installed (3 weeks to get it done), it was painful to use 110v and trickle charge the Mach-E. And while it would never get to 90%, I had range anxiety. With the Level 2 being installed, the range anxiety is gone.

 

[Hplbiking]

Yes you might consider selling it. An EV just isn't the right choice for you, especially if you cannot convince your property owner to install one.
OR you could make it easier for him/her by providing information as to rebates offers to install a public charger.

 

[kirkus02]

So there are things I love (power, comfort, sportiness) and things I don't love (creakiness, glitchiness, size) about my Mach-E, but if there is one thing that borderline makes me hate it, it's the charging experience. I have had such bad luck here I'm just about fed up and am considering selling it.

Before that, I thought I'd check here to see if anyone else has had some luck improving their Fast Charging experience. My problem is that I do apartment living and the garage doesn't have a EV hookup, so I need to go to a Fast Charge station to avoid sitting there charging for a full day. After 2-3 minutes, the thing fails. I sat at a station for an hour yesterday trying to get any of the chargers to work and just kept getting an error. I've had the same problem at other stations and the provider doesn't seem to matter (or they all stink perhaps). The car tells you _nothing_, no logs, no error codes, just look in the manual (thanks)! I'm at 15% right now and am not sure where I should gamble trying to get back to 80%.

It's all the stress of my own personal and recurring gas shortage. Maybe it's the chargers/charging network. Maybe it's the car. Frankly it doesn't matter - the experience sucks and gives me major buyers remorse.

Does anyone have any advice as to what I could do about this?

OP - did you end up getting charged? Are you heading to the dealer?

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