First Public Charging Experience

[1969Camaro]

I am less then thrilled how the first public charging experience went. I decided to do a trial run before any trips to check the NAV and Ford Pass App. I chose chargers in the NAV screen identified a dealer lot 3 miles away. I figured what the heck, I'm retired why not de-bug this process.

Well, I get there and ask the guys standing around where the charging station is. They said its around back but its only for us. So, why on earth whould the NAV screen and Ford App show those as available? So I thought, I'll give it another go. EVgo was another 3 miles away. Off I go and its in the middle of a very crowded high shopping area. I find the available charger no problem. Plu in and the charger said to use their App or a card. So, I said why not have another App and open the aperture a bit. App wont load. Ok, this stinks. Third try. Use the Nav and click go. Off I go another 5 miles. It takes me to a residential neighborhood. Strike 3.

I downloaded EA, Plugshare and ABRP. Tomorrow I'll try the EA App. I'll only need public charging in the summer going to Cali and back. I'd like to feel confident leaving on vacation and be able to get there and not stranded literally in the middle of the desert.

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[Jimbo]

Hopefully you have better experience with EA. I've only used it once, but the Plug&Charge process was seamless (after turning it on, of course).

I've also had great experiences with ChargePoint stations (whether free or paid) when using FordPass to activate the station (haven't tried their app).

I've avoided dealer chargers for concerns over exactly what you ran into (hopefully others chime in on their experience on that front).

P.S. You're supposed to be able to activate EVgo chargers from FordPass, too: did you try that and it failed as well?

 

[heisnuts]

You will also want to go into the public charging section of the Ford Pass App to make sure you are set up. It is under vehicle - charging - and then Blue Oval Charge Network in the App. If you do not have that set up about an hour before you get to an EA charging station you are just asking yourself for more frustration.

 

[The Black Horse]

Srry about this man, I have only gotten screwed over with a public charger once and it really does stink.

You are walking down the right path though by downloading all of those apps. I now have a folder in my iPhone dedicated to EV apps.

To help people out the list of apps in my EV Folder on my phone is below:

- Chargepoint
- Electrify America
- Plugshare
- Volta
- EvGateway
- EVgoCharger
- A Better Route Planner

 

[RickMachE]

Unclear why the OP didn't go to EA and using plug and charge and free hours to begin with?

 

[1969Camaro]

Hopefully you have better experience with EA. I've only used it once, but the Plug&Charge process was seamless (after turning it on, of course).

I've also had great experiences with ChargePoint stations (whether free or paid) when using FordPass to activate the station (haven't tried their app).

I've avoided dealer chargers for concerns over exactly what you ran into (hopefully others chime in on their experience on that front).

P.S. You're supposed to be able to activate EVgo chargers from FordPass, too: did you try that and it failed as well?

It was a NO Go on EV go. I'm going to try and load the App again.

 

[1969Camaro]

Unclear why the OP didn't go to EA and using plug and charge and free hours to begin with?

My mission was to see how well the integrated systems work. Not well so far.

 

[1969Camaro]

You will also want to go into the public charging section of the Ford Pass App to make sure you are set up. It is under vehicle - charging - and then Blue Oval Charge Network in the App. If you do not have that set up about an hour before you get to an EA charging station you are just asking yourself for more frustration.

Thanks just did. Appreciate the aggravation savings.

 

[The Black Horse]

One more tip, even when I find a place to charge on the NAV I double-check that location with PlugShare.

Plugshare is gospel to me. Everything else is just a suggestion.

 

[Motomax]

These aren’t really ford problems. You should be able to see where and what type of charger your are looking at. As well as reviews and descriptions of setup. It’s not fords fault random people put their chargers in the database.
I went to EA to test out the charging. Used the ford app to activate the fast charger. No issues and automatically used my free credits. The charger screen didn’t respond to touch at all so I guess if you didn’t have the EA or Ford app you might have had a problem.

 

[ChuckA]

I am less then thrilled how the first public charging experience went. I decided to do a trial run before any trips to check the NAV and Ford Pass App. I chose chargers in the NAV screen identified a dealer lot 3 miles away. I figured what the heck, I'm retired why not de-bug this process.

Well, I get there and ask the guys standing around where the charging station is. They said its around back but its only for us. So, why on earth whould the NAV screen and Ford App show those as available? So I thought, I'll give it another go. EVgo was another 3 miles away. Off I go and its in the middle of a very crowded high shopping area. I find the available charger no problem. Plu in and the charger said to use their App or a card. So, I said why not have another App and open the aperture a bit. App wont load. Ok, this stinks. Third try. Use the Nav and click go. Off I go another 5 miles. It takes me to a residential neighborhood. Strike 3.

I downloaded EA, Plugshare and ABRP. Tomorrow I'll try the EA App. I'll only need public charging in the summer going to Cali and back. I'd like to feel confident leaving on vacation and be able to get there and not stranded literally in the middle of the desert.

If you have 250 free EA kWh from Ford, you will need to go through FordPass to use them.

 

[1969Camaro]

If you have 250 free EA kWh from Ford, you will need to go through FordPass to use them.

Yep, gonna give it a go tomorrow

 

[RickMachE]

My mission was to see how well the integrated systems work. Not well so far.

Ok....

Have you read the threads on how to setup charging,and the issues with many EVGo chargers?

 

[1969Camaro]

I will now

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