Rant : BlueOval Charge Network Setup

[mamejunkie]

Back story, wife is taking her fairly new MME on a long trip that will require DCFC. I won't be traveling with her so I made sure I go online and setup the connected services to turn on the BlueOval Charge Network. It shows a trial expiration date and balance of 250kWh. On Ford Pass, turn on the plug and charge.

Really should have tested it out but was 11:30p at night and didn't want to go out. Wife left early this morning and after about 2 hour drive, stop at a EA location to charge and nada, zip. Charge Fault! None of the stations work. Until she setup a EA account and pay for it.

Really pissed since I thought I did everything. I'm getting a ear full on "What did you do to my car !?!", "Why doesn't it work like yours?"...

Called Ford customer service. (They cut my line 3 times) The 4th person stayed on long enough to tell me the modem on the car wasn't turned on! WTF? I can see the cars location and status via Ford Pass. Apparently its not the same thing. You would think the fricken software is smart enough to warn the user that when turning on the plug and charge that it wasn't going to work. Even though I know what is wrong and what I need to do, there isn't anything on the Ford Pass to help with activating it. The steps was from searching this forum.

cc @Ford Motor Company

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[Maquis]

Consensus seems to be that the issue is with EA, not Ford. They did a system change about 2 weeks ago and still don’t have things sorted out. It might be best to start the charge from FordPass.

 

[LNFitz]

Will confirm @Maquis by saying that starting the charge from the app has worked for me when plug n charge sometimes will not.

 

[JRSNoVa]

The amount of free credits you start with will run out soon enough. When I had problems with EA on my first long trip I decided to just save myself some time and hassle and just pay upfront and save the credits for when I was able to figure out what was wrong.

 

[Tampamike]

Another issue is Ford itself. In my experience, from day one about a year and a half ago, everything takes a day or two to happen. Nothing happens, connectivity wise, just by selecting it on the app. So, it might work fine tomorrow or the next day.

 

[Parasmoney]

Another issue is Ford itself. In my experience, from day one about a year and a half ago, everything takes a day or two to happen. Nothing happens, connectivity wise, just by selecting it on the app. So, it might work fine tomorrow or the next day.

I've used DCFC about 7 times in the last few months of owing the car. All attempts have been at EA using plug and charge. Not once have I been successful in the first or second attempt. Very frustrating. I don't think I can let my wife take this car on a long trip without me. She will make me sell it the moment she comes home.

 

[Tampamike]

I've used DCFC about 7 times in the last few months of owing the car. All attempts have been at EA using plug and charge. Not once have I been successful in the first or second attempt. Very frustrating. I don't think I can let my wife take this car on a long trip without me. She will make me sell it the moment she comes home.

We’re you able to eventually make P&C work or did you have to resort to another method?

Just for reference, my P&C works about 9 times out of ten on the first try. If it doesn’t, I use the EA app to initiate the charge.

 

[Parasmoney]

We’re you able to eventually make P&C work or did you have to resort to another method?

Just for reference, my P&C works about 9 times out of ten on the first try. If it doesn’t, I use the EA app to initiate the charge.

I have to move the car at least once and then plug and unplug the cable a few times. I still have free kW remailing from Ford so I try not to pay. If it was an emergency then maybe I would consider it. But it does eventually work.

 

[RickMachE]

To use your free hours if Plug and Charge fails:

DO NOT PLUG IN.
Open FordPass.
Vehicle, Charging, Blue Oval Charge Network.
Click on View Chargers.
Find the location you want, click on it.
Find the charger you want, click SELECT.
Click ACTIVATE.
Plug in.

 

[Tampamike]

I have to move the car at least once and then plug and unplug the cable a few times. I still have free kW remailing from Ford so I try not to pay. If it was an emergency then maybe I would consider it. But it does eventually work.

There are a lot of busted charge units out there. Hope your experience improves. It’s supposed to work better than that and does for us luckier ones.

 

[4sallypat]

Consensus seems to be that the issue is with EA, not Ford. They did a system change about 2 weeks ago and still don’t have things sorted out. It might be best to start the charge from FordPass.

Agreed - last weekend, EA had updated their software (finally) and I could not plug and charge anymore at 2 different EA stations.

When I called customer service, they said that plug & charge does not work for any brand other than VW.

They told me to open the EA app, select the charger, swipe to initiate charge, then plug in.

I got charged from my EA digital wallet app.

 

[RickMachE]

Agreed - last weekend, EA had updated their software (finally) and I could not plug and charge anymore at 2 different EA stations.

When I called customer service, they said that plug & charge does not work for any brand other than VW.

They told me to open the EA app, select the charger, swipe to initiate charge, then plug in.

I got charged from my EA digital wallet app.

I had thought you'd asked on this forum about this.

If you want to use the Ford BlueOval charging network, then you shouldn't be using the EA app. If you used the EA app, you should not be surprised to being charged by EA.

As to Plug and Charge not working for any brand other than VW, that is erroneous information provided by a poorly trained representative.

 

[RickMachE]

Back story, wife is taking her fairly new MME on a long trip that will require DCFC. I won't be traveling with her so I made sure I go online and setup the connected services to turn on the BlueOval Charge Network. It shows a trial expiration date and balance of 250kWh. On Ford Pass, turn on the plug and charge.

Really should have tested it out but was 11:30p at night and didn't want to go out. Wife left early this morning and after about 2 hour drive, stop at a EA location to charge and nada, zip. Charge Fault! None of the stations work. Until she setup a EA account and pay for it.

Really pissed since I thought I did everything. I'm getting a ear full on "What did you do to my car !?!", "Why doesn't it work like yours?"...

Called Ford customer service. (They cut my line 3 times) The 4th person stayed on long enough to tell me the modem on the car wasn't turned on! WTF? I can see the cars location and status via Ford Pass. Apparently its not the same thing. You would think the fricken software is smart enough to warn the user that when turning on the plug and charge that it wasn't going to work. Even though I know what is wrong and what I need to do, there isn't anything on the Ford Pass to help with activating it. The steps was from searching this forum.

cc @Ford Motor Company

Questions:

1) Why did you wait to setup the charging network? Should have done it at the dealership, if not then right after.

2) Not testing it beforehand, and then having your wife have a problem, is a big man fail. I can't imagine the discussion...

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