Restricting a Charge from the Mach-E Itself vs from an EVSE Home Charger

ARK

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I'm trying to finalize my choice of an EVSE for home charging of my soon to be arriving Mach E. If I'm understanding charging correctly, the Mach E itself can restrict its level of charge from the FordPass app separate and apart from any restriction you can put in place from your EVSE, for example, from the EVSE's own app.

Does anyone know if it is preferable to restrict charging via the Mach E itself versus the EVSE? In other words, is there any type of safety or other consideration at play if the Mach E is preventing a charge (because let's say you set a charge limit of 80% and the vehicle has now reached 80% charge so the Mach E cuts off the flow) but the EVSE is still trying to send electrons? Conversely, is it in any way not good for the MME to have an EVSE plugged into the vehicle but have the EVSE itself preventing a charge from flowing into the car while the MME would still accept any incoming electrons (for example, maybe the MME stays in some sort of primed state waiting for the charge to continue?).

I guess put differently, if I get a smart EVSE/charger, is it better to restrict charging from the Mach E side of things from the FordPass app/from Sync 4 within the MME itself, or the EVSE side of things from, for example, the ChargePoint app, or it should it not make any difference at all in terms of safety, preventing component failure over the long-term, etc.?
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I think you're a bit confused:

In Ford Pass and inside the Mach-E you can restrict the charge level (80%, 90%, etc.).

You can't really do that from an EVSE because it has no way of knowing how full the car is (DCFC is different since the DC pins pretty much go straight to the battery).

Thus all a smart EVSE can do is set times to charge, limit current, and measure how much has gone into the car.
 
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ARK

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I think you're a bit confused:

In Ford Pass and inside the Mach-E you can restrict the charge level (80%, 90%, etc.).

You can't really do that from an EVSE because it has no way of knowing how full the car is (DCFC is different since the DC pins pretty much go straight to the battery).

Thus all a smart EVSE can do is set times to charge, limit current, and measure how much has gone into the car.
Sorry I was not very clear. Let me try to restate it through a more concrete example. Let's say I come home one evening and plug in. I've set the MME to limit charging to 80% and I have put no restriction on the EVSE. At 11:00 p.m., the MME hits 80% charge and so cuts off the flow of electrons. But the EVSE remains 'on' until 8:30 a.m. the next morning. Is there any potential safety or other issue that could arise in this situation with the EVSE remaining in the 'on' position all night without actually being able to send a further charge to the MME?

And the other example is the opposition scenario. I come home one evening and tell the EVSE to charge for two hours. No restriction on charge limit is in place on the MME. At 9:00 p.m., two hours are up and the EVSE shuts off - the MME is at 65% charge. But the EVSE is still plugged into the MME and will remain plugged in until 8:30 a.m. the next morning. Is there any potential safety or other issue that could arise with the EVSE plugged into the MME but without any charging happening (for example, if the MME stays in any sort of primed/battery-conditioned situation because it detects a physical connection to an EVSE all throughout the night)?
 

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Sorry I was not very clear. Let me try to restate it through a more concrete example. Let's say I come home one evening and plug in. I've set the MME to limit charging to 80% and I have put no restriction on the EVSE. At 11:00 p.m., the MME hits 80% charge and so cuts off the flow of electrons. But the EVSE remains 'on' until 8:30 a.m. the next morning. Is there any potential safety or other issue that could arise in this situation with the EVSE remaining in the 'on' position all night without actually being able to send a further charge to the MME?

And the other example is the opposition scenario. I come home one evening and tell the EVSE to charge for two hours. No restriction on charge limit is in place on the MME. At 9:00 p.m., two hours are up and the EVSE shuts off - the MME is at 65% charge. But the EVSE is still plugged into the MME and will remain plugged in until 8:30 a.m. the next morning. Is there any potential safety or other issue that could arise with the EVSE plugged into the MME but without any charging happening (for example, if the MME stays in any sort of primed/battery-conditioned situation because it detects a physical connection to an EVSE all throughout the night)?
No issues either way.
 

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Sorry I was not very clear. Let me try to restate it through a more concrete example. Let's say I come home one evening and plug in. I've set the MME to limit charging to 80% and I have put no restriction on the EVSE. At 11:00 p.m., the MME hits 80% charge and so cuts off the flow of electrons. But the EVSE remains 'on' until 8:30 a.m. the next morning. Is there any potential safety or other issue that could arise in this situation with the EVSE remaining in the 'on' position all night without actually being able to send a further charge to the MME?

And the other example is the opposition scenario. I come home one evening and tell the EVSE to charge for two hours. No restriction on charge limit is in place on the MME. At 9:00 p.m., two hours are up and the EVSE shuts off - the MME is at 65% charge. But the EVSE is still plugged into the MME and will remain plugged in until 8:30 a.m. the next morning. Is there any potential safety or other issue that could arise with the EVSE plugged into the MME but without any charging happening (for example, if the MME stays in any sort of primed/battery-conditioned situation because it detects a physical connection to an EVSE all throughout the night)?
Yup no issues either way.

You leave lamps plugged in, TVs, cell phones, etc.

Its similar: When the car isn't charging it won't be drawing current from the EVSE (the EVSE will draw a few ma for its uses but not enough to cause any issues).

Just plug the car in and forget it. Back when we were all commuting that is what I would do with both the C-Max and the Focus Electric: Come home from work and plug in. Don't unplug until morning.

The Bolt is different only in that it has more range and thus I didn't need to plug it in nightly--I would only plug it in when it needed a charge and even then it is plug in and forget.

In your second scenario the EVSE will actually open up its contactors so no electricity would be going to the car there. No issues (the EVSE would likely kill the pilot signal first so that the car stops consuming power before dropping the voltage so everything is done safely).
 


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And I've been reading in various other threads, that Ford recommends leaving your car plugged in overnight in cold temps, so it can draw a little power for keeping the battery temp up, even though it's not going to draw in a charge to the battery itself. (correct me if I misunderstood this.\; the image below was posted on a FB group)
Ford Mustang Mach-E Restricting a Charge from the Mach-E Itself vs from an EVSE Home Charger 1614200862435
 

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And I've been reading in various other threads, that Ford recommends leaving your car plugged in overnight in cold temps, so it can draw a little power for keeping the battery temp up, even though it's not going to draw in a charge to the battery itself. (correct me if I misunderstood this.\; the image below was posted on a FB group)
Ford Mustang Mach-E Restricting a Charge from the Mach-E Itself vs from an EVSE Home Charger 1614200862435
Yep, which is why I'm partially nervous of it sitting in the 116 at work not plugged in. :(
 

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Hey guys I just received my Mach-E this week and perhaps I'm missing something but I don't see anywhere where you can define the point at which you stop charging, like 80% or 90% etc..

Attached is an image of the charging screen while I'm charging at a public DC charging station. There are no sliders like in a Tesla to define the max charging level, and the charging schedule settings only allow you to define times in which you allow charging. Perhaps I'm missing something in the settings, but can you clarify where you are seeing these options? Or was this discussion based on expectations of what you would see in the settings rather than actual vehicle usage? I realize this is a somewhat old threat started in January before vehicles were in the hands of customers, so that might be the case. But would like to know where those settings are if they do exist and I'm just missing them.

I should also mention that the start time and end time to 80% shown on my screen is simply the Mach-E telling you the estimated time in which it will reach 80%, rather than a (cutt-off) point. In fact once you hit 80% it then changes to show you estimated time to 100% which is a ridiculously long time by the way due to the massive drop in charge speed that drops to a max of 11kwh or so irregardless of the chargers capacity to deliver more.

Thanks in advance!
Ford Mustang Mach-E Restricting a Charge from the Mach-E Itself vs from an EVSE Home Charger 20210226_141746
 
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ARK

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Hey guys I just received my Mach-E this week and perhaps I'm missing something but I don't see anywhere where you can define the point at which you stop charging, like 80% or 90% etc..

Attached is an image of the charging screen while I'm charging at a public DC charging station. There are no sliders like in a Tesla to define the max charging level, and the charging schedule settings only allow you to define times in which you allow charging. Perhaps I'm missing something in the settings, but can you clarify where you are seeing these options? Or was this discussion based on expectations of what you would see in the settings rather than actual vehicle usage? I realize this is a somewhat old threat started in January before vehicles were in the hands of customers, so that might be the case. But would like to know where those settings are if they do exist and I'm just missing them.

I should also mention that the start time and end time to 80% shown on my screen is simply the Mach-E telling you the estimated time in which it will reach 80%, rather than a (cutt-off) point. In fact once you hit 80% it then changes to show you estimated time to 100% which is a ridiculously long time by the way due to the massive drop in charge speed that drops to a max of 11kwh or so irregardless of the chargers capacity to deliver more.

Thanks in advance!
20210226_141746.jpg
I havenā€™t looked to see if you can access it from the charging screen in the car (I donā€™t have my charger installed yet), but you can set a max through the FordPass app by going to Vehicle->Manage EV->Manage Charging->Charge Settings->Preferred Charge Times, and then setting it based on charging location.

EDIT: Here is a pic of that screen

Ford Mustang Mach-E Restricting a Charge from the Mach-E Itself vs from an EVSE Home Charger 280F6326-91F7-49B2-AA6B-84FF3FDB7B42
 

DaMeatMan

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I havenā€™t looked to see if you can access it from the charging screen in the car (I donā€™t have my charger installed yet), but you can set a max through the FordPass app by going to Vehicle->Manage EV->Manage Charging->Charge Settings->Preferred Charge Times, and then setting it based on charging location.

EDIT: Here is a pic of that screen

Ford Mustang Mach-E Restricting a Charge from the Mach-E Itself vs from an EVSE Home Charger 280F6326-91F7-49B2-AA6B-84FF3FDB7B42
Oh awesome! I had not actually fiddled much with the Ford Pass app as I took the "preferred charge times" to be time specific settings only. I'll have a look in the vehicle itself to see of perhaps It's there as well and I missed it when skimming through the settings lol.

Really appreciate the quick response! ?
 
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DaMeatMan

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Ok so I feel stupid... sorry guys and gals. I could have sworn I went through these settings and already, but looks like I goofed and was probably overwhelmed and excited as I went through all the settings for the first time.

But anyway there it is plain as day, the max charge limits are in fact defined by locations specified in the "Charging scheduling" preferences.
Ford Mustang Mach-E Restricting a Charge from the Mach-E Itself vs from an EVSE Home Charger 20210227_105429
Ford Mustang Mach-E Restricting a Charge from the Mach-E Itself vs from an EVSE Home Charger 20210227_105448
Ford Mustang Mach-E Restricting a Charge from the Mach-E Itself vs from an EVSE Home Charger 20210227_105507
 
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tommytrax

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Is there a way to set a ā€œglobalā€ charge limit? So if you pull up to a charger youā€™ve never used before the car still limits the charge to whatever you have set. Or do you have to save every new location before you can set the limit? And would that be annoying or no big deal?
 

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Hey guys I just received my Mach-E this week and perhaps I'm missing something but I don't see anywhere where you can define the point at which you stop charging, like 80% or 90% etc..

Attached is an image of the charging screen while I'm charging at a public DC charging station. There are no sliders like in a Tesla to define the max charging level, and the charging schedule settings only allow you to define times in which you allow charging. Perhaps I'm missing something in the settings, but can you clarify where you are seeing these options? Or was this discussion based on expectations of what you would see in the settings rather than actual vehicle usage? I realize this is a somewhat old threat started in January before vehicles were in the hands of customers, so that might be the case. But would like to know where those settings are if they do exist and I'm just missing them.

I should also mention that the start time and end time to 80% shown on my screen is simply the Mach-E telling you the estimated time in which it will reach 80%, rather than a (cutt-off) point. In fact once you hit 80% it then changes to show you estimated time to 100% which is a ridiculously long time by the way due to the massive drop in charge speed that drops to a max of 11kwh or so irregardless of the chargers capacity to deliver more.

Thanks in advance!
Ford Mustang Mach-E Restricting a Charge from the Mach-E Itself vs from an EVSE Home Charger 20210227_105507
It is buried in the ā€˜manage charge timesā€™ menu in the FordPass App. You have to edit a saved location, and from there there is a slide-bar to set your max charge level.
 

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I think you're a bit confused:

In Ford Pass and inside the Mach-E you can restrict the charge level (80%, 90%, etc.).

You can't really do that from an EVSE because it has no way of knowing how full the car is (DCFC is different since the DC pins pretty much go straight to the battery).

Thus all a smart EVSE can do is set times to charge, limit current, and measure how much has gone into the car.
The JuiceBox does allow you to manually set the initial charge level and that allows a charge limit % to be set. But it is an annoying way to set that instead of finding it in the Mach-Eā€™s settings.
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