Scheduled Charging - Why only On The Hour?

[neiloakley]

What idiot assumes everyone will always want to start or stop charging on the hour? Why not allow us to set scheduled charging at ANY time. Personally I am on an electricity tariff that varies price over the day and it’s not aligned to the hour. I want to start charging at 00:30 and end at 04:30.

Such a simple oversight that really ruins scheduled charging to the point I can’t use it.

Anyone reckon they will fix it?

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[Kabish]

So… start at 01:00 and end at 04:00??

Not sure why making that adjustment ruins schedule charging to the point that you can’t use it, but to each their own.

I will say it’s odd that you have minute options when doing departure time and not charging. I could see where having that flexibility is needed for departures, but removing it from schedule is a bit awkward.

 

[GoGoGadgetMachE]

This is not fixing this but suggesting a possibly expensive workaround... Some "smart" chargers will let you schedule the charge from that side.

(in no way saying your request is invalid)

 

[JamieGeek]

Given that when setting a departure time the car runs for 10-20 minutes but when setting the charging time it takes hours to charge I bet they figured the granularity isn't required.

Wait until you find out that it takes longer than your window to charge the car so it does it anyway at any time...

 

[Kabish]

so it does it anyway at any time...

I hate that....

Stupid car told me today that it could not get from 65% to 80% in a 6hr window... I just did a 46% charge in 7hrs on Sunday night I'm pretty sure I could do a 15% charge in 6hrs.

I almost wanted to plug it in just to see if it would start charging right away.. But I don't like charging my car when its still that high. I don't get how Ford does not have a priority function, like charging, more polished, its such a mess.

 

[SnBGC]

I hate that....

Stupid car told me today that it could not get from 65% to 80% in a 6hr window... I just did a 46% charge in 7hrs on Sunday night I'm pretty sure I could do a 15% charge in 6hrs.

I almost wanted to plug it in just to see if it would start charging right away.. But I don't like charging my car when its still that high. I don't get how Ford does not have a priority function, like charging, more polished, its such a mess.

You should have plugged it in.
Then you would see how quickly the car figures out the actual charging speed and recalculates the time needed.

 

[neiloakley]

So… start at 01:00 and end at 04:00??

Not sure why making that adjustment ruins schedule charging to the point that you can’t use it, but to each their own.

Because a 4 hour charge from 00:30 to 04:30 is 33% more than 1am to 4am. So i don't get the range added that I need or i would need to pay higher electricity costs. None of that changes the fact they should just let you schedule charging for anytime you want.

Imagine your on-demand TV provider suddenly started restricting the times you could start watching a programme? It's a stupid proposition and Ford should never have built it that way.

This is not fixing this but suggesting a possibly expensive workaround... Some "smart" chargers will let you schedule the charge from that side.

(in no way saying your request is invalid)

I have the EO Mini, so i can schedule charging from that too. But then if i want to precondition the cabin when it's time to leave for work, it will use the car battery and not draw from the house supply.

 

[ProximusAl]

I can understand this completely. Octopus Go tariffs generally start on the half hour, and the Mach-E only lets you schedule on the hour.

I fixed this by using my Zappi to schedule the charge instead of the car, so I get the full use of the tariff timescale, but it does come with a downside.

I've read in numerous places that you should really leave your car plugged in, especially during hot/cold weather so that the car can regulate its temperature using "shore power".

That wont work for me, because even though I'm plugged in, the Zappi will not release the power to the car unless it's during those times. Yes, I can override the Zappi to say, give power always, but then I lose the flexibility of my charge times. E.g. I dont want the car charging to 90% during the day using expensive electricity just so it can regulate its temperature.

If the mach-e allowed non-hour scheduling, I would then leave the Zappi on FAST mode, e.g. no scheduling, and allow the car to schedule the charge between the correct hours whilst allowing it to maintain the HV battery temperature using the power available.

 

[neiloakley]

If the mach-e allowed non-hour scheduling, I would then leave the Zappi on FAST mode, e.g. no scheduling, and allow the car to schedule the charge between the correct hours whilst allowing it to maintain the HV battery temperature using the power available.

Exactly my situation too. C’mon Ford - fix it.

 

[David-HC]

What idiot assumes everyone will always want to start or stop charging on the hour? Why not allow us to set scheduled charging at ANY time. Personally I am on an electricity tariff that varies price over the day and it’s not aligned to the hour. I want to start charging at 00:30 and end at 04:30.

Such a simple oversight that really ruins scheduled charging to the point I can’t use it.

Anyone reckon they will fix it?

Hi @neiloakley

Fully agree with you (I'm on Octopus Go as well) ?

I emailed Ford about this last week after a couple of months of charging from 01:00 to 04:00 - so losing out on an hour each time! It is also very odd as the Departure Schedule works in 5 minute increments. In this day and age, it is very poor to only allow on the hour charging ?

In my case, unlike some here, I can't even use the charger itself to set the time - sadly I purchased the Ford Connected Charger which does not have a built-in schedule but relies on the car to schedule it ...... ?

I'll let you know what Ford says (assuming they actually reply ?)

Cheers
David

 

[neiloakley]

Hi @neiloakley
Fully agree with you (I'm on Octopus Go as well) ?

I emailed Ford about this last week

Me too - I’ll post back if I get a reply.

 

[neiloakley]

Hi @neiloakley

Fully agree with you (I'm on Octopus Go as well) ?

I emailed Ford about this last week after a couple of months of charging from 01:00 to 04:00 - so losing out on an hour each time! It is also very odd as the Departure Schedule works in 5 minute increments. In this day and age, it is very poor to only allow on the hour charging ?

In my case, unlike some here, I can't even use the charger itself to set the time - sadly I purchased the Ford Connected Charger which does not have a built-in schedule but relies on the car to schedule it ...... ?

I'll let you know what Ford says (assuming they actually reply ?)

Cheers
David

Hi David- did you ever hear back from Ford on this?

 

[David-HC]

Hi David- did you ever hear back from Ford on this?

Hi Neil,

I chased a couple of times and one of the team said words to the effect it just wasn't something they were looking at ?

I did raise it again with Ford a couple of weeks ago - via the Ford Pass Team - as the Ford Pass App was no longer showing the charging schedule times I had set and wouldn't let me add new ones so I was having to go to the car to set the schedules ?

Haven't yet had a reply but will let you know if I do!

Cheers
David

PS: I noticed the Ford Pass problem has also affected people in the US so hopefully may get fixed!

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