Threads with charging problems are making me nervous about my decision

[MachTee]

@HuntingPudel -- I too have a Level 2 EVSE already installed (Wallbox Pulsar Plus). Already charging my daughter's Nissan Leaf on it. But the charging problems I am referring to are on home installed L2 EVSEs. See here:

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/wont-charge-on-level-2-chargers.8256/

And here:

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/battery-wont-charge.8885/

Others: Thanks for your responses. I am trying to reassure myself that these are isolated incidents and like you have said, it's always people who have problems who post.

This may be related to the complaints from those two threads? There's a software update.

I've been using a Wallbox Pulsar Plus to charge my MME. 0 issues in my 5000 miles ownership of the car.

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[JRT]

Been charging with inlcude L2 charger since July, had to unplug the charger one time as it was not charging hte car the first week. SInce then no issues, did first road trip with MME and the Plug and charge worked seamless and MME was happy waiting a week in Atlata covered parking while we were out of country.

 

[SnBGC]

I have a reservation for both the Tesla Model Y and the Mach E. Based on test driving the vehicles I like both cars, but for different reasons. I had almost made up my mind to buy the Mach E, but these charging issue threads bricking the car for weeks on end is really giving me pause and making me very nervous. I don't have the luxury of an extra car to tide me over should I encounter this problem. Haven't seen this specific issue on any of the Model Y's (there the discussion is all about build quality) over on the Tesla forums. There seem to be many threads with charging problems with the Mach E. There seem to be both software and hardware issues that keep cropping up. If you are a recent buyer, how did you go about making the choice? I am just thinking aloud and would love to hear if you bought recently and whether this particular issue was a consideration.

Based on estimated delivery date (MY) and production date (Mach E), I am likely to get my car sometime later October or early November.

The vast majority of Mach-E's produced so far have charged at home just fine. Some issues with schedule and settings etc but those usually have been resolved. There were a handful of owners that experienced issues but those are the exceptions vs the norm and I think many of those were very early builds. Not sure what difference that makes but every new owner that I have talked to hasn't experienced any issues charging at home.

So yes, some have been unable to charge at home but most are. I think I read the issue was isolated to less than 200 vehicles and it sounded like corrective action has been taken.

Some issues were related to source power in certain cities and some were related to radio interference of some sort. Stuff that Ford wouldn't easily be able to account for prior to launch IMO....

 

[FME]

I also have the Pulsar Plus Wall Box. So far, so good in about a month of usage. I've never had a issue charging at home with the provided charger or the Wall Box.

I did my first road trip last weekend. Madison WI area to Long Lake which is about 75 miles north of Rice Lake WI.

The trip went well. There were two Electrify America chargers on the way up. One at Tomah and the other in Eau Claire, both at Walmart Supercenters.

I planned for one stop at Eau Claire on the way up and one on the way back home at Tomah.

Plug and Charge worked flawlessly at Eau Claire on the way up and for some reason it was free, I think. I didn't see a deduction from my 250 KWh in the FordPass App.
By the time we went and used the facilities, picked up some stuff for the cabin and got back to the car, we just hit 81%. I think we started charging at around 30%. Charge time was 38 minutes.

Arrived at the cabin with about 45%. I think it was showing about 140 miles of range.

While at the cabin I plugged into 110 using the mobile charger. Although this only charges at about 2.8 mph I figured we could do this since we really don't go very far except local dinners and for a drive up to Hayward and back once each time we stay here. Most of our time is spent on the lake or lounging around the cabin.

I was skeptical about taking the car on this trip because there weren't any fast chargers around or even level 2 chargers but using the 110 brought the car from around 45% when we got there to 99% by the time we left 4 days later. My main goal was to keep 100 miles available to make it back to Eau Claire to the closest fast charger but turns out we were able to make it to Tomah easy.

Turns out there was a motel in Hayward that had two 14-50 outlets they rent for $20 for however long you need it. Even though we would only be there for a couple of hours it was worth the $20 to offset the milage up and back to the cabin (60 miles), so we had extra mileage when we returned if we decided to go anywhere else. We recovered about 50 of the 60 miles doing this.

On the return home we stopped in Tomah for our charge and... ah oh! Plug and Charge didn't work on two of the four chargers I tried. I wasn't too concerned, but a little. I didn't have enough to make it home but maybe back to Eau Claire but didn't like that option.

I saw a Chevy Bolt charging and figured at least that's working. The guy told me an Audi just used the one I was at so tried again and got the pay screen to come on but wanted to see if I could get Plug and Charge to work again.

I called Electrify America and they were very helpful but couldn't get Plug and Charge to work but just started the charge from their end and comped it. Charge time 30 minutes to bring it to 80% from around that 30% range.

There did seem to be an issue with the cable from the charging station being so heavy that she had me hold it in place to the car until the car locked it into position. This seemed to fix the charging issue but not the Plug and Charge.

So, my takeaway from this first road trip is it's all doable. Planning is a must in an EV especially if you're going to remote locations but it's also kind of fun. I used all methods of charging on the trip and they all worked as advertised. I verified the EA chargers were working before I left. I carried three 50' extension cords and only used one. I also had a 30' 14-50 extension cable in case there was a possibility of using 220. One other thing I wish I would have done was get a three prong adapter to 14-50. I may have been able to plug in at the boat shop. They had a couple of three prong outlets for welders on 40 amp breakers which would have relieved all of my range anxiety in just a few hours of charging.

I also learned from the hiccup at the Tomah location that maybe it's not the best idea to drive past a charger when you're stretching your range. I could have stopped in Eau Claire and even though I would have been at 60%-70%, it would have only taken a short time to bring it to 80%.
I could have then probably made it to the charger in Madison if I slowed to the speed limit and then just grabbed a little juice to make it the rest of the way home.

Oh, and 80 mph is not going to give you the same range as 65 or 70 mph. Easy to forget when making the transition from ICE to EV.

On a final note, all of my training over the last 45 years has been to plan ahead for the unexpected.
I know it sounds like a pain in the ass to carry cords and adapters but if you think about it, you can only find gas at gas stations. You can find electric just about everywhere.

Enjoy your Mach E!

 

[Clicker]

I charge mostly at home with the included unit. No problems since delivery in July. Have used 2 fast chargers one EA one Greenlots both worked seamlessly!

 

[ChasingCoral]

I have a reservation for both the Tesla Model Y and the Mach E. Based on test driving the vehicles I like both cars, but for different reasons. I had almost made up my mind to buy the Mach E, but these charging issue threads bricking the car for weeks on end is really giving me pause and making me very nervous. I don't have the luxury of an extra car to tide me over should I encounter this problem. Haven't seen this specific issue on any of the Model Y's (there the discussion is all about build quality) over on the Tesla forums. There seem to be many threads with charging problems with the Mach E. There seem to be both software and hardware issues that keep cropping up. If you are a recent buyer, how did you go about making the choice? I am just thinking aloud and would love to hear if you bought recently and whether this particular issue was a consideration.

Based on estimated delivery date (MY) and production date (Mach E), I am likely to get my car sometime later October or early November.

I have never had a problem with my home EVSE not charging. I have a ClipperCreek that I used for 3 years with my Leaf before the Mach E arrived and it continues to work without a hitch. Yes, I've had a few odd things with the scheduled charges and maximum SOC levels but those have all sorted themselves out.

While I have had to call Electrify America to reboot chargers, I have not ever had to drive away from a DC fast charger in my Mach E without getting the charge I stopped for.

Remember that these forums will have 10x as many complaints and complements.

 

[GoodenoughIsGod]

Most charging problems on the car are badluck which is not common. In my 12k miles no issues.

The rest are those who didn't plan properly on charging stops during their trips.

Try ABRP app, try to map all the route you can imagine and then see how easy it is.

Ask away any questions. I even did glacier national park 5 day trip in the MME, and we drove back to Seattle with only a single charging stop.

And the car Brother, it's beautiful. All other nit picks I have it every car I drive. Buy it and love it.

Those are awesome pics Gautam! Thanks for posting.

 

[RockwallRick]

We have had our car for 8 weeks now and so far no charging issues at home. Just completed a 900 mile road trip and had some issues with one of the EA stations we stopped at but was able to make it to my alternate site and successfully charged there! I even got some free charge at a Harley Dealer which was an interesting experience!! Lol

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