Using FordPass App for public charging

[Al K]

I am new to the EV world. I am planning a long haul trip and want to be certain I know how to use public charging. I loaded the ChargePoint and Electrify America apps and they were straight forward about how to use them. However, I cannot find any straight forward "how to" guide for FordPass. Things like: Do I need to use Apple Wallet like I do for ChargePoint and Electrify America? How do I know my FordPass app is properly setup?

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[hybrid2bev]

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/how-to-enable-plug-charge-in-7-steps.3094/

@Al K

After going through this you can activate the charger by clicking on the View Nearby Chargers.

 

[Mirak]

You don’t need Apple Wallet for FordPass. You have to follow the steps at the link above, which includes adding a payment to your Ford.com wallet.

Once you’re set up over at Ford.com, you can use the app. Just be aware that unless you want to try using your free 500kW at Electrify America, you’re better off using the dedicated EA and ChargePoint apps.

Three reasons: For one, a $4 month membership at EA gives you discounted rates you can’t access through FordPass. For two, the dedicated apps provide much better, real-time charging status updates which is useful for public charging if you step away from the vehicle. FordPass charging data is delayed, if you get it all. My charging status updates disappeared completely with the latest iOS update. For three, it’s easier to activate the correct charger using the dedicated apps. If you’re at a station with four chargers, FP sometimes just lists four identical entries and you can’t tell which to activate. So then you activate and sometimes have to move your car to a different spot.

 

[Al K]

You don’t need Apple Wallet for FordPass. You have to follow the steps at the link above, which includes adding a payment to your Ford.com wallet.

Once you’re set up over at Ford.com, you can use the app. Just be aware that unless you want to try using your free 500kW at Electrify America, you’re better off using the dedicated EA and ChargePoint apps.

Three reasons: For one, a $4 month membership at EA gives you discounted rates you can’t access through FordPass. For two, the dedicated apps provide much better, real-time charging status updates which is useful for public charging if you step away from the vehicle. FordPass charging data is delayed, if you get it all. My charging status updates disappeared completely with the latest iOS update. For three, it’s easier to activate the correct charger using the dedicated apps. If you’re at a station with four chargers, FP sometimes just lists four identical entries and you can’t tell which to activate. So then you activate and sometimes have to move your car to a different spot.

Thank you! This is very helpful. However, I am a bit "thick"... I've added my credit card to the FP app and activated Plug & Charge (P&C). But if I am not at a P&C location, how do I use the FP app to pay for charging at an in network location? I tried this and I got an error message that "card is not accepted".

 

[ChasingCoral]

Thank you! This is very helpful. However, I am a bit "thick"... I've added my credit card to the FP app and activated Plug & Charge (P&C). But if I am not at a P&C location, how do I use the FP app to pay for charging at an in network location? I tried this and I got an error message that "card is not accepted".

What brand charging station did you try? Is it a DC Fast Charger?

 

[Al K]

What brand charging station did you try? Is it a DC Fast Charger?

It was a ChargePoint DC fast charge. Worked fine with their app, but not Ford Pass. Their app had me touch the phone to the screen while holding the Touch ID on the phone. How should FP work?

 

[generaltso]

It was a ChargePoint DC fast charge. Worked fine with their app, but not Ford Pass. Their app had me touch the phone to the screen while holding the Touch ID on the phone. How should FP work?

There‘s no reason to use the FordPass app at a ChargePoint station. Just use the ChargePoint app.

 

[Mirak]

It was a ChargePoint DC fast charge. Worked fine with their app, but not Ford Pass. Their app had me touch the phone to the screen while holding the Touch ID on the phone. How should FP work?

You are mixing two methods. The method you describe is using your ChargePoint card in your Apple Wallet to initiate the charge by tapping it to the charger itself.

If you use FordPass, you go into the FP to locate a charger and initiate it through the app - not the physical charger.

I find the easiest method is to just use the ChargePoint app because FP gives me no advantages with CP and actually comes with the disadvantages i described above. The CP app simply works a lot better.

FordPass is half-baked, and that’s being charitable. Unless you’re trying to use your free kWh at EA, I’d use the charger’s own app instead.

 

[TheVirtualTim]

Al, there are lots of ways to activate a charge session.

FordPass:

One way is to use the FordPass app you already have on your phone. Take a look at this page:

https://owner.ford.com/support/how-tos/ev/what-is-the-ev-fordpass-charging-network.html

Those are the charge vendors that participate in the FordPass network. You can use the FordPass app to activate charging at those stations without need for other apps.

To do it, you do have to make sure you activate the Ford Connected Services and add a credit card to your FordPass Charging Network account.

Once that is set up you can also enable Plug & Charge in the FordPass app. This only works at Electrify America stations and ... it mentions Greenlots supports it but I haven't encountered a Greenlots that uses Plug & Charge (yet).

For other participating in-network vendors, you can launch FordPass and navigate to:

Vehicle -> Manage EV -> FordPass Charing Network -> View Nearby Chargers.

It should present you with a list of nearby charging locations. Pick a location and it should show the list of charge stations. Pick your station (e.g. using the name or number printed on the station) and you can activate the charge session and it will bill to the card on your FordPass account.



Electrify America:

Your car would have come with 250kW of free charging at EA and supports Plug & Charge ... so at EA you don't need anything at all. But you do have to setup Ford Connected Services (via website) and have it enabled via the FordPass app or it wont work. Also a credit card has to be on-file for your account so they can bill you for any charging beyond the free stuff. That free EA charge credit via FordPass ONLY works at Electrify America stations ... no other stations in the Ford Charging Network offer the free credit (when I got my car I thought any "in network" station participated in the credits ... that turned out to be wrong).

But be aware ... the rate you are charged may change depending on how you activate the charger.

Electrify America has three levels... you can either:

a - not have a membership (swipe a credit card and pay full price)
b - having the free "Pass" membership. You still pay full price but you have a credit card on file so you don't need to use a card to activate the charger.
c - have the "Pass+" membership at $4/month. You pay a reduced rate of about 25% off. A single charge for a non Pass+ member is usually 43¢/kW. If you charge from 10% to 80% full that's 70% of your usable 88kW ... or 61.6 (62 kW) x .43 = $26.66. At the Pass+ member rate it's 31¢/kW so the charge would be $19.22 ... $7.44 less. So just that one charge already would pay back the $4/month membership rate (and there is no minimum membership term. You can sign up, do the trip, then cancel once you return home.)

I think EA does have you pre-load your membership account with some dollar amount in charge credits. So I think you are pre-paying for blocks of charge credits.

If you use FordPass to activate the charge ... you would be treated as a non-member (I hope Ford can work with EA to make an arrangement that changes that at some point in the future). I think the convenience of Plug & Charge at EA means you give up the membership savings.


Others:

Other options might include swiping a credit card or using the charge networks own app to activate charging. If that app uses the Apple Wallet then that would be another option (but it isn't required). There is typically an in-app method to activate a specific charge session. That varies by app ... but I've seen methods where the phone acts as an RFID tag. I've seen methods where you use the app to scan a QR code on the charger. I've seen methods where either type in the name/number (or pick it off a menu if it knows where you area) to start the charge session.


BTW, you might want to download "A Better Route Planner" https://abetterrouteplanner.com Rather than just finding charge stations, they use data about your car's range, charging curve, etc. to plan out the charging stops to minimize the overall travel time. Since the car can charge faster when the battery is less full and charge rate slows down over time ... the total trip time is often shorter if you plan more frequent stops for shorter charge sessions at each stop. It's fairly clever at optimizing the charge strategy for a trip.

 

[dbsb3233]

I find the easiest method is to just use the ChargePoint app because FP gives me no advantages with CP and actually comes with the disadvantages i described above. The CP app simply works a lot better.

Agreed. FordPass is intended to be a middleman consolidator of multiple charging networks to make it easier, but I actually find it harder than just using the charging network's own app (EA, CP, etc). Going through FP just adds technical complexity to process, and until they get all this working better, adding technical complexity isn't a good thing.

The EA and CP apps have worked very well for me, and are easy to use. Easier than FP. It's no big deal having a few more apps on my phone. I already have over 100.

 

[Al K]

There‘s no reason to use the FordPass app at a ChargePoint station. Just use the ChargePoint app.

OK, but I was just using it as an example. What about networks other than ChargePoint and EA?

 

[generaltso]

OK, but I was just using it as an example. What about networks other than ChargePoint and EA?

Still no reason to use the FordPass app. The only reason to use it (currently) is to use your free kWhs at an EA station.

 

[ChasingCoral]

There‘s no reason to use the FordPass app at a ChargePoint station. Just use the ChargePoint app.

ChargePoint is also an oddity as they don't own many of their stations. Many businesses have ChargePoint install and operate chargers but these are owned and often maintained by the business.

 

[ChasingCoral]

Still no reason to use the FordPass app. The only reason to use it (currently) is to use your free kWhs at an EA station.

Actually, there are a few reasons to use the FordPass app:

• Access your free charging
• Use Plug & Charge
• Avoid using other apps

That said, until Plug & Charge works faster and is more universal (no P&C at ChargePoint), you are probably better off using the company apps. That is certainly the case for EA where a Pass+ membership saves you money and that discount isn't available using FordPass.

To use your FordPass app, do not use the charging company's app. You must initiate charging either through P&C or by going into the FordPass app and activating the station. If you start by pressing buttons on the station or using the charging company's app, you will not be able to use FordPass.

 

[headless]

I just was on a 750 mile trip with the Mach E. We used our free Ford Pass 250kW without a hitch. Always plan your trip through the Ford navigation. If you love Waze, like me, just run it in the background on your phone and you get the warnings. When we went to the DC chargers (electrify america) at either Sheetz gas stations or Walmart, we simply plugged in the charger and the charger, itself, connected to the Ford Pass app on the phone and authorized the charging. I hit the 'start' button, and it was good to go.

Oh, if you drive 'fast', the mileage will drop off faster and the navi will re-route you to a closer charging station. No concerns with that.

We had to charge a total of 5 or 6 times on the trip and it worked flawlessly each time. As we know, Ford gives us very little information about this, but luckily, it's super easy.

Any questions, feel free to ask.

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