Tips for improving the charging experience (Electrify America)

TL;DR
Use Plug & Charge every time. Yes, it doesn't allow use of the Electrify America Pass+ discount plan, but it doesn't matter. Plug & Charge takes care of the initiation handshake and greatly improves the experience. A few extra bucks per session is well worth the luxury of having the chargers fire up right away.

Plug & Charge setup:

• Log into your Ford account, go to Connected Services, add a credit card for payment
• Open the FordPass app, select vehicle, Blue Oval Charge Network, Plug & Charge, enable the toggle.

Planning a trip:

• Use A Better Route Planner and Plugshare to plot fast charge stations, sort by 50 kW +, but always aim for 150 kW Electrify America stations. Everything else is minor league.
• Read recent check-ins to determine bad charging units in advance.

Navigation:

• The Ford navigation system will plot charge stops and give estimates on when to leave for the next session.
• If you have the latest software update the Ford navigation will pre-condition the battery en-route. This speeds up the charge time.

Charging:

• Do a quick visual inspection for disabled chargers before parking. Keep in mind logistics of getting the cable to the fender charge port.
• Roll up and plug in the truck, it should start up after 5-60 seconds (alternative below). Leave the truck running in case you need to move it.
• It takes a minute for the charge rate (kW) to pop up on the screen. Make sure to take a quick look.
• Charge to 80% tops, ideally stop charging and move on whenever it drops below 130 kW. If you have chargers every 120+ miles this should be no problem.
• You will likely be charging to ~65% and draining to 10-20% most of the time. This takes about 27 minutes in my experience.
• Charge more for headwinds, elevation, cold weather, etc.
• Monitor the session via app or visually on the charger display since it could stop midway.

*Alternative: If Blue Oval Plug & Charge is not set up or not working, open the EA app before plugging in, select station and charger (100100-01 = charger #1), swipe to start the charger, plug in. The order of operations is crucial.

Troubleshooting:

• 30 kW = bad cooling loop, move to another charger
• <80 kW in warm weather in the 20-70% range means the charger is probably bad
• Trouble initiating: try holding the top of the plug flush to the truck while starting the charge
• EA app says you are still charging at the previous location: log out and force quit app

Misc:

• If your battery buffer seems low, slow down. Every 5 mph above 60 mph equates to a ton of extra drag. Efficiency falls off a cliff at 80 mph.
• If you really get into a pinch, RV parks typically have 50A outlets. This is around 8% per hour charge.
• A Tesla to J1772 adapter will allow you to overnight charge at many hotels across the US (they do not work on Superchargers)
• AirBNB has an EV charger filter but I have found it is unreliable. Hosts are also clueless. More often than not their "EV Charger" is a 120V outlet 30 feet from the parking space
• It doesn't hurt to have apps pre-downloaded for other networks (Chargepoint, EVGo, Francis Energy, Greenlots). They should never be your first choice though on a long trip.

Hope this helps. It seems like a lot, but once you get the gist of it the process is pretty simple. I've been driving on the public networks for three years now and would have killed for Plug & Charge in my past vehicles. If you have other tips, please add them!

Great info overall!

Money may not matter to you, but it does to me. Let's assume you come in at 20% battery with a 131kW battery, and charge to 80%. That's 60% of 131 or 78.6kW. With 10% loss from the EVSE to the car, that's 87.3kW that I need.

Under the new rates, regular EA will be 48 cents, so this charge would be $41.92 plus tax. Under Pass+ it would be $31.44 plus tax. That's a difference of $10.48, plus tax per stop.

Would you put 30 gallons in your gas F-150 at $3.50 a gallon, instead of paying $3.15 a gallon?

EA Pass+ is $4 a month. You can upgrade, then downgrade right away, and it will take effect in 30 days. I just showed you how that $4 is eaten up by a fraction of the first charge.

In states that EA charges by the minute (about a dozen), the math is a bit different, but the relationship is the same - Pass+ is a big savings.

1) Pull up to the EA charger.
2) Open EA app, find charger, and activate it.
3) Plug in. Some disable Plug and Charge before doing this, but it's not necessary.

Ford had a $50 per year plan that gave the EA discount, but it wasn't working right, so they pulled it. It MAY roll out again soon. If you travel a lot, or prefer Plug and Charge, then when it rolls out sign up.


Set the charger as a destination in the Ford Nav, which will enable the precondition of the battery (from 3.6.2) starting 30km (18.6 miles) from the charger. Lower the heat volume if you can.

When you charge in the winter, turn off the cabin heat for the first 10 to 15 minutes, which allows the battery to pull all the heat, and up your charging speed.

While there may be a 50amp circuit at an RV park, the Ford Mobile Charger will only pull 30 amps. That's 7.2kW from the outlet, and around 6.2 to the truck. A 131kWh battery will charge about 4.7 per hour, the 98kWh battery will charge 6.3% per hour.

I think you meant that PlugShare has a hotel filter (vs. EV filter). Yes, many are in it. You can add in the Tesla destination plug to make sure you see those (if you have the adapter). There are also some hotel chains that have now added EV charging as a filter to their apps or websites. Hilton now has it (I was vocal a few years back complaining they didn't). Others do also. I always read the write-ups carefully in PlugShare for hotels, because as you state the staff often is totally clueless.

RickLightning said:

Great info overall!

Money may not matter to you, but it does to me. Let's assume you come in at 20% battery with a 131kW battery, and charge to 80%. That's 60% of 131 or 78.6kW. With 10% loss from the EVSE to the car, that's 87.3kW that I need.

Under the new rates, regular EA will be 48 cents, so this charge would be $41.92 plus tax. Under Pass+ it would be $31.44 plus tax. That's a difference of $10.48, plus tax per stop.

Would you put 30 gallons in your gas F-150 at $3.50 a gallon, instead of paying $3.15 a gallon?

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Thanks

Getting to plug in and immediately relax is a luxury that greatly reduces the tedium of public charging. In my usage it might add up to $100-200 a year. YMMV but in my experience it dramatically improves my (and especially my family's) enjoyment of electric vehicles.

RickLightning said:

While there may be a 50amp circuit at an RV park, the Ford Mobile Charger will only pull 30 amps. That's 7.2kW from the outlet, and around 6.2 to the truck. A 131kWh battery will charge about 4.7 per hour, the 98kWh battery will charge 6.3% per hour.

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Maybe the Grizzl-e Mini would be a good choice for those that do this often. I hope to never stop at an RV park for a "quick charge" in the Lightning!

RickLightning said:

I think you meant that PlugShare has a hotel filter (vs. EV filter). Yes, many are in it. You can add in the Tesla destination plug to make sure you see those (if you have the adapter). There are also some hotel chains that have now added EV charging as a filter to their apps or websites. Hilton now has it (I was vocal a few years back complaining they didn't). Others do also. I always read the write-ups carefully in PlugShare for hotels, because as you state the staff often is totally clueless.

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Actually meant AirBNB (corrected the post), but that is a good point about the Plugshare hotel filter.

I agree, I love plug and charge!

Since EA chargers are always down or full, I go to the more common & accessible EVGo and pay even more money!

At $0.59/kWh EVGo also is true plug and charge by signing up for AutoCharge+.

EVGo chargers are newer, faster and offer a much less stressful experience than EA.

The only time I've been unable to charge at an EA station, Plug & Charge wouldn't have worked either. The only extra step with the EA app is to swipe the screen to initiate the charge after you plug in, and you can avoid that if you have EA added to your wallet and hold your phone near the card reader. If Ford could properly figure out how to have Pass+ work via Plug & Charge then I'd use the Ford app but until then the one extra step is more than worth using the EA app rather then Plug & Charge.

metroshot said:

I agree, I love plug and charge!

Since EA chargers are always down or full, I go to the more common & accessible EVGo and pay even more money!

At $0.59/kWh EVGo also is true plug and charge by signing up for AutoCharge+.

EVGo chargers are newer, faster and offer a much less stressful experience than EA.

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Yup, I just did the trial run on EVgo with Autocharge+ yesterday and it was sweet to have the Tesla experience in Lightning. I wouldn’t be surprised if Electrify America get that to work as well. Until then using one app (Ford Pass) vs other (EA) is not that big of a difference for me. After my Ford credit runs out, I will start using EA app until either Ford or EA has a true plug and charge solution.

p.s. The EVgo charger I tried this at was $.35/min with a Max speed of 27 KW which would be very expensive if I really needed to charge. I got only 2 KW juice for two trial sessions but even though the record of it shows on my account, I was not charged for it.

Maxx said:

I wouldn’t be surprised if Electrify America get that to work as well. Until then using one app (Ford Pass) vs other (EA) is not that big of a difference for me. After my Ford credit runs out, I will start using EA app until either Ford or EA has a true plug and charge solution.

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I was approached by a couple of EA survey takers in Raleigh the other day. They were asking about quality experience using the app to activate EA chargers and what method I had used to activate my successful!!! charging session. When I answered, "Plug & Charge", there was no place in their survey to accept that as an answer. So, I said, second choice is using the NFC reader from Apple Wallet. I told them that the app was a distant third choice and it would be an emergency if I ever even tried the card reader.

As with many things YMMV. I only have intermittent luck with plug and charge, and more success with the EA app. I keep plug and charge turned on in case the EA app bugs out and has issues (doesn't show disconnected from my last session). That has saved me one so far.

Interesting to hear different experiences regarding P&C vs RFID success rates, but maybe the variety of Electrify America hardware in use across different regions explains it.

My 100+ CCS charges prior to the Lightning were a real mixed bag, 75% frustrating. The last 10 or so using P&C were 100% flawless, truly Tesla-level - which is saying a lot! NFC didn't work out for me either, too many broken readers, but in fairness it's been over a year since I tried that method.

This past weekend my wife and I took a 1000 ish mile road trip. We specifically took her Tesla just so we didn't have to deal with EA charging the Lightning. My last several trips with EA +pass have been a nightmare and I've had EVs for 8/9 years now. Im somewhat used to some bullshit charging, but the EA +pass is just a disaster. You have to use it though as it cost way too much to charge without it. It's really unfortunate because the Lightning is the better vehicle for trips. I just can't standing calling the EA customer support line another time.

I do agree the Ford Connect -> EA plug and charge dose work ok. Its no tesla experience, but a step forward for sure. On a few occasions it's been the only way I could get EA chargers to go. But I can't leave that enabled as it causes significant problems when trying to use the EA +pass.

It's completely ridiculous that the Ford Plug and Charge doesn't give you the Pass+ rate if you are a member. I only use the EA app for this reason. I've tried the RFID on the station a few times and it's never worked.

I've charged at 13 different EA sites, plus one or two repeats, and Plug and Charge has worked only ONCE, the most recent time. I have never changed any settings after setting up P&C before I picked up the truck.

Replika said:

*Alternative: If Blue Oval Plug & Charge is not set up or not working, open the EA app before plugging in, select station and charger (100100-01 = charger #1), swipe to start the charger, plug in. The order of operations is crucial.

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This is crucial advice. Never plug in before starting the charge in the app because that will increase the risk of handshake failure. I think the communications protocol times out if too much time elapses between plugging in and starting the charge with the app or card reader. This is good advice for any vehicle, not just Ford vehicles.

Alternatively, you can use the EA app in Android Auto or Carplay to initiate the charge through your vehicle's screen before you even exit your vehicle.

I would highly recommend avoiding use of the card readers for skimming/security reasons and because of a higher rate of charge initiation failure.

LightningShow said:

It's completely ridiculous that the Ford Plug and Charge doesn't give you the Pass+ rate if you are a member. I only use the EA app for this reason. I've tried the RFID on the station a few times and it's never worked.

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I agree. I suspect that Ford is unwilling to cede subscription revenue to EA (or vice versa), especially if Ford plans to reintroduce its FordPass subscription plan.

RickLightning said:

1) Pull up to the EA charger.
2) Open EA app, find charger, and activate it.
3) Plug in. Some disable Plug and Charge before doing this, but it's not necessary.

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This x 100 …. I use EA chargers all the time and don’t like wasting money.. The key here is to activate the charger on the EA app before plugging in. I don’t have plug and charge disabled in case I’m in an area with absolutely no cell service .

0.0 issues .

And like Vandy said before the trick is to never plug in before you enable the charger in the EA app .. I’m very happy to open an app and swipe to save money.