1760 mile trip - 0 EA charging

[On the Road with Ralph]

am I missing something?

YES! You do not get membership pricing when using FordPass; you are paying full rate. The cost difference can be significant.

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[On the Road with Ralph]

I don’t know if anyone else had this experience, but I had to disable plug and charge via FordPass. Fordpass wouldn’t recognize my membership with EA, and was charging retail instead of membership prices. After disabling plug and charge since via FordPass and using the charge appropriate app, I now get accurate pricing.

This is true for everyone and has been true since the first Mach-E pulled up to an EA station. Ford must make something on the transaction.

 

[On the Road with Ralph]

How exactly does their membership work? The pricing isnt transparent like Tesla. I want to know the membership kwh price for stations before hand.

EA is the worst company in America. The way it hides the cost per kW/h - even in the app - is inexcusable. EV charging companies should have the same legal requirement as gas stations do - to clearly post the cost in such a way that it is clearly readable before arriving at the “pump.”

 

[Robert1380]

You can pay for all accounts through your FordPass app. This is true for Tesla, EA, EVGo, ChargePoint.

Im not sure why you really need any other app or membership. I drove Teslas for 9 years and their app was great but it’s nice having all info from different chargers (including home) in the history of the FordPass app.

am I missing something?

Wow. I wasn’t aware you could do it from the Ford app alone. Thanks man.

 

[On the Road with Ralph]

Wow. I wasn’t aware you could do it from the Ford app alone. Thanks man

As has been previously pointed out, yeah you can pay using the Ford app, but you will be paying the HIGHEST possible price, rather than the membership rate. The difference on all the major networks is significant - 25% or more.

 

[ScottC]

As has been previously pointed out, yeah you can pay using the Ford app, but you will be paying the HIGHEST possible price, rather than the membership rate. The difference on all the major networks is significant - 25% or more.

all true. I pay .avg .50 at Tesla in Grass Valley via FordApp. 90% of the time I’m charging at home…. Tesla subscription is $14.11/mo w tax which works out to say 140kW of charging to break even.

I don’t quite use it enough to warrant yet another subscription but run the numbers and that will help make your decision.

 

[CjPat]

Same here. I’ve taken several long trips and found Tesla charging to be seamless and quick. There were four Lifhtings, including me, at one of my Tesla stops, we were all joking at how many Teslas were waiting for an open charger.
I wish there was a way to change the Ford Nav App to route to only Tesla charge points.

 

[Robert1380]

Man this is a bit of learning curve.

 

[On the Road with Ralph]

I don’t quite use it enough to warrant yet another subscription but run the numbers and that will help make your decision.

I just finished my 12th EV trip of more than 1500 miles and currently have nearly 300 DCFC charging sessions. Trust me, I figured out the math of this a LONG time ago.

 

[astrand1]

For a couple years I have put up with the abysmal service delivered by the Electrify America network. Sure, I had over 160 billed sessions in eight different states, but that didn't include probably 100 failed sessions or arrivals at a station where I was unable to get a charge.

So, when I set off this week on my 12th EV journey of more than 1500 miles in my SR Pro, I was determined to see if I could do it without ever using an EA station. My starting point was NW Arkansas, to Canton (GA), side trip to Waynesville (NC), then to St. Augustine and Orlando (FL), and finally arriving in Fort Lauderdale (FL).

I made my trip with 11 charging stops, plus one overnight hotel charge - ALL USING THE TESLA NETWORK (including the hotel destination charger).

Was it perfect? No. Late at night, in Florence (AL), I was unable to get a charge at a relatively new Tesla Supercharger station with v4 dispensers, despite trying four different units. All gave me a communications error. But at every other stop it was painless and I never encountered a Tesla location where there were not MANY open charging spots. I also had the opportunity to use a few v4 dispensers that could deploy the CCS adapter with the NACS plug. On the others, I used my A2Z adapter.

I am not enamored with the idea of paying Elon Musk for charging, but the world is imperfect and I like that Superchargers are generally at good locations, well maintained, plentiful in number, and (with a Tesla membership) significantly cheaper than EA's crappy stations.

This experience has me seriously rethinking my EA Pass+ membership.

I’ve been across the country 3 times now and I almost always use SC. They just work and the charging speed seems to be very consistent. As another guy said I only use the memberships when I travel. Once I get to the other end I turn it off as I have level 2 at my house in Michigan and charging at the place I stay at in LA so no reason to keep paying for the membership. And yes I’ve also found SC to be cheaper than EA in almost every situation.

 

[K6CCC]

EA is the worst company in America. The way it hides the cost per kW/h - even in the app - is inexcusable. EV charging companies should have the same legal requirement as gas stations do - to clearly post the cost in such a way that it is clearly readable before arriving at the “pump.”

What do you mean "it hides the cost"? Below are two screen captures for charging at the same EA station near my house (never used it - it's almost always full). On the left is as seen in FordPass and on the right is from the EA app. How is that hiding the price? Note further that without an EA paid subscription, I am shown the same price on both FordPass and the EA app (Ford is not marking it up - unless they get a bulk discount price from EA). I do note that the idle fee is different between the two app - can't explain that one. I'm not trying to defend EA, but don't call them out for failing to quote pricing when in fact they do.
In full disclosure, I have never used an EA charging station, so have zero personal experience with EA. I do have their app loaded and created an account, but do not have a paid subscription with them.

 

[bmwhitetx]

I don’t know if anyone else had this experience, but I had to disable plug and charge via FordPass. Fordpass wouldn’t recognize my membership with EA, and was charging retail instead of membership prices. After disabling plug and charge since via FordPass and using the charge appropriate app, I now get accurate pricing.

Correct. FordPass does not recognize membership pricing. You pay full price. You have to activate in the EA or Tesla app, then plug in. Or disable Plug & Charge.

Ford is aware of this and has surveyed if folks would like charging membership recognition in FordPass. But that was over a year ago. I'm guessing it was deemed not worthy of them to implement.

 

[K6CCC]

Now I am going to grumble about EA. I have a desert trip planned for tomorrow that will be 650 - 700 miles. So obviously several DC charging stops along the way. One of those stops is planned in Baker, Calif. which has a large Tesla SC installation, but is not compatible with our trucks Right next to the Tesla SC is an EA station with 12 stalls. Another one of my planned stops is in Fenner, Calif. (I-40 about 40 miles west of Needles, Calif). That has a 7 stall EA station. Neither of these locations has any alternative other than a 2 stall 50 KW EVgo station in Baker, and level 2 charging in Goffs (10 miles east of Fenner). I have been checking availability in both FordPass and the EA app at both of those stations at least once per day (usually more) for the past several weeks. Both have always had stalls available. A day or two ago, the Fenner station changed to "All chargers at this station are currently unavailable." Yesterday afternoon, the Baker station also is reporting all chargers unavailable. The Fenner station outage is not that much of a problem as i will be going to Needles (or at least close) and there are several Tesla and EA fast chargers available. However the Baker outage is a problem as it would make an about 300 mile leg between charges including 50 miles of dirt road and all of it in the middle of nowhere. If I can't charge in Baker, I will have to change the second part of the trip. Kind of a bummer.

I don't know what is going on with those two stations, but thier timing sucks for me.

 

[bmwhitetx]

I don't know what is going on with those two stations, but thier timing sucks for me.

Plugshare note on Fenner:
Electrify America Announcement
Beginning Thursday, May 15, 2025, the chargers at this location will be temporarily unavailable as we work on replacing legacy equipment to the newest generation of chargers. Be sure to check the Electrify America app for the latest availability. Thank you for your patience as we work to have these back online as quickly as possible!

The Baker EA had two positive check-ins yesterday.

 

[Oafy44]

Hey guys. Pardon the dumb question but I literally picked up my new Lightning day before yesterday and know very little regarding the charging on this vehicle. I was told that they would go into detail and answer any questions at delivery but the kid who delivered the truck was a new employee with 3 months on and knew absolutely nothing about the truck. Was a joke.
So reading your post I wanted to ask if you have to have the membership you mentioned in order to even use the Tesla or other charge sites, or can you just pull in and hook up and enter your credit card info?

Thanks guys.

Fords not perfect but has done a really good job since 22’ trying to build their ecosystem while relying on other networks. If you use the ford pass set up and have your credit card - it really is mostly plug and play . Most people sign up for Tesla when going on a long road trip because it’s cheaper and more readily available (vs not signing up and paying full rate ) but that is even starting to change with how many quality charging stations are coming on line.
I suggest if you have a day or so to try it out. That’s what did- and then you get the hang of it and you realize it’s easier and a lot more chargers closer to you than you realize. And don’t be afraid. It’s a learning curve. But once you do it and gain some confidence you will wonder why more people don’t have a lightning.

I’ve had probably 20 trucks in my lifetime - from raptors / to f450s. I am on my second lightning because I think it’s one of the best trucks I’ve had. And am excited when the next version comes out and we can charge in half the time or even less

congrats on the new truck !

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