DC Charging Fault 151 miles away from home

[bobrosco]

I've had an overall positive experience with my F150L, but yesterday was not my favorite EV experience.

I was making a 204 mile trip to a meeting in the Dallas area and had charged to about 94% the night before leaving (charged to 90%, forgot until shortly before leaving and added what I could on the FCSP at 80A). I made it without event until about 50 miles from my destination and sitting at 25% SOC, stopping at an EA DC fast charger. Plugged in like I've done successfully several times in the past and noticed the orange color ring next to the charging port. After a moment, the charger's display noted and error and asked to disconnect and try again. On the truck's instrument cluster it noted a "charging fault".

I unplugged, tried again in several different ways to activate the charging session via the Ford app, EA app. I next called EA support and a friendly rep tried several different ways to initiate the charging session and restarted two separate chargers (tried all 4 chargers there). A EV had successfully charged shortly before me and another EV successfully charged on a charger I had been unable to after, so the chargers weren't at fault.

I next called Ford's Lightning team and another rep looked for issues and sent me to the "battery team", who wasn't able to do anything other than tell me I needed to take it to a dealer for service. I can't be upset there's nothing they can do remotely, but I was really hoping for a remote reboot that would've cleared a software issue (even though it's probably not).

So I'm about an hour's drive to my meeting, unable to fast charge, and 151 miles from home. There really wasn't any Level 2 chargers nearby without heading another 60 mile roundtrip distance away from home, and no Level 2 near my meeting. I looked on PlugShare, EVgo, ABRP, ChargePoint, Blink and Chargeway. If I missed any, I'd be curious to know.

I did note there was a Ford dealership about 1 mile from me, but no charger was listed. It was 7:45am, so they hadn't opened officially yet, but I drove into their lot and was greeted by a service rep who let me know they did a have a charger onsite I was welcome to use. I was pretty happy in that moment, but less happy after I discovered it was putting out a whopping 5kw. I was able to connect to the dealership guest wifi and do my meeting remotely, had Whataburger delivered for lunch, and sat in a/c comfort for a solid 8+ hours. The staff at the dealership couldn't have been more accommodating, but it's not my dream to spend my day in a Ford dealership. I did the math about 40 times during my wait, and convinced myself at 59% I could make it home and still be able to have my a/c going with a tiny cushion.

I ventured out at 59% and drafted as many 18-wheelers going 65mph as I could on the interstate, and stuck to 55mph on the 2 lane highways, moving over on the shoulder to let people pass (more the 30 times getting friendly thank you waves or light flashes before I stopped counting). I did have a couple Level 2 chargers about 15 miles short of my house if I was really not going to make it, but for the last 25 miles or so I was feeling good about it and went up to 70mph again. I made it home with 4% to spare.

There was definitely an intial "Oh #!@*&%" moment when I realized I wasn't going to be fast charging, but I hope this helps someone in the future if you're in a similar situation.

I have an appointment Monday morning with my local dealership to dive into the diagnostics. I'll keep you posted.

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[bobrosco]

Some photos watching the range remaining become bigger than the distance remaining.

The final charging info.

 

[RickLightning]

Did you just get a charging fault message? If so, that in fact can be caused by a bad charger, or the connection. Or did you get other messages?

Prior to going to the dealer, can you try to DC fast charge again? All of your attempts at that location appear to not have involved the bolded step below, the vehicle being off for 5 minutes at least.

On the Mach-E forum, a procedure has been posted to follow (credit Mach-E forum member Mach-Lee, who has made invaluable contributions such as this one). In short, the vehicle can reset, and then successfully DC fast charge, if the procedure is followed (and if it wasn't due to an internal issue). I am posting it below:

If you were just charging your Mach-E and got these error messages:

• Powertrain Malfunction / Reduced Power
• High-Voltage Battery Warning
• Service vehicle soon

Please follow the steps below to reset your car before taking it to your dealer. The EVSE/charger you were using may have cause this error.

Powertrain / High Voltage Reset:

Perform steps exactly in this order.

1. Unplug the charger from the vehicle.
2. Turn OFF the vehicle completely.
3. Open and close the driver's door.
4. All screens should go black.
5. Do not open or close any doors during the waiting period. You may sit inside the car if you don't touch anything.
6. WAIT A MINIMUM OF 5 MINUTES with the car unplugged and completely off (10 min recommended).
7. Press the brake and start the car. Observe if any error messages are still present in the instrument cluster after restarting.

If the error messages are gone, then they were likely a glitch caused by a charging fault, try again. You only need to take your car to the dealer if the "Service Vehicle Soon" message persists after the reset procedure was carried out correctly.

Second Charging Attempt:

1. Start the car and verify no error messages are shown on the display (see above for reset).
2. Authorize the charger if necessary (DC or public charging).
3. Insert the charger plug FULLY until it CLICKS with a firm push.
4. Immediately observe the charging indicator ring lights and verify they light up BLUE and begin pulsing.
5. If the indicator lights do not light up blue or turn RED, there is still a problem with the charging station or your car.
6. Move the car to a different charger, perform the above powertrain reset procedure again, and try charging again.

NOTE: The vehicle must be reset after each failed charging attempt that generates a powertrain fault.


Explanation: Certain charging stations or EVSEs can produce errors that cause the Mach-E to enter a "HV battery disabled" state. This state can only be cleared if the vehicle is unplugged and completely powered down for at least 5 minutes. These errors may be caused by a faulty EVSE, incompatible DC charging station, an incomplete plug connection, or failed HV components on the Mach-E. Fiddling with the gear shift knob without pressing the brake pedal can also cause a powertrain fault if you have outdated gear shifter software.

The fault could be with a particular EVSE, it may have a communication issue that requires a firmware update or replacement to solve. An OBCC module update may be required from your dealer to solve DC charging station compatibility issues.

 

[cdherman]

This whole thread exposes why we cannot expect every average Joe to accept a BEV just yet. Ford, EA etc etc need to get their sh*t together. That reset procedure is crazy. There needs to be a process akin to Ctrl-Alt-del if you know what I mean!

 

[TaxmanHog]

At least update the manual .....

 

[RickLightning]

This whole thread exposes why we cannot expect every average Joe to accept a BEV just yet. Ford, EA etc etc need to get their sh*t together. That reset procedure is crazy. There needs to be a process akin to Ctrl-Alt-del if you know what I mean!

Let's be clear on something.

1) That's not Ford's procedure. A Mach-E owner came up with it.

2) If you read the procedure, if someone had the issue, came home, turned off the vehicle and went to bed, that's basically the procedure. It's basically "power off and walk away".

 

[Maxx]

If this does not get fixed, there will be more pressure on automakers for higher and higher range EVs. And if battery tech evolves to support that, it will result in less demand on DCFC. That will push them to have less of them with an increase electricity prices which will push sales of even higher range EVs,……. and the spiral continues. Of course it will all depends on higher density batteries or alternative tech coming to market.

I never liked the idea of owning a Tesla but a closed system is starting to sound a bit attractive now.

 

[TaxmanHog]

Let's be clear on something.

1) That's not Ford's procedure. A Mach-E owner came up with it.

2) If you read the procedure, if someone had the issue, came home, turned off the vehicle and went to bed, that's basically the procedure. It's basically "power off and walk away".

That's important to know......

The closest remedy related to charging errors when using the FMC are in the 2022 manual advising the system will retry up to four times before showing a red "indicator".

 

[bobrosco]

Took it to a local L3 charger, experienced the same result. This time took some photos to go along with it.

Tried the 10 minute power off this time and had the same result.

I was able to move to a L2 public charger adjacent and it connected and began charging fine, just like at home. Seems to confirm just a DC problem.

 

[GDN]

DFW is still a bit of an island for CCS DCFC - you were at one of the few with EA. You were still 60 miles from me, but I do have a 48 amp Tesla WC with a Tesla Tap. Would be happy to help anyone in an emergency, as I know others are. I get almost 11 kW out of it.

Was the dealer you found booked in the service department? No way they could maybe at least pull codes and give you some insight? or just ensuring you could get back home was your primary focus? The service manager can look up your VIN and see all codes your truck set and uploads to the clouds. He could do that without even interrupting a mechanic.

 

[VA Vikes Fan]

bobrosco, sorry to hear this. I had a very similar experience to your own on my first day of ownership bringing my Lightning home from the dealership. The truck would charge on Level 2 chargers, but not on Level 3 fast chargers. In my case, there was an issue with the charging port lock. The Ford dealership with which we left the truck had to replace the charging port. Good luck!

 

[bobrosco]

DFW is still a bit of an island for CCS DCFC - you were at one of the few with EA. You were still 60 miles from me, but I do have a 48 amp Tesla WC with a Tesla Tap. Would be happy to help anyone in an emergency, as I know others are. I get almost 11 kW out of it.

Was the dealer you found booked in the service department? No way they could maybe at least pull codes and give you some insight? or just ensuring you could get back home was your primary focus? The service manager can look up your VIN and see all codes your truck set and uploads to the clouds. He could do that without even interrupting a mechanic.

The service manager(?) did offer to have me leave it for service, but he said they were backed “a few days”. He did check a few times throughout the day to make sure I was still charging.

Thanks for the offer on charging, hopefully I’ll never need it. Same stands if you’re in College Station.

 

[bobrosco]

Got the truck back today. The fault was with the actuator to hold in the connector during DCFC.


A quick search with the part number and it’s only about a $40 part. Anyone know how complex the process is to replace it? I wonder if it it could be a DIY process if you were on a longer trip if it had to be

I had a loner ‘23 F150 STX. Amazing how different the ride quality is between the Lightning and ICE F150s.

 

[richl025]

@bobrosco - your situation sounds a lot like mine ( https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...fy-america-fast-charger-not-connecting.16549/ 0 ) - I didnt find your thread when searching but someone else pointed it out to me. I know it's only been a week but has replacing that actuator fixed your problem?

 

[bobrosco]

@bobrosco - your situation sounds a lot like mine ( https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...fy-america-fast-charger-not-connecting.16549/ 0 ) - I didnt find your thread when searching but someone else pointed it out to me. I know it's only been a week but has replacing that actuator fixed your problem?

Sure did.

It ended up being the actuator that “locks” the DC connector. Back to normal.

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