Ford App Annoyance

[carys98]

I recently encountered another annoyance with the Ford App. I don’t have a regular commute and I’m on a time of use plan so I have my truck set to charge to 80% between 11 pm and 6 am.

A couple of weeks ago I was going out of town so the night before I used the app to charge to 100%. I didn’t notice at the time but it started immediately instead of waiting until 11.

I decided to try to solve the problem by setting my charger to only charge during my TOU rate.

Well I’ve got another trip tomorrow so when I came in a few minutes ago I plugged in and then tried to set the one time charge in the app. Because my charger is not allowing a charge right now the option to set a one time charge is not available. It’s also not available if the truck is not plugged into a charger. I had to go to the truck and do it from the center screen.

This is a pretty common configuration so it would be great if we could get that fixed. @Ford Motor Company @christooma

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[TaxmanHog]

Because of selecting 100% the truck ignores time limits because it's not smart enough to figure out if it can complete within the TOU time frames, this would also occur if you have a departure time event set to get the cabin/HVB ready for the next days long drive.

Options:
Set to 95% SOC maximum
Departure time window set the master switch OFF


Assuming you are getting up the next day early and still inside your TOU window:

Click to charge to 100% or revise the location SOC max value to 100%, also
Activate a departure time master switch ON, at the same time so that a portion of the energy goes to (warming HVB in the winter) or cooling it in extreme hot climates.

Yes a lot of rigmarole to achieve what programmers could make happen with a few smarts....

 

[unshortness]

So I know this isn't for everyone, but I do all the charge scheduling through Home Assistant and my Wallbox Pulsar Plus EVSE.

I have an integration in Home Assistant that reads the time of use utility rates from my utility and only allows the EVSE to charge on the off peak rate. I did it this way so that if my utility changes the times the schedule automatically updates. I also setup a seperate automation that allows me to "Charge Now" and if I turn on a home assistant switch, it overrides the time of use schedule and allows the EVSE to charge now. As part of that logic I also have an automatic reset so that EVSE goes back to the only-active-off-peak mode as the utility rates drop.

I don't have any "preferred" charge times set in the truck and I don't control weather to charge from the truck. I do use the truck to limit how much to charge and my default is 80% but I override that for long road trips, and about once a month to balance the battery. Based on my usage I don't charge every night and typically only plug in once the charge drops to 25-30%.

 

[Waffle]

I have a similar pet peeve with the Ford app/charging where the preferred charge times don't work at all. At home I want to charge between 12:00am and 3:00pm period. I have created a target charge location to my home address and the truck knows it is at this address, but charging starts as soon as I plug in. If I manually stop charging once is starts then it will not start charging a midnight. Seems like a simple rule: if charge % < target charge % and current time between target time, then charge! This is how the Tesla charging works.

 

[TaxmanHog]

I have a similar pet peeve with the Ford app/charging where the preferred charge times don't work at all. At home I want to charge between 12:00am and 3:00pm period. I have created a target charge location to my home address and the truck knows it is at this address, but charging starts as soon as I plug in. If I manually stop charging once is starts then it will not start charging a midnight. Seems like a simple rule: if charge % < target charge % and current time between target time, then charge! This is how the Tesla charging works.

Do you have an active departure time event ?

 

[Waffle]

Do you have an active departure time event ?

No, I don't have a departure time set, because I don't depart the house every day.

 

[TaxmanHog]

No, I don't have a departure time set, because I don't depart the house every day.

Interesting, what is the:

• Amperage setting of your charger ?
• SR or ER battery ?
• Model year ?
• The starting SOC and goal SOC ?

I've noticed that the truck computes values around a 24 amp rating regardless of the capacity or having dual/single OBC's, ie. it's pessimistic, add to that a constrained time frame might be the cause, three hours is very limiting, if you want it to kick off at the midnight point, set the stop time later in the morning, it's likely the actual charging will conclude within your 3 hour requirement, you just need to trick the system.

----or----

More programmatic issue tied to an OTA.

 

[Waffle]

Interesting, what is the:

• Amperage setting of your charger ?
• SR or ER battery ?
• Model year ?
• The starting SOC and goal SOC ?

I've noticed that the truck computes values around a 24 amp rating regardless of the capacity or having dual/single OBC's, ie. it's pessimistic, add to that a constrained time frame might be the cause, three hours is very limiting, if you want it to kick off at the midnight point, set the stop time later in the morning, it's likely the actual charging will conclude within your 3 hour requirement, you just need to trick the system.

----or----

More programmatic issue tied to an OTA.

I'm happy to answer your questions, although I don't see why any of them should matter.
2023 Lariat ER. Currently just plugged into a regular 120V 15a outlet while I wait for solar and Sigenergy batter to be installed (this week!!).
Preferred charge time is 12:00am - 3pm, so 15 hours, not 3 hours. Goal SOC is 80% and starting SOC varies.

The preferred time charge never works.

 

[TaxmanHog]

I'm happy to answer your questions, although I don't see why any of them should matter.
2023 Lariat ER. Currently just plugged into a regular 120V 15a outlet while I wait for solar and Sigenergy batter to be installed (this week!!).
Preferred charge time is 12:00am - 3pm, so 15 hours, not 3 hours. Goal SOC is 80% and starting SOC varies.

The preferred time charge never works.

Sorry about that, 'reading is fun-de-mental" I missed the PM.
15 hours might seem like a long time, net throughput on level one is at best 1.5 kWh, 22.5 kWh for that time frame, 25 net after losses, which would be around 19% to 20 % SOC gain for the maximum time frame. If you're needing less than this on average, it would seem that it should meet the goal.

 

[Pioneer74]

I'm happy to answer your questions, although I don't see why any of them should matter.
2023 Lariat ER. Currently just plugged into a regular 120V 15a outlet while I wait for solar and Sigenergy batter to be installed (this week!!).
Preferred charge time is 12:00am - 3pm, so 15 hours, not 3 hours. Goal SOC is 80% and starting SOC varies.

The preferred time charge never works.

Preferred charge times are ignored when only charging with 120V.

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