My first experience with using public chargers was slightly odd

[Aaron84]

This past weekend I wanted to really test the limits of my 2025 Lightning Lariat with the 131kWh extended range battery. I set off on my 157-mile one-way journey (I have a 45A charger at my destination) when the temperature was -18 degrees, and ended the journey when the temperature was -24 degrees. I had preconditioned the battery, had 100% state of charge, and an estimated range of 215 miles. After driving 67 miles at a speed of 65mph, with the heated seat, heated steering wheel, and cabin at 70 degrees on Auto Temp. My battery state of charge was 53%, and my estimated range left was 102 miles. I stopped by a charger at Aldi and attempted my first public charge at a 183kW fast charger. I have the Blue Oval network, the plug and charge option set, a valid card on file, and I have a card on file with the brand of Charger I was using. I plugged in the charger, and it said error can't charge, or something like that. But then I noticed the truck started to charge at roughly 70kW. I charged for 45 minutes until I hit 82% because then I noticed the truck would only charge at 20kW, and the Ford app sent me a message about the reduced speed. At the end of my session, it said the total energy delivered was 0.0000kWh for a duration of 45 minutes.

I checked both of my credit cards, and no pending charges, and no charges a few days after. Is that normal, or did I get really lucky?

Attached is a photo that I took.



Also, I heard that some places like grocery stores such as HyVee offer free charging. Is that true? If so, is there a list of places I can fast charge for free?



Lastly, I am over the moon with the fact that the truck was able to make the trip, in comfort, and I did not get stranded and have to put on my Ice Armor gear and brave the cold to get to safety.

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[K6CCC]

From your photo it was an Electrify America station. Definitely should not be free. The 0.000 KWH is odd. Obviously you actually did get power since you State of Charge increased 29% (about 38 KWH). It would appear that something was not going right. 45 minutes to get from 53 to 82% is REALLY SLOW. That should have taken more like 15 minutes.
As for billing you credit card, that can take days (or even weeks).

 

[potato]

70 kW is what I've seen when the battery pack is cold. In those temperatures maybe the pack cooled off in the hour of driving.

BUT it usually warms up during fast charging and the speed should ramp up. So it could have been a problem with the charger. Hard to say without an OBD dongle so you can look at what the charger reports as the max available, and what the truck is requesting and receiving.

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