New Owner EA Charging Issue

[greenne]

A friend of mine had an issue with charging at an EA station in New Mexico. I am sharing as an FYI to new owners. He was able to contact me and we were able to troubleshoot to get the charger to work. EA customer service was no help at all and did not have a clue as to how to solve the problem.

My friend in New Mexico bought a Lightning from dealer stock. He drove his Bolt to Colorado and traded it in...intending on driving it back to New Mexico. He ran into problems at his first EA stop.

He said he plugged the truck in(like he does with his Bolt) and the charger would not communicate/handshake with the truck and would eventually time out. The charger handle would then get stuck and he could not get it to release. He called EA help desk and they restarted the unit(releasing the charger handle). Tried the other 3 chargers at the station..same issue.

While he was there a Rivian and an id4 pulled up and were able to charge without issue.

He reached out to me and we were able to troubleshoot a bit. Since the communication was the issue I had my friend open up the EA app and start the charger prior to plugging in. (The EA rep had repeatedly told him to plug in first THEN start the unit via app but he could never get it to work).

After a few hours frustrated at the charger, when he started via app first the charger worked without issue.

Here's what I think happened--

He was driving home from purchase and his connected services account was not set up. By plugging in first, the EA station tried to use plug n charge(or the Ford network) and it wouldn't work because to truck did not have any acct info to give. So the system froze up. By starting the charger first it bypasses the plug n charge and worked without issue.

I'm glad we were able to figure it out, but I'm beyond frustrated that EA was unable to help troubleshoot. I don't understand why they couldn't remote start and why the charge unit wouldn't just default to regular non- plug n charge ops when it didn't get truck info.

In order to get EV adoption, these issues need to be resolved. We can't expect people to embrace EVs when there are these many issues and every charging session on the road is an adventure.

Also, posting this for new owners (or those that don't have the plug n charge acct) to be careful as the truck may not talk to the charger causing issues.

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[RickLightning]

All he had to do was activate the charger via the FordPass app, then plug in.

 

[greenne]

I'm not sure he had that activated on his app yet. He had not gotten blue oval set up yet... driving back from dealer. IMO its a misstep to expect people to juggle various app and processes all the time. The charger should allow for a plug and swipe for those not up on all the technology/features.

 

[RickLightning]

The dealership should be helping him set up everything before leaving, and then he'll get his free charging hours quickly. Make sure he knows that if you're not using Plug and Charge, the normal way to use a charger is to activate it first, then plug in.

 

[greenne]

The dealership should be helping him set up everything before leaving, and then he'll get his free charging hours quickly. Make sure he knows that if you're not using Plug and Charge, the normal way to use a charger is to activate it first, then plug in.

OK.. that is NOT what the EA rep told him to do. He said she made a big issue of plugging in first and THEN trying to use the app to start the charger.

Interesting....

 

[RickLightning]

OK.. that is NOT what the EA rep told him to do. He said she made a big issue of plugging in first and THEN trying to use the app to start the charger.

Interesting....

She's wrong.

I use the EA app with Pass+. Activate charger, plug in.

 

[greenne]

She's wrong.

I use the EA app with Pass+. Activate charger, plug in.

Good to know. I haven't used EA yet. I have charged from home and used EvGo 2 times.

FWIW I have EVGO charge+ installed(not thru Ford pass..thru EvGO website).. and the plug n charge works great. Quick connection with no issues..plug it in and walk away.

 

[thecoloradokid]

Your friend spend two hours frustrated at the EA charger??? If he could get a Bolt EV to Colorado from New Mexico then he could easily get a Ford F-150 Lightning back home to New Mexico.

If worse comes to worse, get your card out and swipe your card.

Not sure why there was so much drama.

 

[greenne]

Your friend spend two hours frustrated at the EA charger??? If he could get a Bolt EV to Colorado from New Mexico then he could easily get a Ford F-150 Lightning back home to New Mexico.

If worse comes to worse, get your card out and swipe your card.

Not sure why there was so much drama.

He did that. With his Bolt he always plugged in, then swiped his card on the terminal.

When he tried to do the same with the Lightning it bricked the charger so he couldn't swipe. He was at the EA station in Santa Fe with about 70mi until the next charger and 20mi worth of range. It was also like 1am in the morning.

When he called EA for assistance, they directed him to plug in and THEN either start the charger via app OR swipe(tap) the card reader.

 

[thecoloradokid]

He did that. With his Bolt he always plugged in, then swiped his card on the terminal.

When he tried to do the same with the Lightning it bricked the charger so he couldn't swipe. He was at the EA station in Santa Fe with about 70mi until the next charger and 20mi worth of range. It was also like 1am in the morning...

I hear you.

I have driven 5 different CCS EVs from Denver to Albuquerque many, many times so I know that stretch well. Better to be stuck in Santa Fe than in Wagon Mound, NM. That has to be one of the most remote chargers in the entire EA system.

I think your friend's experience should be a lesson to everyone to test their Lightning out in a urban location before heading out on a road trip to make sure everything works in advance.

No one wants to get stuck in a remote area at 1am.

 

[greenne]

I hear you.

I have driven 5 different CCS EVs from Denver to Albuquerque many, many times so I know that stretch well. Better to be stuck in Santa Fe than in Wagon Mound, NM. That has to be one of the most remote chargers in the entire EA system.

I think your friend's experience should be a lesson to everyone to test their Lightning out in a urban location before heading out on a road trip to make sure everything works in advance.

No one wants to get stuck in a remote area at 1am.

He was driving home from dealer after purchase in a SR truck. Not a lot of good options.

I was just offering this up just in case anyone has similar issues. EA tech help was useless...

We gotta watch out for pne another.

 

[thecoloradokid]

He was driving home from dealer after purchase in a SR truck. Not a lot of good options.

I was just offering this up just in case anyone has similar issues. EA tech help was useless...

We gotta watch out for pne another.

Just to clarify, you shared he drove his Bolt EV from New Mexico to Colorado to buy a short range Lightning? Where did he buy his Lightning? Colorado Springs? Denver?

How did he get from Colorado to Santa Fe, NM in a short range Lightning with out charging at an EA location previously?????

I am just trying to make the pieces fit here because something seems off. There is an EA charger in Trinidad, CO and it is 200 miles to the Santa Fe EA charger. There is no way he is making that drive in the subfreezing night time temps we have been experiencing in Colorado recently.

He had to have stopped off to charge somewhere before making it to Santa Fe from Colorado.

 

[vandy1981]

All he had to do was activate the charger via the FordPass app, then plug in.

To be fair, the screens all say "Plug in First."

Plugging in first always gave me trouble on my I-Pace and I eventually figured out that I should activate in app first, THEN plug in. I think some cars time out before the charger activates which causes the issue.

It took almost getting stranded before I figured this out and I'd bet that a significant percentage of failed charges are caused by the same issue. I haven't had a single problem starting a charge with the Lightning because I initiate in the app first OR plug and charge does its thing.

The dealer would have done him a service if they had set up his account at the time of purchase.

That said, it shouldn't be this hard for new users.

 

[TaxmanHog]

Last night I was doing a 230 mile endurance test to & from Manchester NH and proofing a trip plan for an upcoming special event.

When I got to my last leg, at my favorite EA station, at my favorite and most reliable terminal #4, the app failed to acknowledge activation of terminal four. so I decided to plug in before activation, unfortunately the pricing scheme of 32 cent launched a charge session instead of my member 24 cent rate. I stopped it, unplugged, tried again to get the app to authorize the terminal for my use, failed to authorize again.

I moved over to terminal #1 , everything there worked smoothly, authorized first, then plugged in began to charge at 24 cents a minute.

Could be back end issues or terminal software issues in the middle of the night as it was around midnight when I was doing this.

 

[Firestop]

I hear you.

I have driven 5 different CCS EVs from Denver to Albuquerque many, many times so I know that stretch well. Better to be stuck in Santa Fe than in Wagon Mound, NM. That has to be one of the most remote chargers in the entire EA system.

I think your friend's experience should be a lesson to everyone to test their Lightning out in a urban location before heading out on a road trip to make sure everything works in advance.

No one wants to get stuck in a remote area at 1am.

That is what I did right after I took delivery last July before I got my FCSP delivered/installed….I learned this lesson about EA chargers, found the solution by searching on this Forum while sitting stuck in my truck at the charger.

Made a note on the proper EA charge procedure in my phone, shared a copy with my wife……and, never made that mistake again….yet!

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