How good is Blue Oval charging network for auto connect and payment?

[neririn]

I have only used Plug N Charge for the initial 250 kWh included with purchase and a couple other times when the EA app was not working. I was annoyed that I did not get the reduced EA Pass+ rate though.

I used it for the initial power as well, but until Ford provides the same "member" discounts that EA/ChargePoint/Noodle etc provide when using their apps, I wont likely ever use it. That said, If forced to do so, I'll use it when going to Tesla stations, but only then.

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[GDN]

If you drive through Oklahoma you most likely will need to use a Francis charger. If you don’t use FP you will need a Francis account. The rate charged is the same but you need to add a $20 balance to use the Francis account. Win for FP. I found that I have needed to use some other chargers that were not EA, so FP consolidating them is nice. That said, I would drop FP in a second for supercharger access at V3 chargers via Tesla app. I could get to places I can’t with CSS and I would get there faster even on routes that have EA (and Tesla is charging less than FP). I would not have bought a Lightning without the promise of SC access.

I agree you'll need Francis in OK until the Superchargers are opened. The good news is that they revamped their own system. I had to sign up for a new account last year. They refunded me my balance on the old account and the new account just bills my credit card whatever my usage is. No more leaving money on their account.

The better news and I haven't travelled since this happened, but it looks like they may have been added to the Blue Oval network (announced in Nov '23), they now show to be In Network.

 

[Maquis]

I used it for the initial power as well, but until Ford provides the same "member" discounts that EA/ChargePoint/Noodle etc provide when using their apps, I wont likely ever use it. That said, If forced to do so, I'll use it when going to Tesla stations, but only then.

The so-called member discounts require a paid subscription. I don’t fast charge enough to make it worthwhile. I’ll keep using FP.

 

[RTanton]

I've only used EA chargers, but I've never had a problem with plug and charge working with them. (all 3 times I've used it). Most of the time, I use the EA app so I get the discount.

We took a 6000 mile cross country trip and found the Blu Oval network worked fine. Typically we used the EA app to take advantage of the discount; however, there were some stations that would not activate with their app...strangely the Blu Oval activated on that station.

 

[detansinn]

My issue isn't with it working. It works like a champ.
It's just unfortunate that you can't have your EA membership linked with it. With my Porsche Taycan, you got the EA membership rate -- you're paying the standard rate with FordPass.

I most often just activate the charger using the app instead to get my discount. If you activate the charger with the app first, you'll get your membership rate vs just plugging it in.

 

[detansinn]

We took a 6000 mile cross country trip and found the Blu Oval network worked fine. Typically we used the EA app to take advantage of the discount; however, there were some stations that would not activate with their app...strangely the Blu Oval activated on that station.

This is why it's good to be ready to do either.

 

[swajames]

Plug and Charge works flawlessly, but as others have noted it doesn't work with your EA Pass+ membership so you pay significantly more. Until Ford figures that out there's no reason to use it over the EA app. Note you can store your EA pass plus membership in your Wallet and only need to hold your phone by the card reader to initiate the charge.

 

[G-Zeus]

We took a 6000 mile cross country trip and found the Blu Oval network worked fine. Typically we used the EA app to take advantage of the discount; however, there were some stations that would not activate with their app...strangely the Blu Oval activated on that station.

This is what I had been doing for roadtrips, using EA app for the discount... But I didn't think about using Blue Oval if there are activation issues. Never thought to try that! And then, when I"m in the habit of using dedicated apps, if I go to another brand charging station, I forget to check BlueOval... I wish BlueOval would just allow the discounted rates to pass through if you have signed up for them. Cost vs. convenience I suppose!

 

[dmd3home]

There is no reason for the blue oval network to exist. Once you’re signed up with Electrify America, the rates are 25% less expensive. Unfortunately, the blue oval Work was working a little too good after I signed up with Electrify America, and was connecting via the blue oval account and not the Electrify America account, and I paid a little too much for a few charges before I realized what was happening.

Which brings up a good point....If using Tesla's Super Chargers would you then pay a higher rate....some of it going to Tesla? I assume I couldn't use my Tesla app to charge. Does the Ford Pass app show what rate you will be paying before you get there? Can it be like gas stations where you can search for the cheapest gas? This needs to be improved!

 

[PreservedSwine]

Which brings up a good point....If using Tesla's Super Chargers would you then pay a higher rate....some of it going to Tesla? I assume I couldn't use my Tesla app to charge. Does the Ford Pass app show what rate you will be paying before you get there? Can it be like gas stations where you can search for the cheapest gas? This needs to be improved!

It remains to be seen, but I’ve downloaded the tesla app. There’s a for charging your non-Tesla option.
It’s possible fordpass will incorporate the Tesla membership rates into their app, but I’m not holding my breath. I suspect it will be much like the current relationship with EA.

 

[Lightning Bronson]

Other than the FordPass app seemingly not able to refresh charger status RIGHT after its been finished being used, I use it exclusively.

Countless times has someone left a DCFC, for me to try and activate it after, yet the app says it's still in use. Thankfully Charge Assist sees otherwise.

 

[Lightning Bronson]

Other than the FordPass app seemingly not able to refresh charger status RIGHT after its been finished being used, I use it exclusively.

Countless times has someone left a DCFC, for me to try and activate it after, yet the app says it's still in use. Thankfully Charge Assist sees otherwise.

Aaaaaaand of course.
Now I'm having an issue where stations are listed as available but I can't select them to activate it.
Ford, mate, what's going on?

 

[Yellow Buddy]

With the Tesla charger access coming soon, I'm curious to know from the users of the Blue Oval charging network, what your experience is like today. I know that if you have a failure or it doesn't pay correctly or start the charger it may not be Ford's fault, it could be a charger fault, but I'm guessing as the end user you can only guess who was at fault, so ignore trying to guess why it failed. If you experience failures please let us know.

I'm curious to know the baseline before Tesla comes on board.

It’s quicker than activating manually on EA, either through the stall or through the EA app.

Maybe I’ve gotten used to it, but I don’t find the wait all that annoying on EA even using the app. So I may not be the best gauge.

As far as failures, 99% of my charge imitation errors on a Tesla are due to not pushing the plug completely in.

The majority of failures on a non-Tesla network is due to…idfk…unplug it and plug it back in…son of a… restart it, pray it works.

 

[ChippewaBarr]

Aaaaaaand of course.
Now I'm having an issue where stations are listed as available but I can't select them to activate it.
Ford, mate, what's going on?

Necro bumping this, but I've found that the preventing of activation was tied to my Ford Account being "kicked off" the Blue Oval network for...upon further examination, failed payments from my credit card.

So apparently what happens is (assuming everything is already working as intended) - I go to a Blue Oval network charger, hit activate, charge as normal, finish, drive away.

The problem occurs when the payment is supposed to happen afterwards but doesn't so the card gets declined which boots me off the Blue Oval network (says as much in my online Ford Account under Connected Services). I go to my Wallet in Ford Account, re-add the card and retry payment and it works and I can enroll in Blue Oval network again.

Issue is, next time I go to charge, same thing happens all over again - am going to try to contact Ford about it since there's no "issue" with the credit card (we use it literally EVERYWHERE) and it was the card I used for our Mach E as well, and it had zero issues then.

Not sure if this is your issue, but it's been brought up on Reddit a few times but not on here, so I'm kinda shooting in the dark.

The majority of failures on a non-Tesla network is due to…idfk…unplug it and plug it back in…son of a… restart it, pray it works.

Yeah charging process/workflow/infrastructure/software across all EVs outside Tesla is such an embarrassment. I don't understand how hard it can be to just have the handshake of activate station between your phone/truck and the charger be so inconsistent. Every single time it takes multiple times, OR I get tired of it and hit the button and walk away. If i look at my phone it will say activation failed yet still be charging lol just horrific programming.

 

[ChippewaBarr]

Continuing this saga here for more of a record keeping in case someone else has the issue (haven't seen it mentioned on LightningForum or MachEForum) but have seen people on Reddit mention it.

Figured I'd provide some screenshots as well as to what is happening.

So once I go into my Ford account, push the payment again, then enroll (for the 8th time) in Blue Oval Charge Network and wait for it to authenticate (not sure how long this takes, but it's been as fast as like 15mins before), I can charge. Here is the process from start to finish:

1. Park where charge station is (in this case, FLO network via BOCN).
2. Pull up Charge Assist app in truck or in FordPass.
3. Find proper charge station plug ID
4. Hit Activate
5. Activation process spins continuously (or just fails) so I go out and look at charge station
6. Charge station instructs me to plug into truck (despite either still spinning in truck or failed to activate in both truck and/or FordPass)
7. Truck charges regardless
8. When I'm done, I stop it via the charge station or FordPass (since it at least it usually can be stopped in FordPass)
9. I drive off.

Now here's where it gets fun.

I used to then a minute or two later get an email detailing my billing session from Ford. But now every time I get a payment error email:

So I log into my Ford Account and check Connected Services:

BOCN access now on hold due to failed payment. So click on Reprocess Payment:

Hit Update Card (even though all the information is correct and literally used the same card/number in this manner for my MachE) and it brings me to this:

Hit Retry Payment (I repeat: with the same, un-updated card) and get:

Head on over the Connected Services and we're all good...

...good to start this horrible process all over again as the moment I go to charge again, it'll just repeat all the same issues.

So - I've called my bank, CC issuer, used different cards...it doesn't matter.

This is an account issue on Ford's end and I believe it's to do with a corrupted user profile in their database of users' system according to people who've been having the same issue and happen to work in IT.

My banks where I used credit cards from both say that the failed charge doesn't even register with them, so it's not being pushed by Ford to get even become a pending charge on the card, it simply doesn't exist until I attempt the "Retry Payment".

I'm not even sure what triggers it, but it may be possible that since I had a MachE previously, with this card attached to it's Ford Account, when we sold it and got the Lightning and moved the card to that Ford Account wallet instead, it corrupted something as maybe the card can only be tied to one VIN or something? I dunno...the fact I used different, never-used-with-Ford cards that also still failed tells me that isn't the case either...

Not sure where I'm supposed to go next with this - I suppose I'll message @Ford Motor Company as it is happening to people in both the US and Canada (I'm in the latter).

I wanted to tag @hturnerfamily as he had this issue in this separate thread, but it was due to a replacement card with new numbers, so I wanted to show that you can be locked out of the BOCN even with an up to date card.

I'll update this thread when (if) I hear back from Ford. This is a very niche problem, but is absolutely crippling when it happens.

@TaxmanHog have you heard or seen anything about this?