Unplugged during DC charging

[zo0b850]

Hey everyone, searched everywhere but can’t find the answer to this scenario, I do apologize if this is redundant. What exactly happens when you unplug the charger from a DC fast charging station without pushing the uncoupler or unlock button before hand?
I just got my ‘23 lightning ER last week, only have the mobile charger set up in the garage so far and had some extra time will driving around and wanted to try out one of the charging stations in town. Nobody at the dealership told me anything about how to charge or how to use the vehicle in general I was pretty much on my own in that regard so I did not know I needed to push that button before unplugging. It was an EA charge station. I unplugged it super slowly after clicking that button on the handle and holding it there for a while thinking that’s how you stop it from charging, when I got back in the truck it said charge fault, refer to owners manual which I did and then I saw I should push that button first.
Of course I’m paranoid since it’s a brand new truck, I tried charging again later at a different station and it gave me the red ring the first which I just about had a meltdown however it worked the 2nd attempt. Now I’m wondering what exactly happens in that scenario and should I be worried that I screwed up my new truck. I can’t imagine something so simple could damage the vehicle right away as anybody walking by can just unplug the charger and/or it can just happen accidentally. Thanks in advance!

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[Dinozero]

I think you press the button beside the charger and the light ring starts spinning and you unplug it before that spinning stops. So pretty quickly.

I messed it up a time or two after I got the truck too. No worries.


Just press the button on the right side and then unplug.

 

[The Weatherman]

Theoretically, you can’t. The charger and truck lock the handle in place and it ‘can’t’ be removed without pressing the stop charge button or depressing the clip lock on the handle.

if it did get pulled out while charging you are looking at HIGH VOLTAGE/ AMP arc that could be deadly.

 

[hturnerfamily]

you can't 'mess up' unplugging, as the truck has built-in safety guards for all types of 'situations'..whether unplugging without any other interaction before the station is stopped, whether pressing the charge Port button to 'stop' charging, whether to stop the charging from the station, or from the app, or from the CHARGE app screen in the truck, etc.

dealers typically can't help you with these things, because, after all, they typically don't drive an EV, don't own at EV, and don't have any experience with DC Fast Charging.

 

[NCMike]

My experience has been you want the blue charging lights to turn white or off before unplugging. You can do this by hitting the unluck button as your described, or by stopping the charge from the Chargers App or touchscreen.

 

[TaxmanHog]

dealers typically can't help you with these things, because, after all, they typically don't drive an EV, don't own at EV, and don't have any experience with DC Fast Charging.

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[Newton]

There are an unbelievable amount of safety features built into fast charging. None of my other EVs have any kind of “stop charging” button. My wild guess is that the stop charging button is for the software, precisely to avoid making the truck put up a “charging interrupted” message that you saw. So it is one of those things that you should do, although it would be even better to stop the charging at the electrify America post with their “stop charging” button so that everybody’s software can get into agreement. However I do not think that there is any realistic possibility of damaging the truck physically by not pushing the button. Messing up the software is somewhat more likely, but that can usually be reset.

 

[zo0b850]

Ok. Feeling better. I figured it was ok, just the charge fault then the red light the next time had me feeling pretty anxious. Still waiting for ford to contact me about the pro charging station, looking forward to having that at the house. Absolutely loving the truck so far.
Thanks everyone!

 

[Maxx]

It is fairly safe unless you have one of those special trucks

 

[Adventureboy]

It is fairly safe unless you have one of those special trucks

Just out of curiosity, what is the story behind this pic? It looks like someone doused them and set them on fire.

 

[Howard_Scott_Warshaw]

It is fairly safe unless you have one of those special trucks

Looks like you can buff that out on the middle one.

 

[TaxmanHog]

Just out of curiosity, what is the story behind this pic? It looks like someone doused them and set them on fire.

An incident with one of the trucks battery packs, this was the genesis of the production hold in the winter/spring of '23 while FoMoCo investigated issues with cell quality in certain battery packs. It's ~assumed~ with out final reports from the MoCo that a defective cell went thermal while being prepared for maintenance charging and eventual shipping of these trucks.

 

[Etsquared]

Ok. Feeling better. I figured it was ok, just the charge fault then the red light the next time had me feeling pretty anxious. Still waiting for ford to contact me about the pro charging station, looking forward to having that at the house. Absolutely loving the truck so far.
Thanks everyone!

It was terrifying to me as a new Lightning owner a year ago as well. Lots of nuances with this beast of a workhorse. Don’t be surprised when “ev” things occur that wouldn’t normally occur in an ice vehicle. I have a continuing issue with “panic braking” . Ie if I stomp on the brake in regenerative braking mode then let off the brake, even tho I expect the “auto parking brake “ to engage cause that’s the setting I chose; the truck may creep or lurch forward uncommanded by accelerator pedal input. It’s kinda scary but if you know it’s coming you can avoid the accident at a stop light. They will fix the software eventually I hope but for now no biggie. It’s a glitch, All new tech has it . Enjoy the new life EV brother it’s great huh

 

[HHI-Lightning]

Ok. Feeling better. I figured it was ok, just the charge fault then the red light the next time had me feeling pretty anxious. Still waiting for ford to contact me about the pro charging station, looking forward to having that at the house. Absolutely loving the truck so far.
Thanks everyone!

If you are looking for Ford to “contact you”, that’s not likely to happen.
Assuming you purchased your Lightning ER after early April…. your Dealer has to submit the paperwork to Ford to initiate the process to receive the Charge Station. Once this occurs, Ford will send it to your home.

The Dealer may not know this, if they don’t sell many ER trucks

Don’t ask me how I know….

 

[RickLightning]

Hey everyone, searched everywhere but can’t find the answer to this scenario, I do apologize if this is redundant. What exactly happens when you unplug the charger from a DC fast charging station without pushing the uncoupler or unlock button before hand?
I just got my ‘23 lightning ER last week, only have the mobile charger set up in the garage so far and had some extra time will driving around and wanted to try out one of the charging stations in town. Nobody at the dealership told me anything about how to charge or how to use the vehicle in general I was pretty much on my own in that regard so I did not know I needed to push that button before unplugging. It was an EA charge station. I unplugged it super slowly after clicking that button on the handle and holding it there for a while thinking that’s how you stop it from charging, when I got back in the truck it said charge fault, refer to owners manual which I did and then I saw I should push that button first.
Of course I’m paranoid since it’s a brand new truck, I tried charging again later at a different station and it gave me the red ring the first which I just about had a meltdown however it worked the 2nd attempt. Now I’m wondering what exactly happens in that scenario and should I be worried that I screwed up my new truck. I can’t imagine something so simple could damage the vehicle right away as anybody walking by can just unplug the charger and/or it can just happen accidentally. Thanks in advance!

Did you search in your manual? It tells you exactly what to do.

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