First time fast charging… what a disaster

I’ve had my Lightning since just before Thanksgiving (which my kids have since named ‘Voltamort’ and ‘The Truck That Shall Not Be Named’ because of the lightning emblem… even though Harry was the one with the scar, but whatever). Anyway, figured I’d share my first public charging experience.

We took a 160-mile trip, so I needed to fast charge to get back home. First, I tried a Ford dealer listed on the map, but it turned out they had moved, so no charger. Then I found a Chevy dealer with a ‘120kW’ charger that was actually just 60kW. It was going to take over an hour to get from 30% to 90%, so I left after 10 minutes—only to find out later they charged me $67.

Next, I went to a set of 250kW Tesla chargers. Had to park sideways just to reach the plug, but when I activated the charger… charge fault error. Moved to another stall, same issue. At this point, I was wondering if my adapter was bad (brand new from A2Z). So I found a set of 350kW CCS1 chargers further up the road, but by now it was 9 PM. Plugged in, red ring. Tried activating the charge from the truck, nothing. Same error. Moved to another stall, same thing. Now I’m getting a ‘service soon’ warning.

Called Ford Roadside—they said they could tow me, but only to the nearest dealer, which was 2.5 hours away. If I wanted it towed to my preferred dealer? $900. My insurance roadside assistance wanted $280 but couldn’t send anyone until the next morning.

Meanwhile, I had my wife and two kids (7 & 8) with me, all exhausted. No rental car places were open, and tow trucks wouldn’t take my whole family.

Finally, as a last-ditch effort, I drove back to my sister’s house and used her Level 2 charger overnight (8kW per hour). Made it home the next morning. Plugged into my Ford Pro charger, and everything seemed normal again, but I’m still taking it to the dealer tomorrow. The ‘service soon’ light turned off, but hopefully, the error is logged somewhere so they don’t think I’m making this up.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading. Didn’t mean to write a novel, but wanted to share my experience. Honestly, this whole thing soured me on the EV road trip idea. My wife has already said we are NEVER taking this truck on a long trip again.

Man, that sucks. Thanks for sharing your experience. Hopefully, your family doesn’t end up hating the truck over this—it sounds like they liked it before.

The Harry Potter reference is hilarious. I just got my Tesla adapter from A2Z and was planning to try it on my next trip, but after reading this, I might go test it before I actually need it.

@Macon
Yeah, I should have tested mine beforehand too. I’d definitely recommend giving it a try when you don’t actually need it! :grimacing:

That said, I don’t think the adapter was the issue since I had the same charge fault at a non-Tesla station.

Have you tried another fast charge since?

This happens with the Mach-E sometimes—after a bad DCFC session, it can put the truck in a sort of ‘limp mode’ to protect itself.

Try this reset method:

  1. Unplug the charger.
  2. Turn off the truck completely.
  3. Open and close the driver’s door.
  4. Make sure all screens go black.
  5. Don’t open or close any doors for at least 5 minutes (10 minutes recommended).
  6. Press the brake and start the truck.
  7. See if any error messages pop up.

If it still won’t charge, it’s a dealer issue.

@Remington
This literally just happened last night. I did try turning everything off and making sure the screens were dark, but I didn’t wait five minutes.

Would’ve been hard to sit in silence that long anyway—kids and wife were NOT happy! :laughing:

You really have to plan everything ahead and be familiar with chargers when road-tripping in an EV with kids.

For example, my cabin is 230 miles away, so I know I can make it there on low charge, and I have Level 2 charging there. On quick turnaround trips, I use a grocery store charger 20 minutes away or a supercharger halfway home.

That said, I’ve never actually had any issues. Could be because I live in Michigan and EV chargers aren’t as overused here.

@Shannon
I thought I had this planned out too. Had a backup, a backup to that backup, and even Ford roadside as a last resort.

All of it failed spectacularly. :expressionless:

That’s awful! I’ve done three long road trips in mine and haven’t had a single issue. Hopefully, this was just a one-time fluke.

I feel your pain. Almost had the same experience—was about to take my first road trip using a Tesla charger, and my wife (thankfully) suggested I try it first. I had the EXACT same problem with the A2Z adapter at three stations. Felt like a total idiot.

Took it straight to the dealer, and they told me not to use the A2Z adapter… but Ford doesn’t even have an official one for sale. Ended up buying the Lectron adapter, and it has worked perfectly every time.

Still don’t know if I just got a bad A2Z adapter or what, but I trust the Lectron one now. Lesson learned—always test your setup before relying on it!

@Quinlan
Good to know. But I had the same issue at a non-Tesla charger too, so I don’t think it was just the adapter…

@Quinlan
I’ve had zero issues with my A2Z adapters (old and new Typhoon Pro). I always test chargers before trips. Any problems I’ve had were with the chargers themselves, not my truck or adapter.

Paxton said:
@Quinlan
I’ve had zero issues with my A2Z adapters (old and new Typhoon Pro). I always test chargers before trips. Any problems I’ve had were with the chargers themselves, not my truck or adapter.

Weird thing is, the only thing I changed was the adapter. Same station, same charger—A2Z wouldn’t work, but Lectron did. Not sure why, but I’m not taking any chances on a trip again.

For what it’s worth, I’ve also seen other people using A2Z adapters with no issues.

@Quinlan
I had the same issue at first—turned out the adapter wasn’t clicking all the way onto the cable.

Now, I always connect the adapter to the charger first, make sure it clicks, THEN plug it into my Lightning. Haven’t had a problem since.

Best advice: use PlugShare to check chargers before heading out. Look for:

(a) Recent successful charges
(b) Confirmation of the exact location
(c) Other Ford owners reporting success at that station

That sounds awful! This was my biggest fear when we first got our truck.

Did some test fast charging before our first road trip and had some minor issues at first, but after almost a year and multiple long trips—including a 2,000+ mile one over New Year’s—we haven’t had any major problems.

Hope whatever happened to yours gets figured out so you can get back on the road stress-free!