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Farley Shares His Ford F-150 Lightning Charging Experience

A general lack of charging infrastructure – along with many noted reliability issues – remains one of the biggest obstacles to mass all-electric vehicle adoption, in addition to things like cost and charging times. Ford CEO Jim Farley is well aware of these facts, and has talked at length about the need for improvements in regards to the company’s Blue Oval Charging Network over the past few months. Now, Farley is discovering these struggles first-hand as he embarks on a road trip in a Ford F-150 Lightning, one that began in Silicon Valley and is set to end in Las Vegas.

It seems as if Farley ran into some issues when looking for a charger for his Ford F-150 Lightning on this journey, as the hotel he was staying at did not have one on site. Thus, he headed to a nearby Electrify America charging station, though that apparently wasn’t his first choice either, as nearby stations were full, with no chargers available at that time.

Given the current state of EV chargers in America, this comes as no surprise, particularly to Ford executives. In fact, Doug Field, chief technology officer at Ford Model e, previously acknowledged that the current charging infrastructure is inadequate, while Ford Pro CEO Ted Cannis also recently called for more visible branding on chargers to avoid confusion.

Aside from signing a deal with Tesla that will grant Ford EV owners access to its massive – and largely reliable – Supercharger network, Ford also joined the National Charging Experience Consortium to tackle those exact issues, and deployed its “Charge Angels” program to sniff out troublesome chargers. Additionally, Electrify America recently announced that it will add North American Charging Standard (NACS) compatibility to its existing network, a decision made in the wake of Ford’s – and other automakers’ – agreement with Tesla, which already uses that standard in its vehicles.

We’ll have more on Jim Farley and the F-150 Lightning soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for the latest Ford F-Series newsFord F-150 news, F-150 Lightning news, and non-stop Ford news coverage.

Brett's lost track of all the Fords he's owned over the years and how much he's spent modifying them, but his current money pits include an S550 Mustang and 13th gen F-150.

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Comments

  1. Adding NACS plugs wont solve the issues. Until the other than Tesla machines become reliable charging experiences won’t improve

    Reply
    1. I totally agree John. I have been an early adopter with my 2021 Mach E and 35,000 km on the clock. My major aggravation has been the reliability of the DC fast chargers mostly on the major roadways. One manufacturer/network company here in Canada has been flawless but some of the others and their product, not so much. My advice and practice is to complain to those bad players and seek out the good ones.
      A final note, hotel and accomodation owners get on the bandwagon to install level 2 (240v CCS and NACS) stations for your clients. At the prices you charge for rooms you can do it.

      Reply
      1. Hey Stu, I am a new fellow 2023 Mach E owner in Canada. Please let me know which EV DC fast charger network in your experience has been flawless besides Tesla with a NACS adapter. I also agree with you that all hotel chains should be installing level 2 CCS/NACS stations. That is where I will be staying on future road trips.

        Reply
    2. You think they don’t know that? The solution isn’t happing overnight.

      Reply
      1. It could even be a worse problem in the future of EVs’! You can’t just snatch electricity out of the air, the more EV cars around the country, means more electrical problems, because in todays world, if it’s all electric there is not enough power plants to power EV cars in the future if everyone in America had one, because powering homes, companies, buildings and EV cars at the same time, using the same old power plants, will have more Black outs and more charging station failures!
        Power plants should have been thought of in the eighties, for the future of population explosions that were happening at that time ( I and others tried in the eighties to relay this message, but it seems we got this, “I think we have plenty of electrical power for future generations to come, there won’t be no future problems! Thank you for your inputs anyway”!) But the, has now grown to adults, children and grandchildren, who are driving today, with a lot more people on the way and possibly owning EV Vehicles to put more strain on todays power plants and over loaded Power Grids and possibly more Bron or Black Outs, with the use of more power, for more purposes!

        Reply
  2. I highly doubt Mr. Farley is actually driving the vehicle. He’s probably in meetings and on his phone sitting in the passenger or rear seat.

    Reply
    1. Given Recall Motors’ quality problems (F0MoCo). Failure Farley is afraid to even be a passenger in any Ford vehicle, he’s afraid he may get stranded somewhere where EV infrastructure is practically nonexistent.

      Reply
  3. Well, it didn’t burst into flames anyway

    Reply
  4. And he drove a route that has a ton of charging stations compared to the rest of the country. EVs are a lost proposition that cost owners a lot more in the long term. That is why Americans are rejecting EVs at scale. #BudLightEVs

    Reply
    1. Nice try bub, the charging network is getting bigger everyday.

      Reply
  5. EV chargers especially a ultra simple level 2 models which are glorified light switches are an unbelievable technical embarrassment..

    Dopey sounding Sniffing Angels won’t help much since the stations will breakdown after the Angels have declared them perfect.

    Ice drivers have nothing to worry about.

    Reply
    1. ICE drivers have nothing to worry about. LOL.
      You will if the power goes out at your local gas station. If s#$t hits the fan are you willing to get into a gun fight at the gas station. In a worst case scenario, solar can charge an EV, good luck making gas.
      Fast chargers are long road trips. When I wake up in the morning my preverbal EV gas tank is always full. The only advantage, which isn’t really an advantage with ICE unless you’re on a time table, is that it can travel farther before stopping to top off. Other than that, big whoop. Give it time, EVs will catch up and all the nay sayers will be liking their wounds.

      Reply
      1. Hey Einstein. Power goes out i have gas cans ready to go. Ev owners aren’t charging sh*t. Solar would take forever. Weather and bright sun permitting.

        Reply
    2. ICE drivers have nothing to worry about. LOL.
      You will if the power goes out at your local gas station. If s#$t hits the fan are you willing to get into a gun fight at the gas station. In a worst case scenario, solar can charge an EV, good luck making gas.
      Fast chargers are for long road trips. When I wake up in the morning my preverbal EV gas tank is always full. The only advantage, which isn’t really an advantage with ICE unless you’re on a time table, is that it can travel farther before stopping to top off. Other than that, big whoop. Give it time, EVs will catch up and all the Nay Sayers will be liking their wounds.

      Reply
  6. Furd and Farley, two peas in a pod.

    Reply
  7. It’s tuff to see EV people’s number one (by far) problem for road trips or finding functional chargers and getting their apps working to prolong their fun on trip.. why don’t we reintervine back here in about a decade or so when these car makers find a way to ease the stress of vacationing to what we will eat and comfortably sleep and not charging our vehicles.. tell the government to buzz off from controlling our lives.. I’ll take my gas car to road trips and stick to electric in city or go to work

    Reply

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