Click On Detroit reporter Nick Monacelli shared a YouTube video revealing the dire condition of Electrify America and Charge Point charging stations in Michigan. Monacelli set out from Detroit to Mackinaw City on a road trip with his family in the Ford F-150 Lightning electric truck and faced several delays due to dysfunctional chargers en route.
Before embarking on the road trip, Monacelli talked about how slow home charging is. He appeared to have plugged in the F-150 Lightning at a regular 120V socket, which would take over two days for a full top-up. It’s not surprising, because Ford has mentioned in its charging installation guide that a regular home socket would charge at 3 miles per hour.
A proper AC wall charger, like the 48 amp Ford Connected Charge Station adds about 20 miles range per hour on the F-150 Lightning's Extended Range variant and 19 miles range per hour on the Standard Range. It would then take 16 hours to charge the former, at least on paper. The 19.2-kilowatt Ford Charge Station Pro is much faster, adding 30 miles range per hour.
Before heading out, Monacelli stopped at an Electrify America station, where he encountered a faulty charger. He had to wait until others were done to be able to use a functional charger.
The reporter then made a dinner pitstop in Frankenmuth, where a Charge Point charger took 1.5 hours to add an abysmal three miles of range. Next, he stopped for the fourth time at a Jerky outlet north of Bay City and charged the electric truck for another 40 minutes to be able to reach his destination.
On his return, he stopped at another Electrify America station at a Meijer parking lot in Bay City, where three of four chargers were out of order. So he had to wait until a vehicle that arrived before him was done charging.
Gallery: 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
Ford announced in May 2023 that its EV customers would be able to use the Tesla Supercharger network – generally considered reliable – via an adapter starting in 2024. From 2025, Ford EVs will get an inbuilt North American Charging Standard (NACS) connector. Ford customers will then get access to over 12,000 additional chargers across the US.
How have Electrify America and Charging Point stations fared in your experience? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
