Using a public charging station with your EV can be a difficult enough as it is, what with all the different charging cards you have to lug around. But the whole experience is truly aggravating if you aren’t provided the correct information, and that’s why Ford is teaming up with the service PlugShare to help provide C-Max Energi and Fusion Energi customers with additional services to help charge their vehicles. Ford spokeswoman Amanda Zusman told Automotive News “It’s helpful to know, before I drive out of my way to a charging station, to have that real-time information and to see if the charger is out of service or being used by someone else.”
The service will be integrated into the MyFord Mobile app, and will provide locations of charging stations as well as information about the stations. This includes the aforementioned information, such as whether or no the station is currently in use, but it will also send you a text if your car is unplugged while charging. Since there is really no way to secure a plug while charging in public, the possibility of it being unplugged by another EV owner or just kids pulling a prank is very real. The problem isn’t quite as huge for range extended vehicles like the Energi plug-in hybrids, but for a pure electrics like the Focus EV, there is the potential for an unplugged vehicle to leave its owner stranded.