August 1, I drove to Manchester TN to try the new Electrify American (VW diesel penalty) charging station. It was awkward but after about 15-20 minuets, I was able to get a charge started. So I took a break and came back to find it had stopped at about 44%. I restarted it and completed the charge but there were a lot of aborted starts. Regardless, I got home and called to check on the credit card charges. They only charged for the second half and took my report. I still needed to know if I could use it reliability so I drove there this morning, August 24: I started with the same station I'd used before and no luck. So I called the support number. An hour later, we had tried each of the four chargers, multiple times, including support doing a remote reset. There were several times when they reported "Payment accepted" only to have it stop within 10 seconds. The worst was this error message: So I pointed to Huntsville and the REx carried me home. There I tested the CCS, fast DC charger with a Nissan unit and it worked. I called Electrify America to let them know my car is OK. They plan to call me when their technician resolves the problem(s). Bob Wilson
That is really bad that it was such a problem to initiate a charge, and so many charging problems... Electrify America is obviously aware of the issues as every site they have open, they have posted this notice on plugshare to let potential customers know they are dealing with some anomalies, and will need tome time to work through system bugs... "Aug 15, 2018 infoElectrify America, LLC We are excited to be live in the market with our first few Electrify America LLC stations. During these initial deployments, some of our dispensers may experience an intermittent issue rendering them temporarily unavailable. Dispensers at this location may be affected and Electrify America is working to address this issue. If you are unable to initiate a charge at a particular dispenser, please contact us at 833-632-2778 for assistance. -- checkin created before location officially marked open" This is pretty typical of a new system and I am sure this will be but a distant memory soon! BTW EA opened another station Yesterday... https://www.electrifyamerica.com/locations
It looks like Electrify America has 9 stations operational: If possible, please visit one near you and test CCS charging. This will give us a clue if there is a problem between our CCS cars and Electrify America stations. Be sure and leave a comment and if a problem, open a ticket with their support staff. More importantly, it will help others avoid being badly surprised. Bob Wilson
Well Bob, as always you have trouble counting... let me help by sending you their direct link... 10 Bob... 10... I was at an EA site today in Everett WA... The super and I had lunch together... https://www.electrifyamerica.com/locations
Bob, Electrify America posted on plugshare last week at every one of those locations that they were having problems with communications, how many times do you have to be told? Maybe the counting problem is actually a reading comprehension problem? Here is the note Electrify America posted on the station you went to... "Aug 13, 2018 infoElectrify America, LLC We are excited to be live in the market with our first few Electrify America LLC stations. During these initial deployments, some of our dispensers may experience an intermittent issue rendering them temporarily unavailable. Dispensers at this location may be affected and Electrify America is working to address this issue. If you are unable to initiate a charge at a particular dispenser, please contact us at 833-632-2778 for assistance."
Bob, it's not a gas station. You don't get 4% back using your Costco credit card by Citi Have you tried the other stall. Clarity has a problem with charge point. I have to set the parking brake before it can communicate with charge point. No problems with EvGo. Two Electrify America are opening near me. I'll test it out when they come online.
Southern California. The one in Montebello is actually a great location that would have been useful two months ago.
It seems like they picked some good locations in CA... I saw in EA's 2Q report they have 71 properties with leases signed, so I assume you are going to see a bunch of stations start popping up very soon.... Once the CA government starts giving them permits. EA says the cities in CA have been brutal to get permits, but EA hired Black & Veatch, as a contractor, they are the same ones that build most of Tesla's Supercharger stations. The superintendent I went to lunch with is also running the Issaquah Tesla station in addition to the EA sites here in WA.
You will see them this winter... The super told me he is here until October, then off to Phoenix for the winter, they are planning for the winter weather, that is why they are hitting NW area hard now.
Pacific Northwest needs charger more than us. I went to high school in Edmonds, WA. Thinking about retiring in Vancouver and shopping in Portland.
Its still a bit rough, so many homeless people. When you went to Edmonds Woodway did you know a teacher named Quinn?
Haha, I don't remember my college professors name. All I remember was the PE teacher that taught Russian study.
We tried three Visa cards: bank, Citi, and Chase. I tested one card buying some window cleaning liquid and paper towels. For good measure, I'll use Connect to open a ticket and see if BMW USA might test some of the other Electrify America stations. If we can get BMW talking with the VW team, life is good. Bob Wilson
I surveyed the open Electrify America stations and "Mark BMW i3" reports a successful charge, August 15, at the Stratford Square station in Stratford, Connecticut. Bob Wilson