Electrify America Chargers

The plan however will expire later this year.. Not sure what will be in place after it expires.. I hope that Hyundai and Kia can give us another update that limits charge power to 75kw so that we are not changed the higher rate.. I'm sure that this can be done.. Ideally they could add a feature where the user can limit charging power to a limit that they choose..

 

Has anyone else seen EVpassport that is going to charge $39/month for unlimited charging on Electrify America, EvGo, Greenlots and Chargepoint networks (possibly others as well)?

https://www.evpassport.com/

It will be interesting to see if it works out for them, their theory is sound that there will be people that will subscribe for the convienence, even if they don't do $40 of charging per month and there will be those that do more than that and should balance each other out.

Time will tell if this works or if it will be a moviepass situation.

 

It does sound like a great option for people who need on the road charging frequently..
For me, it wouldn't be worth it as I have access to free 50kw chargers in my area, so the only time that I need a charge on the road is 4 - 5 times per year..

 

Also worth it for those of us that don't have many free quick chargers around and have no way to charge at home.

 

I probably wouldn't have gotten an EV if I couldn't charge at home even though at this point, I barely ever charge at home..

 

I have had a Nissan Leaf for 3 years and haven't had an issue other than I wanted longer range and my wife had a hard time driving it, but not charging issues. So I wasn't worried, after all I have 4 free chargers a block away from my house and EvGo chargers on the other side of the mall from the free chargers. Of course I live in an area with an overabundance of chargers, so that makes a difference.

 

In that case, I would not mind waking a block or even a couple of blocks to get a free charge... When I visit Florida Mall in Orlando, I even walk 1/2 mile each way from a free charger near the mall...We usually spend 3+ hours at the mall, so I'm getting a good free charge... I often have reached 100% SoC at that charger... I drop off the wife and kids at the mall and then I bring the car to the free charger 1/2 mile from the mall and walk back to the mall.. 20 minutes before my wife is done shopping, I walk back to the charger.. Good workout..

 

I know, I miss those times, I am in Long Beach too, we live about a block from the Lakewood mall. Feel free to say hi if you see a silver Kona, I am not one that is too worried about what is going on, I figure if I take common sense precautions, I should be good and if not, chances are I will be fine, but ultimately we all die sometime and I would rather be living life than sitting at home cowering in fear if it is my time to go. So, I will talk with people (from a distance) and such.

 

In case you have not got the email from Electrify America, I got this on Aug 6th, 2020. "Make sure you’re in the driver's seat when it comes to your Electrify America Pass+ membership. Monthly fees have been waived for Electrify America Pass+ members since March 25, 2020, and they will be reinstated starting September 8, 2020. " I don't know about the price per min to remain at 0.35. This wouldn't be bad if I could get the full 75 Kwh. I have charged 4 times since the price change and 3 had to call to get the machine reset. They were gracious and gave me a free charge one of those. I'm hoping they switch to energy delivered. This would take faulty equipment, charger or car, out of cost of energy.

 

I have the Hyundai plan, not the America+ plan and it has no fees until the end of the year. I am told they will be switching to per kWH pricing wherever they are allowed to.

 

After my road trip in my Kona from Florida to New York using Electrify America charging stations I was quite pleased with the trip.

The other day I decided to look at the app on my phone to see the stations that I used on my previous trip. When I started to look at them I noticed that they all only had 50 kilowatt stations available. I was a bit puzzled and thought that maybe my app wasn't working correctly so I called Electrify America. They told me that they are upgrading their systems and that most of their charging stations were lowered to 50 kilowatt for now. They were not sure when the upgrade would be completed and the station's return to normal. I asked if they knew what the upgrade was and they did not have an answer. I suggested that maybe it was because they were changing from per minute pricing to kilowatt hour pricing and maybe that's why their system are being upgraded? They could not confirm nor deny that. Guess we will have to wait to see what the upgrade will be and if it will be in our favor.
Stay tuned!

 

Might be more concerns about bum cables / plugs that couldn't handle the current?

_H*

 

EA's swapping out the chargers at a bunch of stations. Sounds like it's generally about reliability: https://insideevs.com/news/443187/electrify-america-replacing-hardware-56-sites/

I suspect they're working toward reducing the number of different equipment suppliers, to simplify service and such. I'm not familiar with their different suppliers, but I'd heard Efacec was pretty problematic.

 

Overnight, EA has switched to per kWh pricing in 23 states. Apparently more to come.

From Kyle:
"The switch to kWh pricing in most states that are legal has happened. 31c/kWh (no pricing variation by location) with $4/month membership. Rack rate is $0.43/kWh - No session activation fees anymore."



Also according to Kyle, "Per-minute pricing remains for EA in all other states. 2 power levels: 1-90kW (that’s EA looking out for you Kona / Niro folks) and 1-350kW. Car communicates max *theoretical* charging speed to determine pricing category. Membership pricing is $0.12/min and $0.24/min respectively".

 

That's great news.. Checked EA website and the new pricing is in place. Florida is still per minute at 16 cents per kwh.. This is awesome! Charging from about 15% to 80% takes about 45 mins, so about $7.20.. At those prices, it's time to plan a road trip..

 

If they get the reliability issues taken care of, this can bump EA out of the doghouse, and into the top tier of places to charge from.

It will be interesting to see how ChargePoint, EVgo, and the others respond to this.