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Electrify America Problems

Discussion in 'General' started by CharlesBranch, Jan 14, 2023.

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  1. Jan 14, 2023 #1
    CharlesBranch

    CharlesBranch Member

    Auburn, AL
    My 2022 Ioniq 5 came with the two-year EA free charging. The contract provides free 30-minute sessions at chargers that are supposed to be 350 KW and 150 KW. Today I tried charging at one of the 350KW stations, but I was only getting less than 50KW. I tried moving to a different 150KW station, but that was very slow as well. I disconnected and moved to a third 350KW station, but it would not start because the app said I was still charging at the second station. I called the support number, and the agent said that all the chargers were running slow because they were being repaired. She disconnected the second charger, and I started the third charger, which was also very slow. With all this, I went over the thirty-minute period and was billed $3.25. The agent said I should call after I received the email statement, and that they would credit the charge. It really wasn't about the $3.25 but was about the hour I spent for what should have been a 20-minute session. The very friendly agent tried to process the refund, but to my surprise, she called me back to tell me that the request did not go through. I finally spoke to a supervisor, but she refused to process the credit. Three other people had similar problems at the same facility while I was there. The temperature was 50 degrees at the time.
    As I said, it was not so much the $3.25, but I would have thought that a reputable company would make an attempt to correct a problem that was caused by their own failure. If Henry Ford had experienced the same problems with gas pumps 150 years ago, I suspect we might still be using horses and carriages. :)
     

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  2. Jan 15, 2023 #2
    bwilson4web

    bwilson4web Well-Known Member Subscriber

    Huntsville, AL
    Experience with my 2014 BMW i3-REx and Electrify America (and other CCS-1 networks) made going to a Tesla much easier because of the SuperCharger network.

    Bob Wilson
     
  3. Jan 15, 2023 #3
    CharlesBranch

    CharlesBranch Member

    Auburn, AL
    My son has a Tesla that he bought in the early days when Tesla was offering lifetime free charging. I thought 2 years of free high-speed charging with the Ioniq 5 was a pretty good deal, but the frequent problems I have had are making me wonder.
     
    electriceddy likes this.
  4. Jan 15, 2023 #4
    briloop

    briloop Member

    This is why a bought a Tesla instead of leasing a VW ID4. I had read about all the problems people were having at non-Tesla DC fast chargers.

    I drove my Model Y roundtrip 1600 miles recently. I had no problems supercharging. I even charged for free at two hotels that I stayed at.
     
    electriceddy and bwilson4web like this.
  5. Jan 16, 2023 #5
    marshall

    marshall Well-Known Member

    South Puget Sound
    EA is a big mess. Did you see the video put out by Kyle on the Colorado fiasco? The EA chargers stopped working when it got down to around zero degrees Fahrenheit.



    This is only going to get worse with all the new electric cars coming out using CCS.
     

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  6. Jan 16, 2023 #6
    briloop

    briloop Member

    I can't imagine what is going to happen this year. More people buying EVs due to the new tax credit > more EVs on long road trips > longer lines at the chargers > more frustration with the charging network, with chargers not working. It might just add up to a perfect storm that will wind up in the media. After all, the media feeds on outrage and scandals.
     
    GetOffYourGas likes this.
  7. Jan 16, 2023 #7
    insightman

    insightman Well-Known Member Subscriber

    Ann Arbor
    If the media is involved, perhaps Elon will be heard from?
     
  8. Jan 17, 2023 #8
    Domenick

    Domenick Administrator

    2018 Tesla Model 3 Long Range RWD
    I would bet there were a number of issues around expanding gasoline distribution from pharmacies to a nationwide ecosystem of gas stations, but those have mostly been lost to time. Even today, though, if you travel a fair amount in a combustion car you'll find individual pumps out of order, or the pumping speed for the entire station significantly slower than normal.
    This can't be an excuse for the issues with today's DC fast charging networks, of course.

    It does seem bizarre that we're having so many issues with DC charging here. The cabinets used here are the same or similar to those used in Europe, but they don't seem to have the reliability issues they we have on this continent.

    The charging network companies seem to understand the importance of reliabilty and a high up-time, and have taken extraordinary steps to improve. Electrify America replaced cabinets from a particular supplier at on point, and now they are replacing pretty much everything. EVgo, which has so far had a lower profile and better reputation for reliability, is also now replacing all the hardware in its network to provide a better experience in it EVgo Renew program.

    Bottom line is the quality of today's fast charging experience in North America is unacceptable. But, companies also have huge incentives to be better, so I think we'll continue to see them try to improve. The reward for a leader emerging and becoming something like "America's Charging Network" is many billions in revenue down the line and I'm confident we'll get there, even though I'm very disappointed with the implementation so far.
     
  9. Jan 17, 2023 #9
    bwilson4web

    bwilson4web Well-Known Member Subscriber

    Huntsville, AL
    No problem in SuperCharger land. I've found occasional failed or failing stalls. Except for an area power outage, always been able to get a charge to reach the next SuperCharger.

    Do you suppose there is a linkage of EV production, sales, and fast DC charging?

    Bob Wilson
     

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  10. Jan 17, 2023 #10
    Puppethead

    Puppethead Well-Known Member

    Twin Cities, MN
    Lost in time, indeed. I personally remember way back in time how carefully long-distance travel routes had to be planned to find fueling stations, particularly in the western part of the US. Not to mention they were not open 24 hours like nowadays. Earlier days of ICE travel had similar issues to today's state of EV travel.

    The Electrify America site near me hasn't seemed to have any issues even during very cold winter weather, although I don't visit it often. I wonder if different parts of the countries are using different equipment.
     
  11. Jan 24, 2023 #11
    ericy

    ericy Well-Known Member

    Rehoboth Beach, Delaware
    I would tend to think that the free charging deals have undesirable and unintended consequences - people delay installing L2 at home for example, and that leads to more congestion at DCFC. That coupled with winter and reduced charging speeds means that people tend to dwell longer than they would in the summer.

    For me, I have L2 at home, and the nearest EA is 90 miles away. So I only DCFC when on a road trip of some sort. I have never really encountered a problem, but I am noticing that stations are busier than they used to be, and someone needs to light a fire under all of the non-Tesla CPO to improve reliability and uptime.
     
    GetOffYourGas likes this.
  12. Jan 24, 2023 #12
    Domenick

    Domenick Administrator

    2018 Tesla Model 3 Long Range RWD
    I have heard this is an issue sometimes. Because people have free fast charging, they'll take up charger space instead of charging at home.
    And of course, drivers without charging at home may buy a car with free charging and end up exclusively using fast chargers. This is fine, of course, but because the infrastructure is still in its infancy, this can also lead to congestion.
     
  13. Feb 19, 2023 #13
    turtleturtle

    turtleturtle Active Member

    I only use EA if I’m desperate. They’re always broken, won’t start a charge, 20 min on the phone with support with them trying to do it.

    No thanks.
     
  14. Feb 19, 2023 #14
    Domenick

    Domenick Administrator

    2018 Tesla Model 3 Long Range RWD
    This might be a good place to mention that Robert Barrosa was just made CEO of Electrify America. I think he has a firm grasp on the reliability issues with the network and should be able to improve the overall experience.
    We had him on a special podcast about a year ago, which I'll embed here.
     
    turtleturtle and insightman like this.
  15. Feb 19, 2023 #15
    ericy

    ericy Well-Known Member

    Rehoboth Beach, Delaware
    Is this a good sign? I can't tell for sure - the other guy wasn't fired - he got "promoted" to something else. Robert has a sales and business development background, not operations.
     
  16. Feb 21, 2023 #16
    Domenick

    Domenick Administrator

    2018 Tesla Model 3 Long Range RWD
    I'm not privvy to the insider information over there, so I can't say whether the former CEO could have made a big difference in reliability over the past few years or not. I think communications with the public certainly could have been better. I expect VW looked at his performance through their own metrics to evaluate his performance.
     
  17. Feb 21, 2023 #17
    insightman

    insightman Well-Known Member Subscriber

    Ann Arbor
    From AutoEvolution:
    The management change comes right before the VW-owned and Siemens-backed charging network is getting ready to apply new price hikes across the U.S.

    I'm guessing VW's metrics indicated that Giovanni Palazzo didn't raise prices quickly enough and spent too much money pursuing reliability.
     
    Domenick likes this.
  18. Feb 21, 2023 #18
    teslarati97

    teslarati97 Well-Known Member

    EA is still the one of the cheapest rates of VW Group + partners worldwide. 350kW IONITY is like $0.81/kWh and the VW Group China CAMS stations maxes out at 180kW.
     
  19. Feb 22, 2023 #19
    bwilson4web

    bwilson4web Well-Known Member Subscriber

    Huntsville, AL
    upload_2023-2-22_5-58-13.png
    Bob Wilson
     
  20. Mar 22, 2023 #20
    papab

    papab Member

    Colorado
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