Educate me - charging in Washington state, Oregon, California

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C02less

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Hi All,

I am planning my first American road trip from my home in British Columbia through Washington state, Oregon, and California. My car is a 2021 Kona EV so I am looking for CCS or J1772 connectors. The charging networks will all be new to me so I am looking for some advice:
- What are the most common, useful and reliable networks in these states?
- Which networks accept credit cards? Which accept RFID cards? And which are only activated with an app (apps are my least preferred method).
- Back in the day when I used to burn fossil fuels (ugh!) I needed a zip code to pay at the pump, but Canadians don't have a zip code, so this was problematic. Am I likely to encounter a similar problem if I use a credit card at an EV charger?

Thanks in advance for your recommendations!
 
C02less said:
Hi All,

I am planning my first American road trip from my home in British Columbia through Washington state, Oregon, and California. My car is a 2021 Kona EV so I am looking for CCS or J1772 connectors. The charging networks will all be new to me so I am looking for some advice:
- What are the most common, useful and reliable networks in these states?
- Which networks accept credit cards? Which accept RFID cards? And which are only activated with an app (apps are my least preferred method).
- Back in the day when I used to burn fossil fuels (ugh!) I needed a zip code to pay at the pump, but Canadians don't have a zip code, so this was problematic. Am I likely to encounter a similar problem if I use a credit card at an EV charger?

Thanks in advance for your recommendations!
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Maybe this can help...I would also check Plugshare as well for cross reference for up to date information.
 
Thanks E eddy. Plugshare is great, but it often does not say what you need to know in advance for payment.

I want to plan ahead so I am not that guy with 1% charge desperately trying to load an app on his smartphone (also with 1% charge) in the rain.
 
In Washington state, Electrify America and EVgo are the two main DC charger operators west of the Cascade mountains. ChargePoint, SemaConnect, Volta, and now Flo is moving into the area are the L2 operators.

To get the best rate, you will have to sign up for a membership which you should be able to cancel when you get home.

I suggest you contact these operators to see if a RFID card is available and if you can use your Canadian credit card or a prepaid card with USD currency.
 
I would definitely suggest using PlugShare to scout what's prevalent in the places you expect to travel, then download any apps that may be relevant. The worst case scenario is that you download an app you end up not using. Even if you're not paying with the app, they'll often give you useful info like current status. Personally, I've found the reviews on PlugShare to often contain useful cautions about stations that aren't well maintained, etc. Volta, which generally offers 2 hours of free L2 charging, is pretty prevalent in parts of California, including the Bay Area. If you don't need a fast charge, free is my favorite price.
 
I think plugshare lets you filter by rating, doesn't it? I would filter by sites only above an 8.0, along with CCS.

In my little area, we have found Chargepoint has the most reliable chargers - but they tend to max out around 50-62.5 kW. EA has the fastest, but half seem broken. I'm in Eastern CA, so probably not an area you will be anyway.
 
danrjones said:
I think plugshare lets you filter by rating, doesn't it? I would filter by sites only above an 8.0, along with CCS.

In my little area, we have found Chargepoint has the most reliable chargers - but they tend to max out around 50-62.5 kW. EA has the fastest, but half seem broken. I'm in Eastern CA, so probably not an area you will be anyway.
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My only experience with ChargePoint is their L2 chargers here in Hilo -- they're in the Target and WalMart parking lots, free for the first 2 hours -- and I've never seen one not in working order. They're frequently busy -- people do like free stuff -- but 100% reliable.
 
So here are my findings for the benefit of other Canadians travelling down the US west coast:

Scouting Plugshare and reviewing the feedback above it looks like my best options are: EVGO, Electrify America, Chargepoint, Shell recharge, and EVCS.

RFID cards have been ordered from EVGO, Chargepoint, and Shell recharge. Shell charges $9, the others were free. FWIW, the online sign up process generally wasn't seamless and required help from their call center. Sending a RFID card out of the US seemed like a request outside their usual process.

Electrify America requires a zip code to sign up, so it is not possible to get their RFID card if you are Canadian. EA says all their stations accept credit cards with no need to input a zip code.

EVCS requires an app or credit card to pay, but with the app you get 30 days free charging! So I plan to get the app once I am in the US and pay with a prepaid credit card, then cancel after 29 days. I hope it works. I like free.

What about Volta? I was really unimpressed with Volta. Must use the app to charge. Toll free number couldn't answer the most basic questions, and any charging session support is done by call-back. So with all the other possibilities I can just avoid Volta this trip.

On the flip side if anyone is interested in travelling to Western Canada I recommend just the Flo card. Flo is by far the most reliable, but only 50kW. 99% of the other chargers take a credit card. If you are planning on spending much time in the Vancouver area I recommend also scouting plugshare since there are other niche networks around there.

And one more thought: if we really wanted to make EVs more common all the government would have to do is make paying for gas as complicated and slow as EV charging. I can dream, can't I? :)
 
Just as a thought I wouldn't trust EA card readers. I've always used the APP. Over and over I see videos where folks say the card readers didn't work. Which is odd, because card readers shouldn't be hard. I can't think of the last gas station where the card reader didn't work. Ymmv.
 
C02less said:
What about Volta? I was really unimpressed with Volta. Must use the app to charge. Toll free number couldn't answer the most basic questions, and any charging session support is done by call-back. So with all the other possibilities I can just avoid Volta this trip.
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The L2 chargers here is Washington state don't not require an app to charge. You simply plug your car in and it starts charging. I've used them several times since it's free.

The DC chargers may require the app. There is only three DC chargers in Seattle and it looks like they are often broken.

The only good reason to use Volta is that it's there and it's its free at least for L2 charging. However, there is no good reason to go out of your way to use one.
 
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danrjones said:
I can't think of the last gas station where the card reader didn't work.
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A key factor to not overlook is almost all gas stations are attended, so there is daily attention to the working state of the pumps (and card readers). As soon as one breaks (and they do), a service call is made and a service technician goes on site to fix things.
 
C02less said:
Electrify America requires a zip code to sign up, so it is not possible to get their RFID card if you are Canadian. EA says all their stations accept credit cards with no need to input a zip code.
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AFAIK, Electrify America doesn't have its own RFID card like Chargepoint (and the dreaded Blink). Also, EA doesn't accept all credit cards. The Payment & Membership tab on the EA's Mobile FAQ says: "Electrify America accepts Visa and MasterCard credit cards and debit cards, as well as American Express." So not the Discover card.

I was lucky last week when I made a 550-mile round trip in Michigan because the EA charging stations at the Meijer's stores in Bay City and Cadillac were "complimentary," which saved me about $40 charging my MINI Cooper SE. A message on the charging stations' screen explained that EA was about to switch to new network software, so perhaps the old billing software wasn't working and they decided it was better to provide free charging than to deny all charging due to a problem on their end.
 
marshall said:
The L2 chargers here is Washington state don't not require an app to charge. You simply plug your car in and it starts charging. I've used them several times since it's free.

The DC chargers may require the app. There is only three DC chargers in Seattle and it looks like they are often broken.

The only good reason to use Volta is that it's there and it's its free at least for L2 charging. However, there is no good reason to go out of your way to use one.
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I was a regular user of Volta chargers when I lived in San Francisco (until January) and they never required an app to use the L2 chargers, except for the ones in front of their SF headquarters. My problem with Volta, though, was that they seemed to be out of service a lot.
 
So nearly 2 weeks later and I have only received an RFID card from Shell. EVGO and Chargepoint have been reminded. All 3 promised I would have my cards in less than a week. We'll see what turns up in the mail before I go.
 
C02less said:
So nearly 2 weeks later and I have only received an RFID card from Shell. EVGO and Chargepoint have been reminded. All 3 promised I would have my cards in less than a week. We'll see what turns up in the mail before I go.
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How annoying. But at least for Chargepoint the app should be all you need. Probably for the others, too, but I don't have personal experience.
 
The point of the RFID card is to avoid the app. I keep no payment info on my phone. After being hacked once I learned my lesson not to do that.

After an hour on the phone I learned that Chargepoint goofed and cancelled my RFID card order without telling me. Now they are scrambling to send one to me en route. Fingers crossed.
 
Funny. I've never had my phone hacked but have had credit cards stolen and used even after I called to cancel them, leading to a couple months of misery. I guess we all cope based on our own traumatic experiences lol. But it sucks that ChargePoint screwed up -- I hope they get you your RFID card quickly.
 
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