Electric Car Charging Infrastructure

Robrian7

Robrian7

New Member
I will soon embark on a road trip with my all-new Kona Electric vehicle. I am using https://abetterrouteplanner.com to plan my trip. Most of the charging stations along the way are powered by Electrify America. I'm wondering if anyone has had experience with these charging stations and how they work. I downloaded the App and input my credit card information, so that the App automatically has $50 to spend on charging costs. Has anyone used Electrify America? Is there a better network to use? Any hints or tips I should consider when using Electrify America and/or any other charging network? I'm a nervous novice, who does NOT want to get stranded in the middle of nowhere. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. :)
 
Robrian7 said:
I will soon embark on a road trip with my all-new Kona Electric vehicle. I am using https://abetterrouteplanner.com to plan my trip. Most of the charging stations along the way are powered by Electrify America. I'm wondering if anyone has had experience with these charging stations and how they work. I downloaded the App and input my credit card information, so that the App automatically has $50 to spend on charging costs. Has anyone used Electrify America? Is there a better network to use? Any hints or tips I should consider when using Electrify America and/or any other charging network? I'm a nervous novice, who does NOT want to get stranded in the middle of nowhere. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. :)
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I have only once tried to charge with them but was not able to charge. However, that location has several people complain about it.. One issue with ElectrifyAmerica is that if you are charging a Kona Electric, you will be overcharged as the rate that they charge if your car at any point during the charging exceeds 75kw (including internal losses in charger), it will charge you the much higher rate.
EVgo is a fairly reliable Network but pretty pricey too. Greenlots is cheaper but their chargers are only 50kw chargers.. It's not that bad as it only takes about 15 minutes longer to charge at half of the cost of EVGo and ElectrifyAmerica. Greenlots however, is fairly unreliable maintaining their charging locations. The best thing to do is to check on plugshare on the reliability of each charging station on your trip. I personally try to choose Greenlots whenever they are available as long as they have a decent reliability rating on Plugshare.
I personally have RFID cards for chargepoint, Greenlots and EVGo
 
Thank you for your quick response. I have downloaded the PlugShare App, and input my vehicle. I'm not certain how it work, however. I need to poke around a bit to learn how it works. Thanks again! :)
 
I personally have signed up with about 4-5 networks because I hate to be stranded or lose a lot of time starting the signup process at the charger.

I charged at an electrify America charger once and ran into the mentioned overcharging issue. You might want to try and limit the DC charge rate in the charging menu to avoid being overcharged. However in not sure how exactly they charge you. Users say you get charged when you get over 75kW at all at any time. But when I was on the phone with electrify America they told me it's what the vehicle reports as maximum charge rate when it initializes the charge, which might still be more than 75kW even if you Limit the charge rate.

So right now I personally don't know. When I charged I was sitting in the driver seat having a sandwich. I didn't see the charge rate exceed 75kW or even getting close to it. I think the max was 69kW. I still got charged the higher rate.

I've had good experiences with evgo. They charge about 35¢ per minute and have some really fast 150kW chargers at some places.

Enjoy your trip and please share your experience.

Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk
 
Robrian7 said:
Thank you for your quick response. I have downloaded the PlugShare App, and input my vehicle. I'm not certain how it work, however. I need to poke around a bit to learn how it works. Thanks again! :)
Click to expand...
There is a rating of 1 to 10 for chargers. You can filter by plug. If you only filter for CCS combo, you will only get level 3 chargers. Rating of 1 is very unreliable and 10 is completely reliable.
 
Esprit1st said:
I personally have signed up with about 4-5 networks because I hate to be stranded or lose a lot of time starting the signup process at the charger.

I charged at an electrify America charger once and ran into the mentioned overcharging issue. You might want to try and limit the DC charge rate in the charging menu to avoid being overcharged. However in not sure how exactly they charge you. Users say you get charged when you get over 75kW at all at any time. But when I was on the phone with electrify America they told me it's what the vehicle reports as maximum charge rate when it initializes the charge, which might still be more than 75kW even if you Limit the charge rate.

So right now I personally don't know. When I charged I was sitting in the driver seat having a sandwich. I didn't see the charge rate exceed 75kW or even getting close to it. I think the max was 69kW. I still got charged the higher rate.

I've had good experiences with evgo. They charge about 35¢ per minute and have some really fast 150kW chargers at some places.

Enjoy your trip and please share your experience.

Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk
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I can only find the charging current limit for AC charging, not DC.. Maybe it's there for Limited or Ultimate trims but I can't find it in my SEL
 
I think EA has said it determines the base based on your car's charger and the maximum it can theoretically charge at. So Basically Konas, Niros, and Souls will always be charged at the higher rate.
 
Oh dang, you're right. I confused it with the two settings for AC charging for 120 and 240 Volts. Sorry! [emoji22]

Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk
 
I wonder if there could be a chip or something similar to override the max watt setting that the Kona sends to the charger..
 
It would be cool if there was some setting in that hidden menu that you can get into on the entertainment screen.

Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk
 
DC limit is something Hyundia could easily add in a software update, and would be useful - therr are issues with DBT rapids in the UK as well.
Unfortunately the communication protocol to CCS chargers is rather complex, so not really amenable to a simple external fix
 
On our first long distance road trip from Florida to Indiana, we were consistantly placed in the 1-175kw when the Kona typically is rated at 75kw max, and should be in the 1-75kw tier. We made many calls to Electrify America, emails, proof on our invoices that we never exceeded 75kw, and they will not budge, or acknowledge that it is a problem for Kona, Ioniq, sol, and niro apparently. They will not give refunds. I filed a complaint with bbb at: https://www.bbb.org/us/va/reston/profile/electrical/electrify-america-0241-236029599
This was at the suggestion of the Florida States Attorney. Also found a direct email to:
Mr. Robert Barrosa ([email protected])
Director, Utility Strategy & Operations at Electrify America LLC
Location:
2003 Edmund Halley Dr., Reston, Virginia, United States
Company:
Electrify America LLC
If you are having these same issues, you may want to let them know. I am hoping something can change before our next long trip.
 
I think that it would be much easier to ask Hyundai for a Software fix. I think that based on their language in the terms and conditions, they are not doing anything that those conditions don't state. It clearly states that the charger communicates with the car to ask the car what is the highest rate of charge that the car can accept and the Kona or eNiro will always respond with 77 kwh. Their rate tier is based on that "answer" from the car and not based on the actual charging rate.. So, even if you charge from 95 to 100% at 10 kwh speed, you will still pay the rate for the higher tier as your car told the charger that it can accept up to 77 kwh. Of course, it could be "fixed" at both, EA or Hyundai. Being a software developer myself, I'd think that this should be a fairly easy fix on either side. I do understand the issue at the charger side. The EA charger can't predict what the actual charging rate will be in advance, so they go with whatever the car tells them. The only "easy" fix for them would be to start the 2nd tier at 78 kwh and not at 75 kwh. Their software appears to require the "rate" to be determined upon startup before knowing what the actual maximum charge rate will be while charging. So, the only fix would be to change the 2nd Tier stating kwh but then, they would face another issue if another brand comes out with a car accepting 79 kwh. There should be a voluntary update on Hyundai's side where owners can choose to reduce charging speed to 75 kwh. If your car tells the EA charger that it will only accept up to 75 kwh charge, it will charge you the lower rate.
Due to the issue outlined, it would be easier if car makers would allow owners to set limits to charging speed not to exceed certain limits for tiered charging..
 
I think it doesn't make any sense to use the speed the car reports. Ea is the only provider doing that. Besides the fact that depending on battery pack temperature, SOC, external temperature, charger malfunction, etc will all affect the actual charge rate it would be a lot smarter to charge what the actual charge rate is. If the car charges beyond 75 kw, well then charge the higher tier.

But out of personal experience the car will most likely not.

It is an unfair pricing scheme, period! Even a car that can charge at 100kw pays the same as one that charges at 175kw. That's unfair too!

So in the end they need to come up with a different pricing!

Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk
 
Esprit1st said:
I think it doesn't make any sense to use the speed the car reports. Ea is the only provider doing that. Besides the fact that depending on battery pack temperature, SOC, external temperature, charger malfunction, etc will all affect the actual charge rate it would be a lot smarter to charge what the actual charge rate is. If the car charges beyond 75 kw, well then charge the higher tier.

But out of personal experience the car will most likely not.

It is an unfair pricing scheme, period! Even a car that can charge at 100kw pays the same as one that charges at 175kw. That's unfair too!

So in the end they need to come up with a different pricing!

Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk
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At the current "limited" use of their charging infrastructure, the only "fair" way to price it would be per kwh. Charging to 100% at slow speeds isn't that much of an issue if there are 5 other available chargers.. Once EV's become more popular, and potential customers turn away as chargers are in use due to cars charging at slow speed, it would make more sense to charge by time. I think that about 30 cents per kwh would be fine. Inbetween, I will ONLY use EA chargers if they are limited to 50kwh to pay their lower tier. If you charge from 20% to 75%, you'll get close to 48 kwh speed for most of the charge and you'll get your money's worth.. If I would have to pay the higher tier, I'd rather pay EVgo 35 cents per minute..
 
I'm actually going on a approx. 500 mile round trip road trip to South Florida this Friday to Saturday and I'm planning on charging for free in South Florida at a Harley Davidson dealership.. It's only 24 kw but it's free. I've been using the 24kw charger at my local Harley Davidson dealer several times for free.. There is a Harley Dealer in South Florida on my route that is also free.. Hopefully it'll be available..
In case that I'm in a hurry, I'd use the EA 50kw charger.. Decent value for 21 cents per kwh..
 
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Robrian7 said:
I will soon embark on a road trip with my all-new Kona Electric vehicle. I am using https://abetterrouteplanner.com to plan my trip. Most of the charging stations along the way are powered by Electrify America. I'm wondering if anyone has had experience with these charging stations and how they work. I downloaded the App and input my credit card information, so that the App automatically has $50 to spend on charging costs. Has anyone used Electrify America? Is there a better network to use? Any hints or tips I should consider when using Electrify America and/or any other charging network? I'm a nervous novice, who does NOT want to get stranded in the middle of nowhere. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. :)
Click to expand...
I did a 2200 road trip from California to Oregon and back. I used plugshare trip planer to plan my route. EA is definitely the most expensive but i didn't have any trouble charging and they seemed to charge a little quicker than the EVgo and ChargePoint which I also used. I also selected hotels that had free charging also listed on plugshare. They were level 2 chargers but I could easily start each day with a full charge. On the long travel days I would start early and then charge during breakfast lunch and dinner so I didn't notice the time charging. Also plugshare allows you to transfer a destination to Google Maps or Apple maps so if you don't have navigation you can add the charger location to the maps in car play. I would usually plan a backup charge location in case I didn't get the range I was expecting. I only used a backup location once on the trip and that was be cause I was traveling in a heavy rain storm with windshield wipers going, head light on and a steep hill to climb. So rather than cut it close I stopped about 25 miles early and had a great lunch while I topped up with a level 2 charger.
 
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