Every Kona and eNiro owners should do this..

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FloridaSun

FloridaSun

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This is regarding Electrify America and them overcharging Kona and eNiro owners for charging.
I would recommend that all US and Canada Kona and eNiro owners with a Facebook account go to Electify America or Electrify Canada and "LIKE" them. Once you do that, you will see their new posts.
Occasionally, if an Electrify America Post shows up, RESPECTFULLY ask if there are any updates on the Issue that they are overcharging Kona and eNiro owners. I started doing this and few others are doing the same but there are not enough of those questions (or LIKE of those questions) to actually get them to do something.. If you have more and more questions about this on their posts, we may be able to accelerate them doing something about this issue.. It's like lobbying government to get something. If enough people do it, it will eventually catch their attention. I personally really would like to go on road trips outside of my state but won't do it with my EV as it's currently OVER 50% cheaper to take my wife's 20 mpg Minivan on a road trip than taking my Kona EV. Something needs to be done. We need to create more pressure on them do do something about this issue. If we remain silent, they will feel no pressure to get the fix done. Just remain respectful and ask a friendly question or "LIKE" a friendly question from someone else on this topic. Being mean or aggressive may have the opposite effect.
 
Is this the same company that runs CHARGE POINT in the USA ??? That is the Card I was provided when we purchased our KONA in december.
 
I proposed a location for a charger, there is a huge gap in charging between Vegas and Phoenix, AZ. Also I mentioned that I won't use it anyways because of the overcharging issue.
 
Oh. Well, that's the "submission" form that I dumped a fairly in-depth
piece into only two days ago, with directives to come check out what
is being said about them on this very forum. They'll probably ignore
it, just like every other missive that's impacted their ivory tower and
fallen ineffectually to earth underneath. Corporate greed uber alles,
is the lesson they still carry forward from VW regardless of what
context it's presented in.

_H*
 
I have seen interviews with the CEO where they say they read plugshare comments that people leave. My very first charge of my Kona was at an EA station just outside the EA headquarters in Reston VA, and I met the CEO that morning as he was arriving for work, and I expressed some of these thoughts directly to him that morning. At the time, they still had a 50kW charger at that location (which I was using instead of the 350kW that were also available), and I told him I was using the 50kW to avoid the higher fees. He said that EA was working with Hyundai to resolve the problem, but gave no specifics as to what some of the proposed solutions might be or when they might be available.

To some extent I get what it is that they are trying to do from a corporate perspective. For example, they might have gone a different direction and only installed 50kW chargers, which might be barely adequate for the cars that are out there now. But for the future, that's clearly inadequate. Other companies are in different places - for example, EVgo just installed some 100kW stations not far from my office. The 350kW things that EA is installing these days are way beyond what anyone needs right now, and I can only assume that they are insanely expensive to manufacture.

Now to some extent what you are paying for with DCFC is convenience. My favorite DCFC is a free 50kW charger, but it is slow, there is only one of those, and it gets clogged up with Uber drivers. That's sort of a unicorn - nearly all DCFC is going to cost something, and I don't think anyone is arguing that DCFC should be free.

Tesla's approach to this that their charging network is more of a sales tool than anything else. Without their superchargers, they would have a really tough time selling cars. The SC stations that they have built are mainly to eliminate range anxiety, and in this regard it has been pretty successful. Their goal was never to directly make money from these things - they charge a per-kWh fee, but that in no way covers all of their costs. The rest of it is essentially paid out of pocket by people who buy a Tesla.

Then we are left with the question of who should pay for the buildout of the charging network. The automakers? Some charging networks are sort of doing this - in Europe, Ionity jacked up their prices, but certain brands of cars are "exempt" from the high prices as some manufacturers have apparently coughed up some cash. EA is of course a subsidiary of VW - it will be interesting to see what happens when VW starts bringing out BEVs that can draw 100kW or more. Will the new VW/Audi cars get different pricing? Time will tell.

This brings me back to my conversation with the CEO. At the time I assumed that EA and Hyundai were talking about technical fixes so that we wouldn't get stuck with the middle tier pricing. And if it were only technical fixes that were required, it seems like the problem would have been solved by now. But I can't help but wonder whether EA was looking to something more like Ionity model, where Hyundai/Kia would give them some amount of money in exchange for reduced charging fees for cars from those manufacturers.

I haven't needed EA after that first charge - these days, I tend to use either the free one, EVgo or Chargepoint - all of which are cheaper than EA. But I can charge at home now, which really reduces my need for any of these. It is only for long road trips that EA becomes essential, so while I might not need them regularly, I would still like to eventually get some sort of resolution to this.
 
I don't know if Plugshare offers an API to quickly scan a selected bunch of
locations for (negative?) comments/check-ins. Doing it by hand on an app
or the website would seem incredibly cumbersome, and I doubt EA has a
crew of people dedicated to hunting those down ... unless there's some
shortcut that allows quickly batching them up. So they're likely lying about
reading every check-in.

Every time they do reply to a check-in, it's some canned answer so maybe
there is some level of automation going on.

All they really have to do is be more sensitive to the *realtime* needs of
a car plugged in, and adjust accordingly. As a first step, anyway.

_H*
 
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I mentioned this once before on another thread. It's also very worthwhile to contact your local, state and congressional reps about this. I was surprised to learn that my state reps didn't realize what was going on with BEV's and the overcharging. They were appropriately annoyed and agreed that it needed to change, especially since the state is actively promoting electrified vehicles. They indicated they would present the information to the correct committees in the state house during meetings and so far have been sending me emails with follow ups about what's been happening. Reps at the local and state levels are frequently "real people" and not career politicians. They tend to see corporate greed with the same repulsion as you and I. And they can in some certain situations tip the balance between megacorps and their lobbying power. Another possible avenue is the car dealer you bought your car from. These are wealthy people generally speaking and often politically connected. They know the "times are changin" and BEV's are coming (already here!). If it's harder for them to sell cars because of the overcharging they may be willing to put some pressure on to create parity between gas and electric "fuel". Send an email to the dealership owner and let them know that it's in their interest to vocally oppose any time-based charging. There are laws to protect ICE vehicle owners from unfair practices and they should apply to BEV owners too.
 
Jgood said:
I mentioned this once before on another thread. It's also very worthwhile to contact your local, state and congressional reps about this. I was surprised to learn that my state reps didn't realize what was going on with BEV's and the overcharging. They were appropriately annoyed and agreed that it needed to change, especially since the state is actively promoting electrified vehicles. They indicated they would present the information to the correct committees in the state house during meetings and so far have been sending me emails with follow ups about what's been happening. Reps at the local and state levels are frequently "real people" and not career politicians. They tend to see corporate greed with the same repulsion as you and I. And they can in some certain situations tip the balance between megacorps and their lobbying power. Another possible avenue is the car dealer you bought your car from. These are wealthy people generally speaking and often politically connected. They know the "times are changin" and BEV's are coming (already here!). If it's harder for them to sell cars because of the overcharging they may be willing to put some pressure on to create parity between gas and electric "fuel". Send an email to the dealership owner and let them know that it's in their interest to vocally oppose any time-based charging. There are laws to protect ICE vehicle owners from unfair practices and they should apply to BEV owners too.
Click to expand...
Problem with politics is that even if bills are passed, it takes years for them to effect existing charging facilities..
If this issue with Electrify persists for the next couple of years, I will get a Tesla so that I won't be at the mercy of price gauging companies.. Tesla does not run it's charging station for a profit.. They have them to sell cars and therefore, you can expect the rates to stay low.
 
Outofspec posted on YouTube this weekend about this:



Apparently it’s in Hyundai’s hands at this point. I don’t have any travel coming up soon that requires me to charge away from home but I hope this gets sorted out quickly.
 
snomis79 said:
Outofspec posted on YouTube this weekend about this:



Apparently it’s in Hyundai’s hands at this point. I don’t have any travel coming up soon that requires me to charge away from home but I hope this gets sorted out quickly.
Click to expand...

Expecting Hyundai and Kia to pay for something that for example Chevy gets for free is a joke. A Chevy Bolt probably averages throughout a charging session about 5 to 10 kwh less than a Kona and they are in the lower pricing Tier. Now, Chevy has to pay a big fat zero for their cars to be charged the lower rate and Hyundai and Kia have to pay? This is not a very ethical business practice. Sure, if every manifacturer has to pay to get a certain price, that's fine but charging some brands a fee to charge at the same cost as other brands is not ethical. Going with a Tesla seems to be the only way to escape those unethical pricing games.
 
I really think that the best thing that Hyundai/Can do, is to allow owners to set a charge speed limit like they already do for Level 2 charging. A one time expense for a aoftware update rather than paying blackmail money to Electrify. If you can choose your max rate, even if EA changes their tiers, you can avoid the higher one by setting your cars maximum rate to a value just below..
 
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snomis79 said:
Apparently it’s in Hyundai’s hands at this point. I don’t have any travel coming up soon that requires me to charge away from home but I hope this gets sorted out quickly.
Click to expand...

I am glad to hear that we are getting close to a resolution. The fact that Hyundai needs to sign off on something to create a "partnership" suggests that this is more than just a technical fix.

I am disappointed that they are still tied to the per-minute fees howeer. Yeah, I get that they want people to move on - even when I am using the free 50kW charger I move on when I get to about 75% or so (sometimes because someone is waiting).
 
BlueKonaEV said:
Problem with politics is that even if bills are passed, it takes years for them to effect existing charging facilities..
If this issue with Electrify persists for the next couple of years, I will get a Tesla so that I won't be at the mercy of price gauging companies.. Tesla does not run it's charging station for a profit.. They have them to sell cars and therefore, you can expect the rates to stay low.
Click to expand...
In CT we don't get a lot of sympathy from politicians over charging rates since they think we already benefit from not paying a gas tax. Never mind that we pay utility taxes, but they will point out that such revenue doesn't go to the road infrastructure. I'm sure in a couple of years they'll figure out a way to soak EV's, probably through registration fees.
 
ericy said:
I am glad to hear that we are getting close to a resolution. The fact that Hyundai needs to sign off on something to create a "partnership" suggests that this is more than just a technical fix.

I am disappointed that they are still tied to the per-minute fees howeer. Yeah, I get that they want people to move on - even when I am using the free 50kW charger I move on when I get to about 75% or so (sometimes because someone is waiting).
Click to expand...
My understanding is that EA wants money from Hyundai/Kia to let their cars charge at the lower tier.
I believe that EA probably created the tier levels with intent to extract money from those brands screwed by their pricing structure. Conveniently, Volkswagen/Audi/Porsche products all have charging rates that max out in their particular tier.
E-TRON conveniently charges on top of Tier 2 at 150kw speed.. What a coincidence..
Let'a not forget that charging max rates of the Kona/Niro were already known when they created the tier levels.
 
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