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Was this during the weeks of complementary free charging sessions? If so, I'm not sure if it is fair to penalize EA during their upgrade period. I've only done one road trip and I found the status of the three stations I stopped at to be accurate.
No, this was late August or early September. The charging session went fine for me. When I pulled up there was a car leaving that had been using the charging station that was working normally. It was pulling 142kW and I was out of there pretty quickly since I was only charging from 40% to 80%. The other stations were all pulling 40-85kW with one exception that appeared to be broken since nobody could get it to connect. The EA app indicated that everything was working normally.
That was also the only time I have used a public charger since I bought the car at the end of July, and I hope to keep it to a minimum.
so another new situation with EA the other day. this time i plugged in, had to enter the station ID in myAudi app to get it started. it initializes, pulling 149kw. great. so i walk to the Peets coffee about 100 yards away to get a drink. as i'm waiting for my drink, i check the app and it stopped charging , only got from 40% to 50%. and i'm thinking WTF, did someone unplug me or try to use the second cable or what is going on. there were at least 3 cars waiting for the 3 chargers in use (the 4th charger was broken).
so i walk back and the screen says "charging was interrupted" and i have to reconnect. ok so i reconnect and reinitialize with the app. but this time i have my coffee so i just sit and wait inside the car. at some point, same message pops up around 75% SOC. but this time i know no one touched anything . maybe the death stares from people waiting in line for the chargers sent bad voodoo vibes to my charger and turned it off.
A couple of times I have initiated a charging session on an EA charger and walked away only to discover the session errored out. Did not spend any time alerting EA CS to the problem. Simply restarted the session. Maybe a problem with the connector. I don't think you will see this issue frequently.
They were ALL 350 kW units and none appeared to have the CHaDEMO connectors (there are probably only 8 cars which use them any more).
This sounds like you came across one of the "next-gen" EA sites. I believe that these will show "350kW" on each stall, but the reality is that they're "combined" -- you can only get >150kW if the stall next to you is empty (or the person next to you is a Bolt charging at 50kW). Definitely a better system than the 150/350 one we have in most of the stations right now, as it means the vehicles that can benefit from the 350kW stations don't have to worry about that one spot being occupied by a "lesser" vehicle. All the stalls can go as fast as they need, as long as you don't have a Taycan next to an Ioniq5 or something. And even then, once charging for one car is past the 250kW part of the curve, the other car can pull >250kW most likely. I look forward to these new stations becoming the norm!
A bit unrelated, but one of the EA stations I use from Dallas to Houston is having an upgrade done on 26-Oct and the entire site will be down. Does anyone know how long these typically take? I was going to make the drive this week, but now I am not sure.
It seems like they are taking out all the old chargers and putting in the latest ones (about time...).
Side note... I would have only known this if I regularly checked plug share... this info is no where on EA website or app - ??? who is in charge of their operations?
A bit unrelated, but one of the EA stations I use from Dallas to Houston is having an upgrade done on 26-Oct and the entire site will be down. Does anyone know how long these typically take? I was going to make the drive this week, but now I am not sure.
It seems like they are taking out all the old chargers and putting in the latest ones (about time...).
Side note... I would have only known this if I regularly checked plug share... this info is no where on EA website or app - ??? who is in charge of their operations?
Kyle Connor From Out of Spec said that the one next to him took two weeks to upgrade. He also stated that the EA app did not inform of the update until it had been down. PlugShare was faster.
i stopped by the EA near my office this morning to charge up while i grabbed a coffee inside target. normally at that hour, the station is pretty empty. today all the spots were taken. one guy left and then rolled down his window to tell me that charger was broken. i pulled up anyway and the screen didn't say anything other than "complimentary session", so i tried plugging and initializing and nothing happened. then when another person left, i took that spot and although the charger was working, it was only giving 35kw instead of 150. so i just grabbed my coffee and left after 10 minutes.
i looked at the EA app and it does NOT say that Charger #2 is broken. just shows "available". it is going to be extremely frustrating when drivers who really rely on these chargers and app information arrive only to find them inoperable with no warning. a lot of patience and "Plan B" routing will be needed as the stations get busier.
I am noticing this too on the East Coast. Our favorite EA charger was empty for 2+ years, now it's full every time . Plus, I notice people ignore the lines and take up 2 spots with one cable. Up towards Maine, it is also lacking in places to charge.
A bit unrelated, but one of the EA stations I use from Dallas to Houston is having an upgrade done on 26-Oct and the entire site will be down. Does anyone know how long these typically take? I was going to make the drive this week, but now I am not sure.
It seems like they are taking out all the old chargers and putting in the latest ones (about time...).
The two swaps nearest me both took 3 weeks from the time the stations stopped working to the time the newly installed units were online.
I am familiar with the station in Wilmington, Delaware. Took a trip down to North Carolina and it was busy back in May heading down. It is great that folks are getting electric cars and utilizing these stations, what isn't so great is the reliability of the stations as well as charging etiquette and/or people giving you the evil eye when charging. I remember a station down in NC at a Sheetz there was a Chevy bolt taking up a 350kW station... I'm like why... But plugged in at a 150, 25 minutes later charged up and left while the Bolt was still there. Hopefully more station expansions are under way with reliability in mind. 2023-2026 is going to be interesting with GM releasing cars, especially the affordable Chevy vehicles. This problem will continue unfortunately if more investment isn't made in infrastructure.
Kyle Connor From Out of Spec said that the one next to him took two weeks to upgrade. He also stated that the EA app did not inform of the update until it had been down. PlugShare was faster.
The station I mentioned completed the upgrade on Nov 17th so exactly two weeks. HOWEVER - a little more than 24 hours later the site is completely down! Now there is a message on PlugShare that the station will be down on Nov 21 with no explanation. Electrify America is so embarrassing sometimes… it really has ruined the electric car experience for me.
10-19-2022, 12:44 PM
. Plus, I notice people ignore the lines and take up 2 spots with one cable. Up towards Maine, it is also lacking in places to charge.
