Electrify America Issues

[HC_79]

I think its beyond journalists. Whilst Kyle Conner is far from a journalist he's got contacts at EA, EVGo etc. he said on a recent podcast that when he contacts EVGo with issues they seem to genuinely care about the EV Charging experience but when contacting EA he said they simply don't care. This isn't contacting customer service, these are higher ups that he's messaging directly. Just look at "RateYourCharge" on Twitter and you can see how bad it really is.

I'd gladly send a template letter to my local legislators but given the fact that Lucid and others had a seat at the table with the White House it would be nice if they could raise the red flag also. Complaints coming from companies certainly carry more weight than the consumer trying to get government awareness.

 

[sansonoma]

Kettleman, CA today.

Arrived with 51% remaining, 20 min preconditioning, and this time it did not say the current was limited by the car or station. Seems to me that this is the expected current given the SOC. Happy to be corrected.

 

[Negan1000]

Perhaps we should start writing to our senators house reps to go back back to the diesel gate deal and review the status.

Also send EA issues to Dept of Transportation. EA is probably getting or trying to get funds for Charging infrastructure.

 

[HC_79]

Kettleman, CA today.

Arrived with 51% remaining, 20 min preconditioning, and this time it did not say the current was limited by the car or station. Seems to me that this is the expected current given the SOC. Happy to be corrected.


View attachment 8897

That speed is probably right for the SoC you pulled in at.

 

[HariK]

Also send EA issues to Dept of Transportation. EA is probably getting or trying to get funds for Charging infrastructure.

Not a bad idea.

 

[pjdcorp]

As I have bitched about EA on this forum, I thought it only fair that I acknowledge when things work. Today I used an EA charger at the Walmart in Port St. Lucie & it worked pretty well. It required one additional plug/unplug routine but otherwise it worked well. While it was supposed to be a 350kw charger, the best I got was 154kw on a battery that was about 20% charged.. However, given the difficulties I had been experiencing, this was relatively painless. I'll take this experience every time.

 

[HC_79]

While it was supposed to be a 350kw charger, the best I got was 154kw on a battery that was about 20% charged.

So it didn’t work as you were power limited . At this point in time it’s pointless having 350Kw charging on Lucid because it’s rare we ever get to see the benefit of it. Keep in mind, we’ve all paid a premium for that fast charging and can’t get proper use out of it.

Lucid should stop marketing it as a selling point at this point in time because it’s clear the speeds advertised can’t be delivered unless they build their own network.

 

[sansonoma]

So it didn’t work as you were power limited . At this point in time it’s pointless having 350Kw charging on Lucid because it’s rare we ever get to see the benefit of it. Keep in mind, we’ve all paid a premium for that fast charging and can’t get proper use out of it.

Lucid should stop marketing it as a selling point at this point in time because it’s clear the speeds advertised can’t be delivered unless they build their own network.

At the Kettleman EA two days ago, I was one of THREE Lucid Airs stopping there for a charge.

It turned out that the other two were Lucid engineering vehicles being driven by Lucid folks doing tests on EA installations. They had all kinds of exotic equipment and wires in the trunk.

It turns out that it was weird but serendipitous that it was the first time one of the chargers there didn't work for me. The others did, but at speeds below 80kw with the notation that the station limited the speed. The Lucid engineers said, "that's what we are researching", were pleasant, and rode off toward Arizona.

 

[HC_79]

At the Kettleman EA two days ago, I was one of THREE Lucid Airs stopping there for a charge.

It turned out that the other two were Lucid engineering vehicles being driven by Lucid folks doing tests on EA installations. They had all kinds of exotic equipment and wires in the trunk.

It turns out that it was weird but serendipitous that it was the first time one of the chargers there didn't work for me. The others did, but at speeds below 80kw with the notation that the station limited the speed. The Lucid engineers said, "that's what we are researching", were pleasant, and rode off toward Arizona.

Good to know Lucid is out and about looking into things as well. Given that location is brand new with the NEW & IMPROVED chargers EA was selling to us all it's frustrating to see that you were getting 80Kw. I was there last Saturday and got 30Kw before I moved the car to the next charger and got a consistent 170Kw

 

[LucidNJ]

Tried EA charging for the first time today. My local mall has 4 150kw chargers available. When I got there, 3 of the 4 were in use. The 4th had a message on the screen when I pulled up that said "Charging power is limited as we work to update our software". I decided to give it a shot anyway. Once I connected my charger, it initialized the charge and a message showed up showing my Lucid charging plan and $0 charging fees and $0 idling fees. Then the light on my charging port turned from white to green and I was super excited as the screen inside my car now showed that it was charging. Power maxed out at 65KW but I knew that given the prior message. Unfortunately, about 10 min later, my car showed that charging had stopped, which was a bummer. rather than try the same charger again, I decided to move to one of the other stations that was previously occupied by an EV6. this one also connected flawlessly and actually was charging at 98 kW. No issues with the second charger in terms of staying connected, but the charging power did drop down to 65 kW. However, I was able to charge from 43% to 80% in about 25 minutes.

All in all, despite the hiccup with that initial charger, I'm happy that I was able to complete a charging session without having to call Lucid or EA. It’s unfortunate that not having to call in with an issue is the benchmark for a good charging session, but compared to some of the stories I’ve heard on this forum, I’ll take this experience any day. Hopefully what they are saying about the software is true, and, these chargers will be back up to full speed at some point in the future, but we’ll see.

 

[Mawashi Geri]

Follow up on my EA post. EA personnel were out here today making repairs in North Bend, WA. Hopefully they were able to address the issues. I will find out tonight.

 

[Negan1000]

As I have bitched about EA on this forum, I thought it only fair that I acknowledge when things work. Today I used an EA charger at the Walmart in Port St. Lucie & it worked pretty well. It required one additional plug/unplug routine but otherwise it worked well. While it was supposed to be a 350kw charger, the best I got was 154kw on a battery that was about 20% charged.. However, given the difficulties I had been experiencing, this was relatively painless. I'll take this experience every time.

Did it plug and charge on your second try? or did you use the Lucid app to complete the charge?

 

[sansonoma]

Did it plug and charge on your second try? or did you use the Lucid app to complete the charge?

I moved to another unit and it charged automatically

 

[nevadagame]

Tried EA charging for the first time today. My local mall has 4 150kw chargers available. When I got there, 3 of the 4 were in use. The 4th had a message on the screen when I pulled up that said "Charging power is limited as we work to update our software". I decided to give it a shot anyway. Once I connected my charger, it initialized the charge and a message showed up showing my Lucid charging plan and $0 charging fees and $0 idling fees. Then the light on my charging port turned from white to green and I was super excited as the screen inside my car now showed that it was charging. Power maxed out at 65KW but I knew that given the prior message. Unfortunately, about 10 min later, my car showed that charging had stopped, which was a bummer. rather than try the same charger again, I decided to move to one of the other stations that was previously occupied by an EV6. this one also connected flawlessly and actually was charging at 98 kW. No issues with the second charger in terms of staying connected, but the charging power did drop down to 65 kW. However, I was able to charge from 43% to 80% in about 25 minutes.

All in all, despite the hiccup with that initial charger, I'm happy that I was able to complete a charging session without having to call Lucid or EA. It’s unfortunate that not having to call in with an issue is the benchmark for a good charging session, but compared to some of the stories I’ve heard on this forum, I’ll take this experience any day. Hopefully what they are saying about the software is true, and, these chargers will be back up to full speed at some point in the future, but we’ll see.

It’s the middle of the winter and it’s cold out, charging gets much slower when it’s cold out, 98kw is ok for battery over 50% and it’s 30 degrees or colder. You did fine.

 

[sansonoma]

Did it plug and charge on your second try? or did you use the Lucid app to complete the charge?

And the next day, it was great

 

[EricM]

I had EA issues at the Hartsdale, NY (near White Plains) station on Thursday evening. Couldn’t get it to work at all despite lengthy phone calls with both EA and Lucid. I’ve used this location in the past without issues and other cars (Hyundai/Kia and VW) were using the station successfully.

Lucid tried applying a new cert to my account and I did numerous reboots to no avail.

I did see that one VW ID.4 owner posted on PlugShare that they were having the same problems I did around the same time I was there.

My sense is that the EA SW engineers don’t have their act together with their software upgrades and it’s causing authentication issues. You’d think that, given the heritage of EA, they’d know a thing or two about tricking software to make something work!

 

[pjdcorp]

Did it plug and charge on your second try? or did you use the Lucid app to complete the charge?

I used the Lucid app.

 

[pjdcorp]

I had EA issues at the Hartsdale, NY (near White Plains) station on Thursday evening. Couldn’t get it to work at all despite lengthy phone calls with both EA and Lucid. I’ve used this location in the past without issues and other cars (Hyundai/Kia and VW) were using the station successfully.

Lucid tried applying a new cert to my account and I did numerous reboots to no avail.

I did see that one VW ID.4 owner posted on PlugShare that they were having the same problems I did around the same time I was there.

My sense is that the EA SW engineers don’t have their act together with their software upgrades and it’s causing authentication issues. You’d think that, given the heritage of EA, they’d know a thing or two about tricking software to make something work!

 

[Bus Driver]

There was a woman there charging her ID4 to 100%. No other spots were available; usually there are at this location. She had her windows open so I politely asked (when she hit 90% at 21Kw) if she was aware that it slows down considerably after 80. She said that she charges all the time and this doesn’t happen in her car. I had to wait it out.

“…doesn’t happen in her car”. Wow, some people are just clueless. One would think that noticing that getting from 80% to 100% (30 minutes) takes about as much time as getting from 20% to 80% (30 to 35 minutes), would discourage people from wasting so much time.

 

[EVCar]

“…doesn’t happen in her car”. Wow, some people are just clueless. One would think that noticing that getting from 80% to 100% (30 minutes) takes about as much time as getting from 20% to 80% (30 to 35 minutes), would discourage people from wasting so much time.

Don't know if VW has a time limit.
If there's one, she's paying for the extra time.
Still, the inconvenience imposed on fellow EV drivers dwarfs whatever extra 5-10 bucks she may be paying.