FPL Evolution Charger

[Keith]

Yesterday I wanted to try out a nearby 400kw FPL (Florida Power and Light) Evolution charger on Oslo Road in Vero Beach Florida.

It didn't work

I tried 4 times. I have the App, scanned the code, plugged in the car, they seemed to connect but never completed the handshake. The Gravity said to "finish with the charger app", which I had, but no joy.

I went home and talked with ChatGPT - I noted that in the "My EV" section where I specified my vehicle as a Lucid Gravity GT, the icon next to the vehicle said "CCS". Chat suggested that the FPL charger thinks all Lucid vehicles use the CCS connector and suggested I change the vehicle to a Tesla (I chose the Cybertruck).

This morning .. SUCCESS .. worked the first time. I didn't do anything differently:

• Scanned the Charger barcode
• Authorized payment (Apple Pay, just like yesterday)
• Plugged in
• Handshake completed, started charging .. maxed at 325KW:
  • I started at 12% and charged to 22%
  • That 10% charge took 3 minutes, delivered 15kw and cost $7.92

I've not charged higher than 220kw (at a Tesla station) and noticed a noise emanating from the rear of the Gravity.
Is this noise normal? Is it the sound of the motor converting 400v to 900v? (I tried to upload the video, but it just gets stuck and hangs at 4%)

thanks /keith

 

[drb3333]

Super good input! Probably saved others many hours of frustration and confusion. Thanks for sharing.

 

[DeaneG]

...Is this noise normal? Is it the sound of the motor converting 400v to 900v? (I tried to upload the video, but it just gets stuck and hangs at 4%)

Yes, various noises from the front and rear of the car are normal during DC fast charging.

If you have the time, I think it would be super-helpful to other FL Gravity owners to let FPL know that Gravity uses NACS rather than CCS.
It's likely this is an issue with the vendor who supplied the charging app, or the app and charging stations, but FPL would be the customer point of contact. Do FPL charging stations or the app have a phone number to call?

 

[Pragmatic]

Since its not Tesla its likely already 800V.

 

[DeaneG]

Since its not Tesla its likely already 800V.

CCS and NACS have an upper current limit around 500-600 amps depending on the cable. So any DC charging station rated at greater than about 250kW must be capable of voltages higher than a Tesla Supercharger's 450V limit.

Practically speaking, any DC fact charging station installed within the last five years or so will be capable of at least 920V. Except Tesla.
The other big issue with Superchargers is that V1 and V2 stations can't communicate using the industry-standard DC fast charging protocol. They used a proprietary Tesla standard.

 

[Saksak]

[…] I went home and talked with ChatGPT - I noted that in the "My EV" section where I specified my vehicle as a Lucid Gravity GT, the icon next to the vehicle said "CCS". Chat suggested that the FPL charger thinks all Lucid vehicles use the CCS connector and suggested I change the vehicle to a Tesla (I chose the Cybertruck). […]

Did the station have two cables, one that is NACS and one that is CCS, of which only one is active depending on choice?

 

[Keith]

Yes. I plugged into nacs and the charger screen UI showed that cable as active, so you'd think whatever the My EV page says wrt connector type is irrelevant

 

[Keith]

UPDATE: Last week I contacted FPL Evolution Customer Support and explained my findings. I received an automated "thank you" reply. However, checking their app yesterday, I now see my Gravity shows up as "NACS". I'll be verifying it allows the Gravity to charge properly /keith

 

[Macgreiner]

Need more ionna chargeries down this way

 

[BrianBigNFun]

Need more ionna chargeries down this way

I hope Ionna and Walmart make huge inroads (pun intended) everywhere

 

[Keith]

UPDATE: Last week I contacted FPL Evolution Customer Support and explained my findings. I received an automated "thank you" reply. However, checking their app yesterday, I now see my Gravity shows up as "NACS". I'll be verifying it allows the Gravity to charge properly /keith

UPDATE: Last week I got back to the FPL Evolution charger on Oslo Rd in Vero Beach FL. Selecting Lucid Gravity in their app now displays "NACS" and plugging into the charger (my SOC was 10%) worked perfectly First requesting payment (via app swipe and charging to Apple Pay), then quickly ramping up the charge. The other charger (there are two at this location) was occupied at the time and Gravity displayed "charging limited by station". I received a maximum of 325kw