Charging Test

[hydbob]

Alright, so I finally got the car down to a point where I was comfortable before doing a charge test. Scroll through the pics but the highlights are as follows:

I was at a 150kwh Electrify America charging station

Started @ 73 miles or 14% SOC
Once plugged in and verified started charging, station said I was getting around 165 kwh
10% later and it showed 172kwh and stayed between 165-170 up until 60% SOC
@ 60% SOC it dropped down to 143 kwh
@ 70% SOC it dropped to 112 kwh
@ 78% SOC it dropped down to 90 kwh
Ended @ 81% SOC
Charged 88 kw in 37 minutes
Car shows 418 miles or 80 % SOC

side notes: I originally went to a different station but it capped me at 42kwh so I left and travelled to a different station. I also started preconditioning the battery 7 minutes before I arrived at the station to charge.

I'll upload the rest of the pics as a reply since I'm capped at 10

 

[hydbob]

Here's the rest from my charging session

 

[Adnillien]

Average of 142 kW on a 150 kW station is not bad at all. Thank you for the detailed post.

 

[Lucken]

I’m surprised a 150kW EA charging station allowed 172kW to pass at the peak. The most I’ve seen with my e-Tron was 152kW, but the e-Tron’s charge rate is apparently flatter than the Lucid with less tail off at 80%. Either way I didn’t think a 150kW station could pass that a high a rate of charge.

 

[dawktah LucidGT]

Ok, now I don't understand charging. It's a 150kW charger but can charge at 172kW? I will definitely get me a clamp meter to read amps during charge. Is the voltage or amperage constant?

 

[Adnillien]

Ok, now I don't understand charging. It's a 150kW charger but can charge at 172kW? I will definitely get me a clamp meter to read amps during charge. Is the voltage or amperage constant?

I don't know the details of these chargers. The 350kW EA stations are 950 volts, are the older 150kW EA stations also 950 volts or are they 500 volts? Many 150kW stations are 500V. If the latter, then the Lucid will have to step up the voltage to charge which will impact the charging curve.

Neither voltage or current will be completely constant but for the most part it is the current or Amperage that is changing, not the voltage.

I am not sure where you plan to put your clamp meter but it is not likely work. It needs to go on only one wire of the 2 DC wires supplying the car.

 

[dawktah LucidGT]

I don't know the details of these chargers. The 350kW EA stations are 950 volts, are the older 150kW EA stations also 950 volts or are they 500 volts? Many 150kW stations are 500V. If the latter, then the Lucid will have to step up the voltage to charge which will impact the charging curve.

Neither voltage or current will be completely constant but for the most part it is the current or Amperage that is changing, not the voltage.

I am not sure where you plan to put your clamp meter but it is not likely work. It needs to go on only one wire of the 2 DC wires supplying the car.

I'll reach out to Fluke. The one I own currently isn't rated high enough or has large enough clamp.

 

[Lucken]

Geesh, I wouldn’t start probing any of these high speed chargers unless you have a death wish or truly known what you’re doing.

 

[dawktah LucidGT]

It's a clamp meter would be no different than you holding the cable.

Fluke 376 True RMS AC/DC Clamp Meter with iFlex® | Fluke

Fluke 376 AC/DC clamp meters provide increased display flexibility and improved wire access. Learn more about expanding your range of measurement today!

www.fluke.com

 

[Adnillien]

It's a clamp meter would be no different than you holding the cable.

It won't work by putting the clamp around the cable. For current to flow, you must have a complete circuit. There are two main supply wires in the charging cable with the current flowing in opposite directions forming the complete circuit. The clamp meter operates by sensing the magnetic field associated with moving electrons. Since the current in the two wires is equal and in opposite directions, their magnetic fields completely cancel and the clamp meter will read zero. If you have a death wish, you could open up the cable and put the clamp around only one of the main wires and it would work. However, the cable may have tamper and damage detection that would just shut it down if you open up the cable.

 

[Lucken]

It's a clamp meter would be no different than you holding the cable.

Fluke 376 True RMS AC/DC Clamp Meter with iFlex® | Fluke

Fluke 376 AC/DC clamp meters provide increased display flexibility and improved wire access. Learn more about expanding your range of measurement today!

www.fluke.com

Ah, got it. I misinterpreted Adnillien's comment when he said, "It needs to go on only one wire of the 2 DC wires supplying the car". I thought it was a physical attachment to an actual wire.

 

[dawktah LucidGT]

It won't work by putting the clamp around the cable. For current to flow, you must have a complete circuit. There are two main supply wires in the charging cable with the current flowing in opposite directions forming the complete circuit. The clamp meter operates by sensing the magnetic field associated with moving electrons. Since the current in the two wires is equal and in opposite directions, their magnetic fields completely cancel and the clamp meter will read zero. If you have a death wish, you could open up the cable and put the clamp around only one of the main wires and it would work. However, the cable may have tamper and damage detection that would just shut it down if you open up the cable.

I'll call FLUKE and see if their Hall Effect clamp would work. No sense in buying if it won't. Thanks!

 

[hmp10]

A question for anyone who has used the Electrify America network . . .

A friend who's had his VW ID.4 for several months tried out the Electrify America network this morning for the first time. His car came with 3 years of complimentary charging and was set up at delivery for "plug and charge". He kept getting a message that "payment not accepted" and had to call the EA help number. They said their system was showing he still has over two and a half years of free charging, and it was not clear why it was not working. They walked him through a bunch of resets and, after about 20 minutes of this, he was finally able to commence charging. Thank goodness it was not raining.

Has anyone had trouble using EA with their Lucid? I saw an interview of Ford's VP of Electrification with Tom Moloughney, and the Ford official said there have been so many issues with Mach-E owners encountering similar problems that Ford has set up a special team to track this issue and stay in constant touch with EA to address problems where they crop up.

 

[dawktah LucidGT]

A question for anyone who has used the Electrify America network . . .

A friend who's had his VW ID.4 for several months tried out the Electrify America network this morning for the first time. His car came with 3 years of complimentary charging and was set up at delivery for "plug and charge". He kept getting a message that "payment not accepted" and had to call the EA help number. They said their system was showing he still has over two and a half years of free charging, and it was not clear why it was not working. They walked him through a bunch of resets and, after about 20 minutes of this, he was finally able to commence charging. Thank goodness it was not raining.

Has anyone had trouble using EA with their Lucid? I saw an interview of Ford's VP of Electrification with Tom Moloughney, and the Ford official said there have been so many issues with Mach-E owners encountering similar problems that Ford has set up a special team to track this issue and stay in constant touch with EA to address problems where they crop up.

I wonder where this fails. The car handshake or the charger communicating with the payment network. I'm just wondering if the charger is using a cell signal vs. a hardwired land line. I know I have data issues on cell networks sometimes.

Is there any reporting that the earlier you use EA after purchase it things smooth out or it doesn't matter?

 

[hydbob]

I had no issues at all with plug and charge. Advisor told me some customers had an issue but a call to customer service fixed it.

 

[hmp10]

Living in rainy Florida, I already am frustrated that so many Level 3 chargers here are built with no cover over them. For example, there is a traveler service area on Snake Road along I-75 on Alligator Alley. It was an antique, run-down facility next to which a huge new one was just built, complete with food service court, convenience store, and large banks of gas pumps under a big cover. On the little strip of land sitting between the old and new facility is a Tesla supercharger station with no weather protection at all.

It's bad enough to have to plug and unplug a charger in a downpour. Having a handshake issue as well would be enough to cause me to return to ICE cars for road trips.

 

[Lucken]

A question for anyone who has used the Electrify America network . . .

A friend who's had his VW ID.4 for several months tried out the Electrify America network this morning for the first time. His car came with 3 years of complimentary charging and was set up at delivery for "plug and charge". He kept getting a message that "payment not accepted" and had to call the EA help number. They said their system was showing he still has over two and a half years of free charging, and it was not clear why it was not working. They walked him through a bunch of resets and, after about 20 minutes of this, he was finally able to commence charging. Thank goodness it was not raining.

Has anyone had trouble using EA with their Lucid? I saw an interview of Ford's VP of Electrification with Tom Moloughney, and the Ford official said there have been so many issues with Mach-E owners encountering similar problems that Ford has set up a special team to track this issue and stay in constant touch with EA to address problems where they crop up.

I get free EA charging with my e-Tron, but it requires me to enter the charger number in the Audi app before charging begins. So not exactly 'plug n play' but close. This method has never caused issues. Of course non-functional EA chargers are another story.

 

[hmp10]

Of course non-functional EA chargers are another story.

Is this frequent?

In six years of driving a Tesla, we never encountered an inoperable station or handshake issues. So my initial charging anxiety had long since evaporated. But now it's rearing its ugly head again with continuing reports of EA bugs.

Tom Moloughney is probably the most frequent user of Electrify America. While he has never been unable to charge at an EA site, he has sometimes had to switch chargers once or more to find one that worked. That leaves me very uneasy, especially as more CCS cars get on the road.

 

[Lucken]

It happens more frequently than I'd like. It's definitely getting better, but it's still not up to Tesla SC reliability. I have a bank of 4 150kW chargers within 5 minutes of my house. The other day the end unit had its light off and a blank screen. The other 3 were vacant, so no issues charging. Nonetheless I called it in and 3 days later I happened to be in the area and there was a tech working on it. During the summer we attended a wedding in upstate NY and the bank of chargers most convenient to that location had 1/2 of their charger bank down. I kept an eye on it for close to one month and saw no action in terms of repairs! I called them myself and they told me they were aware of the issue but it was a 'complicated' repair. Okeedokey.

For what ever reason, EA seems to rely heavily on user reports to initiate repairs. You'd think they would automatically poll all the chargers in their network on a set basis to see if any are in need of service. If they do, that doesn't seem to be the way issues are frequently identified.

One other note for those not familiar with EA chargers. Despite each 150kW charger array having 2 handles, only one can be used at a time. So if there are 8 charging handles at a given location, you need to think of it in terms of only 4 charging opportunities.

 

[hmp10]

It happens more frequently than I'd like . . . . For what ever reason, EA seems to rely heavily on user reports to initiate repairs. You'd think they would automatically poll all the chargers in their network on a set basis to see if any are in need of service. If they do, that doesn't seem to be the way issues are frequently identified.

This was the very scenario the Ford VP of Electrification was discussing in his interview. He said Ford was getting so many complaints from Mach-E buyers about inoperable chargers and their not being repaired promptly that Ford set up a team as a clearing house for malfunction reports and to use its corporate clout to keep pressure on EA to respond more promptly. With the F-150 Lightning soon to debut and so much of their new brand identity as an EV manufacturer hanging in the balance, Ford is very nervous about the EA network not being up to snuff.

If a Tesla supercharger were out anywhere near a good-sized town, there is almost always another supercharger you could reach within a couple of dozen miles. For now at least, there are almost no nearby EA alternatives and, in some cases, no CCS alternatives other than very slow Level 2 destination chargers.

Before tackling road trips in our Air, I'm thinking about checking to see whether Triple A has trucks equipped with portable chargers. If so, I might sign up.