Electrify America Issues

[Shuasha]

They put out another where it seems to have been fixed. Keep in mind, Kyle's vids are what he sees in his area so others may not have the same experience.

 

[hmp10]

I had a very frustrating first road trip in my Air with a single charge enroute some months ago. After letting that experience wear off a bit, I'm about to try it again. I'm encouraged by many people's reports of few problems road-tripping. But it's still daunting to rely on the combination of EA and our relatively new Air for a trip out into the wild.

We took two road trips from Florida into the Carolinas six months apart, using many of the same charging locations on each trip. We actually encountered more charging issues on our second trip (in December 2022) than on our first -- everything from an entire location being off line, to chargers failing to initiate charging, to charging beginning only to stop seconds or minutes into the session. And at every stop other drivers were reporting similar experiences, including another Lucid owner who was traveling from the D.C. suburbs to Ft. Lauderdale. He had had his car only two days and had yet to experience a seamless charging stop at EA stations.

 

[hmp10]

They put out another where it seems to have been fixed. Keep in mind, Kyle's vids are what he sees in his area so others may not have the same experience.

It's true that he encountered the cold-weather charging issues in Colorado. But Kyle travels all over the U.S. and Europe to test charging experiences, and he has recently reached the point of concluding that the current CCS charging infrastructure in the U.S. is just not up to the demands of predictable highway travel.

Kyle's father lives in Naples, FL where we do. He owns an EV6 and has had numerous issues trying to charge at the Naples EA station. A friend has a VW ID.4 and has experienced similar difficulties at that station. Another friend took delivery two weeks ago on a Chevy Bolt EUV, and his first attempt to use the Naples EA station at Wal Mart was a bust. He finally found a working ChargePoint DCFC station at a Target location about ten miles north.

I recently decided to try ChargePoint myself at a different location in the area (a Harley dealership in Bonita Springs), and I wound up at a station that was non-operational -- something it took a 15-minute phone call with their customer service to figure out.

I know people on the west coast are having better experiences, but non-Tesla EV travel on the eastern seaboard is a very iffy proposition.

We still love driving the Lucid when we can stay within reach of our home charging (and, fortunately, that will get us across the state to Miami and back), but we're getting more reluctant rather than less reluctant to put the car on the road beyond the reach of home charging. The situation with CCS charging actually seems to be deteriorating. Meanwhile, more and bigger -- and always reliable -- Tesla Supercharger stations continue to pop up down here, meaning we use our Model S Plaid more for long road trips now, even though we enjoy traveling in it far less than in the Lucid.

I'm hoping that Tesla does open up its Superchargers to CCS cars so that we can put the Lucid back on the road for long trips.

 

[Shuasha]

It's true that he encountered the cold-weather charging issues in Colorado. But Kyle travels all over the U.S. and Europe to test charging experiences, and he has recently reached the point of concluding that the current CCS charging infrastructure in the U.S. is just not up to the demands of predictable highway travel.

Kyle's father lives in Naples, FL where we do. He owns an EV6 and has had numerous issues trying to charge at the Naples EA station. A friend has a VW ID.4 and has experienced similar difficulties at that station. Another friend took delivery two weeks ago on a Chevy Bolt EUV, and his first attempt to use the Naples EA station at Wal Mart was a bust. He finally found a working ChargePoint DCFC station at a Target location about ten miles north.

I recently decided to try ChargePoint myself at a different location in the area (a Harley dealership in Bonita Springs), and I wound up at a station that was non-operational -- something it took a 15-minute phone call with their customer service to figure out.

I know people on the west coast are having better experiences, but non-Tesla EV travel on the eastern seaboard is a very iffy proposition.

We still love driving the Lucid when we can stay within reach of our home charging (and, fortunately, that will get us across the state to Miami and back), but we're getting more reluctant rather than less reluctant to put the car on the road beyond the reach of home charging. The situation with CCS charging actually seems to be deteriorating. Meanwhile, more and bigger -- and always reliable -- Tesla Supercharger stations continue to pop up down here, meaning we use our Model S Plaid more for long road trips now, even though we enjoy traveling in it far less than in the Lucid.

I'm hoping that Tesla does open up its Superchargers to CCS cars so that we can put the Lucid back on the road for long trips.

Oh, I wasn't saying that EA was fixed, just that they fixed the problem when it was really cold out on their new chargers. The CCS infrastructure in the US is inconsistent as hell. All I was saying is Kyle's reporting (himself) is one data point. I like the twitter thing he's trying to do where people rate their charge experience to get more data points.

 

[rnr]

I charged at an EA station for the first time this week and was amazed to find that it worked perfectly with no issues and I didnt even need to use the app. I then tried charging at a different station near my house the next days and of the four stations one was non-functional and 2 were occupied. I plugged into the only available one and if started charging for about a minute before reporting an error. My car also reported a drive unit failure on the dash which was worrying. Called customer support and we were able to fix it with a reset and started charging again only for it to lose connection within about 90 sec. Tried 2 more times but left after getting another drive unit failure error. Went to the second station near my house and all stations were occupied with 2 cars in line. Hung around for 10 minutes and saw 2 more people drive by an leave due to the line.

Charging infrastructure certainly doesnt feel to be up to par and this is the SF Bay Area. Will take a trip to wine country this weekend and see how the stations away from the city are.

 

[EVCar]

It's beyond my comprehension why none of the manufacturers has commented on the EA plight affecting their customers.
Maybe they have all signed some sort of agreement with EA, prohibiting them from public comments.
Or could it be possible that their contracts with EA would pay per number of successful charges, hence fewer people going to EA is less money from their budgets?
No reasonable organization would tolerate this kind of performance from a subcontractor.

 

[Tesla2.0]

I think it’s lack of choices of high speed CCS FC Fast charging network.

 

[HC_79]

Or if they publicly shame them then everyone will be like “build your own”

 

[hmp10]

It's beyond my comprehension why none of the manufacturers has commented on the EA plight affecting their customers.
Maybe they have all signed some sort of agreement with EA, prohibiting them from public comments.
Or could it be possible that their contracts with EA would pay per number of successful charges, hence fewer people going to EA is less money from their budgets?
No reasonable organization would tolerate this kind of performance from a subcontractor.

I don't know if it's still going, but the VP of Electric Vehicles for Ford said in an interview some months ago that Ford had set up a team dedicated to tracking EA issues that Ford customers were having and following up with EA to get action. He said Ford was worried that the deluge of troubles their EV buyers were having was going to put a damper on EV adoption if they didn't intervene with EA on behalf of car owners.

From my own experience with EA chargers since that interview, I would have to say that Ford's effort has been ineffective.

 

[borski]

Oh I would just hate it, arriving at an EA charger with literally, a visceral reaction like that. Who needs that kind of worry on a road trip, when all you should be worrying about is how quickly you can charge up to get enough miles, to get to the next charging stop.

Your remark is particularly discouraging to me. I love road tripping, and I especially love road tripping in EVs. Tesla and their network of reliable, dare I say bulletproof supercharging stations have spoiled me rotten. How I wish EA could even come close to matching them. I bought my Air GT especially for its “longer legs”, and the tantalising possibility of fewer and shorter charging stops. I wish this was the reality.

For what it's worth, I still have no range anxiety and no worries on road trips. I think it's just because west coast / western EA chargers just... work, for the most part.

 

[EVCar]

I don't know if it's still going, but the VP of Electric Vehicles for Ford said in an interview some months ago that Ford had set up a team dedicated to tracking EA issues that Ford customers were having and following up with EA to get action. He said Ford was worried that the deluge of troubles their EV buyers were having was going to put a damper on EV adoption if they didn't intervene with EA on behalf of car owners.

From my own experience with EA chargers since that interview, I would have to say that Ford's effort has been ineffective.

Well, at least one company expressed concerns.
Based on the temperature of the forum and elsewhere, one'd expect a chorus for this tune.

 

[sansonoma]

For what it's worth, I still have no range anxiety and no worries on road trips. I think it's just because west coast / western EA chargers just... work, for the most part.

Sadly, the Kettleman EA chargers - all TEN of them - are not working and haven't been for days. I decamped to Lost Hills, where only one stall was working and being used. All the other chargers would not either recognize a Lucid or accept payment. It took a call to EA to get them to push juice from one of the stations.

There was another Lucid there. It also was not recognized by the chargers. Fortunately, that Lucid was driven by a well-known reviewer from a well-known journal. We had a great talk. I told him how much I loved my car in every dimension (which I do) but have an orthogonal view of EA. He concurred. I wonder what the review will say?

 

[HC_79]

For what it's worth, I still have no range anxiety and no worries on road trips. I think it's just because west coast / western EA chargers just... work, for the most part.

I beg to differ

 

[Tesla2.0]

Yes, that I remember that stupid Lucid-EA handshake issue is really annoying if not connecting and have to call EA to reset station and get wife’s staring eyes. I wish the free juice is nonexistent and just tap phone and go, but it gets complicated even using EA app sometimes, or use RFID wallet or switch ti credit car swipe. This kind of complexity troubleshooting is pushing electrification back to ICE or Tesla. I look forward for the day MagicDuck at Tesla Supercharging stations as alternative even dispensing slow juice.

 

[sansonoma]

EA adventures this weekend shook my faith. I must say, though, the EA employees I get on the phone are terrific, helpful, and answer immediately. That is the best part of EA.

But it would not be necessary to call them, except - well, my trip today from LA to Palo Alto illustrates:

Kettleman City is still down - all ten new stations. So I decided - on my trip north from LA - to top off at Lost City because Countryside Market EA was so troublesome on the way down.

Lost City chargers worked for 5 minutes delivering 110 kw but it rapidly decreased to 3 kw and then failed for all stations.

So, I headed north to Harris Ranch. The one station that was not being used did not work at all.

So, I continued north to Panoche Shell EA. Of the six stations there, only two functioned at all. I discovered this after calling EA, while standing in the rain, who directed me to a working station. Of note, it was a 150kw station that delivered +165 kw to my car. (BTW, the Wayback Burger joint there is terrific.)

The upshot: I have range anxiety - lots of it - as long as EA is the way it is.

 

[hmp10]

EA adventures this weekend shook my faith. I must say, though, the EA employees I get on the phone are terrific, helpful, and answer immediately. That is the best part of EA.

But it would not be necessary to call them, except - well, my trip today from LA to Palo Alto illustrates:

Kettleman City is still down - all ten new stations. So I decided - on my trip north from LA - to top off at Lost City because Countryside Market EA was so troublesome on the way down.

Lost City chargers worked for 5 minutes delivering 110 kw but it rapidly decreased to 3 kw and then failed for all stations.

So, I headed north to Harris Ranch. The one station that was not being used did not work at all.

So, I continued north to Panoche Shell EA. Of the six stations there, only two functioned at all. I discovered this after calling EA, while standing in the rain, who directed me to a working station. Of note, it was a 150kw station that delivered +165 kw to my car. (BTW, the Wayback Burger joint there is terrific.)

The upshot: I have range anxiety - lots of it - as long as EA is the way it is.

You had more EA stations to try than we did, but your experience is otherwise very much like ours on our December trip up the eastern seaboard.

Despite my bad first experience with an attempt to use a ChargePoint station (which was also out of service), I'm going to try a few more so that I can plan to use them as a backup if we attempt another long road trip in the Air. Electrify America just cannot be depended upon to support such travel at this point.

 

[Tesla2.0]

Rivian is claiming building 3500 DC fast charging stalls and 10,000 level-2 WayPoints stalls this year for its Rivian Adventure Network. (LOL for Texas) Mercedes Benz is also doing their own network in participating dealership next few years. Ford is possibly doing the same. Tesla is also opening up soon. I believe the DC fast charging landscape will be very different by end of 2025.

Meanwhile, Lucid is the only EV that is not Tesla can go distance with flexibility. Option is there if you are willing to go down 50kW stall in EVGo and other network to go to places. During my last month road trip, I’ve met an EV enthusiast charging Chevy Bolt at EA station. He told me his Bolt can go maximum charging rate of 50kW and he is proud of its efficiency at 4+ mi/kWh. He was from Kansas on the way to California, opposite direction of where I came from. He told me stories of himself drove to Miami and Toronto with his Bolt. He was really inspiring. If Bolt can do it, Air should be too. We all just need his positive energy!

 

[HariK]

EA adventures this weekend shook my faith. I must say, though, the EA employees I get on the phone are terrific, helpful, and answer immediately. That is the best part of EA.

But it would not be necessary to call them, except - well, my trip today from LA to Palo Alto illustrates:

Kettleman City is still down - all ten new stations. So I decided - on my trip north from LA - to top off at Lost City because Countryside Market EA was so troublesome on the way down.

Lost City chargers worked for 5 minutes delivering 110 kw but it rapidly decreased to 3 kw and then failed for all stations.

So, I headed north to Harris Ranch. The one station that was not being used did not work at all.

So, I continued north to Panoche Shell EA. Of the six stations there, only two functioned at all. I discovered this after calling EA, while standing in the rain, who directed me to a working station. Of note, it was a 150kw station that delivered +165 kw to my car. (BTW, the Wayback Burger joint there is terrific.)

The upshot: I have range anxiety - lots of it - as long as EA is the way it is.

Try 99 next time vs I 5. It adds just 27 miles and the speed limit is mostly 70 and there are mostly 3 lanes. A lot of towns where you have EA chargers. That will be my preference next time I drive that route.

 

[sansonoma]

Try 99 next time vs I 5. It adds just 27 miles and the speed limit is mostly 70 and there are mostly 3 lanes. A lot of towns where you have EA chargers. That will be my preference next time I drive that route.

Will give it a shot!

 

[Negan1000]

Yes, that I remember that stupid Lucid-EA handshake issue is really annoying if not connecting and have to call EA to reset station and get wife’s staring eyes. I wish the free juice is nonexistent and just tap phone and go, but it gets complicated even using EA app sometimes, or use RFID wallet or switch ti credit car swipe. This kind of complexity troubleshooting is pushing electrification back to ICE or Tesla. I look forward for the day MagicDuck at Tesla Supercharging stations as alternative even dispensing slow juice.

Maybe EA should change the timeouts on the handshakes. They may not be accounting for all the delays and variations in response times.