Electrify America Issues

[EVCar]

I believe that. I have done it with my Tesla several times.

The problem is , this is only true with a warm battery. With a cold battery your not getting anything near that.

Yep. He was in Southern Calif, plus he wasn’t on freeway doing 80mph.

 

[borski]

I parked early morning with about 6%. The station is right next to my office, figured I’d go after work. I guess due to the cold weather I must have lost some energy. In any case, if EA would be even somewhat predictable this would be a none story. Their unreliability is a big problem for me and a lot of other folks. I can’t see myself keeping the car if it doesn’t get better soon.

I have done 0% on gas a lot, never got stuck. Always had a gas station when I needed. (Btw gas cars can probably go another 30-40 miles before it’s really empty)

I agree, actually; while I haven’t had EA issues (lucky i guess), clearly tons of people have. But I’d also familiarize yourself with the other charging stations in your area - chargepoint, evgo, Volta, etc. Even if EA is free (as in dollars), I’d want to know where the closest paid backup is.

 

[pjdcorp]

I have used, or attempted to use, an Electrify America charging station 5 times. In not 1 instance has a connection been successful without numerous attempts to connect and calls to both Lucid & EA. Today, the first 45 minutes in what I had hoped would be a half hour charge, was spent trying multiple chargers & making calls to Lucid & EA. And that's before I even got a charge started.
I have paid for EA service twice because I couldn't sacrifice the time required to thru the hoops required to get the free service.
Not what I'd thought I was getting when I bought into Lucid's touted 3 years of free charging from EA.
LUCID - what's your solution?
I suggest we pay for the EA service & then get a credit for charges incurred.

 

[borski]

I have used, or attempted to use, an Electrify America charging station 5 times. In not 1 instance has a connection been successful without numerous attempts to connect and calls to both Lucid & EA. Today, the first 45 minutes in what I had hoped would be a half hour charge, was spent trying multiple chargers & making calls to Lucid & EA. And that's before I even got a charge started.
I have paid for EA service twice because I couldn't sacrifice the time required to thru the hoops required to get the free service.
Not what I'd thought I was getting when I bought into Lucid's touted 3 years of free charging from EA.
LUCID - what's your solution?
I suggest we pay for the EA service & then get a credit for charges incurred.

You can always pay and they will refund you if it isn’t working. Email customer care.

 

[Bobby]

I have used, or attempted to use, an Electrify America charging station 5 times. In not 1 instance has a connection been successful without numerous attempts to connect and calls to both Lucid & EA. Today, the first 45 minutes in what I had hoped would be a half hour charge, was spent trying multiple chargers & making calls to Lucid & EA. And that's before I even got a charge started.
I have paid for EA service twice because I couldn't sacrifice the time required to thru the hoops required to get the free service.
Not what I'd thought I was getting when I bought into Lucid's touted 3 years of free charging from EA.
LUCID - what's your solution?
I suggest we pay for the EA service & then get a credit for charges incurred.

It varies wildly. I have used the station here in San Diego multiple times and never had a glitch.

 

[Sandvinsd]

It varies wildly. I have used the station here in San Diego multiple times and never had a glitch.

which one? My wife has used the Rancho Penasquitos two times and had an issue each time.

 

[Bobby]

which one? My wife has used the Rancho Penasquitos two times and had an issue each time.

That very one. What was the issue? I was there recently... no problem. And, shockingly, all of the stations were working!

 

[pjdcorp]

You can always pay and they will refund you if it isn’t working. Email customer care.

Thanks
That isn't be my default going forward if the EA charger doesn't recognize car.

 

[borski]

Thanks
That isn't be my default going forward if the EA charger doesn't recognize car.

Your default should be to unplug and replug, and ensure you check the charging tab in the Lucid app to make sure it’s not asking you for the charger number; sometimes you have to do that.

 

[hmp10]

Your default should be to unplug and replug, and ensure you check the charging tab in the Lucid app to make sure it’s not asking you for the charger number; sometimes you have to do that.

After musing about the possibility on some earlier threads, on our recent road trip up into the Carolinas I finally encountered a dreaded scenario in Savannah: having to mess around with malfunctioning EA chargers in a downpour.

Try standing at an uncovered EA charging station, plugging and unplugging cables, moving to a different charge post, checking your phone app, standing at the charger on the phone with an EA "customer service" person while you answer endless questions about what the charger screen is showing -- all while trying to hold an umbrella in whipping wind and driving rain.

It's bad enough that so few DC chargers (including Tesla's) are not protected from weather. It's far worse when the chargers so often malfunction and require 30-minute-plus phone back-and-forths with EA personnel.

When was the last time any of us had to fill a gas tank at an uncovered pump?

 

[ksn]

Your default should be to unplug and replug, and ensure you check the charging tab in the Lucid app to make sure it’s not asking you for the charger number; sometimes you have to do that.

I have tried 4 different EA chargers in NJ and was successful everytime but i had to unplug and replug a few times to get the connection going . I have been asked to enter the EA station number on my app every single transaction and the last two times it’s also asking me to hit the continue button on the EA screen after I select the station ID on the lucid app. If I don’t enter the continue button then it just keeps waiting and times out

 

[HariK]

I agree, actually; while I haven’t had EA issues (lucky i guess), clearly tons of people have. But I’d also familiarize yourself with the other charging stations in your area - chargepoint, evgo, Volta, etc. Even if EA is free (as in dollars), I’d want to know where the closest paid backup is.

EVgo CS told me that Lucid Pure is not compatible but he was able to do something remote. EVgo charges $2.99 session fee and 51 cents per kWh here in Fremont, CA when I tried on a week day at about 10AM. with 99 cents per month they waive the session fee but it is still 51 cents per kWh. $12 per yr is not a bad price for a backup option if it actually works. Chargepoint does not have many DCFCs but a lot more reliable I think. I wanted to test Volta but all the stations were busy. I think Volta is free but L2 only.

 

[DeaneG]

After musing about the possibility on some earlier threads, on our recent road trip up into the Carolinas I finally encountered a dreaded scenario in Savannah: having to mess around with malfunctioning EA chargers in a downpour....Try standing at an uncovered EA charging station, plugging and unplugging cables, moving to a different charge post, checking your phone app, standing at the charger on the phone with an EA "customer service" person while you answer endless questions about what the charger screen is showing -- all while trying to hold an umbrella in whipping wind and driving rain...

It's even more fun if your cell connection to EA keeps dropping, and every time you do re-connect with EA while standing outside the car plugging and re-plugging, your car decides to take the phone call for itself so you can't hear EA on your phone. And the charge port door keeps auto-closing right when the EA rep says "plug in now!". I was about ready to rip mine off.

 

[borski]

After musing about the possibility on some earlier threads, on our recent road trip up into the Carolinas I finally encountered a dreaded scenario in Savannah: having to mess around with malfunctioning EA chargers in a downpour.

Try standing at an uncovered EA charging station, plugging and unplugging cables, moving to a different charge post, checking your phone app, standing at the charger on the phone with an EA "customer service" person while you answer endless questions about what the charger screen is showing -- all while trying to hold an umbrella in whipping wind and driving rain.

It's bad enough that so few DC chargers (including Tesla's) are not protected from weather. It's far worse when the chargers so often malfunction and require 30-minute-plus phone back-and-forths with EA personnel.

When was the last time any of us had to fill a gas tank at an uncovered pump?

Oh, I agree. Especially in that situation, my steps would be: plug in, try and replug once (both times checking the Lucid app in case I need to put in the charger number), and then pay and deal with reimbursement later. The price of “immediately free” is not worth the stress in a downpour.

 

[HC_79]

Try standing at an uncovered EA charging station, plugging and unplugging cables,

Even the new covered ones truly aren't covered. The roof is all solar panels and they cheaped out by not even putting tin on the structure first then monting the panels to that. Was pouring down with rain and all the water was just coming through in streams from all the gaps in the solar panels.

 

[Keithmaj]

EVgo CS told me that Lucid Pure is not compatible but he was able to do something remote. EVgo charges $2.99 session fee and 51 cents per kWh here in Fremont, CA when I tried on a week day at about 10AM. with 99 cents per month they waive the session fee but it is still 51 cents per kWh. $12 per yr is not a bad price for a backup option if it actually works. Chargepoint does not have many DCFCs but a lot more reliable I think. I wanted to test Volta but all the stations were busy. I think Volta is free but L2 only.

I tried a Volta at a nearby Cinemark theater and it worked well on the first try., It was free but at L2 speed. Interesting that of the four chargers available, three were taken by Teslas!

 

[Mawashi Geri]

As I am new to EV’s I did not and do not know what to expect. My experience to date in the first 500 miles of driving regarding EA is:

1). The chargers at the various stations have short cables and this makes hooking up frustrating
2). Wet here in the Northweat, yes covered charging would be nice
3). The charging bays I have been to are about 50% usable. Seems like they either have the message on the screen stating that they are inoperable or once you hook up the charge is terminated. Then you move on and hook up to another charger after being terminated only to be terminated yet again. Glad we have range as I have left and drove the whole trip and charged up at my home base.
4). Calling EA to report the issues is frivolous. I have yet to talk to a representative. I use their FB sIte. They do respond but is is a canned response. And yes, the inoperable/broken charging stations are still not usable a month later.
5). When I have been able to charge at their stations it has been fine however being new…..I just now learned from this very educational user forum that my charge rate is greatly reduced from what I should be getting from the 150 or 350kw stations.
6). I do like to plug and charge Lucid/EA combination. It is a seamless process.

Overall, again I must state I am new to EV’s and have no valid expectations yet. Having said that if Lucid paid for this service for us they are not getting what they paid for. If we had an expectation of service from the EA stations we are being let down. Personally, I am certain that newbie’s to EV’s will be somewhat discouraged by EA’s usability that I have experienced. I know from my years of working and troubling issues that if you receive a repair tag or whatever you call it is a priority to fix and clear the work order.

 

[Sandvinsd]

That very one. What was the issue? I was there recently... no problem. And, shockingly, all of the stations were working!View attachment 8844

Her issue was it would not connect, multiple times. Changed station and it worked. Two other stations were dark and the app had them listed, correctly, as unavailable. So three of the 8 had issues the other day.

 

[EVCar]

Having said that if Lucid paid for this service for us they are not getting what they paid for.

Whatever Lucid pays EA most likely affects the price that we pay for the cars. EA service is not really free for Lucid owners.
MB, BMW, VW customers, to name a few, are in the same boat.
Would love to know the conversations between Lucid and these car manufacturers.

 

[Bobby]

I was at EA today. There were two brand spanking new cars: an i4 and a EQS. Both were paying for the EA. VW owns EA.