Lucid able to charge at an EA station, but 3 cars before all failed

[coma24]

Was only my 3rd visit to an EA charger today (ironically near King of Prussia, it was at the mall). 3 people said charger #6 wasn't working for them, one departed, the other two swapped to other stations (1 and 5). Figuring I'd take a look to see what the specific error was, given that the EA app showed the station as functional (only #4 was published as being out of service), I pulled up and gave it a shot. Zero issues.

The two guys who had no luck came over and asked how I got it working. I didn't have an answer for them. They said they were stuck on "identifying vehicle" or something along those lines.

Has anyone run into that before, or any clue why it worked well for me but not for them? I can only guess that there is some sort of back end flow which is different for cars linked by VIN into manufacturer-purchased plans vs the identification and billing of other users? No complaints here....it's good for me to know that if folks say, "that one's not working for me, don't bother," it's still worth a try.

 

[borski]

Was only my 3rd visit to an EA charger today (ironically near King of Prussia, it was at the mall). 3 people said charger #6 wasn't working for them, one departed, the other two swapped to other stations (1 and 5). Figuring I'd take a look to see what the specific error was, given that the EA app showed the station as functional (only #4 was published as being out of service), I pulled up and gave it a shot. Zero issues.

The two guys who had no luck came over and asked how I got it working. I didn't have an answer for them. They said they were stuck on "identifying vehicle" or something along those lines.

Has anyone run into that before, or any clue why it worked well for me but not for them? I can only guess that there is some sort of back end flow which is different for cars linked by VIN into manufacturer-purchased plans vs the identification and billing of other users? No complaints here....it's good for me to know that if folks say, "that one's not working for me, don't bother," it's still worth a try.

Yeah, they use different backend systems. For most vehicles, EA has to identify the vehicle and then begin charging / dispensing. This is how the Ioniq 5 PnC works, for example.

For Lucid, it’s identified by EA via a certificate that is on the car, and then EA begins dispensing with the assumption that *Lucid* will be charging you. So if, for example, the EA billing system were down… it might be one reason your car would charge and theirs might not.

 

[coma24]

That all makes sense, the only strange part is that two of those other cars were able to swap to another charger and didn't have a problem. I'm not sure if they were using exactly the same procedure to initiate the charge...it could've been user error, I suppose. I'm just grateful that the process is so smooth with the VIN matching....driving up and plugging in just couldn't be any simpler. I'm yet to have an issue at an EA charger, despite all the gripes that people post from the EV community. Either I came in just as things improved, or it's because the VIN-based is that much easier, I suppose.

 

[scal_air]

These are going to be my three maxims for Lucid Air not working right
1. Air Logo reset
2. Restart your phone
3. Change to another charging station

 

[borski]

That all makes sense, the only strange part is that two of those other cars were able to swap to another charger and didn't have a problem. I'm not sure if they were using exactly the same procedure to initiate the charge...it could've been user error, I suppose. I'm just grateful that the process is so smooth with the VIN matching....driving up and plugging in just couldn't be any simpler. I'm yet to have an issue at an EA charger, despite all the gripes that people post from the EV community. Either I came in just as things improved, or it's because the VIN-based is that much easier, I suppose.

Could be that just that charger was having connectivity issues. Ever need to “restart the WiFi on your computer” but it’s working fine for everyone else?

 

[coma24]

These are going to be my three maxims for Lucid Air not working right
1. Air Logo reset
2. Restart your phone
3. Change to another charging station

...the Lucid was working fine, no issues. It was the cars before (all non-Lucids that had the issue).

 

[coma24]

Could be that just that charger was having connectivity issues. Ever need to “restart the WiFi on your computer” but it’s working fine for everyone else?

Would have to be a reasonable niche connectivity issue, only affecting the billing lookup flow for a non VIN-mapped vehicle, but I suppose it's possible. And, it was specific to just that charger (unless the end users botched the flow, and subsequently got it right on the other charger(s)).

 

[scal_air]

...the Lucid was working fine, no issues. It was the cars before (all non-Lucids that had the issue).

Yep. Those apply to any and all problems regarding troubleshooting ...

 

[borski]

Would have to be a reasonable niche connectivity issue, only affecting the billing lookup flow for a non VIN-mapped vehicle, but I suppose it's possible. And, it was specific to just that charger (unless the end users botched the flow, and subsequently got it right on the other charger(s)).

Yeah, I mean I'm obviously just speculating. I don't know what happened. Just stating a possibility, that's all. I agree my scenario is a very specific failure case.

 

[EZEVDriver]

That all makes sense, the only strange part is that two of those other cars were able to swap to another charger and didn't have a problem. I'm not sure if they were using exactly the same procedure to initiate the charge...it could've been user error, I suppose. I'm just grateful that the process is so smooth with the VIN matching....driving up and plugging in just couldn't be any simpler. I'm yet to have an issue at an EA charger, despite all the gripes that people post from the EV community. Either I came in just as things improved, or it's because the VIN-based is that much easier, I suppose.

I just had the same experience a couple of weeks ago. At a relatively well-maintained EA station at a mall, two MBQ 450s in a row were unable to pull more than 60kw at a 350kw charger. After they gave up, I was next in line and stupidly tried it anyway. i pulled 180kw to start and then had the normal charging curve for the rest of the session.

 

[scal_air]

After starting at 150kw this morning, the Chevy Bolt that came behind me pulled an astounding 55kw... Is the EQS the modern equivalent of the Chevy Bolt?