My first EA charging experience . . . well . . . wasn't. There are dozens of public chargers in the greater Pittsburgh / Allegheny County metro area. But only 2 EA charging locations . . . one about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh (Cranberry Township) and one about 30 miles south. So I went to the Cranberry location today to check it out and acquaint myself with the "free" option. Expecting to have a "first charge" (losing my EV virginity ?) . . . but to no avail. Arrived to find the station (located on the back 40 of a Sheetz convenience store) under construction. No service. Glad I was not in duress (< 15% charge remaining). Interestingly, the EA app (As well as the Lucid nav and "find a charger") provided NO indication that this location was out of service. In fact, the EA app/site showed this location as "open" and operating hours were 24/7. Really ?
Upon arrival - and inability to charge - I called the EA (833) number. I gave the very nice customer service rep the station number, and she confirmed that the station was being renovated and not in operation. I told the rep that all of the chargers looked brand new . . . 3 of 4 were hyper chargers (350kw) and all sitting on brand new concrete pads. All looked very "ready to go" - except for the heavy equipment and barriers set up around the station. I am really surprised, that when EA takes a station "down" for renovation , that they don't have a means of updating their own web site to show that station as "not in service". I mean, really, if they take down even 1 or 2 stations everyday (which I doubt), do they not have an IT guy/gal that can make those stations "off line" or something ?? So I asked - when will this station be back in service ? The CSR could not answer that - only that it was down and the refurbishment that had only started about a week ago. OK, well how long will it be down .. . ie are we talking weeks, months, etc ? What is typical? She couldn't tell me. But she guessed - "maybe a month or so".
So I asked about the other EA charging station - the one 30 miles south of Pittsburgh. Oh, that one is being refurbished as well. Super. any details about that one ? Yes, construction started in late January. And it is still closed. Expected to open in June 2023. So - it takes 5 months (?) to swap out the chargers, in an existing setting. OK. So why does she think the Cranberry location will be open in a month ? (rhetorical).
All I can say is wow. When I was enticed by 3 years of free charging (yes, I understand, it's a pittance when looking at the larger picture of acquisition price, depreciation, etc, etc) I did look at what the EA infrastructure was locally. Not ideal, but something I could use when traveling north or south of the city. Now, to find that neither of the 2 locations within 50 miles of Pittsburgh are operating - and little information around exactly when they will be operating - and more importantly - that the systems (Lucid and EA) that we rely on to direct us where to find a charge - did not indicate either of these as being "out of order" ? To me, that's a problem. I will go back to my SA and see if I can get my "free" charging extended to 3 years after the first of these 2 stations is operational. As you might expect, I'm really disappointed.
Don't get me wrong - I will presumably enjoy having 2 local stations that have both been upgraded and (again, presumably) enjoy the benefits of chargers that recognize my vehicle and provide charging at whatever speed my vehicle is able to take. But, at least for the moment, the immediate disappointment of no charging locally seems to outweigh the potential of an ideal future charging state.
That aside . . . Oh yeah . . . The ooooomph that these cars have is just unbelievable. Off topic . . . but, jeez, so fun. And I "only" have a Touring. And - since I'm still in a self induced "break in period", I haven't even tried "sprint" mode. So that comment is based on smooth /swift.
Doug
