My first EA charging experience

[Tesla2.0]

Given the high failure rates of air conditioners, car batteries, pool equipment, and exterior home electronics in Florida, I have wondered whether the EA equipment is not robust enough to handle our climate. Interestingly, though, we have never come across a non-operating Tesla Supercharger in eight years down here. I don't know whether that's because of better equipment or better maintenance, or both.

Having lived in Studio City when I was at NBC, I have to admit that I miss a lot about California. If so much of our retiring friends and family had not been heading to Florida, I may well have landed in Los Angeles for retirement.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1644772426557865985

New SK Signet 350kW is upgraded in EA stations in Florida just as in Texas.

 

[emoylv]

There is a Signet charger in Vegas on Cheyenne. My last charge was at 3kW (no, not a typo). Unplugged and went to the EA on Flamingo - 135kW. Cheyenne charger is by far the worst.

 

[Demosthenes]

Agree that west coast charging on EA is generally pain free and works as advertised. I’ve quite enjoyed the free EA charging and have done the drive from San Diego to Vancouver a dozen times relying 99% on EA. Once I screwed up my range calculation (early days of Nav when it was wildly inaccurate and I was a noob) and instead of risking going dead I pulled up short of the EA charger and used a charge point charger instead. It was intolerably slow.

Although EA chargers can be quite variable in terms of charge rate, I’ve pulled over 300 kW speed before which is something along the lines of +20 miles per minute. Didn’t last very long but each minute that it did last was worth an hour at the charge point charger lol. I definitely tend to average well over 100 kW and so my charging rule is basically charge until the speed dips below 100 and then move on. I do usually run my battery down to the 10% range before charging.

Haven’t seen or tried any super fast charging options from other charge station brands.

 

[SDHacker]

Agree that west coast charging on EA is generally pain free and works as advertised. I’ve quite enjoyed the free EA charging and have done the drive from San Diego to Vancouver a dozen times relying 99% on EA. Once I screwed up my range calculation (early days of Nav when it was wildly inaccurate and I was a noob) and instead of risking going dead I pulled up short of the EA charger and used a charge point charger instead. It was intolerably slow.

Although EA chargers can be quite variable in terms of charge rate, I’ve pulled over 300 kW speed before which is something along the lines of +20 miles per minute. Didn’t last very long but each minute that it did last was worth an hour at the charge point charger lol. I definitely tend to average well over 100 kW and so my charging rule is basically charge until the speed dips below 100 and then move on. I do usually run my battery down to the 10% range before charging.

Haven’t seen or tried any super fast charging options from other charge station brands.

You must have 40k miles on your car by now

 

[Pittsburgher]

Do you mean the one at the Sheetz on 51 in Belle Vernon?

That one was scheduled to open in December 22. My EA app shows that it is in operation (One 350 kW station in use, one OOS and the two 350 kWs available).

I've been keeping an eye on that one because it will be the station I charge at when travelling to Port Vue for the holidays.

Was thinking about taking the GV-60 last Christmas, but it was too small for the whole family and a week's gear w/o my rooftop cargo carrier (didn't have the crossbars yet for the GV-60).

Should (maybe, hopefully, PLEASE?) have the Rivian for the trip this year.

It the Belle Vernon charger is out, the next one is off the turnpike near Bedford, about 100 miles away.

Yes, the Belle Vernon location is what I was referring to. I am only going by what the EA CSR told me over the phone . . . saying it closed in Jan and was supposed to reopen in June 2023. I have not verified that she was correct (It's a bit of a ride to make a special trip to see if its open).

 

[vhoxo]

Just charged at a local EA station for the first time, and it was uneventful! Plugged in and recognized the Air quickly. Preconditioned the battery and started at 125kw on a 150kw charger. Took 28mins to hit 80% charging 44.6Kwh total. Overall a very positive experience.

 

[KenAir]

My first two times charging at the local EA station in West Las Vegas went fine, no problems. But yesterday, I went to the same station when I was at 20% SOC. I wanted to see if the charging speed was faster when my SOC was lower.

Unfortunately, out of the seven plugs there, only one seemed to be working - and it was occupied. I saw the guy pull in just seconds before I got there, so it was going to be a wait. He told me he knew it was the only one working so knew which stall to use. I tried 3 other plugs, none were working. The one and only plug that said on the display it was working gave me a charging error when I plugged it in - said it could not connect to the vehicle.

I just went home and charged overnight as usual.

EA has the potential to be fantastic. But they REALLY need to up their game on keeping these stations actually working. I think it would be far more important to make all the existing stations closer to 100% reliability rather than just adding more stations. I can't yet be confident when I reach a distant, isolated station on a long trip that it will actually work when I get there. This is the last big hurdle to cross in widespread EV adoption in my opinion.

 

[emoylv]

My first two times charging at the local EA station in West Las Vegas went fine, no problems. But yesterday, I went to the same station when I was at 20% SOC. I wanted to see if the charging speed was faster when my SOC was lower.

Unfortunately, out of the seven plugs there, only one seemed to be working - and it was occupied. I saw the guy pull in just seconds before I got there, so it was going to be a wait. He told me he knew it was the only one working so knew which stall to use. I tried 3 other plugs, none were working. The one and only plug that said on the display it was working gave me a charging error when I plugged it in - said it could not connect to the vehicle.

I just went home and charged overnight as usual.

EA has the potential to be fantastic. But they REALLY need to up their game on keeping these stations actually working. I think it would be far more important to make all the existing stations closer to 100% reliability rather than just adding more stations. I can't yet be confident when I reach a distant, isolated station on a long trip that it will actually work when I get there. This is the last big hurdle to cross in widespread EV adoption in my opinion.

The ones at Target on Flamingo and at Sam's Club near Rainbow work good. They are tearing up the gas pumps at Sam's on Centennial. Word is they are adding chargers there.

 

[KenAir]

The ones at Target on Flamingo and at Sam's Club near Rainbow work good. They are tearing up the gas pumps at Sam's on Centennial. Word is they are adding chargers there.

I was at the Target on Flamingo. All the stalls were working a week ago, but not the last few days it seems. I'll check again this weekend.

I struggle to understand why these ever break in the first place. It seems every electrical thing I have ever owned has been very reliable. Imagine a leaf blower, refrigerator, microwave, toaster oven, or for that matter a 12V car battery charger ever breaking. These things work for years if not decades with zero problems. Why do the public vehicle charges fail so often? Somehow these are just not designed or built well, and are not well maintained when they do break.

 

[emoylv]

I was at the Target on Flamingo. All the stalls were working a week ago, but not the last few days it seems. I'll check again this weekend.

I struggle to understand why these ever break in the first place. It seems every electrical thing I have ever owned has been very reliable. Imagine a leaf blower, refrigerator, microwave, toaster oven, or for that matter a 12V car battery charger ever breaking. These things work for years if not decades with zero problems. Why do the public vehicle charges fail so often? Somehow these are just not designed or built well, and are not well maintained when they do break.

It will get worse over the summer. Heat is the #1 enemy of power transmission plus the added demand of A/C usage. I expect the EA and maybe others (except Tesla?) to throttle down as grid demand goes up. I'll be taking notes over the next 5 months on charge rates vs temperature, especially here.

 

[CT Yankee]

Don't trust the EA app. Install and use the plugshare app instead. It gives real time availability and user reviews of charging stations.

No doubt EA has a lot of room to improve. We all hope they do, and soon.

What is the plug share app? The one in the car?

 

[KenAir]

What is the plug share app? The one in the car?

There is an iPhone app called PlugShare. It will show you nearby charging stations and in real time will tell you if they are operating and in use or not. It isn't perfect but better than the EA app.

 

[Sandvinsd]

What is the plug share app? The one in the car?

Every EV owner should get familiar with PlugShare. I consider it the “gas buddy” app for EV’s. And if you have it, use it for check-ins.. that helps everyone. . That way you can tell in advance if a charger is working well before you get there. It has every charger out there, Level 2 and 3 and you can filter it to only show the ones you want. i found a nice Level 2 Chargepoint charger two blocks from a hotel we were staying at on the App where I could charge overnight. It was on PlugShare but not on the ChargePoint App, so go figure,,

I have an EV folder on my phone for EVs. others you should get are:
1) ABRP (A better route planner) for planning your trips and where to stop
2) Electrify America (of course)
3) other EV charging network Apps: ChargePoint, EVgo, Blink, Volta, She’ll Recharge, Sema-Connect, 7Charge, Tesla. pick the ones that are common in areas you are traveling to.

 

[Pittsburgher]

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

SUCCESS ! ! ! So when EA told me the Cranberry PA station would be down until June - the were dead wrong. Less than 2 weeks after my visiting the "under construction" station, it was reopened. I knew this by searching for it on Plug Share ap where a number of people had commented on their charging experiences in the few days prior.

So I plugged into #4, it recognized my car and advised "payment approved" (meaning it presumably makes the debit to LUCID). Plugged in at 31% remaining - ramped up quickly to 132kW and then did what seemed to be a very linear regression ending at 60kW. Total time to get to 82% charge was 33 minutes and 52.6 kWh delivered. Very simple process !

 

[Tesla2.0]

Every EV owner should get familiar with PlugShare. I consider it the “gas buddy” app for EV’s. And if you have it, use it for check-ins.. that helps everyone. . That way you can tell in advance if a charger is working well before you get there. It has every charger out there, Level 2 and 3 and you can filter it to only show the ones you want. i found a nice Level 2 Chargepoint charger two blocks from a hotel we were staying at on the App where I could charge overnight. It was on PlugShare but not on the ChargePoint App, so go figure,,

I have an EV folder on my phone for EVs. others you should get are:
1) ABRP (A better route planner) for planning your trips and where to stop
2) Electrify America (of course)
3) other EV charging network Apps: ChargePoint, EVgo, Blink, Volta, She’ll Recharge, Sema-Connect, 7Charge, Tesla. pick the ones that are common in areas you are traveling to.

And Circle K Charge as it currently has more charging stations built up than 7-Eleven.

 

[dwfallin]

took my first road trip after picking up the lucid in reston, va to memphis, tn - charged 4 or 5 times and everyone was a success: plug in and walk away (to use restroom or get food generally). to be fair - i was also concerned with all the negatives so i installed plugshare and got evgo as a backup - but with plugshare, you can see people checking in at those stations daily so you have a pretty good idea if they're open and charging. i got between 100kw and 200kw rates, and usually forgot to precondition! but i dont soc got below 30%. so far, so good - not east coast exactly, but def not left coast!

 

[emoylv]

It will get worse over the summer. Heat is the #1 enemy of power transmission plus the added demand of A/C usage. I expect the EA and maybe others (except Tesla?) to throttle down as grid demand goes up. I'll be taking notes over the next 5 months on charge rates vs temperature, especially here.

Just used the EA charger at Target on Flamingo. At 26% SOC, I got a whopping 137kW charge rate. It throttled down to around 90kW at 65%. It was at 40kW at 80% when I stopped. Ambient temperature was 91 degrees F. One of the 4 chargers was down. Initially I was plugged into a combo charger that also had a CHAdeMO cable. Then a Tesla pulled up and asked if I could relocate to another charger so he could plug in. The CHAdeMO port maxed out at 50kW.

 

[KenAir]

Just used the EA charger at Target on Flamingo. At 26% SOC, I got a whopping 137kW charge rate. It throttled down to around 90kW at 65%. It was at 40kW at 80% when I stopped. Ambient temperature was 91 degrees F. One of the 4 chargers was down. Initially I was plugged into a combo charger that also had a CHAdeMO cable. Then a Tesla pulled up and asked if I could relocate to another charger so he could plug in. The CHAdeMO port maxed out at 50kW.

That's good news. I will try that station again and post my results. It was awesome twice, then terrible, hoping it is back to awesome.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

It seems a pattern has emerged in these posts and in what I've seen elsewhere on the internet: people on the West Coast are finding far fewer problems with EA than people on the Eastern Seaboard and at points in between.

I'm wondering if the fact that California has, by far, the highest number of EVs means that EA is focusing its maintenance investment more there right now. Florida is the number 2 state in terms of EV registrations. Fortunately, the Air has enough range to take us back and forth across the state on a single home charge. But taking the car out of Florida -- something we've done on two longer road trips -- has been plagued by issues. And not just with the Air, but with others brands we find having problems.

I’ve actually had better luck on the east coast than on my recent LA trip in a Polestar 2 as far as EA goes. Apparently there’s a very large region of LA that is terrible for EA, although even on the way to Palm Springs at a high plug share score site, I had troubles with EA also (one charger couldn’t connect to vehicle despite multiple reboots with EA on the phone, had to wait for someone to leave cuz another charger was blocked by a Jaguar at 100% SOC idling for an hour). The message is that it’s super region specific and EA very obviously does not have the resources or ability to adequately support their own network. I saw lines and angry EV owners at every EA site I stopped at. Every site had someone on the phone with EA too. Every EVGo site I went to had zero issues aside from one being slow for my SOC%.

 

[Cosmo Cruz]

I learned a great deal about chargers watching the Cannonball video with the Lucid. They go into detail trying different solutions to get the EA chargers to pump electrons properly (plugging/unplugging/switching/cursing and the 150s often deliver better than the 350s). It was a waste of three hours but I did learn some things. I learned that the Polestar One is a very cool car. I learned that EA sucks everywhere. I learned that public EV chargers in California are to be avoided.