Will EA be the death of EVs?

[DeaneG]

First try at my local EA worked, second through about tenth try at South Lake Tahoe did not. Got 50kW rate on approximately the eleventh try. I'm generally about 75% successful at EA in our other CCS EV when road tripping. Car and charger have a software conversation that mostly works, sometimes does not.

 

[Sandvinsd]

My first try was at an EA station in Carlsbad and it did not work. While I was on the phone with both EA and Lucid another machine opened up. I moved there and it worked but the speed was only about 70 kW on the 150. I’m about 60% for the machines to work when I pull up and plug in. The EA number is on speed dial!

 

[Moshne]

I don't think EA is a sign of negative futures. If anything, it creates a hole in the market for the upcoming players that might close if EA had their *stuff* together. It's frustrating for those of us that rely on it, but EA is a drop in the bucket.

 

[CLTGT]

I tried one EA location about 4-6 weeks ago and it worked fine. So, I am 1 for 1 so far. I also have charged on a Chargepoint charger at UNC while at a football game without issue. I really haven't paid much attention to the speed of charging...yet. I just wanted to make sure it worked first.

I did not take my Air on my recent trip from Charlotte to Atlanta to Tuscaloosa, AL to Laurel, MS to New Orleans, LA to Seaside, FL and back to Charlotte as I was worried about charging. I could have charged in Atlanta and overnight in Tuscaloosa, AL. Tuscaloosa to New Orleans is not good with very few opportunities between the two as well as very few in New Orleans.

 

[blueice89]

For me personally I am really not happy with how EA has treated their customers and their slow reactions to operational issue. They don’t communicate at all on twitter or explain themselves. This was one major deciding factor that made me want to stick to Tesla. Sadly in Arizona I don’t even see them expanding the EA network. This past 2022 Tesla added three super charge locations all within 25 miles radius of my house. And to be honest I never had an issue with Tesla charger. I also never had an issue with EA charger but I hear about so many people having issues with them. For parent with 3 kids on road trip last thing I want to deal with is a failed charger. I hope in 2023 the increased funding from infrastructure encourages more build out and staffing of the EA chargers. Also the EA charger itself is tons more complicated to build and maintain to its Tesla counter part.

 

[blueice89]

Last night I posted a lengthy review of our 4-day road trip that was plagued by problems at every one of the six Electrify America stopovers at four different sites. It was a far worse experience than with EA charging on a similar road trip (using two of the same charging locations) six months ago. This was not unique to Lucid. Drivers of Mach-E's, ID.4's, EV6's, Ioniq 5's, and R1T's were also having problems at these stopovers.

At several stopovers, customers gathered in small groups to grumble or rant about Electrify America. This brand is in a tailspin.

We have decided our next road trip will have to be in our Tesla Model S instead of our Lucid Air -- and we're not happy about it.

Tesla network just works. EA needs to learn how to make it simpler to maintain cause they just are not scaling to demand of EV producing and usage. It’s exponential growth. Honestly Lucid or Rivian needs to start building chargers as well.

 

[HC_79]

Sadly the government is to blame partly for EA’s charger choice. As it’s a public network there was a requirement for screens and credit card readers to be present so they were accessible to all.

How Tesla will get away with this who knows but as the days go by I don’t think Elon will open up the network after all. It’s one of the main things that drives people to buy Tesla and with all the issues of late why would he give away the golden nugget that keeps people sticking with Tesla.

 

[borski]

Sadly the government is to blame partly for EA’s charger choice. As it’s a public network there was a requirement for screens and credit card readers to be present so they were accessible to all.

How Tesla will get away with this who knows but as the days go by I don’t think Elon will open up the network after all. It’s one of the main things that drives people to buy Tesla and with all the issues of late why would he give away the golden nugget that keeps people sticking with Tesla.

The Q4 discounting and mass push is a good indicator that people *aren't* sticking with Tesla, or at least that they're quite concerned about it. That, coupled with the government funding that is guaranteed if they do open it up, leads me to believe they just might. But even if they don't, I'm looking forward to there being more charging options for CCS stations all around the country; hopefully EA steps their game up, but even if they don't, Chargepoint and EVGo and the other newcomers will eventually eat their lunch if they do it right.

 

[Mata Hari]

I am coming from Tesla and that system is nearly flawless. I just took delivery of my AGT and today am looking at the charging options. It ain't pretty!

Since I bought from a 3rd party dealer the EA promo is not transferable (please dm me if you know a workaround!) so it looks like I will be using my level 2 charger at home much more often!

 

[blueice89]

I am coming from Tesla and that system is nearly flawless. I just took delivery of my AGT and today am looking at the charging options. It ain't pretty!

Since I bought from a 3rd party dealer the EA promo is not transferable (please dm me if you know a workaround!) so it looks like I will be using my level 2 charger at home much more often!

Yeah that is one downside to buying used you don’t get the free charging

 

[t12g]

Yeah that is one downside to buying used you don’t get the free charging

True. But given the current sorry condition of EA, I'm not sure if it makes a difference. If we can't use it, being free doesn't really help... I'd be more than happy to pay for a reliable, predictable charging experience instead of playing the EA charging roulette.

 

[Mac]

I agree. I live in Miami & found the EA not working frequently. Can’t depend on them.

 

[Birdog]

OK, just a bit of an exaggeration, but...

My wife and I took a ride out to East Brunswick, NJ, to visit her sister, about 110 miles from us. Coming back, although I could have easily made it on my i4's initial charge, I decided to try an EA station very close to my wife's sister's house. The experience here was not unlike our experience on Thanksgiving day, with multiple inoperative EA chargers.

Two drivers, who absolutely needed a charge, were beyond furious. One driver had a similar story to one I heard on Thanksgiving day. This was his third EA charger location in NJ he had tried. At the other two, one location was totally inoperative and the other had only 2 of 8 units working, with both functioning units occupied. He told me he regretted buying an EV. This is an absolutely dismal state of affairs for this horrid network of chargers.

I haven't really experienced this on Long Island, but it seems New Jersey is an entirely different story. As I always do when I encounter a bad charger, I called EA to report it as a courtesy to the next driver that might use this location. The agent told me they had the infamous 'trouble ticket' out on the two chargers I tried and it would be tended to shortly. Right.

My wife, who had always been a strong advocate of having 1 EV and one ICE vehicle, turned to me while I was being connected to the EA agent and said, "This is precisely why I don't want two EVs". Who can argue with that logic? Given the circumstances of our last 2 visits to NJ EA chargers, certainly not me.

It seems to me the network is actually deteriorating and not improving. Perhaps I'm wrong. However if these kinds of charging experiences get around, it will have a sobering effect on EV sales. I might think twice or three times taking a trip from NY to Florida. I used to think it would be a piece of cake given all the EA chargers off of i95, but now I wonder.

I feel your pain There is an EA charging station near me that seems to be unavailable to my Lucid two thirds of the time. I pulled up again today to check it while grocery shopping and again no joy even using the Lucid ap. I was able to drive a round trip from Washington to Colorado last summer without much trouble but my experience here around my home in Washington is making me more and more reluctant to make another long trip. I was very happy to see a recent news article that California authorities are looking into the issue of charging station reliability/uptime with the goal of writing enforcement measures for improving and reporting uptime. It can't happen soon enough.

 

[chipcaldwell]

My record with EA is running less than 75%. Yesterday, it went to 5 chargers at Valdosta Walmart before one worked.

 

[Bus Driver]

I feel your pain There is an EA charging station near me that seems to be unavailable to my Lucid two thirds of the time. I pulled up again today to check it while grocery shopping and again no joy even using the Lucid ap. I was able to drive a round trip from Washington to Colorado last summer without much trouble but my experience here around my home in Washington is making me more and more reluctant to make another long trip. I was very happy to see a recent news article that California authorities are looking into the issue of charging station reliability/uptime with the goal of writing enforcement measures for improving and reporting uptime. It can't happen soon enough.

Perhaps a benefit of California’s putative “big-government over-regulation”. Keeping my fingers crossed that CA’s regulators and legislators will get this one right.

Curiously, it’s in Southern California where I’ve had the fewest problems charging at EA. I’ve NEVER had a problem connecting, only minor annoyances like “Provider Has Reduced Charging Rate”, or something along those lines.

 

[HariK]

Oh for sure. 100% agree with you. I have the electrician coming in tomorrow to install my level 2 charger at home. Was mainly relying on these for level 3 charging when needed.

Good move. I cannot recommend EV to anyone who cannot charge at home. Yes. For long distance, it is a problem amplified by the "free" charging which encourages those of us who can charge at home to use it while we can. I call it "free" because there is no free lunch. We did pay for it.

 

[HariK]

Perhaps a benefit of California’s putative “big-government over-regulation”. Keeping my fingers crossed that CA’s regulators and legislators will get this one right.

Curiously, it’s in Southern California where I’ve had the fewest problems charging at EA. I’ve NEVER had a problem connecting, only minor annoyances like “Provider Has Reduced Charging Rate”, or something along those lines.

Perhaps because most of the Lucids sold in CA are here in the SF Bay area?

 

[Bobby]

My record with EA is running less than 75%. Yesterday, it went to 5 chargers at Valdosta Walmart before one worked.

What was your charging speed at the one that worked?

 

[skywaterbanjo]

I drove from Scottsdale to Orange County yesterday. Had 4 people plus golf clubs and luggage in the car. Achieved 3.4 mi/kwh. I decided to play it safe and stop in Indio to give me an extra 100 miles upon arrival. The Indio EA charger was replaced less than 2 months ago. 4 350 pedestals, one was working normally, one was charging at 20 kw and the other 2 were broken. Went on to Palm Desert for lunch. Found an EVGo. Broken. Went on to Target in Palm Springs. 4 pedestals, 1 not working, 1 looked like it was working but didn't - spent 1/2 hour on the phone with EA and Lucid. The other 2 were occupied. Waited an additional 20 minutes for a 150 charger, charged for 20 minutes and added about 100 miles and made it home.
I'm disgusted with the pathetic state of repair of the charging network. The title of this thread is "Will EA be the death of EVs?" I don't think it's just EA. It's all non-Tesla chargers. If this keeps happening to me, making me add 2 hours on to a 5.5 hour drive, I'm done with EVs until this gets fixed.

Too bad because I love the car.

 

[Dr.E]

Good move. I cannot recommend EV to anyone who cannot charge at home. Yes. For long distance, it is a problem amplified by the "free" charging which encourages those of us who can charge at home to use it while we can. I call it "free" because there is no free lunch. We did pay for it.

Had another attempt to charge at EA today both in Rancho Bernardo and Carmel Mountain. For various reasons could not charge at either location: charger not working, car not recognized, and other error messages I don't remember at this time. I bought this car with the intention on going on multiple road trips but this is the last car that I would take on a trip in which I was not able to get back home on one charge. The lack of ability to charge consistently at EA is appalling. So any planned road trips will be done with my Model X as much as I hate to drive that car. Elon if you are listening, hurry up and make your superchargers available to all. I would also suggest that the only way that EA gets government money is to show that there chargers work at least 90-95 % of the time.