chenner
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- B.
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2021
- Threads
- 7
- Messages
- 134
- Reaction score
- 148
- Location
- Georgia
- Vehicles
- Taycan 4S
- Thread starter
- #1
I've had my Taycan for almost a year now and have 14K miles with most of those being long drives/road trips and Electrify America charging stops. One thing that I've noticed from my last big trip is that EA stations are becoming even less reliable and there are more and more cars using them. Especially on weekends.
From EA stations being down to arriving to one where they were doing maintenance on all of them I've been experiencing some minor close calls. In the Southeast where I live the two busiest charging stations near me are in Asheville and Greenville. Both only have 4 stations at a Sam's Club, are difficult to get in and out of, and are so busy that I'm often having to wait to use them.
Last month I arrived in Asheville to find myself 3rd in line to charge and where others had to wait an hour to charge. It didn't help that an EQS owner decided to leave his car plugged in and was idling for more than 2 hours blocking the charger from being used by others.
This is the problem that I am seeing on the road right now:
- EA stations are not reliable with some units not working so the station is basically left with only 3 functional chargers
- Chevy Bolts have doubled in production and at only $25K are becoming more and more common. These cars only charge at a max speed of 55kW so will occupy a charger for much longer than most cars
- Hummer EV's have such a large batter pack that even with a charging speed of 350kW it takes them an hour to go from 20-80% which is much longer than most cars
- Mustang EV's charge at 150kW but then taper to a level-2 charging speed at 80% and greater so uneducated new owners who think that they need to charge above 80% will occupy a charger for long time
- New uneducated owners will charge to above 80% regardless of the type of EV they're driving which again will occupy more time at a charger
On my last trip from Toronto to Atlanta I saw a ton of Chevy Bolts, Cadillac Lyriq, Mercedes EQS and EQB (or whatever their new SUV model is), VW ID's, etc. basically they are more and more cars using the network and new installations are far and few in between at least on the East Coast.
EA's charging network is not keeping up with the amount of new EV's hitting the streets and unfortunately there are no other companies coming out with DC fast chargers above 150kW to help keep up with the demand. And as more and more EV's hit the street at some point there will be enough of them that we'll lose the benefit of driving in HOV lanes and toll roads for free.
As somebody who bought EV's (we also own a Telsa and a couple of V8 cars) not to save the planet but because of the way they drive I would love to see a new administration slow down the transition of forcing everybody to move to EV's and rather make electrical vehicles an option to those who prefer them. Yes, that's me being selfish but that's what the majority of the population seem to want anyway.
Interested in hearing other people's experiences on the demand on the current charging infrastructure as well but that's my two cents.
From EA stations being down to arriving to one where they were doing maintenance on all of them I've been experiencing some minor close calls. In the Southeast where I live the two busiest charging stations near me are in Asheville and Greenville. Both only have 4 stations at a Sam's Club, are difficult to get in and out of, and are so busy that I'm often having to wait to use them.
Last month I arrived in Asheville to find myself 3rd in line to charge and where others had to wait an hour to charge. It didn't help that an EQS owner decided to leave his car plugged in and was idling for more than 2 hours blocking the charger from being used by others.
This is the problem that I am seeing on the road right now:
- EA stations are not reliable with some units not working so the station is basically left with only 3 functional chargers
- Chevy Bolts have doubled in production and at only $25K are becoming more and more common. These cars only charge at a max speed of 55kW so will occupy a charger for much longer than most cars
- Hummer EV's have such a large batter pack that even with a charging speed of 350kW it takes them an hour to go from 20-80% which is much longer than most cars
- Mustang EV's charge at 150kW but then taper to a level-2 charging speed at 80% and greater so uneducated new owners who think that they need to charge above 80% will occupy a charger for long time
- New uneducated owners will charge to above 80% regardless of the type of EV they're driving which again will occupy more time at a charger
On my last trip from Toronto to Atlanta I saw a ton of Chevy Bolts, Cadillac Lyriq, Mercedes EQS and EQB (or whatever their new SUV model is), VW ID's, etc. basically they are more and more cars using the network and new installations are far and few in between at least on the East Coast.
EA's charging network is not keeping up with the amount of new EV's hitting the streets and unfortunately there are no other companies coming out with DC fast chargers above 150kW to help keep up with the demand. And as more and more EV's hit the street at some point there will be enough of them that we'll lose the benefit of driving in HOV lanes and toll roads for free.
As somebody who bought EV's (we also own a Telsa and a couple of V8 cars) not to save the planet but because of the way they drive I would love to see a new administration slow down the transition of forcing everybody to move to EV's and rather make electrical vehicles an option to those who prefer them. Yes, that's me being selfish but that's what the majority of the population seem to want anyway.
Interested in hearing other people's experiences on the demand on the current charging infrastructure as well but that's my two cents.
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