Another frustrating EA experience

[porsche_coyote]

I charged today at the 350 kW charger at the Walmart Supercenter in Salinas, CA. Eventually.

I first tried to initiate charging from the Porsche Connect app, which reported 'function unavailable.' After a few failures like this, I tried the Charge NA app. Same result. Then I tried the Electrify America app. It said 'payment declined.' Then I tried calling Porsche support as suggested in the Porsche Connect app. Of course, they're not open on Sundays so I guess you're only supposed to drive during Atlanta, GA business hours.

I then called Electrify America support, who were super friendly, but still took nearly 15 minutes to get the charger into a working state for me. The sad/funny thing is that a e-tron owner was in the space next to mine also on the phone with EA support at the same time. It was clearly an issue on their end.

Once EA initiated a charge session for me, I immediately charged at a rate starting at 149 kW (I was a 41% SoC and battery was 87° F). Tapered off after a few minutes to around 110 kW and then stayed there all the way past 86%, where I unplugged. The poor e-tron driver had started charging at the same time as me with a 21% SoC and was at 44% SoC when I unplugged. A good day to be in the Taycan, I suppose.

So, this was my first failure at EA with the Taycan, but it ended well enough. That said, this needs to get fixed. The car is glorious. The charging network is not there yet.

So, with 6 successes out of 7 attempts at EA with the Taycan, I'm batting .857.

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[Charlie_P]

I was there last week. I found that the Charging NA App is more reliable unless you are using Android. I plugged the car into the 350 kw charger, opened the app, selected the 350kw option and it redirected me to the 150kw chargers for activation. Basically I think they copy pasted their code wrong. I called EA to activate the charger for me, I had similar experience to you and it took an extra 15 minutes to even get the charging started.

Pro tip: Switched to iOS and no issues. Drove down from Bay to LA, 2 charge stops as per the recommendation of A Better Route Planner and it was all smooth.

 

[porsche_coyote]

I was there last week. I found that the Charging NA App is more reliable unless you are using Android. I plugged the car into the 350 kw charger, opened the app, selected the 350kw option and it redirected me to the 150kw chargers for activation. Basically I think they copy pasted their code wrong. I called EA to activate the charger for me, I had similar experience to you and it took an extra 15 minutes to even get the charging started.

Pro tip: Switched to iOS and no issues. Drove down from Bay to LA, 2 charge stops as per the recommendation of A Better Route Planner and it was all smooth.

Glad that switching to iOS worked for you. I’m an iOS user, so it definitely wasn’t an Android issue.

 

[Charlie_P]

Glad that switching to iOS worked for you. I’m an iOS user, so it definitely wasn’t an Android issue.

Damn sorry my easy solution won't work for you. I guess because I read so much about how terrible EA is, it inadvertently set my expectation extremely low, to the point that I should expect issues every other time I charge.

 

[daveo4EV]

the problem with EA isn’t that it doens’t work - it’s that there is no ryhm or reason as to if/how/when it’s going to work - it’s not a reliable network.

when it works it’s one of the best charging experiences out there - but you can not depend on an EA charger working as part of your travel plans…that’s the problem

 

[daveo4EV]

EA simply having accurate and update to status regarding it's chargers would go a longs ways toward improving EA's network - the lack of the abiltiy to plan your travels w/EA's network that makes this sooooo frustrating…

example: charger in San Jose (blossom hill) - 2 of 3 chargers not working - but EA app listed them as available and functional - friends Chevy Bolt - nope - only one charger working.

 

[porsche_coyote]

EA simply having accurate and update to status regarding it's chargers would go a longs ways toward improving EA's network - the lack of the abiltiy to plan your travels w/EA's network that makes this sooooo frustrating…

example: charger in San Jose (blossom hill) - 2 of 3 chargers not working - but EA app listed them as available and functional - friends Chevy Bolt - nope - only one charger working.

Indeed. And by the way, that status would be lovely to have in apps (and in the car), but even on the screen of the charger itself they're not always displaying status. The charger I first attempted to use was apparently out of service, but the display showed no sign of anything but normal operation.

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