Electrify America Debuts First Indoor Flagship Station in San Francisco

[Tooney]

Electrify America Transforms the Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Experience, Creating a Customer Oasis with Hyper-Fast Charging
https://media.electrifyamerica.com/assets/videos/converted/1143-10124HarrisonStreetBRollfinal.mp4

https://media.electrifyamerica.com/en-us/releases/241

 

[refazi]

Very cool and well needed!
I went there accidentally few weeks ago because it was showing on the map but couldn't get in...

 

[luv4eternity]

I was there yesterday. Wasn’t open yet. Hopefully it’s open today since it’s launching 2/9

 

[gtm]

Very nice but this was built for PR purposes and maybe Uber drivers. Only a Chevy Bolt will be charging long enough to sit and enjoy the lounge. Fix the chargers already deployed, get new ones installed at highway rest stops where there is already convenient food and facilities (Walmart lots was such a great idea), and maybe put on a roof. On the rare occasion that I get a fully functioning 350kW charger the stop is 15 minutes. Away from home I don't need a lounge I need functioning convenient chargers.

 

[Jasper4S]

Very nice but this was built for PR purposes and maybe Uber drivers. Only a Chevy Bolt will be charging long enough to sit and enjoy the lounge. Fix the chargers already deployed, get new ones installed at highway rest stops where there is already convenient food and facilities (Walmart lots was such a great idea), and maybe put on a roof. On the rare occasion that I get a fully functioning 350kW charger the stop is 15 minutes. Away from home I don't need a lounge I need functioning convenient chargers.

I believe you are thinking about it the wrong way. Ok this flagship location is not for you, it is for no one. This is perfectly executed marketing to attract new investors and more money.

The whole negative sentiment around EV in general is partly coming from the negative comments on anything EA related. And that sentiment will keep investors and money away

Be happy (and positive) this could be the start of a game changer.

 

[DirtyPop]

Electrify America Transforms the Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Experience, Creating a Customer Oasis with Hyper-Fast Charging
https://media.electrifyamerica.com/assets/videos/converted/1143-10124HarrisonStreetBRollfinal.mp4

https://media.electrifyamerica.com/en-us/releases/241

I wonder how long until all of the stations, plugs, screens are busted and broken? I give it a month or two.

 

[gtm]

I believe you are thinking about it the wrong way. Ok this flagship location is not for you, it is for no one. This is perfectly executed marketing to attract new investors and more money.

The whole negative sentiment around EV in general is partly coming from the negative comments on anything EA related. And that sentiment will keep investors and money away

Be happy (and positive) this could be the start of a game changer.

From the first line of my post "Very nice but this was built for PR purposes ...".

"Perfect marketing" won't do a thing to silence the critics if the rest of their system continues to operate at the present level. But I'm semi optimistic that market pressure is forcing EA to improve. Several recent EA visits have been better. Not great, but some previously horrible locations, necessary stops unfortunately, have improved to be tolerable. If they want to sell electrons they need to react to Tesla opening their network as well as various other businesses offering reliable competition. Circle K, FPL Evo, Buc-ees all do a decent job of maintaining reliable DC chargers in my area. I gladly pay before wasting time at an EA station attempting to get my "free" charging.

 

[ZenicaNC]

They need this is every major city.

 

[Jonathan S.]

I wonder how long until all of the stations, plugs, screens are busted and broken? I give it a month or two.

Well aren't you the optimist -- what makes you think they are all going to be working upon the grand opening?
(Seriously -- the Merrimack NH location had two broken chargers upon opening this past fall.)

 

[Jonathan S.]

[...] But I'm semi optimistic that market pressure is forcing EA to improve. [...]

Wish I could agree with you, but EA is immune to market pressure. The goal seems to be to satisfy the $2b in officially termed creditable costs as required by the consent decree and then ... tbd what happens at the end of 2026.

I certainly would have thought at the outset of this that the requirement to spend most of the $2b on charging infrastructure would have created the economic incentive to maximize net income from charging by ensuring that the charging actually works.

But EA sure has proven me wrong on that.

Overall, EA is kind of the modern day incarnation of the Nigerian railroad that inspired this book -- I suspect EA will be only too happy when CCS1 refugees flee to TSCN:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exit,_Voice,_and_Loyalty
https://davidlabaree.wordpress.com/2021/08/30/albert-hirschman-exit-voice-and-loyalty/

"When exit, voice, and loyalty work as advertised, organizations fix themselves; but often the system doesn’t work. A case in point is the consulting gig that first gave Hirschman the insight about exit and voice. He was called in to deal with a problem in the Nigerian national railway system. The system was working fine until it had to face increasing competition with trucking for moving goods around the country. Somehow this competition made the railways less efficient, even though in theory it’s supposed to increase efficiency. Why? Because when business exited from the trains to trucks, this served not as a wakeup call but a safety valve. The most demanding customers moved their business, which took away the angry voices that had afflicted the railways, while at the same time the railways, as a government agency, did not lose a corresponding amount of public funding. The result was a win-win for the railway operators — less work for the same money."​

​

"As a state organization, the railway was vulnerable to voice, but its failures provoked customers to exit instead. The latter solved their problem with no muss, no fuss. It was the railway that suffered instead. Hirschman calls this phenomenon a “lazy public monopoly.”"​

 

[Jonathan S.]

I believe you are thinking about it the wrong way. Ok this flagship location is not for you, it is for no one. This is perfectly executed marketing to attract new investors and more money.

The whole negative sentiment around EV in general is partly coming from the negative comments on anything EA related. And that sentiment will keep investors and money away

Be happy (and positive) this could be the start of a game changer.

Investors for whom or what?
VAG is required by the consent decree to spend $2b in officially termed Creditable Costs on EV charging infrastructure and related initiatives.
EA does now have a 9% stake from Siemens (I suspect just to get a seat on the board and thereby influence purchasing decisions). Otherwise, I doubt VAG is trying to get anyone to invest in EA. Except perhaps by the end of 2026 when VAG is free to walk away from all this.

 

[refazi]

I believe you are thinking about it the wrong way. Ok this flagship location is not for you, it is for no one. This is perfectly executed marketing to attract new investors and more money.

The whole negative sentiment around EV in general is partly coming from the negative comments on anything EA related. And that sentiment will keep investors and money away

Be happy (and positive) this could be the start of a game changer.

i agree, this was not built for PR - this station would be really useful
The city, with about 1M residents has 4 EA charging sites with 3-4 chargers each, that's nothing - this station will add a lot of needed capacity.

 

[MissionE]

Electrify America Transforms the Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Experience, Creating a Customer Oasis with Hyper-Fast Charging
https://media.electrifyamerica.com/assets/videos/converted/1143-10124HarrisonStreetBRollfinal.mp4

https://media.electrifyamerica.com/en-us/releases/241

We definitely need a new take on the gas station. They’ve become havens of junk food and loitering; a place you just want to get in and out of. This is an opportunity for gas/EV stations to be much more upscale and a place you actually want to hang out in

 

[gtm]

i agree, this was not built for PR - this station would be really useful
The city, with about 1M residents has 4 EA charging sites with 3-4 chargers each, that's nothing - this station will add a lot of needed capacity.

I would never say that this installation wasn't useful but it is a complete PR project. Having the chargers inside a fairly large building is in no way cost efficient. Check out the roll up doors. Access 24/7? Doubtful. People leaving their cars hooked up all night? Likely in a city setting. Attendants controlling the flow of cars? An extra cost. So more chargers is always a good thing and probably very useful in an inner city setting but this project has PR written all over it. The sad part is locking up the chargers is probably the only way to keep them semi intact.

 

[pedroleumjelly]

We definitely need a new take on the gas station. They’ve become havens of junk food and loitering; a place you just want to get in and out of. This is an opportunity for gas/EV stations to be much more upscale and a place you actually want to hang out in

I don't think the lowest common denominator is there. I'm not trying to be classist, but picture the EV equivalent of someone driving a 2005 Chrysler Sebring/2007 Ford Explorer/average gas car today. Do you think they care about maintaining an upscale environment?

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