epirali
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Edmund
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2020
- Threads
- 13
- Messages
- 752
- Reaction score
- 1,125
- Location
- USA, East Coast
- Vehicles
- RS Etron GT, Jaguar I-Pace, BMW i8, ex Taycan TTS
- Thread starter
- #1
So I decided to take a road trip on another EV (around 650 miles in the North East region, good coverage, many options). And I was using Electrify America. And I have to say it was pretty much exactly as most people experience with EA. Which is bad considering this is some of the densest and "best" used regions.
I had to make 4 stops total (for breaks and for optimal road trip as per ABRP), below is a quick rundown:
1) First stop Walmart, 4 new chargers. All looks good. Can't authorize an AmEx, so switch to a Mastercard, get going. This was the highlight of the trip.
2) Second stop, another Walmart, 4 stalls. Two of four stations fail to start. Third one won't take Mastercard or Amex, but my Visa works (the EA app doesn't work either). So I am standing outside flipping through cards like its a board game. Finally get started, walk 1000 feet to a restaurent and start eating, look Down and notice car is no longer charging. Go back, charger has an error. Restart charge, start walking and immediately fault again. At this point a 3rd stall that was in use opens up, and THAT ONE worked. I skipped lunch and just stood next to the station to make sure I could give it emotional support. I mean this is normal, right?
3) Third stop, Sheetz. Another spanking new 4 charger Impressive looking setup. One charger is in op with "network error." Second one has a dead display for card charger (I call it the EA standard). Third one can not start no matter what card or app I use. Fourth one is blocked by a car that has broken down (guy offers to push the car out of the way, I told him let me try a little more). Finally AFTER 20 minutes, moving the car 2 times, doing a Little dance somehow I got one of them to start charging. Yup EA is ready for the EV mainstream.
4) Fourth and final stop. Well 2 machines, 4 connectors. Machine one is out by "network error" (and it has the only Chademo not that they are much in use anymore). The second one (at this point I am nervous there are no reachable DC charger alternative in this remote location) finally starts using one of my three cards on the second try.
So I had what you would call a "successful" trip. I spend way too much time struggling to get charges starting (plug and charge? Ha dream on). And I reported all to EA where I had the typical "oh we want to know so you can have a great charging experience" and I replied with my polite "it would be helpful if you really want to do that is to make sure your chargers are working and not just pretty and count towards your "numbers.").
EA has very nice front line support, but still is absolutely not serious about any maintenance and functional reality. All these failed units can self report or be seen as "missing" in check in. It doesn't need people to report failures. Its pretty clear it is not a priority to keep them working. And as long as this is the case I can't recommend non die-hands rely on a network like this for road trips.
Same experience since the day EA came online. Nothing changes, just more locations to report.
I had to make 4 stops total (for breaks and for optimal road trip as per ABRP), below is a quick rundown:
1) First stop Walmart, 4 new chargers. All looks good. Can't authorize an AmEx, so switch to a Mastercard, get going. This was the highlight of the trip.
2) Second stop, another Walmart, 4 stalls. Two of four stations fail to start. Third one won't take Mastercard or Amex, but my Visa works (the EA app doesn't work either). So I am standing outside flipping through cards like its a board game. Finally get started, walk 1000 feet to a restaurent and start eating, look Down and notice car is no longer charging. Go back, charger has an error. Restart charge, start walking and immediately fault again. At this point a 3rd stall that was in use opens up, and THAT ONE worked. I skipped lunch and just stood next to the station to make sure I could give it emotional support. I mean this is normal, right?
3) Third stop, Sheetz. Another spanking new 4 charger Impressive looking setup. One charger is in op with "network error." Second one has a dead display for card charger (I call it the EA standard). Third one can not start no matter what card or app I use. Fourth one is blocked by a car that has broken down (guy offers to push the car out of the way, I told him let me try a little more). Finally AFTER 20 minutes, moving the car 2 times, doing a Little dance somehow I got one of them to start charging. Yup EA is ready for the EV mainstream.
4) Fourth and final stop. Well 2 machines, 4 connectors. Machine one is out by "network error" (and it has the only Chademo not that they are much in use anymore). The second one (at this point I am nervous there are no reachable DC charger alternative in this remote location) finally starts using one of my three cards on the second try.
So I had what you would call a "successful" trip. I spend way too much time struggling to get charges starting (plug and charge? Ha dream on). And I reported all to EA where I had the typical "oh we want to know so you can have a great charging experience" and I replied with my polite "it would be helpful if you really want to do that is to make sure your chargers are working and not just pretty and count towards your "numbers.").
EA has very nice front line support, but still is absolutely not serious about any maintenance and functional reality. All these failed units can self report or be seen as "missing" in check in. It doesn't need people to report failures. Its pretty clear it is not a priority to keep them working. And as long as this is the case I can't recommend non die-hands rely on a network like this for road trips.
Same experience since the day EA came online. Nothing changes, just more locations to report.
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