Electrify AMERICA - Anyone having trouble getting free charging at the local level?

CinVinman

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I havefinally begun to explore the not-free-but-prepaid-at-an-unknown-cost charging at my local EA station. I've done it twice and have yet to get anywhere near full charging speed. I never could get the Porsche Connect app to work, but I have been told how by the extremenly helpful and friendly EA guy - you need to bring up the app and find the charing station using the "Explore" menu, click on the charging site on the map, plug in and then click on the particular charger.

Back to the ChargingAmerica app. It was really wonky the first time, it kept asking me to reconnect and repeat last step or it would error out. I was fortunate enough not to respond fast enough to an error message and the magic light went flashing green and I was charging at the 350kW station - but at a snails pace - <50kW or about 1.8 miles/minute. I gave up after ten miunutes.

The second time, I couldn't get anything going and I called EA. I waited only a few seconds for a rep, who was able to troubleshoot and start up sessions as we played around for the better part of an hour. Withing minutes, the rep was able to isolate the problem as a faulty charger and directed me to another 350kW station after testing at a 150kW station (60kW or 3 miles/minute). I went to the other 350kW station and got up to the blazing speed of 75 kW or 6 miles/minute. The rep apologized and suggested the 150kW stations should charge us at around 100kW and the 350s much faster, so he said he was going to send the issue up the chain.

What I learned was that you might need to try out a couple different charging stations to get the best results and it's not uncommon to have variable results at the same station. I'd still like to see this thing go 15-80 in 20 minutes.
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wemct

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@CinVinman if you haven't read through this pinned thread that @louv started last January, it will shed some light on the charging speeds you experienced. Depending on your state of charge and the battery temperature, your charging speed will be impacted dramatically even if you are at a 350 or 150 charger.

My experience at the EA chargers is if the charger is able to connect and charge (vs. a faulty out of service EA charger), the charging speed has been appropriate to my SOC/battery temperature. I haven't experienced an EA charger that is able to connect but significantly charges at a much slower speed than what my SOC and/or battery temperature warrant.

Also many of us have also become comfortable with using the 150kW chargers versus getting frustrated if a 350kW charger is not available. In most instances you are talking about a 10 minute or less difference to get the SOC to 85% with a 150 charger vs. the 350 charger. The 350 charger really shines when you are below 20% (or even 10%) SOC where I have experienced charging speed around 260.

https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/t...my-taycan-charge-as-fast-as-i-want-it-to.779/
 
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Did you try the EA app? Your issues might not have been with EA at all. There was a point where the Porsche Charging NA app would even let you select a 350KW charger at all! They simply didn't hook up the buttons properly in the app. (This was resolved in the October update). This problem was purely a Porsche issue...

On the rare occasions when I have actually been able to get either of the Porsche Apps to initiate a charging session... It has also occasionally kicked me out with a "Session Terminated" message. However, when you look down at the charging info on the center console it actually showed the car WAS still charging!

IOW: If you manage to get one of the Porsche apps to start a session, don't assume it has stopped just because the app tells you it has. Wait a minute or so and check the charging info on your lower console. You might still be charging...
Good morning Ed! Hope you're having a great weekend.

I went to the EA charger station yesterday and noticed the Porsche charging app did not agree with what EA was indicating was chargers available. I plugged into the station Porsche said use and it started but as usual showed the error code on the charging screen which I took a picture of, and shut down.

I then went to the other 350KW charger and using my EA account successfully charged the car. The car is not at fault. I then sent a message to EA about the incident.

An hour later an EA person called me and we discussed what has been going on with charging the car since last June. He asked that I send him the picture which I did.

He called me again an told me to call them every time I need to charge the car and they will activate the charge at no cost. He also credited the cost of the charge from earlier.

The saga continues...

Garry Crook
 

evanevery

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Good morning Ed! Hope you're having a great weekend.

I went to the EA charger station yesterday and noticed the Porsche charging app did not agree with what EA was indicating was chargers available. I plugged into the station Porsche said use and it started but as usual showed the error code on the charging screen which I took a picture of, and shut down.

I then went to the other 350KW charger and using my EA account successfully charged the car. The car is not at fault. I then sent a message to EA about the incident.

An hour later an EA person called me and we discussed what has been going on with charging the car since last June. He asked that I send him the picture which I did.

He called me again an told me to call them every time I need to charge the car and they will activate the charge at no cost. He also credited the cost of the charge from earlier.

The saga continues...

Garry Crook
Yup!

Its probably NOT the car. Its probably just the Porsche App. Surprise, surprise!

You also confirmed that the EA app worked fine in this case.

I don't recall the "Porsche App" ever "telling me what station to use". Even on the rare occasions I have actually gotten it to work. I'm pretty sure YOU need to identify the terminal by terminal id (at the top of the terminal) in order to get the charging started.

...and don't worry about what stations the app says "are available" as its already counted your station out as you should have already plugged in to it. (Nice Huh?) "Stations "Available" could be nice while you are approaching the location, but once you are plugged in and ready to charge, your terminal has already been taken off that list. (If I remember correctly)

However, once you tell the app you want to "Start Charging", you should have a valid list of chargers (including yours) to begin the activation...

This, of course, assumes everything is working as currently "designed". (...and also relying somewhat on my memory which is always being challenged any time I try to use the counter intuitive Porsche apps...)
 

CinVinman

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Also many of us have also become comfortable with using the 150kW chargers versus getting frustrated if a 350kW charger is not available. In most instances you are talking about a 10 minute or less difference to get the SOC to 85% with a 150 charger vs. the 350 charger. The 350 charger really shines when you are below 20% (or even 10%) SOC where I have experienced charging speed around 260.

https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/t...my-taycan-charge-as-fast-as-i-want-it-to.779/
Today was a first for me - the Porsche Connect app actually found the EA Charger and it worked! Alas, the 350kW was pulling a meager 15kW so I switched to a 150kW charger and got 40kW, still too low, but I had a little time to kill. I have made it my habit to stop the car in between the 150 and the 350 so I don't need to move the car if the 350 does what it usually does for me.
 


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I'm still having a difficult time getting charged at the local EA facility. Took Nick from EA and myself fifteen minutes yesterday of tinkering to get it to work. He did say it was not the car however.

Garry Crook
 

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I'm still having a difficult time getting charged at the local EA facility. Took Nick from EA and myself fifteen minutes yesterday of tinkering to get it to work. He did say it was not the car however.

Garry Crook
the procedure I got from calling EA support was, plug in the car, on the porsche charging app select the location and the the unit you are on, then charge. worked for me
 
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I hear ya, but at the Pensacola EA station, there's only one of these within 50 miles, it always seems to have some type of inexplicable problem which requires the EA person to reboot, then when that doesn't work, they ask me to move to another 350KW charger, when that doesn't work, they ask me to move to a 150KW charger. By this time I have spent 15 minutes trying to get charged. I usually give up by then and charge it at home. I will say if I plug in and use my EA account it works fine.

Garry Crook
 


LonePalmBJ

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There's an EA station about 5 miles from my house so I swung by yesterday as an excuse to drive the Taycan. Charged with no issues using the Charging NA app to initiate the station. Only stayed for a few minutes as didn't need the charge, but everything worked fine and I got 17 no-cost kWh

I also swung by the construction site of another EA station, this one less than a mile from my house, and it's almost online. All of the equipment is in, and the construction fencing is gone. Looks like a matter of them turning it on and enabling it! Of course, being so close to my house I can't imagine I'll ever really need to use it.

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kort

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I usually give up by then and charge it at home. I will say if I plug in and use my EA account it works fine.

Garry Crook
fwiw: it is better for the car to limit your high charging sessions to when only necessary, the battery will be healthier with a steady diet of home charging
 

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live in bay area.
Have charged @ EA in los gatos, Blossom hill, saratoga with no problems
have also Charged 2 times @ Harris ranch (colinga CA) within 2 weeks. 1 of those being with a loaner.
no issues with the chargers, actaully i take that back. @ harris ranch, I set my timmer for 25 mins ( free 30 min charging)
i unplugged and re connected it thinking it would work but no luck. tried 3 times. Ended up switching to another charger next to the first one and worked just fine.
 

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It's probably been mentioned but watching the clock time on the center console for your finish time is worth a laugh some times. I called EA to see if they could tell me the rate of charge for the 350kw cabinet I'd plugged into at 2:45 this afternoon. Display said she'd be done at 1:00 A.M.
E.America then told me....that on her end the cabinet showed issues. After 20 minutes she suggested shut down and try another 350kw cabinet. Plug could not be removed after trying all the right things....went to emergency 'rip-cord'.
Bottom line....she entered a service ticket again on this location. A ticket has been entered every time I've visited this location. Today, 45 minutes for a 35% charge
Not a big deal. I'll plug her in at home tonight :) .
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