Poll: Electrify America Failure Rate

Approximately what percent of Electrify America Charging sessions results in a complete failure?


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manitou202

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Reading about all of the Electrify America issues is making me nervous to take my Taycan on an upcoming road trip. So far I've charged our E-tron about 5 times using an Electrify America 150kw charger with minor issues. Every time I've been able to get one of the chargers working after a couple of minutes. I also have tried charging in my Taycan once (just a test) and was able to get it working right away.

So I'd like to see what others are experiencing. Is this an occasional issue or almost all of your charging sessions resulting in a complete failure?

Please only count times that you weren't able to charge at any of the available stations. I know many people have problems initially and then are able to eventually start charging, but at least you were able to charge. I want to know the extreme cases first. Then maybe we can do a second poll to find out how frequently people are running into problems but eventually getting charging to work.

Complete charging failure is potentially a dangerous situation.
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Reading about all of the Electrify America issues is making me nervous to take my Taycan on an upcoming road trip. So far I've charged our E-tron about 5 times using an Electrify America 150kw charger with minor issues. Every time I've been able to get one of the chargers working after a couple of minutes. I also have tried charging in my Taycan once (just a test) and was able to get it working right away.

So I'd like to see what others are experiencing. Is this an occasional issue or almost all of your charging sessions resulting in a complete failure?

Please only count times that you weren't able to charge at any of the available stations. I know many people have problems initially and then are able to eventually start charging, but at least you were able to charge. I want to know the extreme cases first. Then maybe we can do a second poll to find out how frequently people are running into problems but eventually getting charging to work.

Complete charging failure is potentially a dangerous situation.
When I bought my Taycan, I took it on a long Test Drive beforehand. On that drive I tried to charge at a charger registered for the Taycan and at the charger at the dealership as well. The charger for the Taycan when I was out didn't work, and even the one at the Dealership failed to charge FOUR TIMES before I just gave up and gave the demo car back. I love my Taycan, but I pretty much only use it as a shuttle between houses, between PHL and NYC, and just for short range drives. I rarely charge out, as opposed to my Teslas where they both charge every time without hesitation. Taycan infrastructure is bad at the moment, but the car is so darn good I don't really care.
 

Reg

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Complete charging failure is potentially a dangerous situation.
I agree that irons more useful to know about complete charging failure when stopping for a charge. Hopefully people will follow that for the survey

I disagree that it is potentially dangerous. It is certainly potentially extremely inconvenient, but it doesn’t affect the safe operation of the car.
 
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manitou202

manitou202

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I agree that irons more useful to know about complete charging failure when stopping for a charge. Hopefully people will follow that for the survey

I disagree that it is potentially dangerous. It is certainly potentially extremely inconvenient, but it doesn’t affect the safe operation of the car.
I'm planning on driving our Taycan from Colorado to Phoenix over Thanksgiving. I'll be traveling through some remote areas of New Mexico and Northern Arizona. That time of year temperatures can be very cold and weather can become extreme. I'll have my kids in the car with me and if we were to be stranded in a remote location and needed to wait several hours for a tow truck, temperature could become a factor if I'm unable to charge and my battery was relatively low. It's a very unlikely situation but it's possible.

But the most dangerous part will be my wife might kill me for buying this car in that scenario.

Edit: I checked all of the charging locations in remote NM and AZ and there are hotels within a couple of miles of each. So it would be extremely inconvenient, not dangerous.
 
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manitou202

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I have tried the local EA charger two more times.

First time with the Taycan. I was only able to get 35kW out of the 350kW charger. Not sure what was going on. I didn't try any other chargers as I was in a hurry and just happened to be right by it.

Second time was with my Etron. I tried the same 350kW charger and only got 35kW. So I moved the Etron to the next 350kW charger and was able to get 140-150kW for the 10 minutes I charged. I reported the issue to EA. No idea if that helps.
 


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It's stunningly bad how many issues the EA network has, especially for the Taycan. You would think there would have been better on board integration or even software support with a charging network that is a VW subsidiary. Especially at the price point. It would make it a strong selling point for VW, Audi, and Porsche EV's as more come to market.
 

Reg

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It's stunningly bad how many issues the EA network has, especially for the Taycan
I am not stunned since I don’t know the context of what percent of time there are issues and of those, what percent kept people from charging at all (eg you show up at a location and 2 of 6 chargers aren’t working - but you can still charge). I also don’t know how much is that more people talk about issues vs success.

I have had my car almost 2 months. I just looked at the app and saw I used an ea charger 25 times...and I never had an issue...except user error (I first used the EA app instead of the Porsche app and couldn’t figure out how to get it for free)
 

riburn3

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I am not stunned since I don’t know the context of what percent of time there are issues and of those, what percent kept people from charging at all (eg you show up at a location and 2 of 6 chargers aren’t working - but you can still charge). I also don’t know how much is that more people talk about issues vs success.
No doubt, people come to the internet with their problems with products more often than with praise. My experiences are purely anecdotal but where I live in the desert Southwest, they haven't been great. I think partly because they don't get used very often, so if an issue does crop up, it's not exactly an urgent need to address.

I remember the Tesla Supercharger in Yuma, AZ was having issues last summer with half their stalls, and within that time I was there, 5 Tesla users came by and reported it. It was fixed by the time I drove back through a week later. Meanwhile, there's an EA charger in Deming, New Mexico that has had the same charger out the last 3 times I've visited it over 3 months, and I've reported it every single time. I'm not sure if anyone cares.
 


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My experience has been that they care. If is isn’t too much trouble, try calling them about that charger - that may get resolution faster than the email route. Good luck

The app is reporting that all chargers there are working, so maybe your reports worked!

Holy cow, I just zoomed out in that area - they have a ton of chargers along the routes, almost all are available (so few people are charging now or few outages). Hopefully the build up California like that area!
 
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manitou202

manitou202

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I am not stunned since I don’t know the context of what percent of time there are issues and of those, what percent kept people from charging at all (eg you show up at a location and 2 of 6 chargers aren’t working - but you can still charge). I also don’t know how much is that more people talk about issues vs success.

I have had my car almost 2 months. I just looked at the app and saw I used an ea charger 25 times...and I never had an issue...except user error (I first used the EA app instead of the Porsche app and couldn’t figure out how to get it for free)
They definitely have issues with reliability and the handshake with the car. Most of the time I've been to a site, several chargers were down or had reduced power, getting the charger to connect to the car would take a few tries, but I've always been able to charge. Maybe not at the rated kW, but at least fast enough to be satisfactory.

When I drove our Tesla Model X from Colorado to Michigan this summer it went very smooth. But several sites had chargers out of order, two sites we were only able to charge at about 65kW max, and then one site we had to wait in line. So it wasn't perfect either. I also had a time in the spring that our Tesla wouldn't start charging at any of the Superchargers at their Boulder location and we ended having to go to another site.

The biggest improvements EA can make is rolling out the automatic car/account recognition when you plug in (like Tesla), so there isn't a need for fiddling with the app, providing better updates on their app in regards to the condition of the chargers (reduced power, under repair, etc), and include some notification about upcoming maintenance or downtime for planning.
 

PNWTaycan4S

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For me it’s been hit and miss.

One midway on the way to the beach is very reliable and, until their are a zillion ID 4’s lined up to use them. has never had a wait. Others I’ve tried have had their challenges connecting app to charger. Today at a stop, 2 of the 4 350’s were offline, and the cell service was not great so the CA app wouldn’t boot. Tried the card reader to just pay and get going, but the card reader on the other 2 350’s gave an error message.

Porsche NA folks play golf all day Sunday, so called EA. As has always been the case, the EA rep was terrific. Got things working quickly with a free charge.

Good to have a charging ‘Plan B.”
 
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riburn3

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My experience has been that they care. If is isn’t too much trouble, try calling them about that charger - that may get resolution faster than the email route. Good luck

The app is reporting that all chargers there are working, so maybe your reports worked!

Holy cow, I just zoomed out in that area - they have a ton of chargers along the routes, almost all are available (so few people are charging now or few outages). Hopefully the build up California like that area!
Each time the app reports everything is available and functional, but when you get there that isn't the case. I thankfully have been able to use a charger, but it's the same stalls always out.

Yeah, they did a good job getting their network up pretty quickly. Can drive from LA to Daytona beach across the Southern US without much issue.
 

riburn3

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For me it’s been hit and miss.

One midway on the way to the beach is very reliable and until their are a zillion ID 4’s lined up to use them. has never had a wait. Others I’ve tried have had their challenges connecting app to charger. Today at a stop, 2 of the 4 350’s were offline, and the cell service was not great so the CA app wouldn’t boot. Tried the card reader to just pay and get going, but the card reader on the other 2 350’s gave an error message.

Porsche NA folks play golf all day Sunday, so called EA. As has always been the case, the EA rep was terrific. Got things working quickly with a free charge.

Good to have a charging “Plan B.”
Your experience is kind of ridiculous. If EV's not named Tesla are going to take off outside of China, the experience needs to be one where you can get energy without a plan B or fear that the charger might not work. I get the infrastructure isn't there, especially for fast charging, but it shouldn't take a phone call to get your energy needs addressed. When is the last time anyone had to call Chevron to make sure you can pump your car full of gas? The experience needs to be that seamless. Tesla has done it, I'm not sure why it's so hard for EA and VW.
 

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Your experience is kind of ridiculous. If EV's not named Tesla are going to take off outside of China, the experience needs to be one where you can get energy without a plan B or fear that the charger might not work. I get the infrastructure isn't there, especially for fast charging, but it shouldn't take a phone call to get your energy needs addressed. When is the last time anyone had to call Chevron to make sure you can pump your car full of gas? The experience needs to be that seamless. Tesla has done it, I'm not sure why it's so hard for EA and VW.
Perhaps legacy car maker vs. Silicon Valley startup.

It does seem that all their cables need to be about 2’ longer and not at dead end stalls. I had to wrestle the cable like an alligator, get it between my legs to get it straight, in order to plug in today. Would be easy if I wanted to block all the stalls and connect sideways.

Even with some struggles, if I can find a 350, love it that I can charge so dang fast!
 
 




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