Confirming what I know to be true - charging a Taycan

[daveo4EV]

today I had a flawless EA experience - plug&charge (not supported on 2020 Taycan's) would've made it better - but everything worked and it was a non-terrible experience.

Over the past few months I have come to experience and believe the following to be true.

the _ONLY_ problem the Taycan's fast charging is the RELIABILITY of the charging network - _IF_ the network is functional and non-broken the Taycan is actually factually better than any Tesla I"ve ever owned.

Tesla has the superior charging network from a reliability point of view - in that it working is the common rather than the uncommon experience.

EA's chargers when working w/Taycan is actually faster at charging an EV - but it is the uncommon experience (for me personally since July of 2020) that the charging stations actually function.

Tesla still has an edge on stalls at charging sites (tend to be 8 or more stall, a lot more sometimes) where as EA still seems to favor the 3-6 stall install…

but - if EA can get their reliability/activation-problems under control and improve it - it WILL be the superior charging network

that day however is not today - however good my experience was on this date

there is however hope for the future - and since this is the network used by all the other non-Tesla's EV in the US - that means there is hope for the non-Tesla EV world to have a functional, fast, reliable charging network…

it's the reliability stupid!!!

perhaps, perhaps this can be made to work.

39% to 92% in 18 min today while my wife and I ate our diet salads - it was as fast and almost as easy as any Tesla supercharging experience I've had since 2013 - plug&charge and we'd be nearly equal in easy of use and faster in actual charging experience.

fingers crossed this is a trend and not an abnormality.

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[ciaranob]

As I have mentioned in some prior threads here not all EA networks are equal it seems but in my case 100% positive.

I have used 8 separate EA stations, multiple times in the last 4 months (14+), from Houston to Austin to San Antonio in Texas and have to date, believe it or not, had a 100% perfect PnC experience.

Entirely realize this may be an anomaly w.r.t. other (States) networks but statistically for me it does not appear to be a lucky happenstance in TX Hopefully EA will indeed continue to improve and expand to a point where reliability includes consistently functioning operating units and consistent power delivery with time across the country. Better still perhaps increased competition to make it happen faster!

 

[Klepper]

As I have mentioned in some prior threads here not all EA networks are equal it seems but in my case 100% positive.

I have used 8 separate EA stations, multiple times in the last 4 months (14+), from Houston to Austin to San Antonio in Texas and have to date, believe it or not, had a 100% perfect PnC experience.

Entirely realize this may be an anomaly w.r.t. other (States) networks but statistically for me it does not appear to be a lucky happenstance in TX Hopefully EA will indeed continue to improve and expand to a point where reliability includes consistently functioning operating units and consistent power delivery with time across the country. Better still perhaps increased competition to make it happen faster!

I have had the exact same experience in Texas - 100% success rate with Plug and Charge.

 

[Bella]

I have had the exact same experience in Texas - 100% success rate with Plug and Charge.

Same here in Santa Barbara area. 100% success rate.

 

[Jhenson29]

39% to 92% in 18 min today

Do you know the peak charging rate as well as the rate when you stopped at 92%?

 

[AJRDU]

I just did the Raleigh to DC and back run. Nothing but great experiences with plug and charge. Charging speed was remarkable, but the efficiency was a surprise. Drove with traffic speeds in range mode. The trip door to door for me is 4hrs in an ICE. (I pick my drive times and have been making the drive at least once a month for years). I stopped for 15mins total to charge each way so literally added no more than 17 mins to my trip if driving straight through. Used EA chargers on 95 each way and EA chargers to top up every few days while in DC.

 

[daveo4EV]

Do you know the peak charging rate as well as the rate when you stopped at 92%?

154 kW @ 150 kW station - started at 143 - got to 154 kw - tapered to 103 kw @ 92% - it was awesome - way way way better Taper curve than any Tesla I've seen or owned (better than my son's Model Y @ v3 supercharger)

dont' get me wrong - Tesla is still plenty fast and I still give their network the edge in terms of "will it work" when I show up to charge

but there is hope for those of us in EA hell…

 

[ciaranob]

154 kW @ 150 kW station - started at 143 - got to 154 kw - tapered to 103 kw @ 92% - it was awesome - way way way better Taper curve than any Tesla I've seen or owned (better than my son's Model Y @ v3 supercharger)

dont' get me wrong - Tesla is still plenty fast and I still give their network the edge in terms of "will it work" when I show up to charge

but there is hope for those of us in EA hell…

Def does not always happen but when it does it is really gobsmackingly fast

Can't recall exact no.s but added 80 miles in less than 15 mins on last trip back from Austin.

 

[daveo4EV]

in the past I've actually seen 175 kW at this exact station in Aptos, CA briefly when below 30% SOC - this is remarkable in that they are 150 kW stations - LOL

 

[Deleted member 6348]

EA reliability is quite solid. I have been to dozens of stations between our Mini and Taycan. Added bonus? No supercharger lines.

 

[Leawood CT]

That is great you had a good experience and hopefully they keep improving. The one EA we have in Kansas City area was not working when I checked it out. Oddly, it is in a part of town where there would be very few, if any, EVs about. Also, bummer about the diet salad.

 

[philbur]

Seattle area and our LA to Seattle pickup drive. 0% PnC and have my credit card in the system. I haven’t tried to fix and have 100% reliability in getting it to work if I select the station in the app. Also got EA in Canada to work but needed to setup an account and pay. Best thing is that we have never waited for a charger. Friend got a Tesla as a rental and had to wait.

 

[bj33813]

Question on the p&c. Do you mean you can just plug it in, or do you still need to use the app and select charger, connection type et al?

 

[Klepper]

Question on the p&c. Do you mean you can just plug it in, or do you still need to use the app and select charger, connection type et al?

I just plug in, the car does some sort of "handshake" with the charger, and charging begins. I don't touch my phone at all.

 

[TYKHAAAN]

EA reliability has gone up in the past year since I’ve had this car for sure in the AL/GA/FL/LA area. I was always able to get a charge when I needed it when I first started with them, but there were issues connecting and getting a proper charge sometimes. Last couple of road trips i have gotten almost perfect results. I hope it continues and they continue to expand…and build bigger charging parking spots as we are going to start have to park next to Hummers, Rivians and Lightnings and I’ve seen in at least the Hummer’s case, it is SUPER tight.

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