EA (Electrify America) Sucks - that is all

[Capt Mike]

80 minutes wasted today trying to get my local EA stations to charge my 2020 Taycan Turbo - what a joke!

customer support is nice, friendly, polite and professional - but ultimately the following vehicle's could not charge today:

• my 2020 Taycan Turbo
• a brand new shiny Lucid Air
• VW ID.4
• KIa something
• Mach-E
• Chevy Bolt

4 out of 4 stations dysfunctional - EA customer support "shows" them as online and functional - all failing with the same error - EA agent tries and tells me it must be my car - I tell her other cars can't charge and I just completed a charge in Los Gatos, CA - and she's bewildered as to what to tell me.

they will put in a "trouble ticket" and suggested I try again in a week or so when they get out to diagnose the situation.

OMG soooooo bad - just so so so so bad…

brand new Lucid Air owner (less than 12 hours old) - travels a lot - transitioned from a Tesla Model S - all their driving is "long distance" - is now horrified by their purchase - has used the Supercharger network for years - never occurred to her the fast charging "couldn't work"…

OMG this is just so bad.

words fail me.

I agree that they are not the best, but I have had good response from the customer assistance...which I'd really rather not talk to and just have the damned thing work right off! So I end up contacting them and they'll start them for me for free if I have the VIN (I have a 2020 so don't have the plug and charge that some of you have). I have had problems with the Porsche APP and when I go to the Porsche Help line it refers me back to the EA help line. I finally go through to the Porsche app IT folks who helped me navigate through it...we'll see.

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[Capt Mike]

My porsche app/EA has not yet gotten fixed yet. can someone do some prayer or something?

See my note below. BUT...if you call the Porsche help line, enter 031 when prompted for the other numbers and you'll get to the Porsche APP iT guys!

 

[Capt Mike]

80 minutes wasted today trying to get my local EA stations to charge my 2020 Taycan Turbo - what a joke!

customer support is nice, friendly, polite and professional - but ultimately the following vehicle's could not charge today:

• my 2020 Taycan Turbo
• a brand new shiny Lucid Air
• VW ID.4
• KIa something
• Mach-E
• Chevy Bolt

4 out of 4 stations dysfunctional - EA customer support "shows" them as online and functional - all failing with the same error - EA agent tries and tells me it must be my car - I tell her other cars can't charge and I just completed a charge in Los Gatos, CA - and she's bewildered as to what to tell me.

they will put in a "trouble ticket" and suggested I try again in a week or so when they get out to diagnose the situation.

OMG soooooo bad - just so so so so bad…

brand new Lucid Air owner (less than 12 hours old) - travels a lot - transitioned from a Tesla Model S - all their driving is "long distance" - is now horrified by their purchase - has used the Supercharger network for years - never occurred to her the fast charging "couldn't work"…

OMG this is just so bad.

words fail me.

It makes the idea of a trip frightening doesn't it????

 

[Tooney]

 

[TYKHAAAN]

Kyle is a real smart guy, but sometimes, he really makes drama more where it’s just not justified. The EA stations aren’t working at his location, ok, it is what it is. Doesnt mean they cant go somewhere else or go home/hotel and charge if they had to.

 

[thecoloradokid]

Kyle is a clown.

He finally, and for the first time in his Youtube career, did some good work by identifying that the BTC chargers do not work in the extreme cold. Kudos for that.

But, to say that he convinced 3 people to buy Taycan's because of his reviews is 100% bull$hit. He should stick to paying off his unofficial sponsors - Tesla and Rivian - since he was able to "buy" those vehicles by jumping the line in return for making videos prominently featuring his vehicles.

He has been super negative about the state of the CCS network, and Electrify America recently, so this photo op dissing Electrify America seems totally staged.

 

[kort]

Kyle is a clown.

He finally, and for the first time in his Youtube career, did some good work by identifying that the BTC chargers do not work in the extreme cold. Kudos for that.

But, to say that he convinced 3 people to buy Taycan's because of his reviews is 100% bull$hit. He should stick to paying off his unofficial sponsors - Tesla and Rivian - since he was able to "buy" those vehicles by jumping the line in return for making videos prominently featuring his vehicles.

He has been super negative about the state of the CCS network, and Electrify America recently, so this photo op dissing Electrify America seems totally staged.

maybe it is user error

 

[thecoloradokid]

maybe it is user error

@kort I have missed you!

Good to know you have not changed. Can't violate user rules to comment further, but hope you have a happy new year.

 

[whitex]

Doesnt mean they cant go somewhere else or go home/hotel and charge if they had to.

That depends on how much charge they got left and whether there are working chargers nearby. Porsche (and other EV manufacturers) encourage not charging more than what you need to get to the next DC charger. Unfortunately when that charger is not working, this strategy backfires. Arriving with 3% energy at a 250KW DC charger with Taycan is great, unless that charger is unusable, then you need a tow truck to the next DC charger, or the next one after that if the next one is not working either.

It boggles my mind why EA couldn't have designed a better system. Tesla was doing it a decade earlier and did a much better job at it (a much more reliable product, from scratch). EA could have learned from Tesla or simply copy them if they lack their own engineering competency. The only thing I can think of is they are running a "modern" design-by-committee engineering shop, where "everyone's idea must be included" resulting in the "great compromise solution" which nobody feels ownership or pride in, as it's a collection of various ideas with no driving vision behind it, because it's more important to coddle everyone than creating a superior, reliable product.

PS> I've been driving Teslas since 2013. Only had one close call with DC charging, and that was because an exit off of I-90 was closed for construction which resulted in an almost 40 mile detour (and I didn't plan to have 40 miles left when I got there). I made it, by taking side roads and essentially hypermiling. I have come across a broken supercharger sometimes, but it was never all of the stations at a location, usually just one.

 

[TYKHAAAN]

That depends on how much charge they got left and whether there are working chargers nearby. Porsche (and other EV manufacturers) encourage not charging more than what you need to get to the next DC charger. Unfortunately when that charger is not working, this strategy backfires. Arriving with 3% energy at a 250KW DC charger with Taycan is great, unless that charger is unusable, then you need a tow truck to the next DC charger, or the next one after that if the next one is not working either.

It boggles my mind why EA couldn't have designed a better system. Tesla was doing it a decade earlier and did a much better job at it (a much more reliable product, from scratch). EA could have learned from Tesla or simply copy them if they lack their own engineering competency. The only thing I can think of is they are running a "modern" design-by-committee engineering shop, where "everyone's idea must be included" resulting in the "great compromise solution" which nobody feels ownership or pride in, as it's a collection of various ideas with no driving vision behind it, because it's more important to coddle everyone than creating a superior, reliable product.

PS> I've been driving Teslas since 2013. Only had one close call with DC charging, and that was because an exit off of I-90 was closed for construction which resulted in an almost 40 mile detour (and I didn't plan to have 40 miles left when I got there). I made it, by taking side roads and essentially hypermiling. I have come across a broken supercharger sometimes, but it was never all of the stations at a location, usually just one.

I get and agree with all you are saying. Very good points. I personally tho think we should not arrive at a charger with no range left to hit a backup. I dont stop for gas when my tank is on E on a road trip, i stop at a 1/4 tank. I plan my road trips in my Taycan to give me range to hit another charger too. I understand too, that the infrastucture isnt there yet for all routes to have that and that is not the driver’s fault. Yes, EA should ALWAYS work at every station they have. They suck.

 

[DerekS]

My road tripping strategy is to try and arrive at the chargers with 5%.
That leaves me around 10-15 miles of range if memory serves.

My contingency plans if I can't charge at all when I arrive (which has never happened):

• Contingency 1: Find a nearby AC charger on PlugShare - there are usually a few.
• Contingency 2: Find an RV campsite or other place nearby where I can plug in the mobile charger on NEMA 14-50.
• Contingency 3: Find a plain 120 outlet. They are everywhere.

The plan in all of these cases would be to plug in and add enough range to make the next DC charger.

 

[Genyosai]

Kyle is a clown.

He finally, and for the first time in his Youtube career, did some good work by identifying that the BTC chargers do not work in the extreme cold. Kudos for that.

But, to say that he convinced 3 people to buy Taycan's because of his reviews is 100% bull$hit. He should stick to paying off his unofficial sponsors - Tesla and Rivian - since he was able to "buy" those vehicles by jumping the line in return for making videos prominently featuring his vehicles.

He has been super negative about the state of the CCS network, and Electrify America recently, so this photo op dissing Electrify America seems totally staged.

Kyle's a sharp guy, and I'm not just saying that because I know him personally.

Even I mentioned in this thread (on-topic) that the latest EA hardware refresh campaign is a step backwards in reliability. They're very unstable, as in up today, down tomorrow. Up again the same day, down again tomorrow. Now the BTC cold weather isolation test failures that Kyle reported.

Same ole problems. And now they're installing NEW problems.

Its been 4 years at least. How long do we give them?

 

[mcdermottm]

My road tripping strategy is to try and arrive at the chargers with 5%.
That leaves me around 10-15 miles of range if memory serves.

My contingency plans if I can't charge at all when I arrive (which has never happened):

• Contingency 1: Find a nearby AC charger on PlugShare - there are usually a few.
• Contingency 2: Find an RV campsite or other place nearby where I can plug in the mobile charger on NEMA 14-50.
• Contingency 3: Find a plain 120 outlet. They are everywhere.

The plan in all of these cases would be to plug in and add enough range to make the next DC charger.

I am in the aviation industry and this is a practical and prudent approach. We plan fuel based on weather but EV trip planning can be based on charger availability instead. Flights are legally required to plan to land at the destination with 45 minutes of reserve fuel unless the weather is questionable which then requires fuel to the destination, then to the alternate airport, and then 45 minutes beyond that.

Obviously, EV trip planning doesn’t have to be THAT conservative because the worst thing than can happen is you end up on a flat bed where as airplanes can end up in the deep end of a smoking crater but a similar approach can be used. For example, if you’re traveling I95, planning to make it to the next charger with 5% isn’t too big of a deal because there is likely another charger within 5% nearby (certainly including the 3 options listed above). But if you’re in West TX or norther Nevada, which Looks like a barren moonscape, where chargers and civilization is far more sparse, planning to arrive with 15% (or something similar) may be a good idea.

 

[Archimedes]

It’s been 4 years at least. How long do we give them?

Before what?

 

[thecoloradokid]

Kyle's a sharp guy, and I'm not just saying that because I know him personally.

Even I mentioned in this thread (on-topic) that the latest EA hardware refresh campaign is a step backwards in reliability. They're very unstable, as in up today, down tomorrow. Up again the same day, down again tomorrow. Now the BTC cold weather isolation test failures that Kyle reported.

Same ole problems. And now they're installing NEW problems.

Its been 4 years at least. How long do we give them?

Let's agree to disagree on our opinion of Kyle. He is a simple person making simple videos that primarily show him driving around and in an EV and charging. I watch his videos, but skip to the spots where he talks about vehicle efficiency, or charging speeds. Outside of that, I have no need to learn more about his like of Starbucks, fast food, or cheap hotels.

Until Kyle gets involved in EV policy and coordinating his findings with people who can actually do something to improve the CCS charging infrastructure, all he will be is a late 20's guy making videos about cars and eating fast food.

He has a platform, makes occasional worthwhile content, so he should use it. I get he has to enhance his reputation to help drive clicks to his Youtube station, but decisions makers for large scale infrastructure projects will only listen if he engages with them in a serious way. Make videos with key people in department of transportation, leverage his findings to get Electrify America leaders to discuss the challenges on video. Don't sit around one charger in Florida and bitch that it is not working, while at the same time boasting that Porsche owners bought their cars solely because of his reviews. That kind of bull$hit is the easiest way to show that you are a light weight.

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