Electrify America ..an update (and a disappointment)

[RBGtaycan]

So I go to a nice new EA site just opened near me (the site is in Carle Place, New York, USA):

The Good News:
1. all the hardware was working
2. Plug and Charge also worked fine
3. the Porsche GPS actually had the (new!) location in it (a pleasant surprise)

The Bad News:
4. EA put in 4 brand new chargers and ALL of them were 150 - why would they do that???

Charging infrastructure is, at last, getting lots of news attention but this is an example of half-hearted implementation. oh well.

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[WattTurbo]

The closest one to my house only have 150’s as well…disappointment for sure

 

[Jhenson29]

Realistically, given the Taycan maxes out at 270 and can’t do 270 the whole time anyway, how much of a difference does a 150kW vs 350kW really make? I know it’s not as good for long term and future vehicle may be better, but just curious.

Asking as I’m to lazy to do the math myself right now.

 

[Henke]

Realistically, given the Taycan maxes out at 270 and can’t do 270 the whole time anyway, how much of a difference does a 150kW vs 350kW really make? I know it’s not as good for long term and future vehicle may be better, but just curious.

Asking as I’m to lazy to do the math myself right now.

According to the graph here, it is advantageous between 0-33/35% SOC. Doing quick math, it would take about 7 mins to go from 0-33% at 270kW speeds and about 12.5 mins at 150kW speeds. So you lose 5 mins at most. Which is probably less than the amount of time people seem to waste trying the 350kW charger, finding it doesn't work and moving to the 150 kW charger

https://insideevs.com/news/512344/porsche-taycan-fast-charging-analysis/

 

[Scandinavian]

There is not so much time difference when charging from say 20 to 80%. As stated above it is a question of minutes.
one reason the might have put these chargers in is that the power grid can be the limiting factor. They might just not have enough supply.

You will be just fine if the charger supplies the 150 kW

 

[Jhenson29]

According to the graph here, it is advantageous between 0-33/35% SOC. Doing quick math, it would take about 7 mins to go from 0-33% at 270kW speeds and about 12.5 mins at 150kW speeds. So you lose 5 mins at most. Which is probably less than the amount of time people seem to waste trying the 350kW charger, finding it doesn't work and moving to the 150 kW charger

https://insideevs.com/news/512344/porsche-taycan-fast-charging-analysis/

Yeah, and how often are people starting from 0? So, not so much an issue for the Taycan.

But…if there are cars in a few years that could do up to 350 and do so more continuously…then these may be more problematic.

 

[TycanNewHampshire]

I will take 4 working 150kW chargers over a bank of 6 with 2 being 350kW and only two working, both limited to <50kW any day of the week!

Want to trade?

 

[thecoloradokid]

What a difference a couple of years makes when it comes to complaining about Electrify America. In the past we would complain about the lack of chargers or the lack of reliability. Now we are complaining that newly installed urban chargers max out at 150kW????

Tough crowd.

 

[Tavsan]

Could be a limitation imposed by the available infrastructure at the site.

So I go to a nice new EA site just opened near me (the site is in Carle Place, New York, USA):

The Good News:
1. all the hardware was working
2. Plug and Charge also worked fine
3. the Porsche GPS actually had the (new!) location in it (a pleasant surprise)

The Bad News:
4. EA put in 4 brand new chargers and ALL of them were 150 - why would they do that???

Charging infrastructure is, at last, getting lots of news attention but this is an example of half-hearted implementation. oh well.

 

[whitex]

4. EA put in 4 brand new chargers and ALL of them were 150 - why would they do that???

Probably economics. Most cars which plug in only charge at 150KW or less, so there is no ROI on installing faster chargers (which cost more money to install and maintain). Once the EV charging industry switches to per charge time billing based on the max capacity of the charger, then there will be ROI to put faster charging stations in places where faster charging cars can take advantage of them. Heck, some people with fast charging cars like Taycan might switch from a 350KW charger to a 150KW charger so save money after their charge rate tapers off, and this will make the faster charger available for the next car coming in with low SoC which can utilize 350KW.

 

[porsche_coyote]

Also, in my experience I get closer to 175 kW peak rates from EA's 150 kW chargers when I'm at the ideal SoC and battery temp.

 

[bj33813]

I would guess it is a supply issue like everything else these days.

 

[Kayone73]

So I go to a nice new EA site just opened near me (the site is in Carle Place, New York, USA):

The Good News:
1. all the hardware was working
2. Plug and Charge also worked fine
3. the Porsche GPS actually had the (new!) location in it (a pleasant surprise)

The Bad News:
4. EA put in 4 brand new chargers and ALL of them were 150 - why would they do that???

Charging infrastructure is, at last, getting lots of news attention but this is an example of half-hearted implementation. oh well.

Likely a cost thing, the inverter hardware for 350 kW DC fast chargers cost significantly more than the same hardware for a 150kW charger. If a location is budget limited as to how many chargers are installed, i'd rather they have multiple 150 kW chargers so more cars can charge up at the same time than fewer 350 kW chargers making everyone wait.

Don't get too upset, except in situations where you are charging from a nearly drained battery, you won't be able to take advantage of top charging speeds afforded with a 350kW charger anyway, with any battery SoC 40% or greater, your charging speeds will be exactly the same on a 150 kW charger. Hope this gives you consolation.

 

[LonePalmBJ]

The Bad News:
4. EA put in 4 brand new chargers and ALL of them were 150 - why would they do that???

Charging infrastructure is, at last, getting lots of news attention but this is an example of half-hearted implementation. oh well.

There's nothing surprising about this at all. EA's approach from the beginning was to deploy in multiple phases with different objectives for each. There is a 10-year rollout plan consisting of four 30-month "Cycles". Cycle 1 ran from 2017 to 2019 and deployed hundreds of sites along highway corridors across the entire US, enabling long-distance road trips for EVs. Each of these stations included at least two 350kW charging cabinets. Cycle 2 is primarily community charging and metropolitan infill. Most of these sites will be 150kW only, with a select few offering 350kW. In addition, Cycle 2 (which just ended last week) identified five US cities to be 'saturated' by EA sites. Atlanta, where I live, is one of these cities. We now have at least 19 EA sites up and running around the greater Atlanta metro, with couple more being finalized. Cycle 3 starts this month.

You can learn more about the whole plan here. It's worth a read:
https://www.electrifyamerica.com/our-plan/

 

[Windpower]

The Bad News:
4. EA put in 4 brand new chargers and ALL of them were 150 - why would they do that???

There are two new EA charging sites near my house. How can I tell if they are 150 or higher? I plugged my Taycan into the nearest charging site and the max I got was 64kw. But there were about 10 other cars charging at the same time.

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