Electrify America experience

[Alfa]

Everytime I tried EA the charing the experience was not seamless. On average I have to spend an hour to get someone on the phone to unlock the Charger because I get a „payment failed“ message using Plug‘n Charge. Sometimes it asks me to pay myself at the stall. And twice in over a 100 tries it actually worked as expected. Why this inconsistency is still a mystery. And I am starting to hate the gimmicky electric charge door, coz the time for it to close automatically coincides with the time the EA stall needs to recover for a retry.

Fastforward: In my frustration searching for a Community with similar problems I find a random guy on reddit that tells me that this area in the MyPorsche App is actually a hidden button (conveniently located unintuitively right next to an actual red button):

I have not tried yet if it improves my EA charging experience. Does it actually work or is the Kwallity consistent with the overall Software Situation?

My reaction to this was just:

 

[fgwinn]

My experience at EA DC chargers mirrored yours. The constant drama at EA stations is what finally led me to give up and trade-in my 2022 Taycan 4 CT. I was planning a 6600 mile Cross Country trip and decided it would be too stressful to do it in the Taycan.

I now spend half as much time charging at EA since Plug and Charge actually works with the EQS SUV. This is despite the fact that the EQS as a much lower peak rate (200 kW). With the Taycan it was usually Plug and Pray, and frequently Plug and Pay.

 

[Alfa]

Yeah if you don’t do proper focus group testing and act on user feedback this is what you get: A very vocal disgruntled user base.

 

[phljeeper]

Are these experiences in the US? I have an Etron GT so my app is different but have had a very good experience charging my Audi at EA chargers. They run slower than advertised but I think the grid isn’t where it needs to be to support the high speed of our cars. But have never had an issue activating and charging. I have used these about 10x per month all over the northeast and mid Atlantic US.

 

[daveo4EV]

Are these experiences in the US? I have an Etron GT so my app is different but have had a very good experience charging my Audi at EA chargers. They run slower than advertised but I think the grid isn’t where it needs to be to support the high speed of our cars. But have never had an issue activating and charging. I have used these about 10x per month all over the northeast and mid Atlantic US.

the grid will vary by location - but often times in the west the EA chargers are running 'slow' but in the same parking lot or across the street the Tesla superchargers seem to be pumping out lots of electrons - I don't think "the grid" is the problem…with EA - but YMMV

 

[DirtyPop]

I live in San Jose, CA. I bought my ‘22 GTS in April of ‘22. EA worked 85% of the time at all nearby stations. They were never full since there were only a handful of cars that were out. Since more EVs that use CCS have come out it has been terrible. I would say the stations work 15-25% of the time, and that is totally unacceptable. If everyone switches to Tesla’s handle I would be surprised if EA goes out of business. I’m not sure if it is just the Taycan paired with EA that sucks or if it is just EA that never works. Either way it is very frustrating. If I didn’t have the Porsche Connect set up at my house to charge I would probably reconsider having this car.

 

[Mr. 2021 Taycan]

Sample of 1: I routinely charge my Taycan at home as I do no long distance driving with it (use the wife's ICE). However, EA just installed six chargers (150kw and 350kw) at a Target store near me, so I thought I would give it a try.

Parked, at 35% charge I plugged into a 150kw charge (the 350s were taken). Car auto-recognized. Charged for 20 minutes and had 84% charge when I disconnected.

It worked as advertised.

 

[ciaranob]

As mentioned above does indeed appear to vary by location (or perhaps age of installation?) - some areas across country, especially it seems in CA, appear to have really poor experiences but again also likely a fair bit of bias here in respect far less folk report good experiences!

Here in TX I've used DC chargers 16 times at 9 different locations over 1.6 years and have had 100% success with PnC and charging at more than acceptable rates - highest 240kW but typically lower. I know of at least two others with a near identical experience in TX.

 

[Archimedes]

My EA experiences continue to be fine, with P&C working every time. Shame the chargers are in mostly shitty locations though.

Zero problems with the power port door as well.

 

[bluedonkey]

Once P&C was fixed (there was a software update around the end of 2021 IIRC), I have had maybe 1 or 2 sessions where it didn't just work. In fact, since then, I haven't really had any totally failed charging sessions on EA.

The only issues I have with EA at this point have been too many "unavailable" chargers that seem to take a long time to fix (that may not be all down to them though if they are trying to source spares), and the frequently lower than advertised charging rates. Mid-2022 we did some long drives and the 350kW units were delivering the 270kW the car asked for. The last 350kW I plugged into (admittedly a "balanced" one) gave me just 50kW (there were 5 units in use, so maybe they only have 350kW for the whole site and we were all sharing it).

Right now I would give EA about 3 stars - they typically work, but they're just not delivering the full promise. I still have no qualms about doing long trips, and I don't really spend much time planning - I just use the car's planner. The other networks don't have many 350kW units, or even 150kW units, so a working EA is still a good choice. Having them at Walmart and Target stores also means i get a drink and use the restroom when necessary

 

[Jonathan S.]

[...] If everyone switches to Tesla’s handle I would be surprised if EA goes out of business. [...]

I think you meant "wouldn't"?
Aside from that, EA can't go out of business during the period covered by the consent decree.
That's because EA's business is to spend $2b on charging infrastructure and related activities (e.g., promotional efforts), without any required performance metrics or even reporting for reliability.
In its quarterly reports, EA provides kWh subtotals, that could reflect not a single station with all of its chargers working at rated speeds, or working at all.
As for EA operating income (loss), that is entirely unknown to the public.

 

[HWY]

I've been getting higher charging rates at EA 150 kw chargers than their 350 kw chargers. Can't figure that out, but conversing with a couple other people while charging, they have had the same experience.

 

[Piper]

Plug and Charge fails 100% of the time. I start the phone call to EA when I pull into the stall. I have a '21 and never had a problem until 6 months a go. Dealer says it's a problem on EA's side.

 

[ElGordo]

I want to sue Porsche and EA.

EA for not maintaining any standard of maintenance or support

Porsche for an extra year of free charging

please contact me if you are a lawyer with class action experience as I have documented every charge since owning my CT4's almost two years now.

btw EA just let their US support staff go last month as a cost savings measure so your calls now go to.....

A. Philippines
B. India
C. My 83 year old mother

answer is A

It ensures more epic suckiness

 

[daveo4EV]

I want to sue Porsche and EA.

EA for not maintaining any standard of maintenance or support

Porsche for an extra year of free charging

please contact me if you are a lawyer with class action experience as I have documented every charge since owning my CT4's almost two years now.

btw EA just let their US support staff go last month as a cost savings measure so your calls now go to.....

A. Philippines
B. India
C. My 83 year old mother

answer is A


It ensures more epic suckiness

it's almost as if they are not interested in transitioning to EV's…but that couldn't be it.

https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/202...sustainability-interview-karl-dums-31632.html

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