First Electrify America charging experience using 350kw charger

[kort]

Thank you so much for the fantastic response. I have a 2021 on order, and plan on using the plug & charge feature. Meaning, I should not have to use any of those apps - correct? I should be able to just plug-in and it will charge… And assume that it will recognize my first three years free and give me my first 30 minutes free of charge on EA stations right

you might be planning on using it but the system is far from ready for prime time. in my limited experience you must use the porsche charge app to initiate a charge. and that is far from reliable.

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[mystique]

Thank you so much for the fantastic response. I have a 2021 on order, and plan on using the plug & charge feature. Meaning, I should not have to use any of those apps - correct? I should be able to just plug-in and it will charge… And assume that it will recognize my first three years free and give me my first 30 minutes free of charge on EA stations right

Yes you are correct. The free 30 minutes will be applied as a credit/discount.

 

[rbt3]

Yes you are correct. The free 30 minutes will be applied as a credit/discount.

My second attempt at "free/credited" charging today worked on the EA 350 kW charger! I arrived at station with 40% SOC, 68 deg battery temp and 55 deg ambient temp. I attempted to use the Porsche Connect app and it said that there was an error and could not initiate charging, but my car was charging. I also got to go past 30 minutes of charging until I stopped the charge from the app and was billed like an extra 12 cents? Not sure how I will be billed as I don't remember giving Porsche a credit card for the Connect app Porsche Charging Service? My maximum charge rate was around 105kW, and I went from 40% to 90% charge in the 30 minutes. I did set the EA charger as. a destination in my Nav to precondition the battery, but it was only a 15 minute drive from my office to the EA station, so not enough time most likely to condition the battery. I hope there is a software update for the Plug and Charge feature for MY2020 Taycan owners. Tesla's Supercharger network is so much easier to use, fast and plug in and it just works, it was also free for me for my first 8 years.

 

[rbt3]

My second attempt at "free/credited" charging today worked on the EA 350 kW charger! I arrived at station with 40% SOC, 68 deg battery temp and 55 deg ambient temp. I attempted to use the Porsche Connect app and it said that there was an error and could not initiate charging, but my car was charging. I also got to go past 30 minutes of charging until I stopped the charge from the app and was billed like an extra 12 cents? Not sure how I will be billed as I don't remember giving Porsche a credit card for the Connect app Porsche Charging Service? My maximum charge rate was around 105kW, and I went from 40% to 90% charge in the 30 minutes. I did set the EA charger as. a destination in my Nav to precondition the battery, but it was only a 15 minute drive from my office to the EA station, so not enough time most likely to condition the battery. I hope there is a software update for the Plug and Charge feature for MY2020 Taycan owners. Tesla's Supercharger network is so much easier to use, fast and plug in and it just works, it was also free for me for my first 8 years.

So I went to the local EA DC Fast charging site again today to check if I could initiate and charge using the Porsche Connect app and still have not been able to get it to work. The Charging NA app works fine, as does Electrify America pay app. I called the EA service rep and they said that their notes say that the Porsche Taycan users should use the Charging NA app to initiate their credited charging sessions, they had no mention of being able to charge directly from the Porsche Connect app. I arrived at 25% SOC and left after 30 minutes with 90% SOC! My charge rate peak speed was 154kW, the rep said that I should have gotten even more speed and they would send a technician out to check on the speed/functioning of the 350kW chargers. I arrived with battery temp of 80 degrees and left with battery temp of 92 degrees at 70 degree ambient temps. I am very happy with that charge rate without even being able to reach peak speeds yet. That is faster than I think I ever achieved in any of my Tesla models at a Supercharger. I can't wait until I am able to see the 200+kW charge speeds that some are able to achieve. Road trip soon!

 

[kort]

So I went to the local EA DC Fast charging site again today to check if I could initiate and charge using the Porsche Connect app and still have not been able to get it to work. The Charging NA app works fine, as does Electrify America pay app. I called the EA service rep and they said that their notes say that the Porsche Taycan users should use the Charging NA app to initiate their credited charging sessions, they had no mention of being able to charge directly from the Porsche Connect app. I arrived at 25% SOC and left after 30 minutes with 90% SOC! My charge rate peak speed was 154kW, the rep said that I should have gotten even more speed and they would send a technician out to check on the speed/functioning of the 350kW chargers. I arrived with battery temp of 80 degrees and left with battery temp of 92 degrees at 70 degree ambient temps. I am very happy with that charge rate without even being able to reach peak speeds yet. That is faster than I think I ever achieved in any of my Tesla models at a Supercharger. I can't wait until I am able to see the 200+kW charge speeds that some are able to achieve. Road trip soon!

they are correct that the charging is not initiated via porsche connect, but that app needs to be configured, a credit card listed and logged into. charging is initiated by using the porsche NA app, you find your charging location and then select the specific charger. the plug and charge feature might be available at some EA units but in my limited experience I have not encountered such a unit that allows for plug and charge. FWIW at the most optimum of battery condition the most you are capable of receiving at a 350kw unit is 270 and I think that high rate is the cause of some issues at the EA units, it is a lot of juice to be pushing.

 

[kort]

My second attempt at "free/credited" charging today worked on the EA 350 kW charger! I arrived at station with 40% SOC, 68 deg battery temp and 55 deg ambient temp. I attempted to use the Porsche Connect app and it said that there was an error and could not initiate charging, but my car was charging. I also got to go past 30 minutes of charging until I stopped the charge from the app and was billed like an extra 12 cents? Not sure how I will be billed as I don't remember giving Porsche a credit card for the Connect app Porsche Charging Service? My maximum charge rate was around 105kW, and I went from 40% to 90% charge in the 30 minutes. I did set the EA charger as. a destination in my Nav to precondition the battery, but it was only a 15 minute drive from my office to the EA station, so not enough time most likely to condition the battery. I hope there is a software update for the Plug and Charge feature for MY2020 Taycan owners. Tesla's Supercharger network is so much easier to use, fast and plug in and it just works, it was also free for me for my first 8 years.

they use the credit car you entered into the porsche connect app. it is a cumbersome arrangement that all these apps needs to "talk" to each other to make it work.

 

[daveo4EV]

there are at least 10 ways to activate an EA charging session:

1. Electrify America App
2. Electrify America Account added to your AppleWallet via NFC
   1. wave your phone for account ID in front of the wireless credit card reader for EA account activation
3. Porsche Connect App
4. Charging America App <--- will be retired in favor of #3 in 12/2022
5. Swiping a physical credit card at the charger using onscreen instruction at the charger
6. using a credit card via NFC at the charger using onscreen instructions
   1. this is distinct from method #2 - NFC credit card vs. NFC account membership card
7. Plug & charge (if station/vehicle support it)
8. Calling the Electrify America customer support
9. having it “just” work because for what ever reason EA has enabled charging at a specific location because of some fault with stations ability to accept payment locally
10. EA RFID card/fob? is this thing?

• I have personally used/experienced EA and gotten a charging session to work with 9 of the 10 methods listed above…
• this is too many methods and each trial via each method can take some time
• the method required will vary by station and current conditions
  • the method required may vary by stall at a given site
  • the method required will vary by the hour at the same station on the same day
    • see @chrisk recent experience at the belmont, ca station
• only method’s 3, 4, 7, and 8 are potentially able to utilize the “free” included North American Taycan charging billing for the 30 min “free” session
• sometimes all 10 methods will fail to initiate a session
  • this is the nightmare scenario and why EA still sucks sometimes
• my hope is that #7 becomes the primary method over time and the failure rate drops
• if you are not prepared to try each of the 10 methods to start a session then EA/Taycan is not the vehicle for you at this point in it’s life cycle - that’s a personal decision
• Porsche and their dealership’s are cluelss as to the real status of the EA network and challenges in actually attempting to travel with this vehicle with the EA network
  • they are sales/marketing people - they will claim the best possible outcomes in all circumstances blissfully unaware that EA at this point in time is a work in progress and some of that work is substandard with substandard results
  • prosche’s legal department is at least as good as their mechanical engineering department - attempting to get them to legally respond to mispresentaiton on this topic will at least be an expensive excercise taking time and money if you feel you’ve been mislead - I would doubt you can return the vehicle based on your personal feeling of misrepresentation on this topic.
    • at a minimum we’ll be onto the Taycan .2 or beyond if VW/Audi/Porsche were to ever “cop” to this via legal action
• my experience since July 2020 is that EA is getting better slowly - but it is still less than 100% reliable
• it has also been my experience that sometimes activating the session takes longer than the actual charging session - undermining the charging speed advantages of the Taycan
• when you can successfully activate an EA station w/350 kW charging and get 150kW or more charging rate - the Taycan is the fastest charging EV currently available in production for normal purchase - hands down the fastest network and fastest charging EV.
• there is a possibility EA station activation is failing due to hardware faults with
  • a) the vehicle - only your dealer can diagnose this
  • b) the actual physical station you are using
  • it is true neither the vehicle or the station will provide enough diagnostic information for you as a normal consumer to know the difference as to why you can not activate a charging session at a given stall
  • EA customer support MIGHT be able to suggest it’s not their station’s fault - but I would not trust their diagnosis 100%
  • your dealership is clueless - repeat this - a lot - but they will try
• Rebooting EA stations takes time, but it may resolve the issue
  • like all good computers they sometimes magically work after a good swift kick in the powersupply…
  • if you must charge at a given location - make the EA agent reboot each and every station in a vain atttempt to get at least one to work
  • this will take time…but it’s better than being stranded
• if you haven’t baked in extra time due to the incomplete list of possible failures listed above then you’re doing it wrong
  • or the Taycan is the wrong EV for your roadtripping plans and needs
• The Tesla supercharger network is in fact better and much more reliable - this is an indisputable fact at this point in EV development
  • tesla fan boy’s are sometimes right - this is frustrating - but on this topic - leave them alone - Elon is winning here for now…
  • it’s not flawless, but it is greatly better from a reliability and usability point of view
  • if this is important to you purchase your EV with this in mind.
• All of these issues occur at varing degrees of probabilility across the current and future CCS based EV fleet…
  • the grass is not greener with another CCS based EV.

As with all things YMMV - and the reasons it may vary are innumerable - this can lead to extreme frustration - back up charging plans are a way of life with a Taycan at this point in it’s life cycle - and you may lose vast amounts of time fiddling with an EA station attempting to get it to work.

spouse/travel companion approval will be very very low if you encounter any of these problems while traveling - it’s best to have your travel companions “buy in to” this as the current state of affairs before choosing your vehicle for that next trip - if they are un-amused by debugging new technology - they will be grumpy during the trip at some EA sites…find a new EV or a new Travel companion - but one will have to be swapped for the other - cost to swap one or the other will vary greatly…

the current state of affairs is unacceptable and I‘m hoping/trusting it will improve over time - having a high failure rate and many many different methods for charger activation is not sustainable over time - it will ether get better or this whole EV thing will stall because of this and other factors - I’m optimistic that over time things will get better and we’ll increasingly rely on and be successful with method #7 - and all the other “methods“ will fade into low utilization scenarios - but for now this is the state of affairs - and it’s likely to be this way for at least another 12-24 months…

we’ll all check in constantly on this topic - hey - it’s an internet forum - but if this goes like it has to this topic will fade because if it doesn’t - well then we have bigger problems for an EV transition.

 

[epirali]

@daveo4EV thank you for the post. If we could somehow pin this it would cover and answer a lot of EA/charging questions.

 

[Tooney]

there are at least 10 ways to activate an EA charging session .....

• if you are not prepared to try each of the 10 methods to start a session then EA/Taycan is not the vehicle for you at this point in it’s life cycle - that’s a personal decision...
• it has also been my experience that sometimes activating the session takes longer than the actual charging session - undermining the charging speed advantages of the Taycan...
• if you haven’t baked in extra time due to the incomplete list of possible failures listed above then you’re doing it wrong...
  • or the Taycan is the wrong EV for your roadtripping plans and needs...
  • the grass is not greener with another CCS based EV. ...

spouse/travel companion approval will be very very low if you encounter any of these problems while traveling - it’s best to have your travel companions “buy in to” this as the current state of affairs before choosing your vehicle for that next trip - if they are un-amused by debugging new technology - they will be grumpy during the trip at some EA sites…find a new EV or a new Travel companion - but one will have to be swapped for the other - cost to swap one or the other will vary greatly…

Extracts above from great post.
Provides humor about a situation that is not funny.
Re-reading before my Taycan arrives.
Thank you.

 

[RBGtaycan]

Extracts above from great post.
Provides humor about a situation that is not funny.
Re-reading before my Taycan arrives.
Thank you.

I have Plug and Play activated and it usually works at EA for me. That having been said, a suggestion, if you have a plug and play issue, is to turn it off (temporarily) in the PCM so it does not interfere with other options you will be trying.

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