First Road Trip Success - Porsche Palooza

[DerekS]

great trip report - glad everything worked for you - the problme isn’t that EA does’t work - the problem is you can never tell _IF_ EA is going to work - when it works - EA + Taycan is the best EV on the market right now - but sheesh when it doesn’t work it’s horrible

it’s not the functionality - it’s the reliability

Have you found areas that are specifically problematic? Did you report your experiences on PlugShare? (EA seems to monitor the comments there)

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[chrisk]

Have you found areas that are specifically problematic? Did you report your experiences on PlugShare? (EA seems to monitor the comments there)

The two closest EA locations to my house typically have 1 or 2 stations that are not working. I have reported the problems directly to EA by calling their support number. For one location, I called them once every two weeks. I even spoke to a supervisor. It took them at least 6 months to fix that location. The other location still has broken chargers (which appear as working stations in the app). I was not able to charge at least twice because the working stations were all taken.

 

[DerekS]

The two closest EA locations to my house typically have 1 or 2 stations that are not working. I have reported the problems directly to EA by calling their support number. For one location, I called them once every two weeks. I even spoke to a supervisor. It took them at least 6 months to fix that location. The other location still has broken chargers (which appear as working stations in the app). I was not able to charge at least twice because the working stations were all taken.

Well that's not good at all. People need to be able to count on the app to reflect what's there.

I am reminded of a gas station I went to in my Targa (from the PCM nav) which turned out to be abandoned...and I was at "- - -" miles to empty. Barely made it to a good one.

 

[daveo4EV]

Have you found areas that are specifically problematic? Did you report your experiences on PlugShare? (EA seems to monitor the comments there)

yes I always update the plug share with my EA experiences - they are familiar with me personally - and have no response to my issues - their activation system is fragile and often fails - to date they have no public statement as to when/if/how it will eventually get better

I have had zero issues with EA _ONCE_ I manage to get a session started - but getting a session actually started can be very very hit/miss…and I have had multiple occurrences of spending over 30-40 min on the phone with EA and even they can not get their chargers to begin a charging session…

EA is unreliable - it varies by location - and your and my experience is _NOT_ an indication of current or future reliability of EA for purposes of a trip…the fact that you had no problems is FANTASTIC - but can not be used to imply EA will be reliable for your next trip or my future travels…even to the same locations…it is quite simply just horrible.

 

[daveo4EV]

when EA works and works well it _IS_ a glorious thing - the Taycan is quite simply the best and fastest charging EV available to the general public today - I have had awesome charging sessions with my 2020 Taycan @ EA - and the Taycan charges faster than I have ever experienced with any of my 5 Tesla's in 7 years of various road trips…

when the technology works it's the best EV going on the road today…

and while the Taycan is faster @ a working EA station - I in 7 years of Tesla supercharging have never had to spend 30-40 min on the phone with Tesla customer support to get a fast charging session started - nor did it ever occur to me that that would even be a "thing"…it just always worked - now sometimes it was slower than it should be - rare I'd need to move stalls from one to another - but I was always able to get electrons to flow…

with EA - I'm not always certain I'll be able to get electrons to flow - it's all about the flow…once they are flowing it's about all equal.

 

[DerekS]

EA is unreliable - it varies by location - and your and my experience is _NOT_ an indication of current or future reliability of EA for purposes of a trip…the fact that you had no problems is FANTASTIC - but can not be used to imply EA will be reliable for your next trip or my future travels…even to the same locations…it is quite simply just horrible.

That's fair. I think my data set is pretty small so far, 7 total EA stations I've visited I think...ever.

I do plan a road trip to the Bay Area, so it will be interesting to see how that goes by comparison. Maybe we can get a coffee/beer.

 

[daveo4EV]

the fastest and best EV charging sessions I've ever had in my 8 years of EV road tripping have _ALL_ been with EA + my 2020 Taycan…

the worse EV charging sessions have also all been with EA & my 2020 Taycan…in that many times I've failed to get electrons to flow…

Tesla's superchargers are highly variable in terms of "speed" - but based on my experience electrons always "flow" and flow with plug & charge - but sometimes they flow at a painful slow rate…

if EA was reliable - it would be the best EV charging network available today.

 

[kort]

the up and coming issue that will impact the EA experience is all the new EVs from ford, VW, volvo who also have similar EA use packages like our taycan.
on more than a few occasions I have seen crowded chargers. soon we will be forced to line up for a charging session like the earlier years of tesla, especially at their CA chargers.

EA not only needs to expand their footprint with new locations, they need to increase capacity at their existing locations.

on a recent road trip I came upon an EA site where only one of the four units was operational and one mustang was charging and one was waiting to charge. fortunately I had enough of an SOC to continue to the next charger, where there was only one mustang charging with me.
On another trip only three of six units charged properly and a steady stream of mustangs, vw, and volvos were observed.

the point is that as more and more EVs hit the road we will be encountering crowded chargers that coupled with wonky EA chargers will impact negatively on the EA charging situation.

 

[Klepper]

Thanks for providing your feedback and experiences. It's great to hear some more from the positive side of things.

 

[PDACPA]

Could you not raise your front end over the curbs? Unless you’re driving the RWD model.

Also, other than EA what other network of level 3 chargers would it route you to?

I have a RWD, but I have the air suspension so it is possible to raise the car if you have the air suspension.

 

[XLR82XS]

Could you not raise your front end over the curbs? Unless you’re driving the RWD model.

'21 RWD here. I can raise the car - I optioned air suspension.

 

[Tooney]

The Porsche Charging Planner built into the PCM.

Next time I do a road trip I am not going to overthink it, or try to force EA. I'm going to just enter the destination and let the PCM tell me where to charge.

Thanks for sharing your experience. Glad things went well.
Google tells me that your trip was 381 miles. Is that right?
If you need to take a similar length trip in the future - 380 miles, would you plan to make 3 charging stops, or from what you have learned you could do it with fewer stops?

 

[DerekS]

The trip back (2 stops) was 381 miles, but the trip out was substantially more (3 stops + 1 on the fly, for 485 miles.)

We essentially went 100 miles out of our way to stick to EA chargers, which I would not do again.

Next time I will take the route the PCM gives me and only deviate if Plugshare reveals a speed or reliability problem with the chargers it selects.

The big learning here is that while the car might tell you a 3rd party charger is 30kW, it is likely to be substantially faster in reality.

 

[Tooney]

The trip back (2 stops) was 381 miles, but the trip out was substantially more (3 stops + 1 on the fly, for 485 miles.)

If you did the 381 mile trip again, would you feel comfortable (assuming chargers were located in the right places) doing the trip with only one charging stop? I'm asking because I have read posts in here that seem to advise that kind of trip planning.

 

[DerekS]

If you did the 381 mile trip again, would you feel comfortable (assuming chargers were located in the right places) doing the trip with only one charging stop? I'm asking because I have read posts in here that seem to advise that kind of trip planning.

No, I don't think I could have made it in one stop.

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