I am watching the “sh*t show” that EA is live and in person

daveo4EV

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after pulling up to the Vacaville, CA - 7 stall location and failing to start my charging session with 3 separate apps (each of which take 2 min or more to “fail” to start a session - industry standard network timeouts - meaning one will spend at least 6 min in futile attempt to activate a session while waiting the apps to fail - honestly more like 10 min by the time you fuss around to switch apps an relogin and swear outloud a bit) and a local credit card reader that couldn’t work - I called Ea customer support - and after 7-10 min they got a station to work and charge my taycan - total time spent = 18 min to charging session activation

while I’m charging OMG the following 3 cars show up:

Kia EV
Chevy Bolt
VW ID.4

I am now watching all 3 of these vehicles and their owners fail to successfully start charging sessions - including the Kia owners who seem quite confused by the whole process

at the moment - there are 4 cars parked (myself + 3 others) - the other 3 are hopelessly confused and trying many many ways to start a charging session none of which are working…

it’s just such a “sh*t show”

someone needs to fix this and fix it soon…it’s just so so so so bad.
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daveo4EV

daveo4EV

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Bolt gave up and went to the near by EVgo station
Kia owners are still on the phone with EA (presumably)
the VW ID.4 is parked and on the phone with Ea (presumably)
 
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daveo4EV

daveo4EV

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ID.4 is now charging - after EA had to remote reboot the station
 
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daveo4EV

daveo4EV

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Kia owners are still on the phone and reading information off the station screen to the phone representative…
 
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daveo4EV

daveo4EV

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Kia owner is now moving from stall number -02 to stall number -01
 


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daveo4EV

daveo4EV

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Bolt owner approached the Kia owners and recommended they join him at the EVgo station - they have left now…presumably to go actually charge at EVGo…
 
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daveo4EV

daveo4EV

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3 cars show up to charge - none of them can do - all of them have to call EA - that still doesn’t work - and 2 of the 3 leave to go charge somewhere else

that’s a great system - love it - soooo sooo good.
 


feye

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it’s just such a “sh*t show”

someone needs to fix this and fix it soon…it’s just so so so so bad.
True, but still better than waiting an hour to get a free charger? :giggle:
 

amamoy2

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I took the time to do a lengthy submission of negative similar experiences on EA website. Provided specific examples of sites/chargers/times/calls to support as well as obvious better approaches to support and them proactively understanding and managing the condition and performance of their stations….

Never even got the common courtesy of an acknowledgement that my submission was received. No follow up now after a couple of weeks. NADA…..

If something does not begin to change, VW group and Porsche will need another option very quickly….
 

thecoloradokid

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Unfortunately, we are all hostage to Electrify America. And, it will not get any better anytime soon.

Dave, I feel your pain. I drove from Denver to Kansas City last weekend and all the Electrify America chargers on the 600 mile drive had limited charging speeds. EA will not admit it, but all of the charging locations between Denver and Kansas City were capped to 34kW or 35kW except for the combo CCS/Chademo cabinet. So instead of enjoying charging speeds worthy of a Taycan, I maxed out at 110kW or 100kW. The slower speeds added 90 minutes to my drive both ways.

While Electrify America will not admit to anything, I feel that EA is limiting charging speeds to those locations since they are low use and they want to reduce expenses.

With the number of CCS charging EV's doubling in the next year to 18 months, I don't hold high hopes that Electrify America will be able to maintain its network to keep up with the demand.

After writing this I am not wondering why I ordered a Rivian!!!!
 

Henke

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after pulling up to the Vacaville 7 stall location and failing to start my charging session with 3 separate apps and a local credit card reader - I called Ea customer support - and after 7-10 min they got a station to work and charge my taycan - total time spent = 18 min to charging session activation

while I’m charging OMG the following 3 cars show up:

Kia EV
Chevy Bolt
VW ID.4

I am now watching all 3 of these vehicles and their owners fail to successfully start charging sessions - including the Kia owners who seem quite confused by the whole process

at the moment - there are 4 cars parked (myself + 3 others) - the other 3 are hopelessly confused and trying many many ways to start a charging session none of which are working…

it’s just such a “sh*t show”

someone needs to fix this and fix it soon…it’s just so so so so bad.
That’s awful. Do you have plug and charge or do you use an app to begin charging?
 

285kph

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Baffling approach by VW AG. OTOH, my success rate at EA chargers is 100% - 2 out of 2 attempts :cool: Fortunately I have no intention of taking the Taycan on a road trip anytime soon.
 

riburn3

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This is honestly why my wife recently switched to a eHybrid Cayenne from a Model X.

The Cayenne still meets her day to day needs on EV range alone but we also now have a road trip car that doesn't require stopping. Even with Teslas solid infrastructure wait times are a reality and just about every supercharger ends up having a stall or two that pump out less juice than they should, or do so anyway if the chargers are full. Killing trip time.

I'm all about the EV road trip for myself, but I have my fair share of EV horror stories. I will say however they are improving in my neck of the woods, and all my more recent road trips seem to proceed without a major issue.
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