My First Public Charge @ Electrify America (EA) - Massive Fail!

[chrisk]

Another way to "release" the charging plug lock is to start the car and put it on D or R. That terminates the charging session and releases the lock.
Of course do not drive away before unplugging the cable (I don't think the car will let you but don't try).

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[chrisk]

This morning, I stopped by the EA location at Belmont, California. I parked at charger #3, and charged without any problems.

In the afternoon, I was returning from a long drive and I decided to stop again at the same location. I parked at the same charger #3 that I used a few hour earlier but when I opened the app this charger was not listed (problem 1). The other charger #2 was not available because a non-EV car was parked (problem 2). Then I moved to charger #1. I plugged in one of the CCS cables but there was a problem with that cable and it would not latch so neither the car nor the charger would talk to each other. The cable wouldn't latch well to the charging station either (problem 3). I plugged in the other CCS cable which latched properly and I tried to initiate a charge from the app but I got "unexpected error" message (problem 4). I trid replugging and initiate from the app several times but it kept throwing the same error. I believe the problem was that I had already tried to start a session with the broken first cable and that session was in some kind of active state and thus all other attempts failed (with a poor error message). Instead of calling EA, I decided to wait for a few minutes and retry and viola! After 5 mins I was able to initiate charging from the app.

Lesson 1: Even if the EA location worked fine in the first part of your trip, there is a chance it might not be available (for various reasons) on the return trip. Ideally your trip planning should have a backup for this situation.

Lesson 2: It seems that once you get a failed first attempt the probability of the other attempts failing is higher because EA might think you already have an active session so the next session will fail. If your second and third attempt fail, unplug, wait 5 mins and retry.

 

[Piper]

Many thanks for all the responses. I was successful charging on my next try. Very easy if you get the steps in correct order and I now have many other ways to coax a locked plug out.

 

[kort]

T

Lesson 2: It seems that once you get a failed first attempt the probability of the other attempts failing is higher because EA might think you already have an active session so the next session will fail. If your second and third attempt fail, unplug, wait 5 mins and retry.

I believe this was a contributing factor in my fail to charge episode. I kept getting some sort of end charge session message but no way to end the session via the APP

 

[dnanian]

I owned a very early model S and on day 1 of ownership I drove the car from NJ to FL, their system worked from the outset.

You know, I had a 2013 Model S P85 and had tons of trouble with the early Tesla supercharging network, Kort. There were barely any chargers north of Boston, the ones that were around were constantly breaking. I can't count the number of times I had to find a ChargePoint charger with an adapter and slow charge because the Superchargers weren't working.

They got a handle on it over the next few years, but it did, indeed, take years before the network was reliable and available in the places it needed to be.

EA is getting better...just like Tesla was. It's early days yet. While it may be frustrating, looking at the past through rose colored glasses does not fairly represent those early, rough Tesla days...because they were rough.

 

[kort]

You know, I had a 2013 Model S P85 and had tons of trouble with the early Tesla supercharging network, Kort. There were barely any chargers north of Boston, the ones that were around were constantly breaking. I can't count the number of times I had to find a ChargePoint charger with an adapter and slow charge because the Superchargers weren't working.

They got a handle on it over the next few years, but it did, indeed, take years before the network was reliable and available in the places it needed to be.

EA is getting better...just like Tesla was. It's early days yet. While it may be frustrating, looking at the past through rose colored glasses does not fairly represent those early, rough Tesla days...because they were rough.

interesting, while the superchargers were few and far between back then I never encountered a situation where I could not charge, the worst that would happen is not being able to get a fast charge, sometimes that was due to the sharing of the chargers.

 

[cnaidoo]

Sorry you got such a bad experience. For the release, I had a similar experience while on a roadtrip to Chicago. I was luckier, as after several power on/off cycles, end-charging on the charging station screen, and dancing around the car it did release.....

As for the manual release chord you can only have that fixed by the dealer - if I remember correctly it says something to that effect in the manual.

I am super frustrated with the charging as well. Having owned a Model X for 3 years it was a breeze to charge at home and at the public stations. The Electrify America have short harnesses. I had to park sideways to get access to the charging port. Made 3 trips to the charging station and each time the plug was stuck. I had to use excessive force to get it released from the vehicle. Finally called Electrify America and they gave me conflicting info than Porsche. They said to use Porsche connect app. Porsche said to use Charging America app. Why does Porsche have to make everything so complicated. Multiple apps needed for 1 vehicle this is crazy. Managed to get it to charge once, but at that point was so annoyed I unplugged and went home:-(. You shouldnt need this must instruction to charge the vehicle. It needs to be more intuitive. Anyone have info on this rip cord mentioned in the thread. my vehicle kept giving me errors that the right charging port was impaired.

 

[daveo4EV]

I am super frustrated with the charging as well. Having owned a Model X for 3 years it was a breeze to charge at home and at the public stations. The Electrify America have short harnesses. I had to park sideways to get access to the charging port. Made 3 trips to the charging station and each time the plug was stuck. I had to use excessive force to get it released from the vehicle. Finally called Electrify America and they gave me conflicting info than Porsche. They said to use Porsche connect app. Porsche said to use Charging America app. Why does Porsche have to make everything so complicated. Multiple apps needed for 1 vehicle this is crazy. Managed to get it to charge once, but at that point was so annoyed I unplugged and went home:-(. You shouldnt need this must instruction to charge the vehicle. It needs to be more intuitive. Anyone have info on this rip cord mentioned in the thread. my vehicle kept giving me errors that the right charging port was impaired.

https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/t...ce-using-350kw-charger.4042/page-2#post-57023

 

[BayAreaJay]

To summarize this thread:

-- Taycan: Amazing car (Haven't heard any complain about the actual vehicle in this thread)
-- "Free Charging Network" - EA: It Sucks!! both in availability (not as widespread as others) and consistency (Does not work first time-every time)
-- Charging speed (Taycan): It Rocks !!

As a backup to EA:
-- download and keep all apps (such as Porsche connect, EA app, charging NA, plug share, charge point, etc) ready to use if needed
-- Be ready to pay for the charging session (not free as advertised) and then possibly call EA for reimbursement.
-- Carry a teslatap (I have never had to use it, yet)

I agree to continue to push EA to improve their services and availability. BUT I am also willing to deal with the growing pains of non-Tesla EV ownership.

 

[kreshi]

It really is a huge difference to the NA market compared to EU. You guys have to have a teslatap and have to rely on EA. I really hope EA improves a lot this year since they are dragging down Porsche with them into their hole of bad service.

 

[JimBob]

One of the big differences between NA and Europe is that Europe is mandating EV's and offering incentives. At least in Canada, there are few to no incentives for EV's (though lots of green talk). Given the climate, population densities and distances, outside of a few areas it will be a long slog.

 

[daveo4EV]

just to be clear - the TeslaTap _DOES NOT PROVIDE COMPATIBILITY_ with the Tesla FastDC Supercharger network - it only provides compatibility with Tesla Desintation chargers which are 20-80 amp 240V AC J-1772 compatible chargers that simply have the wrong connector on the end of the wire…

TeslaTap is great for hotels, business, golf courses, wineries, and malls that have installed Tesla L2 chargers and will allow _ANY_ J-1772 (North American) EV to use a Tesla L2 charger - the maximum rate of a Tesla L2 charter is 19.2 kW - but this is a rare install. The more common rate you will find at a Tesla Desintation charger is 6-12 kW (30 amp to 60 amp breakers)…

unless you've optioned the 22 kW/19.2 kW charger - the maximum rate the North American 2020 & 2021 Taycan's can charge at is about 11 kW (48 amps @ 240 volts - 60 amp breaker)

the TeslaTap does not allow you to fail at an EA charger and drive next door to the Tesla Supercharger site and plug in there - simple does not work, can never work…it's simply an alternative for access to more L2 chargers in the wild - or compatilibty with your friend's home Tesla chargers, or your home Tesla charger if you previously owned a Tesla EV.

 

[kort]

well it happened again!
first off my charging at EA units have been 50-50 whether I'd be able to charge without calling into EA for them to kick start the unit. this has been an ongoing issue for me.
Yesterday was another cluster fugg attempt to charge.
I was at the EA unit in ellenton fl and there are 4 350 KW units there and 3 150 KW units, 2 of the 150 kw units were completely down, blank screen, dead.
I tried to get a charge going on a 350 KW unit via the porsche NA app. no bueno, I moved to another 350KW unit, again no good, tried the one working 150kw unit and again received the same unable to connect fault message. I called into EA, and the person there could do nothing to get me charged. a total fail to charge! I signed up for an EA account on their site, inputted a credit card and then attempted to charge, same fail to connect message. so essentially I am now up the creek without the paddle.
I had 56 miles of range left and there was another EA charger 47 miles away so I made my way up there and tried to charge via the NA app and again no good but oddly without any prompt, the unit must have picked up my EA account from the phone that was in my hand close to the charging post and it initiated a charge! the charging gods were on my side because the turtle had appeared and I would be looking at a flat bed and a hotel room if I couldn't charge.
this is intolerable, there is something wrong with either my car or the APP that is inhibiting the link to charge.
of course it is now Saturday and there is no one home at porsche NA, I will visit the service dept. on monday. this issue must be fixed or as far as I am concerned the car has zero value to me if I cannot take a trip of more than 200 miles.

If you are going to start in with the user error, stop! I don't care to hear it because it is not my fault that the car may or may not charge. Even the person at EA said that from his end he could see that the car is not "talking" to the charge unit.

 

[daveo4EV]

EA sucks no question.

 

[TayTaySD]

Porsche + EA = JUNK.

I've had Many problems, months ago problems then charging worked for awhile and today another failure. Imagine if you went to the gas station and could not put gas in your car, no one would put up with this. I'm very upset and very sad I bought this car, too many BIG and little problems! Note the Porsche Connect app is new June 9, I think there is a major SW incompatibility with the EA. Althought today I spent 18 minutes withe EA customer service, they could NOT get it to charge, including having me use the Charging NA app. JUNK!

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