Using Electrify America for first time

[RallyG]

Apologies for the most basic of questions. How do I sign up/use for EA for the first time. I see my contract and contract ID under charging services in the My Porsche App. There is a green check that says ready to use. Do I need to go through the EA App. I called them and they said to go through Porsche.

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[Silveral]

I go through the Porsche Connect App. Under explore I find the charger and hit Start Charing

 

[tbinmd]

You can enable plug and charge in the PCM. When you plug in the car and the charger will start the session. If that doesn't work you can use the my porsche app to start the session. If that fails you can call EA to have them start the session.

Best to go test a charger some place close to home, just to see what works and your options.

 

[DerekS]

Do not use the EA app, or Porsche Connect (which is deprecated.)

As others suggested, make sure Plug and Charge is on in the PCM. That should allow charging to happen automatically when you plug in.

If that fails, go to the My Porsche app, map tab, click the charger button. Find the charger you're at and manually select it to start charging.

 

[Archimedes]

Drive up, put in credit card, plug in.

 

[DerekS]

Drive up, put in credit card, plug in.

That's bad advice when 3 years of 30 minute charging sessions come free with the car.

 

[Archimedes]

Sorry, I forgot that I was posting on Taycan Form. OP, here's what you do:

Drive up, pull out your phone, unlock your phone, find the app you want to use, watch it try unsuccessfully to connect, try a different app - rinse/repeat. Call Electrify America and wait on hold for a few minutes. When the rep comes on, they'll offer to help you but will quickly realize that you don't have an account and that your car is not showing up in their system. They'll assist you in setting up a new account online on your phone. It'll take about five minutes, but eventually, voila you'll be set up in the system. You'll thank the helpful support person, turn around...and realize the EA charger you pulled up to is out of order.

Then, since you ran down to zero charge and don't have the range to get to the next charger, you'll call Porsche roadside assistance. The helpful support person will quickly realize that you don't have an account and that your car is not showing up in their system...

 

[DerekS]

Sigh. Ignore that trollish post. Here are details. Perhaps the mods can make this a FAQ post.

Option One: Plug and Charge (Preferred)

First, make sure Plug and Charge is on in the "..." menu of the charger settings screen on the PCM.
Then, plug into the charger. If all goes well it will Just Work ™ .

Option Two: Initiate Charge with the My Porsche App

1. Select the map tab and click the e-pump (center button)

2. Tap the callout for the charger on the map. Note the bottom card changes to reflect the charger address.

3. Tap the card (not the red button or the star to favorite it) - you will now see additional charger details.

4. Tap the card for the charger type you're using, 350kW or 150kW. You will now see available units:

5. Tap the charger that corresponds to the one you've plugged into. You'll see this page with a red button to initiate charge.

 

[RallyG]

Sorry, I forgot that I was posting on Taycan Form. OP, here's what you do:

Drive up, pull out your phone, unlock your phone, find the app you want to use, watch it try unsuccessfully to connect, try a different app - rinse/repeat. Call Electrify America and wait on hold for a few minutes. When the rep comes on, they'll offer to help you but will quickly realize that you don't have an account and that your car is not showing up in their system. They'll assist you in setting up a new account online on your phone. It'll take about five minutes, but eventually, voila you'll be set up in the system. You'll thank the helpful support person, turn around...and realize the EA charger you pulled up to is out of order.

Then, since you ran down to zero charge and don't have the range to get to the next charger, you'll call Porsche roadside assistance. The helpful support person will quickly realize that you don't have an account and that your car is not showing up in their system...

Thanks much. I got the same response when I asked the question on my unhelpful and sarcastic forum.

 

[RallyG]

Sigh. Ignore that trollish post. Here are details. Perhaps the mods can make this a FAQ post.

Option One: Plug and Charge (Preferred)

First, make sure Plug and Charge is on in the "..." menu of the charger settings screen on the PCM.
Then, plug into the charger. If all goes well it will Just Work ™ .

Option Two: Initiate Charge with the My Porsche App

1. Select the map tab and click the e-pump (center button)

2. Tap the callout for the charger on the map. Note the bottom card changes to reflect the charger address.

3. Tap the card (not the red button or the star to favorite it) - you will now see additional charger details.

4. Tap the card for the charger type you're using, 350kW or 150kW. You will now see available units:

5. Tap the charger that corresponds to the one you've plugged into. You'll see this page with a red button to initiate charge.

Much appreciated. Very helpful.

 

[daveo4EV]

1. plug and charge should work if configured - this is the preferred approach (try it out locally once or twice for traveling away from home)
2. if plug&charge doesn't work you can use the Porsche app to activate a session
3. if that does't work by all means use the EA app to activate a session (have an account w/billing setup and ready to go) - better to pay and charge than just sit there with no electrons.
4. if the EA app doesn't work you should be able to activate a session using a credit card locally
5. worse case call EA customer support and they should be able to remotely activate a session

1 & 2 are working about 95% of the time these days - with options 1-3 covering 98% of the time…these days rarely do you need to resort to steps 4 or 5

but be prepared - yeah sometimes this whole charging things sucks and probably are all around station activation/billing/accounts and stuff that has nothing to do with the technology - but rather the business of charging…

but most of the time step 1 will work or 2…but be prepared for all of the above steps.

Practicing at a local EA charging station for all 5 steps is essential prior to a trip - and will prepare you for what will be encountered on a road trip - honestly do this once or twice locally and you'll be good to go on your trip cause you'll know how it all works.

it will quite simply demystify all these fast charging stuff if you simply do it a few times around town near you home - in a calm and familiar environment where you don't need to charge - the familarity with the process and the apps and and the steps involved will make your actual road trip stops go much much smoother - and yes I would recommend practicing _ALL_ the methods of station activation - including the call the customer support person and pretend you're having trouble with activation and get them to activate the session remotely.

familarity breeds contempt - and we all need to develop a healthy contempt for EA…but you'll thank me on the road that you've made sure you know how all this stuff works…

 

[daveo4EV]

also recommend setting up account with (and installing apps for session activation):

• chargepoint
• EVGo

charge point has a quite a few fastChargers (25 to 125 kW) and a lot of slow chargers
EVGo 50 kW chargers are all over the place and quite reliable in my experience

sometimes pivoting to a nearby chargepoint/EVgo location works wonders when EA is giving you problems…

and again practice locally before road tripping to make sure apps/accounts and stuff are all fucntional and debugged.

 

[DerekS]

I will further suggest:

• Plan your trip and chargers ahead of time using ABRP
• Enter all your chargers into a "trip" on PlugShare

This will give you a fast way to pull up the chargers on your route and scout ahead for problems.

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