Electrify America Sucks

[berkeleysquirrel]

That would be nice, they definitely need to put some effort into getting their existing chargers to be reliable.
But I can't help but wonder if this new "flagship" station is a sign of what's to come, where customers have a place to hangout and stay warm (or cool) while they charge, with WiFi, restrooms, etc... At least until we have batteries (and chargers) that can charge in under ten minutes or so.

Having visited the flagship station 3 times already (because luckily I work less than 10 minutes away), it's actually been an amazing experience so far. Every time I've gone, there have been at least 10 out of the 20 stations open and none of them have been down. Of course it's only been open for a little under a month so who knows how long that'll last. It helps that our cars charge so fast so I'm never there longer than 20 minutes though - just long enough to use the bathroom, check a few emails in the lounge, and then leave.

 

[Artie Shane]

Having visited the flagship station 3 times already (because luckily I work less than 10 minutes away), it's actually been an amazing experience so far. Every time I've gone, there have been at least 10 out of the 20 stations open and none of them have been down. Of course it's only been open for a little under a month so who knows how long that'll last. It helps that our cars charge so fast so I'm never there longer than 20 minutes though - just long enough to use the bathroom, check a few emails in the lounge, and then leave.

How have the charging speeds been?

 

[Husky]

Having visited the flagship station 3 times already (because luckily I work less than 10 minutes away), it's actually been an amazing experience so far. Every time I've gone, there have been at least 10 out of the 20 stations open and none of them have been down. Of course it's only been open for a little under a month so who knows how long that'll last.

That's great to hear. Let's hope they keep it that way and expand to other locations. You're lucky to be close by.

 

[berkeleysquirrel]

How have the charging speeds been?

Pretty good for EA actually. If I remember to precondition before heading here, it's been going at 180-210 kW. The one time I forgot to precondition it was running at 120-140 kW, although I parked next to an Ioniq5 and these are balanced chargers so we probably ended up splitting the power. EA says the chargers are balanced in pairs so I should probably try picking a spot with an empty position next to it.

 

[berkeleysquirrel]

That's great to hear. Let's hope they keep it that way and expand to other locations. You're lucky to be close by.

EA says the next flagship stations are slated for Santa Barbara and San Diego.

 

[Husky]

California always gets the good car stuff first

 

[SoCalG90]

Those balanced chargers are pretty lame. I would venture to guess that there are more electric cars in and around the outskirts of Los Angeles, really no reason to put a "Flagship" station in Santa Barbara at this time.

I just used their station in Baker, Ca. Pretty nice. Although, like most places. the Tesla chargers outnumbered EA by about 3 to 1. Plus, every 50 miles were more Tesla charging stations. The Tesla chargers were not even close to being 1/3 full. All of the EA chargers were full though.

 

[Kassey22000]

Sadly, EA is dying here around Seattle. The station in the center of our tech sector (by Microsoft) has been down for weeks. Twice now all 4 cables were cut! The next closest station has been getting “Upgrades” for weeks with only 2 of 4 units available, if that. The 2 Seattle stations are down to one or 2 charger most of the time.

I can’t imagine how many local news stations would be all over this if these were Gas Stations. The vandalism is of course, outrageous and sad, yet EA refuses to put in ANY deterrents (cameras, alarms, security measures). EA is such a mess and their board needs to fire the entire c-suite IMHO.

Tesla super chargers/connectors/adaptors are part of the solution, but not for some time. It’s way past time that we start converting a few of the TOO MANY gas stations into charging stations with facilities, weather coverage, lighting, and security. GMA needs more and better partners.

 

[Alfer]

Luckily our wonderful government is taking good care of getting EV drivers plenty of new charging stations, like $7.5 billion worth!! ...oops...never mind. They only gave you all 7 stations in last 2 years. LOL!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2024/03/28/ev-charging-stations-slow-rollout/

 

[EdP]

Sadly, EA is dying here around Seattle. The station in the center of our tech sector (by Microsoft) has been down for weeks. Twice now all 4 cables were cut! The next closest station has been getting “Upgrades” for weeks with only 2 of 4 units available, if that. The 2 Seattle stations are down to one or 2 charger most of the time.

If, somehow, they could go to aluminum instead of copper, the vandalism would drop close to Zero, Tempting when you have that much copper just handing there.

______________________________

Help support this site so it can continue supporting you!

 

[Alfer]

Interesting survey..

Nearly half of American EV owners want to switch back to gas-powered vehicle, McKinsey data shows​

Nearly half of American EV owners want to switch back to gas-powered vehicle, McKinsey data shows

New findings from consulting firm McKinsey & Co. show a significant share of Americans who own electric vehicles have buyer's remorse. Nearly half want to switch back to gas.

www.foxbusiness.com

 

[Bob Foster]

Interesting survey..

Nearly half of American EV owners want to switch back to gas-powered vehicle, McKinsey data shows​

Nearly half of American EV owners want to switch back to gas-powered vehicle, McKinsey data shows

New findings from consulting firm McKinsey & Co. show a significant share of Americans who own electric vehicles have buyer's remorse. Nearly half want to switch back to gas.

www.foxbusiness.com

If an EV is just used for local driving like running errands or going to work it is great, but when you need to recharge to go long distance it is the pits. I know from my own experience. Charging stations are the number one problem. Most are broken, slow charging or you have to wait in line. Tesla opening up its stations will be a game changer. 30 miles from me on Interstate 10 is a Buckee's with 16 Tesla pumps and I never see more than 3 vehicles using them.

 

[Looney100]

I'm not surprised.

The US is a big country. People drive some strangely long distances on a regular basis, and population density is low, so likely not much infrastructure between the two points. Fuel prices are cheap, so savings from switching are less than other jurisdictions. Also, the percentage of EV owners saying they may go back to ICE isn't far off from the percentage of Americans saying that they are somewhat/very likely to consider buying an EV for their next vehicle.

A lot of EV owners get them without really understanding what they're getting into. I've been surprised by a few posts in this forum from GV60 owners that clearly don't understand the vehicle and its power source. Taking EVs outside of one's locality requires some planning and may involve compromises. They're not for everyone.

I have no regrets from going to an EV, and suspect that I will never go back to an ICE as my primary vehicle. I will also likely always have an ICE or hybrid vehicle in the garage.

 

[OrthoGV60]

No regrets for me too. I am mostly a city driver with some road trips. One wish I had for EA is if the app would direct people to use the hyper fast charger only if their car benefits from it. I realize sometimes it is the only charger open but every time I see an empty Bolt plugged into a 350 charger I shake my head.

 

[Artie Shane]

No regrets for me too. I am mostly a city driver with some road trips. One wish I had for EA is if the app would direct people to use the hyper fast charger only if their car benefits from it. I realize sometimes it is the only charger open but every time I see an empty Bolt plugged into a 350 charger I shake my head.

This also requires some common sense, knowledge about the vehicle's charging capabilities and, well... proactive courtesy on the part of the car owners.

 

[gvjim]

I think this survey is baloney. I meet lots of other owners at EA stations and most of them are very happy. No way half of them are switching back. A caveat - all of these EA stations were in between cities on road trips. Maybe if you are using urban fast chargers because you don't have a home charger you might see this sort of unsatisfaction.

 

[Looney100]

I've got to say that I've made the same road trip many times this spring and summer, and regular stop at two EC stations, and they have performed phenomenally. I'm regularly seeing rates above 240kW - the charger display showed a max of 248kW during a stop yesterday (the app reported a high of 245 for the same session).
The times that charging has been disappointing, it has been due to the car, not the charger. I find that during cold temperatures, the heater is woefully incapable of bringing the battery up to temp - and a couple times while charging in high heat, things have had to throttle down to manage excessive battery temperatures.

 

[Pulone]

I've had my GV60 for 8 months now and have taken 3 trips, one from Foley Al to Nashville Tn and 3 trips to Orlando, Fl. And on every trip, I've encountered numerous problems with every charging location. On the average 40% of them are not working, one had a lot of fluid leaking from the pump, a broken screen, and most recently in Franklin, Tn only one 150kw station was working. I was there attending a funeral, so I was already upset. I called the Genesis dealer in Cool Springs and asked if I could come over and use their charger. They said yes and that it wasn't being used at the time. When I got there a women came out to help me and the end result was there charger wasn't working either. So, I ended up next door at the Hyundai dealer and was able to get enough miles to get me to my next destination. Like other owners I have three years of free charging, but it doesn't do much good if a lot of the time the card reader isn't working, and I have to get out my credit card to pay for it. Electrify is good about refunds, but they do an initial $50 charge each time and on one trip that happened four times ($200). And if you need help with a charging station, you'll be waiting a long time to get someone to help you.

Twenty-five miles from my home there is a Buc-ee's but all they have is 20 Tesla stations. I've read where supposedly Genesis will be able to use Tesla stations with an adapter after the first of next year. Bottom line here is I really like my Genesis, but I hate the complete lack of "reliable" charging stations.

Amen

 

[skiingj]

Finally New charges installed in my area. Another station nearby is being upgraded and should be online soon. I got 243kw for a little while. The app seams different in the status bar and annoyingly alerts every minute or so.

 

[Artie Shane]

Finally New charges installed in my area. Another station nearby is being upgraded and should be online soon. I got 243kw for a little while. The app seams different in the status bar and annoyingly alerts every minute or so.

View attachment 59969

Congrats.
Yeah, today while charging, the app did the same thing to me. Just about every minute it would 'notify' me. Wonderful.