Charging outside Tesla network is only for the braves!

Let me share my experience charging outside Tesla Supercharger network.

We had this Munchen - Konstanz roadtrip for a while. My wife came from Budapest to Munchen by train, I drove there from Amsterdam and picked up her and we continued our road trip to Konstanz/Moos/Singen (Bodensee) to meet up with our friends. I wanted to arrive to my friends with an almost fully charged car because they mentioned a few times that they want to try it out. I had two options:

• take a short trip (35km roundtrip) to Schaffhausen (CH) and charging Tesla Supercharger there
• using local charging points

I choose the second option. It was a mistake.

I did my research and turned out there is a chargin station next to the hotel we had our accommodation. After dinner I went down to the garage to initiate a charging... I use Bosch's ChargeMyEv app which is an aggregator app and you can start your session and Bosch takes care about communicating with different companies and system. You just have to tap here and there and magic. The reality is something different.

When I went down to the garage the app showed that the chargin station is working. However, the charging station displayed an error message. The second problem is that there is no or very limited mobile data is available. Luckily, the hotel's wifi was available in the garage. Anyway, I couldn't start charging. No problem. There are other stations in the town and I'll find one in the morning.

Saturday morning. The coffee is the most important. We found a coffee place in Oberlingen (other side of the Bodensee), 15 km away and I also saw that there are 5-10 charging stations (22kW) there. The charging state of my Tesla at this point was around 23-25% ish.
Coffee done, it was awesome. Let's charge. In the ChargeMyEv app I found a place with 4 chargers. When we arrived turned out that it is an underground garage, but the chargers are next to the entrance. We occupied the most inner one, and the hell started unfolding. No data in the garage, so Bosch's app can't communicate. There is free wifi. But, iPhone won't let you use wireless connection without any security. We let the cable plugged in to the charger and my Tesla and wen't outside to get some data connection, but we got to far away from the car/chargin station. So, we couldn't start the charging. We went outside, basically above the car, but we still can't start the charging. At this point I can't decide why we couldn't start the charging. According to GPS we were very close to the car, we had data connection, everything was plugged in... Maybe the app cached something, maybe it didn't get fresh status from the backend even though I restarted it many times... My wife, smart woman, figure out that she is going to share her data as hotspot with me, she stands next to the entrance where there was data, my GPS will be close the to charging station and will get data via my wife's phone... didn't work. Overall, after 20 minutes we gave up. The possible solution would be to use RFID. But, eventually, I will carry a small bag with all the RFID's of charging networks... no, thanks...

We continued our journey to our friends, car's charing state is around 16% -ish. We found a charging station, I connected the car, I opened Bosch's app and initiated a charging session. The app showed an error after ~30 sec and in the same time I heard that the chargin station does something and the charging started. The app showed that the station is occupied. It didn't know that I started the session and I has to stop it. I felt that this will be a problem... But, my wife was hungry and we took a short walk a restaurant and eat something. The food was great, but we couldn't pay by card and we didn't have any cash with us. In the Netherlands you can pay by card everywhere (if it is a MasterCard Credit you may have problems, if it is a Visa or Amex Credit Card almost sure you'll have problems). We called our friends and asked them to bring some cash.

When we went back to the car Bosch's app still showed that the charging station is occupied, but it didn't showed that I can stop the charging session. We were stuck there. It was obvious I have to call them. But, here is the problem. I can speak Hungarian and English, and I might be able to order some food or bier in German. My wife also can speak Hungarian and English, and some French. Do they speak English during the weekend? Germany is not the Netherlands where everyone speaks some English. Luckily, they have English customer service and I could talk to them. It turned out that this station is not a Bosch station so they can't reset it. Unfortunetely, they don't know the hotline number to the owner company, "It should be on the charging station", but they created a ticket. I have to say that the person we had our discussion was really helpful and she also suffered when she had to say that she can't help further.

At this point I have to describe the situation. The charging was ongoing. I could release the cable from my Tesla if I wanted, but the other end was locked in the charging station. A cable like this costs a few hundred euros, so not really an option to leave there, and it is not a European solution. Not to mention that they can easily figure out who initiated the charging session. I assume they store some data about the car.

We found the goddamned number... But, the dread again. Do they have a hotline during weekend? Do they speak English? And all the contingency if the answers are "no"... not a relaxing mental exercise... We called them, they reset the station and we could unplug the cable and we were good to go. During this session the charging state went up to 40%.
I still don't know how I'm going to pay for this session.

Since, the following day we had to take the trip from Singen to Munchen I told my wife that we are going to go to Schaffhausen to fully charge the car in order to take the Singen - Munchen distance in one go. She had a train to catch to Budapest and I wanted to minimalise the traffic risk as much as possible. The trip to Schaffhausen took 15 minutes from Singen, the charging took 40 minutes (watched Zootropolis) and another 15 minutes back to the hotel. This is 70 minutes. What burned 5 hours with the charging "experience" and the stress.

I came back to Amsterdam yesterday and in the morning I initiated a charging using Bosch app at a close charging station. The session started without any problem. Now stopping it failed. Another call to Bosch and the customer service guy was rude and told me to call the charging station owner company. 5 minutes later my cable was unplugged and I charged 50 kW and according to the invoice I received later I paid only for 8kW.

Overall, charging outside of Tesla Supercharger network is a nightmare. I don't understand Bosch. With this app they position themselves to a "we integrate every charging station for you" position, but unable to grow up to the task. Both cases are "eventual consistency" problems where you have a distributed system and you have to achieve that the system will show a consistent state and with high confidence your service can switch between these states (start charging, stop charging, show valid statuses, etc.). But, it doesn't happen. Working with eventual consistency is a pain, I know, this is my job. But, as a customer I don't trust in this app anymore. It doesn't do what it promises. If this is the charging experience outside of Tesla's network I wouldn't buy a non-Tesla EV. It is an unreliable piece of garbage.

I drove 2100 km during the weekend. I charged my Tesla 8-9 times at Superchargers across 3 countries. The only thing I can mention is that it took 2-3 secs more to start the charging in Germany than in the Netherlands or Switzerland.

"Tesla Supercharger" by Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine is marked with CC0 1.0.
Admin note: Imaged added for Blog Feed thumbnail

 

[Melli]

Sure, superchargers skip the app step but reading your post it sounds like your problem is first and foremost with the Bosch app. I've never experienced anything of the sort on the public networks using either the native app or rfid cards for the couple I have.

Also you can have the phone work as an rfid card if you have the app so no connectivity required.

 

[TessieRed]

Sounds like hell man. Stick with the Tesla network lol

 

[RowdyYates]

Wow! That does not inspire confidence and I must say, it’s completely surprising since I think of the EU & their apps much more together than in the US. I recently drove with my 91 year old father from California to Idaho. It was a bit arduous and a few tense moments when I got down to 20% in the middle of Nevada, but ultimately, it worked.

I pretty much plan my trips around where the Superchargers are but as you know, it is not always possible. Our system in US seems a little different: I have one adapter I carry that I have used at non-Tesla stations. So far, this has worked well. Slow. But works and is easy. Pay by credit card.

The main situation I run into, is not finding Superchargers indexed anywhere. In California, this can be a problem. It’s a huge state and not all of it vastly populated with chargers. Case in point: Redding, CA. Really need to charge there or nearby and I finally found a link to a thread on this site telling me A) there is a station & B) directions to it bc it’s not posted or signed at all. Crazy.

The other thing I run into all the time is having to drive some distance, like you to Schaffhausen. In Los Angeles, I had to drive 11 mi to Glendale to paid parking garage and in Idaho, the nearest Supercharger was 40 miles away (!) from my friend’s house (ok, to be fair, they live in nowhere suburbia and ID is very.very slow to adopt. They still don’t sell non-alcoholic distilled spirits!). The garage in Glendale used validation, so all I had to do is go downstairs, check out the goodies at the Apple Store and self-stamp my parking ticket.

I also carry my charging cable and a 50 foot heavy duty contractor’s extension cord to plug in at someone’s house. This may not be appropriate in Europe, but it is how we get around the lack of Tesla chargers. Many hotels, restaurants & shops have charging stations that we can use while staying/dining/shopping, another convenience I like. Again, not all Tesla, but easy to use with the adapter.

Happy Trails!

 

[dho112]

I could feel the stress in your typed words My wife and I are dead set on getting another EV and being a 100% EV family. We have a Tesla Model 3 Performance, and were considering getting a BMW iX, or a Lucid Aire, but every single Electrify America charging station I've ever been too have had literally 50% of it's chargers non-functioning. Luckily I've never visited one to charge, but only to look at it to get an idea of what it might be like to use non-Tesla charging networks. It's never inspired confidence. Yesterday I was picking up my wife at work and drove past an Electrify America charging station that was very closeby; It had been a 2 months since I did my initial assessment and I wanted to see if things had gotten better. Only ONE of the charging ports at that station of 6 was working and there was a line of 3 cars waiting for it to free up.

I used to tell people that 50% of the Tesla experience is the availability of reliable charging stations you don't have to roll the dice on. I'm changing that to 80%. It literally is THAT important to the whole experience of owning an EV as I would wager you would have happily paid $100 if you could just to have avoided the hours of headache and stress you had to endure

 

[Blackbelt]

Get yourself a free card from Shell, Electromaps, or pay 10€ for the RFID card from Plugsurfing.
I think that you need at least 2 cards from other charging providers. The apps are a problem when you do not have a good connection.
An yes, Germany is weak on mobile phone coverage.

 

[opti]

I do not trust any charging solution where you need to use your own cable. It really sucks if the charger does not release the cable. Tesla superchargers are great, and so is Fastned, in my experience. Fastned also allows you a similar charging experience as Tesla in that you just plug in, and charging will commence (you will need to register your car what charging the first time).

 

[kpanda17]

In the USA, I was in Blackburg, VA and no in-town Tesla Supercharger and only a few L3, mostly L2. I went to an EVgo, popped on my CCS adapter, terrible experience, and had to call their number on the charging unit for support, and then it started to charge. This L3 charged at 40kw, barely L3. I was desperate, but I hear Tesla is about to build a SC spot in this college town. That was my poor non Tesla charging location experience. Hope Tesla keeps dominating in the USA with their number of charging locations.

Maybe someone in the USA can provide the flipped experience feedback, non Tesla vehicle charging on a Tesla SuperCharger Magic Dock with the built in CCS.

 

[freegeeks]

don't rely on apps, get rfid and this solves basically 95% of all these issues. No idea why it is burden for some people to have a couple of rfid in the glove box. You don't need to carry these rfid around. I have 10 different rfid and they simply stay in the car.

 

[kpanda17]

it was not an issue with rfid or not, as the EVgo app was on the iphone acting like rfid, it is about the non user experience focus of the CSS connection design, feels like plugging a brick in the vehicle vs the Tesla connector, completely end user experienced focused, also the Tesla SC IDs and authenticates the vehicle through the connection seemlessly...amazing,

btw, the problem with the UX of the app or even RFID, was the EVgo backend was not quick in the auth and starting the charge

looking for the user experience of a non tesla vehicle on the magic dock Tesla super charger

 

[whitex]

I used to travel on the supercharger network - it worked great. Switched out my Tesla for a CCS car, drove it home from the dealer 3,500 miles away from home. It wasn't bad at all - 30 chargers visited, saw different EV's including Teslas, actually charged quicker (higher peak, quicker overall time) than my old Model S used. to. Details here for anyone interested.

 

[kpanda17]

we want to see every EV having a great charging experience, its about moving ICE to EV, not to just Tesla, good to hear

 

[cmaster]

This is why I always carry a NFC card inside the car for EVgo, Chargepoint. Sure, not all charging stations are one or the other, but, it will atleast cover alot of them out there. However, I still very much prefer Tesla chargers over all others.

 

[kpanda17]

sorry, I see your point now, as a backup, not sure what the issue was, the app selected the charger and I requested the start but no good, once I called them, it started to charge..all good

 

[whitex]

For those who didn't bother clicking on my link above (which would give away the answer), can you guess why Tesla's charge at Electrify America instead of a Tesla Supercharger on the other end of the same parking lot? It caught me by surprise, but maybe because I'm one of the original early Tesla adopters.

 

[cmaster]

For those who didn't bother clicking on my link above (which would give away the answer), can you guess why Tesla's charge at Electrify America instead of a Tesla Supercharger on the other end of the same parking lot? It caught me by surprise, but maybe because I'm one of the original early Tesla adopters.

It was quite lengthy for me. I'm so sorry. It was a great article. I love to hear the experience.

 

[Don.Church]

…I went down to the garage to initiate a charging... I use Bosch's ChargeMyEv app which is an aggregator app and you can start your session and Bosch takes care about communicating with different companies and system. You just have to tap here and there and magic. The reality is something different.

…When we arrived turned out that it is an underground garage, but the chargers are next to the entrance. We occupied the most inner one, and the hell started unfolding. No data in the garage, so Bosch's app can't communicate.

…We found a charging station, I connected the car, I opened Bosch's app and initiated a charging session. The app showed an error after ~30 sec and in the same time I heard that the chargin station does something and the charging started.

…When we went back to the car Bosch's app still showed that the charging station is occupied, but it didn't showed that I can stop the charging session. We were stuck there.

…I came back to Amsterdam yesterday and in the morning I initiated a charging using Bosch app at a close charging station. The session started without any problem. Now stopping it failed. Another call to Bosch and the customer service guy was rude and told me to call the charging station owner company. 5 minutes later my cable was unplugged and I charged 50 kW and according to the invoice I received later I paid only for 8kW.

…Overall, charging outside of Tesla Supercharger network is a nightmare. I don't understand Bosch. With this app they position themselves to a "we integrate every charging station for you" position, but unable to grow up to the task. Both cases are "eventual consistency" problems where you have a distributed system and you have to achieve that the system will show a consistent state and with high confidence your service can switch between these states (start charging, stop charging, show valid statuses, etc.). But, it doesn't happen.

I feel bad for your experience, it’s not helping the transition to EV’s when others read this.

It seems to me that Bosch is closely related to VW, which gave us DieselGate, which led to ElectrifyAmerica here in the US, and all of its headaches.

We need a better end-user experience, everywhere. If Tesla can figure it out, the others should be able to.

 

[AndrasCsanyi]

Sure, superchargers skip the app step but reading your post it sounds like your problem is first and foremost with the Bosch app. I've never experienced anything of the sort on the public networks using either the native app or rfid cards for the couple I have.

Also you can have the phone work as an rfid card if you have the app so no connectivity required.

Yes, you are right. I have huge problems with the Bosch app.
I'll check the phone as RFID option too thanks for pointing it out.

 

[whitex]

It was quite lengthy for me. I'm so sorry. It was a great article. I love to hear the experience.

So if you haven't read the answer, what's your guess then? Why would Teslas charge at Electrify America, even with an unoccupied Tesla supercharger across the street, or nearby?

 

[cmaster]

So if you haven't read the answer, what's your guess then? Why would Teslas charge at Electrify America, even with an unoccupied Tesla supercharger across the street, or nearby?

Some Tesla have free unlimited super charging. These Teslas would most likely use the Tesla Superchargers. If the cars do not come with free super charging, they would probably use EA chargers since its a few cents cheaper. Maybe the Tesla owners your talking about already have EA monthly subscription so they think it's alot cheaper to use EA than using Tesla supercharger network. Also, why would they need to have the $4/month sub with EA? Could be they travel alot, and many of their destination don't have Tesla supercharger nearby, and the only ones available are EA.