Electrify America Complementary Session Check-in

[DesertSilver]

I think the whole free charging thing might not be over, I took a little road trip last night and EVERY EA station that I stopped at had stations 1 & 6 set to complimentary, except two.

Pinole (Hilltop Plaza | PlugShare)
Hercules (Lucky | PlugShare)
Sacramento (Target | PlugShare)
Elk Grove (Walmart | PlugShare)
And of course:
Alameda (Target | PlugShare)

Nut Tree and Stockton didn't have free charging, and if 1 or 6 was out of order another stall would be free or if there were not 6 it would be 1 & 4 or if there were not 4 than only one of them would be free, but it seemed pretty much like free charging is still a thing.

Yet a LOT of people were plugging in (including a Lucid) at pay-for stations. Come on people look before you plug. Perhaps those ones have free charging for the first 3 years with their car's purchase so they don't care yet, but starting good habits saves you in the long run.

Due to your post, I stopped by the Tigard, OR Walmart today. Only stall #3, out of 8 stalls, showed as complimentary on the screen.

I wonder what’s going on with the 1 or 2 stalls that are free at some locations. I guess we’ll never know since we don’t even know the reason that some locations had all stalls for free for an extended amount of time…

 

[israndy]

Even during that month that had pretty much ALL stations showing as free I would come across a site that only had a couple or one as free during my 24 marathon EA charger tour of SFBay and Sacramento. I am *pretty sure* that Alameda had no more Complimentary Sessions when I posted so above, but the number 6 stall is facing away from all other locations and the number 2 stall being exactly in the middle means it is often in use. PERHAPS those have been free this whole time, but the only place I frequent that is talking about this is right here.

When @bmah posted above about Livermore still begin free and I visited there, it did make me think that something was up.

 

[noobla3]

Oct 29
7:00 PM

Stalls 1 and 6 out of order.
Stall 2 Complimentary Session.
The remaining NOT free.

Alameda, CA
Nov 1
1:00PM
Stall 6 out of order (both connectors)
Stall 1 back online. Not free.
Stall 2 Complimentary Session
Rest of stalls operative, not free.

 

[israndy]

I decided to take another little road trip, this time to the south of the Bay Area and see if there were as many free chargers

Gilroy (Gilroy Premium Outlets (3) | PlugShare) Nope
Pacific Grove (Safeway | PlugShare) Nope
Watsonville (Overlook Shopping Center - FoodMaxx | PlugShare) Nope
Aptos (Villa del Mare at Seascape Resort | PlugShare) Nope
Santa Cruz (Riverwalk Plaza | PlugShare) Nope
Milpitas (Milpitas Square | PlugShare) Nope
Newark (FoodMaxx (1) | PlugShare) Nope

Thankfully when I got home Alameda was still free as noted above

 

[israndy]

Took a loop thru Yosemite (El Portal) last night and none of the EA sites out that way showed any free charging either

 

[DrGriz]

No more free charging at EA site Walmart Boise

 

[israndy]

Another day of free charging in Alameda, both #2 and #6 have Complimentary Sessions, the left plug on #2 and the right plug on #6 are working.

 

[kman42]

Why is charging free? Is it a promotion or a mistake?

 

[kilpatds]

Why is charging free? Is it a promotion or a mistake?

AFAICT, promotion/apology. Tends to be on sites with known issues ...
Another option may be A/B testing to see what percentage of failures are from billing vs negotiation?

 

[MP3Mike]

Troutdale, OR EA stall 2 free today. (Right connector not working.) The other stalls were not.

 

[Art84]

How can you tell in advance which stall is free and which is not without connecting to it?

 

[MP3Mike]

How can you tell in advance which stall is free and which is not without connecting to it?

It says on the screen. You might have to dismiss the welcome screen to get to the one that tells you to plug in to see it.

 

[israndy]

It'll say Complementary Session.

I spoke to a repair guy that was powering back up one stall that was out at the Alameda EA site when I charged yesterday. I asked why chargers were free and he replied that EA was doing upgrades. They were doing full site upgrades last month and that's whey some full sites were free, now they are doing stall upgrades, and so individual stalls are free.

Kind of flys in the face of my experience with stalls 1-6 being the free ones, seems more like they are just trying to still give away some free power (Including CHAdeMO that is usually at stall 1 or 6) but not a full site of free power. Just so odd that they don't promote this.

 

[SourJellybeans]

Date: Nov 12, 2022
Time: 7:15 AM
Location: Portland, OR
Site: Fred Meyer (Glisan)
Status: Complimentary Session at stalls 02, 03, and 04. Stall 01’s screen was off but someone in an E-Transit said it still worked.

 

[SourJellybeans]

I grabbed some photos of what it looks like when you drive up and a stall is Complimentary.

 

[MP3Mike]

Date: Nov 12, 2022
Time: 7:15 AM
Location: Portland, OR
Site: Fred Meyer (Glisan)
Status: Complimentary Session at stalls 02, 03, and 04. Stall 01’s screen was off but someone in an E-Transit said it still worked.

I couldn't get stall 2 to start. 1 is completely dead. 3&4 were in use.

 

[DeepBlueMN]

Date: Nov 13 2022
Location: North Platte NE
Afternoon and evening
Only Charger 02 Complementary
Charger 01 offline, Chademo on 04 offline

 

[cwerdna]

I grabbed some photos of what it looks like when you drive up and a stall is Complimentary.

The second pic is key, where it says "complimentary session" in blue. The 1st screen or something like it may not show at all, esp. if it's not a promo or not announced.

 

[DeepBlueMN]

Date: Nov 14 2022
Location: Fountain CO
Time: 7pm
Charger 04 and 05 Complementary. (02 in use so I don’t know)
Charger 01 and 03 offline. One handle on 05 out of order.

 

[israndy]

It is CRAZY how much time EA chargers are offline, sure they have 3-8 chargers, so they can be down 50% and still allow you to charge, but having been watching EA for more than a month it's been so quick to go out a day after being reported as having free charging. Perhaps this is WHY they have been free for so long. Trying to get the network stable and offering free charging while we wait for it.