Electrify America Fast Chargers - Huh?

[Cosmacelf]

Read the comments in the linked post above. Sounds like the EA charging network is a disaster anyways.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

Read the comments in the linked post above. Sounds like the EA charging network is a disaster anyways.

We find that out already. We stopped by the 50 kW station close to us. It is located in a bad location for travel, only charges at 50 kW, only two of the three CCS spots could be used unless your have permission to park in a handicap parking spot. The CHAdeMO plug could not be used at all without a handicap parking permit. The L2 equipment was out of order. The prices were expensive. Compared to any Supercharger location I've been to, it was a joke. We weren't impressed.

 

[golfpilot]

We find that out already. We stopped by the 50 kW station close to us. It is located in a bad location for travel, only charges at 50 kW, only two of the three CCS spots could be used unless your have permission to park in a handicap parking spot. The CHAdeMO plug could not be used at all without a handicap parking permit. The L2 equipment was out of order. The prices were expensive. Compared to any Supercharger location I've been to, it was a joke. We weren't impressed.

It is my understanding that in those dual purpose EV charging/handicap spaces the EV charging actually takes first place. The handicap sign means that even if a car doesn't take a charge, a handicap person can park there.

 

[mociaf9]

It is my understanding that in those dual purpose EV charging/handicap spaces the EV charging actually takes first place. The handicap sign means that even if a car doesn't take a charge, a handicap person can park there.

Well this may depend on jurisdiction, but I can tell you the rules for California. An EVCS stall that also has a parking sign with the ISA, but the ground marking reads "EV Charging ONLY" instead of also having the ISA painted is strictly for disabled access while charging. Someone without disabled placards or plates who charges in that stall can still be cited. This is irrespective of whether the rest of the charging stalls are already taken or not. Though there are some stalls/locations which instead of having the ISA sign will have a courtesy sign asking that that stall be reserved for disabled access and only used last by others. Also, an EVCS ISN'T considered a parking space. So someone WITH placards or plates who parks their car there but isn't charging can also be cited.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

It is my understanding that in those dual purpose EV charging/handicap spaces the EV charging actually takes first place. The handicap sign means that even if a car doesn't take a charge, a handicap person can park there.

We called them and they said the contractor incorrectly installed the sign and that it should be taken down. We'll see if it ever gets removed. As it is now, an EV could get a ticket by parking there.

 

[SMAlset]

Electrify America Shuts Down All 150-350 kW Fast Chargers Over Safety Issue

I wasn’t surprised in some ways to see this today. Kind of wondered if they would have problems. A while back Tesla’s Mountain View, CA Supercharger location experimented with the liquid cooled cables and removed them after a short test period. Maybe they’re just finding out some issues that Tesla already learned. Will be interesting if all these car manufacturers who have touted the high kW fast charging, better than Tesla’s rate, can’t find a reliable charging system for them.

 

[Saghost]

Wow. You'd think they would be able to throttle them down to 50 kW instead of turning them all off but maybe they need to do safety inspection before allowing that. Oops!

Depends on what their unspecified safety issue is. If it's related to the liquid coolant and high voltage power, there's no power level that's safe because the cars will always want about the same charge voltage. 50kW and CHAdeMO with no coolant wouldn't be affected.

 

[ljbad4life]

I hope this gets resolved quickly. This and reading so many of the comments in the link reaffirms my decision to get a model 3 instead of a Chevy bolt which was heavily influenced by charging infrastructure. I usually have a problem charging at L2 stations. Finding a station that's 100% functional is far more rare than it should be. I've attempted to use a electrify America station near my sister's house and it refused to work while putting holds on my card. I'm ok with it not working, I just drove to a surcharger , but the holds bother me for a non functional station.

 

[Eno Deb]

Better now than later when more CCS cars are on the road. Ionity and Fastned in Europe are also temporarily shutting down chargers that use cables from this supplier:

Fastned

They have some additional info:

"Although we understood from the supplier that the safety issue was identified with a cable from an old sample series that has a different design and which were tested against less stringent standards, we still decided last night to shut down the use of all liquid cooled cables as a precaution to allow the supplier to investigate and confirm the safety of the cables we use."

EDIT: Information directly from the supplier:

HUBER+SUHNER - HUBER+SUHNER überprüft Schnellladesysteme nach Kurzschluss an einer Ladestation auf einem Testgelände

Summary for those who don't speak German:

- A shortcut occurred in a 1st generation prototype cable on their testing grounds
- The shortcut was located in the plug
- The liquid cooling circuit (which uses a non-conductive fluid) can be excluded as cause of the shortcut

 

[ℬête Noire]

We find that out already. We stopped by the 50 kW station close to us. It is located in a bad location for travel, only charges at 50 kW,

That'll be one of their "city" locations. It's not intended to be part of their inter-city network, sort of like Urban SC sites only somewhat lower kW. I don't know how well they make this clear? Maybe they just assume you'll use Plugshare to filter on >=150kW when traveling distances?

What kind of location discovery do they have outside of Plugshare right now? This could be sorted in in-vehicle nav features once they get around to building and selling vehicles that can use them?

only two of the three CCS spots could be used unless your have permission to park in a handicap parking spot. The CHAdeMO plug could not be used at all without a handicap parking permit.

 

[ℬête Noire]

Better now than later when more CCS cars are on the road.

Agree on this. They can't have a "recall" on this equipment if they haven't deployed anything. Sure it is a bad look, and maybe a sign of deeper poor planning issues, but when you try to deploy you're inevitably going to have at least some oopsies. Right now is a relatively low stakes time as even though they are still annoying a bunch of customers they don't have that many customers relying on this yet.

 

[Eno Deb]

Electrify America turns the affected chargers back on after cables clear testing.

News and updates | Electrify America
.
HUBER+SUHNER - HUBER+SUHNER: Review of high-power charging systems confirms correct functionality

 

[mwoz]

I stopped by the Wesley chapel, FL location under construction and saw a crate labeled:

EV HV 350 UL DCC

Does anyone know if this is a 350 kW

charger? Just curious, thanks!

 

[Eno Deb]

EA announced today that over 100 sites are now operational. Not bad, given that the first charger went online just about half a year ago ...


• 105 charging sites with 465 chargers operational and open to the public;
• An additional 42 charging sites with 189 chargers which have been constructed and
waiting to be energized by utility companies;
• An additional 85 charging sites with 393 chargers in active construction;
• An additional 73 charging sites and 341 chargers with approved permits scheduled for
construction; and
• An additional 179 charging sites in design and engineering;
• Total of 484 charging sites secured for Cycle 1.

 

[SSonnentag]

All those screen and card readers on the charging stations are going to be a maintenance nightmare. From my experience with Chargepoint, Blink and other pay-to-use public chargers, it can be difficult to find a station that is still functional. The screens become illegible in a year or two. Tesla's simple, interface-free system is the only way to go.

 

[Eno Deb]

All those screen and card readers on the charging stations are going to be a maintenance nightmare. From my experience with Chargepoint, Blink and other pay-to-use public chargers, it can be difficult to find a station that is still functional. The screens become illegible in a year or two. Tesla's simple, interface-free system is the only way to go.

Using payment terminals at gas pumps seems to be working just fine, so I don't see why it would be a problem for EV chargers once the systems are mature. Besides, EA (and other networks) supports the ISO 15118 "plug and charge" standard on CCS, so once compatible cars become available (mandatory starting 2020) you'll have exactly the same experience, but without being locked in to one company's network.

 

[SSonnentag]

Using payment terminals at gas pumps seems to be working just fine, so I don't see why it would be a problem for EV chargers once the systems are mature. Besides, EA (and other networks) supports the ISO 15118 "plug and charge" standard on CCS, so once compatible cars become available (mandatory starting 2020) you'll have exactly the same experience, but without being locked in to one company's network.

There's a reason gas pumps are shaded. How many shaded EV chargers have you seen?

 

[Brovane]

There's a reason gas pumps are shaded. How many shaded EV chargers have you seen?

The other item about Gas pumps is that their is usually a person available in-case you have issues at the terminal. I have seen plenty of gas pump screens that are so washed out it is almost unreadable.

 

[Eno Deb]

There's a reason gas pumps are shaded. How many shaded EV chargers have you seen?

A few. I have also seen many gas pumps that aren't shaded or receive sun light for much of the day. What's your point again?

 

[SSonnentag]

A few. I have also seen many gas pumps that aren't shaded or receive sun light for much of the day. What's your point again?

LCD screens don't stand up to long-term UV radiation.