Electrify America general discussion

[Mockingbird]

Of course from the study they oriented the car optimally, and the cable still couldn't reach:



It wasn't limited to EA, but they were the primary offenders:



And there was one other oddity:



I'm not sure I understand that one...

I bet that if the vehicle is at 1% state of charge and the driver absolutely needs to charge there to go home, he/she can suddenly figure out a way to orient his/her vehicle so that the cable can reach.

The cables at Electrify America are 5 times the length of the cables at Supercharger.

There are some companies that charge their electric buses at Electrify America.

 

[avs007]

The cables at Electrify America are 5 times the length of the cables at Supercharger.

There are some companies that charge their electric buses at Electrify America.

Some of the chargers at EA are actually situated in a way that makes connections difficult. At this station for example, I watched a Mach-E struggle in the stall on the far right. The charge port is behind the front wheel on the driver's side... When you back into that stall, the port is on the wrong side... When you pull in head first, that cable on the right doesn't reach. The one on the left is the chedemo cable. I watched 3 different cars have to re-adjust how they parked to get the cable to reach. One of the Mach-E I saw almost hit that metal pole trying to angle his car close enough for it to reach... At the end of the day, it didn't matter. That stall was busted, as it was only outputting 15 kW. I watched 3 different cars try and fail to use that stall. I talked to the last guy that couldn't get it to work, he's the one that told me about it only outputting 15 kW.

But anyways, a lot of EA stations orient their chargers this way. It makes it so if the station is busy, and you can't choose which stall to use, you could have a hard time getting the cable to reach. Especially since in my experience on my last road trip, most of the time, only 1 of the 2 handles on a given charger will work.

 

[avs007]

For example, if you are a Tesla trying to use one of these two stalls, you'll have a hard time... Pull in head first or back in, you'll find that with how stiff the cables are, you won't be able to get the CCS handle to plug in, without parking in such a way that you are sticking out of the stall... Not so bad in this particular EA station, but I've been to ones where the stalls are angled, and the aisles much tighter, so that sticking out of the stall is not an option, becuase you'll block the aisle. I've actually seen a few people use the CCS handle from the charger facing the other stall...

 

[miimura]

If I was low on charge and the only way to get it to work was to partially block the aisle - so be it. They designed the layout, they can deal with the site host receiving complaints about people blocking the aisle.

 

[Mockingbird]

View attachment 819028

Some of the chargers at EA are actually situated in a way that makes connections difficult. At this station for example, I watched a Mach-E struggle in the stall on the far right. The charge port is behind the front wheel on the driver's side... When you back into that stall, the port is on the wrong side... When you pull in head first, that cable on the right doesn't reach. The one on the left is the chedemo cable. I watched 3 different cars have to re-adjust how they parked to get the cable to reach. One of the Mach-E I saw almost hit that metal pole trying to angle his car close enough for it to reach... At the end of the day, it didn't matter. That stall was busted, as it was only outputting 15 kW. I watched 3 different cars try and fail to use that stall. I talked to the last guy that couldn't get it to work, he's the one that told me about it only outputting 15 kW.

But anyways, a lot of EA stations orient their chargers this way. It makes it so if the station is busy, and you can't choose which stall to use, you could have a hard time getting the cable to reach. Especially since in my experience on my last road trip, most of the time, only 1 of the 2 handles on a given charger will work.

 

[avs007]

View attachment 819045

Using the stalls the way you propose is the equivalent of parking in the wrong supercharger stall and blocking two stalls.

Double whammy for using the left stall this way, cus then you'll also prevent the other stall from having access to chademo

But anyways, I was in the left stall, so the Mach E wouldn't have been able to do that anyways

 

[STS-134]

Using the stalls the way you propose is the equivalent of parking in the wrong supercharger stall and blocking two stalls.

Double whammy for using the left stall this way, cus then you'll also prevent the other stall from having access to chademo

But anyways, I was in the left stall, so the Mach E wouldn't have been able to do that anyways

What makes you think the chargers serve the stall that their displays face? Tell me which space this one serves? Maybe it's for charging a motorcycle on the sidewalk?

 

[Mockingbird]

Using the stalls the way you propose is the equivalent of parking in the wrong supercharger stall and blocking two stalls.

Double whammy for using the left stall this way, cus then you'll also prevent the other stall from having access to chademo

But anyways, I was in the left stall, so the Mach E wouldn't have been able to do that anyways

No.

Let's say that there is a second Ford Mustang Mach-E.

It would face the other way and charge from the other charger.

 

[ambudriver03]

View attachment 819032

For example, if you are a Tesla trying to use one of these two stalls, you'll have a hard time... Pull in head first or back in, you'll find that with how stiff the cables are, you won't be able to get the CCS handle to plug in, without parking in such a way that you are sticking out of the stall... Not so bad in this particular EA station, but I've been to ones where the stalls are angled, and the aisles much tighter, so that sticking out of the stall is not an option, becuase you'll block the aisle. I've actually seen a few people use the CCS handle from the charger facing the other stall...

The electrify America station in anaheim is oriented like this. 10 stations total, 2x 350s and the rest are 150kw

Walmart Supercenter - Anaheim Plaza | Anaheim, CA | EV Station

Find EV charging stations with PlugShare, the most complete map of electric vehicle charging stations in the world!Charging tips reviews and photos from the EV community.

www.plugshare.com

They alternate the orientation every other row,

Seems like the optimal orientation for most spots is still to place them at the head of each parking spot, so the normal customer can either head or back in, depending on where their charge port is.

Obviously this doesn't help the people pulling a trailer, but seems they could put a pair of stations on an island, like they do at diesel stops where the trucks can orient themselves to the station as needed.

I think the spots in green are the only two that could naturally accommodate teslas?

 

[srs5694]

But they only specify that they couldn't back in. So I assume that means they were comfortable pulling in.

Not necessarily. Maybe they needed to back in so that a rear-mounted charge port was (or would be, if they could have managed it) close enough to the pedestal for the cables to reach. In that case, pulling in front-first would have been pointless and unworthy of being mentioned.

 

[kylinblue]

Is any of the EA dispensers simultaneous charging on both handles capable? iirc they aren’t. Reason I ask is every time I went to a EA with my Tesla the most optimal position I can find is reversing back in and use the dispenser facing away from me on the left hand side (from driver perspective). In that case I’ll be taking the dispenser away from the parking spot on the left and preventing most types of cars from using the dispenser that facing me.
Some units at EVgo are and once I charged with an ioniq 5 at same time. However those are rare. Most EVgo’s 100kw units have the same issues with EA and their 50kw is more prevalent than anything else, with sucks on it’s own obvious ways.

That being said, I’d rather see more lower powered locations with few handles sprinkled around urban area than a single large scale, Tesla style supercharger serving the whole city.

 

[Jeff N]

I've actually seen a few people use the CCS handle from the charger facing the other stall...

Who’s to say which charging dispenser is for which stall in a setup like that? I used to regularly use the “wrong” dispenser with my Bolt EV because the cables worked out better that way.

 

[RTPEV]

No.

Let's say that there is a second Ford Mustang Mach-E.

It would face the other way and charge from the other charger.

?

Not sure what you are saying.

@avs007 was saying that the left side charger in your picture was in use (by them), so the Mach-E driver (or other cars that have the charge port in the front driver's side) would be out of luck until the left station freed up.

It seems like you are saying there isn't really a problem if you just assume that the adjacent stall is empty, or in use by a "compatible" vehicle, but you can't just make that assumption. You will get to a site and the other stall will be in use by an "incompatible" vehicle and you will have to wait. And even then, how do you propose you wait? Do you park in the far stall and wait for the left charger to free up so you can use it and piss off someone that could use the right charger? Do you wait for the person in the near stall to exit, but then risk someone pulling into the far stall and using the right charger that you would need to use in that stall?

Long term I would like to see charging stations laid out like this in an island format, like what we see with gas pumps:

(the red would be a shared power unit for the 4 pedestals, if that's the way a shared power charging station is designed. This kind of layout would accommodate all common charge port locations simultaneously and arbitrarily.

Sure, the footprint is going to be larger than simple parking spots, but with real estate eventually freeing up as gas pumps become unnecessary, this kind of layout would not be far fetched.

And oh, there should be a damn canopy over this!

 

[srs5694]

And oh, there should be a damn canopy over this!

+1 to that! No, make that +100. Oh, heck, let's go all Doctor Evil and +1,000,000,000!

 

[ambudriver03]

EA station, Baker, CA. (directly adjacent to a 40 stall Tesla V2 supercharger station)

Apparently closed for upgrades right now, upgrading some of the units to 350kw (were all previously 150kw units)

Ultra Gas & Mart (2) | Baker, CA | EV Station

https://www.electrifyamerica.com/

www.plugshare.com

 

[Mockingbird]

?

Not sure what you are saying.

@avs007 was saying that the left side charger in your picture was in use (by them), so the Mach-E driver (or other cars that have the charge port in the front driver's side) would be out of luck until the left station freed up.

It seems like you are saying there isn't really a problem if you just assume that the adjacent stall is empty, or in use by a "compatible" vehicle, but you can't just make that assumption. You will get to a site and the other stall will be in use by an "incompatible" vehicle and you will have to wait. And even then, how do you propose you wait? Do you park in the far stall and wait for the left charger to free up so you can use it and piss off someone that could use the right charger? Do you wait for the person in the near stall to exit, but then risk someone pulling into the far stall and using the right charger that you would need to use in that stall?

Long term I would like to see charging stations laid out like this in an island format, like what we see with gas pumps:
View attachment 819695

(the red would be a shared power unit for the 4 pedestals, if that's the way a shared power charging station is designed. This kind of layout would accommodate all common charge port locations simultaneously and arbitrarily.

Sure, the footprint is going to be larger than simple parking spots, but with real estate eventually freeing up as gas pumps become unnecessary, this kind of layout would not be far fetched.

And oh, there should be a damn canopy over this!

What isn't being considered is how long the cables that Electrify America uses are.

Even the cable from the charger further away can reach the vehicle.

 

[Exelion]

What isn't being considered is how long the cables that Electrify America uses are.

EA cables need to be longer, its that simple. At least EvGo has long cables and an overhead tensioning mechanism (like many gas stations have) to prevent the cable from scratching itself on the ground or worse, getting run over. But yes, EA is where I have to come up with the most elaborate parking methods to get the handle to reach.

 

[Mockingbird]

EA cables need to be longer, its that simple. At least EvGo has long cables and an overhead tensioning mechanism (like many gas stations have) to prevent the cable from scratching itself on the ground or worse, getting run over. But yes, EA is where I have to come up with the most elaborate parking methods to get the handle to reach.

View attachment 819867

https://twitter.com/x/status/1506999707704381451

 

[ambudriver03]

EA cables need to be longer, its that simple. At least EvGo has long cables and an overhead tensioning mechanism (like many gas stations have) to prevent the cable from scratching itself on the ground or worse, getting run over.

It sure is a PITA though when the tensioning mech is jammed, and you then have to play around with the vehicle positioning to get close enough. But I digress.

 

[Exelion]

If only a vehicle manufacturer could make their own charging systems with just the right length of cable, for their own cars!!! Oh wait……