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Is Electrify America TRYING to Ruin EVs and Adoption!?
- Thread starter mmyers300
- Start date
lowtek
Active Member
Meanwhile ... Tesla keeps installing superchargers ...IT might be a chicken and egg thing then... EA won't fix the issues until they make money out of them, and people won't go there until they fix the chargers
The only angst we ever have traveling with an EV is when we have to use a non-Tesla charger somewhere.
Yeah, Tesla don't have the chicken and egg problem... they sell the cars, they know how many were sold in what area. They have feedback from the cars (whether we want it or not) that tells them where we drove, where we charged, if it was successful or not. They know where to invest. Others don't have that luxury,. and they have no revenue from car sales to finance the chargers.
Try and find ChargePoint charging stations. Their stock is doing pretty well. (Yes I hold some shares of it). EA is DOA if you follow the TMC podcasts.
It's sort of like trying to find a working phone booth in Manhattan in the 1990s and before
beatle
Active Member
EA was funded by the dieselgate settlement, it wasn't initiated because VW thought it made good business sense to roll out a charging network for the few thousand EVs they sell.
Pretty sure the settlement says nothing about maintaining an EV charging network, only that they have to deploy one. They might actually fix some of the chargers if they're frequently used, the repairs are minimal, and they think they could recoup some investment, but if they're not making money on it, they're not going to spend money on it.
Of course EA talks some game and says how many stations they've deployed and how much of the US they've covered, but talk is cheap. They should instead be talking about how reliable their stations are and what they have planned. Spending money to make the network reliable is not cheap though, and neither are new stations. You'll notice the expansion for CCS stations on Plugshare is pretty sparse except a few areas (wow, go Ohio!) and it is difficult/impossible to find any coming soon stations on the various DCFC companies.
Pretty sure the settlement says nothing about maintaining an EV charging network, only that they have to deploy one. They might actually fix some of the chargers if they're frequently used, the repairs are minimal, and they think they could recoup some investment, but if they're not making money on it, they're not going to spend money on it.
Of course EA talks some game and says how many stations they've deployed and how much of the US they've covered, but talk is cheap. They should instead be talking about how reliable their stations are and what they have planned. Spending money to make the network reliable is not cheap though, and neither are new stations. You'll notice the expansion for CCS stations on Plugshare is pretty sparse except a few areas (wow, go Ohio!) and it is difficult/impossible to find any coming soon stations on the various DCFC companies.
It's up to regulators. The EPA and CARB have to agree to ElectrifyAmerica's plans.
They'll be publishing their plans this year for the final Cycle 4, which begins next year.
I've wanted to travel to upstate NY in my M3 to see relatives for two years now. The specific area had no public chargers at all until 2020, when the local community college installed two 'destination' chargers with J1772 plugs. Now, the township has installed six J1772 stands in a parking garage. And, wonder of wonders, the local police force has purchased three Teslas. They have a J1772 setup also.
The nearest Tesla supercharger was more than 50 miles away, so going there to charge would net me half of the charge! As of 2/25/2023, EA has no charging sites in the area. EVGo has none either. Guess I'll have to fly into a nearby airport and rent a car.
The nearest Tesla supercharger was more than 50 miles away, so going there to charge would net me half of the charge! As of 2/25/2023, EA has no charging sites in the area. EVGo has none either. Guess I'll have to fly into a nearby airport and rent a car.
mspohr
Well-Known Member
I don't see the problem here. Looks like lots of charging options.
ModelNforNerd
Active Member
I think they are all pretty bad, and it's just hit or miss depending on where your route is. I think the best thing you can do is to look up the stations where you will be going on Plugshare. People do checkins there and mark whether they successfully charged or not and any comments they may have. So that builds up a quality or reliability score of 1-10 stars that will at a glance show whether that station is relatively good or bad. And maybe click into it to make sure there have been good checkins in the last week or so.
So far I've never had an issue with Chargepoint/FLO chargers (both level 2 and level 3) using an rfid card. Sample size isn't very big however. EA has been a 50/50 proposition at best.
I thought they only has two rates. One if they can charge by kWh, the other charging by minute.
By minute:
By kWh:
I couldn't find any states that weren't using one of those two rate plans.
ZenRockGarden
Active Member
It's simple - they are fulfilling a mandate to spend money, but have no vested interest in making a good or well maintained charging network.
mspohr
Well-Known Member
EA was created by VW as punishment for the dieselgate scandal. They were ordered to build EV chargers. There's no requirement that the chargers actually work. They are doing the minimum required.
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