Free Electrify America Charging Weekend (Memorial Day?)

[RickMachE]

Yes, there are a handful of locations that don't participate.

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[Maquis]

Yes, there are a handful of locations that don't participate.

The one I use in St. Charles, Mo. participated in 2 of the 3 holidays last summer. I don’t remember which ones. So participation of a given location may not be consistent across all holidays.

 

[GoosePond08]

Just charged, not complimentary today.

 

[silverelan]

My thoughts about this strategy.
1. Drug dealers give away the first hit to get you hooked, it's marketing.
a. New drivers be like, it's free I might as well try it.
2. They can stress test the system by getting us to all use it on those days.
3. They get to say we had 2.5 million(made up number) charges on a single day to stakeholders.

1. Memorial Day weekend is a huge travel weekend and EVs on a road trip need EA's product. Giving it away for free when they've got a captive customer makes zero sense.

2. The stress test is if EA's integrated support systems can handle the massive number of customer interactions. There's zero stress if the local charger dispenses a session with no pull on the customer app, credit card reader, or PnC payment protocols.

3. Meh.

 

[Accord07]

Just charged, not complimentary today.

Thanks for the update. Decision time for the $4 Pass+ membership ? (but seriously it is going to be just a few dollars of difference either way, given that they charge by the minute in PA, barely enough to get one gallon of gas).

 

[RickMachE]

1. Memorial Day weekend is a huge travel weekend and EVs on a road trip need EA's product. Giving it away for free when they've got a captive customer makes zero sense.

2. The stress test is if EA's integrated support systems can handle the massive number of customer interactions. There's zero stress if the local charger dispenses a session with no pull on the customer app, credit card reader, or PnC payment protocols.

3. Meh.

1) Yet, in the past, it has been free for at least part of the weekend, and other holiday weekends...

 

[Accord07]

...
3. They get to say we had 2.5 million(made up number) charges on a single day to stakeholders.

Yeah, you are way too optimistic on EV adoption. For all of 2021 EA logged only 1.45 million charging sessions.

 

[shadowsjc]

Still holding out hope that it'll be free from Sat - Monday

 

[Bobbafett]

is it only free if you have a membership?

 

[RickMachE]

is it only free if you have a membership?

No, when it's free, it's free for everyone. Just plug in. Says "FREE" on the screen of the charger.

 

[RickMachE]

I'm pissed!

Got home from our trip at 11%. Did not charge, awaiting this weekend being free. Drove a bit, got down too low, so charged to 10% (enough to get to chargers and come back home if they weren't free). Stopped the charger with the app.

Apparently at 3:38AM it started to charge again, and didn't stop until 11AM (end of off-peak hours). 56kW that I'm paying for (~$7), that would have been free IF it's free later this weekend.

Now, with only about 20% needed, i.e. around $2.25, it's not worth the time spent.

Damn! Should have unplugged last night!

 

[silverelan]

The days of free charging at EA are hopefully over.

 

[EPOWEL67]

Hello all. I don't know about the holiday free charge since I'm new to this but I charged up this morning at EA from 38% to 92% and it cost me $15+. If that tells you anything or not. Safe charging all.

 

[RickMachE]

Hello all. I don't know about the holiday free charge since I'm new to this but I charged up this morning at EA from 38% to 92% and it cost me $15+. If that tells you anything or not. Safe charging all.

If you're new to this, why aren't you using your 250 free kWh of charging?

 

[ridgebackpilot]

I don't see anything on the EA website announcing free charging for the weekend. They usually publicize it when they decide to offer free charging.

Tesla is offering free, off-peak Supercharging this weekend, but only at certain stations. Predictably, they are located on freeways and other travel corridors. My local Superchargers won't qualify since they're in town.

EA and Tesla sometimes offer free charging on their networks for one simple reason: To build and maintain brand loyalty. We all get a good feeling when we charge up for free. That's worth something to the companies that own the chargers.

Once they've established sufficient customer awareness, they'll phase out free charging. Marketing tools like this constantly shift and change.

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