Ford EV Charging Partner Electrify America Outlines New Quality Pledge

[roamtheworld]

https://fordauthority.com/2022/08/f...lectrify-america-outlines-new-quality-pledge/

While Tesla owns and operates its own proprietary Supercharger network, other automakers – including Ford – are relying on third-party companies like Electrify America to service EV customers in that regard, which has gifted both Ford Mustang Mach-E and Ford F-150 Lightning owners with free charging. The results have been mixed, however, with many of these chargers suffering from reliability issues that prompted The Blue Oval to launch its fleet of “Charge Angels” to check on those chargers. Regardless, Ford CEO Jim Farley previously stated that the company’s charging network needs major work, comments that were backed up by a recent study. Now, Ford EV charging partner Electrify America has responded by outlining its own quality pledge.
This pledge from the Ford EV charging partner takes a multi-faceted approach, starting with the fact that the company will be testing 20,000 of its chargers per year via what it calls its Roaming EV Test Fleet program. Since the company currently operates around 3,500 chargers at 800 stations, this means that each charger will be tested roughly every two months. A total of nine teams of inspectors complete a full checklist on each charger as they check it, ensuring that it’s functioning properly.

Additionally, Electrify America employs a team of engineers and software specialists in its Network Operations center, which monitors network performance 24 hours a day, seven days per week. Users can contact the company via its Customer Contact Center at all hours as well, which is there to answer questions or help with technical problems as they arise.
Finally, Electrify America’s Center of Excellence Test Lab is working to test network updates, new charging standards, new and existing hardware and software, and the charging capabilities of pre-production and prototype electric vehicles prior to launch, as well as diagnosing and solving issues as they arise.

Electricfy America news release
https://media.electrifyamerica.com/en-us/releases/194

Every week, thousands of electric vehicle (EV) owners have come to rely on successful, ultra-fast charging experiences at our Electrify America and Electrify Canada charging stations across the United States and Canada. In 2021, our network registered more than 1.45 million customer charging sessions in North America, five times the customer charging sessions over 2020, which highlights the growth of our charging network and number of EVs on these roads today.

In this time of expansive growth, we have taken proactive steps to help improve the charging experience. Customers need to be able to count on the convenience, reliability and speed of our charging stations to help instill range confidence as drivers transition to an EV lifestyle. This cross-functional system strives to identify, diagnose and resolve impacts before the customer interacts with the charger.

A vast, dedicated team of electrical and software engineers, technical specialists and some of the best customer service agents in the business have helped rapidly deploy Electrify America as the largest public ultra-fast charging network in the United States. And we’re just getting started.

We take pride in the fact that experienced and new EV drivers, along with those just considering electric transportation, can feel a sense of confidence knowing our growing network has them covered for all charging needs. With the expansion of the Electrify America and Electrify Canada networks, quality and customer satisfaction remain the top priority with continuous improvement as our goal.

Key Quality & Customer Satisfaction Initiatives at Electrify America and Electrify Canada to Provide EV Drivers with a Seamless eMobility Experience

• Performing more than 20,000 tests of chargers a year – In January 2021, we launched a Roaming EV Test Fleet program to conduct intensive field tests of our network. It means that each of our 3,500 plus individual ultra-fast chargers at 800 plus charging stations in the U.S. and Canada are tested almost every two months. The company deploys nine teams of inspectors who complete a full checklist to ensure our chargers will provide a quality experience to our customers. We work to help ensure that each charging cable, all payment methods and more will provide a high-quality charge. The inspectors utilize a fleet of electric vehicles to perform charging tests. In addition, they inspect the stations to ensure all equipment and aesthetics are in top working order including the chargers themselves, power cabinets, transformers, lighting, EV charging parking stencil signage and more.
• Network Operations Center 24/7 – In addition to work being done to innovate future EV charging experiences, our Network Operations Center has a team of engineers and software specialists keeping their finger on the pulse. This “mission control” room is in operation 24/7 monitoring our network performance in the U.S. and Canada, around the clock. We strive to ensure drivers always know that we are here for them, 24/7, to support all charging experiences with us.
• Customer Contact Center 24/7 – Our focus on customer satisfaction can be found throughout our operations, 24 hours a day. The Customer Contact Center can help with the simplest question or a more technical challenge to help give our customers the ability to enjoy the many benefits of driving electric. And if English is not your first language – not to worry- our contact center has linguists available to respond in 240 languages and dialects.
• Center of Excellence – Test Lab – We are constantly working to optimize the customer experience and anticipate the needs of the electric mobility future through innovation and the technology test lab is at the heart of these efforts. The Center of Excellence technology team is able to test network updates, new charging standards, new and existing software / hardware, and the charging capabilities of pre-production and prototype electric vehicles prior to market launch, as well as diagnose and solve issues seen on the networks in the U.S. and Canada. It is where we work to test and optimize the latest ultra-fast charging technology, with new and prototype EVs from automakers preparing to be on the road today. Many advances in EV charging technology were pioneered at our Center of Excellence, a tradition we plan to expand upon for years to come.

Customer Satisfaction Will Help Drive an Electric Future
For our team, it is not about what we have accomplished, but where we are heading. We take pride knowing that our company, along with an inspiring industry, is enabling electric mobility for a more sustainable future. We want our customers in the U.S. and Canada to charge with confidence. We know that quality assurance and customer satisfaction will help drive an electric future that our world deserves.

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[ExpensiveWino]

Thanks for the article. Trying to be optimistic, and I hope EA continues to grow and provide stable/reliable charging stations. The demand will only grow. The last thing anyone wants is long wait times at charging stations. ?

 

[Logal727]

Testing every two months doesn't seem like enough, honestly.

 

[roamtheworld]

Testing every two months doesn't seem like enough, honestly.

They need a easy way for reporting issues in the app.
Edit - They have a report issue button in Contact us but should be on the main page for charger you are currently using.

We can't be expected to call customer support every time someone has issues.

 

[bshaw]

• Performing more than 20,000 tests of chargers a year – In January 2021, we launched a Roaming EV Test Fleet program to conduct intensive field tests of our network. It means that each of our 3,500 plus individual ultra-fast chargers at 800 plus charging stations in the U.S. and Canada are tested almost every two months.

I do not understand why EA themselves have to physically visit each charging station to conduct testing?
Seems like they would have built internal diagnostics that report back to HQ with data about how a unit is performing.
Rather than "Performing 20,000 tests", I would much rather see them say "When a charger is having an outage, we guarantee to get a technician there within 2-hours" (or something similar)

Also, when did "ultra-fast" become a marketing term for DCFC? I much prefer the numerical 150kW, 350kW, etc designations for DCFC units because it tells you what you can expect to get.

 

[Maquis]

Testing every two months doesn't seem like enough, honestly.

As long as users provide proper feedback, and EA pay attention and act upon it, the testing is kind of redundant.

 

[roamtheworld]

As long as users provide proper feedback, and EA pay attention and act upon it, the testing is kind of redundant.

See my reply above.
Put a button in the app right on the same page as charger to report issues.
They make it hard to report issues IMO

 

[CarDreams]

I haven't had any issues with EA chargers in NC/SC -- yet. I have run into quite a few other non-working chargers, but those were not on the EA network. The EA network has been quite reliable here.

Where are individuals reporting the most issues geographically?

 

[sotek2345]

Testing every two months doesn't seem like enough, honestly.

Given they launched that testing program in January of 2021 (so it has been running for ~20 months now) and we still haven't seen much improvement, I would agree with you.

 

[Logal727]

Every state has a whole department that all they do is test gas pumps at every gas station to confirm that they dispense the correct amount of full at the correct price. Why can't we do something similar with EV chargers?

 

[roamtheworld]

I can only speak to experiences in Texas. We have been lucky when finding a charger that's down we have been able to move to another spot. Only once in Amarillo were all the chargers where full did I see people waiting to use the functioning chargers.
Blank screens with zero functions has been my experience.
Slower charge rates is mostly my issues with EA stations

 

[RickMachE]

Every state has a whole department that all they do is test gas pumps at every gas station to confirm that they dispense the correct amount of full at the correct price. Why can't we do something similar with EV chargers?

1) That's done to make sure they aren't ripping off consumers by altering the pump. Not an issue with electricity?

2) Every state does it differently, and it's no where near every 2 months.

 

[Logal727]

1) That's done to make sure they aren't ripping off consumers by altering the pump. Not an issue with electricity?

2) Every state does it differently, and it's no where near every 2 months.

"something similar"

Also I would hope businesses receiving taxpayer dollars would be held accountable to provide the service they got millions of dollars to provide.

 

[roamtheworld]

Every state has a whole department that all they do is test gas pumps at every gas station to confirm that they dispense the correct amount of full at the correct price. Why can't we do something similar with EV chargers?

Each state has a certification process and sticker that the pump works and is calibrated. Should be the same for DCFC

 

[RickMachE]

They need a easy way for reporting issues in the app.
Edit - They have a report issue button in Contact us but should be on the main page for charger you are currently using.

We can't be expected to call customer support every time someone has issues.

Don't need to call as you noted. The button MAY be in the charger section when you're at the charger, I can't recall (and you have to be at a charging location to verify.

I haven't had any issues with EA chargers in NC/SC -- yet. I have run into quite a few other non-working chargers, but those were not on the EA network. The EA network has been quite reliable here.

Where are individuals reporting the most issues geographically?

You're not going to get any valuable info on that, we don't see the stats. However, commonsense would be that a location that has a large amount of chargers would generate more feedback. Go on the EA app and look at sections of California with many EA locations in a small geographic area, then places like 10 locations, Michigan with 8, etc.

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