Just Did My First DCFC at EA - 2 Questions

[RickMachE]

I use the button in the charger all the time. I don’t have any problems.

I used to just press the button on the handle, wait until I heard the lock disengage and pull the plug. That seemed to work fine until it didn’t.

When DC charging, the button on the car is located in the middle of the lit circle. And, it's on the screen in the car under Access. You should not use the button on the EA charger's handle, that's to remove the handle when the session has ended.

I can tell you from experience that when we pushed the button on the EA charger last summer, the car lit up with red on the lights around the button (using EA, not using Plug and Charge). It all cleared right away and we figured we were find. Fast forward to the next EA location and we could not charge, because our EA account thought we were still charging at the last stop. Called EA, rep could not clear it. Had to put in an IT ticket. Advised us to use a credit card to charge. We did that, and then while driving had a long conversation with EA. As I recall, they manually activated the next charger, and then finally things were reset on the account. We received at least 2 free charging sessions during this "hangup" of the account.

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[Tampamike]

When DC charging, the button on the car is located in the middle of the lit circle. And, it's on the screen in the car under Access. You should not use the button on the EA charger's handle, that's to remove the handle when the session has ended.

I can tell you from experience that when we pushed the button on the EA charger last summer, the car lit up with red on the lights around the button (using EA, not using Plug and Charge). It all cleared right away and we figured we were find. Fast forward to the next EA location and we could not charge, because our EA account thought we were still charging at the last stop. Called EA, rep could not clear it. Had to put in an IT ticket. Advised us to use a credit card to charge. We did that, and then while driving had a long conversation with EA. As I recall, they manually activated the next charger, and then finally things were reset on the account. We received at least 2 free charging sessions during this "hangup" of the account.

Sorry to hear that. It just hasn’t been my experience at all. Just took a trip a couple weeks ago. Charged about 4 times and use the stop button on the charger every time - not one problem.

 

[DevSecOps]

So, for proper etiquette, there’s only one charger you can and should use - the 150 that is not the Chademo unit. Good luck.(TIC)

Maybe you have a hard time reading through longer posts. So let me simplify this:

---- Use 150kW if you can, if you can't then use whatever. ----

No one is saying that you can't charge if there's no 150kW available, but don't be a prick if there is.

Here is a conundrum for courtesy. You have 2 stalls, one Chademo and the other a 350, for whom do you consider first?

Most likely the Chademo is only a 50kW (some are 150kW, but it's more common that those are 50), so go for the 350kW. No one should ever expect you to take double the time to charge. If the Chademo is 150kW I would use it and if a leaf came to the station and I was sitting there I would swap chargers.

 

[Tampamike]

I think it would be nice if EA was able to turn off the green lights in the unit for the ones that have a “known ticket.”

Had this experience recently. Pulled up to an EA station that was tagged as a busy spot on PlugShare. It was. There were four cars in four stalls. Then I realize that the Rivian truck in stall four is not charging. I approach him and he politely gives me a sob story about waiting 30 minutes and needing the 350 next to his front left fender (charge port location) that is being used by the car in stall three. Meanwhile, the 150 unit at his back left fender is functioning but inaccessible because he is waiting for the other one. I saw him if he will swap places with me and let me charge but he declines b the other guy only has 4 more minutes. It was longer and he never moved. There was enough space that he could have parked sideways and used the 150 But he had to wait for the 350. I expressed my displeasure politely but it didn’t win the day. He made us both wait.

 

[Tampamike]

Maybe you have a hard time reading through longer posts. So let me simplify this:

---- Use 150kW if you can, if you can't then use whatever. ----

No one is saying that you can't charge if there's no 150kW available, but don't be a prick if there is.



Or maybe you just missed the (TIC) part. Little testy today aren’t we?

 

[DevSecOps]

Or maybe you just missed the (TIC) part. Little testy today aren’t we?

Yeah I did. I just can't believe how many people are bragging about being assholes in this thread. On top of it, it's 115 here today and miserable. My apologies.

 

[4sallypat]

My wife and I just did our first DCFC at an Electrify America station today. Overall it went smoothly. I do have two follow up questions:

1) I understand that proper etiquette is that, since the MME can charge at a maximum of 150kw, that we should use the 150kw unit and only use the 350kw unit if all of the 150kw units are occupied. But the only indicator I could find as to what type of unit I was parked next to was a small sign with small print on the front of the cabinet. Is there a way to identify which cabinets are 150kw and 350kw without driving up or walking up to each one? Did I miss something obvious?

2) Am I correct in assuming that, when we pull up to an EA unit and plug in, that the MME will automatically set the charge limit to 80%? What if we wanted to adjust the charge limit either above or below 80% before commencing with the DCFC? Is there a way to adjust the upper charge limit either before starting the charge or during the charge?

Thank you,
Joe

@joebruin77
I did my first charge on an EA station with my Lightning truck and had similar issues as yours.

There are different charger rates at EA stations ranging from 50kW, 150kW, and 350kW.

Using the EA app, you can locate which ones have a certain rate of charge.

You can use the 350kW or 150kW, although 150kW is what your MME will probably draw so it's safe in either case. In a hurry, I would choose the 350 or 150kW.

Need time to shop around or take a long break, choose the 50kW so you don't have idle times charged to you.

As for the max rate, there is supposedly a setting in your Sync that will change the charge maximum.

I am not sure of this because my Lightning has no limit - always charges at 100% on my L2 home charger.

My first time charging DCFC, I got only 90% and it went into idle time.

I contacted EA and they told me unless the vehicle stops the charge, their chargers are designed to give 100%.

I would only go to 100% if I had a long road trip and need that extra range immediately.

For other times charging DCFC, 80-90% is safe.

My next long distance trip will be San Bernardino to Las Vegas with a group of 70+ EVs to Hoover Dam and all 70+ EVs stopping in Baker, CA for a fast charge.

So I have to get 100% between SB and Baker. Once in Baker, I only need 80% to make it to Vegas.

Here's the run I am doing - should be lots of fun with a huge line of EVs driving together like a rally:
https://fthepump.com/zero-runs

 

[DevSecOps]

Here's the run I am doing - should be lots of fun with a huge line of EVs driving together like a rally:

70 EVs all trying to use the same station ... Not my idea of fun, but best of luck.

Idle time starts after the grace period, when the charging stops. So if you, for example, set the destination to charge to 90% then the vehicle would stop at 90% and any time left plugged in after the grace period (normally 10 minutes for EA) would be idle time. They are correct that it has nothing to do with charge percentage.

 

[RickMachE]

Sorry to hear that. It just hasn’t been my experience at all. Just took a trip a couple weeks ago. Charged about 4 times and use the stop button on the charger every time - not one problem.

Are you using Plug and Charge / Blue Oval Network account, or are you using EA's app? We had this issue with EA's app.

 

[DevSecOps]

Are you using Plug and Charge / Blue Oval Network account, or are you using EA's app? We had this issue with EA's app.

Rick, I think you should go try it for yourself. As I said earlier in a reply to you, this was an issue, but I haven't seen it happen in many months.

 

[back_at_it_19]

There’s a different in MME’s charging speed when using 350 and 150kW, and based on my experience it is not negligible. I used one of two open 350kW stations when I charged, and would have moved if someone asked me nicely. But I would not default to using the 150 just on the off chance that someone with a faster charging vehicle pulls in. Just my two cents.

Also, my mme defaulted to 80% and had to force a charge to 100% using the FordPass app. I stopped it from the EA station once it hit 90%.

Agree re 350 use. It’s faster for the mme and regularly hits 150 actual charge, but the 150 chargers are usually about 110-120 actual for me. Ymmv. That’s up to 35% faster for a long duration of a quick charge. If a 350 is available, your time is as valuable as anyone else so use it. EA should just make them all 350. I’ve never had anyone look for a 350 while I’m using it btw. Not once. In WA and OR I’ve never seen a wait for a stall either. We must have more chargers per EV.

 

[back_at_it_19]

I'll say this one more time. The car only gets the power it requests. Just because a charger can provide more power doesn't mean the car gets that power. 150/350 are max capacities of the charger, it's not the power automatically fed to the car. The car constantly communicates/negotiates with the charger to provide only the power it wants.

Level 2 is AC power, not DC power. Level 1 is 120v instead of 240 L2. They are all vastly different, delivery different amounts of power and charge at different speeds. That being said, the cars max receivable power limit can only be obtained with DCFC. They cannot be considered equals and heat generated is always going to be higher the more power DELIVERED.

You comment was that 350 DCFC units will cause more heat than 150 DCFC units. That's just not true because they both DELIVER the same amount of power to the car.

Using a household receptacle rated for 15 amps, as a more simplistic example, do you think all things plugged in use 15 amps? No they don't. 15 amps is just the max that circuit can handle before it trips. The device only gets the amps needed.

I haven’t yet met an EA 150 charger that actually delivers 150. Max 120 often 110. The 350 chargers definitely hit 150-160. Ymmv.

 

[dbsb3233]

When DC charging, the button on the car is located in the middle of the lit circle. And, it's on the screen in the car under Access. You should not use the button on the EA charger's handle, that's to remove the handle when the session has ended.

I can tell you from experience that when we pushed the button on the EA charger last summer, the car lit up with red on the lights around the button (using EA, not using Plug and Charge). It all cleared right away and we figured we were find. Fast forward to the next EA location and we could not charge, because our EA account thought we were still charging at the last stop. Called EA, rep could not clear it. Had to put in an IT ticket. Advised us to use a credit card to charge. We did that, and then while driving had a long conversation with EA. As I recall, they manually activated the next charger, and then finally things were reset on the account. We received at least 2 free charging sessions during this "hangup" of the account.

That's what I do too. Never had a problem stopping the session with the circle button on the car charge port (done roughly 100 DCFCs). Plus it's easier, since I have to pull the plug out from there anyway to hang it up.

When I first got the car I stopped a few sessions on the charger screen, and got a Charge Fault message in FordPass. Maybe that's fixed now. It still works either way, I just found it cleaner and problem-free (and easier) to use the circle button. Hit it, wait 2 seconds to hear the unlock, pull the plug and hang it up. Easy-peasy.

 

[DevSecOps]

I haven’t yet met an EA 150 charger that actually delivers 150. Max 120 often 110. The 350 chargers definitely hit 150-160. Ymmv.

Without going into the many factors that could cause this, the MME will only stay that high for a short period of time and based on my charge analysis and that of many others will drop to the lower 100s for the majority of the charge.

While I don't see the same issue you do and I DCFC a lot, I would still argue that the couple seconds/minutes of 150kW charge is still not a valid reason to occupy a 350.

 

[dbsb3233]

I haven’t yet met an EA 150 charger that actually delivers 150. Max 120 often 110. The 350 chargers definitely hit 150-160. Ymmv.

I often get an initial peak of ~146 on a 150. And ~163 on a 350. But that only lasts about 90 seconds, then both fall down to ~120.

I did the math on that and it came out to 20 seconds difference in the overall charge session.

Of course, that's all if everything is working well. Many chargers aren't, and deliver less power. Or the car battery is hot and it reduces power. There's a lot of hit & miss in the whole thing.

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