Los Angeles to San Diego and back, great until we needed to charge

[dbsb3233]

“The station is old” is not a valid excuse for the station owner/operator. Right? If it’s old and doesn’t work well, common practice would be to fix it often or replace it with a newer unit that doesn’t break down. That’s exactly what the problem is - they’re building more new stations but not maintaining/replacing the old ones that are broken.

True, but it ultimately comes down to money. Often times the charger went in only because they got a big taxpayer subsidy for it. It's still usually a pretty awful business case once in.

Places like hotels and apartments will find they need to install and maintain L2 as a necessity as their customers require it. There's a much stronger case for L2 where people sleep overnight as being the norm. (It's also much better for the grid to charge overnight).

The business case for little top-up charging at places around town is not nearly as strong though. It's also ripe for 'stealing' without patronizing that business. But hotels and apartments are in much better position to access control their chargers for their patrons.

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[buzznwood]

My cousin takes his to vegas from Denver every few weeks. Zero issues.

I do southern California to Vegas multiple times a year a slightly different route than coming out of from LA as I don't pick up it up until Barstow (join from the 58) on both occasions I have thought of giving the mach-e a try the 'flagship' EA station at baker was closed and pre checking before leaving had a good % of the chargers at Barstow offline so once again I got took my focus..

Baker is the ideal stopping location for a charge as it allows a top up just before heading up the mountain pass and probably why tesla has a massive number of chargers at that location, when the EA station is down then all you have is the even smaller EvGo station down the street.

The Denver to Vegas route may be well thought out but the LA to Vegas route if you don't have a tesla needs a lot of work for such a popular travel corridor IMO, EA need to get the Prim station online ASAP (not sure on the hold up as chargers have been in place for months) and we need more that a token slow charge point station at Yermo with along with single units as a back up in the rest stops.

For those coming from ICE a trip from LA to San Diego or from LA to Vegas is a routine don't even think about just jump into the car and do it trip and shouldn't require a military operations worth of pre planning to see if the trip will be viable.

 

[dbsb3233]

I do southern California to Vegas multiple times a year a slightly different route than coming out of from LA as I don't pick up it up until Barstow (join from the 58) on both occasions I have thought of giving the mach-e a try the 'flagship' EA station at baker was closed and pre checking before leaving had a good % of the chargers at Barstow offline so once again I got took my focus..

Baker is the ideal stopping location for a charge as it allows a top up just before heading up the mountain pass and probably why tesla has a massive number of chargers at that location, when the EA station is down then all you have is the even smaller EvGo station down the street.

The Denver to Vegas route may be well thought out but the LA to Vegas route if you don't have a tesla needs a lot of work for such a popular travel corridor IMO, EA need to get the Prim station online ASAP (not sure on the hold up as chargers have been in place for months) and we need more that a token slow charge point station at Yermo with along with single units as a back up in the rest stops.

For those coming from ICE a trip from LA to San Diego or from LA to Vegas is a routine don't even think about just jump into the car and do it trip and shouldn't require a military operations worth of pre planning to see if the trip will be viable.

We do Denver-Vegas every other month, and it is one of the better covered routes, combined with the fact it doesn't usually get overcrowded (yet). The weakest point is Green River UT. The only DCFC for 100 miles in either direction. And really not even an L2 option (other than a few campgrounds for rent with 14-50 outlets). That's the do-or-die point. It's also an 80 MPH interstate with bad MPK.

Grand Junction is less than ideal too as the EA is 10 minutes off the interstate in one direction, and about 5 minutes the other (where there's a diagonal). But it's a small city with some other backup options there (not great ones but at least you won't get stranded there and need a tow).

We've done that LA-Vegas route a few times now (and will again next week). The main problem there is so many EVs driving that route. Barstow is the only place we've found a full station and had to wait. Actually we gave up and stretched it to Baker. It's a deceiving downhill into Baker (bottom of the valley) so we got there with 20 extra miles of range vs what it showed leaving Barstow.

 

[Larry Paul]

For what it is worth, I did an LA to San Diego round trip and used an EVGO station in San Diego at the Sheraton. It only took 23 minutes on a DCFC to make up the charging I needed for a round trip visit. (I did make a stop at a slow J plug for 22 mins on the drive and that only gained 2%)

I normally don't charge over 70% for daily use, but for my travel to San Diego I started out at 90% and got home with 25% (also a bit lower than I normally go).

 

[Tampamike]

True, but it ultimately comes down to money. Often times the charger went in only because they got a big taxpayer subsidy for it. It's still usually a pretty awful business case once in.

Places like hotels and apartments will find they need to install and maintain L2 as a necessity as their customers require it. There's a much stronger case for L2 where people sleep overnight as being the norm. (It's also much better for the grid to charge overnight).

The business case for little top-up charging at places around town is not nearly as strong though. It's also ripe for 'stealing' without patronizing that business. But hotels and apartments are in much better position to access control their chargers for their patrons.

I was talking about EA chargers not level 2 units. EA’s chargers are EA’s chargers. They’re not sponsored or purchased. “Sorry, they’re old” Isn’t a great excuse. They have money to expand but, meanwhile, they’re not spending enough money to maintain or replace the old ones. We shouldn’t have to be filtering stations based on whether they are old and thus broken. Old gas pumps seem to work, or I guess they do. I don’t really know which ones are old or new because usually they work. Besides, these “old” EA units are only, what, 2 years old, three tops?

 

[RickMachE]

I was talking about EA chargers not level 2 units. EA’s chargers are EA’s chargers. They’re not sponsored or purchased. “Sorry, they’re old” Isn’t a great excuse. They have money to expand but, meanwhile, they’re not spending enough money to maintain or replace the old ones. We shouldn’t have to be filtering stations based on whether they are old and thus broken. Old gas pumps seem to work, or I guess they do. I don’t really know which ones are old or new because usually they work. Besides, these “old” EA units are only, what, 2 years old, three tops?

Four, but who's counting?

 

[astronut325]

For those coming from ICE a trip from LA to San Diego or from LA to Vegas is a routine don't even think about just jump into the car and do it trip and shouldn't require a military operations worth of pre planning to see if the trip will be viable.

I really don't mind the planning aspect of it. I'm a manager, I like to plan. However, I shouldn't need a backup plan for my backup plan that was already a backup plan.

I get the full capacity charger (my first stop). If I had been able to charge adequately at my 2nd stop, I would have gotten home within my target time envelope and the wife/kids wouldn't be unhappy. My wife really started to give me the "Are you f***ing kidding me" look when the first 2 stalls at the 3rd stop kept failing.

 

[dbsb3233]

I was talking about EA chargers not level 2 units. EA’s chargers are EA’s chargers. They’re not sponsored or purchased. “Sorry, they’re old” Isn’t a great excuse. They have money to expand but, meanwhile, they’re not spending enough money to maintain or replace the old ones. We shouldn’t have to be filtering stations based on whether they are old and thus broken. Old gas pumps seem to work, or I guess they do. I don’t really know which ones are old or new because usually they work. Besides, these “old” EA units are only, what, 2 years old, three tops?

It kinda comes down to what's the higher priority for EA right now -- expansion, or maintenance? Customers always want both, of course, but realistically there's a limit on resources, so one comes at the expense of the other. It's a balancing act.

I lean a bit more toward wanting expansion to be the higher priority. Even if there's often 1 or 2 chargers down at a station of 4, I can usually get a charge even if it means a failed first attempt and moving over one. And that's always been the case so far in my ~80 EA charges. But once we get to the point where maintenance gets so bad (and the stations so crowded) that it shifts from a mildly annoying "move to the next one over" to "Damn, I can't get a charge at all!", it becomes a different matter. They need at least enough maintenance to have *some* functioning chargers available 99% of the time at each station. 2 of 4 I can still work with, but not 0 of 4.

It does appear lots of this equipment is not holding up well. We may see expansion slow down if they start focusing more on repairs/replacements instead.

 

[bluestarct]

I checked PlugShare after I got home and there are plenty of other chargers such as ChargePoint and EVGO. However, all of them topped out at 50-60KWh rates. EA was the only one offering 100+ KWh rate.

The ChargePoint chargers at Outlets at San Clemente are good to use and there are lots of shopping restaurants including a Ruby’s. We’ve stopped there quite a few times on our way back to San Diego.

 

[Deleted member 14221]

So this past weekend we took a brief trip from Los Angeles to San Diego. It's approximately 120-130ish miles of travel. I had charged the Mach-E to 90%. GOM showed 300+ miles. Great. My family and I hop in, put on good music and head to San Diego. We get there without issue and have a great day. We drove around to other places and still had plenty of charge left. However, at the end of the day it was apparent I needed a charge as I only had 100 miles of range and I have a 130 mile trip back home. So I punch in my home address into the Mach-E navigation and it points out that I need to charge and there is an EA station just 10 minutes away.

We navigate to the nearest EA station. Completely full, with one car already in line waiting to charge. I open the EA app on my phone and see there is another EA station about 15 minutes away. So I drive to the next EA station. One stall available, plug in, pay and we're charging. Awesome. 20 minutes pass and I notice we've barely added 6ish miles. I look on the EA screen and it says it's charging at 12KWh. I once again open the EA app and see there is another station about 30 minutes away from my current location, thankfully it was on the way home.

I make it to the third EA station:
Charging stall 1: Fails to connect/charge
Charging stall 2: Fails to connect/charge
Charging stall 3: In use by another vehicle
Charging stall 4: Connects and charges. Charged for 15 minutes. Wife angry and kids cranky.

Got home.

I'm seriously rethinking my Mach-E purchase due to the charging network. What should have been a 20 minute stop to charge for 15 minutes turned into almost 1 and a half hour endeavor. My family refuses to do any more long trips on the Mach-E.

Your first mistake was going to EA. Perhaps try EvGo next time. You might have a better success rate.

Also, try swapping out your family for an upgraded non-agro/angry version. I think Ford offers that option for added $10k but the parts on backorder.

 

[Larry Paul]

I checked PlugShare after I got home and there are plenty of other chargers such as ChargePoint and EVGO. However, all of them topped out at 50-60KWh rates. EA was the only one offering 100+ KWh rate.

The EVGO stations at the Sheraton in San Diego has:

2 CCS @350kW
2 CCS @100kW
2 CCS @50kW

I used the 100kW and saw 70kW average for the 23 minutes I was plugged in from 46 SOC to 75 SOC

 

[astronut325]

The EVGO stations at the Sheraton in San Diego has:

2 CCS @350kW
2 CCS @100kW
2 CCS @50kW

I used the 100kW and saw 70kW average for the 23 minutes I was plugged in from 46 SOC to 75 SOC

Lesson learned. That said, I was no longer near downtown SD when I was heading home. We were in Escondido at the end of the day. Visited some friends we haven't seen in some time. So we were taking the 15 North to get back home.

 

[mkhuffman]

Also, try swapping out your family for an upgraded non-agro/angry version. I think Ford offers that option for added $10k but the parts on backorder.

There are lots of jokes about the OP's family, wife, etc. Yes, funny, but in reality, what he went through sucks. A lot. And the people who are going along for the ride are expected to just smile and say "no big deal"? I don't think so.

The charging situation is reaching the breaking point. Fast. We all know it. Some of us have not experienced any serious pain yet, including me, but it is coming. And I do not expect anyone's family or spouse to just smile and not be bothered by it. Nobody should.

As of today, I absolutely will not go on a trip that requires more than one DCFC stop. And even then I am going to think twice about it. One painful stop is bearable, two in a row? Or getting stranded because of broken chargers? No way. I am not doing that.

I love my car but there is a limit to the pain an inconvenience I will withstand just to drive it.

 

[daemonic3]

I checked PlugShare after I got home and there are plenty of other chargers such as ChargePoint and EVGO. However, all of them topped out at 50-60KWh rates. EA was the only one offering 100+ KWh rate.

We will be doing our first day trip to drop our daughter off at UC Santa Cruz from Sacramento (170 miles away). This will be our first time using DCFC when actually *needed* (other were free Volta L3 just to try it out).

I have scouted, with Plugshare, the entire route and other than Chargepoint Headquarters in Campbell and an EVGO in Vacaville, only Electrify America has higher than 62.5kW stations. So we'll be giving one of many EA's in south bay a shot, using the app to check status, then starting the charge with Fordpass balance. We signed up to be religious for the day so that when we pray it will work the first time. ?

Your first mistake was going to EA. Perhaps try EvGo next time. You might have a better success rate.

Also, try swapping out your family for an upgraded non-agro/angry version. I think Ford offers that option for added $10k but the parts on backorder.

Pretty much every EvGo here is 50kW max except for very rare exceptions. You'd have to REALLY plan in order to find one near your route. EA seems to be the only option 90% of the time for fast charging if you don't want to stop for a whole hour.

Also I like your 2nd suggestion, do they accept our Fordpass reward points for the new family? Mine is gonna flip her $hit the first time we hit a snag.

 

[RetiredDP]

So this past weekend we took a brief trip from Los Angeles to San Diego. It's approximately 120-130ish miles of travel. I had charged the Mach-E to 90%. GOM showed 300+ miles. Great. My family and I hop in, put on good music and head to San Diego. We get there without issue and have a great day. We drove around to other places and still had plenty of charge left. However, at the end of the day it was apparent I needed a charge as I only had 100 miles of range and I have a 130 mile trip back home. So I punch in my home address into the Mach-E navigation and it points out that I need to charge and there is an EA station just 10 minutes away.

We navigate to the nearest EA station. Completely full, with one car already in line waiting to charge. I open the EA app on my phone and see there is another EA station about 15 minutes away. So I drive to the next EA station. One stall available, plug in, pay and we're charging. Awesome. 20 minutes pass and I notice we've barely added 6ish miles. I look on the EA screen and it says it's charging at 12KWh. I once again open the EA app and see there is another station about 30 minutes away from my current location, thankfully it was on the way home.

I make it to the third EA station:
Charging stall 1: Fails to connect/charge
Charging stall 2: Fails to connect/charge
Charging stall 3: In use by another vehicle
Charging stall 4: Connects and charges. Charged for 15 minutes. Wife angry and kids cranky.

Got home.

I'm seriously rethinking my Mach-E purchase due to the charging network. What should have been a 20 minute stop to charge for 15 minutes turned into almost 1 and a half hour endeavor. My family refuses to do any more long trips on the Mach-E.

I've had almost no problems with EA. I'd suggest you activate the filter in the nav app to only show you 100 kw or 150 kw chargers. I've had a couple of occasions where the only charger unused was a non-working one, but both times a call to EA set things right with a reboot. And of course, prior to a long trip, charge to a full 100%, not 90%.

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