(Yet Another) Charging Frustration

[dmastro]

So the wife and kids are on a road trip from the Sacramento area to LA. Decided to try the Mach E instead of the Tesla for this one.

Against my reservations, I went so far to use ABRP and diligently checked PlugShare. To the tune of at least an hour of frustrating research. I figured I’ve heard this is the best practice for road tripping in the MME so I’d test it.

So first stop in Firebaugh. PlugShare says everything was just serviced yesterday and running perfectly. Wife stops and first charger hits 77. Second charger hits 137 but fails after 5 min. Third charger seems to be working but topped out around 100. She’s frustrated and wasting time when she has an appointment to make.

Firebaugh is supposed to be one of the better locations. I can’t wait to see how the next one goes near Bakersfield.

Yeah, no more road trips in the MME until we can access that verboten T charging network.

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[dmastro]

Oops. I posted too soon. Trying a fourth charger now.

 

[Mirak]

So first stop in Firebaugh. PlugShare says everything was just serviced yesterday and running perfectly. Wife stops and first charger hits 77. Second charger hits 137 but fails after 5 min. Third charger seems to be working but topped out around 100. She’s frustrated and wasting time when she has an appointment to make.

Those are normal speeds for a Mach E. What speed are you expecting? This car may be rated to 150kW but you’re never going to hit that. Best you can hope for is about 80-100 in the meat of the charging curve. This is not a Tesla.

 

[dmastro]

Well. 77 at 20% SOC is not normal. Maybe if you’re on an inferior charger.

137 was fine but the charger shutting down after 5 min drops it to 0. Not so good.

Third charger at 100was a little low but in the realm. Except it shut down after a min as well. So, did not meet expectations either.

Fourth charger started at 153 and maintained a normal charge curve.

All in all, I’d say that experience shouldn’t meet anyone’s expectations. Maybe my expectations are just too high from years of plug and play at full rated speeds.

 

[alexgorod]

All in all, I’d say that experience shouldn’t meet anyone’s expectations. Maybe my expectations are just too high from years of plug and play at full rated speeds.

Expectations are fine, reality is not

 

[dmastro]

Expectations are fine, reality is not

Totally agree, the reality of the existing CCS charging landscape is not ok. Which is why we won’t be using it for any more road trips.

 

[Jim622]

I have had pretty good luck in 2 years and several road trips to Vegas. Even so, I have never achieved a 150 rate. The best I have ever seen was 130 on an EA 350.

 

[dmastro]

I have had pretty good luck in 2 years and several road trips to Vegas. Even so, I have never achieved a 150 rate. The best I have ever seen was 130 on an EA 350.

I'm glad others are having better success than we are. I'd accept if we could plug in and hit 130 reliably. However, in the few times we've taken trips in the MME long enough to need a DCFC, we have plugged into more malfunctioning chargers (literally not working, or throughput less than 50% of rated) than working chargers.

I'm not willing to give a pass on this. Maybe some people's expectations are defined by their experiences, and the generally poor CCS network is a "fact of life" for owners of those cars. But the "other brand" has demonstrated that chargers can operate with extreme uptime and at rated speeds.

I know it will get better eventually, but until it does, it will continue to be an impediment to widespread adoption.

 

[alexgorod]

In my recent trip with 5 DCFC charges the speed range from 30 (EA) to 75 (another EA), and I had to wait 20 minutes for that 30 kwh charger. Still it was better than driving to another location that might be not much better.
To be fair, I knew that this charger had a low plugshare rating but went there anyway, so my expectations were tuned to the sad reality and I wasn't very frustrated.

 

[dmastro]

In my recent trip with 5 DCFC charges the speed range from 30 (EA) to 75 (another EA), and I had to wait 20 minutes for that 30 kwh charger. Still it was better than driving to another location that might be not much better.
To be fair, I knew that this charger had a low plugshare rating but went there anyway, so my expectations were tuned to the sad reality and I wasn't very frustrated.

At least you were prepared, but that really is a sad reality. High speed, reliable chargers need to become as ubiquitous (at least in transit corridors) and simple as gas stations.

 

[Mach-Lee]

Well. 77 at 20% SOC is not normal. Maybe if you’re on an inferior charger.

137 was fine but the charger shutting down after 5 min drops it to 0. Not so good.

Third charger at 100was a little low but in the realm. Except it shut down after a min as well. So, did not meet expectations either.

Fourth charger started at 153 and maintained a normal charge curve.

All in all, I’d say that experience shouldn’t meet anyone’s expectations. Maybe my expectations are just too high from years of plug and play at full rated speeds.

Blame the chargers, that's just how much the CCS network sucks.

Mach-E is also a slow DC charger, it will only stay above 100 kW for about the first 30% because the DC cables are a limited size and Ford is very conservative with DC charge rates.

 

[dmastro]

Blame the chargers, that's just how much the CCS network sucks.

Mach-E is also a slow DC charger, it will only stay above 100 kW for about the first 30% because the DC cables are a limited size and Ford is very conservative with DC charge rates.

Yeah, to be clear I'm not intending to blame the MME in any way for this. My criticism is 100% on the CCS charging network. When we've (rarely) connected to a charger in good operational condition, the MME has charged superbly.

 

[DevSecOps]

I make that drive often. The two I stop at that I never have issues with are Target in Bakersfield and Target in Los Banos. Those two are all I need from Sac to OC and back.

I always take 5 (cutting over on I4 in Stockton) over 99 the entire way and I'm cruising along at 80-90mph the whole time I'm on 5.

 

[dmastro]

I make that drive often. The two I stop at that I never have issues with are Target in Bakersfield and Target in Los Banos. Those two are all I need from Sac to OC and back.

I always take 5 (cutting over on I4 in Stockton) over 99 the entire way and I'm cruising along at 80-90mph the whole time I'm on 5.

Thanks I’ll note those for backups, but they both seem to be awfully far off I-5 to be considered primary stops. It looks like 15+ minutes each direction unless I’m mistaken.

 

[DevSecOps]

Thanks I’ll note those for backups, but they both seem to be awfully far off I-5 to be considered primary stops. It looks like 15+ minutes each direction unless I’m mistaken.

They are both a little off the beaten path, but that just ensures I don't stress. The bakers target has like 10 stalls and there's no one at them. Los Banos has 5 stalls I think, and again not a very busy station.

I guess what I'm getting at is that if you pick the ones right off the freeway you get the higher probably of frustration. Since I can do the entire trip on two stops it's not that big of a deal in my opinion. EA has a new one in bakers at the same point as target, immediately off the freeway. I haven't tried that one yet because it's normally showing full. But that's an option too.

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