Electrify America stations are regularly full now - is EA finally making money?

[GreaseMonkey]

The two EAs closest to me are full from 5 am to 10 pm every day. I’ve stopped charging at EVgo a couple months back, but these are also full pretty much all the time. Many EV drivers in the city rely on dcfc for charging due to lack of infrastructure in high rises. So life is very tough right now. This started here in Chicago since late summer.

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[The Electric Duo]

I wonder how many 50kw chargers are going unused in the local area while drivers are waiting over 3 hours for the "fast" DC chargers.

At least for Quartzsite, there aren't really any good alternatives. There is a Rivian charger nearby, but we can't use those. If you want to skip it, it is a 215 mile stretch between Indio, CA and Buckeye, AZ.

 

[Mirak]

You guys remember when EA announced that plan to open a bazillion new chargers? Is that plan still up on the interwebs somewhere? LOL.

 

[macchiaz-o]

At least for Quartzsite, there aren't really any good alternatives. There is a Rivian charger nearby, but we can't use those. If you want to skip it, it is a 215 mile stretch between Indio, CA and Buckeye, AZ.

I've used the 50 kW station (only a single stall) in front of Chiriaco Summit Restaurant. That's a bit closer than Palm Springs while traveling west on I-10.

I was mainly replying to say that maybe you have some extra filters hiding stations? But I checked PlugShare and you're basically right other than Chiriaco Summit. There was a station in Blythe but it's in repair now.

I had to go to LA last month and I drove a gas car because I was too worried about the potential waits or disrepair states of the Quartzsite station and Buckeye stations.

I can't wait until we can get the NACS adapter... even if I never use it, I expect having the Supercharger access will make me feel more comfortable about road trips in my standard range vehicle.

 

[ChuckA]

Part of the problem is that car companies are giving massive kWh free charging with EV purchases. My nephew just bought a Genesis and got 3 years. They all use EA for this free program.

 

[voxel]

I was just looking at the I5 station north of LA and Quartzsite, AZ east of San Diego. There are up to 3 1/2 hour waits for an open charging stall. Yeah, it is a busy travel day but that is ridiculous. It seems that EA's pace of adding new stations has slowed significantly and I haven't heard of them expanding any stations.

EA has focused on cycle 3 sites. Non south Florida had zero new sites built in the past 2.5 years and suddenly 4 new locations were finished in the past 6 months (St Pete, another Tampa location, Lakeland, Orlando outlet mall). It’s still well short of how quickly Tesla expands here but it is better than nothing.

 

[George Knighton]

I'm with the people who complain that giving away EA charge time for years is a bad idea. It's leading to congestion, and it's leading to people remaining on station too long as they extract every ounce of free in the 80%-100% range where most of us would have stopped and gone on with life.

It's one thing for Ford to give 250 kWh so you can be sure that Plug & Charge works, but it's another thing for Volkswagen to give away years of charging to try to sell a bust of an EV like the ID.4.

Not really mad, just puzzled.

 

[mkhuffman]

If I can get a BEV that will go 350 miles on the highway without stopping, I can avoid 90% of my DCFC stops. THAT is why range is so important to me, and so important to reduce the burden on our charging infrastructure.

That one crappy stop in AZ we are talking about can be avoided easily if your car can go 350 miles on the highway. "Highway" is important, of course. I am not referring to EPA range.

There are at least two vehicles that can do it fairly easily now: the Lucid Air Grand Touring, and the Rivian R1 Max Pack. Others can probably make it as well, but not as easily.

We need bigger batteries. Bigger is better!

 

[ChasingCoral]

I've used the 50 kW station (only a single stall) in front of Chiriaco Summit Restaurant. That's a bit closer than Palm Springs while traveling west on I-10.

Actually, there are two ChargePoint 62kW chargers at Chiriaco Summit. One is on front of the restaurant and one on the side of the gas station. They could really use a couple of the new 400kW ChargePoints.

 

[AZBill]

That's nuts, I couldn't skip that stop in my SR AWD Mach-E, but it's 219 miles between EA Indio and EA Buckeye, I would absolutely charge as high as I could in Indio/Buckeye on a higher range variant Mach-E to skip Quartzsite.

Even Indio and Buckeye are always busy as well, I have seen lines at both those. I live near Buckeye and can easily get to Indio going west, but returning, I would need to get to 85% in Indio to make it back. That assumes keeping it at 75mph and no headwind.

 

[AZBill]

At least for Quartzsite, there aren't really any good alternatives. There is a Rivian charger nearby, but we can't use those. If you want to skip it, it is a 215 mile stretch between Indio, CA and Buckeye, AZ.

GM/EVGO and Pilot are adding 350kw chargers in Salome and Ehrenburg, which will provide alternatives. They opened a new site along I-40 in winslow and it has a canopy.

 

[AZBill]

Actually, there are two ChargePoint 62kW chargers at Chiriaco Summit. One is on front of the restaurant and one on the side of the gas station. They could really use a couple of the new 400kW ChargePoints.

Last time I stopped there for a bio break, one of the two was broken. The two at Denny's in Blyth are also unreliable.

 

[ChasingCoral]

Last time I stopped there for a bio break, one of the two was broken. The two at Denny's in Blyth are also unreliable.

That’s unusual. Those ChargePoint chargers are usually rock-solid. That just shows how much use they get.

 

[AZBill]

I was mainly replying to say that maybe you have some extra filters hiding stations? But I checked PlugShare and you're basically right other than Chiriaco Summit. There was a station in Blythe but it's in repair now.

There are three chargers in Blythe, the EV Connect one at the Hampton Inn is never working, and it only provides 35kw when it does work. The Denny's has two 62 kw ChargePoint's, but those get flagged as broken on Plugshare quite often as well. Typically one of two work and people clog those up when Quartzsite is full.

 

[heisnuts]

I haven't seen what the lines were at the Tesla superchargers over the weekend. Were there the same lines shown here? I know Tesla added a congestion fee before the holiday weekend so once drivers hit 90% they were highly encouraged to move on. I know from experience to go from 10% to 90% in a Tesla will take about 40 minutes, and less than that if it is at a V3 station.

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