Atlanta to Orlando and back, two very different trips

kdonnel

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This was my second road trip in the car, the first that would require two charge stops in a day.

The trip down was great. We left the house in Metro Atlanta at 100%. Stopped in Athens, GA to pickup my son and started our journey to Orlando. Our first stop was in Macon GA. While we didn't really need to charge at this point, it was time to eat. We picked a place to eat that was walking distance to a Georgia Power charger.

I had no problem activating the charger using the ChargePoint App and by the time we were done eating the car was back to 92%.

The next stop was an EA station in Valdosta, GA. Plug and charge worked great. We bought a few items at WalMart that we needed for the next day and by the time we were done the car was at 87%.

We drove through some of the hardest rain I have ever experienced. It was raining so hard I could not see more than 2-3 feet in front of the car. Too hard to be safely driving and too hard to safely stop as I would have been a hazard for the other cars on the road. The rain lasted for about 45 minutes of the drive, creeping along at 10-15 MPH with others on I-75. Towards the end it was raining so hard I got a message to clean the front camera as it no longer had a clear view.

The last fast charge of the trip was at an EA station in Gainesville, FL. We arrived after the Target was closed so we walked to the gas station nearby to use the restroom. Plug and charge worked great once again and by the time we were done using the bathroom it was time to go as the car was at 77% and had enough energy to get to the hotel.

We arrived at the hotel with 36%. According to plug share there are two level 2 chargers at the hotel and one works while the other is broken. Plugshare was correct and I was lucky to find the working charger unoccupied. I plugged in for the night and unplugged in the morning at 85%.

That 85% was enough to cover our driving around for the next three days.




The return was not nearly as smooth.


Plan A was to plug in overnight at the hotel and be at 100% in the morning. When I went to the charger that night I found it occupied by another EV.

Plan B was to eat breakfast in Celebration, FL at a diner walking distance to a Duke Energy DC FAST charger. We would start the journey at or close to 100% for maximum flexibility. Plugshare said one worked and one was broken. I was unable to get either to charge. One would error out immediately(the broken one) and the other would start to charge and stop with a charge fault after delivering 1-2 seconds of electricity. Looking through plugshare check ins it appears that Mach e owners are not able to charge at the DC FAST chargers at this location. I now have $23.92 in a ChargeUp account that I wonder if I will ever be able to use. I was expecting to get much more energy and the app appeared to have a $25 minimum initial deposit requirement.

Has anyone had luck with Duke Energy DC FAST stations? It looks like there are many in FL and NC. I guess at some point I might get to use the rest of that $23.92.

As a backup I charged at one of the available level 2 chargers. I only managed to go from 61% to 68% while we ate. We were hoping to leave with a higher state of charge but after checking with ABRP we had enough to make it back to the EA station in Gainesville FL. Without the little gain in energy we would have had to stop in Bushnell FL at an EA station so the level 2 charger while eating saved us an additional stop.

I made the assumption that since we had no issues at the EA station in Gainesville, FL on the way down that we would have a similar experience on the return.

I was wrong.

I plugged into the same station used on the way down and everything was great so I headed into Target. Started charging at 29%. Twenty minutes later I got a push notification that charging had stopped at 63% with a charge fault. I walked out to the car, unplugged and plugged in again. Another fault. I moved the car to the next stall and it also faulted right off. I moved the car to the next stall only to find the screen dead on the EA machine. I moved the car to the last stall and thankfully it started charging. Twenty more minutes later we were able to leave. All in the stop was 10-15 minutes longer than it should have been because of the charge fault issues.

The next stop was Cordele, GA. Another EA station but at a Walmart. I pulled up, plugged in, charging started, and we walked over to a nearby Burger King for dinner. When walking away the car reported it would be at 80% at 5:18pm. While eating I noticed it was not charging as fast as it could/should. At 5:22pm we made it back to the car and it was at only 66% and was now reporting it would not each 80% until 5:58pm. I once again unplugged and moved to another stall. We walked into Walmart to kill time while it charged. If the charger had worked as it should, we should have been driving instead of waiting. In the end we unplugged at 5:42pm, 24 minutes longer than the initial 5:18pm estimate.

That stop got us enough power to make the trip to Athens, GA and then the 30 miles from my son's dorm to our house.




In the end we managed to make the trip in both directions but the trip down was certainly much smoother and less stressful as far as charging.

The return trip really dented our confidence in longer EV road trips. All three places we used DC FAST chargers had varying severity problems from totally catastrophic to mildly aggravating and stressful.
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RickMachE

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Did you report the problem chargers to EA via app or phone? Note them in PlugShare?

Gainesville was so bad in 2021 that we always skipped it.
 


timbop

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In the end we managed to make the trip in both directions but the trip down was certainly much smoother and less stressful as far as charging.

The return trip really dented our confidence in longer EV road trips. All three places we used DC FAST chargers had varying severity problems from totally catastrophic to mildly aggravating and stressful.
It's unfortunate, but you really need to do some research in plugshare while planning a road trip. Here is a tutorial on how I plan using ABRP to find a primary and alternate charger (just to be sure) while planning a road trip. I too made a trip down through georgia last year and from prior research knew that EA station in gainesville was problemmatic - it seems only one of those chargers is ever available at a time. To compensate for that I intentionally topped off at the prior station in lake city so if gainesville failed me I would still have enough to make it to orlando (see trip report here).

Things will definitely get better, particularly with the infrastructure bill funds.
 

timbop

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The EA station(would be slightly out of the way) or the Lake City Park and Ride?
The EA at the S&S station which is a little out of the way. The park-n-ride doesn't have a great track record either
 

RickMachE

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I only go to EA if possible.
 
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kdonnel

kdonnel

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It's unfortunate, but you really need to do some research in plugshare while planning a road trip. Here is a tutorial on how I plan using ABRP to find a primary and alternate charger (just to be sure) while planning a road trip. I too made a trip down through georgia last year and from prior research knew that EA station in gainesville was problemmatic - it seems only one of those chargers is ever available at a time. To compensate for that I intentionally topped off at the prior station so if gainesville failed me I would still have enough to make it to orlando (see trip report here).

Things will definitely get better, particularly with the infrastructure bill funds.
I used ABRP and PlugShare and had backups planned. I plan both the trip itself and destination charging options.

When doing the planning it was a matter of picking between stations that all had reports of recent problems and successes.
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