Charging rant. Shell Recharge

[Kamuelaflyer]

We often travel to the Des Moines, IA area. This is the capital of our great State. The population is 750k. You would think this area would have some decent chargers. Most of the “high speed” are Shell Recharge, operated by Mid-American Energy. The one near my daughter’s house has been down for months. I went to the next closest one. It was listed as 150 kW. One side was doing 25 and the other was giving 49. I searched in the Ford app and found one at a grocery store that was listed as 300 kW. When I arrived, one side was completely down and the other was only charging at 48 kW. I had time to kill so I drove to another site that was listed as 150 kW. Both sides seemed to be working. The first one I connected to wouldn’t read my Shell RFID card. The other one read the card but, again, would only output at 49 kW. There seems to be a thread here. I’m going to attempt to contact Shell and Mid-America but don’t hold out too much hope of resolving anything. I installed a 220v outlet in my daughter’s garage to use my mobile charger when we’re staying overnight. It may be time to install a mid level charger at her house.

Shell Recharge stinks. The DCFC stations in Hawaii were all Shell Recharge and never quite right and some were down for multiple months at a time. The owner switched them all to Opt Connect. They’ve been much better ever since,

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[steveg95]

I’ve used a couple of those shell ones in Des Moines and was always in the 60kw range. This was a year or two ago. Next time I’m going through there I’ll be using the Tesla charger.

And now pulling up the Tesla map I see they added a charger halfway between Kansas City and Des Moines! This makes me very happy as there were only two small (2plug) ccs stations in that stretch. This will make a winter trip much more comfortable.

Got family near Cedar Rapids so it looks like I can rely 100% on the Tesla network for the trip now.

We're from the Cedar Rapids area. I was looking at the Des Moines Tesla Supercharger. It's about 15 minutes from my daughter's house. I'll be switching to it from now on.

 

[steveg95]

It's a V2 then. Only V3s and the V4s (when available) are compatible with the CCS cars.

I did find one in Des Moines that will work.

 

[ponEpwr]

We're from the Cedar Rapids area. I was looking at the Des Moines Tesla Supercharger. It's about 15 minutes from my daughter's house. I'll be switching to it from now on.

Nice! My family is in Lisbon. And the Ford dealer in Mt Vernon just installed a 120kw charger, so now I can top off before I arrive. Last time I showed up pretty low and it took like 4 days on their outdoor 110v outlet to get to 90-100% charge.

I have not made the trip since we’ve had access to the Tesla network but I’m guessing that approved Des Moines station would be no different than the others I’ve used.

 

[steveg95]

Nice! My family is in Lisbon. And the Ford dealer in Mt Vernon just installed a 120kw charger, so now I can top off before I arrive. Last time I showed up pretty low and it took like 4 days on their outdoor 110v outlet to get to 90-100% charge.

I have not made the trip since we’ve had access to the Tesla network but I’m guessing that approved Des Moines station would be no different than the others I’ve used.

Good to hear that Lynch put a station in.

 

[MME in KC]

I’ve used a couple of those shell ones in Des Moines and was always in the 60kw range. This was a year or two ago. Next time I’m going through there I’ll be using the Tesla charger.

And now pulling up the Tesla map I see they added a charger halfway between Kansas City and Des Moines! This makes me very happy as there were only two small (2plug) ccs stations in that stretch. This will make a winter trip much more comfortable.

Got family near Cedar Rapids so it looks like I can rely 100% on the Tesla network for the trip now.

We live in the KC area as well, (OP). Looking forward to how the journey goes for you. We are going up to DM soon, and going to take the ICE. Hoping to take the MME once the weather warms up.

 

[Sikkun]

Last time I showed up pretty low and it took like 4 days on their outdoor 110v outlet to get to 90-100% charge.

120v is around 3 miles per hour, so a little over 4 days for 0-100. If it actually took that long for just 90-100, I’d be getting my car looked at.

 

[dbsb3233]

We often travel to the Des Moines, IA area. This is the capital of our great State. The population is 750k. You would think this area would have some decent chargers. Most of the “high speed” are Shell Recharge, operated by Mid-American Energy. The one near my daughter’s house has been down for months. I went to the next closest one. It was listed as 150 kW. One side was doing 25 and the other was giving 49. I searched in the Ford app and found one at a grocery store that was listed as 300 kW. When I arrived, one side was completely down and the other was only charging at 48 kW. I had time to kill so I drove to another site that was listed as 150 kW. Both sides seemed to be working. The first one I connected to wouldn’t read my Shell RFID card. The other one read the card but, again, would only output at 49 kW. There seems to be a thread here. I’m going to attempt to contact Shell and Mid-America but don’t hold out too much hope of resolving anything. I installed a 220v outlet in my daughter’s garage to use my mobile charger when we’re staying overnight. It may be time to install a mid level charger at her house.

That's one of the reasons we use EA so much... most of the alternatives are even worse. Except Tesla, other than the fact half of their rural stations are still V2s and thus useless to us.

Despite all the bashing of EA, we still find them to be the best option for 90% of our DCFCs on road trips.

 

[Runningslow]

One side was doing 25 and the other was giving 49. I searched in the Ford app and found one at a grocery store that was listed as 300 kW. When I arrived, one side was completely down and the other was only charging at 48 kW. I had time to kill so I drove to another site that was listed as 150 kW. Both sides seemed to be working. The first one I connected to wouldn’t read my Shell RFID card. The other one read the card but, again, would only output at 49 kW. There seems to be a thread here.

Missing some important context here. What was your SOC before plugging in? You won't see close to 150kW unless you're starting in that part of the charge curve with the right conditions.

 

[ChasingCoral]

We often travel to the Des Moines, IA area. This is the capital of our great State. The population is 750k. You would think this area would have some decent chargers. Most of the “high speed” are Shell Recharge, operated by Mid-American Energy. The one near my daughter’s house has been down for months. I went to the next closest one. It was listed as 150 kW. One side was doing 25 and the other was giving 49. I searched in the Ford app and found one at a grocery store that was listed as 300 kW. When I arrived, one side was completely down and the other was only charging at 48 kW. I had time to kill so I drove to another site that was listed as 150 kW. Both sides seemed to be working. The first one I connected to wouldn’t read my Shell RFID card. The other one read the card but, again, would only output at 49 kW. There seems to be a thread here. I’m going to attempt to contact Shell and Mid-America but don’t hold out too much hope of resolving anything. I installed a 220v outlet in my daughter’s garage to use my mobile charger when we’re staying overnight. It may be time to install a mid level charger at her house.

What did other folks on PlugShare say about this charger.

I'm quite leery of Shell Recharge. They've been expanding too fast. Much of their expansion has been by buying out other charge companies (anyone want to take odds on how much longer the former Volta free chargers will stay free?). That station may not use Shell Recharge hardware and may be one of the many mutts that came along with their expansion.

I encourage everyone to use PlugShare to check out chargers when you really need them to work. It's great for finding out how well stations really work for users. It even helps when formerly reliable chargers go bad.

 

[ChasingCoral]

I do, but the Tesla option near my daughter's says it's not compatible with my Mach e.

Your daughter may be right if the Tesla near her is a v2 unit. While PlugShare is your friend, for Tesla superchargers, the Tesla app will know best which ones are compatible with a Mach E.

 

[AhardFSU]

I do, but the Tesla option near my daughter's says it's not compatible with my Mach e.

I don't which area of Des Moines your daughter lives in, but I looked at the Tesla map and filtered for non-Tesla ev compatible chargers, and there is a compatible supercharger on the northside of Des Moines.

 

[Jgg181]

On a 2500 mile round-trip from Orlando to Texas, heading to Dallas, I needed a ‘safety’ charge, and stopped at a Shell Recharge, approx. 100 miles east of Dallas on I-20.

i will tell you this…I will never, ever stop at, or even consider a Shell Recharge again!?

Over-priced to the point of ‘price-gouging’ ($.98kwh and wanted a $3 flat-charging fee’!

I ‘risked it’, and did not charge there, and made it to the next charge location(Tesla SCs), approx. 85 miles further, with 10% to spare?

Shell Recharge…Never again!

 

[music_cities]

I installed a 220v outlet in my daughter’s garage to use my mobile charger when we’re staying overnight. It may be time to install a mid level charger at her house.

Isn’t that outlet more than enough for an overnight stay? 10 hours at it should get you 10% to 100%.

 

[Bkinyoun57]

Just about any place off the main highway system (ie-I80) in the Midwest tends to be a bit of a charging desert. I will not get political but suffice it to say that the vast majority of folks in that part of the country are staunchly anti-EV. One look at the PlugShare map will verify this.

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