Charging Station Congestion

[Knuckles39]

DCFC at two EA stations so far. No problem at EA station in Milwaukee. 10 stalls. Only 1 being used. Charged quickly

Problem at EA station in Bloomington-Normal. Only four stalls which I recall. Only 1 side can be used at a time. One was broken. Rivians in and Out of this location as it is the only fast charger in the area. Rivian plant is down the street. I found many of the Rivians were being driven by their employees with manufacturer lates. I waited about 45 minutes to charge.

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[moparguy]

I have never seen more than 2 other vehicles charging at any EA location I have visited. Often, we are the only ones.

I have been to EA locations in Michigan, Ohio, NY, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida.

You are in the east coast, I don't even know why anyone would touch an EV in that area anyway! gas is cheap, it's cold all the time and you never get that advertised range most of the year due to cold, of course you won't see more than 2 vehicles, come to the west coast, the pain is getting real!

 

[Logal727]

You are in the east coast, I don't even know why anyone would touch an EV in that area anyway! gas is cheap, it's cold all the time and you never get that advertised range most of the year due to cold, of course you won't see more than 2 vehicles, come to the west coast, the pain is getting real!

Florida though…

recommend looking at the EA map in Miami, there’s soooo many there

 

[Engelbert]

You are in the east coast, I don't even know why anyone would touch an EV in that area anyway! gas is cheap, it's cold all the time and you never get that advertised range most of the year due to cold, of course you won't see more than 2 vehicles, come to the west coast, the pain is getting real!

Half the states that poster mentioned (MI, OH, TN, KY) aren’t east coast. Though some are known for being cold in winter.

I see plenty of EVs at charging stations between DC and basically Vermont, i.e. the east coast . A lady had to wait to charge her VW at a level 3 charger I was plugged into in Albany (Albany!) just two days ago. We moved and she was able to slide into our spot. I barely missed needing to wait for a charge at another location in NJ earlier that same day.

While we don’t yet have the EV density of a place like CA, the number of charging EVs you encounter on this coast seems to be heavily influenced by driving habits. All a matter of where and when you’re going. It’s possible to spot a lot of EVs in a short time.

As for gas prices: electricity can be cheap here too, preserving that advantage of an EV. I charge at home during cheap overnight hours and drive nearly 300 miles for about ten bucks. And still 160+ miles for that much in the dead of winter. That’s going to make gas look expensive on either coast, and anywhere in between. I don’t know what CA electric rates are, but I suspect they aren’t that cheap for most.

 

[RickMachE]

Midwest.

 

[entenna]

We just checked out the DC fast chargers in South Lake Tahoe in anticipation of taking our EVs up there eventually. Was surprised how many options there were and that nobody was charging, i.e., no wait on any of these stations (EV, EVgo, etc)

 

[moparguy]

Florida though…

recommend looking at the EA map in Miami, there’s soooo many there

Florida is different since the weather is similar to California where you can get max efficiency from your EV, but places like Michigan, NY, NJ, Boston etc.. suffer from the cold and effect that, obviously doesn't mean EVs do not exist but adaptation is nowhere near California, at least that's my impression, I could be wrong though.

 

[engnrng]

Thanks for this. Was considering doing one from So Cal up to Frisco. Not sure I will not hmmmm

Harris Ranch off the I-5 has several EA chargers, including 350's, and a great restaurant. Charged on the way up to Sacramento, then again 2 days later on the way back. Met a couple of nice people both times, but there were still 4 to 6 chargers available. Also, a leisurely lunch took slightly longer than charging me up to 90%+ with the new charging profile I got installed a couple of weeks ago. Love my Mach E! The hotel where I stayed in Sacramento has 4 DCFC and 8 Level 2 chargers. Love staying there, because I just plug in before bed time, and the car is fully at 100% when I leave in the morning. Besides, the L2 $ is half as much as the DCFC $. I only stay at that Hilton because of their chargers! I wish more hotels were smarter...

 

[littlD]

Sounds like a Tesla problem, but will more than likely be an everyone problem in the near future without significant infrastructure upgrades.

Just finished a 1,700+ mile road trip to Austin TX and back. Never waited once.

I can count on one hand the number of times I've waited at a Supercharger since 2018.

Yes, it happens, yet Tesla just added over 2,000 more stalls in the US just last year, a total of 8,221 more were added world wide.

I wish EA would build out at that same pace since every non-Tesla EV will need them.

 

[littlD]

I forgot the exact numbers I read before but my quick googling brought me this: 58% of American DC fast charging stations are Tesla owned (as of 2021). But 79% of new EVs registered in the US are Tesla too (as of 2020. I assume it decreased in 2021 with cars like the Mach E, Ioniq 5, EV6, etc really coming to market/bigger production that year. But still. Lots of Teslas on the road).

So while Tesla is dominating the fast charging scene by having the majority of them in the country, there's also a crap ton more Teslas on the road. A disproportionate amount. So it's not surprising to me that people would see this more often at Tesla Super Chargers than, say, a random EA DC fast charge station.

People brag about the Tesla Super Charger infrastructure. And for good reason. Say what you will about Tesla but their charging infrastructure is leading the market right now. But if Teslas only use Tesla infrastructure and all other EVs use everything else... well. We might still have some time before we see equivalent congestion.

I hope EA sticks to their buildout plan. They should now be in Cycle 3 (https://www.electrifyamerica.com/our-plan/). It's fixing to get very busy for EA and Tesla.

Tesla is continuing to build out our network quickly. Over 2,000 more stalls just in the US in 2021, 8,221 more world wide. Total as of Q4-2021 is 31,498 world wide.

I can count on one hand the number of times I've waited for a supercharger since 2018. Even in Austin with a bunch of Tesla owners in town for Cyber Rodeo, we were busy but no lines. Austin has no less than 9 stations (102 stalls).

 

[RickMachE]

The hotel where I stayed in Sacramento has 4 DCFC and 8 Level 2 chargers. Love staying there, because I just plug in before bed time, and the car is fully at 100% when I leave in the morning. Besides, the L2 $ is half as much as the DCFC $. I only stay at that Hilton because of their chargers! I wish more hotels were smarter...

A hotel making you pay for level 2 charging is not the norm, at least outside California. Most hotels restrict level 2 charging to guests, but don't charge. The fact that the hotel has DC chargers implies a 3rd party is running all of them.

Some points on hotels and charging:

1) If you're going to stay at hotels a lot and use chargers, consider buying a Tesla Tap. We had to switch hotels last fall because of a broken charger, they had a working Tesla charger. The new hotel was crappy.

2) Call the hotel ahead of time and verify the charger works. Check PlugShare for comments. Some hotels have very, very slow chargers, like 4.8kWh. Barely get to 100% by morning.

3) If you can access a DC charger on the trip and you don't HAVE to charge at a hotel, make sure you're doing the math. A hotel with a charger may cost a lot more than a hotel without one, plus the cost of DC charging. Of course a benefit of level 2 charging is that you can charge to 100%, whereas DC charging slows at 80% and then slows more at 90%. Plus, it takes time from your travels. Of course 1 extra DC charging session isn't negatively impacting battery life overall.

 

[littlD]

the bigger questions are how many people USE public charge stations, and how often ?

I have used a (free) station at a ski area once, and pay charge station on a road trip twice in 1 year of ownership and 11k miles... all the rest is charging at home.

Good point. Only for road trips for yours truly.

Otherwise it's 48Amp 11.5 kW at the house (8 cents per kWh).

 

[Murse-In-Airy]

We don’t DCFC much but on President’s day weekend my wife did have to wait about 15 minutes for a slot to open.
She was trying to charge on Friday night at about 6PM at a very convenient Charger near where I-90 and I-81 meet. It was a tsunami of poor planning for her that caused this though. Holiday weekend. Friday night after work. 2 major highways. Only a 3 stall charger. A city you almost have to drive through to go anywhere in Northern/Central NY.
But it will get worse. Having to wait will become the norm as more people go the EV route and many don’t have home charging available. Those without home charging are buying the cars that come with free charging so they’ll be using it.

 

[engnrng]

A hotel making you pay for level 2 charging is not the norm, at least outside California. Most hotels restrict level 2 charging to guests, but don't charge. The fact that the hotel has DC chargers implies a 3rd party is running all of them.

Some points on hotels and charging:

1) If you're going to stay at hotels a lot and use chargers, consider buying a Tesla Tap. We had to switch hotels last fall because of a broken charger, they had a working Tesla charger. The new hotel was crappy.

2) Call the hotel ahead of time and verify the charger works. Check PlugShare for comments. Some hotels have very, very slow chargers, like 4.8kWh. Barely get to 100% by morning.

3) If you can access a DC charger on the trip and you don't HAVE to charge at a hotel, make sure you're doing the math. A hotel with a charger may cost a lot more than a hotel without one, plus the cost of DC charging. Of course a benefit of level 2 charging is that you can charge to 100%, whereas DC charging slows at 80% and then slows more at 90%. Plus, it takes time from your travels. Of course 1 extra DC charging session isn't negatively impacting battery life overall.

@RickMachE, you are correct and all the recommendations you make are good ones. However, while L2 charging at a couple of hotels that I know about in California used to be free to guests, that is no longer the case at those locations. In the last year or two, they have added billing.

The hotel in Sacramento has both DCFC and L2 chargers operated and maintained by EV Connect, which was pretty easy to set up and start the session simply by scanning a QR code on the charge station. The L2 are 7.5 kW stations, respectable. Of course, I prefer the EA charging because I still have a few kWh left from Ford.

 

[Logal727]

Just finished a 1,700+ mile road trip to Austin TX and back. Never waited once.

I can count on one hand the number of times I've waited at a Supercharger since 2018.

Yes, it happens, yet Tesla just added over 2,000 more stalls in the US just last year, a total of 8,221 more were added world wide.

I wish EA would build out at that same pace since every non-Tesla EV will need them.

Yeah I only meant it was a Tesla problem since there are more Teslas and also probably a lot of owners who have nowhere else to charge. Ran across a lady in a Model S a few months ago hooked up to a free L2 charger that was probably only doing 3kw, and she was just sitting in her car reading a book for 8 hours.

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