Electrify America's free Labor Day week end charging ...!!!

[Deleted member 3569]

I took full advantage of the free charging promotion by Electrify America on this Labor Day week end. We planned for a two day trip to Dante Fascell visitor center at Biscayne National Park, on to Cape Florida Lighthoue and Museum and back to Windermere.
We charged at EA's Walmart in Boyton Beach, at Walmart in Florida City (Homestead), back at Boyton Beach and a final charge at Port St. Lucie .... to my utter astonishment the EA charger stations were totally deserted and I was the sole lonely soul using these stations !!! I am just wondering what will be the future of Electrify America???

This was also true during recent my round trip to NJ and back ... I charged at EA stations at the Avenues Mall-Jax, at Pooler GA , at Walterboro GA, at Smithfield NC, at Richmond VA, at Woodbridge MD, at Wawa's Newcastle DE, at East Stroudsburg PA, at Plymouth Meeting PA, etc... they were DESERTED !!! only occasionally I would another EV.

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[RockwallRick]

On my road trip to Panama City Beach I stopped at 5 EA stations there and back and had all of them to myself. One of them was colocated with a Tesla Supercharger and there was 4 Teslas charging there at the same time. Yesterday I got some free charge at I-4 & Hwy 27 which is a Loves Truck stop and there was a VW ID4 charging there when I pulled in.

 

[timbop]

I took full advantage of the free charging promotion by Electrify America on this Labor Day week end. We planned for a two day trip to Dante Fascell visitor center at Biscayne National Park, on to Cape Florida Lighthoue and Museum and back to Windermere.
We charged at EA's Walmart in Boyton Beach, at Walmart in Florida City (Homestead), back at Boyton Beach and a final charge at Port St. Lucie .... to my utter astonishment the EA charger stations were totally deserted and I was the sole lonely soul using these stations !!! I am just wondering what will be the future of Electrify America???

This was also true during recent my round trip to NJ and back ... I charged at EA stations at the Avenues Mall-Jax, at Pooler GA , at Walterboro GA, at Smithfield NC, at Richmond VA, at Woodbridge MD, at Wawa's Newcastle DE, at East Stroudsburg PA, at Plymouth Meeting PA, etc... they were DESERTED !!! only occasionally I would another EV.

On my road trip to Panama City Beach I stopped at 5 EA stations there and back and had all of them to myself. One of them was colocated with a Tesla Supercharger and there was 4 Teslas charging there at the same time. Yesterday I got some free charge at I-4 & Hwy 27 which is a Loves Truck stop and there was a VW ID4 charging there when I pulled in.

Enjoy it while you can. There are not that many CCS cars on the road now (compared to the size of the country), and many are concentrated in EV hotspots (Florida not being one of them). In a few years there will be lines at key CCS charger locations just like there are with Tesla now.

 

[Kabish]

So figured I’d top off the MME before the free Labor Day goes away. Only needed like 10% so was not much so I thought I’d charge to 100% to get me through till Friday when my 240 is installed.

Think I might pass…Like 2hrs to charge to 100% lol

 

[ChasingCoral]

What I thought was funny in my EA stop this weekend was the only other car was a Tesla Model 3. You’d think with and adapter that big could get more than 43kW! ?

 

[Deleted member 3569]

What I thought was funny in my EA stop this weekend was the only other car was a Tesla Model 3. You’d think with and adapter that big could get more than 43kW! ?

Yes ... I have seen random Teslas charging at EA's ChaDeMo plugs with adapters ... I am wondering if EA is really that cheap or because they are usually empty compared to Superchargers? As far as location is concerned there are more Superchargers than EA in either in greater Miami area and only one at Florida Mall in Orlando proper.

 

[Deleted member 3569]

So figured I’d top off the MME before the free Labor Day goes away. Only needed like 10% so was not much so I thought I’d charge to 100% to get me through till Friday when my 240 is installed.

Think I might pass…Like 2hrs to charge to 100% lol

The charge curve on Mach-e is absurd, i.e. I have never experienced more than 86 kWh at best, at either 150 kW or 350 kWh, besides it only lasts no more than 90 seconds, and then drops down to about 55 kWh and when it reaches 80% SOC it catastrophically dips to a retarded rate of 8-11 kWh. I have seen Porsche Tycan charging form 20% to 90% SOC at half speed of Mach-e. This guy started after me and then he took off before I reached ed70% SOC !!!

 

[Deleted member 3569]

On my road trip to Panama City Beach I stopped at 5 EA stations there and back and had all of them to myself. One of them was colocated with a Tesla Supercharger and there was 4 Teslas charging there at the same time. Yesterday I got some free charge at I-4 & Hwy 27 which is a Loves Truck stop and there was a VW ID4 charging there when I pulled in.

My concern was not really from convenience perspective, but from a financial viability of EA, what I mean is will they go bankrupt at the rate they are going? The EA network with its dcFast charger is the only dependable chargers we have when we are engaged in road trips, I have tried various other chargers, i.e. evGo, greenLots, chargePoint, etc ... unfortunately they are all agonizingly slow!
I have read that EA is looking for a partner?

 

[RickMachE]

My concern was not really from convenience perspective, but from a financial viability of EA, what I mean is will they go bankrupt at the rate they are going? The EA network with its dcFast charger is the only dependable chargers we have when we are engaged in road trips, I have tried various other chargers, i.e. evGo, greenLots, chargePoint, etc ... unfortunately they are all agonizingly slow!
I have read that EA is looking for a partner?

Go bankrupt?

VW is looking to get out of a $1B chunk of their ownership. EA has announced plans to double the size of the network.

Read the financials...

https://media.electrifyamerica.com/...lectrifyAmericaNationalAnnualReportPublic.pdf

 

[Deleted member 3569]

Go bankrupt?

VW is looking to get out of a $1B chunk of their ownership. EA has announced plans to double the size of the network.

Read the financials...

https://media.electrifyamerica.com/...lectrifyAmericaNationalAnnualReportPublic.pdf

Yes ... I have read that which is comforting, but I have never seen anyone at any of the EAs I have been to, from here in FL all the way to NJ, traversing GA/SC/NC/VA/MD/DC/DE/PA/NJ !!! Most of the time I am the lonely soul charging and only occasionally I meet one other EV.

 

[RickMachE]

We traveled from Michigan to Florida last weekend. Some of the stations were empty when we arrived, many gained a vehicle or two during our charge. We were pleasantly surprised at the low volume of usage, especially given the high rate of non-functional or slow charging units.

I suspect if you looked at the # of EVs per capita by state, you would find that the stations are more utilized in the states containing more EVs per capita. Keep in mind that the rollout of non-Tesla EVs is slowly gathering steam, and that vehicles like the Bolt are utilized more as commuting vehicles vs long trip vehicles. Nearly every person we have talked to at a charging station has been a local driver.

 

[Deleted member 3569]

We traveled from Michigan to Florida last weekend. Some of the stations were empty when we arrived, many gained a vehicle or two during our charge. We were pleasantly surprised at the low volume of usage, especially given the high rate of non-functional or slow charging units.

I suspect if you looked at the # of EVs per capita by state, you would find that the stations are more utilized in the states containing more EVs per capita. Keep in mind that the rollout of non-Tesla EVs is slowly gathering steam, and that vehicles like the Bolt are utilized more as commuting vehicles vs long trip vehicles. Nearly every person we have talked to at a charging station has been a local driver.

I wholeheartedly agree ... people don't buy EV for long road trips yet, I guess I am one of the oddities but I find it much more pleasant to drive the Mach-e. I don't have any issues by depleting down to 10% SOC then charge to 80% SOC and continue on ... careful planning yes!
I am happy to hear that you also did a long road trip from Michigan to FL !!!

 

[67 Stang Convertible]

Also took advantage ( 1st time DC fast charging). When it hit 80% I stopped it as I usually charge to 90%. Not enough time in the day for that last 10-20%!!

Two other cars charging at the same time: Nissan Leaf and ID4.

 

[RickMachE]

I wholeheartedly agree ... people don't buy EV for long road trips yet, I guess I am one of the oddities but I find it much more pleasant to drive the Mach-e. I don't have any issues by depleting down to 10% SOC then charge to 80% SOC and continue on ... careful planning yes!
I am happy to hear that you also did a long road trip from Michigan to FL !!!

We took our Mach-E, vs our F-150, and didn't regret anything but the hour plus we wasted at EA stations switching from unit to unit trying to get adequate charging speed.

Look forward to the future where we can do less planning.

 

[ChasingCoral]

I wholeheartedly agree ... people don't buy EV for long road trips yet, I guess I am one of the oddities but I find it much more pleasant to drive the Mach-e. I don't have any issues by depleting down to 10% SOC then charge to 80% SOC and continue on ... careful planning yes!
I am happy to hear that you also did a long road trip from Michigan to FL !!!

We bought our Mach E for long road trips. That's one thing the Leaf (30kWh battery) was not good for.

Others are seeing the advantages of the Mach E for road tripping
https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/love-road-tripping-this-car.9169/

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