Fast Charging at Electrify America: Lessons learned

rhougey

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You'll probably be OK making it 235 miles in the RWD ER from 100% if the weather is decent (dry roads, no severe wind, temps 50F+). But... for the first attempt I'd definitely stop to top off at EA if it's along the way. Track your arrival miles/kWh (MPK) on each leg. Then you can easily calculate how you would have done without stopping to top off. That'll give you a good idea for the future trips.

I recently got an average of 2.6 MPK in my AWD ER through CO/UT/NV, so probably similar conditions to what you'll see. But the RWD is 10% better so I'd expect maybe 2.9 MPK. If starting at 100% and arriving no worse than 10%, that's 90% of the 88 kWh battery = 79 kWh * 2.9 = 229 miles. So it could be close. You might get better than 2.9, but that's roughly what I'd expect at 75 MPH with climate control on.

Also note any significant elevation differential. If you're coming from sea level and gaining like 3500' up to Shasta, that could cost as much as 20% more (but gain it the other way). You may find you can go downhill the whole way comfortably but not uphill.

Thank you, that's exactly what I'm planning to do. There happens to be am EA station right off the freeway at the 195 mile point, and I'll probably put a quick 10KW in before the last 40 mile pitch "up the hill", and then record the usage primarily from that point on. There is also a different EA station toward the end of the return trip. I'll report back after the trip. I've seen 70mph reviews, but none that drive a sustained 75 with a bit of a climb at the end. Since I normally use solar to charge the car, my hope is to hardly ever pay for energy. I've already done a short Plug & Charge session at an EA station near home, and it seemed to work correctly at that location.
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dbsb3233

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Thank you, that's exactly what I'm planning to do. There happens to be am EA station right off the freeway at the 195 mile point, and I'll probably put a quick 10KW in before the last 40 mile pitch "up the hill", and then record the usage primarily from that point on. There is also a different EA station toward the end of the return trip. I'll report back after the trip. I've seen 70mph reviews, but none that drive a sustained 75 with a bit of a climb at the end. Since I normally use solar to charge the car, my hope is to hardly ever pay for energy. I've already done a short Plug & Charge session at an EA station near home, and it seemed to work correctly at that location.
I've posted this in a few other threads, but here's the log of my charges for a recent Denver-Vegas trip in my AWD ER. You can see how elevation severely affected MPK. It was even more dramatic than I expected.

UT speed limit is 80 so that was a bigger hit too. CO and NV it's 75. And a few of the mornings were cold (30F-40F).

Ford Mustang Mach-E Fast Charging at Electrify America: Lessons learned 1620505781684
 

bruceski88

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New BEV owner here. I've replaced my 2017 Volt Premier with a new MME Premium Extended RWD two weeks ago today. On Monday we will be making our maiden voyage to our second home 235 miles north between Lake Shasta and Mt. Shasta, almost entirely at 75 mph. It's a round trip we make a couple times a month. With an EPA rated range of 300, I am having a bit of range anxiety. I know where we can stop (ElectrifyAmerica) if necessary for a KW bump both directions. It is my hope that we will find we can usually make the trip without topping off , even if I have to slow down a bit. We will see, I guess.
Its uphill and into the wind. We got only 2.5mi/kw on the way there. Got 3.1 on the way back. You will have to charge. There are at least 4 EA charger locations to choose from
 

Not Stang E

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Hey guys, I just completed a mini road trip from Dallas to Austin (483 miles at 3.3 mi/kWh) and I did run into some issues at EA while fast charging.

We did lose a lot of time with avoidable mistakes so I figured I'd share those and maybe that could help someone.
  • Don't trust the sticker on the EA charger, the "up to xxx kW" isn't accurate at all.
    Ford Mustang Mach-E Fast Charging at Electrify America: Lessons learned 1620505781684

    To get your maximum number check on the EA app and it will tell you which chargers are fast
    Ford Mustang Mach-E Fast Charging at Electrify America: Lessons learned 1620505781684


    All the chargers at that location were marked 150kW (on the charging station sticker) however only one of them shows up for that speed in the app: use this one.
    We lost a ton of time "slow" charging at 30-50kW because we didn't check the app (we figured that out later).

  • Charger hop if you can
    We stopped at a station in Round Rock, TX where we started to charge at 126kW but it dropped to 30kW.
    Instead of waiting forever we charged just enough to make it to the other EA station in Waco, TX on the way to Dallas.
    However it didn't end up paying up because all the 150kW chargers were down :(

  • Don't stop the car until you found the charger that works
    I made that mistake so many times and it makes me feel so dumb. I pull up at a charger, stop the car, get out only to see that the EA charger is down so I have to get back in and move the car: I did that 3 times at one station.
    If you can, have your copilot scout the chargers on foot.

  • Park really close to the station
    The charging cables are SO SHORT. Like what were they thinking? Sometimes if I park in the lines I can't plug because the cable is so short.

  • Send feedback to EA!
    When browsing the page for a station, scroll all the way down and click on the "Report Issue" button and send in your feedback. If we don't tell them they won't be aware of the problems.
All and all I was able to charge my car and wasn't left stranded, I just lost a ton of time slow charging and getting frustrated because I kept picking a broken charger. For my next trip I'll be more careful and hopefully I should have a better experience.
Plug and Charge worked perfectly though so that's a win.
Hey I did the Dallas to Austin trip last month and i found the EA chargers at the Round Rock mall were working fine (except one where the screen was dark so i just moved to the one that was visible before i parked). I used it twice (to and from) just to get to 80% and that was good enuff to get back home for me (i have an ext range)
 


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These are all great tips.

I had issues with 5 of the 6 EA chargers in Bellmead, TX in MARCH. After being on the phone with a very helpful representative for a while, she assured me that they would get those fixed. I'm assuming they did not.

Road trips across Texas for non-Tesla drivers are still not a reality, I think. Sadly, she writes, from Houston.
 

texaninmi

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I’m in hot-ass Texas ??‍♂
Hopefully the heat doesn’t fuck them up
Hot weather and DCFC are okay, cold is where the speed/power slowdown is more significant. You might see some degradation when very hot (think 90 degrees+) but not as much as when under 32 degrees.
 

ChasingCoral

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Have we heard reports of EA stations splitting power if multiple chargers are in use? I don't think I've heard that. I've had someone using the next charger over and it didn't affect my power. Never been to one with all 4 in use though.
No, EA isn't supposed to split power in their installations. I've had 3 BEVs at 4 chargers, charging at the same time and I was getting full power.
 

AjzRide

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These are all great tips.

I had issues with 5 of the 6 EA chargers in Bellmead, TX in MARCH. After being on the phone with a very helpful representative for a while, she assured me that they would get those fixed. I'm assuming they did not.

Road trips across Texas for non-Tesla drivers are still not a reality, I think. Sadly, she writes, from Houston.
Yikes

I was planning to stop in Bellmead tomorrow when picking up my MMe in Ft. Worth and taking it back to Houston. I guess I'll take the other route down 45 instead and see if I have better luck going that way.
 
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Hey I did the Dallas to Austin trip last month and i found the EA chargers at the Round Rock mall were working fine (except one where the screen was dark so i just moved to the one that was visible before i parked). I used it twice (to and from) just to get to 80% and that was good enuff to get back home for me (i have an ext range)
Were you getting 150kW? Because they were working all right, just very slow.
I saw positive charging experiences on plug share at the end of April on those chargers so maybe I just got unlucky.
 

guyofthesky

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Hey guys, I just completed a mini road trip from Dallas to Austin (483 miles at 3.3 mi/kWh) and I did run into some issues at EA while fast charging.

We did lose a lot of time with avoidable mistakes so I figured I'd share those and maybe that could help someone.
  • Don't trust the sticker on the EA charger, the "up to xxx kW" isn't accurate at all.
    Ford Mustang Mach-E Fast Charging at Electrify America: Lessons learned 1620505781684

    To get your maximum number check on the EA app and it will tell you which chargers are fast
    Ford Mustang Mach-E Fast Charging at Electrify America: Lessons learned 1620505781684


    All the chargers at that location were marked 150kW (on the charging station sticker) however only one of them shows up for that speed in the app: use this one.
    We lost a ton of time "slow" charging at 30-50kW because we didn't check the app (we figured that out later).

  • Charger hop if you can
    We stopped at a station in Round Rock, TX where we started to charge at 126kW but it dropped to 30kW.
    Instead of waiting forever we charged just enough to make it to the other EA station in Waco, TX on the way to Dallas.
    However it didn't end up paying up because all the 150kW chargers were down :(

  • Don't stop the car until you found the charger that works
    I made that mistake so many times and it makes me feel so dumb. I pull up at a charger, stop the car, get out only to see that the EA charger is down so I have to get back in and move the car: I did that 3 times at one station.
    If you can, have your copilot scout the chargers on foot.

  • Park really close to the station
    The charging cables are SO SHORT. Like what were they thinking? Sometimes if I park in the lines I can't plug because the cable is so short.

  • Send feedback to EA!
    When browsing the page for a station, scroll all the way down and click on the "Report Issue" button and send in your feedback. If we don't tell them they won't be aware of the problems.
All and all I was able to charge my car and wasn't left stranded, I just lost a ton of time slow charging and getting frustrated because I kept picking a broken charger. For my next trip I'll be more careful and hopefully I should have a better experience.
Plug and Charge worked perfectly though so that's a win.
All good advice. Thanks!

I haven't found that many bad EA chargers, so I guess it varies widely by location...?
 

guyofthesky

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It might but in this case I plugged then we went to the mall where the station was attached to in order to kill the time.
It’s also very inconvenient.

I was fully expecting to come back after 30min to a car at 80% and I was very surprised to see 52%.
I should have looked at the FordPass app before getting back to the car I guess - but it’s so laggy and slow to update that I wouldn’t have believe it.
The EA app usually shows you the charge rate and seems to be updated in real time. I don't use FordPass, so I can't compare.
 

guyofthesky

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I doubt there's any profit in CCS chargers yet. In fact, they're likely giant money pits due to lack of customer volume. But that will improve this decade as more CCS BEVs come out and market share grows.

Ideally, it would be great if they did become profitable though. That means there would be a natural incentive to put them in everywhere there's demand, just like gas stations.
My local power company just put a flyer in their monthly bill saying that they are joining a consortium to install DCFC over a nine state region, and told us that they think that this will be profitable, because the "oil field" revenue is going to decline, and because one DC Fast charge is the equivalent of a day or two of a home's usage. Which is interesting...
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