New EA Chargers Are Failing in the Cold

[mkhuffman]

Perhaps.

Depends on what your definition of "a beer is". I have a long list of "Swill I Won't Drink". #Homebrewer

I bet Schlitz Malt Liquor is right up your alley.

But I am being serious. Any good bar will have a beer you like, even Miler Lite. I think you can still find that in some places...

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[PAmach-eDriver]

Easy fix: activate the charger with FP prior to plugging in. I am 99% sure those 350s would have worked if you did that.

Thanks for the tip! I’ll try that next time.

 

[mkhuffman]

Thanks for the tip! I’ll try that next time.

I got that tip from an EA rep that actually knew what she was talking about. After spending 20 minutes trying to get the stupid charger to start, I called and she said to do that. It worked immediately.

 

[Sobmartin]

Kyle did a bit of testing with the extreme cold that hit recently. Looks like Electrify America is going to need to do some retrofits to make these new dispensers work in colder weather.

He did comparisons against older EA chargers and competitors as well. It seems like a solved problem for the units that have been in use for years. It would be nice if EA would have tested this themselves before they rolled it out, but I'm guessing a year from now the new dispensers will be fine in the cold.

Ours in Leavenworth Wa worked fine at 0 to,-7 except when Safeway didn’t plow out the spaces

 

[benk016]

The issue in Kyle's video won't be solved by activating the charger in the app or in FP. Those were failing an internal self test before the equipment will initialize.

Hopefully that was just a software bug that can be fixed and not actual hardware having issues in extreme temps.

 

[JCHLi]

Luckily I live in the tropical west coast... of Michigan, where the balmy weather doesn't seem to prevent the EA stations from working...

 

[dhoerl]

Easy fix: activate the charger with FP prior to plugging in. I am 99% sure those 350s would have worked if you did that.

Fine, but the whole Ford charging experience was suppose to be plug-in and charge. Might as well just use the EA app. And did Ford or EA ever inform us of this new procedure? In any case thanks for the update on process.

 

[mkhuffman]

Fine, but the whole Ford charging experience was suppose to be plug-in and charge. Might as well just use the EA app. And did Ford or EA ever inform us of this new procedure? In any case thanks for the update on process.

I agree, this is yet another issue that we have to deal with because we are early adopters. And another reason why normal people are not ready to own a BEV.

That said, it really is just one extra step that takes about 30 seconds.

 

[voxel]

Kyle's summary video:



EDIT: NEVI up time will be "gamed" given the comments by Kyle. I think "real world" up time will be difficult to calculate and charging networks will be given a pass and we will continue to have spotty reliability for the next few years.

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