Public Charging Sucks

[TGIF]

I will admit that infrastructure is a difficult issue. Many early adopters have at-home charging capability. This is my preferred method as it is so much less expensive. However, there is still demand from drivers who don’t have at home EVSEs and from road-trippers. There will be mistakes made in deciding where and what level charging infrastructure to put in. I tend to think that the IRA approach to covering Interstate routes with L3 EVSEs is a reasonable first step.

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[Phil Martin]

I left home 5 hours ago and have driven about 3.5 hours. First charger wouldn’t accept my credit card info so had to call. I’ve been waiting at my second charging station for an hour and still don’t have a seat at the table. It will probably be 45 minutes to adequately charge. Another call to EA which they said the sites are under maintenance ( for the last couple weeks) for improvement to my driving experience. I care about now.

I love my car but when almost half my road trip time is spent waiting for and finally getting through a line for a charger I can’t justify taking it on a road trip.

Didn't you know about this before you bought the car? This is the main reason my wife and I haven't purchased a BEV. I stopped recommending EVs to family and friends, we only drive PHEV or hybrids, no worries on road trips.

DCFC got so bad that makers had draft agreement with Tesla to use their charging network. Nevertheless, I expect it to still be a mess for years as 3rd party charging operators to go belly up. There's just no money to be made in this business trying to sell electricity in parking lots. I remember all the pie in the sky propaganda during the early rollouts.

 

[Teslaeata]

Oh, no, really sorry to hear of the state of infrastructure across the pond.

It’s amazing here in UK - which is my experience.

If I were in the US with your charging infrastructure Stangy would’ve been sold before the first week was up!

As it is here, I never queue, never am disappointed and never end up in a despairing situation.

State of infrastructure in UK enables me to plan really well for my day trips which are usually 300 to 400 miles.

 

[TGIF]

Didn't you know about this before you bought the car? This is the main reason my wife and I haven't purchased a BEV. I stopped recommending EVs to family and friends, we only drive PHEV or hybrids, no worries on road trips.

DCFC got so bad that makers had draft agreement with Tesla to use their charging network. Nevertheless, I expect it to still be a mess for years as 3rd party charging operators to go belly up. There's just no money to be made in this business trying to sell electricity in parking lots. I remember all the pie in the sky propaganda during the early rollouts.

I don’t think one can truly know exactly what the experience will be until you try it. Believing otherwise is prejudging. The MME is my second car, my road-tripper is a PHEV. I relocate as a snowbird and decided to try taking the MME so DH and I could have a second car. I had taken road trips of 300 miles each way with no trouble and had actually done the same trip a year ago with no trouble.
Other countries have successful EV infrastructure. Tesla has a successful SC system. . I realize the US is larger so there will be issues of scale, but I think more important is a lack of will to have a successful infrastructure. Consumers and electricity suppliers both need to have an appropriate mindset. The Stone Age didn’t disappear because of a lack of stones. We can kick and scream about a new technology or we can embrace it and look at the opportunities it presents.

 

[Hammered]

Yeah, charging infrastructure sucks as does the wasted time on charging. I don't take the MME anywhere I can't return on the same charge. Unless I happen by a DCFC that I can use the time to look at something close by, I don't even bother with it. My plug and charge broke sometime last year and ford support has been unable to get it working.

As for charging activation, always check chargers that are in the charging app in the car as it can start chargers that are in the ford network w/out the need for external interaction. Locate the charger and its number in the app, connect charger, tell it specific charger details and it will initialize it. Far easier than dealing with each company's nonsense. My F150 is a far more comfortable road tripper and being able to use any of the 2mil+ pumps w/ 6 minute recharge is king.

 

[phil]

Yes, it sucks hard. EVs are nice city cars. Road trips are why God gave us gasoline.

 

[My-mache]

I left home 5 hours ago and have driven about 3.5 hours. First charger wouldn’t accept my credit card info so had to call. I’ve been waiting at my second charging station for an hour and still don’t have a seat at the table. It will probably be 45 minutes to adequately charge. Another call to EA which they said the sites are under maintenance ( for the last couple weeks) for improvement to my driving experience. I care about now.

I love my car but when almost half my road trip time is spent waiting for and finally getting through a line for a charger I can’t justify taking it on a road trip.

I have done several 500+ mile trips and have had great luck using the new chargers at stores. Super Walmarts and Targets all have multiple chargers and I've always been able to get one, do some shopping for trip snacks and come back to a full charge. I also invested in a Tesla adapter but since it doesn't work on the fast chargers, I haven't used it. There's also an app called ABRP that many people like. I'm paranoid about running out of charge so I always find 2 super chargers around 200 miles into any trips. Hope that helps!

 

[mkhuffman]

Oh, no, really sorry to hear of the state of infrastructure across the pond.

It’s amazing here in UK - which is my experience.

If I were in the US with your charging infrastructure Stangy would’ve been sold before the first week was up!

As it is here, I never queue, never am disappointed and never end up in a despairing situation.

State of infrastructure in UK enables me to plan really well for my day trips which are usually 300 to 400 miles.

Thanks for rubbing it in! ?

But don't get too comfortable. I think it is a lot easier to build and sell BEVs than it is to install new DCFC stations. So excess capacity could quickly be overwhelmed if a lot of people buy electric vehicles. Hopefully it won't happen like that, though. If it does, you can join our misery!

 

[Teslaeata]

Thanks for rubbing it in! ?

But don't get too comfortable. I think it is a lot easier to build and sell BEVs than it is to install new DCFC stations. So excess capacity could quickly be overwhelmed if a lot of people buy electric vehicles. Hopefully it won't happen like that, though. If it does, you can join our misery!

Well, thanks for that?

Just as I was enjoying a proper gloat?

 

[Space_Pony]

I have done several 500+ mile trips and have had great luck using the new chargers at stores. Super Walmarts and Targets all have multiple chargers and I've always been able to get one, do some shopping for trip snacks and come back to a full charge. I also invested in a Tesla adapter but since it doesn't work on the fast chargers, I haven't used it. There's also an app called ABRP that many people like. I'm paranoid about running out of charge so I always find 2 super chargers around 200 miles into any trips. Hope that helps!

Nothing at any of the stores around here. There is an EA at a Walmart about 100 miles away.

 

[RandyMache]

I’m truly glad your route works out. My point is that other routes do not work. I live in a charging dessert of SW IA, NW MO isn’t much better. I have the EA app. I need to rely on their ONE L3 charger in the KC area. Of four stations, two are out of service, and the other two are throttled. It creates a bottleneck of multiple EV operators who have to charge there. I waited about 1 1/4 hours to get a spot. Then it took me about 45 minutes to get enough charge to get to the next charger on my route. EA has known, or should have known, about the non-operational status for weeks because that’s how long they’ve been reported on PlugShare. EA just doesn’t seem to care. Infrastructure needs to improve everywhere for Americans to adopt EVs on a widespread basis.

I can agree with that.... did you call EA from the broken charger site? They may be able to reset it. I've done that once and it worked. Listing it on plugshare or any other app may not be looked at by EA. They are pretty good about taking calls.....

 

[TGIF]

I can agree with that.... did you call EA from the broken charger site? They may be able to reset it. I've done that once and it worked. Listing it on plugshare or any other app may not be looked at by EA. They are pretty good about taking calls.....

Yes. I called. They said the stations were down for maintenance to improve my charging experience.

 

[Space_Pony]

I don’t think one can truly know exactly what the experience will be until you try it. Believing otherwise is prejudging. The MME is my second car, my road-tripper is a PHEV. I relocate as a snowbird and decided to try taking the MME so DH and I could have a second car. I had taken road trips of 300 miles each way with no trouble and had actually done the same trip a year ago with no trouble.
Other countries have successful EV infrastructure. Tesla has a successful SC system. . I realize the US is larger so there will be issues of scale, but I think more important is a lack of will to have a successful infrastructure. Consumers and electricity suppliers both need to have an appropriate mindset. The Stone Age didn’t disappear because of a lack of stones. We can kick and scream about a new technology or we can embrace it and look at the opportunities it presents.

I suspect many people are reluctant to get an EV because of financial reasons. I was told that an EV is so much cheaper to fuel and it is if I don't travel far. Our previous hybrid was cheaper to fuel at current gas prices than our MME at some of the newer DCFC stations.
These companies are getting government assistance to install DCFC stations. Are there any limits to what they can charge since they're using our tax money or can they just gouge EV drivers in a year or two. I saw a DCFC with a price of about .60/kwh the other day and it made me think that my next vehicle may not be an EV.
I'ts all about the money for me and many others and the numbers may not jive.

 

[Billyk24]

Agreed, but not relevant to my point. I drive less than 5000 miles a year but I still do some long drives. The public DCFC situation is worse than it was. Only the opening of the Tesla network will make it better in the short term.

Maybe. Green Bay, Wisconsin continues to have zero dcfc chargers. EA broke ground on construction of new site in September 2022- this is not a misprint-and January 2, 2024 it is not opened yet. Across the parkng lot are Tesla V2 chargers which need to be replaced for MME users. EA CEO has been contacted about this non functional status. The local power company states we have all that is needed. It is on EA end to open this location.

 

[valfam]

I dont understand why so many chargers are not working. With how much they charge per KW they must be making money. i would think they want them to be working. if they are not charging someone's car/truck they are not making money. I think what we really need is for gas stations to start adding chargers. it will be perfect. as you wait for your car to charge you walk inside and buy something most gas stations have extra parking that never gets used. Have they not thought of this already? Future gas stations will become more of a rest stop.

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