Road trip - LA/Carmel/LA - charging on weekends still bad

[Mike Curtis]

So I got my Mach E ('22, AWD, ERB) last September and have been generally very happy with it. I took a road trip up to Carmel from last Monday until yesterday (Sunday). After charging to 100%, I departed last Monday and used ABRP to figure out where to charge, and when I got there all were full. Drat. Fortunately in less than 10 minutes a spot opened up, I charged for half an hour and away I went. Had a great week in Carmel, charged locally on a L2 to get close to 100% for the return trip on Sunday. During that time, my partner came up in her Model 3.

Here's an interesting comparison on the return trip, when we left at the same time, me in my ER/AWD Mach E and her in her '22 Model 3 with the same range (270-ish). We met up in a shopping center with Superchargers. There were 8 or 10 at least, and half were empty, so she plugged in and started charging, hopped into mine while we found something to eat in the shopping center. Hers charged so fast she was worried about getting charged for sitting there full and not leaving. We left and I headed on to my charging destination, which listed 6 EA chargers. Got there, and surprise, it is only 3, each with 2 plugs but only one usable at a time. WHY IN THE HELL is this still the case???? For each charger, there was a car charging and a car waiting. I waited about 10 minutes then bailed, driving down the highway to my next possible charger. Same thing - 6 listed, but really 3 spots. #1 in use, two open - great. I pull in to #2 and plug and and start doing the app, and somebody pulls into #3 next to me, plugs in and gets going. I notice this ChargePoint is only 62kW. Half max, but it'll work I figure. SIX TRIES LATER I give up - the charger clearly isn't working. I drive on to my next possible charger, which was 15 miles laterally off my route so an extra half hour of driving - I'm starting to get worried - I'll be down into the teens of charge percentage when I get there, and when I did (a Target with 6 actual, discrete chargers) the first one in the row had a message about reduced power delivery. GREAT. Fortunately they were only half full, so I went to another. Plugged in, got going, and...29kW instead of 125. LORDY. Moved to the last available one, this in the shade, and it worked, but only at 83kW (I was at 13%, so should've been 120+).

Got on the road after charging to 73%, drove over the infamous Grapevine (hot, tall mountain pass getting back into Los Angeles), and got the HVBJB warning. The same warning I got THE FIRST DAY when I picked up this car.

SUMMARY:

-partner in a Tesla Model 3 got home an hour and a half before I did, even though I drive faster, solely due to charging difficulties
-it took 3 different charging locations to get a semi-functional, available charging station, and even then, not full speed
-then the car half broke, leaving me with about half power and the need to take it in for service for days.

LESSON LEARNED: take her Tesla for road trips in the future, and Ford needs to up their game! It would be one thing if this were the first time the HVBJB had broken, but no, this is supposedly the fixed version I got last Sept/Oct.

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[Mike Curtis]

When I got the car in September (I live in Sherman Oaks, just outside of Los Angeles proper), it was no problem to drive a mile to the local Ralphs and charge on their EA chargers (I don't have a working garage to plug into). Now, about nine months later, during the day is hopeless, and what worked a few months ago of going ten to midnight doesn't work more often than not - they're all full with people waiting. So I run a heavy duty extension cord and plug into a 110v as much as possible in my driveway and that's barely sufficient.

 

[Phil Martin]

So I got my Mach E ('22, AWD, ERB) last September and have been generally very happy with it. I took a road trip up to Carmel from last Monday until yesterday (Sunday). After charging to 100%, I departed last Monday and used ABRP to figure out where to charge, and when I got there all were full. Drat. Fortunately in less than 10 minutes a spot opened up, I charged for half an hour and away I went. Had a great week in Carmel, charged locally on a L2 to get close to 100% for the return trip on Sunday. During that time, my partner came up in her Model 3.

Here's an interesting comparison on the return trip, when we left at the same time, me in my ER/AWD Mach E and her in her '22 Model 3 with the same range (270-ish). We met up in a shopping center with Superchargers. There were 8 or 10 at least, and half were empty, so she plugged in and started charging, hopped into mine while we found something to eat in the shopping center. Hers charged so fast she was worried about getting charged for sitting there full and not leaving. We left and I headed on to my charging destination, which listed 6 EA chargers. Got there, and surprise, it is only 3, each with 2 plugs but only one usable at a time. WHY IN THE HELL is this still the case???? For each charger, there was a car charging and a car waiting. I waited about 10 minutes then bailed, driving down the highway to my next possible charger. Same thing - 6 listed, but really 3 spots. #1 in use, two open - great. I pull in to #2 and plug and and start doing the app, and somebody pulls into #3 next to me, plugs in and gets going. I notice this ChargePoint is only 62kW. Half max, but it'll work I figure. SIX TRIES LATER I give up - the charger clearly isn't working. I drive on to my next possible charger, which was 15 miles laterally off my route so an extra half hour of driving - I'm starting to get worried - I'll be down into the teens of charge percentage when I get there, and when I did (a Target with 6 actual, discrete chargers) the first one in the row had a message about reduced power delivery. GREAT. Fortunately they were only half full, so I went to another. Plugged in, got going, and...29kW instead of 125. LORDY. Moved to the last available one, this in the shade, and it worked, but only at 83kW (I was at 13%, so should've been 120+).

Got on the road after charging to 73%, drove over the infamous Grapevine (hot, tall mountain pass getting back into Los Angeles), and got the HVBJB warning. The same warning I got THE FIRST DAY when I picked up this car.

SUMMARY:

-partner in a Tesla Model 3 got home an hour and a half before I did, even though I drive faster, solely due to charging difficulties
-it took 3 different charging locations to get a semi-functional, available charging station, and even then, not full speed
-then the car half broke, leaving me with about half power and the need to take it in for service for days.

LESSON LEARNED: take her Tesla for road trips in the future, and Ford needs to up their game! It would be one thing if this were the first time the HVBJB had broken, but no, this is supposedly the fixed version I got last Sept/Oct.

I'm not spending $60+k for a car I can only drive around town! The roadtrip charging issue is a real problem. I don't know very many people that enjoy roadtripping stressed out wondering if they're going to be able to successfully charge at the next charging stop. That's why the manufacturers have decided to bail on CCS in hopes that using the Tesla supercharger will help resolve this major issue. But let's be real, it's going to take years before this all gets worked out.

Thanks for being honest, some people will try and minimize this issue and say they had to wait for two hours so they went for a walk and enjoyed the break. Really???

 

[thekat03]

I'm not spending $60+k for a car I can only drive around town! The roadtrip charging issue is a real problem. I don't know very many people that enjoy roadtripping stressed out wondering if they're going to be able to successfully charge at the next charging stop. That's why the manufacturers have decided to bail on CCS in hopes that using the Tesla supercharger will help resolve this major issue. But let's be real, it's going to take years before this all gets worked out.

Thanks for being honest, some people will try and minimize this issue and say they had to wait for two hours so they went for a walk and enjoyed the break. Really???

Honestly, fast charging is going to vary depending on where you are. There are enough chargers that my husband could road trip from Maine to Maryland in our old EV, and the only problems we had were intentional design choices the manufacturer of that EV made. Chargers were not too busy in this area. California has a problem that the number of EVs grew much faster than infrastructure has, which sucks, because we drivers can't really control infrastructure. It should get better with time, but may get worse before it gets better.

 

[Mike Curtis]

Thanks for being honest, some people will try and minimize this issue and say they had to wait for two hours so they went for a walk and enjoyed the break. Really???

It is tough to enjoy the parking lot of a Target when it is 105 out.

 

[Mike Curtis]

California has a problem that the number of EVs grew much faster than infrastructure has, which sucks, because we drivers can't really control infrastructure. It should get better with time, but may get worse before it gets better.

YES IT DOES! And it will likely get worse. I'm stuck mid-construction so can't finish out my garage yet with a 220 line, which will make 90% of my problems go away, except for road trips where charging is required. I noticed I didn't have a problem traveling on a weekday, but weekends are DEFINITELY A PROBLEM for non-Teslas. Getting the NACS plug will only be a partial fix - we'll need access to the Tesla Supercharger network to fix this - then they'll be crowded too...

 

[RedStallion]

So I got my Mach E ('22, AWD, ERB) last September and have been generally very happy with it. I took a road trip up to Carmel from last Monday until yesterday (Sunday). After charging to 100%, I departed last Monday and used ABRP to figure out where to charge, and when I got there all were full. Drat. Fortunately in less than 10 minutes a spot opened up, I charged for half an hour and away I went. Had a great week in Carmel, charged locally on a L2 to get close to 100% for the return trip on Sunday. During that time, my partner came up in her Model 3.

Here's an interesting comparison on the return trip, when we left at the same time, me in my ER/AWD Mach E and her in her '22 Model 3 with the same range (270-ish). We met up in a shopping center with Superchargers. There were 8 or 10 at least, and half were empty, so she plugged in and started charging, hopped into mine while we found something to eat in the shopping center. Hers charged so fast she was worried about getting charged for sitting there full and not leaving. We left and I headed on to my charging destination, which listed 6 EA chargers. Got there, and surprise, it is only 3, each with 2 plugs but only one usable at a time. WHY IN THE HELL is this still the case???? For each charger, there was a car charging and a car waiting. I waited about 10 minutes then bailed, driving down the highway to my next possible charger. Same thing - 6 listed, but really 3 spots. #1 in use, two open - great. I pull in to #2 and plug and and start doing the app, and somebody pulls into #3 next to me, plugs in and gets going. I notice this ChargePoint is only 62kW. Half max, but it'll work I figure. SIX TRIES LATER I give up - the charger clearly isn't working. I drive on to my next possible charger, which was 15 miles laterally off my route so an extra half hour of driving - I'm starting to get worried - I'll be down into the teens of charge percentage when I get there, and when I did (a Target with 6 actual, discrete chargers) the first one in the row had a message about reduced power delivery. GREAT. Fortunately they were only half full, so I went to another. Plugged in, got going, and...29kW instead of 125. LORDY. Moved to the last available one, this in the shade, and it worked, but only at 83kW (I was at 13%, so should've been 120+).

Got on the road after charging to 73%, drove over the infamous Grapevine (hot, tall mountain pass getting back into Los Angeles), and got the HVBJB warning. The same warning I got THE FIRST DAY when I picked up this car.

SUMMARY:

-partner in a Tesla Model 3 got home an hour and a half before I did, even though I drive faster, solely due to charging difficulties
-it took 3 different charging locations to get a semi-functional, available charging station, and even then, not full speed
-then the car half broke, leaving me with about half power and the need to take it in for service for days.

LESSON LEARNED: take her Tesla for road trips in the future, and Ford needs to up their game! It would be one thing if this were the first time the HVBJB had broken, but no, this is supposedly the fixed version I got last Sept/Oct.

I think you were just unlucky (or perhaps I was lucky). I did a round trip from Bay area to LA couple weeks ago and didn't have any problems with chargers along I-5.

I wrote this post about my experience: https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/700mi-weekend-roundtrip-to-la.29351/

 

[devmach-e]

Your issue isn't with Ford. Your issue is with EA (and other fast charging operators) and the maintenance of their fast chargers. Tesla had to build a network of fast chargers because it was necessary to the survivability of the company. Ford and other manufacturers don't have that same burden. I've been burned by EA in the past when it came to fast charging, but the number of times I was burned is vastly outweighed by the number of times where things worked flawlessly for me on a road trip.

 

[Mike Curtis]

Your issue isn't with Ford. Your issue is with EA (and other fast charging operators) and the maintenance of their fast chargers.

Only kinda true, since Ford is an investor in EA, and EA is Ford's proposed solution to charging within the Ford Network, so...Ford has responsibility here, both as an investor AND as a service provider (indirectly).

Plus, if they're going to sell, them, they need to make sure there's a solution available that WORKS.

 

[KevinS]

Sorry to hear of your poor travel experience. EA definitely seems like a crapshoot, and I know Chargepoint puts the onus on the owner for fixing any problems.

Hopefully you reported the problem chargers to the owners and on an app like Plugshare.

 

[Mike Curtis]

Only kinda true, since Ford is an investor in EA, and EA is Ford's proposed solution to charging within the Ford Network, so...Ford has responsibility here, both as an investor AND as a service provider (indirectly).

Plus, if they're going to sell, them, they need to make sure there's a solution available that WORKS.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-rel...a-fast-public-charging-network-300940269.html

 

[devmach-e]

Only kinda true, since Ford is an investor in EA, and EA is Ford's proposed solution to charging within the Ford Network, so...Ford has responsibility here, both as an investor AND as a service provider (indirectly).

Plus, if they're going to sell, them, they need to make sure there's a solution available that WORKS.

Ford is not an investor in EA. They're merely a customer of EA, providing plug-and-charge capabilities for Ford EV owners. That doesn't mean they are responsible for EA's upkeep of the charging network. Nor does it mean that EA is the only fast charging option available to Ford EV owners. EA is a separate company who only recently got an outside investor, Siemens.

I get that you are upset, but your anger is being directed at the wrong entity here.

 

[Mike Curtis]

Ford is not an investor in EA. They're merely a customer of EA, providing plug-and-charge capabilities for Ford EV owners. That doesn't mean they are responsible for EA's upkeep of the charging network. Nor does it mean that EA is the only fast charging option available to Ford EV owners. EA is a separate company who only recently got an outside investor, Siemens.

I get that you are upset, but your anger is being directed at the wrong entity here.

What are you, their lawyer? ;p

OK - so Ford hired EA rather than invested in them. Ford hired EA to help Ford's customers. EA is falling down on the job, Ford should lean on them to provide better results. Other vendors are terrible too - Chargepoint is often only in the range of 60kW, less than half the max charge rate of the Mach E. On a road trip this is unacceptable. Especially when the charger is at a tiny location off the highway in the middle of nowhere - what ELSE would it be used for??? They all suck at maintaining uptime.

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