The charging infrastructure really sucks.

[Thunderanger]

I took a trip from Cedar Rapids, Iowa to my brother's place in Madison, WI. We had 5 adults In the vehicle. On the way up, our expected ending battery percentage was rising slowly. Made it to Madison with 27% battery. Checked on chargers and only found 1 high speed DC charger anywhere close. It was at a Walmart. We pulled in and all slots were full with two people waiting. We waited about 40 minutes to get plugged in. Charging was going pretty well. Unfortunately, I assumed we could make it back with the same level of charge and only charged to 85%. I've been told it's not great to charge above 80% on the DC chargers.

We took off from Madison and it was much warmer. We were using more battery per mile and the mapping software recommended we stop at a dealer that had a high speed charger in Dubuque, IA. When we arrived, there was only one connection and another Mach e was using it. He said it was charging really slowly. We found a level 2 at another dealer and started charging. After an hour, we decided to go for it. I probably could have just made it, but the software was suggesting another stop. It was at a camp for disabled kids, in the middle of no where. 50 Years ago I had helped my Dad and brothers build some of the cabins at the camp, so we decided to make one more stop. Unbelievably, they had a very nice high speed charger. We charged for 20 minutes so we had a cushion to make it home.

So, 2 1/2 hours to get to Madison, almost 6 hours to get home. The upside was that My wife and I were traveling with our three adult daughters. The five of us hadn't been on a road trip by ourselves since before husbands and grand children. It was great spending the time with them and we saw some beautiful countryside going to the charger at the camp.

That said, I can't wait until the Tesla charges are available and we get more chargers in the midwest.

We get up to CR quite a bit. The area itself is not really that great for DCFC. Just the Kum and Go on Williams and maybe one more at Alliant. We stop in Williamsburg a LOT, and Oskaloosa. We live just south of the Iowa border in MO. Sorry you had such a problem. We ended up charging for 2 plus hours once at a ford dealer in Oskaloosa at midnight. The DCFC chargers in town that worked on the way up to Iowa City, didn't work on the way home, not matter WHAT we tried.

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[RagingDork]

Even in Silicon Valley I had to go to 3 different places to finally find a working level 3 charger and at that site only 3 out of 5 were working with 2 occupied. This is just for a short trip from Santa Clara back to the North Bay (60 miles).

I can’t wait till we get access to the Tesla network. I know for some it feels like a L and I’m no fan of Elon Musk but I think it’s best for everyone in the end.

 

[markboris]

thekat03 mentioned Europe having a far superior charging infrastructure compared to North America and I can certainly see this. Have they had EV's longer than us? I don't know as I don't keep up on these things... I was in Amsterdam last March for a short time and noticed many level 1 and some level 2 chargers seemed to be on every street corner. I'm here again for a slightly longer period and this time have taken notice of the chargers all around the city. Was talking to our taxi driver (who was driving a Model S) and he was saying if you don't have an EV charger near your home or work, the power company will install a public charger for you completely free in your area.

Most of the taxis in Amsterdam seemed to be Tesla's with quite a few Mach-E's and ID4's. Seemed like many of the rental cars were also EV's. Our driver said there was a company that started a new service where you can book to have a mobile EV charger van come to you. It is a DCFC charging service with output from 300 kW to 2000 kW. Not cheap at 55 kWh but a great service. I looked up how many EV chargers there were in the Netherlands and seems to be around 114K+. That is about 2/3's of the amount we have in all the US in a country that is slightly larger than the state of Maryland. ?

 

[ChuckA]

Past 80% the charging slows considerably, and past 90% it drops to L2 speed. You were right to stop at 85%.

You have to check PlugShare to locate chargers and get their most updated status. The Ford map blows. Not your fault for not knowing this. Your story is exactly why DCFC can be a pain in the rear.

Glad you found the silver lining! Though I hope your wife and daughters enjoyed the odyssey as much as you did. ?

Plus many fast chargers price at a per minute rate, therefore, after 80% your cost per kWh doubles or triples.

 

[devmach-e]

Even in Silicon Valley I had to go to 3 different places to finally find a working level 3 charger and at that site only 3 out of 5 were working with 2 occupied. This is just for a short trip from Santa Clara back to the North Bay (60 miles).

I can’t wait till we get access to the Tesla network. I know for some it feels like a L and I’m no fan of Elon Musk but I think it’s best for everyone in the end.

I gotta ask, why did you need a DC fast charge for such a short trip? Forgot to plug-in the night before? But I’ll be honset, it‘s not like I haven’t done the same (forgot to plug in) and needed to get a quick charge before going to work. First EA site I went to was full. Luckily the second one had a spot open, and a nearby coffee shop to grab something while the car charged.

 

[locks66]

I took a trip from Cedar Rapids, Iowa to my brother's place in Madison, WI. We had 5 adults In the vehicle. On the way up, our expected ending battery percentage was rising slowly. Made it to Madison with 27% battery. Checked on chargers and only found 1 high speed DC charger anywhere close. It was at a Walmart. We pulled in and all slots were full with two people waiting. We waited about 40 minutes to get plugged in. Charging was going pretty well. Unfortunately, I assumed we could make it back with the same level of charge and only charged to 85%. I've been told it's not great to charge above 80% on the DC chargers.

We took off from Madison and it was much warmer. We were using more battery per mile and the mapping software recommended we stop at a dealer that had a high speed charger in Dubuque, IA. When we arrived, there was only one connection and another Mach e was using it. He said it was charging really slowly. We found a level 2 at another dealer and started charging. After an hour, we decided to go for it. I probably could have just made it, but the software was suggesting another stop. It was at a camp for disabled kids, in the middle of no where. 50 Years ago I had helped my Dad and brothers build some of the cabins at the camp, so we decided to make one more stop. Unbelievably, they had a very nice high speed charger. We charged for 20 minutes so we had a cushion to make it home.

So, 2 1/2 hours to get to Madison, almost 6 hours to get home. The upside was that My wife and I were traveling with our three adult daughters. The five of us hadn't been on a road trip by ourselves since before husbands and grand children. It was great spending the time with them and we saw some beautiful countryside going to the charger at the camp.

That said, I can't wait until the Tesla charges are available and we get more chargers in the midwest.

So I've been road tripping a bit for the last few years and this was the first time I had to wait on lines at the chargers.


The infrastructure needs to increase. More of us are getting electric cars and the chargers aren't expanding.


The holiday weekend didn't help.


For reference I drove through Wisconsin back from Chicago to get to MN. I also ended up waiting.

Even the Tesla chargers were all full

 

[RagingDork]

I gotta ask, why did you need a DC fast charge for such a short trip? Forgot to plug-in the night before? But I’ll be honset, it‘s not like I haven’t done the same (forgot to plug in) and needed to get a quick charge before going to work. First EA site I went to was full. Luckily the second one had a spot open, and a nearby coffee shop to grab something while the car charged.

Normally I set my car to 70% at home because I charge mostly at work. Sometimes I forget to turn it off for the weekend when I drive a little farther (which is not often).

 

[Teslaeata]

All planning is by definition "pre-". (It was a pet peeve of my mom's that I inherited.......one of many.?)

I never do the “pre” anymore when I go on a road trip, just charge overnight, go and find a charger anywhere anytime when out on road.

In UK the roads are paved with chargepoints?

Most at MacDonalds, KFC, Starbucks et al, I love my life though am getting fatter?

 

[steveg95]

There was a strong south headwind yesterday of about 15 mph, so that probably killed your range. You do have to pay attention to wind speeds and directions when trip planning because an unexpected headwind can really throw off your plans.

I hadn’t, but definitely will now.

Depending how long you were at your brother's house, did you consider charging there? A 15amp outlet should get you about 3-4 miles of range per hour. Might have been enough to give you more flexibility. Get your brother to put in a 50 amp outlet so you can charge and he will have it when he gets an EV.

One of my other frequent trips is to my daughter’s house. I installed an outlet in their garage. I don’t go to my brother’s very often, but I may suggest that to him.

We get up to CR quite a bit. The area itself is not really that great for DCFC. Just the Kum and Go on Williams and maybe one more at Alliant. We stop in Williamsburg a LOT, and Oskaloosa. We live just south of the Iowa border in MO. Sorry you had such a problem. We ended up charging for 2 plus hours once at a ford dealer in Oskaloosa at midnight. The DCFC chargers in town that worked on the way up to Iowa City, didn't work on the way home, not matter WHAT we tried.

We attempted to attend a funeral in Southern Il earlier this summer. We got to our first charger in Canton, MO, a ChargePoint, and it was only putting out 5Kwh. While we waited and waited for a charge, we checked the next charger on our route and it was a ChargePoint that was doing the same thing. We ended up turning around and charging at a car dealer in Ft. Madison and heading back home.

 

[Guss-E 2021]

There was a strong south headwind yesterday of about 15 mph, so that probably killed your range. You do have to pay attention to wind speeds and directions when trip planning because an unexpected headwind can really throw off your plans.

It would be lovely if that sort of weather data were available on one of our displays ?. We have a compass after all. I've got temperature in two places, why not wind speed and direction? Especially when it is so meaningful for BEVs. I really wonder if the people who design these cars actually drive them.

 

[RickMachE]

It would be lovely if that sort of weather data were available on one of our displays ?. We have a compass after all. I've got temperature in two places, why not wind speed and direction? Especially when it is so meaningful for BEVs. I really wonder if the people who design these cars actually drive them.

Have you looked at the weather in Navigation? Radar, ....

 

[Guss-E 2021]

Have you looked at the weather in Navigation? Radar, ....

The built in Ford nav?

 

[Vulnox]

Definitely untrue that it doesn't require much more pre-planning than ICE. I just got back from a trip between Detroit and Indianapolis and back. I can't readily take the route we take with our ICE vehicles since there is no DCFC infrastructure of significance on the route. There are a couple dealers with chargers, but they are fairly expensive and a single unit, so no guarantee it will be working or not occupied. There is a Harley dealer on the route which is popular, but Plugshare said it's been down. So I have to take an alternate route on the Ohio Turnpike that takes about a half hour longer and have to pay tolls (which isn't a huge deal overall).

I have done this basic trip about a hundred times now with ICE vehicles and twice with an EV. The first time went pretty much perfectly, all the EA stations were working and empty. The stop also has 10-12 Tesla stations which are usually empty.

I took this trip again this past weekend, and on the way out one of the EA stations was down, another was derated. Then on the way back two stations were down and when i was about a half hour away, the two that were working were in use. I was afraid I was going to run into the charge to 100% id.4 owners at the EA stations, but thankfully they left shortly before I arrived.

The charging went fine, but between having to take longer alternate routes and having to worry about down stations or jammed up stations, it definitely requires more consideration. I had other options if the EA stations died, and the entire route is right on the fringe of the max range of the MME, so maybe could make it without a charge (although every apps says I will need one).

All I can say is the SuperCharger usage and all that can't come soon enough. There are superchargers on the ideal route, and even if we keep taking the toll road route, there are almost 3 times as many SuperChargers as EA stations and as mentioned they are typically empty. That insurance will make all the difference.

I love the MME, haven't had any issues with it, best car ever. But the charging infrastructure set up at least in our area, which is hardly middle of nowhere, is just pathetic.

 

[AZBill]

The built in Ford nav?

The built in nav has radar, but not wind. I have a weather app on my phone that provides wind data.

 

[Maquis]

It's the de-rating that really gets me. There are 150kW Chargepoint DCFCs all over Missouri, but you'd be lucky to get 70 out of any of them, and there's a better than zero chance you'll be hanging out below 30. Made my very first road trip in my MME way more hassle than it needed to be. My NACS adapter can't get here soon enough.

I think those CPs are shared 150 KW. But that implies you should have the full 150 available if no one else is charging, but I’ve never gotten over 70 either. Often 50-60.

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