Very disappointing EA experience

[EELinneman]

I thought I'd give EA a go today and it went from bad to comical. For those of you in Denver, I tried the 3 chargers on Bowles just east of C-470 in the Wal Mart parking lot. The first one would connect, validate the payment and start charging but immediately fail. I called EA and they reset the charger, but it did the same.

The one next to it wouldn't connect to the car, so I gave the third and last one a try. On the second connect it started charging but at 14 Kw only bounced between 12 and 14. I stopped it after 7 minutes as this was a waste of time. Ended the session on the machine and it said it was charging me $17.03! Another call to EA and they said this was a mistake. The charging session is not showing up in my EA app and I didn't see a $17.03 charge on my credit card.

Ford needs to work with these guys to get this straightened out or just buy them and fix it themselves. Honestly, the one big advantage that Tesla has is the charging network and the fact that it just works. I had a guy come over and ask if I liked my car. After just short of 3 weeks, I still am mesmerized by the car, but the public charging experience is not good.

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[Billyk24]

EA has/had been using three different hardware vendors for their charging units. I wonder if this location has the bad hardware. Do didn't mention if yours were 150kWh rated or 350?

 

[MachMachWhoThere]

Yikes, that’s pretty sad. I just picked up my car a few days ago. There are some EA chargers about 15 minutes from me. I’ll give them a try within the next few days - before I need to rely on them for anything lol.

 

[EELinneman]

EA has/had been using three different hardware vendors for their charging units. I wonder if this location has the bad hardware. Do didn't mention if yours were 150kWh rated or 350?

The ones that I used were rated at 150 kWh.

 

[SnBGC]

Yikes, that’s pretty sad. I just picked up my car a few days ago. There are some EA chargers about 15 minutes from me. I’ll give them a try within the next few days - before I need to rely on them for anything lol.

Good idea to try it out at your convenience just to make sure it works. Even so, EA performance can vary unexpectedly. I had a wonderful charging experience driving to California and back on a weekend and then the following day the best I could get was 13kW in Tucson and 34kW in Casa Grande.

It is a roll of the dice. Sometimes you crap out.

 

[Brutakus]

I've had the best luck at 350kW chargers. EA app says I've topped out at 211kW which is supposed to be above what the MME can take..but it works?

 

[RickMachE]

I've had the best luck at 350kW chargers. EA app says I've topped out at 211kW which is supposed to be above what the MME can take..but it works?

False data. Meaningless. In english, bullcrap.

EA's app lets you download the data from charging. I do that every now and then.
For nearly every 350kw charger, the max charge is shown as exactly 207kWh. For EVERY SESSION. The max charge for the 150kWh chargers shown is 175kWh.

We know that the Mach-E cannot go that high. Given that they are all the same, it's total BS.

They also don't line up the columns correctly...

 

[Brutakus]

False data. Meaningless. In english, bullcrap.

EA's app lets you download the data from charging. I do that every now and then.
For nearly every 350kw charger, the max charge is shown as exactly 207kWh. For EVERY SESSION. The max charge for the 150kWh chargers shown is 175kWh.

We know that the Mach-E cannot go that high. Given that they are all the same, it's total BS.

They also don't line up the columns correctly...

I downloaded mine and jeez this really doesn't make sense. How is the max charging rate column saying 30-40kWh and total duration in the hundreds?
Shouldn't the data in the duration column be the charge rate at kW not kWh? And the total duration should be kWh but with the data from the max charge rate column

 

[RickMachE]

I downloaded mine and jeez this really doesn't make sense. How is the max charging rate column saying 30-40kWh and total duration in the hundreds?
Shouldn't the data in the duration column be the charge rate at kW not kWh? And the total duration should be kWh but with the data from the max charge rate column

Note the last line in my post. "They also don't line up the columns correctly"...

The columns are fine until Base Charge. You can see they repeat the sale tax column there. So everything from Base Charge to the right belongs to the data one column right of the heading.

 

[Dr Obnxs]

I found mostly excellent function with some lemons in the mix. That said, EA personnel contacted via the 800 number on the chargers have always been very helpful, often comping the session if it was a big hassle.

But yes, the hardware suite quality needs to be increased, and I'd like to see DCFC rates be based on not just total energy delivered, but at the rate it charges. Paying premium rates when I'm only getting less than max rate sucks.

 

[RickMachE]

I found mostly excellent function with some lemons in the mix. That said, EA personnel contacted via the 800 number on the chargers have always been very helpful, often comping the session if it was a big hassle.

But yes, the hardware suite quality needs to be increased, and I'd like to see DCFC rates be based on not just total energy delivered, but at the rate it charges. Paying premium rates when I'm only getting less than max rate sucks.

In some states, including California, EA charges by the kWh, not by the minute. Yes, it sucks when it is slow, but unless you're paying per minute you're not paying more.

 

[2FlyMache]

I've only used EA fast chargers twice now in GA and both times they were flawless. I just used one the other day and it was a 150 kw charger. Ramped up to 125 KW and stayed around 95 for most of the charge to 80%. After that it dropped to 45 kw but I stopped charging to hit the road. Got the free kw as well.

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