Yet another Sucky Road Trip

[Mandretti]

Electrify America continues to suck. 5 years of this and no better. 350 starts charging at 100 then 5 minutes later charging at 9. Moved to a Tesla charger (1 of 10 in a very small town) and worked like a charm - as usual.

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[Charge_Rob]

What location are we talking about? Not all locations are created equally. That experience is definitely not everywhere.

 

[rad1234]

Electrify America continues to suck. 5 years of this and no better. 350 starts charging at 100 then 5 minutes later charging at 9. Moved to a Tesla charger (1 of 10 in a very small town) and worked like a charm - as usual.

I haven't fast charged that much but have used Electrify America a half dozen times. They have always worked for me. Once a broken charger (moved to another empty stall) was fixed four days later on my return. Another time charger would not "plug and charge" but took my credit card. On the other hand, Blink is useless.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Weird. I’ve used EA hundreds of times across the US Southwest and PNW (up to Portland/Vancouver) and rarely encounter issues. I find they are usually faster, cheaper, and easier to use than SCs in most cases. The SCs with 40+ plugs are usually easier to get a slot, but that’s about it.

 

[blueovaltech]

No real problems with E/A here in the last year or so, but like others have said, location matters. They have upgraded a lot of legacy sites to the new posts, which work great.

I feel like this is a location issue, not an overall E/A issue in my experience.

 

[Waynebo20]

Electrify America continues to suck. 5 years of this and no better. 350 starts charging at 100 then 5 minutes later charging at 9. Moved to a Tesla charger (1 of 10 in a very small town) and worked like a charm - as usual.

I have had really bad experience with EA. I go to Tesla, ionna or whatever it is but I like them and other more local like RedE. Tesla is the cheapest on long road trips when I sign up for membership. CA by far

 

[dan_meh]

I live in Electrify America’s home turf, so I never have a problem. Credit to them for driving improvements!

 

[tbrumleve]

Sounds like an issue at that location. You can report it.

 

[silverelan]

PlugShare user check-in, or it didn’t happen.

 

[Mandretti]

Southern Oregon, Northern California I-5. Very frustrating, but thankfully there are lots of Tesla chargers that always work, and charge faster. No.more EA if I can avoid them.

 

[rhougey]

Southern Oregon, Northern California I-5. Very frustrating, but thankfully there are lots of Tesla chargers that always work, and charge faster. No.more EA if I can avoid them.

The EA location in Anderson has the updated chargers and seem to work fine. I also stop occasionally at Dunnigan, but they are the older model and not as consistent, but that hasn’t stopped me from using. Haven’t stopped in Willows in quite a while, but it has been good in the past.

 

[Chrisbriding]

Was in Central CA last month and had absolutely no problems at EA chargers in Goleta and Paso Robles.

 

[LiteNing]

Southern Oregon, Northern California I-5. Very frustrating, but thankfully there are lots of Tesla chargers that always work, and charge faster. No.more EA if I can avoid them.

Northern and Southern California checking in: Never had a terrible experience at EA, but they are uniformly mediocre. Usually 1 or 2 broken chargers, usually don't get the full charge rate of my vehicle, never more than 6 (and usually 4) charge stalls, and starting the charge is always fiddly. It always feels like fighting for the last free stall.

Superchargers have been the polar opposite for me: Always works on the first plug and always gives the full charge rate. Broken chargers are extremely rare. Most stations have at least 50 stalls along I-5. Some locations have almost 100. You don't have to feel bad about blocking two spaces when there are so many unoccupied stalls. Best part is that they're usually cheaper than EA.

Last time I went to an EA was to show an EV-skeptical friend how easy plug-and-charge is... except that I had to manually hit a couple buttons to start the charge, and I only got about 1/2 the expected rate.

Maybe things have recently changed for the better. I don't know because I don't bother with EA for roadtrips anymore. Just not worth the hassle when I get a consistently great experience at Superchargers. It's like iPhone vs 2008 Android. One is great, one "works".

 

[CuttingEdgeMedia]

I used to go to EA, but I agree with the last post—it's fiddly... Sometimes the app works great—it works the first time. Sometimes it won't. Sometimes it sees my CC, no problem; sometimes I have to pay with a debit card. Sometimes you have to plug it in first, and sometimes you don't... Most times it takes 10 to 15 minutes just to start the charge and then 10 to 20 minutes to finish charging. All that, and there are only 4 chargers, so if you're #5, it's 45 minutes to charge! ---- I went to Tesla, plugged in, and I'm charging in seconds... (Super Simple) I have never gone back, and I don't recommend anyone else go back either... I'm not a Tesla/Musk fan, but he got this one right! Get your "adapter" and enjoy your EV while travelling again... If you want to enjoy it even more and you travel a lot subscribe to the Tesla App (Under $20/month). A 5-hour trip in an ice vehicle would cost me over $200 right now (I'm in Canada)... the same trip cost me $18 (Half price with the App) plus the membership... My only beef is the Tesla charges don't show up in the Nav. So I just use the Tesla App. I own a Mach-E ER and a Lightning ER... I couldn't be happier.. lol.

 

[silverelan]

Southern Oregon, Northern California I-5. Very frustrating, but thankfully there are lots of Tesla chargers that always work, and charge faster. No.more EA if I can avoid them.

there are so many options along I-5 in this region now. IONNA, PFJ, and ElectricEra all have you covered with lots of redundancy and usually better amenities than Tesla.

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