How much is "Complimentary 250 kWh of DC fast charging at Electrify America stations" ?

[rlbussard]

Definitely depends on the current state of the battery upon arriving at the charger. I would estimate about 5-7 charges. Ford and EA should give an additional 250 kWh free just like early MME purchases like I still have 425 kWh left on mine! Purchased MME March ‘21 but have home charger as well. They still give 500 kWh on MME? Our VW ID.4 gets 3 yrs free EA charging but we will trade that one in for the lightning! 5/9 production week!

You better get to charging with EA before you lose it. I have 200 left on my Mach E and am trying to use it up by Feb 2023 when my 2 years is up. The last time I heard anything, you lose whatever you don't use after 2 years. Maybe it's changed, but I haven't heard anything.

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[TaxmanHog]

Great information folks, I will be taking full advantage of this on my racing trips.

I have an E/A station midtrip on my route, Walmart parking lot with lot's of space to park with trailer attached.

I plan to stop for a ~20 minute charge going up and the same coming home, +/- minutes for real dynamics for my use case and prevailing conditions.

I have several trips to make after the highly anticipated delivery middle of July 9/3, 9/17 9/24, 10/1 & 10/8!!

At the time of morning I'll be there I should have no issues, when I made this drive by in the F250, 3 of the 4 units were operational.

 

[shutterbug]

They still give 500 kWh on MME?

Most MME owners got 250 kWh free. Some of the early MME buyers got 500 kWh to compensate for some of the delays in getting the cars out.

 

[RickLightning]

You better get to charging with EA before you lose it. I have 200 left on my Mach E and am trying to use it up by Feb 2023 when my 2 years is up. The last time I heard anything, you lose whatever you don't use after 2 years. Maybe it's changed, but I haven't heard anything.

Correct. 2 years and then it's gone.

 

[jefro]

I had free EvGo for a year on a BMW. Didn't use it much as it was kind of a time hog. DC charging is more for either away from your house or for people who have no home charger.

 

[metroshot]

Great information folks, I will be taking full advantage of this on my racing trips.

I have an E/A station midtrip on my route, Walmart parking lot with lot's of space to park with trailer attached.

I plan to stop for a ~20 minute charge going up and the same coming home, +/- minutes for real dynamics for my use case and prevailing conditions.

I have several trips to make after the highly anticipated delivery middle of July 9/3, 9/17 9/24, 10/1 & 10/8!!

At the time of morning I'll be there I should have no issues, when I made this drive by in the F250, 3 of the 4 units were operational.

Can't wait to hear how much real time it takes to charge our F150L this summer/fall at EA stations...

BTW, I use a free L2 charger at my local sheriff's station when I drive my PHEV around town so I shall be utilizing the county's free electrons in between my work and home.

 

[jefro]

I think you mean 6 out of 8 charge cords were available?

The chargers look brand new. Sadly my guess is more EV chargers are out of service than should be.

Nice of the Police to give you free electrons I have to say.

I do get some free City power but at L2 it is only when I have an extra 20 minutes.

My EV said it costs $550 a year to charge but I'd have to say I am way below that due to low electric company rates and easy to set a time of use rate overnight. I assume my car is powered by clean burning nuclear power.

 

[TaxmanHog]

I think you mean 6 out of 8 charge cords were available?

I noticed the two cables at each station, assumed as a newb the heads were not the same, they say on the site 3-CCS & 1-CCS/CHADEMO

 

[RickLightning]

1 cable per charger at a time.

Each CCS charger has 2 cables, use the one that reaches better. One has a CCS and a CHAdeMo, you can only use the CCS.

At that location, they are all 150kw. Many times there would be two 350s and two 150s.

 

[metroshot]

1 cable per charger at a time.

Each CCS charger has 2 cables, use the one that reaches better. One has a CCS and a CHAdeMo, you can only use the CCS.

At that location, they are all 150kw. Many times there would be two 350s and two 150s.

At the 350kW chargers mean that the F150L won't be able to take advantage of the 350kW power & speed ?

Does it step down to 150kW ?

 

[RickLightning]

At the 350kW chargers mean that the F150L won't be able to take advantage of the 350kW power & speed ?

Does it step down to 150kW ?

Correct. The vehicle tells the charger the max it can take. The charger will ramp up to the max, and then slow down and charge at a level, then slow some more, ...

Mach-E I've seen 162ish. Then 125ish, then 90s. There are lots of threads with the charging curve.

You'll want to use the 350 with the F-150L if you can, if you're paying by the minute (some states). Most states are by the kWh, so it's irrelevant for $$$, but the 150kW charger will take longer.

 

[RickLightning]

@TaxmanHog, you won't be making 20 minutes stops, I promise you, unless you don't need much charge.

 

[hturnerfamily]

yep, I'll be using all my 'free' kWh charging on our first 'trip', towing the 3,000# camper, and traveling about 1,000 miles total...

 

[hturnerfamily]

metroshot, any 'plug' you use will automatically adjust, up or down, as to the amount of 'power' the truck can take...no worries. If it has the CCS plug, then you're good.

 

[hturnerfamily]

Electrify America stations typically have 'dual' hoses on each pedestal: each pedestal may have both a CHAdeMO and a CCS, or simply two CCS hoses. Some pedestals are 150kw, and some 350kw, and the CHAdeMO is only 50kw, which my former Nissan LEAF used. I will admit, though, that some fo the EA stations are not easily accessed, depending on if someone else is already parked there, or if you need to 'pull thru', such as with a trailer. I have also seen some EA stations that are laid out exactly like Tesla SuperChargers - all in a 'row', where you must pull to face it, or back in.

Chargepoint stations are typically only one or two 'dual' units: a CCS and a CHAdeMO. Chargepoint, though, many times uses a 'shared' electrical system, of 125kw. If only one vehicle is charging at one of the pedestals, and can access up to that maximum, then it will allow it. If ANOTHER vehicle is also there, or comes while you are charging, the electricity gets 'shared' between the two pedestals - meaning that the max you might can draw is 62.5kw. I think this is to limit the cost of these installations, limit the draw on the utility system, and basically create a simpler overall charging option for property owners.

I like the Chargepoints here in Georgia better than the EA stations. Chargepoint is not perfect, but it seems their units work better, and have a quicker setup, via the app, although you can ONLY get power by using their app, even as a 'guest' user.
Electrify America stations offer more POWER, though, with 150kw and 350kw options. I don't like their layout in many locations, though, and it's quite confusing to get the unit activated, even though they DO accept the simple swipe of a credit card - I believe they ALL should do that - apps are great, when they work, and when they are quick to activate, but being able to simply swipe a credit or debit card like you do at 'any' gas station should be more 'normal'.

We have also used EV GO and GREEN LOTS and maybe a few other 'brands', but we don't see those very often, and those have their own pros and cons, as well, whether the speed of charge, or the payment process, etc.

And, last but not least, whether a unit is actually WORKING when you arrive is something that has become a major pain in some situations, especially when you are PLANNING on that being your MAIN charging option, and when there are NO other options in many miles.

Once, while at a relatively NEW Chargepoint dual station in Columbus, GA, at a Burger King(nice!), I found that the screen did not want to accept my input to STOP charging. Their screens are made up of a dual screen setup - the main screen seems to work well, but the outer 'weather' screen may not respond as it should. I realized that these screens sometimes get SUNLIGHT all day long, and the combination of the sun, and the heat, may make them not respond to input as you would expect. It would not, no matter how 'hard' I pressed, and there are no PHYSICAL buttons for these units, which there SHOULD be, as a backup to screen input. The CHAdeMO plug would NOT unlock from my Nissan Leaf, and the power unit would NOT stop it's charging.
I finally got Chargepoint customer service on the phone and they were eventually able to 'disable' or stop the unit, though they would not refund me the 15 minutes or more of 'extra' charging that I did not ask for. I was literally HELD HOSTAGE to this machine.
My answer to this is to ALWAYS have an EMERGENCY STOP or RELEASE button available to the customer. Actual PHYSICAL buttons on the front to do the normal charging routines should also be there as a backup to the 'screen' input.

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