New Electrify America EA Chargers Are Failing in the Cold

[Peter P]

"Kyle finds out that the new Electrify America chargers that they co-developed with BTC don't work in cold temperatures. He also heads to ChargePoint, EVgo, and other EA chargers to see if they have similar issues in this cold snap."

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[Wsl346]

That’s disappointing and frankly, rather embarrassing for EA. Kyle is a huge proponent of CCS and it crazy to hear him be so negative about it.

I’m heading up to Dallas today from Austin and the high will be 15°. While not nearly as cold as it was in this video, it still concerning as I will need to use the recently upgraded EA site in Waco to top up. Checking plug share, there are no reports of the cabinets not working in Waco so it seem this may only be an issue in sub 0 temps.

 

[IdeaOfTheDayCom]

As a software developer, I see this as something that can be fixed through software.

From my limited knowledge of the physics, colder batteries shrink and hold less power and pre-conditioning warms them up so they're able to not only operate better, but take more of a charge.

If the older one works, it's probably using lower voltages. In the video, you can see it starts to charge, then throws the error and basically gives up.

It would seem to me that it should first attempt to use the newer higher voltages, then if it fails, it should be able to downgrade the voltage to the same levels as the one that does work. After the battery and the charger warm up it could attempt to charge again at higher rates.

 

[carys98]

The fault he was getting was an isolation fault. I wonder if the snow was a bigger factor than the cold. If he had water in the charge port there may be too much leakage current causing the fault. The new chargers may be too sensitive to leakage or the old ones are just more dangerous. It might be worth keeping a hair dryer or heat gun in the frunk when it snows.

 

[thecoloradokid]

The fault he was getting was an isolation fault. I wonder if the snow was a bigger factor than the cold. If he had water in the charge port there may be too much leakage current causing the fault. The new chargers may be too sensitive to leakage or the old ones are just more dangerous. It might be worth keeping a hair dryer or heat gun in the frunk when it snows.

This does not seem to be the issue because Kyle went back the next day after the snow had stopped and the BTC chargers still would not work. He took his Audi this time and experienced the same fault. It was still below zero, so there is some component within the new BTC units that does like the extreme cold.

Will this also happen, but in the extreme heat? Let's say it gets to 115F in Vegas one day, will the newly installed BTC units there fail as well because it is so hot?

Electrify America needs to get its $hit together and figure this out quickly.

 

[F150ROD]

Indoor Charging stations are in order with Solar Panels lining the roof……hmmmm….

Temp controlled with a nice lounging area or something like this

https://insideevs.com/news/556186/audi-opens-first-charging-hub/amp/

 

[wighty]

Indoor Charging stations are in order with Solar Panels lining the roof……hmmmm….

I'm all in favor of putting solar over parking lots/areas.

 

[asudan]

That’s disappointing and frankly, rather embarrassing for EA. Kyle is a huge proponent of CCS and it crazy to hear him be so negative about it.

I’m heading up to Dallas today from Austin and the high will be 15°. While not nearly as cold as it was in this video, it still concerning as I will need to use the recently upgraded EA site in Waco to top up. Checking plug share, there are no reports of the cabinets not working in Waco so it seem this may only be an issue in sub 0 temps.

I think one of the issues Kyle mentioned was that the chargers all showed online and working on the app, but were not actually working.

 

[TaxmanHog]

I think one of the issues Kyle mentioned was that the chargers all showed online and working on the app, but were not actually working.

I agree with Kyles concern about this, IMHO a certain level of fraud against the companies contracting with EA for a level of service not being delivered, and a metric that's missing to detect non-compliance, nevermind steering unsuspecting customers on wild goose chases to stations that are not operating.

 

[carys98]

This does not seem to be the issue because Kyle went back the next day after the snow had stopped and the BTC chargers still would not work. He took his Audi this time and experienced the same fault. It was still below zero, so there is some component within the new BTC units that does like the extreme cold.

Will this also happen, but in the extreme heat? Let's say it gets to 115F in Vegas one day, will the newly installed BTC units there fail as well because it is so hot?

Electrify America needs to get its $hit together and figure this out quickly.

I watched his update and it definitely looks like it’s the chargers. The good thing is that it is a consistent problem across all of them so it should be easy for them to isolate the source. It doesn’t seem like the main functionality of the charger was affected, just the ability to get past the isolation test. There is probably some component in that circuit that isn’t rated for the cold or maybe they need to calibrate it against temperature. Worst case I‘ve seen designs where they put a power resistor next to sensitive parts and when the temperature drops you apply a voltage to the resistor and use it to heat up the cold part. Hopefully it’s a software fix.

 

[MVS87]

Sitting at a new EA 350kw station right now. 12 degrees. Sub-Zero wind chills. Activated thru the Ford Pass app with no issues. Getting anywhere from 85-95kW.

 

[CRAIGC540]

EA not working in 70 degree days in California so I know colder is going to have problems...

 

[HaroldCal]

Will this also happen, but in the extreme heat? Let's say it gets to 115F in Vegas one day, will the newly installed BTC units there fail as well because it is so hot?

I'll find out next summer, as I live in Las Vegas, and I plant to test them on the hot days.

 

[Lightning Rod]

This is some very disheartening news. Hopefully they can find out what's going on, find a fix and prevent this problem from happening in the very near future.

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