New Electrify America EA Chargers Are Failing in the Cold

[TaxmanHog]

 

[F150ROD]

You can't unplug with the manual release?

Yes, I was able to u plug that way, I’m glad Ford included that feature. Two stations shut down, one dude on the third station is pissed because his Ioniq 5 wont charge. What a mess.

 

[AZT9]

Yes, I was able to u plug that way, I’m glad Ford included that feature. Two stations shut down, one dude on the third station is pissed because his Ioniq 5 wont charge. What a mess.

What charger are ya at if ya don’t mind me asking?

 

[F150ROD]

What charger are ya at if ya don’t mind me asking?

EA, the new chargers that they upgraded to

 

[metroshot]

Looked like someone intentionally damaged the charge head ?

 

[F150ROD]

Looked like someone intentionally damaged the charge head ?

Don’t know, I’m assuming people kept dropping it and it finally cracked.

 

[nanohead]

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

Most definitely....

This whole mess could be avoided with better software, mostly on the monitoring side. If this whole charging infrastructure is going to scale, and actually work when people need them to, then there needs to be proactive charge station monitoring and repairs on a real time basis.

Candidly, I'm stunned at how terrible public charging is. We've been able to avoid it generally, but each time I take a look at public charging stations here in the northeast, most are simply broken/out of service/faulting, etc. There are some that have been down for months... how can that be.

The fact that there's such a high failure rate, and its even worse in the cold, is just astonishing.

I've always been amazed at how often gas pumps are broken, missing parts, or just don't work correctly at self serve stations around the world (2 months ago, 9 out of 12 pumps were broken at the main gas station at Frankfurt Airport!)

But EV charge points seem exponentially more unreliable....

 

[IdeaOfTheDayCom]

Most definitely....

This whole mess could be avoided with better software, mostly on the monitoring side. If this whole charging infrastructure is going to scale, and actually work when people need them to, then there needs to be proactive charge station monitoring and repairs on a real time basis.

Candidly, I'm stunned at how terrible public charging is. We've been able to avoid it generally, but each time I take a look at public charging stations here in the northeast, most are simply broken/out of service/faulting, etc. There are some that have been down for months... how can that be.

The fact that there's such a high failure rate, and its even worse in the cold, is just astonishing.

I've always been amazed at how often gas pumps are broken, missing parts, or just don't work correctly at self serve stations around the world (2 months ago, 9 out of 12 pumps were broken at the main gas station at Frankfurt Airport!)

But EV charge points seem exponentially more unreliable....

The strange thing is that electrical systems are far easier to install, monitor, and repair than gas. Every EV charging station is connected to the Internet, and most chargers are completely modular, so it shouldn't take long to dispatch an electrician to swap out a cable, connector, or one of the computer components.

In cases where they lose communication with a charger because of a computer or communication component, the lack of a status ping is enough to dispatch a technician, but they don't, and that's what's really frustrating.

I sat in front of broken fast chargers talking to customer service twice while trying to figure out why I wasn't able to charge. In both cases I got more information from other drivers who simply said "don't bother with that one, it's been broken for weeks.".

 

[nanohead]

The strange thing is that electrical systems are far easier to install, monitor, and repair than gas. Every EV charging station is connected to the Internet, and most chargers are completely modular, so it shouldn't take long to dispatch an electrician to swap out a cable, connector, or one of the computer components.

In cases where they lose communication with a charger because of a computer or communication component, the lack of a status ping is enough to dispatch a technician, but they don't, and that's what's really frustrating.

I sat in front of broken fast chargers talking to customer service twice while trying to figure out why I wasn't able to charge. In both cases I got more information from other drivers who simply said "don't bother with that one, it's been broken for weeks.".

I know! Its actually astonishing how terrible/unreliable not just the basic connectivity is, even in areas with widespread broadband, but that the diagnostics and field repair is basically worse than my grandmothers mixmaster was.

Unfortunately, while electricity is generally omnipresent either wired or cellular connectivity still isn't. Tons of charge locations aren't actually connected full time, or rely on super low powered cellular connectivity to actually report status, upload transactions, etc. Its really a lousy situation, as nearly every charge point location has no people at them. There are actually quite a few IoT/Mobile to Mobile companies that I know of trying to sell into the charger market.

But even that stuff is of dubious reliability. Heck, my damn Ford Charge Station Pro can't decide if it wants to be connected or not half the time, and all the software that communicates with it has way more moods than our psychotic cat does.

Well, FWIW, I've worked with some wonderful engineers who are hugely creative thinkers, and plenty who could only see the slide rule in their shirt pocket (and in some cases they could barely see that far!)

 

[F150ROD]

Which is why the time for EA and other Charging Station to move away from Walmart/Sams club etc has come.

A dedicated station with techs on site would be ideal. I understand why there are stations in these shopping centers but at the same time I don’t think they will bother sending someone out with 1 or 2 being out. I’ve never seen a work van/truck with EA or ChargePoint on the side. I have seen Plenty of Tesla Vans at SC though.

If they open up franchising I might jump in and buy one have full time security on site, lounge, tech on site, proper covering when charging, etc. etc. While it would probably be a bit more expensive it would offer a great charging experience.

 

[thecoloradokid]

Which is why the time for EA and other Charging Station to move away from Walmart/Sams club etc has come.

A dedicated station with techs on site would be ideal. I understand why there are stations in these shopping centers but at the same time I don’t think they will bother sending someone out with 1 or 2 being out. I’ve never seen a work van/truck with EA or ChargePoint on the side. I have seen Plenty of Tesla Vans at SC though.

If they open up franchising I might jump in and buy one have full time security on site, lounge, tech on site, proper covering when charging, etc. etc. While it would probably be a bit more expensive it would offer a great charging experience.

It is all about having access to cheap land, and keeping operating costs low. This is why you see a limited number of charging locations not on a Walmart or Kroger parking lot. And, they pay contractors for service since they do not want the overhead of permanent repair staff.

I like your ideas, but that is not Electrify America, or any CCS charging network, at this point. It is all about keeping costs low since they have not achieved the financial breakeven point yet.

Hell, I would be happy with accurate charger location information, so I knew what chargers actually worked without having to look on Plugshare before I arrived at a location.

 

[Tony Burgh]

Which is why the time for EA and other Charging Station to move away from Walmart/Sams club etc has come.

A dedicated station with techs on site would be ideal. I understand why there are stations in these shopping centers but at the same time I don’t think they will bother sending someone out with 1 or 2 being out. I’ve never seen a work van/truck with EA or ChargePoint on the side. I have seen Plenty of Tesla Vans at SC though.

If they open up franchising I might jump in and buy one have full time security on site, lounge, tech on site, proper covering when charging, etc. etc. While it would probably be a bit more expensive it would offer a great charging experience.

Does sound like the EA located beside Sheetz in Bedford PA and SC located beside Sheetz in Breezewood PA with some added amenities and tech support.

 

[Amps]

It is all about having access to cheap land, and keeping operating costs low.

Cheap land with the kind of power drops DCFC requires is probably not cheap land.

It's a tough business model. There wouldn't be nearly as many fossil fuel dispensers if 95% of the customers had access to a pipeline at home.

 

[davehu]

Wow! I finally was able to place and order for my lightning but this and many other threads only confirm that my wife's car will remain ICE for a long time. For years we primarily took her car because she gets 28mph vs my truck at 20 . My Lightning won't (cannot!) be used for long trips because of the unreliability of chargers. It's clear from these posts that it will be a number of years before all the kinks on this stuff are worked out. None of this is surprising to me. Infrastructure takes time.

 

[Oafy44]

Wow! I finally was able to place and order for my lightning but this and many other threads only confirm that my wife's car will remain ICE for a long time. For years we primarily took her car because she gets 28mph vs my truck at 20 . My Lightning won't (cannot!) be used for long trips because of the unreliability of chargers. It's clear from these posts that it will be a number of years before all the kinks on this stuff are worked out. None of this is surprising to me. Infrastructure takes time.

if gas stations make most of their money on in store purchases why isn’t Buckeyes QT or Racetrack of adopting fast charge stations ? Seems like it’s a no brainer with the extra parking spaces they usually have. All of those have massive food/beverage centers prime for EV people to consume

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