CARB Holding Hearing on ElectrifyAmerica Compliance with Partial Consent Decree

[On the Road with Ralph]

https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/CARB/bulletins/367d636

Folks, this is the opportunity to give testimony on the abysmal performance of EA. I don't have access to it right now, but I believe that the language of the Partial Consent Decree permits CARB to review the actual delivery of services to EV drivers, or in EA's case, it utter failure to do so. Given that EA just changed its Terms of Service to block class-action arbitration against the company (it tells you a lot that EA prefers to insulate itself from its customer's ire, rather than actually fix their multitude of problems), using regulatory agencies such as CARB who govern the outcomes from the VW Dieselgate scandal may be one of the few ways to hold the scumbags at EA responsible for their crappy stations, throttled output and legendary lack of reliability.

The hearing is on Wednesday morning, August 16th - the day before EA implements its new pricing policies and legal changes.

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[Yellow Buddy]

I’m curious, how much have you charged on EAs network? (A general “you” to the community)

Ive charged about 1300kWh on the EA network - only about 30 sessions. My average Max rate is about 112kW.

In fairness I don’t use exclusively 350kW chargers, but that’s still about 25% below the advertised speeds assuming I was exclusively on 150kW.

Thank you for sharing this investigation.

 

[On the Road with Ralph]

I’m curious, how much have you charged on EAs network? (A general “you” to the community)

1744 kW/h in 41 charging sessions since February 20th, 2023. Max charge speed: 171 kW. Lowest peak speed: 32 kW. Consistently worst EA station for me (excluding Quartzsite, which is a complete hellhole): Needles, CA - peak speeds on four visits: 32, 47, 64, 99.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

1744 kW/h in 41 charging sessions since February 20th, 2023. Max charge speed: 171 kW. Lowest peak speed: 32 kW. Consistently worst EA station for me (excluding Quartzsite, which is a complete hellhole): Needles, CA - peak speeds on four visits: 32, 47, 64, 99.

I thought just slow charging speeds was bad enough but I came across a new one this past week.

4 station stall. 1 stall was broken. 2 stalls operated at 30-50KW.

There was a line 4 cars deep and the next nearest charger was 60 miles away. One of the stalls was open, I checked with everyone and everyone said the stall was broken. I figured I’m 4 deep, I’ll give it a shot.

The charger would disconnect after 30-60s of charging. Requiring me to unplug and replug it in every minute. But for that 30-60s I got 160KW. So for 10minutes I plugged and unplugged my truck to get the 70 miles needed to get to the next station…where I got 32KW.

The line was so bad the next dope in line decided he’d try to do the same thing. I know because I ran into him at the next station 60 miles away.

 

[Pod]

Thank you for the info. Also, nice reminder to cancel my EA+ Plan since I’m done with Summer travel.

 

[Pioneer74]

Drove from Toledo to Northern Chicago and then back home last Friday. I also drove this same route in early June.

There are no charging sites on the Indiana Toll Road. So you have to get off in South Bend to charge at a mall. First charge was at 7:30 in the morning. Nobody there so I decided to hit the 350kW charger. Best I saw was 109kW and it quickly tapered off to upper 70's. Back in June it was the same. Plugshare is full of complaints.

On the way back I tried the chargers at the mall in Skokie Ill. 6 stations. They were derated in June and nothing has changed. Had to wait in line to get a spot. Best I could get was 39kW. Decided to try a station in Lincolnwood.

3 chargers in Lincolnwood. All 3 are 350kW. 1 had a parked, locked VW sitting at 100%, the second had a Bolt charging and the third had a faded "fix me" sign taped to it. App shows that it's available. Customer service is no help. Plugshare full of complaints.

I go over to the Fashion Outlet mall next to O'Hare. 6 stations. 1 is unavailable, 1 had a Lucid at 100%, 1 had a Rivian at 100% and 1 had a Tesla owner who couldn't figure out how to charge her car. Being the nice guy I am, after I finally get mine charging after waiting 15 minutes in line, come to find out she lives close. She didn't really need to charge. She just didn't want to go home at 33%. When I said she had access to the gold standard of charging, the Tesla network, she said this was where her navigation took her. She gave up and went home.

I had to stop again in South Bend in the way back. This time, in addition to the show charging, there were the usual suspects of Locals charging their vehicles because they came with free charging. And since it's free, they're going to 100% no matter how long the line is. I assume they do this all the time because 3 drivers are taking to one another while everybody in line has to use the 4th charger. I got just enough to get to a station on the Ohio Turnpike, where I had no issues.

All in all, a 10 hour trip in an ICE vehicle took me 14 hours. I should have been able to do it in 12 if the charging infrastructure was there. All along the Indiana Turnpike were rows and rows of Superchargers I couldn't use. And Plugshare is full of complaints of the Electrify America stations I had to use. They have been there for months and nothing is being addressed.

Electrify America doesn't care because they don't have to. And it's getting worse with the local people charging their vehicles instead of doing it at home. Thankfully, I shouldn't have to make this trip again. Between the terrible charging infrastructure and the horrible traffic, I hope to never go back to Chicago again.

 

[Silenze]

You can check the reviews on plug share. Most EA stations are dumpster fires.

 

[Silenze]

Drove from Toledo to Northern Chicago and then back home last Friday. I also drove this same route in early June.

There are no charging sites on the Indiana Toll Road. So you have to get off in South Bend to charge at a mall. First charge was at 7:30 in the morning. Nobody there so I decided to hit the 350kW charger. Best I saw was 109kW and it quickly tapered off to upper 70's. Back in June it was the same. Plugshare is full of complaints.

On the way back I tried the chargers at the mall in Skokie Ill. 6 stations. They were derated in June and nothing has changed. Had to wait in line to get a spot. Best I could get was 39kW. Decided to try a station in Lincolnwood.

3 chargers in Lincolnwood. All 3 are 350kW. 1 had a parked, locked VW sitting at 100%, the second had a Bolt charging and the third had a faded "fix me" sign taped to it. App shows that it's available. Customer service is no help. Plugshare full of complaints.

I go over to the Fashion Outlet mall next to O'Hare. 6 stations. 1 is unavailable, 1 had a Lucid at 100%, 1 had a Rivian at 100% and 1 had a Tesla owner who couldn't figure out how to charge her car. Being the nice guy I am, after I finally get mine charging after waiting 15 minutes in line, come to find out she lives close. She didn't really need to charge. She just didn't want to go home at 33%. When I said she had access to the gold standard of charging, the Tesla network, she said this was where her navigation took her. She gave up and went home.

I had to stop again in South Bend in the way back. This time, in addition to the show charging, there were the usual suspects of Locals charging their vehicles because they came with free charging. And since it's free, they're going to 100% no matter how long the line is. I assume they do this all the time because 3 drivers are taking to one another while everybody in line has to use the 4th charger. I got just enough to get to a station on the Ohio Turnpike, where I had no issues.

All in all, a 10 hour trip in an ICE vehicle took me 14 hours. I should have been able to do it in 12 if the charging infrastructure was there. All along the Indiana Turnpike were rows and rows of Superchargers I couldn't use. And Plugshare is full of complaints of the Electrify America stations I had to use. They have been there for months and nothing is being addressed.

Electrify America doesn't care because they don't have to. And it's getting worse with the local people charging their vehicles instead of doing it at home. Thankfully, I shouldn't have to make this trip again. Between the terrible charging infrastructure and the horrible traffic, I hope to never go back to Chicago again.

I looked at pug share reviews. I didn't even attempt to use ea at the south bend mall. I used a chargepoint just south of there at a car dealership. Having a standard range truck sucks for road trips.

 

[On the Road with Ralph]

Having a standard range truck sucks for road trips.

I have a standard range Pro. In my six months of ownership, I have made seven trips longer than 500 miles and two longer than 1500 miles. And I will be off on another 1500+ mile trip at the end of this week. I love my Lightning for road trips - its quiet ride, interior room and nice handling make it a joy. But I am a former pilot, so I am accustomed to doing route planning and am keenly aware - particularly on VFR flights - that weather and other changing conditions often lead to Plan B. I am ok with that. So I don't blame it on the truck when ElectrifyAmerica's incredibly crappy charging network lets me down.

 

[gorwell]

On one hand, without EA, none of us would consider a road trip.

On the other hand, how is it getting worse? I'm planning the same Sacramento to LA trip I did last year for next month and looking at the route I took last year, I have next to zero confidence I'll be able to charge smoothly. Last year I drove my Ioniq 5 , so I didn't really have to think much about charging as a "slow" session would still be 20-30 minutes. But a bad session in the standard range lightning is going to be annoying.

Seems like on average 1 charger is down, 1 charger at 50kw, 1 charger barely working but says fine in EA app, 1 charger working fine which is likely being used by the time I get there.

A charger stop in Bakersfield I've been eyeing looks like it's been derated at 50kw all year. . . I gave EA some leeway last year due to supply chain issues, but this has become unacceptable.

In California, electrify America doesn't really need more chargers for the most part, they just need to work. Especially with only 4 connections per station, there's not a lot of room for error.

I guess I've succumbed to the can't wait for Tesla to open up their chargers crowd. And I only take 1 road trip a year on average.

I wouldn't recommend a non-tesla to anyone at this point.

 

[sotek2345]

Yeah, EA is just slowly getting worse (and EVgo isn't much better). Heck, the new EA stations seem to be even less reliable than the old ones!

 

[Maxx]

I have had total of 5 KWh DCFC charging this year. All home charging at 30 KW and lower. I am not as adventurous as I used to be and planning to wait for superchargers to open before getting on the road with my standard pack battery. I may take some trips on main highways in east coast but the trips I usually go on depends on EA stations with 3 fast Chargers with bad reviews. For now I take the ICE for trips over 300 miles.

 

[metroshot]

On one hand, without EA, none of us would consider a road trip.

On the other hand, how is it getting worse? I'm planning the same Sacramento to LA trip I did last year for next month and looking at the route I took last year, I have next to zero confidence I'll be able to charge smoothly. Last year I drove my Ioniq 5 , so I didn't really have to think much about charging as a "slow" session would still be 20-30 minutes. But a bad session in the standard range lightning is going to be annoying.

Seems like on average 1 charger is down, 1 charger at 50kw, 1 charger barely working but says fine in EA app, 1 charger working fine which is likely being used by the time I get there.

A charger stop in Bakersfield I've been eyeing looks like it's been derated at 50kw all year. . . I gave EA some leeway last year due to supply chain issues, but this has become unacceptable.

In California, electrify America doesn't really need more chargers for the most part, they just need to work. Especially with only 4 connections per station, there's not a lot of room for error.

I guess I've succumbed to the can't wait for Tesla to open up their chargers crowd. And I only take 1 road trip a year on average.

I wouldn't recommend a non-tesla to anyone at this point.

For road trips, yes EA is better from the freeway view; but for local charging - they are a nightmare.

Way too many people waiting in line at the malls and local EA chargers because of their agreement for free charging for X number of years.

I can't even get to a charger without waiting at least half an hour or more on local EA chargers.

I stopped going to EA and switched over the EVGo.

EVGo Autocharge+ is the best - no lines - no waiting - accurate app charger updates - reservations - super fast simultaneous chargers (both cords on a station can be used) - and price is the best!

 

[Yellow Buddy]

For road trips, yes EA is better from the freeway view; but for local charging - they are a nightmare.

Way too many people waiting in line at the malls and local EA chargers because of their agreement for free charging for X number of years.

I can't even get to a charger without waiting at least half an hour or more on local EA chargers.

I stopped going to EA and switched over the EVGo.

EVGo Autocharge+ is the best - no lines - no waiting - accurate app charger updates - reservations - super fast simultaneous chargers (both cords on a station can be used) - and price is the best!

Everytime I’ve tried to use an EVGo 200KW, it tops out at 60KW as well. PlugShare seems to state the same at the ones by me.

I’ve started using Circle K chargers which seem pretty good. They have trouble holding peak, but they hit peak consistently.

My favorite so far has been FPL chargers. It’s a curbside Charger, which worked great for my camper. I also sustained a much higher charging rate than I typically do on an EA, never dropping below 125KW up until 80%.

 

[metroshot]

Everytime I’ve tried to use an EVGo 200KW, it tops out at 60KW as well. PlugShare seems to state the same at the ones by me.

I’ve started using Circle K chargers which seem pretty good. They have trouble holding peak, but they hit peak consistently.

My favorite so far has been FPL chargers. It’s a curbside Charger, which worked great for my camper. I also sustained a much higher charging rate than I typically do on an EA, never dropping below 125KW up until 80%.

Guess EVGo in California are much better than elsewhere in the country that I have been reading.

I use their 100kW for when I need time to shop and their 350kW when I don't need to shop and will wait for the charge.

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