Electrify America CEO (elect) took a cross-country road trip using EA chargers only

[Zprime29]

Article from Electrek which has a link to the video. I skimmed the article and haven't watched the video yet but it appears to be encouraging.

https://electrek.co/2023/05/02/electrify-america-road-trip/

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[CRAIGC540]

He had a really good trip..

 

[Maxx]

I assume he had announced his path and schedule ahead of time to the employees that may want to keep their jobs.

 

[F150ROD]

I assume the advance party had the route he was taking….. you know, so everything turned out flawless

 

[Replika]

They showed some issues (down chargers, slow rates, glitched software), but overall a far better trip than I could have expected based on past experience.

 

[Zprime29]

I'd like to believe an intelligent CEO would not want to be deceived. It's no small secret that they have problems and I would want to know the truth vs get a false impression.

Just watched it, he did hit a couple snags like the article mentioned. Was nice that he admitted that the system isn't perfect. However, is a missed opportunity in my opinion. He should have chosen a route that has bad reviews and showcased that they are fully aware of and actively working to improve the situation. It will be interesting to see how/if things change as he takes over.

 

[TaxmanHog]

The plan to address the issues

 

[Maxx]

I'd like to believe an intelligent CEO would not want to be deceived. It's no small secret that they have problems and I would want to know the truth vs get a false impression.

I have no doubt he knew the truth before the trip. It was probably discussed in details in his job interview. We are talking about telling the truth here.

 

[Pioneer74]

He went to the Girard, OH and Bedford PA sites, so he had to encounter problems. Last time I went that route there were 2 chargers down at each location. And the Sheffield, OH site was closed last time I wanted to use it. Now Plugshare only shows one unit out of order, so they made progress there

 

[Bills R Electric]

I'd like to believe an intelligent CEO would not want to be deceived. It's no small secret that they have problems and I would want to know the truth vs get a false impression.

Just watched it, he did hit a couple snags like the article mentioned. Was nice that he admitted that the system isn't perfect. However, is a missed opportunity in my opinion. He should have chosen a route that has bad reviews and showcased that they are fully aware of and actively working to improve the situation. It will be interesting to see how/if things change as he takes over.

He should have tried driving from Buffalo NY, thru Central Pennslyvania and into rural Maryland. (which does not go through Dubois, PA....)

Finding an EV station along that route is like finding the loch ness monster. AND if the PODS are out out of order, you are SOL.

 

[davehu]

2800 miles in 7 day. 400 miles per day. With ICE vehicles 400 miles/day is about what we plan for. with rest and gas stops that usually works out to 8-9 hours a day. adding stops for charging I'm guessing he was in the car for 10-12 hours each day. Whew... for far younger men than me. But I'm impressed that he did that. Leadership starts with setting an example and understanding what your customers experience is. Now let's see a plan in action to fix EA's problems.

 

[BoomerRocco]

It seemed like a pretty fair video actually. They even showed one station where the software failed and just had a Windows screen - he called customer support like anybody else to get it reset remotely. I would have liked to see some of the conversations with customers who hopefully gave him uncensored feedback.

Like others have said, that's a pretty rough trip with some long days. I appreciate the straightforward exercise without the theatrics of a youtuber.

I'm hope EA is able to continue strong investment in more and better stations.

 

[Nikos]

Hello folks.
Mr Barrosa needs to take more trips in other parts of our country. I am an EA customer, Pass+ also. My recent experiences with the EA network were disappointed.
First the supposedly updated some of their station to the HyperCharge level.
Well those changes bumped those stations into the HypoCharge level. 83KW steady charge level is not what you will expect on your road trips. The 150KW stations down to 50KW range.
On Easter weekend they decided to run software updates. Every station in my route was pushed down to 50KW.
My recent trip, (4)four days ago, towing my camper, I had a bit of miserable time charging. Columbia SC location had 3 chargers down. All of them had been called out for maintenance. One of them for more than 15 days.
The Florence SC location, all the chargers were degraded. EVs from Ford, Kia, Mercedes, Rivian and VW were waiting for a charge. Painfully slow for some of us.
A network that is, at this time, inadequate.
The most interesting thing though is that around the corner or nearby, Tesla has a 10-12 stalls facilities.
As objective and partisan as I want to be, EA is in a serious disadvantage. It almost seems that EA is a compliant company to satisfy regulators of the stiff fines VW had to pay for their Diesel Green vehicles.
Already every location they have build across the country is in need of a quick expansion. EVs hitting the roads in greater numbers than the existing networks can handle, EXCEPT Tesla's.
That reality will leave a bad taste in most peoples mouths about owning an EV.
EA wants to be and play with the big dogs, it has to act like the big dog. Nowhere close to that reality. In the meantime, we are stuck with EA until Tesla's network is and becomes fully open to all EV. The last statement may never become a reality. Tesla needs to take care Tesla customers first. The more Tesla vehicles on the road, the less of an incentive Tesla has to open their network to anyone.
EA Customer Service phone calls are answered fairly quickly but they can't do anything to fix anything about the stations other than report them as inoperable.
No need to scream and yell at those people.
Mr Barrosa's work is cut out. A problematic, non fully functioning network.
I have send them couple emails stating my experiences on the road. Their feedback page is not functioning properly also.
How quickly would be able to tackle their problems and where, is to be seen. In 10 days, I will take my trip back home.
I kind of dread the idea that I might find all their chargers "inoperable" in one location, in Columbia SC.
Mr Barrosa's is inheriting a mess. The three top people of EA know what was going on, including Mr Barrosa. He is one of the top three people. So...I wish him luck in his new position. Hopefully things will turn around quick. Failure is not an option now. Moving at a snail's pace also is not acceptable either.
Will see.

 

[GunRack]

You know, I say the same thing everytime I use EV network too

"I'm ready to be done"

But to be fair, everything outside of Tesla's network is shit

 

[On the Road with Ralph]

Barrosa needs to take I-10 and stop at THE WORST CHARGING STATION IN AMERICA (relative to the need/demand) at Quartzsite, AZ. Somebody should lose their job over this facility (I use the term "facility" only in its most vague dictionary sense). On my last trip to Phoenix this EA site was COMPLETELY SHUT DOWN as I went east. On the return trip, only a couple of the chargers worked (and there are only four), and those that did work were deliberately throttled to 50kW±. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO EXCUSE FOR THIS DISASTER ON A MAJOR EV TRAVEL CORRIDOR!!! Meanwhile, across the highway at Quartzsite, Tesla is constructing its THIRD phase of a SuperCharger stop that currently has OVER 30 STALLS and will have OVER 80 when it is completed. By comparison, the ElectrifyAmerica stop looks like it is run by totally incompetent slumlords. Every manufacturer who has an agreement with EA - including Ford - should be refusing to pay EA anything until this hellhole is fixed, because it is the poster child for the media narrative that America's EV charging infrastructure sucks! And the sad thing is that EA knows better; its large solar canopy station at Baker is a great charging stop, and it should be the MINIMUM installation at Quartzsite.

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