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I visited over 120 EV chargers: why so many were broken

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Re: I visited over 120 EV chargers: why so many were broken

#11

And in the over 100 Tesla chargers I have visited, I think maybe 1 was broken and not labeled. Good news is Tesla standard is coming to most car brands. Bad news is it's not here yet.

Allowing other brands to charge at Tesla stations will probably have some impact.

Changing to the Tesla connector on other stations will most emphatically not.

Re: I visited over 120 EV chargers: why so many were broken

#12
The main thing about these chargers is that nobody is monitoring them. At a gas station, an attendant is usually less than 20 feet away, and if anyone has a problem, they come talk to that person immediately. That attendant usually can't fix the problem on their own, but they can take steps to get it fixed quickly.

By contrast, electric charging stations are typically at the far end of a vast sea of parking. There's nothing, and nobody around, so vandals take advantage, and even when they don't, things just break and there's nobody around to tell about it.

And the whole payment scheme is ridiculous. Imagine a gas station that didn't accept cash, or that you needed an app to pay for. Again, the main problem is that there's nobody around to account for when things go wrong.

Re: I visited over 120 EV chargers: why so many were broken

#13
post #8

And in the over 100 Tesla chargers I have visited, I think maybe 1 was broken and not labeled. Good news is Tesla standard is coming to most car brands. Bad news is it's not here yet.

What do you mean the Tesla standard is coming to most brands? I was under the impression that Tesla is introducing new stations that have CCS chargers. Either with multiple cables or an adapter. You start the station using the Tesla mobile app. It’s in beta available in certain locations

You're like 1 year behind the news. Last year Tesla was adding CCS chargers. They have like 5 now. This year, Ford and others promised to use Tesla plugs on their vehicles and Tesla promised to open their network to other manufactures. "Old" CCS vehicles will use CCS-Tesla adapters.

Re: I visited over 120 EV chargers: why so many were broken

#14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Relying on a single company seems like bad news to me. Imagine if your car could only refuel at Chevron stations. I get it that other charging networks also have the NACS connector. But if the argument is that they are unrealiable and people shouldn't bother, then Tesla will be the only game in town.

Seriously, especially with Tesla! I'm imagining a scenario where this becomes the standard and then Elon decides to charge everyone $2.99 per-use or some such nonsense. That's entirely in-character for Mr. Musk.

EVGo already charges a $3.99 session fee. I made the mistake of topping up a EV rental without reading the fine print.

BTW, Tesla charges $12.99/mo for access to the SuperCharger network for non-Tesla brands. The $/kW rate is pretty competitive and just .05-.10 higher than the residential depending on time of day.

Re: I visited over 120 EV chargers: why so many were broken

#15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Relying on a single company seems like bad news to me. Imagine if your car could only refuel at Chevron stations. I get it that other charging networks also have the NACS connector. But if the argument is that they are unrealiable and people shouldn't bother, then Tesla will be the only game in town.

Seriously, especially with Tesla! I'm imagining a scenario where this becomes the standard and then Elon decides to charge everyone $2.99 per-use or some such nonsense. That's entirely in-character for Mr. Musk.

Or just block charging in a whole country because he got owned on twitter.

Re: I visited over 120 EV chargers: why so many were broken

#17
I had a Spark EV with CCS connector and charged around the Bay Area many times. Apparently my model of car had design issues with the connector and half the time I'd have to try a different charging station. I mostly charged at home but this was annoying when doing local road trips.

Currently renting an Ioniq 5 in Florida (cost barely more than a petrol vehicle). Aside from a lack of L3 chargers near Indian Shores, the closest Electrify America near me was perpetually busy and one of the chargers was out of commission. Edit: the L2 chargers nearby require an app, need a payment method added, and require minimum top-ups (waste of money for a rental). And the closest one near me is out of commission anyway.

Compare this to my anecdotal Tesla situation: rented a Model 3 a couple of years ago and every time I'd plug in it would work perfectly (and no need to authenticate or deal with payment).

I love driving EVs but the fast charging situation must be rectified. My old Spark would only do 130 km on a charge and this new Ioniq does 450 km, so less of an issue. But for road trips, messing around with unreliable chargers is a non-starter for a lot of folks.

(archive.is doesn't show full article but MSN does: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/i-visited-over-120...)

Re: I visited over 120 EV chargers: why so many were broken

#18

The main thing about these chargers is that nobody is monitoring them. At a gas station, an attendant is usually less than 20 feet away, and if anyone has a problem, they come talk to that person immediately. That attendant usually can't fix the problem on their own, but they can take steps to get it fixed quickly. By contrast, electric charging stations are typically at the far end of a vast sea of parking. There's…

The systems definitely have a method to communicate for payments, they should add a button to report issues with charger. Of course it's ripe for the button being pressed randomly, but I'm sure there's a smart person that can automate the messages received to catch that. But at least it would provide a possible mechanism to have frustrated users report these unattended units

Re: I visited over 120 EV chargers: why so many were broken

#19

And in the over 100 Tesla chargers I have visited, I think maybe 1 was broken and not labeled. Good news is Tesla standard is coming to most car brands. Bad news is it's not here yet.

Relying on a single company seems like bad news to me. Imagine if your car could only refuel at Chevron stations. I get it that other charging networks also have the NACS connector. But if the argument is that they are unrealiable and people shouldn't bother, then Tesla will be the only game in town.

This gets at the core as to why I've not (yet) bought an EV - it's absolutely insane that my car purchase dictates the people I have to associate with for refueling. As you point out - I would never buy a car having the stipulation I could only refuel at Chevron stations.

I'll stick with my dino juice so long as Tesla is the only viable option available for recharging. I'd think about getting an EV for a local commuter car where I can always charge at home, but they're still too expensive for that - though that should change as the used EV market becomes more developed and mature.

Re: I visited over 120 EV chargers: why so many were broken

#20
post #9
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean the Tesla standard is coming to most brands? I was under the impression that Tesla is introducing new stations that have CCS chargers. Either with multiple cables or an adapter. You start the station using the Tesla mobile app. It’s in beta available in certain locations

In Europe, yes. In, fact, European Teslas all come with CCS connectors now. In the USA, though, nearly every major vehicle manufacturer has announced a transition to NACS, the Tesla connector standard.

To be more precise, NACS uses the Tesla physical connector but the CCS signalling protocol.

In consequence:

1: Cars with CCS Type 1 connectors can use a dumb physical adapter to connect to a NACS charger.

2: Older Tesla's (prior to ~2020 depending on model) need a $400 retrofit to be able to charge at non-Tesla NACS chargers. (The $400 retrofit includes a CCS Type 1 adapter, so it might eventually be cheaper without it).

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