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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

#31

Post by jeffbee »

jonpurdy wrote: post #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, t…

I wonder if the Spark shares that flaw with the Bolt EV. When Gig car share had a fleet of Bolts and an agreement with EVgo my experience was that the connections were dodgy and frequently the charging station would claim some kind of fault.

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

#32

Post by dpkirchner »

Qwertious wrote: post #22
taylodl wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 commut…

The funny thing is that electrical charging isn't fully standardized, but somehow hydrocarbons are.

They probably wouldn't be standardized if they didn't have to be. IMO this is a regulatory failure.

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

#33

Post by djbusby »

Qwertious wrote: post #22
taylodl wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 commut…

The funny thing is that electrical charging isn't fully standardized, but somehow hydrocarbons are.

Gas and Oil didn't start off as standardized (nothing does) - got there over time. I'm sure EV will get there - eventually. Needs a standards group like ASTM maybe.

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

#34

Post by galangalalgol »

Qwertious wrote: post #22
taylodl wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 commut…

The funny thing is that electrical charging isn't fully standardized, but somehow hydrocarbons are.

They aren't really, it is just that modern engines are incredibly tolerant of what you put in them. Some survey found that the different octane tanks get mis-filled a large portion of the time with other octanes or higher ethanol ratings. Even within an octane rating what is in there varies a lot. The changes needed to make a four stroke work on propane is very small. And an old diesel engine will run on almost any liquid that will burn but not evaporate at stp. The cars will get smarter and be able to do better with different voltages at some point.

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

#35

Post by nathanaldensr »

mayama wrote: post #24
brianwawok wrote: post #2

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.

The issue is maintaining already installed chargers. Lot of chargers are either physically broken or rated for low charging rate because something inside is broken. And no one fixing it in months. Changing the connector won't fix the issue when chargers are not fixed for months on end.

People, especially techie types here on HN, tend to simply forget or not know to begin with just how many service technicians and laborers are necessary to keep all this tech running.

Just because you can imagine it does not mean it's possible, folks.

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

#36

Post by AnotherGoodName »

mayama wrote: post #24
brianwawok wrote: post #2

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.

The issue is maintaining already installed chargers. Lot of chargers are either physically broken or rated for low charging rate because something inside is broken. And no one fixing it in months. Changing the connector won't fix the issue when chargers are not fixed for months on end.

The point is that you can use the well-maintained Tesla brand chargers with more cars.

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

#37

Post by AnotherGoodName »

galangalalgol wrote: post #34
Qwertious wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The funny thing is that electrical charging isn't fully standardized, but somehow hydrocarbons are.

They aren't really, it is just that modern engines are incredibly tolerant of what you put in them. Some survey found that the different octane tanks get mis-filled a large portion of the time with other octanes or higher ethanol ratings. Even within an octane rating what is in there varies a lot. The changes needed to make a four stroke work on propane is very small. And an old diesel engine will run on almost any l…

A lot of new cars are "Flex-fuel" and will take literally anything short of diesel. They just adjust timing to the octane rating.

In the bay area there's a lot of E85 fuel stations which are ~half the price per gallon (~$2.50) and work with these cars. Slightly less milage but the price difference more than makes up for it. If your car has the 'flex-fuel' sticker you may as well take the cheaper fuel imho.

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

#38

Post by parineum »

snapetom wrote: post #29
brianwawok wrote: post #2

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.

It's not the standard that made it reliable for you, it's the company that made/maintained the chargers. The vast majority of these companies are shitty, fly-by-night companies that can't scale up to maintain their network.

And the company that maintains those chargers uses that standard. We don't want the standard, we want the chargers that work.

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

#39

Post by m_fayer »

taylodl wrote: post #19
outworlder wrote: post #6

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.

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 commut…

I think a used Nissan Leaf from 2020 or so can be had for a reasonable price for this purpose right now. Depending where you are of course.

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

#40

Post by biomcgary »

brianwawok wrote: post #2

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.

Network effects drive Tesla sales. In this case, the network of chargers. I was a Tesla passenger for a short trip from Seattle to Vancouver and the charging at the Tesla "station" was quick and easy. Other stations were a roll of the dice and highly inconvenient.
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