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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

#71

Post by monero-xmr »

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.

Yes and they can apply for a get all those sweet tax credits and benefits. Actually delivering the product is secondary

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

#72

Post by yummypaint »

Eggpants wrote: post #68

What I don’t understand is why car dealerships haven’t jumped at this opportunity by giving up some parking spots for charging stations. They already have a lounge areas, have displayed cars for folks to consider, and many have some kind of snack bar. Add a cut of the charging fee and you a consistent revenue stream.

Many in my area already have. They have the closest free level 3 charger. I have no doubt ill be paying them a visit soon.

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

#73

Post by jstarfish »

Eggpants wrote: post #68

What I don’t understand is why car dealerships haven’t jumped at this opportunity by giving up some parking spots for charging stations. They already have a lounge areas, have displayed cars for folks to consider, and many have some kind of snack bar. Add a cut of the charging fee and you a consistent revenue stream.

You missed the most insidious part-- the captive audience envious of all those newer, nicer cars than their own. It sells itself.

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

#74

Post by Analemma_ »

Eggpants wrote: post #68

What I don’t understand is why car dealerships haven’t jumped at this opportunity by giving up some parking spots for charging stations. They already have a lounge areas, have displayed cars for folks to consider, and many have some kind of snack bar. Add a cut of the charging fee and you a consistent revenue stream.

IME car dealerships generally aren't located in areas you actually want to go. A lot of them are in the "unwalkable suburban strip mall hell" part of town, and they're also closely clustered together. It makes no sense for them to be a charging destination. Besides, a person who just bought a new EV is possibly the least likely person to get lured into a purchase in your showroom.

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

#75

Post by BlueTemplar »

tokai wrote: post #15
hn_version_0023 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

And then what, try to electrocute the law enforcement somehow when they come in to unblock it ?

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

#76

Post by yummypaint »

julienchastang wrote: post #63

Happy EV owner here (Nissan Leaf), but I can confirm the charging network is a disaster: - Hard to use charging interfaces where you have to arrive to the station with an account already set up. Why can't you simply use your credit card like you do at a gas station?! (The article addresses this, but still…) - Spotty density (sometimes near, sometimes far) of charging stations. - Unreliable charging stations where you…

I also have a leaf and use it for 90% of household driving. As long as there is a second ICE vehicle available there are never any worries about capacity or charging. Even charging overnight off 120V is sufficient since i dont do much late night driving.

It's easy for people who havent lived with an electric to forget about home charging as there is no gasoline equivalent. I think we need more infrastructure to make chargers available to people without off-street parking. Many of these chargers could also be publically available. We need more public-private partnerships or companies who are willing to take on the risk of mass installing chargers.

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

#77

Post by tw04 »

parineum wrote: post #45
nathanaldensr wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The problem really is the companies. EA essentially rushed their product out the door knowingly with substandard (both in quality and actual standardization) that's led to their issues. They are simply not built to last and their bespokeness leads them to be difficult to repair. This isn't a case of oversimplifying, especially considering we can look across the street at a company who is doing exactly what we're aski…

You do realize EA isn’t making their own chargers, and sources their chargers from multiple vendors, right?

https://media.electrifyamerica.com/en-us/releases/21

> Reston, VA (April 17, 2018) – Electrify America announced today it has selected key charging equipment suppliers – ABB, BTC Power, Efacec and Signet – to jointly deploy its new ultra-fast electric vehicle (EV) charging systems throughout the United States.

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

#78

Post by stephenr »

nathanaldensr wrote: post #44
xrd wrote: post #23

A few months back I had to go to Palm Beach for work. It was right when Miami was flooding. That's over two hours away. But, the Port Everglades, which is where the tankers unload, was flooded too, and even up in Palm Beach there was no gas. I drove in there with low fuel, thinking it wouldn't be an issue since I was so far north. But, then couldn't find gas at all the next day, and driving around and seeing tons of…

I guess, downvoted because you dared share an anecdote about how vulnerable EVs are in certain circumstances? It seems like people will have to relearn the hard way just why gasoline is probably the best energy storage medium ever invented.

Did you miss the part where they said they also couldn't find any dinosaur juice either?

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

#79

Post by Symbiote »

david422 wrote: post #55

I have an electric vehicle that I charge in my garage. One day that charger broke and I had to charge at other locations for several weeks. There are very few fast chargers in my area. When they were not in use, some were broken. This leaves a pretty big dilemma: My car is low on juice, where do I go? By the time I actually get to an unused charger, it might be taken, or it might be broken. As long as it's not broken…

If it's in your garage, can't you just plug it in to a normal outlet?

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

#80

Post by jonpurdy »

jeffbee wrote: post #31
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.

From my understanding, the Bolt corrected the issue (which made it even worse for my Spark since there was no desire to fix the chargers to work around the issue).
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