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Electrify America “fries” EVs at charging stations

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Re: Electrify America “fries” EVs at charging stations

#71

Post by natch »

bdcravens wrote: post #60
jackmott42 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All you have to do to avoid the FSD safety issues is spend $10,000 less dollars and not get it. Also I wouldn't count on the CEOs of Hyundai/Ford being less gross than Elon, they just tweet less, which is good.

Phantom braking doesn't require FSD.

Don’t use autopilot, problem solved.

And… in any case stay engaged while driving so that you can be ready to touch the accelerator gently if it happens, to counteract it.

The purpose of autopilot is not to allow you to disengage from the responsibility to monitor the road situation.

I’m not saying I love phantom braking though. It’s gotten much better except in some beta versions.

Re: Electrify America “fries” EVs at charging stations

#72

Post by barbazoo »

Kirby64 wrote: post #39
cptcobalt wrote: post #21

Electrify America is getting far too much money and is using it to effectively anti-sell EVs with their janky, broken, and insecure infrastructure. Their funding comes from government subsidies and traditional automakers making reparations for emissions scandals (Volkswagen, $2B). This network is basically being built out of malicious compliance, without reasonable desires to make it good and reliable... My mind will…

Really seems like perverse incentives to me... EA was created due to the VW scandal, and they were forced to spend this money this way. Except, VW's bread and butter is still gas cars. They're not incentivized to herald EVs at all; if anything, they'd prefer it to go as slowly as possible so they can continue to make money off their gas fleet.

Right now, sure but doesn't seem to be their strategy long term. Why would they purposefully sabotage that as you're suggesting?

https://www.volkswagen-newsroom.com/en/strategy-3912

Re: Electrify America “fries” EVs at charging stations

#74

Post by natch »

helf wrote: post #54
tapoxi wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have a pretty poor safety record with regard to Autopilot/FSD, not to mention way too many controls are behind a tablet interface that you should not look at while driving. It also implies I'm endorsing Musk and I'd be embarrassed to drive it. I'd much rather take the pain of CCS with the hope that the infrastructure bill smooths things out or grants supercharger access to CCS vehicles.

The safety crap with Teslas is one of my main gripes.. No haptic feedback /capacitive/ turn signals etc? wtf?

Can you explain what you mean by capacitive in this context?

Re: Electrify America “fries” EVs at charging stations

#75

Post by foxyv »

jeffbee wrote: post #38
foxyv wrote: post #2

Looking forward to a teardown of an EA charger by someone familiar with power circuits. I wonder if they are shorting primary to secondary and getting 2400V AC straight into their car battery... Probably welding the plug to the car too.

The charging stations near me are built with the AC-DC converters in one set of cabinets and the dispensers in separate cabinets. The dispensers don't seem to have any AC power available to fault into the car.

This is purely speculation because we don't have the chargers to tear down. There could be a fault in the transformer, pushing a couple kilovolts AC into the power rectifier and shorting it, then pushing it straight into the dispenser and the car. However, for all we know it's the cars that are shorting themselves and taking 400 volts at full amperage and dying before the dispenser blows a breaker. I wouldn't be surprised if the cause was a battery fault either.

This is why I would love to see a tear down. What type of battery fault prevention is in an EA charger? What kind of step down system? Do they use a battery as a buffer? Just plain curious.

Re: Electrify America “fries” EVs at charging stations

#76

Post by jackmott42 »

bdcravens wrote: post #60
jackmott42 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All you have to do to avoid the FSD safety issues is spend $10,000 less dollars and not get it. Also I wouldn't count on the CEOs of Hyundai/Ford being less gross than Elon, they just tweet less, which is good.

Phantom braking doesn't require FSD.

That is true, in my opinion the cruise control on Teslas is just not usable, and for some that is a deal breaker.

Re: Electrify America “fries” EVs at charging stations

#77

Post by waffletower »

tapoxi wrote: post #8

I will never buy a Tesla, but the CCS network is pretty garbage in the U.S. right now. EA regularly has outages, their newer models (which I have not used) fry vehicles or fail in cold weather, I've only heard bad things about EVGo but never used them. Fortunately I stick to home (Metro Boston) and haven't had any serious problems with ChargePoint stations heading up to Mount Desert Island in Maine, the farthest trip…

I thought I didn't want to buy another Tesla myself, but I have encountered so many issues with other networks over many years of driving a Nissan Leaf, and seeing this reinforces Tesla's charging network supremacy. The Tesla chargers have been incredibly reliable. Just don't turn autopilot on when you are back on the road.

Re: Electrify America “fries” EVs at charging stations

#78

Post by rootusrootus »

rstupek wrote: post #52
tapoxi wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have a pretty poor safety record with regard to Autopilot/FSD, not to mention way too many controls are behind a tablet interface that you should not look at while driving. It also implies I'm endorsing Musk and I'd be embarrassed to drive it. I'd much rather take the pain of CCS with the hope that the infrastructure bill smooths things out or grants supercharger access to CCS vehicles.

Which controls are behind a tablet interface that you'd need to use while driving? Have you driven a Tesla? The controls you'd need while driving (audio, climate) are on the steering wheel. You don't have to look at the tablet.

Most commonly the wipers, unless you 1) live in a place with just the right type of rain (PNW is not this place), or 2) you're okay just using the button on the stalk to manually trigger the wipers.

Then there's music. God help you if you want to use Apple Music while driving. Just don't, you'll get someone killed. Pull over first and then you can spend the time necessary to navigate the UI. No, don't say 'use voice controls' because they really are terrible for this use case. Might as well just turn off the music.

Climate control is another fairly common one. Someone wants their seat warmer on. Find the button (at least it's always on screen in a predictable location), then navigate to the tab for the back seats, then click on the graphical picture of the car however many times it takes to get the heat level you want.

And that's just the 'while driving' list.

Re: Electrify America “fries” EVs at charging stations

#79

Post by jackmott42 »

helf wrote: post #54
tapoxi wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have a pretty poor safety record with regard to Autopilot/FSD, not to mention way too many controls are behind a tablet interface that you should not look at while driving. It also implies I'm endorsing Musk and I'd be embarrassed to drive it. I'd much rather take the pain of CCS with the hope that the infrastructure bill smooths things out or grants supercharger access to CCS vehicles.

The safety crap with Teslas is one of my main gripes.. No haptic feedback /capacitive/ turn signals etc? wtf?

Turn signals use a stalk like any other car. Same for wipers, and much can be controlled with nice physical buttons on the steering wheel. Unless you have one of the new model S or X, in which case.. yikes

Re: Electrify America “fries” EVs at charging stations

#80

Post by notacoward »

My first thought that one side or the other is failing to follow some part of the charging standard and it's hard to tell which. Then I saw that it has happened with Rivian and Ford and Chevy vehicles, so it's pretty clearly on the charger side. Never used EA and now I suspect I never will. They're just evil or incompetent or both. I had initial issues with billing on EVgo but otherwise they've been fine, and I've never had much problem with Chargepoint (except for rarity of compatible L3). That plus L2 at home has been quite sufficient.
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