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Electrify America “fries” EVs at charging stations

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Re: Electrify America “fries” EVs at charging stations

#91

Post by rootusrootus »

zdragnar wrote: post #9
danbr wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m somewhat surprised there aren’t more EV (DC) charging companies around. There are dozens of various oil companies who have their own gas stations (subsidized by the oil industry?). Why don’t we see more electric companies building their own charging networks as well?

Gas stations are usually franchises. Gas is sold on the thinnest of margins; it's the snacks inside the store and other things that actually generate a profit, and none of that but the franchise fee for the name actually goes to the oil company.

> Gas is sold on the thinnest of margins

While this is basically true, it's not that terrible. A pure gas station operates on about the same profit margin as a grocery store. Both fairly thin, but both are successful businesses.

Re: Electrify America “fries” EVs at charging stations

#92

Post by 1970-01-01 »

phkahler wrote: post #68

Worked in that industry for 2 years making big chargers. The electronic latch that locks the plug into the vehicle is IMHO the single stupidest (even dangerous) thing. Anything unexpected goes wrong and you can't unplug the cable and you are stranded. I have no idea why any vehicle manufacturer would put this on their car.

>Anything unexpected goes wrong and you can't unplug the cable and you are stranded

This isn't necessarily true. The EV manufacturer should have an emergency release cable somewhere.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1fSuYx2TS8

Re: Electrify America “fries” EVs at charging stations

#93

Post by waffletower »

jackmott42 wrote: post #76
bdcravens wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Phantom braking is a real issue that I have directly experienced, autopilot is terrible, but I disagree that cruise control is unusable. I have found Tesla's cruise control (without steering), which includes car distance maintenance and braking, to be extremely reliable. It can be problematic at low speeds, but less so than traditional cruise control which does not have sensor informed braking.

Re: Electrify America “fries” EVs at charging stations

#94

Post by rootusrootus »

macinjosh wrote: post #36

One often over looked aspect of EVs are their relative fragility compared to a ICE vehicle. I see it as an analog/digital divide. You can get an ICE to temporarily run with all sorts of deficits, incorrect inputs, or hacks. It will still kinda work. EVs are way more digital. If one thing in the chain breaks the bit flips to false and you're done until the tow truck comes and an expert with special, secret knowledge a…

Yes and no. An old school ICEV, sure. But having had my pickup up and die going across an intersection due to a failed part of the fuel injection system, I don't think it's safe to say modern ICEVs are more reliable than EVs in that regard. There's lots of things to go wrong which will shut you down just as instantly as a big failure in an EV.

Re: Electrify America “fries” EVs at charging stations

#95

Post by skellera »

_6hmp wrote: post #46
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…

I watched a cross-country trip review of a Volkswagen EV and one of the big takeaways was that despite funding Electrify America, the experience of using their chargers, even with a Volkswagen, was terrible at the time of review. Not only were the chargers often out of service or underpowered, you had to use some app on your phone where you type in the charger ID # to turn it on, instead of the car negotiating it.

My personal experience has been bad enough to not want to use it again.

First CCS cable I plugged in was broken or something because it would keep erroring out before charging. This is after 1+ min of using their app to connect to it each time (3 tries). Switched cables and it happened again on the first try. Tried again and it says it errored out again but starts charging. Obviously that is concerning but after 5+ mins of trying to get it started, I gave in. When I get back, my phone says it’s done and a $10 charge but the charger says $16. Check the app after and it says I was charged $16. Why is there such a significant discrepancy?

It’s such a backwards experience after using a supercharger where you just plug in and walk away.

Re: Electrify America “fries” EVs at charging stations

#96

Post by Mountain_Skies »

rsync wrote: post #64
russfink wrote: post #6

Gas pumps get periodic state issued inspections. Why not EV chargers?

"Gas pumps get periodic state issued inspections. Why not EV chargers?" From an infrastructure standpoint a gas pump (and related tubing, tanks, filters, nozzles, etc.) is quite a bit more complicated and fragile than a charging receptacle. A charging station really shouldn't be much more complicated than a streetlight, minus the UI and billing components. All of this to say: I don't know how often electric charge st…

Ensuring that the gas pump actually pumps out the amount of gas the customer is being charged for is something that shouldn't apply to EV chargers since the vehicle itself can monitor the amount of electricity it receives but there are safety issues that certainly need to be tested for and if government subsidies are being received, SLAs that should be enforced with verification.

Re: Electrify America “fries” EVs at charging stations

#97

Post by waffletower »

natch wrote: post #71
bdcravens wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I agree that phantom braking has "improved". The frequency of the occurrence has definitely decreased during my 2 years/18000 miles of driving my Model Y. But you have to drive with a consciousness that it can occur at any time, particularly when approaching curves or parked vehicles. Usually, an audio warning is given by the car instead -- which is a bit too frequent -- though I have not adjusted its configuration to a higher threshold.

Re: Electrify America “fries” EVs at charging stations

#98

Post by catketch »

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.

In terms of things cars typically have on the wheel/stalk, on the Tesla stalk can only invoke rinse or a quick wiper clearing -- you can't turn wipers on/off, change wiper speeds or turn on/off auto wipers from the stalk.

fog lights cannot be activated from the stalk

Also you say that climate is on the steering wheel ---- Where is that? Unless you are talking about being able to invoke the speech command, which is a bit different

Other things like defroster activation is more of an issue of tablet vs physical buttons / controls

Re: Electrify America “fries” EVs at charging stations

#99

Post by rootusrootus »

Kirby64 wrote: post #25
t344344 wrote: post #7

Some dirt in charging port may increase resistance between surfaces, create more heat and even arc. Ports probably got welded together.

Every DCFC system has temperature monitoring at the port, as well as voltage monitoring on both sides of the system (port and supply). If that voltage gets too big, it should disconnect/put itself into a fault condition. If the EA chargers are not doing this, this is a huge safety hazard. Given the report is a 'large bang', it doesn't seem to me to be a heat-based melting issue. Seems like a sudden short or surge of…

In my experience, both with Tesla and EA failures, that temperature monitoring at the handle may be the most common failure. Usually manifests as a 100A cap on charging speed.

My guess for the loud bang, based on when these reports first happened, is that it's the pyrofuse blowing. They're not quiet.

Re: Electrify America “fries” EVs at charging stations

#100

Post by thisarticle »

macinjosh wrote: post #36

One often over looked aspect of EVs are their relative fragility compared to a ICE vehicle. I see it as an analog/digital divide. You can get an ICE to temporarily run with all sorts of deficits, incorrect inputs, or hacks. It will still kinda work. EVs are way more digital. If one thing in the chain breaks the bit flips to false and you're done until the tow truck comes and an expert with special, secret knowledge a…

Ever have a fuel pump or starter go out?
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