Electrify America Network

[WetEV]

4211 Camino De La Plaza
San Diego, CA 92173

 

[WetEV]

25 East Maint Street
Green River, UT 84525

Fills in a big gap.

1915 SOUTH STATE STREET
Salina, UT 84654

 

[GRA]

25 East Maint Street
Green River, UT 84525

Fills in a big gap.

1915 SOUTH STATE STREET
Salina, UT 84654

^^^Indeed. Back in comms briefly before heading out again, but there's finally a complete transcontinental EA route, that joins the west coast across the Rockies to the east. Or two, if you like. From E-W: I-70 (or I-80/76/70) to I-15 to SoCal, plus I-84 to the PNW.

Meanwhile, the only direct route, I-10, still awaits the much delayed Quartzsite, AZ, or Dateland on I-8, and there's still not even a Coming soon site on I-80 to close the gap between Elko and SLC.

 

[salyavin]

Caught an article about EA completing two cross country routes.
https://electrek.co/2020/06/24/electrify-america-completes-fast-charging-cross-country-route/

I just love the options this gives EV drivers.

 

[WetEV]

5929 Georgia Ave NW
Washington, DC 20011

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Caught an article about EA completing two cross country routes.
https://electrek.co/2020/06/24/electrify-america-completes-fast-charging-cross-country-route/

I just love the options this gives EV drivers.

I was supposed to be on day one of a trip crossing the Cascades to Spokane, down to Bend OR and back up the Oregon Coast. But 40% of the EA chademo's I had planned to check out were recently confirmed as broken (some not so recent!) with no good check ins or comments from EA other than to acknowledge they are down so that was one reason I am heading to another trip instead.

 

[salyavin]

Thank you for that DaveinOlyWA. Disappointing as EA stations are not so old unlike some others out there. I guess Voltzwagon was ordered to build the charging network maybe not as interested in maintaining it especially for non CCS ports. I hope they do repair them as I find EA so useful on road trips. EvGO for example seems to cluster around cities but they don't string off down the interstate like EA does. I'm happy to use any combination of fast chargers that has a compatible connector and works.

It is also a good reminder to check all charging stations on your route before you leave to make sure you have enough working fast chargers to succeed.

Oh yea did you try calling them even if you are not going on the trip? I called EA once and they seemed friendly but it was not for a broken station so I am curious if that helps get their attention.

 

[DougWantsALeaf]

I have noticed that EA has accelerated the speed to fix the Chademo stations....that doesn't help though if you are relying on that one charger and its not working on that day. EVGo stations by us seem to be much more reliable, though still all 50KW stations. If I had to risk a stop and had 1 EVGo and 1 EA station to pick between, I would go EVGO even though it would be a 45KW charging session vs. the possible 75+ at EA.

Even though I know Chademo isn't EA's model, given the large Tesla crowd, from a financial perspective, if they had put 2 Chademo's an a adapter at each station, I think they could draw in much more traffic.

 

[salyavin]

Be more than happy to use EvGo it's just they don't seem built for long distance road trips like EA is so they huddle around cities of a certain size in my experience. I'd love to see EvGo, Chargepoint or even Shell (who uses greenworks stuff I think) build out for road trips. Around town I can just charge at home or the office, it is road trips I am desperate for DC fast charging so I can keep going. That is the main thing I like EA for, the one good thing that came out of diesel gate, better road trip options.

 

[GRA]

The reason only EA is covering rural sections of interstates and U.S./state highways is simple - they're forced to.

As QCs aren't profitable in general, charging companies which are trying to make a profit only build them in areas where there are lots of BEVs and where they're likely to see heavy usage by locals, or on the few heavily used routes. The national networks covering lightly traveled rural areas, Tesla and EA, build them as a marketing expense or for compliance with the terms of the legal settlement for VW's emissions cheating, respectively. Neither was required to be profitable, although it's certainly hoped that they will be at some point.

 

[salyavin]

I am certain you are correct GRA. No way would EA have built out unless they were forced to. I do wonder about how DCFC is profitable in cities, perhaps apartment dwellers use them but if we could give them quick chargers in parking spots so they could charge over night that would be even better I think. The range of the Plus and so many other EVs is large enough now you typically only need to charge at home or office and on road trips is my viewpoint. People with lower range EVs may still need to DCFC around town but I think those will fade away. Am I wrong to think that? Even with their history I want EA to succeed for the sake of EV adoption ie road trip anxiety fades, it can be the only car a person has. Still no alternate chargers in many cases so we can sure still get into trouble or stuck at a QC for hours.

 

[DougWantsALeaf]

The EA Ogalala NE station is showing up as CCS only. It used to have a Chademo. Any one know what happened there?

 

[salyavin]

I see what you mean, I see the same thing. I see your comment on plugshare. Notice the last checkin an audi saying nothing is working. may need to give them a call. How on earth did you catch that? Planning a road trip through there?

 

[DougWantsALeaf]

I live in Chicago area and lots of family in Denver/Pueblo. Iowa/Nebraska are key DC availability states.

The good news is that both have state programs and have a secondary layer of DC charging going in with Greenlots and other charging systems...except for western Nebraska. There it is still only EA.

I have created a support ticket with EA.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

The EA Ogalala NE station is showing up as CCS only. It used to have a Chademo. Any one know what happened there?

Likely just inaccurate. Chademo is there but could simply be non functioning. EA "used" to be quite verbal about updates on plugshare especially after their CEO made it a point that he read ALL the Plugshare comments but that seems to have faded quite a bit.

Now we have reported stations down w/o EA confirmation they know about the issue and in some cases, repairs completed w/o EA announcements on PS.

In other news; I hit 192 amps @ EA Kelso. The batt temps were low 80's and now wondering where Rapidgate starts. In the sessions I have now, its obvious the curve is higher than an otherwise identical session on a 125 amp machine. (Higher charge rate at similar SOC)

I was expecting 200 but the ramp down after the knee was much gentler than I was expecting making me think my initial charge rate is temperature controlled.

 

[salyavin]

Thing is that station showed 0 Chademo on the electrify America web site as well which I checked just before I checked plugshare. I suspect it is there and just needs to be repaired as you say. Based on the plugshare audi report I think there must be a CCS problem too even though they show fine.

 

[DougWantsALeaf]

Magically, that Chademo is appearing again today. So guessing it was out for repair or something.

What was the charging rate when you hit 192 amps? Did you break 80 kilowatts.

 

[DougWantsALeaf]

And the Chademo is gone again.

I love the Leaf gets the photo op for this EA article.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.businessinsider.com/electrify-america-finished-its-first-cross-country-ev-charging-route-2020-6%3famp

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Magically, that Chademo is appearing again today. So guessing it was out for repair or something.

What was the charging rate when you hit 192 amps? Did you break 80 kilowatts.

80 KW isn't possible as I see it. KW shouldn't be the focus anyway. Amps are. Highest I have seen has been 200 amps. Considering ramp down curves, I would have to see much higher current to hit 80 KW and that would be very briefly. I did hit 191 amps yesterday with pack temps starting at 87.0/88.6/90.2º though. But knee was only like 45% SOC.

I charged 13 m 2 s, got 14.5 kwh (16.2 cents/kwh) and batts heated up 20-21.6º in that time. OAT upper 80's. No shade in North Bend!

 

[DougWantsALeaf]

So is 200 Amps the highest the leaf can take? I know there aren’t really any chargers out there to support that, though I feel like there are more and more places that will let the Leaf charge in the 70-75 (KW)range.