garylai
Active member
I attempted to use the Aerovironment DC fast charger in Burlington, WA today at about noon. I do not have a subscription which is $20 a month since I do not use the network enough. Aerovironment makes you call their customer service to read your credit card over the phone to activate the charger if you do not have a subscription, they do not have pay-as-you-go cards or FOBs like Chargepoint or Blink. Unfortunately, I could not get through to customer service. I tried about 20 times over the course of an hour. Every time when it prompted me to hit "*" if I was by a charger or "1" for customer service or "2" for technical support, it would disconnect the call. It wasn't my phone because I called my wife at home who used our landline to try to contact Aerovironment, and the same thing happened. I thought someone with a subscription key fob might come by and help me out, but after an hour, no one had shown up. There are two Chargepoint Level 2 chargers there too, but they were taken up by Volts. Finally I gave up and had just enough charge to reach a Level 2 public charger in Mt Vernon, where I charged for over 3 hours to get enough range to make it to the Nissan dealership in Everett 40 miles away which is the next closest fast charger to Seattle.
I emailed Aerovironment to find out what the heck happened, why they cannot maintain a working phone system. I will let you know if they respond. I called later in the day too, at about 4 pm, and the automated phone system was still disconnecting calls. Did anyone else have this problem today? If I had been at the Aerovironment charger in Skykomish or Sultan or one of the more remote locations where there are no other public chargers, I would have had to call a tow company. I am sure some poor schmuck up in Skykomish must have gotten stranded.
Why is fast charging still so damn unreliable? Why doesn't Aerovironment link customer credit cards to an RFID card or key fob?
I am not sure I will ever use the Aerovironment EV network again, and Blink is so unreliable too, that I might never use my Leaf for long trips again unless Aerovironment and Blink can get their collective acts together.
I emailed Aerovironment to find out what the heck happened, why they cannot maintain a working phone system. I will let you know if they respond. I called later in the day too, at about 4 pm, and the automated phone system was still disconnecting calls. Did anyone else have this problem today? If I had been at the Aerovironment charger in Skykomish or Sultan or one of the more remote locations where there are no other public chargers, I would have had to call a tow company. I am sure some poor schmuck up in Skykomish must have gotten stranded.
Why is fast charging still so damn unreliable? Why doesn't Aerovironment link customer credit cards to an RFID card or key fob?
I am not sure I will ever use the Aerovironment EV network again, and Blink is so unreliable too, that I might never use my Leaf for long trips again unless Aerovironment and Blink can get their collective acts together.