Electrify America Network

cwerdna said:

Received email this morning:

Your Electrify America Pass Plus fee waiver expires September 8, 2020.
...
Dear (my name was here),

Make sure you’re in the driver's seat when it comes to your Electrify America Pass+ membership. Monthly fees have been waived for Electrify America Pass+ members since March 25, 2020, and they will be reinstated starting September 8, 2020.

Find out your next billing date in your app by navigating to the Profile icon in top right-hand corner of map and selecting “Billing details.”
When you are ready to hit the road again, we’ll be here for you.

Questions? Contact us 24 hours a day at 1-833-632-2778.

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OR... you can be like me and not have signed up for Pass Plus before March and have been paying all along... WITH slower charging rates as well

On the flipside; EVgo has announced COVID Care rates good to the end of the year.

^^^
Thanks for confirming how that worked. I signed up on March 16th for Pass+, which was around the day we got SIP orders and when I could no longer go to work in the office (free L2 charging at work). So, I paid the $4 that one initial time.

I had no idea they'd be waiving Pass+ fees until the announcement and for how long. It's up in the air whether I'll switch back to Pass. I've so far only used EA twice, so far. Excluding the $4/mo fee, DC FCing on EA at 18 cents/minute (Pass+ price) while below 55% SoC on my Bolt and not too cold a battery is much cheaper than charging at home for me.

But, that's still more $ than free https://drivethearc.com/ (not at the most convenient locations for me and sometimes, the eligible DC FCs are down).

I've considered that EVgo discount (https://insideevs.com/news/405612/evgo-offers-special-discounts-covid19/) but don't feel great about asking for it, so I haven't. I don't drive for work and haven't had any significant financial hardship due to COVID-19. I'm a salaried worker, still have my job and my pay's unchanged. EVgo's pricing (member and non-member) here w/o the hardship discount are pretty pricey thus I've never paid for EVgo charging yet.

cwerdna said:

^^^
Thanks for confirming how that worked. I signed up on March 16th for Pass+, which was around the day we got SIP orders and when I could no longer go to work in the office (free L2 charging at work). So, I paid the $4 that one initial time.

I had no idea they'd be waiving Pass+ fees until the announcement and for how long. It's up in the air whether I'll switch back to Pass. I've so far only used EA twice, so far. Excluding the $4/mo fee, DC FCing on EA at 18 cents/minute (Pass+ price) while below 55% SoC on my Bolt and not too cold a battery is much cheaper than charging at home for me.

But, that's still more $ than free https://drivethearc.com/ (not at the most convenient locations for me and sometimes, the eligible DC FCs are down).

I've considered that EVgo discount (https://insideevs.com/news/405612/evgo-offers-special-discounts-covid19/) but don't feel great about asking for it, so I haven't. I don't drive for work and haven't had any significant financial hardship due to COVID-19. I'm a salaried worker, still have my job and my pay's unchanged. EVgo's pricing (member and non-member) here w/o the hardship discount are pretty pricey thus I've never paid for EVgo charging yet.

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Well, EVgo's wording is VERY general and I read it as an excuse to boost business by offering the discount. Were you not charging at work for free? Now that isn't available so this is a COVID caused hardship in my book.

"I" not only was not affected negatively but actually profited quite a bit and that was still acceptable to them. If you read it "very" literally, it would be nearly impossible not to qualify. Although I will say your ability to pull more than 47ish kwh on EA verses EVgo should also be included.

DaveinOlyWA said:

cwerdna said:

I've considered that EVgo discount (https://insideevs.com/news/405612/evgo-offers-special-discounts-covid19/) but don't feel great about asking for it, so I haven't. I don't drive for work and haven't had any significant financial hardship due to COVID-19. I'm a salaried worker, still have my job and my pay's unchanged. EVgo's pricing (member and non-member) here w/o the hardship discount are pretty pricey thus I've never paid for EVgo charging yet.

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Well, EVgo's wording is VERY general and I read it as an excuse to boost business by offering the discount. Were you not charging at work for free? Now that isn't available so this is a COVID caused hardship in my book.

"I" not only was not affected negatively but actually profited quite a bit and that was still acceptable to them. If you read it "very" literally, it would be nearly impossible not to qualify. Although I will say your ability to pull more than 47ish kwh on EA verses EVgo should also be included.

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Hmmm, I'd only seen the verbiage at https://twitter.com/evgonetwork/status/1241165817544208385?s=20.

Yeah, I was getting free L2 juice at work + free lunch, free snacks, free coffee + other beverages and not having to worry about my utility bills skyrocketing when I hit winter (will almost certainly be WFH until next year)... Hardships? Hmmm....

WetEV said:

3350 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

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List updated. Current totals 453/103.

My Lincolnwood IL stop was also capped at 45kW. So much for having 200 amp charging readily available.

I dont DC charge very often, so it really doesn't matter to too much, but it is a shame. Maybe the EA chademos won't break down as often now. I certainly will be unlikely to use EA anymore unless absolutely needed.

https://m.facebook.com/story/graphql_permalink/?graphql_id=UzpfSTE0NzAzODgxOTA6Vks6MzQ1Mzc4NTM1Nzk4NjIxMA%3D%3D

DaveinOlyWA said:

Well, EVgo's wording is VERY general and I read it as an excuse to boost business by offering the discount. Were you not charging at work for free? Now that isn't available so this is a COVID caused hardship in my book.

"I" not only was not affected negatively but actually profited quite a bit and that was still acceptable to them. If you read it "very" literally, it would be nearly impossible not to qualify. Although I will say your ability to pull more than 47ish kwh on EA verses EVgo should also be included.

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Inconvenience and a slight cost increase (remember, EV charging at home is still cheaper than gas) is not the same as hardship. This is along the same lines as those claiming that wearing a mask is denying them their rights, and an effort by the government to control people.

GetOffYourGas said:

Inconvenience and a slight cost increase (remember, EV charging at home is still cheaper than gas) is not the same as hardship.

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Re: bolded part, not really. I no longer have an ICEV but when I tracked lifetime mileage of my former Prius, it was around 44 mpg. A gas station I used to frequent is just under $3/gal now. If I paid $3/gal and only got 40 mpg, that'd be 7.5 cents/mile.

Currently, because I have to WFH and changed out of a TOU plan that would've killed me given I work during the day (w/horrific rates except in the middle of the night) an that I'm being pushed to tier 2 due to WFH, my marginal cost to charge an EV at home (I can only charge at L1) is about 31 cents/kWh. If I manged 4 miles/kWh including charging losses, that's 7.75 cents/mile. If I had a more realistic 3.5 miles/kWh, it'd be 8.85 cents/mile and that probably won't be possible in winter w/my Bolt w/its power pig heater.

cwerdna said:

GetOffYourGas said:

Inconvenience and a slight cost increase (remember, EV charging at home is still cheaper than gas) is not the same as hardship.

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Re: bolded part, not really. I no longer have an ICEV but when I tracked lifetime mileage of my former Prius, it was around 44 mpg. A gas station I used to frequent is just under $3/gal now. If I paid $3/gal and only got 40 mpg, that'd be 7.5 cents/mile.

Currently, because I have to WFH and changed out of a TOU plan that would've killed me given I work during the day (w/horrific rates except in the middle of the night) an that I'm being pushed to tier 2 due to WFH, my marginal cost to charge an EV at home (I can only charge at L1) is about 31 cents/kWh. If I manged 4 miles/kWh including charging losses, that's 7.75 cents/mile. If I had a more realistic 3.5 miles/kWh, it'd be 8.85 cents/mile and that probably won't be possible in winter w/my Bolt w/its power pig heater.

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I have the same situation, when i bought my leaf,I had thought that i would save same money on it's service and gas, and than, I got that expenses are the same, off course its good for nature, but it's makes me disappointed a little bit

cwerdna said:

GetOffYourGas said:

Inconvenience and a slight cost increase (remember, EV charging at home is still cheaper than gas) is not the same as hardship.

Click to expand...

Re: bolded part, not really. I no longer have an ICEV but when I tracked lifetime mileage of my former Prius, it was around 44 mpg. A gas station I used to frequent is just under $3/gal now. If I paid $3/gal and only got 40 mpg, that'd be 7.5 cents/mile.

Currently, because I have to WFH and changed out of a TOU plan that would've killed me given I work during the day (w/horrific rates except in the middle of the night) an that I'm being pushed to tier 2 due to WFH, my marginal cost to charge an EV at home (I can only charge at L1) is about 31 cents/kWh. If I manged 4 miles/kWh including charging losses, that's 7.75 cents/mile. If I had a more realistic 3.5 miles/kWh, it'd be 8.85 cents/mile and that probably won't be possible in winter w/my Bolt w/its power pig heater.

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So what you're saying is that you have a pretty extreme edge case and are an exception to the rule. Fair enough. I'm still not sure that paying 8.85 cents/mile qualifies as a "hardship".

I'm in a similar situation - I got "free" charging at work (technically I pay a flat $12/mo, but my company hasn't waived that for the pandemic, so I'm still paying while I WFH). Meanwhile, my home electric usage is higher than it has ever been. I'm charging two EVs from home and running the A/C all day since the family is all home. Although I pay about the national average - $0.12/kWh. Gas is down around $2/gallon. 40MPG at $2/gal is 5 cents/mile. 4 miles/kWh at $0.12/kWh is only 3 cents/mile. Plus I'm driving fewer miles to begin with (no commuting).

Semmm said:

cwerdna said:

GetOffYourGas said:

Inconvenience and a slight cost increase (remember, EV charging at home is still cheaper than gas) is not the same as hardship.

Click to expand...

Re: bolded part, not really. I no longer have an ICEV but when I tracked lifetime mileage of my former Prius, it was around 44 mpg. A gas station I used to frequent is just under $3/gal now. If I paid $3/gal and only got 40 mpg, that'd be 7.5 cents/mile.

Currently, because I have to WFH and changed out of a TOU plan that would've killed me given I work during the day (w/horrific rates except in the middle of the night) an that I'm being pushed to tier 2 due to WFH, my marginal cost to charge an EV at home (I can only charge at L1) is about 31 cents/kWh. If I manged 4 miles/kWh including charging losses, that's 7.75 cents/mile. If I had a more realistic 3.5 miles/kWh, it'd be 8.85 cents/mile and that probably won't be possible in winter w/my Bolt w/its power pig heater.

Click to expand...

I have the same situation, when i bought my leaf,I had thought that i would save same money on it's service and gas, and than, I got that expenses are the same, off course its good for nature, but it's makes me disappointed a little bit

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I am not fully understanding your statement. You say maintenance on the LEAF didn't save you money or your charging costs offset the savings?

GetOffYourGas said:

cwerdna said:

GetOffYourGas said:

Inconvenience and a slight cost increase (remember, EV charging at home is still cheaper than gas) is not the same as hardship.

Click to expand...

Re: bolded part, not really. I no longer have an ICEV but when I tracked lifetime mileage of my former Prius, it was around 44 mpg. A gas station I used to frequent is just under $3/gal now. If I paid $3/gal and only got 40 mpg, that'd be 7.5 cents/mile.

Currently, because I have to WFH and changed out of a TOU plan that would've killed me given I work during the day (w/horrific rates except in the middle of the night) an that I'm being pushed to tier 2 due to WFH, my marginal cost to charge an EV at home (I can only charge at L1) is about 31 cents/kWh. If I manged 4 miles/kWh including charging losses, that's 7.75 cents/mile. If I had a more realistic 3.5 miles/kWh, it'd be 8.85 cents/mile and that probably won't be possible in winter w/my Bolt w/its power pig heater.

Click to expand...

So what you're saying is that you have a pretty extreme edge case and are an exception to the rule. Fair enough. I'm still not sure that paying 8.85 cents/mile qualifies as a "hardship".

I'm in a similar situation - I got "free" charging at work (technically I pay a flat $12/mo, but my company hasn't waived that for the pandemic, so I'm still paying while I WFH). Meanwhile, my home electric usage is higher than it has ever been. I'm charging two EVs from home and running the A/C all day since the family is all home. Although I pay about the national average - $0.12/kWh. Gas is down around $2/gallon. 40MPG at $2/gal is 5 cents/mile. 4 miles/kWh at $0.12/kWh is only 3 cents/mile. Plus I'm driving fewer miles to begin with (no commuting).

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Mine's not an extreme edge case. This is what we get for Pacific Gouge & Extort. My former ICEV was on the more efficient side, yes, but if I had a gen 3 or 4 Prius, that has better FE than my former gen 2.

See https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=585141#p585141 about my rates and https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=513907#p513907 about how baselines are set. I'm now on E-1 and also pay 1 cent/kWh extra for supposedly 100% renewable electricity via my city.

We cannot dream of 12 cent/kWh rates in PG&E land. Even the cheapest rates on a TOU plan are higher than that.

Can't write more at the moment. It will have to wait until tonight/the weekend.

cwerdna said:

GetOffYourGas said:

cwerdna said:

Re: bolded part, not really. I no longer have an ICEV but when I tracked lifetime mileage of my former Prius, it was around 44 mpg. A gas station I used to frequent is just under $3/gal now. If I paid $3/gal and only got 40 mpg, that'd be 7.5 cents/mile.

Currently, because I have to WFH and changed out of a TOU plan that would've killed me given I work during the day (w/horrific rates except in the middle of the night) an that I'm being pushed to tier 2 due to WFH, my marginal cost to charge an EV at home (I can only charge at L1) is about 31 cents/kWh. If I manged 4 miles/kWh including charging losses, that's 7.75 cents/mile. If I had a more realistic 3.5 miles/kWh, it'd be 8.85 cents/mile and that probably won't be possible in winter w/my Bolt w/its power pig heater.

Click to expand...

So what you're saying is that you have a pretty extreme edge case and are an exception to the rule. Fair enough. I'm still not sure that paying 8.85 cents/mile qualifies as a "hardship".

I'm in a similar situation - I got "free" charging at work (technically I pay a flat $12/mo, but my company hasn't waived that for the pandemic, so I'm still paying while I WFH). Meanwhile, my home electric usage is higher than it has ever been. I'm charging two EVs from home and running the A/C all day since the family is all home. Although I pay about the national average - $0.12/kWh. Gas is down around $2/gallon. 40MPG at $2/gal is 5 cents/mile. 4 miles/kWh at $0.12/kWh is only 3 cents/mile. Plus I'm driving fewer miles to begin with (no commuting).

Click to expand...

Mine's not an extreme edge case. This is what we get for Pacific Gouge & Extort. My former ICEV was on the more efficient side, yes, but if I had a gen 3 or 4 Prius, that has better FE than my former gen 2.

See https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=585141#p585141 about my rates and https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=513907#p513907 about how baselines are set. I'm now on E-1 and also pay 1 cent/kWh extra for supposedly 100% renewable electricity via my city.

We cannot dream of 12 cent/kWh rates in PG&E land. Even the cheapest rates on a TOU plan are higher than that.

Can't write more at the moment. It will have to wait until tonight/the weekend.

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Oh, I understand that it's out of your hands. And that a lot of EV drivers live in PG&E land. However, understand that the vast majority of Americans do not. $0.12/kWh is pretty common for most people. So paying a marginal rate of 2.5x the national average is a pretty extreme edge case. My guess is that represents something like 2 sigmas from the mean.

^^^
For my most recent bill, my total electric charges were $86.51 for 31 billing days. My baseline (tier 1) allowance was only 319.3 kWh. I used 324.126 kWh and I think I charged both of my EVs 0 times at home that month. I almost never charging at home unless absolutely necessary due to high rates.

I went only 4.826 kWh into tier 2, so those kWh cost me at least 30.6 cents each. The first 319.3 cost me ~24 or 25 cents each. (It's complicated due to being charged PG&E rates, having a generation credit then this goofy "power charge indifference adjustment", blah blah + another 1 cent per kWh for 100% renewable.)

I have no AC at home other than a "portable" rolling AC unit and I almost never use it. If I used it that month, it was probably for no more than 2 days. My dryer is electric only. There is no natural gas hookup for the dryer. My water heater is nat gas.

(If you hadn't looked, https://www.pge.com/tariffs/assets/pdf/tariffbook/ELEC_SCHEDS_EV2%20%28Sch%29.pdf is the EV2 plan here. See pages 2 and 3. You'll see the cheapest rates are 16.6 cents per kWh but outside those hours, it is 33.3 to 47.86 cents/kWh. It is IMPOSSIBLE to make my electricity usage 0 during those expensive hours. At least that plan has no tiers...)

Ok, EA called me today (I raised a ticket on the reduced charging rate). I nicely explained the reduction in performance, and they said, no our Chademos should only be offering 50kW. She said she had heard of a few going higher, but those were exceptions. She was very interested in my car model/version.

I would suggest everyone on this board do the same and open a ticket and ask for a follow up. A little volume can help them inform their management.

I also asked them again to have 2 Chademo handles as I would give them more business. With all of the new Chademo stations going up (Greenlots, evgo, etc..) I am certainly going to preference any stop with 2 handles over 1.

I have to say the service from EA is great when you call, they just don't really care about the Leaf population. They just aren't going to change their strategy for us.

DougWantsALeaf said:

Ok, EA called me today (I raised a ticket on the reduced charging rate).
...
I also asked them again to have 2 Chademo handles as I would give them more business. With all of the new Chademo stations going up (Greenlots, evgo, etc..) I am certainly going to preference any stop with 2 handles over 1.

I have to say the service from EA is great when you call, they just don't really care about the Leaf population. They just aren't going to change their strategy for us.

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As a reminder for newer folks here, EA is a wholly-owned subsidiary of VW of America. VW AG owns brands such as VW, Audi and Porsche (https://www.volkswagenag.com/en/brands-and-models.html). But yeah, obviously before they (from their actions) didn't care about CHAdeMO and thus Leaf drivers. VW AG has never shipped any vehicles in the US w/CHAdeMO (their Japanese market e-Golf has CHAdeMO though). EA seems to be doing the minimum to "support" CHAdeMO in the US, presumably to comply w/the dieselgate settlement terms.

I expect them to care as much or even less now given that Nissan Ariya for the US and Europe are going CCS... leaving really only the new consumer plug-in automobiles being sold/leased as new in the US w/CHAdeMO being Leaf, Outlander PHEV and Teslas w/$450 adapter.

paulgipe said:

“Only 27 kW, half hour in sun and wind to get started. Had to use credit card. Charged earlier today. Now no account data. More later.”

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From Plugshare, Paul it looks like you had some trouble at Coso Junction EA? I was hiking Langley Saturday and it was great up there.

That's the kind of thing in our area that worries me - not that my current Leaf can get to Horseshoe or high sierra anyway, but even if it could, I'm really reluctant to trust single sites. If that CHAdeMO went down I'd be stuck and have to call a tow truck.

Hopefully that Cal-trans site comes on line soon there at Coso Junction. With a backup, I would be willing to risk with an EV that had the legs to get up to Horseshoe.

Dan,

My post will be up shortly.

Yes, we absolutely need the CalTrans station--and we need it to work.

My friend had planned to do Langley. She did Cirque Peak instead. Turns out she was up there the same time we were. I wouldn't do Langley again, unless I was in much better shape than I am now. I did it about 5-7 years ago and my buddy had to practically drag my but up there. I was sicker than a dog once I got there too.

You really need a big battery to drive the East Side.

Paul

paulgipe said:

Dan,

My post will be up shortly.

Yes, we absolutely need the CalTrans station--and we need it to work.

My friend had planned to do Langley. She did Cirque Peak instead. Turns out she was up there the same time we were. I wouldn't do Langley again, unless I was in much better shape than I am now. I did it about 5-7 years ago and my buddy had to practically drag my but up there. I was sicker than a dog once I got there too.

You really need a big battery to drive the East Side.

Paul

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Yes you need to be in good shape. I started at about 3:15am, 6 hours up, an hour at the top, 5 hours back down. And there is always someone in better shape than you. Saw one guy trail running it, he passed me later in the day as I was going down - he was going up - and he passed me again even later on his way down. So he went was up and down in only about 5-6 hrs. I can't imagine running that route. I'm in pretty good shape, but not that good!

Looking forward to your post, was wondering what was going on.

One site has opened, don't know where. It's not one of the road trip sites I'm monitoring in CA and AZ. Anyone? Totals 454/102.

I'm hoping to get over on the east side and do some hiking in Little Lakes Valley, maybe do a 3rd class route on Mt. Mills. But I want to rent a BEV or (more likely given availability and access) a PHEV to get some data on
battery energyy use through Yosemite. Unfortunately, Yosemite's got a quota system at the moment for people who are just transiting the park on 120, and you need advance reservations, so it's a pain. I can take 108 instead but that defeats the purpose of the drive, albeit not the trip.