mbender
Well-known member
So, apparently eVgo has started sending out email alerts as to when quick-chargers in your area become non-operational and then, too, when they come back online. I've received 3 "Down" notices and 2 "Back in Service" in the past week.
The most recent "Down" alert I received was on Tuesday for a nearby dealer. On a whim, I called the dealer on Wednesday and they said it was back up (despite no notice yet from eVgo). So I decided to stop by in the evening... only to find that it although had been repaired at about 5pm, and successfully charged a dealer car, it was now failing for someone who had come in just before me.
Well, after trying to reset the unit by turning the nearby breaker off and back on, it continued to fail. It went through the insulation test and lit the dashboard light, but then just gave up showing some hexadecimal error (nothing in "plain language") and lit the red error light.
It was no big deal as I only needed 10 miles or so to get home (not sure about the couple before me though :-\ ), so I used one of the very dependable, never-failing Level IIs just next to it.
I just want to point out, again, how unreliable DCQCs are -- in this case even hours after being "repaired" -- and how important I feel it is (and how much room there is) for great improvements to be made to these quick chargers. It just seems like there is too much risk, inconvenience and potential expense associated with using what should be a great feature. And a feature that customers pay a fair amount for, at that.
Not sure what kind of feedback anyone might provide, but I hope Nissan and the charging networks see these repeated complaints, and are all the more motivated to improve the situation, "quickly".
The most recent "Down" alert I received was on Tuesday for a nearby dealer. On a whim, I called the dealer on Wednesday and they said it was back up (despite no notice yet from eVgo). So I decided to stop by in the evening... only to find that it although had been repaired at about 5pm, and successfully charged a dealer car, it was now failing for someone who had come in just before me.
Well, after trying to reset the unit by turning the nearby breaker off and back on, it continued to fail. It went through the insulation test and lit the dashboard light, but then just gave up showing some hexadecimal error (nothing in "plain language") and lit the red error light.
It was no big deal as I only needed 10 miles or so to get home (not sure about the couple before me though :-\ ), so I used one of the very dependable, never-failing Level IIs just next to it.
I just want to point out, again, how unreliable DCQCs are -- in this case even hours after being "repaired" -- and how important I feel it is (and how much room there is) for great improvements to be made to these quick chargers. It just seems like there is too much risk, inconvenience and potential expense associated with using what should be a great feature. And a feature that customers pay a fair amount for, at that.
Not sure what kind of feedback anyone might provide, but I hope Nissan and the charging networks see these repeated complaints, and are all the more motivated to improve the situation, "quickly".
