Electrify America Network

LeftieBiker said:

They cleaned all the air filters?

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:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

https://www.chevybolt.org/threads/my-learnings-from-an-ea-field-engineer-important-for-bolt-owners.47110/ "My Learnings From an EA Field Engineer - Important for Bolt Owners" had some interesting info, but some doesn't pertain to CHAdeMO users.

The holding up the handle crap with CCS is referred to https://www.chevybolt.org/threads/ea-makes-a-video-on-how-to-prop-up-the-cable.36757/. It may be necessary on Bolt, i3 and some others to do that when starting a CCS session. If you don't, it will fail to start charging. And, yes, I've seen posts all over the place on Bolt FB groups of people complaining that EA doesn't work on their Bolt and maybe even that it worked for other cars around them. When asked if they did the above, usually the answer is "oh, I didn't know about that".... Sigh.

EA hasn't updated their station count in a while, but I did want to mention three "coming Soon" sites that have opened which are useful for road trips:

Kettleman City, CA on I--5 between the stations at Harris Ranch (Coalinga) and Lost Hills.

Rawlins, Wy, on I-80 between Evanston and Cheyenne. This is still showing as Coming Soon on Plugshare and there are no check-ins yet, but it's showing as active on EA's map on their website. I haven't been able to check it on the app, as my phone is refusing to charge and I'm down below 10%, so limiting use until I can buy a replacement.

Rapid City, SD. This site is reported working by check-ins on Plugshare and is shown as open on EA's map, even though Plugshare still shows it as Coming Soon.


Re cwerdna's post above, I rented a Bolt EUV (review will follow soon in Bolt topic) from the 16th -19th for a trip to Yosemite Valley, and FWIW only had an issue activating a charge at one of the four EA sites I used, in Hayward. That seemed to be a site-specific problem rather than anything to do with the Bolt/EUV as non-Bolts were also having issues, and the displays on the chargers were saying that power output had been limited to improve reliability - apparently that wasn't enough. The other sites, at Buck Meadows, Tracy and Fremont all worked fine. The site in Tracy along with several others in the area had been closed for a week or more for upgrades, and it had the old EA charging cabinets replaced with the new-design charging cabinets with single connectors.

Re: Hayward, too bad https://www.plugshare.com/location/325829 doesn't have many check-ins. One station is listed as unavailable.

cwerdna said:

https://www.chevybolt.org/threads/my-learnings-from-an-ea-field-engineer-important-for-bolt-owners.47110/ "My Learnings From an EA Field Engineer - Important for Bolt Owners" had some interesting info, but some doesn't pertain to CHAdeMO users.

The holding up the handle crap with CCS is referred to https://www.chevybolt.org/threads/ea-makes-a-video-on-how-to-prop-up-the-cable.36757/. It may be necessary on Bolt, i3 and some others to do that when starting a CCS session. If you don't, it will fail to start charging. And, yes, I've seen posts all over the place on Bolt FB groups of people complaining that EA doesn't work on their Bolt and maybe even that it worked for other cars around them. When asked if they did the above, usually the answer is "oh, I didn't know about that".... Sigh.

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And like clockwork (you'll need to join this FB group) at https://www.facebook.com/groups/chevyboltevowners/posts/3293786550932948/?comment_id=3293900180921585&reply_comment_id=3293904724254464, some guy experiencing probs w/EA didn't know about propping up the handle. From his post, it seemed like NFC didn't work for him (which there could be numerous sources of probs of this) which he should've avoided anyway. As many others directed to him, he should use the app and swipe to charge from the app's UI and NOT use NFC.

cwerdna said:

Re: Hayward, too bad https://www.plugshare.com/location/325829 doesn't have many check-ins. One station is listed as unavailable. <Snip>

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First time I'd ever charged there. Normally on the way back from the Yosemite area I'll use the EA at the BoA in Castro Valley as it's just off the freeway enroute, but when I arrived that evening I was 3rd in line with the cars on the chargers (ID.4s and Mach-Es IIRR) all at fairly low SoC's, so I figured I'd go elsewhere and maybe save some time. Couldn't activate the first EA charger I tried at the Hayward BoA, so moved to another and all was well. I would have posted a check-in but a clueless newbie with a brand-new Ioniq 5 showed up trying to charge, and I spent the next 1/2 hour or so trying to help him activate a couple of the other chargers including the one I'd failed at with no success, despite him getting 2 years of free EA charging with his Ioniq. EA CS couldn't get them activated either. I had to return the car earlyish the next morning and it was getting late, so I left and suggested he try the charger I'd been using as a last resort before going elsewhere. Don't know if he succeeded.

I can't speak to that site, but those are ABB chargers which I've used the least on with EA. My impression from random reports (not necessarily on Plugshare) is that ABB on EA is not on the more reliable side...

Hopefully w/Bolts you are propping up the handle (https://www.chevybolt.org/threads/ea-makes-a-video-on-how-to-prop-up-the-cable.36757/) until it's locked to the car. Since the upper portion is for communications, if it doesn't make a connection, then charging will fail to start.

cwerdna said:

I can't speak to that site, but those are ABB chargers which I've used the least on with EA. My impression from random reports (not necessarily on Plugshare) is that ABB on EA is not on the more reliable side...

Hopefully w/Bolts you are propping up the handle (https://www.chevybolt.org/threads/ea-makes-a-video-on-how-to-prop-up-the-cable.36757/) until it's locked to the car. Since the upper portion is for communications, if it doesn't make a connection, then charging will fail to start.

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I didn't do this with the EUV although I knew about it, but as noted had no issues at 3 of 4 EA sites, and the other site's problems seemed general rather than specific to a particular car model.

Whether one might need to do that (esp. older Bolts) is YMMV. If you have trouble on EA or any other DC FCs that use https://www.hubersuhner.com/en/solutions/automotive/applications/high-power-charging/radox-hpc-high-power-charging-system cables and handles, that's the first thing you should try.

If I ever use the above, regardless of vehicle, I usually do the above as I don't like wasting time.

Keep in mind that EA has 4 different DC FC vendors and judging by https://insideevs.com/news/389891/exclusive-interview-electrify-america-problems-solutions/, their internals and software is likely different between them.

I can't speak to how their next gen units play into this though (https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/electrify-america-general-discussion.249553/page-22#post-6867023 is from BTC Power) as I've not had much time nor interest in following.

And, EA has now at least 2 different styles of BTC Power, 2 styles of Signet besides the 1 each that I know of for ABB and Efacec.

Just spotted a new EA Coming soon site on Plugshare, in Lone Pine! At last!

Link to page with EA Q3 2022 report to CARB pdfs: https://media.electrifyamerica.com/en-us/releases/202

cwerdna said:

Keep in mind that EA has 4 different DC FC vendors and judging by https://insideevs.com/news/389891/exclusive-interview-electrify-america-problems-solutions/, their internals and software is likely different between them.

I can't speak to how their next gen units play into this though (https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/electrify-america-general-discussion.249553/page-22#post-6867023 is from BTC Power) as I've not had much time nor interest in following.

And, EA has now at least 2 different styles of BTC Power, 2 styles of Signet besides the 1 each that I know of for ABB and Efacec.

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Someone recently pointed me to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho1xelQsPQs. At around 7:40, he claims that the next gen units are joint development between EA, BTC Power and Signet. At ~8:30 he says he believes the dispensers are just from BTC but the chargers (behind the fence) could be from BTC or Signet.

At 3:20 or so, he suggests the EA has ended their contract w/Efacec. He does seem right about EA Efacec units being ripped out and replaced w/something else. The guy at https://www.chevybolt.org/threads/upstate-ny-dc-fast-charging-status.30869/page-7#post-526337 had been complaining a lot about Efacec reliability. In Dec 2020 at https://www.chevybolt.org/threads/upstate-ny-dc-fast-charging-status.30869/page-19#post-573625 he says "EA removed and replaced all the efacec DCFC on I90 that were very problematic. Significantly improved station reliability, an amazing accomplishment".

https://www.chevybolt.org/threads/dcfc-reliability-%E2%80%93-an-open-letter-to-electrify-america.34849/ also has numerous complaints about Efacec.

I watched the video a day ago and don't have all the claims committed to memory. Do note at the above site, they kept the dispenser with CCS + CHAdeMO. It's ABB.

Update: While scoping out DC FCs on Plugshare for an upcoming road trip to So Cal, I spotted EA ABB chargers that will be upgraded to something, probably next gen units. See https://www.chevybolt.org/threads/ea-upgrades.47040/#post-795462 for more details.

Monday I charged the new 40 kWh battery at the Walmart location in Paducah KY that Nissan installed Feb 2020. I mainly wanted to test the DC connection that got damaged when the car got totaled Nov 2020. The battery was at 35% and max rate was 44kw and at 80% the rate was 23. That was its first DC charge and may be the last because it is 50 miles to the closest charger. At least I know I can fast charge. I read new locations in 2022 and forward do not get CHAdeMO.

GaleHawkins said:

I read new locations in 2022 and forward do not get CHAdeMO.

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For EA outside California, EA stated that's their plan.

Someone at work posted https://seenonev.com/. Haven't watched any of yet but there's fine print at the bottom:

"About: AsSeenOnEV.com is part of an education and awareness media campaign investment sponsored by Electrify America LLC. Designed to support education and awareness of zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) through brand-neutral outreach, this site links to various pages in order to enhance ZEVs awareness for the site visitor..."

I watched most of this at 2x speed. He claims the new next gen BTC Power units don't work when it's cold (-6 F or -21 C).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq0RAjJ1PKQ

Kyle finds out that the new Electrify America chargers that they co-developed with BTC don't work in cold temperatures. He also heads to ChargePoint, EVgo, and other EA chargers to see if they have similar issues in this cold snap.

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The leftover old ABB unit (CCS and CHAdeMO) at that site worked.

He also tried some EVgo and ChargePoint chargers from other vendors and they worked except for the new ChargePoint Express Plus unit (see right side ofhttps://www.chargepoint.com/businesses/dc-stations). EVgo's Signet and Delta units worked along with ChargePoint CPE250.

Interesting, the new EA ststion in Rawlings Wyoming has 2 Chademos. I wonder if the cold weather stations are going to get more of the older units as they handle the severe cold better. (Out of spec just had a video on the 350 stations not working below 0).

DougWantsALeaf said:

Interesting, the new EA ststion in Rawlings Wyoming has 2 Chademos. I wonder if the cold weather stations are going to get more of the older units as they handle the severe cold better. (Out of spec just had a video on the 350 stations not working below 0).

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One of the several brands of chargers seem to have a problem below 0 F. Other brands work fine.

Rawlings has every one of the Chademo units on EA in Wyoming. Casper, Gillette and Evanston have zero Chademo units. This is interesting. Why? Shortage of units? Shortage of units that work in the cold? Two Chademo units gathering dust?

Rock Springs seems to be zero Chademo as well. So I80 looks a little challenging for a LEAF, even after Rock Springs comes on line.

DougWantsALeaf said:

Interesting, the new EA ststion in Rawlings Wyoming has 2 Chademos. I wonder if the cold weather stations are going to get more of the older units as they handle the severe cold better. (Out of spec just had a video on the 350 stations not working below 0).

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How did you confirm this?

DaveinOlyWA said:

DougWantsALeaf said:

Interesting, the new EA ststion in Rawlings Wyoming has 2 Chademos. I wonder if the cold weather stations are going to get more of the older units as they handle the severe cold better. (Out of spec just had a video on the 350 stations not working below 0).

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How did you confirm this?

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EA app shows that there are two Chademos in Rawlings.

Wetev, I was amazed to see even 1 at the station, let alone 2.

On the chademo front, recently I have seen a number both nissan and Hyundai/Kia dealers adding the dual ccs/chademo units thankfully as the ev market expands. I will take any new addition on the map as a gift.

WetEV said:

DaveinOlyWA said:

DougWantsALeaf said:

Interesting, the new EA ststion in Rawlings Wyoming has 2 Chademos. I wonder if the cold weather stations are going to get more of the older units as they handle the severe cold better. (Out of spec just had a video on the 350 stations not working below 0).

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How did you confirm this?

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EA app shows that there are two Chademos in Rawlings.

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The app has been wrong so many times in the past, I stopped counting when volume one hit 500 pages.