cwerdna
Well-known member
I just returned from a road trip in my Niro EV where I went to stayed in LA and Lompoc. Basically, was visiting LA, Santa Barbara, Solvang, Hearst Castle then returning home. Was also trying to watch a SpaceX launch from Vandenberg AFB/SFB (you can view them from Lompoc). Went down via highway 99 (mostly free Caltrans juice + one amazingly cheap $2/hr (!) DC FC at https://www.plugshare.com/location/246172) then came back to the Bay Area on 101.cwerdna said:
On the way back on 101, I stopped by https://www.plugshare.com/location/186852 (in Salinas) and fortunately, 2/4 stations were showing complimentary session, so I took advantage. Otherwise, I was originally going to have to get a bit of juice in Gilroy. 3/4 of dispensers were next gen dispensers were from SK Signet. No idea who made the chargers are these were behind a wall. They left one lone ABB charger there, the one with CHAdeMO, I think.
This has been my only physical sighting of next gen units, so far. When I used EA on this trip, besides the above, I used a combo of ABB (Goleta, Pismo Beach) and Signet "v2" (Culver City, Solvang). Pismo Beach luckily had at least 2 units showing complimentary session, so I took advantage. Culver City had 1 or 2 doing that on the days I went, so I was also able to take advantage.
My paid session in Solvang I let go to 100% and the charger stopped. After I left, their Android app claimed I was still going... kinda. The x minutes ago time in the app kept growing (e.g. 60 minutes ago, 300 minutes ago, etc.) w/my session time still going up (not correct) until it vanished. It doesn't show up in my Android app's charging history. Seems like I won't be billed for that session.
If anyone cares, I saw quite a mix of vehicles DC FCing on my trip on EA + other DC FCs w/probably the most variety in Culver City. I can recall e-tron (didn't go confirm, just heard about it), EQS, Ford e-transit van (driver was unable to charge at all on EV Connect BTC Power Fatboy DC FCs at https://www.plugshare.com/location/246172, we tried), Ford F-150 Lightning (first in the wild sighting for me), Lucid Air, several Bolts, a few Mach-E, a few Ioniq 5, BMW iX (first in the wild sighting for me) and i3, (a few, I think) ID.4, Model 3 w/CCS adapter.
I don't recall any Leafs, but I used EA a lot so I wouldn't expect any Leafs.
I have my personal iPhone (SE 3rd gen) and a work iPhone 13 mini. These + my work Android phone (Pixel 6) all have EA's app installed and are all logged into the same account. Only the Android phone actually shows my charging history and transaction history (e.g. auto-reload, debiting for the charging sessions, etc.). Both iPhones show "no charge history" and "no transaction history". The funniest part is that I use the iPhone SE 3rd gen each time to start my paid session. Clearly, their app and/or backend needs some work. I called EA to report this and after they put me on hold for awhile, they said this is a known issue, that they're working on it and added me as a +1.
On the night I returned, a Taycan driver friend (he had a Bolt) iMessaged me at 1:29 am 1/1 that the 4 Signet v2 stations near home are all showing complimentary session. I went there on the nights of 1/1 and 1/2 and they were all set that way. But, it wasn't a system wide thing as on 1/1 evening, another EA site about 6 -7 miles from home had none of its chargers showing complimentary. And, in Goleta, 0 were free. For Pismo Beach, Salinas and Culver City, it was a subset of DC FCs in that mode.
