Current state of charging infrastructure (particularly Electrify America)

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06-26-2022 | 03:57 AM

#91

outie

Track Day

Joined: Jun 2019

Posts: 21

Likes: 3

Quote:

Originally Posted by detansinn

As a guy who has been regularly road tripping his Taycan more than a thousand miles per week, I call bull**** here.

The Taycan is an excellent road trip car. Beyond simply being a better quality car for the purpose, it charges faster than a Tesla and you’re much less likely to be waiting in line at a charger along your route.

Tesla has sold too many cars with respect to the available supercharging capacity. The variety of CCS networks gives non-Tesla vehicles the edge. I am much happier not being stuck and locked in to a proprietary charging network.

The supercharger “advantage” of 3-4 years ago is no longer valid.

Totally agreed. Have had Teslas since 2016 and we always appreciated the Supercharger network (free for 1 of my cars). I always thought I’d stick with at least 1 Tesla for long trips because of Superchargers. I picked up my GTS few weeks ago from NorCal and drove back to SoCal. I was totally amazed at EA availability and charging speed throughout the route. I only had to charge 2 sessions < 30min each for a 400mi+ drive home.

The closest Tesla Supercharger from my home is 6 miles away at a large mall and I thought that was pretty good. My wife sometimes tops off there for free while she shops. To my surprise we actually have a EA charger 2miles away at a local library, so now I go there to top off more often with my kids.

EA reps are also very friendly and patient. On my way back from NorCal for my very first EA charging experience, it did not go well as I had no clue how to initiate the charge. I got so frustrated (and worried that I can’t make it home) I finally called EA and the rep walked me through step by step. I wish my SA turned on Plug and Charge for me before I left the dealership. Now with Plug and Charge enabled it’s just as convenient as Tesla Supercharger.

Last edited by outie; 06-26-2022 at 03:58 AM.

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06-27-2022 | 08:01 PM

#92

whiz944

Burning Brakes

Joined: Oct 2002

Posts: 1,027

Likes: 427

From: Northern California

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drifting

LOL

I'm really looking forward to owning a BEV 718 in 2-3 years, yet grateful to currently own a Tesla M3P because I wouldn't want to deal with the current mediocre charging options for non Tesla owners,

Having just completed a 6000+ mile coast to coast road trip in my Model 3, I agree. Almost all charging with Superchargers, though I did do one CHAdeMO session. (Football Hall of Fame parking lot in Canton, OH. Shell Recharge network.) Also did an L2 charge at my brothers place using their clothes dryer receptacle. I also now have the Tesla Korean CCS adapter, and the proper charge port ECU and "bundle of wires" to get CCS working on my older Model 3. Unfortunately did not have time to do the modifications before the road trip.

A funny incident: While Supercharging in rural Pennsylvania, an older fellow came up and asked me if it was true that you couldn't road trip in an EV. He couldn't see my California license plate. (Yeah - I'm a scofflaw and don't run a front plate.) I told him I just came across California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, a bit of Kansas, and Missouri - following Historic US Route 66. Then Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio on my way to New York. He was pretty amazed.

I need to look at the plugshare map to see how I would have done the trip in a CCS car. Might not have been too bad heading east. But on the westbound return trip, I went I-80 all the way from the midwest back to California. Including Wyoming - which is still a CCS desert.

Hopefully I'll have my CCS mods completed for my next road trip, and might try using CCS on the way. However there are also several new Tesla V3 sites along the route. So the CCS would be for backup, rather than to gain charging speed over the older V2 Superchargers I've used in the past.

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