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I intentionally wanted to experience the charging infrastructure from LA to Monterey for Car Week. I had to stop in Paso Robles, then again in Pacific Grove to fill up for my local driving. Same again for way back - Pacific Grove to top up the ‘tank’ and then Paso Robles about 1/2 way back to LA. I made four or five charging stops in all, outside the home. I made a number of ‘friends’ out there while charging. My experience was that there is only a 50% chance that when you plug the Taycan into the EA charger that it will work. On several occasions, I had to try four or five times, before switching ‘hoses’ and parking spots to get it to work. That burns 20-30 minutes, sometimes in the hot sun.
Range anxiety is one thing, but way way worse is driving up to a ‘must charge’ situation with 30 miles of range left, and going into light panic hoping that EA infrastructure will work. I’m not sure what the timing difference would be using Chargepoint setup, or if their works better with the Taycan. Photo here for attention….random identical car in Paso Robles.
I intentionally wanted to experience the charging infrastructure from LA to Monterey for Car Week. I had to stop in Paso Robles, then again in Pacific Grove to fill up for my local driving. Same again for way back - Pacific Grove to top up the ‘tank’ and then Paso Robles about 1/2 way back to LA. I made four or five charging stops in all, outside the home. I made a number of ‘friends’ out there while charging. My experience was that there is only a 50% chance that when you plug the Taycan into the EA charger that it will work. On several occasions, I had to try four or five times, before switching ‘hoses’ and parking spots to get it to work. That burns 20-30 minutes, sometimes in the hot sun.
Range anxiety is one thing, but way way worse is driving up to a ‘must charge’ situation with 30 miles of range left, and going into light panic hoping that EA infrastructure will work. I’m not sure what the timing difference would be using Chargepoint setup, or if their works better with the Taycan. Photo here for attention….random identical car in Paso Robles.
my charging buddy from car week.
And CA has the best charger network. It is wild west (in reverse) for the rest of the country.
EA = took the money and ran. Not concerned about charger network working.
Make sure you have the latest “my Porsche” app on your phone. If plug and charge isn’t starting, open the app, click map at bottom, click middle charging icon, select the charging station you’re at, then choose the plug type and the charger you are plugged into, click start.
This worked for me other day at a station that wasn’t detecting the auto start. A guy in another car with plug and charge said he was having same issue.
FWIW, I’ve had this car since January, I’ve only had 3 or 4 fast charging attempts not work, but was able to use a different handle or start manually, i use them every couple/few weeks.
But yes, it’s irritating. Time will fix these issues… or tesla opens their network up for a piece of the action. They seem to have better reliability.
We really can't expect more from Level 1 technology. The Eurozone is starting to upgrade their CI to Level 3. The powers to be would rather prohibit your using disposable bags, rather than work on CI.
My belief is that this is a software problem that should be pretty easy to fix. The communication breakdown between the vehicle and the charger is the biggest issue I saw. Turns out petrol will pump the gas as long as you pay. Not so with Electrify America. Is Chargepoint any better?
I live in the Fort Lauderdale area and have varios EA stations near me, I have had no issues charging, there is always an open spot, charger works and never gives issues, I haven't had the bad experiences I read about here but maybe it's a South Florida thing. I have yet to charge at my house, all EA.
We really can't expect more from Level 1 technology. The Eurozone is starting to upgrade their CI to Level 3. The powers to be would rather prohibit your using disposable bags, rather than work on CI.
My belief is that this is a software problem that should be pretty easy to fix. The communication breakdown between the vehicle and the charger is the biggest issue I saw. Turns out petrol will pump the gas as long as you pay. Not so with Electrify America. Is Chargepoint any better?
All are prolly the same. The cluster is more complex than software. The charger network (maybe except So CA) is a wild-west hodgepodge, a mishmash held together with baling wire and bubble gum
The wallyworld chargers (for example) do not have capacity to run more than two at level 3. One can see the tinny 1kV transformers supplying the power. The physical units itself are tinker toys.
The complexity of the handful of suppliers to the EA network don't help. Trying to communicate with a score of various manufacturers, each with a dozen separate software developer's contributions probably doesn't help. Curious how Tesla has avoided that boondogle in Europe and if they will have the same excellent reliability in the US when it opens up. Using the Tesla app doesn't appear to be any advantage vs. the EA app. But looking at the internals, it becomes a bit more clear that the best part is no part has merit.
I’m considering purchasing a Taycan but after reading all of these problems trying to charge a car, I am not sure that the infrastructure is ready yet. Is there an adapter that would allow the Taycan to use a Tesla charger?
A question for those of you who have used the EA network: The EA mobile app appears to show real-time charger availability - is that information accurate, in your experience?
I’m considering purchasing a Taycan but after reading all of these problems trying to charge a car, I am not sure that the infrastructure is ready yet. Is there an adapter that would allow the Taycan to use a Tesla charger?
A Tesla Wall / L2 charger, yes. A L3 DC Fast Charger / Supercharger, no.
I’m considering purchasing a Taycan but after reading all of these problems trying to charge a car, I am not sure that the infrastructure is ready yet. Is there an adapter that would allow the Taycan to use a Tesla charger?
The Tesla Supercharger network in the US is not yet open to other makes. There's been discussion about this happening eventually, but no timeline AFAIK.
If you want to use Tesla Destination Chargers (L2 charging - think 8-12KW) then you can buy a "TeslaTap" converter, but those chargers aren't really suitable for road-tripping because they're slow (20-40 miles added per hour of charging).
The Tesla Supercharger network in the US is not yet open to other makes. There's been discussion about this happening eventually, but no timeline AFAIK.
If you want to use Tesla Destination Chargers (L2 charging - think 8-12KW) then you can buy a "TeslaTap" converter, but those chargers aren't really suitable for road-tripping because they're slow (20-40 miles added per hour of charging).
they are very well suited for overnight charging while at the many hotels that have tesla L2 chargers
08-28-2022, 04:05 PM
Electrify America - Worse Than Range Anxiety
