Painful experience with my 2021 4S and Electrify America (free) charging
10-22-2022, 08:42 PM
#1
Instructor
Thread Starter
Painful experience with my 2021 4S and Electrify America (free) charging
Hello all and sorry for long post,
Got last weekend a used 2021 Neptune blue 4S with 2400mi on the odometer and the latest PCM version. BTW I traded my 2019 911 Carrera T for that 4S and I am still wondering if it was a mistake ...just read below.
The 4S is quite a fine car but the charging experience with Electrify America (EA) is absolutely trash for me so far. Let me explain.
First, my dealer did not do a proper reset of the car before its delivery to me. So the MyPorsche app did not work correctly.Just after getting the car I went with the salesperson to try to charge my car a bit and I could do a quick "plug and charge" so I called it a day.
The salesperson told me the MyPorsche app would work later ... so I believed him. But one day later, when I looked at the MyPorsche app, there were plenty of stuff missing for me and no remote connect working and a red error icon telling me the app could not be connected to. Then I went to charge the car at the EA station with the MyPorsche App but my car was not recognized at all. I actually had to create an EA account on the EA app and then pay for the second charge...
Then when back home, I decided to look in detail about the MyPorsche website and I understood at that time that there was a EA subscription related to free charging, something that my dealer forgot to mention to me…
So I went back to the car, did a reset of the PCM and did a proper provisioning of my car with the PCM and used my account to MyPorsche for the PCM. Then some time later IIRC I received an email telling me that I could have free charging and I went to the MyPorsche website and did "buy" the free subscription that was offered to me.
Ok, so at that state I could see my transaction in the MyPorsche website and my car in the MyPorsche app and everything looked good and I could finally remotely connect to it.
The next day I went again to the EA charging station and I could effectively do a free charging initiated from the MyPorsche app.
The “only glitch” I got was that the plug would not been released… I was speechless and there was nothing on the EA charger screen that I could tap to release my plug. It was just showing the screen with a timer to unplug before charging me real money.
My 4S was showing the "red ring" on the charging port and a "red battery" inside the car. Then I decided to restart a charging session from the MyPorsche app and it failed ... but it also unlocked the plug and I could go back home.
The next couple of days I did try the same charging process by starting it from the MyPorsche app and then stopping it with the charger screen. Everything went quite fine.
Yesterday chatting with my salesperson I understood that I could activate a PCM option for "plug and charge" and so I did it and this morning I went again to the EA charger to try that "free plug and charge" experience.
Well ... it did not go smoothly at all: after plugging in my car, I could see the charger telling me it was connecting to my Taycan and then it went telling me that it was doing a transaction and then I got a "Payment declined" screen... So I restarted the same process and again I got another "Payment declined".
Then I called the EA customer service and first they tried to tell me that the free charging was only for the first owner ... which is absolutely wrong as it is linked to the car. Then they told me that I could use the MyPorsche app and I said I knew how to do that but I wanted to have the "plug and play" charge.
So they decided to reset the charger itself (and I could see that it was running this crappy Windows IoT btw ... no wonder) and we tried again and that was still not working. So the person proposed to send a "direct charge" to the car and then my car started to charge. I asked them to file a EA ticket and to come back to me about this "plug and charge" not working and he told me it would take a few days to get some answer.
I also contacted my salesperson and he told me he would escalate the issue to the regional manager. I also contacted Porsche customer service and the person was not very helpful, trying to have me reset one more time the PCM ... which is like a no-no, I have done that too many times already and my free charging is working, only the “plug and charge” is not working for me.
All in all, the car is really great except the fact that I don't find a way to turn off the seat ventilation for real, I have to manually do it all the time I enter the car on the center console, which is a real pain. Let me know if you know how to do it and/or how to file a feature request for the PCM team.
Also the salesperson is quite knowledgeable too and tried to help me so that's cool he is doing his best for sure. I am planning some 500 mi+ trips in the future and I am quite perplexed about being able to navigate those charging issues on the go honestly.
As far as I can see the "weak link" is EA and its charging network. That's very uncool and not providing Porsche owners a good experience. Maybe Porsche should also offer free charging with ChargePoint or EVgo.
Oh, btw yes I will install a L2 charger at my home but I also want to benefit from that free charging as it was part of the deal.
So, how is your experience with "plug and charge" and with Electrify America charging and what would be your recommendation for fixing that issue I have and the “seat ventilation” one ?
Thx,
Got last weekend a used 2021 Neptune blue 4S with 2400mi on the odometer and the latest PCM version. BTW I traded my 2019 911 Carrera T for that 4S and I am still wondering if it was a mistake ...just read below.
The 4S is quite a fine car but the charging experience with Electrify America (EA) is absolutely trash for me so far. Let me explain.
First, my dealer did not do a proper reset of the car before its delivery to me. So the MyPorsche app did not work correctly.Just after getting the car I went with the salesperson to try to charge my car a bit and I could do a quick "plug and charge" so I called it a day.
The salesperson told me the MyPorsche app would work later ... so I believed him. But one day later, when I looked at the MyPorsche app, there were plenty of stuff missing for me and no remote connect working and a red error icon telling me the app could not be connected to. Then I went to charge the car at the EA station with the MyPorsche App but my car was not recognized at all. I actually had to create an EA account on the EA app and then pay for the second charge...
Then when back home, I decided to look in detail about the MyPorsche website and I understood at that time that there was a EA subscription related to free charging, something that my dealer forgot to mention to me…
So I went back to the car, did a reset of the PCM and did a proper provisioning of my car with the PCM and used my account to MyPorsche for the PCM. Then some time later IIRC I received an email telling me that I could have free charging and I went to the MyPorsche website and did "buy" the free subscription that was offered to me.
Ok, so at that state I could see my transaction in the MyPorsche website and my car in the MyPorsche app and everything looked good and I could finally remotely connect to it.
The next day I went again to the EA charging station and I could effectively do a free charging initiated from the MyPorsche app.
The “only glitch” I got was that the plug would not been released… I was speechless and there was nothing on the EA charger screen that I could tap to release my plug. It was just showing the screen with a timer to unplug before charging me real money.
My 4S was showing the "red ring" on the charging port and a "red battery" inside the car. Then I decided to restart a charging session from the MyPorsche app and it failed ... but it also unlocked the plug and I could go back home.
The next couple of days I did try the same charging process by starting it from the MyPorsche app and then stopping it with the charger screen. Everything went quite fine.
Yesterday chatting with my salesperson I understood that I could activate a PCM option for "plug and charge" and so I did it and this morning I went again to the EA charger to try that "free plug and charge" experience.
Well ... it did not go smoothly at all: after plugging in my car, I could see the charger telling me it was connecting to my Taycan and then it went telling me that it was doing a transaction and then I got a "Payment declined" screen... So I restarted the same process and again I got another "Payment declined".
Then I called the EA customer service and first they tried to tell me that the free charging was only for the first owner ... which is absolutely wrong as it is linked to the car. Then they told me that I could use the MyPorsche app and I said I knew how to do that but I wanted to have the "plug and play" charge.
So they decided to reset the charger itself (and I could see that it was running this crappy Windows IoT btw ... no wonder) and we tried again and that was still not working. So the person proposed to send a "direct charge" to the car and then my car started to charge. I asked them to file a EA ticket and to come back to me about this "plug and charge" not working and he told me it would take a few days to get some answer.
I also contacted my salesperson and he told me he would escalate the issue to the regional manager. I also contacted Porsche customer service and the person was not very helpful, trying to have me reset one more time the PCM ... which is like a no-no, I have done that too many times already and my free charging is working, only the “plug and charge” is not working for me.
All in all, the car is really great except the fact that I don't find a way to turn off the seat ventilation for real, I have to manually do it all the time I enter the car on the center console, which is a real pain. Let me know if you know how to do it and/or how to file a feature request for the PCM team.
Also the salesperson is quite knowledgeable too and tried to help me so that's cool he is doing his best for sure. I am planning some 500 mi+ trips in the future and I am quite perplexed about being able to navigate those charging issues on the go honestly.
As far as I can see the "weak link" is EA and its charging network. That's very uncool and not providing Porsche owners a good experience. Maybe Porsche should also offer free charging with ChargePoint or EVgo.
Oh, btw yes I will install a L2 charger at my home but I also want to benefit from that free charging as it was part of the deal.
So, how is your experience with "plug and charge" and with Electrify America charging and what would be your recommendation for fixing that issue I have and the “seat ventilation” one ?
Thx,
Last edited by droidfan; 10-22-2022 at 09:01 PM.
10-22-2022, 10:14 PM
#2
RL Community Team
Rennlist Member
Rennlist Member
tl;dr
I don't think that your sales person knows it all.
the my porsche has to be linked to your car for the free charging to work.
I don't think that your sales person knows it all.
the my porsche has to be linked to your car for the free charging to work.
The following users liked this post:
earl pottinger (10-22-2022)
10-22-2022, 10:50 PM
#3
Instructor
Thread Starter
FYI I clearly see my car with the correct VIN# in the MyPorsche website, and the "Online service update" activation has also been done correctly.
The free charging is as I said, please read what I wrote, a subscription which I did correctly too, I can clearly see the associated Orders page in the "Porsche Connect Store" with my account.
I also have that in my Active services:
Porsche Charging Service
Active contract, until 12/22/2023
The free charging is as I said, please read what I wrote, a subscription which I did correctly too, I can clearly see the associated Orders page in the "Porsche Connect Store" with my account.
I also have that in my Active services:
Porsche Charging Service
Active contract, until 12/22/2023
10-22-2022, 11:06 PM
#4
Rennlist Member
wrong manufacturer if you want a working fast charging network - the fact that EA is a sh*t show is well known…
there is one EV vendors who's fast charging network is: simple, reliable, available, and nearly ubiquitous - everyone else is playing catch up - and they have a long ways to go.
hint: the one that works is not the EA network.
there is one EV vendors who's fast charging network is: simple, reliable, available, and nearly ubiquitous - everyone else is playing catch up - and they have a long ways to go.
hint: the one that works is not the EA network.
10-22-2022, 11:25 PM
#5
Instructor
Thread Starter
Yes we know and understand now what you mean, but I would appreciate any suggestion for fixing my issue. BTW we used to have a Model 3 Performance and it was another sh** show for plenty of other reasons... and we end up selling that car in less then 2 years in 2021, but I digress,
wrong manufacturer if you want a working fast charging network - the fact that EA is a sh*t show is well known…
there is one EV vendors who's fast charging network is: simple, reliable, available, and nearly ubiquitous - everyone else is playing catch up - and they have a long ways to go.
hint: the one that works is not the EA network.
there is one EV vendors who's fast charging network is: simple, reliable, available, and nearly ubiquitous - everyone else is playing catch up - and they have a long ways to go.
hint: the one that works is not the EA network.
10-23-2022, 01:38 AM
#6
Getting the charging service properly registered with My Porsche app was annoying and took a bit of doing, Then the first time I tried to charge at EA, it took a couple attempts to realize that plug n charge is disabled by default on the car and you need to turn it on in the settings. Seems epically stupid.
After sorting those two things out, I haven’t had any charging issues with EA or ChargePoint.
After sorting those two things out, I haven’t had any charging issues with EA or ChargePoint.
10-23-2022, 01:50 AM
#7
Instructor
Thread Starter
Yep, and I have this PCM setting ON for "plug and charge" but no luck for me today. I have been advised to set it OFF and ON again and I will try another charger tomorrow. What is strange is that the exact charger I tried this morning did work one week ago before I had to do a full reset of the PCM.
Also in the "Porsche Taycan Group" on Facebook, a person experienced the exact same issue and it seems that EA is screwing up big time and it's mainly depending on the charger and the updates EA is doing on its network : some chargers work correctly, some not. It's kind of "random" and really a EA sh** show.
Also in the "Porsche Taycan Group" on Facebook, a person experienced the exact same issue and it seems that EA is screwing up big time and it's mainly depending on the charger and the updates EA is doing on its network : some chargers work correctly, some not. It's kind of "random" and really a EA sh** show.
Getting the charging service properly registered with My Porsche app was annoying and took a bit of doing, Then the first time I tried to charge at EA, it took a couple attempts to realize that plug n charge is disabled by default on the car and you need to turn it on in the settings. Seems epically stupid.
After sorting those two things out, I haven’t had any charging issues with EA or ChargePoint.
After sorting those two things out, I haven’t had any charging issues with EA or ChargePoint.