350KW EVGO charger maxed at 70KW and is my only option, any idea why? Rivian no help.

[Dark-Fx]

If I know I am going to have a long day where I might be coming close to getting home with a flat battery, I use conserve mode and intentionally drive a little easier/slower than normal. I'd rather do that than have to go out of my way to recharge.

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[Inkedsphynx]

Given the thermal throttling issues and the curve itself, it's basically useless to use a 350kw charger on a Rivian, imo. You'll get basically the same charging speed over a long session on the 150kw, until the thermal management system improves a bit more. This update helped, I think, but there's more work to do.

If you only need a quick 10% charge in the middle of your SoC or something similar, the 350kw should, in theory, get you there faster. But if you charge on it for much longer than 10 minutes at more than 170kw you'll most likely hit the thermal management issue where the truck doesn't start cooling the battery soon enough/hard enough and then that 350kw charger just pushes you past that envelope and throttles the charging much faster than the 150kw would.

And, welcome to the world of shit charging experiences. My closest fast chargers (150kw EA stations) have, for over a month now, been doing this thing where you get 150kw for about 4 minutes off it, then the station itself (truck tells me this, and EA confirms it) throttles down to 40kw and won't go above that no matter how long you charge. Very frustrating they haven't resolved it yet.

 

[SANZC02]

My guess is since NJ charges by the minute those chargers are set to cap around 70 or 75 kw. When I was traveling, I had a couple of times the truck told me charging limited by charger and both were in pay by the minute states.

Not sure how the vendors can recover cost when they have to charge by the minute. In Texas where they charge by the minute, I was paying $7-$9 for charges that were costing me $21-$23 in the by the KW states.

Here a a couple of examples;

by the minute

by the minute

 

[gombater]

My guess is since NJ charges by the minute those chargers are set to cap around 70 or 75 kw. When I was traveling, I had a couple of times the truck told me charging limited by charger and both were in pay by the minute states.

Not sure how the vendors can recover cost when they have to charge by the minute. In Texas where they charge by the minute, I was paying $7-$9 for charges that were costing me $21-$23 in the by the KW states.

Here a a couple of examples;

by the minute

by the minute

EVgo just converted from per minute to per kW for the entire state of North Carolina beginning of 2023 - I saw the same cost increases - huge difference, but I did not have any charger throttling in 2022...

 

[mwexler2]

I live a ways out from the city and I'm still deciding if I can deal with all electric and if I should keep the rivian. I have the home charger but decided to wait on install until I decide to keep the rivian

I don’t understand. It’s like building a professional kitchen with a Viking range, sub-zero refrigerator, professional pots, pans, knives, etc and even a spice rack with all the spices, but saying “I’m not going to unwrap the spices until I decide whether I like to cook.” The best part of an electric vehicle, IMO, is being able to charge at home and never go to a gas station.
If roundtrip to town is using 85% of the battery capacity, charge it to 90% if it gets below 50% charge it to 60% at the EVgo. You can use either 150kw or 350kw. Shouldn’t make much difference and should take less than 30 minutes.
If you return the truck anyway, the cost of installing charger should be pretty minor compared to cost of truck, taxes, delivery fees, etc.

 

[Chas60422]

Trying to learn how to charge my R1S. The closet DC fast charger to me is 17 miles away. They have EVGO 350kw units and 150kw units. I tried two different 350kw chargers at that location the other day and both maxed out at 70KW. Called rivian support but they were no help. I charged there for over an hour and never got above 70KW. Any ideas why it? I appreciate the help.

If you’re getting low charge speeds you might need to reset the truck. Unplug first then do a hard reset. That is a long press/hold of the left outermost steering wheel button with a hold of the hazard light (about 15 sec). It’s like rebooting your slow computer. Frees up the cache etc. once rebooted then plug in. It may make a difference.

I also agree with another commenter. Instal that level 2 charger. Even if you don’t keep your R1s chances are you will buy an EV in the future. Waking up to a charged vehicle is a huge advantage of EV over ice cars

 

[jwardell]

I started at 1%. it was cold outside around freezing. for the first 10 minutes or so it was only at 12kw then jumped p to 70kw. Thanks for the reply. I may have to just try it again another time and see if its any different.

Your pack was definitely cold if it started that slow! Make sure you use navigation to route to a charger so it helps to warm it up before you get there, but the pack is massive so if it is truly frozen it could take a good hour to warm up enough. If you instead keep you truck plugged in overnight it will keep itself warm and charge faster. You probably also had almost no regen

 

[JohnB R1T]

Not sure how the vendors can recover cost when they have to charge by the minute. In Texas where they charge by the minute, I was paying $7-$9 for charges that were costing me $21-$23 in the by the KW states.

Here a a couple of examples;

by the minute

by the minute

Here's how they are recovering their costs:

I live in South Texas. My electricity provider is a co-op that charges me 9.44 cents/kWh for electricity that I buy at home.

In your example, you paid $7.66/72.688kWh= $.10538 per kWh
That represents an 11% markup over the RETAIL residential rate that I pay for electricity (including tax)

If you consider that a commercial user of electricity may well be paying 50% (or less) per kWh than I am, there's a substantial gross margin built in there.

The average commercial rate in Texas is 9.89 cents/kWh versus an average residential rate of 13.53 cents/kwh.

Averages are just that...averages.

For a commercial user like a charging network, the provider can consider that the use is "interruptible" (unlike...say...a hospital) and the rate will likely reflect that.

Guess what's going to be the first thing interrupted in a rolling blackout?

 

[SANZC02]

Here's how they are recovering their costs:

I live in South Texas. My electricity provider is a co-op that charges me 9.44 cents/kWh for electricity that I buy at home.

In your example, you paid $7.66/72.688kWh= $.10538 per kWh
That represents an 11% markup over the RETAIL residential rate that I pay for electricity (including tax)

If you consider that a commercial user of electricity may well be paying 50% (or less) per kWh than I am, there's a substantial gross margin built in there.

The average commercial rate in Texas is 9.89 cents/kWh versus an average residential rate of 13.53 cents/kwh.

Averages are just that...averages.

For a commercial user like a charging network, the provider can consider that the use is "interruptible" (unlike...say...a hospital) and the rate will likely reflect that.

Guess what's going to be the first thing interrupted in a rolling blackout?

Then maybe I should just say electricity in Texas is crazy cheap, here are my SoCal rates…. At least it makes it easy to get my ROI for the solar.

Our gas prices are even worse, today the average is 4.88, my Jeep GC gets 20 mpg so it is 24.40 for 100 miles in the Jeep. At 22 cents a KW my Rivian would be $10 per 100 miles. I would need gas under $2 before the Jeep is cheaper. Last time we averaged under $2 was January 2009.

 

[R1T311]

Trying to learn how to charge my R1S. The closet DC fast charger to me is 17 miles away. They have EVGO 350kw units and 150kw units. I tried two different 350kw chargers at that location the other day and both maxed out at 70KW. Called rivian support but they were no help. I charged there for over an hour and never got above 70KW. Any ideas why it? I appreciate the help.

Boy this sounds like my experience with the giant POS EVGo stations at Oak Park Mall in Overland Park KS just last weekend when I was down there.

Betting it was, I see you are from KC.

It’s just these chargers at this location. I attempted to call their Support to let them know they suck but the second they answered and I started explaining the situation, the phone just kind of went dead. I gave up and didn’t call them back.

 

[strykerwsu]

Then maybe I should just say electricity in Texas is crazy cheap, here are my SoCal rates…. At least it makes it easy to get my ROI for the solar.

Our gas prices are even worse, today the average is 4.88, my Jeep GC gets 20 mpg so it is 24.40 for 100 miles in the Jeep. At 22 cents a KW my Rivian would be $10 per 100 miles. I would need gas under $2 before the Jeep is cheaper. Last time we averaged under $2 was January 2009.

That is crazy. Might as well keep ICE

 

[emoore]

That is crazy. Might as well keep ICE

Why? Gas is $4 a gallon here and we are one of the cheaper states.

 

[SANZC02]

That is crazy. Might as well keep ICE

No, Solar saves the day, had it installed 18 months ago, paid the electric company a grand total of $58 dollars since….

With tax credits and NEM I’m on track for a full return in under 63 months total. All gravy after that. Added benefit with the Tesla Powerwall, I do not need to worry about VtoH on my Rivian.

Not sure I could get an ROI in Texas (or other places with cheap power) in under 20 years.

 

[strykerwsu]

Why? Gas is $4 a gallon here and we are one of the cheaper states.

I didn't realize gas was that high still as well. Used to around $2.60ish in Midwest.

 

[VSG]

Yeah, gas is still averaging well above $4 here in WA. But we also have one of the lowest electricity rates in the country - most of it from renewable sources (~70%).

I haven't been to a gas station in 6 months now, and because almost all my charging is at home, and because I have a solar system with net metering, my mileage is almost free. As in beer.

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