Charging Networks to Join? - Advice Sought

[JeremyMKE]

As my delivery is approaching I have heard advice that having accounts for charging networks setup ahead of time is a good idea.

Rivian connects to the Chargepoint Network, which I THINK gives access to Electrify America chargers. Hopefully at the same discounts?

I have no idea who else...

Non-Tesla EV owners, advice? What networks do you belong to?

Am I overthinking this?

This is a great example of a government plug and pay standard would be useful.

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[zipzag]

Join EA if you are going to charge away from home regularly.

My experience in Wisconsin is that the small town 50kw chargers are usually broken. I have a Greenlots card for Wisonsin and Minnesota, which has just changed its name to Shell Recharge.

 

[ADVNOW]

I'm new to charging as well and found chargeway to be a helpful app finding locations and those networks most abundant in the area . then I signed up for those charging networks close to home and places we regularly visit, so I had accounts setup before traveling. I also signed up Volta as it is free and is at a lot of the shopping centers around me plus its free. EA seems to be all over then EVGO for my area. I was told about ABRP (A better route planner) for long distance planning haven't tried it yet. It appears for me that charge point is not in very many loactions near me and they are slow 6.8kw charging location.

 

[nukem384]

I would sign up with EA. They are the biggest DC fast charging network outside of Tesla. Also, if you sign up with Plugshare, you can see which chargers are where. So maybe if you're planning a trip, you can see which networks are on your route and sign up with those before you take your trip?

 

[User433]

It's a mess. In less than 3 days, I realized I need 6 different apps. Forget about having 1 account, you're gonna need multiple apps and multiple accounts just to make sure you've got all the options around you. So far I have EA, EvGo, ChargePoint, PlugShare, OpenChargeMaps, ABRP. Honestly, this is the most frustrating thing about my Rivian.

 

[SeaGeo]

It's a mess. In less than 3 days, I realized I need 6 different apps. Forget about having 1 account, you're gonna need multiple apps and multiple accounts just to make sure you've got all the options around you. So far I have EA, EvGo, ChargePoint, PlugShare, OpenChargeMaps, ABRP. Honestly, this is the most frustrating thing about my Rivian.

You don't actually need all of those. The latter three are somewhat redundant with the R1T. And personally I have found a reason to use Chargepoint or EVgo since I charge at home and neither focuses on interstates. Chargepoint helps cover some more random spots.

Basically if you charge at home, have a membership to the three you have, but I'd bet the vast majority of your charging will be with EA.


There are a couple of guys who have made an iPhone app that apparently allows a centralized app for the major networks. That might be something to look into.

 

[Scott]

It's a mess. In less than 3 days, I realized I need 6 different apps. Forget about having 1 account, you're gonna need multiple apps and multiple accounts just to make sure you've got all the options around you. So far I have EA, EvGo, ChargePoint, PlugShare, OpenChargeMaps, ABRP. Honestly, this is the most frustrating thing about my Rivian.

For most people once you can charge at home you very rarely need to fast charge. My ID.4 came with free electrify America. In ~6 months of ownership I haven’t even used it. And it is free. You will learn the joy of waking up with a full tank daily and only think about this the few times a year 300 miles isn’t enough range. And if you have a regular drive that requires fast charging you will likely pick the same charger to stop at.
It ends up not being a big deal or stressful for most users / use cases

 

[User433]

Once I get my wall charger installed, I agree I'll care less. However, when I road trip in a different city it will be the same mess. Not a Rivian problem but definitely an adoption blocker for EV in general. PlugShare is so close to being an all-in-one app but still not complete.

 

[lostpacket]

There are a couple of guys who have made an iPhone app that apparently allows a centralized app for the major networks. That might be something to look into.

I think I saw the reddit post about this. They are in the current season of Y Combinator right?

These guys? https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/aeoncharge

Really curious what the business plan is. Seems like a difficult space to carve out with competition from Google/Apple Pay, credit cards, EV charging companies, and automakers on all sides.

 

[zipzag]

You don't actually need all of those. The latter three are somewhat redundant with the R1T. And personally I have found a reason to use Chargepoint or EVgo since I charge at home and neither focuses on interstates. Chargepoint helps cover some more random spots.

Basically if you charge at home, have a membership to the three you have, but I'd bet the vast majority of your charging will be with EA.


There are a couple of guys who have made an iPhone app that apparently allows a centralized app for the major networks. That might be something to look into.

Plus public level 2 charging is largely worthless for a vehicle as inefficient as Rivian. Level 2 is going to need to be done overnight to add meaningful range. Most hotels don't require paid charging.

In the midwest travel with Rivian is largely going to be between EA stations and motels with charging. As I said previously, in my experience, the single 50kW changers shown on plugshare in the midwest are highly unreliable.

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

Really curious what the business plan is. Seems like a difficult space to carve out with competition from Google/Apple Pay, credit cards, EV charging companies, and automakers on all sides.

Seems like so many startups are focused on "getting acquired" as the only means for succeeding.

 

[Speedrye]

Are these networks just billed to your credit card monthly, per use like a gas station or what? I've seen that my credit card offers 5% cash back on EV charging, but don't really know how that works. I'll be home charging in almost all cases anyway, but this thread got me curious.

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

Are these networks just billed to your credit card monthly, per use like a gas station or what? I've seen that my credit card offers 5% cash back on EV charging, but don't really know how that works. I'll be home charging in almost all cases anyway, but this thread got me curious.

You usually must have a “card on file” in the app, yes. Some times you can swipe/dip/tap at the charger, however.

 

[SirArpsAlot]

I thought Rivian was going to integrate with EA plug and charge... Is that not a thing anymore?

 

[Dark-Fx]

Whatever networks you might need to stop at. On a road trip outside of your normal area, it might be more than just chargepoint, evgo, and electrify america (those are the most common around me).
On our trip to florida, I also needed to make an account at FPLEvolution and Semaconnect.

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