EA Electrify America Network is like a box of chocolates... 2000 mile trip report

[RivianXpress]

Just got back from a recent 2000 mile road trip from the SF Bay area to Las Vegas then to Tucson and then returning the same way.

Temperatures were hot mostly from 85 to 117 degrees.

Note: I was able to slow charge in Vegas at a friends house so I topped off before I left Vegas for Tucson and before I left Vegas for the SF bay area.

I had a total of 19 Charging sessions on the EA network and eight of them worked as expected - the others either timed out/didn't work or were very slow (36kW).

NOTE: I was on the previous SW version until the Tucson session.

Green - no issues
Orange - Slow charging
Red - Unable to charge more than 15 min

When the stations worked they worked great. However I had more than my share of issues. EA support was great but after more than 1/2 dozen calls to them it got a bit tiring.

I'll post the data below but in here is where I had issues:

Session # 2
-Barstow, CA Charging speed slowed to 36kW at all stations. Could be temperature related.

Session # 3-8
-Baker, CA First session started fine then kicked me off. Others sessions would not start on different chargers.

Session # 9
- Henderson, NV Speed limited to 36kW (heat?) free possibly because of the slow speed - no data

Session # 12, 13
- Tucson, AZ - Charger would not start charging moved to another charger.

Session #17
Mojave, CA - This was the worst one. Only one of four chargers working. Two were locked behind a cyclone fence as they are adding a solar canopy. One charger DOA. Last charger worked but was extremely slow. Four others were there once I started charging. This is a remote location with nothing else around. I needed to have enough charge to back of Tehachapi so I didn't have any options rolling in with 52 miles of range. Finally gave up when I figured I had enough charge to make to the chargers in Bakersfield, CA.

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[Whmorken]

Just got back from a recent 2000 mile road trip from the SF Bay area to Las Vegas then to Tucson and then returning the same way.

Temperatures were hot mostly from 85 to 117 degrees.

Note: I was able to slow charge in Vegas at a friends house so I topped off before I left Vegas for Tucson and before I left Vegas for the SF bay area.

I had a total of 19 Charging sessions on the EA network and eight of them worked as expected - the others either timed out/didn't work or were very slow (36kW).

Green - no issues
Orange - Slow charging
Red - Unable to charge more than 15 min

When the stations worked they worked great. However I had more than my share of issues. EA support was great but after more than 1/2 dozen calls to them it got a bit tiring.

I'll post the data below but in here is where I had issues:

Session # 2
-Barstow, CA Charging speed slowed to 36kW at all stations. Could be temperature related.

Session # 3-8
-Baker, CA First session started fine then kicked me off. Others sessions would not start on different chargers.

Session # 9
- Henderson, NV Speed limited to 36kW (heat?) free possibly because of the slow speed - no data

Session # 12, 13
- Tucson, AZ - Charger would not start charging moved to another charger.

Session #17
Mojave, CA - This was the worst one. Only one of four chargers working. Two were locked behind a cyclone fence as they are adding a solar canopy. One charger DOA. Last charger worked but was extremely slow. Four others were there once I started charging. This is a remote location with nothing else around. I needed to have enough charge to back of Tehachapi so I didn't have any options rolling in with 52 miles of range. Finally gave up when I figured I had enough charge to make to the chargers in Bakersfield, CA.

Priceless report! May others follow…..

 

[Mark_AZR1T]

Thank you! Great trip and an informative post! This needs to go to EA and every EV media outlet that cares................EA is constantly bs-ing and talking about some 95% uptime nonsense.......They must be run by the same VW folks that ripped off American consumers on their diesel scam and lies.............birds of a feather....

 

[Taycanfrank]

If you're noticing a trend it's because EA uses several different types of chargers/installers. They might look the same on first glance but they're quite different, and some of them are more reliable than others. At one point it was up to 5 or 6 but I don't remember the exact details. I know a couple of them have been shown to be incredibly unreliable and those units give the most problems.

 

[SASSquatch]

Thank you! Great trip and an informative post! This needs to go to EA and every EV media outlet that cares................EA is constantly bs-ing and talking about some 95% uptime nonsense.......They must be run by the same VW folks that ripped off American consumers on their diesel scam and lies.............birds of a feather....

I second this! This is the kind of info that I get excited about.

Really fantastic work here. Keep it up!

 

[SASSquatch]

Just got back from a recent 2000 mile road trip from the SF Bay area to Las Vegas then to Tucson and then returning the same way.

Temperatures were hot mostly from 85 to 117 degrees.

Note: I was able to slow charge in Vegas at a friends house so I topped off before I left Vegas for Tucson and before I left Vegas for the SF bay area.

I had a total of 19 Charging sessions on the EA network and eight of them worked as expected - the others either timed out/didn't work or were very slow (36kW).

Green - no issues
Orange - Slow charging
Red - Unable to charge more than 15 min

When the stations worked they worked great. However I had more than my share of issues. EA support was great but after more than 1/2 dozen calls to them it got a bit tiring.

I'll post the data below but in here is where I had issues:

Session # 2
-Barstow, CA Charging speed slowed to 36kW at all stations. Could be temperature related.

Session # 3-8
-Baker, CA First session started fine then kicked me off. Others sessions would not start on different chargers.

Session # 9
- Henderson, NV Speed limited to 36kW (heat?) free possibly because of the slow speed - no data

Session # 12, 13
- Tucson, AZ - Charger would not start charging moved to another charger.

Session #17
Mojave, CA - This was the worst one. Only one of four chargers working. Two were locked behind a cyclone fence as they are adding a solar canopy. One charger DOA. Last charger worked but was extremely slow. Four others were there once I started charging. This is a remote location with nothing else around. I needed to have enough charge to back of Tehachapi so I didn't have any options rolling in with 52 miles of range. Finally gave up when I figured I had enough charge to make to the chargers in Bakersfield, CA.

So it looks like you hit your peak charging rate of 210.26 kW at the Kingman, AZ charger. Do you recall how long you were at peak rate for? That would be an awesome additional column of data, but you are doing God's work already!

 

[RivianXpress]

So it looks like you hit your peak charging rate of 210.26 kW at the Kingman, AZ charger. Do you recall how long you were at peak rate for? That would be an awesome additional column of data, but you are doing God's work already!

Here you go. It starting dropping when I hit 52%. These two pics are taken 47 seconds apart.

I may have switched to 85% charge but not sure why the "End in.." is so different.

 

[SASSquatch]

Here you go. It statring dropping when I hit 52%

Thank you! So you only got peak charging from 51% to 52%? Bummer, but RIVIAN can still claim you hit the peak, even if it was for a minute...

 

[RivianXpress]

Thank you! So you only got peak charging from 51% to 52%? Bummer, but RIVIAN can still claim you hit the peak, even if it was for a minute...

Looks that way.

 

[SASSquatch]

If I've done my math correctly that is still about ~107 kW average rate of charge over your 24.7 minute charge time at that stop.

Not bad. I could definitely live with that.

 

[Mike Hunt]

Just got back from a recent 2000 mile road trip from the SF Bay area to Las Vegas then to Tucson and then returning the same way.

Temperatures were hot mostly from 85 to 117 degrees.

Note: I was able to slow charge in Vegas at a friends house so I topped off before I left Vegas for Tucson and before I left Vegas for the SF bay area.

I had a total of 19 Charging sessions on the EA network and eight of them worked as expected - the others either timed out/didn't work or were very slow (36kW).

Green - no issues
Orange - Slow charging
Red - Unable to charge more than 15 min

When the stations worked they worked great. However I had more than my share of issues. EA support was great but after more than 1/2 dozen calls to them it got a bit tiring.

I'll post the data below but in here is where I had issues:

Session # 2
-Barstow, CA Charging speed slowed to 36kW at all stations. Could be temperature related.

Session # 3-8
-Baker, CA First session started fine then kicked me off. Others sessions would not start on different chargers.

Session # 9
- Henderson, NV Speed limited to 36kW (heat?) free possibly because of the slow speed - no data

Session # 12, 13
- Tucson, AZ - Charger would not start charging moved to another charger.

Session #17
Mojave, CA - This was the worst one. Only one of four chargers working. Two were locked behind a cyclone fence as they are adding a solar canopy. One charger DOA. Last charger worked but was extremely slow. Four others were there once I started charging. This is a remote location with nothing else around. I needed to have enough charge to back of Tehachapi so I didn't have any options rolling in with 52 miles of range. Finally gave up when I figured I had enough charge to make to the chargers in Bakersfield, CA.

That’s a great report thanks.

I wonder what the average price of gas was on your trip and a guess how much the equivalent gas trip would cost?

 

[Guy]

What was your state of charge when you arrived there because I thought the >200KW max was in the 20% region of the pack and I would have 5ought you go the max down there and not up to 50%unless you had >200KW for a sustained length of time.

 

[RivianXpress]

Since you asked...

 

[RivianXpress]

 

[Denver_Paulie]

@RivianXpress

You completely outdid yourself with collecting data points on your road trip. You should be commended.

I have charged at EA chargers in southern Utah, the EA chargers in and around Vegas, the EA chargers in Barston and Indio, and most of the EA chargers in Arizona in August when temps were similar to what you saw on your road trip. I never saw the throttling that you saw while on road trips in my Taycan.

I did, however see throttling last summer in eastern Colorado and through Kansas last July during a road trip to Kansas Citi, so it is not outside the realm of possibility that EA does throttle chargers in extreme heat.

I just wonder if it wasn't the Rivian as opposed to the chargers? Like I said, I have used many of the locations you used on your trip, and others, in similar extreme southwestern heat while in my Taycan, but did not experience what you saw. We do not really know that much about Rivian and its charging characteristics in extreme heat or extreme cold since there are not that many on the road and we are just entering the extreme heat season in the desert southwest.

Hopefully, we will see additional Rivian trips in the desert southwest during the extreme heat season so we can see if the challenges are with chargers themselves, or the Rivian.

In the meantime, thank you again for collecting the charging metrics on your trip and sharing the details. While the limited charging speeds are extremely frustrating, the good news is you were able to complete your trip.

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