SeaGeo
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #46
That's part of the reason I think a charging curve is handy to have (at least for me). If you know the battery is warm and you plug in and pull that 36kW you mentioned at 50% SOC, how else do you know if it's reasonable to expect that from the truck at that SOC, or if you should unplug and try and different charger? Or move on to a different station entirely?It takes two to tango. People in this thread are forgetting the inconsistent nature of charging speeds, especially with Electrify America. One location may be pushing consistent and fast speeds, while another be very, very slow. You just never know.
For instance, this past summer tried to drive from Denver to Kansas City, and Electrify America had throttled the charging speeds in Flagler, CO, Colby, KS, Hays, KS, and Salina, KS, since those locations are super low use. The 350kW units were only pushing 35kW or 36kW. It does not matter what the charging curve of the vehicle is when the charging location is facing challenges. It does not matter what the vehicle's charging curve is if two of the charging stations are down, and the other two are being used by super slow charging Chevy Bolts.
A Rivian charging curve is a "nice to know," but there will be many other factors that affect real charging speeds. I have used 40 different Electrify America chargers in 11 states. The only consistency amongst them is that there is no consistency. This is the lesson to learn with electric vehicles, especially ones depended on Electrify America for long distance driving.
That is part of the adventure of CCS compatible EV's - the unknown. Just be prepared for all scenarios, and have a back up plan. Hell, I remember driving between Denver and Las Vegas before the Electrify America locations were open in Salina, UT and Green River, UT, and I was in a 2019 Audi e-Tron with 200 miles of range. You had to go 150 miles out of your way to use a CCS charger while heading east, and then you had to hope a slow charging Chevy Bolt was not hogging the 50kW charger in Moab on the way back. It did not matter that the e-Tron has a generous 150kW charging speed to 80%.
I am not trying to lecture, or preach, but don't be too critical of Rivian for not providing full details on charging curves since they all too well know that there are lots of factors out of their control when it comes to charging a vehicle, especially for long distance EV driving dependent on an inconsistent network like Electrify America.
I don't take your input here as lecturing at all. I actually think we're generally on the same page.
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