Share Your Charging Horror Stories

[jtshaw]

I once had to wait about 3 minutes for a charger to become available in Tumwater, WA. It was a 250 kW charger though so my total charging time required to get home was less than 10 minutes. There is nothing good to eat at that stop though.

I expect the Rivian to be a bit more of an”adventure” when it needs to be charged away from home though, at least for a while. Rivian’s Adventure Network can’t come soon enough… and they need to enable battery preconditioning when you navigate to a charger ASAP.

Sponsored

 

[Gshenderson]

In 6 years of Tesla ownership, I can count on one hand the number of times I had to wait for an available charger. But most of my public charging was on superchargers in the middle of nowhere vs. those overloaded city chargers.

My one horror story was a cross country straight thru trip from NC to CO in the early days of the supercharger network where skipping a charger wasn’t an option. I was somewhere in KS I believe and had a planned stop to charge at around 2:00am. Pull into the supercharger which, like many in the middle of nowhere, is located in a chain hotel parking lot. Only to find that some @$#&*! driving a massive pickup truck with trailer in tow thought the supercharger spaces were his reserved parking. Yes, he parked across all 8 bays! The hotel was no help since they didn’t know whose truck it was. So I justtook an extra long nap since I needed the sleep anyway. He pulled out around 7:00am and I charged up and continued on.

In the grand scheme of things, only one incident in 6 years ain’t bad. Especially if you factor in the amount of $ I saved over that time with free charging vs paying for gas.

 

[kanundrum]

TBH None granted I have only done a 1600 Mile Road Trip in my Hyundai Ioniq (MD to VT and back) as well as a day of 300 mile mountain pass driving.

 

[jtshaw]

"Adventure?" Have you ever used an Electrify America charger? Using a CHaDeMo converter does not count. Or are you just trying to sound cool because you read something on the internet?

When do you think Rivian's Adventure Network will start to roll out and actually make an impact? They have made 1,000 cars, so you expect their national fast charging network to miraculously appear in the next couple of years?? Good lord.

You seem like a shining example of the "new to ZEV's" Tesla cult member so you should know how long it has taken Tesla to get to where it is with its charging network. It has taken Electrify America 6 years to get to where it is currently.

But you drive a Model 3 so you must know all about ZEV's.

Why so hostile? I’ve been driving an EV since 2015 FWIW (and not all Tesla’s), and I know EA/ChargePoint/EVGo/etc aren’t as far along in areas I frequent as Tesla is, but it should be good enough. I expect it’ll take years for Rivian’s charging network to catch up.

 

[Denver_Paulie]

Why so hostile? I’ve been driving an EV since 2015 FWIW (and not all Tesla’s), and I know EA/ChargePoint/EVGo/etc aren’t as far along in areas I frequent as Tesla is, but it should be good enough. I expect it’ll take years for Rivian’s charging network to catch up.

Sorry about that, man. If that is the case, then be honest about what you know. Charging at a CCS compatible charger is not an "adventure" - thousands upon thousands ZEV's charge at a CCS location daily with no issues. No need to create unnecessary drama.

Expect it will take years for Rivian's charging network to catch up? Once Electrify America's cycle 3 roll out concludes they will rival Tesla's national interstate reach, so Rivian's network will be complimentary to what is already in place and a nice to have to fill in more remote areas. It will take a minimum of 5 to 7 years for Rivian just to get on par with Electrify America.

Not sure where you go in your Model 3, but Electrify America is rapidly expanding their foot print, so by the time you get your Rivian their coverage map will include a lot more reach. I, for one, am looking forward to when Electrify America completes the I-80 corridor across Wyoming, completes the I-25 north from Denver to Montana, and the I-90 corridor across Montana. This should be done by 2023/20024.

 

[jtshaw]

Sorry about that, man. If that is the case, then be honest about what you know. Charging at a CCS compatible charger is not an "adventure" - thousands upon thousands ZEV's charge at a CCS location daily with no issues. No need to create unnecessary drama.

Expect it will take years for Rivian's charging network to catch up? Once Electrify America's cycle 3 roll out concludes they will rival Tesla's national interstate reach, so Rivian's network will be complimentary to what is already in place and a nice to have to fill in more remote areas. It will take a minimum of 5 to 7 years for Rivian just to get on par with Electrify America.

Not sure where you go in your Model 3, but Electrify America is rapidly expanding their foot print, so by the time you get your Rivian their coverage map will include a lot more reach. I, for one, am looking forward to when Electrify America completes the I-80 corridor across Wyoming, completes the I-25 north of Denver to Montana, and the I-90 corridor across Montana. This should be done by 2023/20024.

Western Washington is a bit weird. There is fine CCS charging heading to north to Vancouver or south to Portland, but there are definitely some dicier spots going over the more northern mountain passes to the east (I-90 is certainly fine though). I’m really hoping Rivian gets a deal done with Washington State Parks or the National Park Service. I expect I’ll end up having to get a few RV plug dongles for the older non-NEMA 14-50 hookups.

 

[Denver_Paulie]

Western Washington is a bit weird. There is fine CCS charging heading to north to Vancouver or south to Portland, but there are definitely some dicier spots going over the more northern mountain passes to the east (I-90 is certainly fine though). I’m really hoping Rivian gets a deal done with Washington State Parks or the National Park Service. I expect I’ll end up having to get a few RV plug dongles for the older non-NEMA 14-50 hookups.

I get it. Western Washington looks a little bleak on Plug Share. But, by the time you get your Rivian in 2023 I bet it will look pretty different. At least one can hope, or you will be spending a lot of time at slower level 2 charging spots.

 

[SeaGeo]

I get it. Western Washington looks a little bleak on Plug Share. But, by the time you get your Rivian in 2023 I bet it will look pretty different. At least one can hope, or you will be spending a lot of time at slower level 2 charging spots.

I think @jtshaw is saying we have A LOT of CCS chargers in the puget sound lowlands, and was having a little bit of tongue in cheek fun about having an adventure. The adventures through the mountains he was talking about are some specific routes that open up more adventure areas, but they are a little bit of a nail biter. I've definitely had to map and remap the the type of route he was referring to, and tbh we're lucky that WA is as well covered as it is. Northern WA east of the Cascades is empty, but RAN is planning on covering the eastern edge of the Cascades. However, even with RAN, I haven't seen anything that really facilitates crossing the rural areas of the northern States betwen the the Pacific Ocean and Great Lakes.

 

[Riviot]

I once had to move to a different charger at an EA station, the horror! Another time the only charger was ICEd, decided to chance it, ended up getting home with 3% battery left.

If we have tow hooks, or even a winch, couldn't we just move an ICE vehicle out of the spot? ?

 

[Denver_Paulie]

I think @jtshaw is saying we have A LOT of CCS chargers in the puget sound lowlands, and was having a little bit of tongue in cheek fun about having an adventure. The adventures through the mountains he was talking about are some specific routes that open up more adventure areas, but they are a little bit of a nail biter. I've definitely had to map and remap the the type of route he was referring to, and tbh we're lucky that WA is as well covered as it is. Northern WA east of the Cascades is empty, but RAN is planning on covering the eastern edge of the Cascades. However, even with RAN, I haven't seen anything that really facilitates crossing the rural areas of the northern States betwen the the Pacific Ocean and Great Lakes.

I meant EASTERN Washington, my bad!!

If you check Electrify America's Cycle 3 plan

https://www.electrifyamerica.com/assets/pdf/cycle_3_electrify_america_national.7b5067f4.pdf.

You will see that in a couple of years Electrify America will open the major interstates in the northern plains, so you will easily be able to get from Seattle to Chicago if need be.

As for filling in those states I am not sure that will happen anytime soon because those areas have no ZEV's and the population base is hostile to any green initiative.

 

[jtshaw]

I meant EASTERN Washington, my bad!!

If you check Electrify America's Cycle 3 plan

https://www.electrifyamerica.com/assets/pdf/cycle_3_electrify_america_national.7b5067f4.pdf.

You will see that in a couple of years Electrify America will open the major interstates in the northern plains, so you will easily be able to get from Seattle to Chicago if need be.

As for filling in those states I am not sure that will happen anytime soon because those areas have no ZEV's and the population base is hostile to any green initiative.

SeaGeo is correct about my comment being tongue and cheek originally

I’d add that I was also a first hour pre order deposit customer for Rivian from back in 2018. My delivery window is March->April 2022 for an LE R1S. Hopefully I’ll have all summer to report on how the charging conditions are throughout the Cascades

 

[Denver_Paulie]

SeaGeo is correct about my comment being tongue and cheek originally

I’d add that I was also a first hour pre order deposit customer for Rivian from back in 2018. My delivery window is March->April 2022 for an LE R1S. Hopefully I’ll have all summer to report on how the charging conditions are throughout the Cascades

If you are going to explore areas with low numbers of charging points, I would recommend reading this thread:

https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/t...and-useful-road-warrior-ev-charging-kit.6812/

It will provide you with a list of charging accessories for almost any eventuality.

I have not gone to any remote locations in my Taycan or when I had the Audi e-Tron, but I still carry a J1772 extension cord and a NEMA 15-40 extension cord just in case. Also, a TeslaTap is a must as well.

Cheers!

 

[Craigins]

If you check Electrify America's Cycle 3 plan

https://www.electrifyamerica.com/assets/pdf/cycle_3_electrify_america_national.7b5067f4.pdf.
.

Sigh, no love for Northern WI or the UP.

 

[Max]

I'm telling you, the damn Tesla owners are worse than ICE drivers. lol. They've seen CCS charging spots empty so much, for so long, that they think they can park their with impunity.

I have heard Tesla's could be paying fines per minute for being plugged in but not charging at Tesla superchargers. I also have heard superchargers starting to have wait time during holidays. Specific CCS location advantage may also be contributing to increase in Tesla charging refugees.

 

[SeaGeo]

Specific CCS location advantage may also be contributing to increase in Tesla charging refugees.

I was saying it kind of in jest (it's not a big problem). But the times I've seen them hanging out, it's literally just parking at the charging location. They haven't been using the chademo plug. It's just people thinking they can get away with parking at the EV charging spot because the are an EV.

Sponsored