Warning about EVgo charging in the Rivian app (it's not free as it says)

[Khaneric]

Just giving you guys a heads up, for some reason the Rivian app says charging at EVgo is free and even on the screen on EVgo it says it can't figure out cost. I just finished charging and it charged me $50 i wasn't expecting.

I opened a support case but i'm assuming they won't be able to credit me.

EVgo Charger where is says "Free"

Chargepoint where is shows a cost:

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[Aardvark]

That's a hefty charging fee.
I saw your entry on Plugshare. You may want to edit it with this cost info to warn other users.
I saw on the EvGo site that for the LA area, the non-member rate is $0.99 session fee plus $0.32 per kWh, with a warning that time-of-use fees may apply. But a driver shouldn't have to go to a website to find this info.
Just curious, how many kWh did you take on during this session?

 

[Khaneric]

That's a hefty charging fee.
I saw your entry on Plugshare. You may want to edit it with this cost info to warn other users.
I saw on the EvGo site that for the LA area, the non-member rate is $0.99 session fee plus $0.32 per kWh, with a warning that time-of-use fees may apply. But a driver shouldn't have to go to a website to find this info.
Just curious, how many kWh did you take on during this session?

Yeah i like plugshare but i don't see a way to edit or delete comments so i just added another one. Here is the receipt from Rivian, notice the charge is 0.00 KW

 

[jjswan33]

Yeah I have twice pulled up to an EVGO station. Both times I left when I realized the cost, the first time after I spent the time to setup the app etc and it was 0.59/kWh plus a session fee which I thought was silly because there was an EA station down the street with 0.31/kWh with the pass+ rate.

 

[bummin]

Just giving you guys a heads up, for some reason the Rivian app says charging at EVgo is free and even on the screen on EVgo it says it can't figure out cost. I just finished charging and it charged me $50 i wasn't expecting.

I opened a support case but i'm assuming they won't be able to credit me.

EVgo Charger where is says "Free"

Chargepoint where is shows a cost:

So I just charged for the first time at an EVGO station in Aurora CO on a 350KW/hr charger to test it out. Started at 39% and went to 81% in 23min expecting a bill of $6.90 (.30/min) plus taxes/fees. Once done it showed $0.00 fee and neither the app or Rivian show I have ever charged? Will watch to see if just a delay, but enjoying the freebie while it lasts. Best I saw was 212kw/hr while charging using NAV to prep for fast charging.

 

[Khaneric]

Yeah I'm still fighting with Rivian over this but it seems to be a losing battle. They keep telling me that complementary charging is only available on the RAN (yeah we know) and are telling me to reach out to EVgo for information.

They don't seem to get that THEIR OWN APP showed the station as free at the time of charging and that's the issue.

Ironically, the station now shows the correct pricing:

I like the convenience of the app to initiate charging but I'm probably going to shy away from it going forward. This issue was the first straw and i actually had another issue at a chargepoint station yesterday (also free) that the Rivian app wouldn't let me start the charge, but the chargepoint app worked perfectly.

 

[Rivan]

Yeah i like plugshare but i don't see a way to edit or delete comments so i just added another one. Here is the receipt from Rivian, notice the charge is 0.00 KW

For some reason we think this is expansive, but still cheap comparing to gas in CA ...

 

[sacramentoelectric]

For some reason we think this is expansive, but still cheap comparing to gas in CA ...

Unfortunately, it's not. In this example anyway, it's actually more expensive to charge than to buy gas. The average price of gas in CA today is $6.17 a gallon. If you were driving a F150 Hybrid (24mpg,) you would need to buy 7.7 gallons of gas to go the same 185mi which comes out to $47.56. If you have a less efficient truck, it will cost more to fuel but not by much. While EVs have lower maintenance costs, the tires cost more and don't last as long negating much of the savings compared to running an ICE. Long term, insurance for EVs will likely be more as well considering how expensive they are to repair. Depreciation and longevity will probably tilt the scale back to EVs though. Either way, EVs no longer have a clear cost per mile advantage if you plan to do a lot of charging at DCFC stations. That said, most people have access to much cheaper electricity at home where they do most of their charging.

 

[EVTrukHog]

Unfortunately, it's not. In this example anyway, it's actually more expensive to charge than to buy gas. The average price of gas in CA today is $6.17 a gallon. If you were driving a F150 Hybrid (24mpg,) you would need to buy 7.7 gallons of gas to go the same 185mi which comes out to $47.56. If you have a less efficient truck, it will cost more to fuel but not by much. While EVs have lower maintenance costs, the tires cost more and don't last as long negating much of the savings compared to running an ICE. Long term, insurance for EVs will likely be more as well considering how expensive they are to repair. Depreciation and longevity will probably tilt the scale back to EVs though. Either way, EVs no longer have a clear cost per mile advantage if you plan to do a lot of charging at DCFC stations. That said, most people have access to much cheaper electricity at home where they do most of their charging.

+1 on this analysis. I just did the same math here for my home electric rates, local public charger rates, and F150 ICE gas mileage. Solely based on gasoline and electricity costs (i.e., no maintenance comparison included), my home charging is about 20% of the cost of my F150 ICE gasoline consumption.

However, if I have to use public charging, my R1T is about 85% of the cost of my F150 ICE gasoline consumption.

 

[dementor]

Yeah charging at home is much cheaper than this. I charge my 2 EVs at home and it’s a fraction of the cost that a single gas car would be.

 

[sacramentoelectric]

+1 on this analysis. I just did the same math here for my home electric rates, local public charger rates, and F150 ICE gas mileage. Solely based on gasoline and electricity costs (i.e., no maintenance comparison included), my home charging is about 20% of the cost of my F150 ICE gasoline consumption.

However, if I have to use public charging, my R1T is about 85% of the cost of my F150 ICE gasoline consumption.

I also like to remind people of the value of convenience. Who likes spending time at gas stations? If you're not road tripping and are charging at home, the few seconds it takes to plug in an EV is much nicer than waiting for your ICE to fuel. Then again, the same could be said for a 40min wait at a DCFC station.

Since we're talking about California, our average electricity rate is $0.31 per kWh. While some have access to lower off-peak rates (got to love SMUD in Sacramento at .095 for EV charging at night) let's go with the average to make our best apples to apples comparison. In the above example, the charge at residential rates would have cost $28.15 (EV) vs $47.56 for gas.

 

[Khaneric]

While I generally agree with most of these statements and do charge at home 99% of the time, this is getting a bit off topic.

 

[Marchin_MTB]

For those who initiate charging via the Rivian app, what is the procedure? I’ve always used the services respective app for charging (ChargePoint, EA, etc…) but have not though to do it through Rivians app so just curious.

Also, the Rivian app doesn’t track any of my charging sessions (perhaps because I don’t use it to initiate charging?). Does anyone else have this issue?

as for the 50 dollar fee, many of these charging services want a minimum amount of funds deposited into your account that then get drawn down when you charge. These then get replenished by a certain fixed quantity when you run low resulting in a charge like an even 30 or 50 dollars. Perhaps that’s what happened here.

 

[atebit]

For some reason we think this is expansive, but still cheap comparing to gas in CA ...

Spoken like a true Belter, boss man!

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