The Southern California EV Charging Problem!
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- čas přidán 12. 09. 2024
- Kyle, Jordan, and Coleton are realizing first-hand how rough the public charging landscape can be in the Los Angeles area. A majority of charging locations have messy queues, broken hardware, and disgruntled owners. What's the solve??
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#ev #charging #electricvehicle
The location shot in this episode is La Crescenta California. It is consistently broken and there is a long line. There are a number of stations, however in California that have a new pilot program that only allow charging to 85%. This in itself has greatly helped short lines.
Ea announced that plan
@@markfitzpatrick6692 yes. It is in place where i live and has helped a lot.
Priority must be given to those needing to go to Newcomb's Ranch!!
Isn’t La Crescenta one of the pilot project locations already? Then nobody should be charging above 85% in the video
@@stuartauvinen3530 Yes, it sure is, and so is the Glendale station he went to at the end of the video. But these stations are still constantly busy, even in the middle of the night. I live in the area but fortunately have L2 charging at home so I am not affected, but I frequently drive by and always see people standing around while they wait.
Work-place charging makes the most sense. Apart from home, work is where most cars sit for the longest time. Perfect for L2.
Most cars are parked 95% of the time. Work and home/apt charging will solve the majority of these problems.
Another solution is community level 2 charging. In the Bay Area a lot of public schools have dozens of level 2 chargers. Teachers get free charging during the day & renters get low cost charging overnight.
And most people work during the day which has the cleanest energy mix too. Even really low amperage with more stalls would be fine. Nothing wrong with getting around 3kw per handle. In 8 hrs you would get something like 100 miles of range on average.
My employer's main office has 6 chargers on site and they spend more time hunting down people to move their car otherwise they'd let it sit there all day. The problem for them is they lease out the building floors to smaller companies and they just plug in and let it sit there all day. I see the problem is 40% hardware issue and 60% humans being humans.
Plus workplace level2 is during the day, where often is a glut of cheap+green solar generation... this will help the "duck curve" for utilities as well (home overnight charging is actually bad, as it requires more baseline fossil powered generation w/o solar)
One thing you didn't mention in this video is the #1 issue with DC charger crowding in LA: Rideshare drivers. If rideshare drivers don't have a fare, they have nothing better to do than sit in their cars, and when those cars are EVs, they sit in their cars in a charging stall.
Ride share drivers are the worst in LA at these stations
This is a massive issue here in Burbank. Tons of uber drivers lining up. Thank God I spent the money on an L2 for our house despite having the EA free charging program.
We have the same problem here in AZ with the rideshare drivers. Not only do they sit and occupy spaces, but the are the most ill-informed EV operators. Every time I see a Kia Niro or Chevy Bolt sitting on a 350 charger when 100 or 150 chargers are available, I want to shake them. They have this notion their Bolt is going to charge faster, not understanding the vehicle is limited. Now I am stuck using the 100/150 charger with a Kia EV6 which is capable of a much higher rate of speed.
@@ASUMirage15 It's also possible that the 350 was the only one left when that Bolt showed up. And because it can only do 50 it takes longer, the other cars leave. you show up with the EV6 and its still sitting there.
LA EV owner here. Electrify America has terrible coverage in the LA area and I never use it. Many stations are too small, with only a few stalls. They're always packed. I ignore them, and am much happier for it. I have a home charger, but I recently had to go for 18 months without it. What I learned are that (1) the street-side Flo-type level 2 chargers are a godsend; and (2) the fairly common EVGo 50 kw charging stations are also a godsend and work great. I was able to get by without my home charger pretty well for 18 months relying basically entirely on these resources. If anything, I'd like to see more level 2 parallel-parking chargers. Also obviously LA needs more workplace charging and more charging at malls. But basically, if you try to use EA, you will regret it.
I am in San Diego with a Bolt and EVGo credits. Two new 6 stall 350kw stations near me. Charge at home but occasionally use some credits just to use them. When I went to LA where I am from, found EEGo but more stations down here so far.
If chargers were positioned like gas station pumps, queueing wouldn't be as bad. Instead, they're often set up as parking spots, which makes queues very difficult to coordinate.
There's a Shell station in Baker, CA that has a large EA installation that's like that, and it's so much better.
I completely agree with this. There's been some Content Creators also calling out the whole 'we should change our gas stations just to EV stations. And in reality the truck stops have actually realized this as a business model. It's why places like Love's, Flying J, etc. are all putting in EV chargers. There's money to be made in getting people to your station and they might spend money inside. And worst case, you make a really small amount on the charging if they sit in their car.
I honestly don't understand why we have evolved the fast charging infrastructure into parking lots vs 'stations'. It feels like it was just a bad evolution from the Level 2 charging which makes sense at parking lots.
@@shadomagi I'd love to see a regulation through the EPA that guarantees fueling parity, that gas stations must install electric charging capacity in order to have gas pumps. It places the burden to transition fuel sources on the companies profiting off of the status quo, and it makes it easier to find charging anywhere you go.
Excellent suggestion.
Exactly. Fix the queueing system first then the users will follow. I think they are just mad cuz they were late for an event lol
Level 2’s should be everywhere. Costco, Walmart, etc, need half of their parking lots covered with Lvl 2’s.
They need to be 60a level 2 then it would make sense. These places are 30-45 min runs max. A 6kw lvl 2 (which is most common outside the house) would mean 15 miles during one of these trips. They need them at golf courses, movie theaters, stadiums, beach and parks (places where you actually stay for more than 1 hour), and tapped into as many city light poles as possible.
One of the problems is glaringly obvious in the video, the CCS stations need way more posts. You pull up to Tesla there are usually 8-16 spots. We borrowed my sister in law's ID4 last winter in Seattle and every station we had to wait in line. Meanwhile in the same parking lot you see 12 empty Tesla chargers 😂
How many cables were cut in Seattle?
Yes! I don’t get why this is so hard for companies to understand. STOP BUILDING SINGLE STALL STATIONS. We need Rivian adventure network/tesla style chargers with 6, 8, 12, 20+ stalls everywhere, no power sharing that reduces rates down to 30kw each, this isn’t hard. If you’re installing a fast charger along a highway, it should straight up be a requirement to get federal funding that you install atleast 6 stalls. I’m tired of having to take ridiculous out of the way routes on road trips bc people can’t be bothered to do the bare minimum beyond installing a single ChargePoint unit for a few thousand cars to share and calling it a day
@@staycgirlsitsgoingdown2 yea it’s nuts it’s like they only expect town X to have just two electric cars ever stop by 😂
@@staycgirlsitsgoingdown2 Wouldn't you really rather have a Tesla?
I think you need to get a meeting with Pete Buttigieg our transportation secretary and get involved with solving this National issue. You be a hero!
It was touched on at the end of the video but there are so many problems that need to be resolved that politicians have little interest or incentive to go near it.
same that evs have become a political hot potato now.... I dont think we're near as likely to see any positive movement out of national congress on the front...... california maybe..... but i mean.... incentives (free charging, thousands off cars, money for level 3 stations) is kinda what got us in this mess.... so its complicated no matter how you look at it.
I just did my first road trip with my family in my R1T from Miami to Orlando and thank the EV gods for Tesla Superchargers and FPL Evolution chargers. And a special shout out to the A2Z adapter. Every other charging station we went to was either broken or had one working with a huge line of other EVs waiting to charge. Even FPL Evolution had at least one unit not working at every single station we went to. When traveling on vacation, hopping from charge station to charge station is a major waste of time. Thank you guys for shedding light on this very unfortunate fact of owning an EV. I still love my Rivian and thankfully I charge at home 95% of the time.
This is why I think Rivian should hold off on opening up their RAN Network in CA and other places. It's one of the few saving graces trying to get our of LA on the 10, 40, or 15. Wish they'd open up some more heading up the 101. (Sorry, CA Freeway List).
I live in South Carolina and own 2 ID4s. We do the majority of our charging at home, which is great. The thing you learn very quickly when switching to EVs is that Electrify America is just plain bad. And they are in denial about just how bad they are! IMHO
Charge point too
EA is bad on purpose, to get even for having to build the system in the first place.
I think it really depends on where you are. I am in Oregon, and I've recently driven to California, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, and all of the Electrify America equipment was pretty great. There were a very few chargers out of order, but only 1 of 4 in all cases. However, they were all pretty new, probably installed in the last 12-18 months. Like a lot of things, I think EA is learning and improving. The older stuff may be awful, but the newer stuff seems to work pretty well. My biggest issue is that usually there are only 4 chargers present. We are gonna need a lot more than that, especially in the cities.
The real answer here is more plugs. With that many vehicles charging to 100% you're not using your grid capacity. Throw in a Kempower cabinet and 8 satellites and you can charge everyone!
Minimum 20
@@nicnordic6143I think some highly traffic areas I think 30 at lest. Because sometimes is takes a while to fix a charger problem
@@prabhdeepdhaliwal5706 Japp, sadly EA seems to use high cost chargers. Not sure but assume that kempower offers lower capex
Agreed, came from NACS to CCS1 and the biggest issue I've seen so far are the stall count.
With a NACS station having usually 8 stalls, sometimes there are a handful of cars in line, but it moves fast. On the contrary having a handful of cars in line for a EA station with 4 stalls and at least one of them non-functional makes for a slow situation, coupled with people just having trouble getting sessions going... it's tense.
TBH I'd love to see more 50kw chargers in shopping malls/restaurants.
CA elected officials should be forced to drive an EV and not allowed to charge at home.
This problem would be solved in 12 months.
No it wouldn’t. CA politicians are corrupt to the core and they do not care about the public.
Sure. Raise price to at least $20/kWh, and only those subsidized by taxpayer money (aka politicians stipend) will use them, problem solved!
How are you going to force them? If you put someone in an awful position in their work they often leave.
That would be their 'solution'. They wouldn't immediately try to fix an unfixable (by that I mean politically) problem. They know it's unfixable. They know how much money it would take to fix the problem. They know they would have to go up against very powerful oil interests.
So forcing them to drive and publicly charge an EV would only lead to them moving into another job. Or, more likely they'd get some low level staffer to charge their car.
This would not solve anything.
In that case, they'd just install a reserved charger at the office and plug in there. Problem solved for them, but a solution that does nothing to help anybody else.
That's not a bad idea.
Although if they just install a charger at home and / or just drive Teslas, they won't experience too many problems and might be even more blinded to the situation.
Workplace charging makes so much sense for California where they actually make too much solar and wind power during the day that they have to turn some off due to overcapacity and then a shortage when everyone is trying to charge in the evening.
For California residents, you can use "Right to Charge" to your advantage to get charging where you live, even at apartment properties. Several other states have similar Right to Charge laws to protect EV drivers that want to install their own L2 plug where they live. For a law that has existed for 6 years I feel this is far too overlooked.
Edit: Obviously this wont work for everyone and the cost of the install would fall on the vehicle owner instead of the property owner, but it's worth looking into to see if it will work for you. Even just an outlet could be a low cost install and very useful.
I wonder how this affects the landlords ability to acquire insurance for their buildings?
In Los Angeles, most homes, especially rental units, are very old & have only 100amp panels. This makes installing a Level 2 charger prohibitively expensive. Right to charge laws only ensure renters can install at their own cost.
How does that work. If your in a 40 year old building??
@@lh2338You underestimate how useful even just 16A 240v charging, which would fit a 100A service panel, would be. That's still 150+ miles of range added overnight. I work in Apt property maintenance so I know the limits owners face. If you're extra cautious, go for 12A/240V for 100 miles overnight.
@@waynewallace2061If the wiring is run to code then there shouldn't be a change to insurance.
From my own experience Tesla Superchargers in and around Los Angeles have always worked and spaces were always available.
Simple solution - when a few chargers are available in an area, just set them to 80% only. When a lot of chargers are available in an area, set most to 80% and a few available for 100%.
Most people with a 110v outlet available can get 99% of their needs met with that 110v. If everyone got over the stigma of slow charger it would allow you to go one-two months without a fast charger and it would dramatically change how congested these stations are.
You still need to be within the length of an electric cord to charge. Assuming you have enough cord, you've got to be able to run the cord to your car, maybe out a window, over the lawn, across the sidewalk, across the parking strip (assuming you can park right in front of your house/apt). May be totally impossible for apartment dwellers.
@@twostate7822 Got a light bulb near your car?
The number of stalls EA needs to be installing at SoCal locations needs to multiply significantly. There's so many EVs throughout the whole region. a charging location with 4 plugs is embarrassing.
Remember Odd/even days. In the 70's we could only gas up depending on your last number on your license plate. This could help!
Level 2 (or low power DC charging) needs to be at workplaces, apartments, movie theaters, shopping centers, and grocery stores. Any place someone would spend 30+ minutes normally so they can charge while doing other tasks. Fast DC charging should be reserved for interstate and highways for road trips only.
It’s the same across the US. It gets even worse in rural areas. I’m so glad as of September 1st I am no longer forced to rent EVs. I’m on the road 50 weeks out of the year and I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been stranded. It’s been a complete failure at our company and has cost us a lot of money. Someone finally wised up, but it was solely due to lost revenue. Not due to the pain those of us in the field experienced weekly.
So your company was virtue signalling by forcing employees to rent EVs when away on busines?
Legend has it, Kyle is still waiting to charge...
This problem is exact the reason why I tell to all of my friends "I really love my Tesla and recommend to everybody to buy one, but if you can't charge at home or workplace - you will regret it"
CA (especially) have "ducking curve" in their electricity generation/consumption ratio and this make whole lot of sense to massively increase amount of charging ports at work places
This is why I went with Tesla. it wasn't my first choice but looking into the chargers I was worried they will get crowded. Some of the reviews were people complaining about the wait or one or more stations was down. There was also the lack of chargers. CCS stations around here only have 2 to 4 spots compared to Teslas 6 to 12 spots. Over all, there are also more Tesla Superchargers too. I don't have a home charger but at my work, we have 40+ level 2 chargers so 90% of my charging is done there. This is also why I bought a CCS adapter for my Tesla, I can charge on any network, lol. I did it when I drove to Los Angeles last year.
You don't need a Tesla to charge at a Tesla. I charge my Rivian with an adapter at Tesla stations. In 2025, most EVs will be using the Tesla charge port. I'm waiting for the 2025 Lucid Gravity with the NACS charge port. Then I can get rid of my 2024 MY.
@@timlohrenz1898 That's true now however this wasn't the case when I bought my Tesla over a year ago. I don't even remember seeing any rumors about it. Even then its only at v3 and above. I also wanted to do road trips so being able to use any supercharger, Tesla or not, was something I liked.
There needs to be ubiquitous level 2 charging at businesses and workplaces. People using fast DC charging as their everyday method is what causes this. If you can plug in where you’re normally parking the car (whether that be at home, work, when shopping etc.) you won’t need DCFC except for road trips.
Exactly. Also, public parking lots, grocery stores, malls, downtown areas etc. Everywhere people park for more than 30mins. I think any new parking lot install should require at least 50% of the spaces have level 2 chargers. If you can level 2 charge everywhere you park then suddenly owning an EV becomes way easier to own and power then even ICE vehicles.
Fast chargers not just for my road trips. Once in awhile, I will forget to plugin when I get home or an unexpected trip comes up. Then I go over to the fast charger.
Agreed, however level 2 for places like supermarkets isn't really appropriate since you're not there long enough for a meaningful charge. A 40kW DC charger like they've covered before is perfect for this. 150kW+ charging should solely be next to highways.
And who’s going to pay for the infrastructure at those places? It’s not cheap and the ROI isn’t there. Except if it’s solely to keep employees happy.
when we road trip ot LA, I only stay at hotels with reliable plentiful L2 charging. That way we don't really have to worry at all about DCFC in the LA area, which you can see is about as convenient as fueling a Hydrogen fuel cell car at this point.
I agree that charging is horrific in the Los Angeles area, but in Kyle’s case the answer was more straightforward I think. If you’re driving from San Francisco to Los Angeles, you charge before you get into Los Angeles. Charge up in Valencia or that area before the insanity begins.
Fer godsakes....stop giving people years of free charging when they buy an EV. That's a big driver here...people want to max out their "freebie".
After 80% double the KWh charge. Let those that want 100% pay!
Cap the free charging to 80% during a session.
@@arlenbell4376that is a backwards mentality! Imagine charging people double the rate of gasoline price because you want to fill up to 100% instead of 3/4 of the way…
@@jdbmotoIt's not an apples to apples comparison. Vehicle charging can take *substantially* longer than fueling if drivers aren't courteous about it. New problems need new solutions. Not that I'm saying this idea is the solution, but we definitely need something.
I have no issue with free charging for 2-3 years as long as it’s capped at 30 mins with idle fee. What I have issue with is the queueing system. There’s no system.
Same thing happened in Las Vegas last month. I took a rental from the airport, familiar with electric cars and charging. The car was pretty low, and I had a long drive west toward Pahrump so I needed to charge. I could not find a single open station anywhere. Every EA station had at least 1 charger offline, and several cars queued up waiting. This was at 11pm... I returned the Genesis to the airport and picked up a gas car instead. I get so accustom to home-charging, I fogot what a mess the public infrastructure can be in busy places.
For apartments and work, even level 1 chargers would be good, having each space capable of charging an EV, even slowly is more valuable that a couple of token, level 2 chargers in the corner with the ground painted green underneath.
Yes. In an 8 hour workday, depending on car, a Level 1 could add 24-40 miles of range. Just need a 110 outlet in reach.
@@Herlongian If you're at work charging for 8 hours, and at home for 10-12 hours, and have level one charging for all of that, that's 50-80 miles per day. The average person drives 230 miles per week. Most people could fairly easily get by with just level 1 charging while at work and home for the vast majority of their driving. DC fast charging was always supposed to be a supplement, and not your primary source of power.
With the Chevy Volt, I learned ABC - Always Be Charging. Most brand new “new to EV”owners don’t realize they can use 110v at all. ANY 110 outlet is a “gas station”! Talk to building management in the apartment about available outlets. Same with the workplace. Always worth an ask. And ABC!
Northern California has a similar charging problem. Not quite as drastic. It’s gratifying that this channel finally gets that home charging doesn’t work for everyone.
We charge mostly at DCFC in NorCal (100A service at home) and RARELY wait - much more common to have entire sites or multiple chargers down. 39 DCFC within 5 miles but we will use any CPO.
Maybe Bay Area
They have almost always recognized home charging doesn’t work for everyone. Plenty of their employees live at apartments.
@@mikecarter2737 125A service at my house and charging at 32A has been no problem at all. You can also dial down the current to 15A.
@@wpherigo1 it's impossible to buy a house here if you don't already own one, pretty much.
A Tesla queue notice should be easy. Every Tesla knows where the charger is at and when it pulls into the charger it should know the time. Then as each Tesla pulls in after it it can message the driver that you are 3rd in line because it knows that two other cars pulled in before you.
I had an EQS loaner last month in Orange County. I live in an apartment and cannot charge at home. My options were a 5.6kWh charger at my gym ($0.35/kW), a 350kWh Electrify America ($0.51/kW) that had a line every single time I visited, a 350kWh EVGO that I managed to charge at once ($3 + $0.61/kWh), and a 60kWh charger nearby ($0.48/kW) that I had to rely on many times because it was always available. My conclusion has been that I cannot purchase any EV that does not have access to the Tesla Supercharger network, which is a block away from my residence.
So you would really like to have a Tesla. 😊
@@tedmoss yes I’m going to get a Model 3 Performance.
This problem, like countless others, requires any and all solutions.
1) No free DC fast charging
2) heavily penalize people who are not charging at stations who occupy the charging spot. This is for those who are done charging and are not back to their car to move it.
3) heavily penalize people who charge above 80% by charging 10 to 20 dollars per minute because per kwh is slow when you are full. So people are heavily incentivized to leave at 80%. For those who want to help fund charging stations, they are more than welcome to do so.
4) More DC fast chargers
5) More working DC fast chargers
6) Subsidize charging install at apt. (Carrot)
7) heavily penalized apt owners who dont install AC chargers for their tenants (stick)
8) apply 6) and 7) for workplaces with a lot of employees
9) apply the same heavy penality to slow AC Charger as Fast DC charger. I see people who are full who just leave their car there even when they are at work.
10) reduce cost per kwh between 12AM and 4AM to encourage people to charge during non peak hours.
Im sure there are a lot more, but even implementing these can help a lot. Charging is one of the main reasons i dont recommend EVs to anyone without a house and parking spot to charge overnight.
@larryly3613 love this!! If you don't mind, I may use your comment on one of my future videos about this subject
Wow. How about letting the free market dictate how all this works out instead of government dictators
I love my two Tessies but glad I am in FL.
Not sure if you are aware, but EA has just recently begun a pilot program to limit charging to 80% in the LA area during peak times. Also, they seem to have modified their displays at all of their chargers to show how much time it will take to charge to 80% thereby nudging drivers to stop at that level.
#6/#7 In the UK, all new homes REQUIRE installation of level 2 chargers.
Wow, a list of penalties one must navigate to own an EV. Just buy a hybrid.
I'm in the UK and here there is from November a requirement that DC rapid chargers have to have 99% uptime
Aging Wheels did a video on this about 5 months ago. He did a road trip in a Tesla he rented, and did the same trip in his Polestar 2.
He delibrately went to too many chargers to test as many stations as he could.
The Tesla: one station was derated, but still gave over 100KW. The rest maxed out at the station limit, or the car limit. Every time he just plugged it in and it charged quickly and easily.
His Polestar: he only got full speed once (maybe twice, not sure). Many chargers were difficult to activate, some had queues, some were outright broken and gave 2 KW.
A stark contrast.
Having driven LA to Aspen and back the last few years, I feel your frustration. For us, Vegas was the worst. What we learned from our last trip is if there is a station offline, often times they can reset it remotely if you call the help line. It takes so patience, but we did it 3-4 times this last trip.
Don't forget that LFP you MUST charge to 100% on regular basis (per Ford - once per month) so if you are forced to public charge you have to go to 100% so it can calibrate otherwise you are asking for trouble.
This.Gas stations don't have this issue and ppl don't have gas at their homes
@@asmokingp3005 I mean I do but just a couple of gallons :D
@@asmokingp3005 as soon as EVs can charge 0-100 in 10 minutes tops then yeah all of this fails to be an issue and we can just replace gas stations with DCFC stations
7:20 I take umbrage with your comment about the "Old Persons" taking advantage of the "Free" charging from their car manufacturer instead of charging at home --- and PAYING for it. That "Free" charging plan was part of the deal. I am not sure what time of day you were filming, but I would ask all of those waiting "If this happens to you most of time, have you considered coming at a different time of day? Such as early in the morning or later in the day. I have a Level 2 home charger, solar panels and a Electrify America plan for my Hyundai Ioniq 6. However, I still take advantage of the EA plan but do it during the week later in the day 7 to 8 PM when it is less busy. I have only had to wait in line twice and both were under 5 minutes because I adjusted my time of arrival.
How does Tesla make it look so easy? Electrify America, EVGO and ChargePoint are completely clueless.
Tesla makes the cars , software and chargers . That’s how. They also make more money and install a lot more stalls at a location. I get tired of people who ask that question. It is pretty obvious . Also electrify America should not be the only company to blame . We need more companies to install them .
@@markfitzpatrick6692 volkswagen owns electrify america! Whats their excuse?
I honestly don't entirely understand how Tesla does it sometimes. I hear plenty of complaints about Tesla more too as more people have gotten their cars. I think the only thing that I've heard about Tesla not having a problem with is a functional station that you just can't activate because of the payment systems being down completely.
But I hear more and more complaints from Tesla friends these days too.
@@ogdobberDiesel gate
@@shadomagimust be the free loaders
A quick and short-term fix for the problem would be to limit charging to 15 minutes rather than 80% or 85% (only when stations are busy) with re-plugging blocked. This would allow road-trippers to at least get enough charge to find a less busy station. To solve the queuing issue, apps from charging providers could offer a 'join the queue' button which shows the queue and notifies you when your slot is ready (for those without the app, you could tap your card/RFID and join the queue via the charger's screen) - anyone trying to jump the queue would be denied charging.
I was at a EA Charger a few weeks ago and the guy was so frustrated with other people waiting he sped off and almost ran over a ladies foot!
😮
🦶🦶🦶
Hate when people get their feet in my way .
🤣🤣
I’m pretty sure Colton just called me the hero the story. I have an ID.4 and I only ever charge it outside of my house when I’m on a road trip.
People who buy a BEV and have no home charger are fools.
Owning or leasing ANYTHING but a Tesla is utter insanity, unless you plan on home charging 💯 %
Maybe in California. I home charge most of the time in upstate New York, but road trips have have been no problem at all. I've never waited. My son charges at work but is capable of L2 charging at home. He's never had a problem, but has had fewer road trips.
@@john.powers I'm in the midwest, same here. Just took a road trip to Tulsa and OKC from St. Louis and it was no problem. Never had to wait on a charger and I only saw two broken ones, one of which was a Tesla.
Eh not really. It's less convenient but "utter insanity" is absurdity.
I could get by with my Polestar. I was driving 3/4 mile to Level 2 chargers (4 units, usually only 1 or 2 in use) each week for a while, then walking back. Now I have Blink L2 chargers a 5 minute walk from my duplex in the San Gabriel Valley.
This video completely ignores that the Tesla charging network will be open to almost all EVs in the near future. The real reason for this issue is that a boatload of EVs have been sold in California and many of the non-Teslas come with 1-3 years of free charging on EA.
Why does nearly ALL charging stations NOT have an awning, roof over the charger to shield it from sun,rain,snow ? ☀ ☔ 🌨
I always wondered that too
Cost. They'd have to get it installed, and if they're barely taking care of their charging stations, I highly doubt they'd want to spend extra for that. I wonder how much money EA loses by not keeping their charging stations up and running consistently though, and how much repairs to fix broken ones are.
@@Geckogold Every gas pump ⛽ I go to is covered from the elements.
The EA station in Mojave CA had a solar canopy but someone hit it and the whole station went down!
Sounds like there's a business opportunity for someone who would offer a car recharging service.
Contract with a person or a company to recharge your car, either overnight, or on the weekend while you get stuff done.
You get to stay home, while the recharging contractor shows up, picks up your car, takes it to a recharging station, fully recharges your battery to the level you want it at (80% to 100%), then returns the car to your home. Then you just wake up in the morning, hop in your car, and go wherever you want without having to worry about charging station stress.
I think a person would just go back to a fossil fuel car if it comes to that.
The problem is, by the time you pay for the labor cost, plus the cost for the gig worker to operate their car to come to you, the charging gets really expensive, really fast. DCFC, as it is, struggles to compete on cost with gasoline. Throw in the labor for someone to drive your car to the charger, wait for it to charge, and drive back, it becomes the equivalent of buying gas for over $10/gallon.
That said, I can imagine a business model cropping up in the future where you car uses autonomous driving tech to drive itself to a charger, gets plugged in by a robot, and drives itself back home several hours later with a full battery. This approach potentially has a lot going for it. Minimal labor costs. Charging can be level 2, rather than DCFC, since no humans are waiting for it, and the charging can happen while the humans are busy working or sleeping. The charging can also take place in crummy industrial areas with no amenities, where would be terrible for humans, but, with cheap land, and cheap power, would be perfect for an autonomous charging hub. The site can even outright forbid cars with humans on board from entering the property, and use a combination of fencing and security guards to deter cable cutters.
But, until the autonomous vehicle tech is able to do the job, we have to make due with the tech we have, which requires drivers to drive their cars to chargers themselves and plug them in.
Lack of chargers is a fixable issue. I see two issues with consumers being reluctant to purchase full on EVs. Prices have to drop and people need to trust their energy providers. Love my EV and want this industry to thrive.
I'd argue that we need to PUSH our energy providers, not just trust them.
@@davidwalker72prices matter
@@davidwalker72 They have to make money and descent profits else they are never going to do anything worthwhile. Consumers have to vote with their dollars.
That’s why I bought a Tesla, the charging network! All these other EV manufacturers decided to just let someone else take care of the public charging problem and they wonder why the general public is turning their noses up at EV’s.
I think Out of Spec should do an entire series on Workplace charging by interviewing employers who offer Workplace charging. The focus should be on encouraging other employers to offer Workplace charging.
In these situations I have used plug share. Slower charging but find a spot you want to go and charge up for free. Lunch and some shopping then drive away.
Tesla just installed new charging stations a few blocks from my house. I have at least 3 charging stations less than 2 miles from here if I ever needed it. Very convenient for anyone who lives in an apt complex. Tesla knows what’s up hence why I bought one instead of a Kia or mustang
This is happening in Central Florida, too. The rental cars line up continuously in Orlando while stations sit with unusable chargers. The folks in the rentals think they need to charge to 100%.
I save a video where EV renters do need to charge up to 100% when returning their cars because of rental company "policies".
Kyle, I live here in Los Angeles. I know for a fact it was 80+ when you shooting this video 😂. The heck your doing wearing a sweater dude.
Hummm, it seems that Tesla is doing it right with loads of chargers, but everyone else in SoCal waiting in long lines (were speaking of Electrify America).
Not necessarily I’ve gone from Northern California to Southern California and there are lines. Early adopters using their free supercharging.
I noticed that the growth of Magic Dock construction is accelerating. Most new Tesla supercharger stations are offering Magic Docks but not all. Far better than before.
Not really, I witnesses long queues at plenty of Superchargers. Our Uber & Lyft drivers confirmed it’s a problem at Superchargers too. The real issue is lack of Level 2 charging.
@@lh2338 No lack of level 2 chargers in Austin Texas.
@@sigma682 It's still a lot better than EA. When you have 20 stalls the wait can be a few minutes. But nothing like EA.
So i live in Tulsa Oklahoma. I drive a VW ID4 2023 MY and it gets the 30 minutes free charging. I do have a home charger however I enjoy going to the charger to just get out of the house. With that being said I go off peak times and if I am charging and the stalls are filling up I simply un-plug and leave and give that place to someone else. I think it’s all about being considerate to your fellow EV Folks and helping in any way possible. Granted I have only had to unplug a couple times and do this but then again not as many EV Owners in Tulsa Oklahoma.
I never recommend EVs to people who can't charge at home or work, not until the charging infrastructure is way more built out. I know there's a big focus on fast chargers, but we really just need an absolute flood of level 2 chargers at apartments, condos, and offices.
We did install the infrastructure in our appartment building garage. All 157 spots got the infrastructure, and owners that wanted a EVSE in their spot needed to pay for the EVSE. When we installed the system in 2019 there where 20 that ordered the EVSE, and now there is about 40. But the real cost is probably zero. Because when people sell appartments they always promote it is EV ready. That is always worth more than the cost of the installation, because people buying apparments want their car spot to be EV ready. Hope US soon come to a place where they realize this. Installation cost is zero even we paid around $80.000 for the infrastructure and each owner need to pay $2000 for each EVSE installed.
This is a great story, good on you installing chargers for your entire complex. What was the utility interconnection process like? I think the answer is Level 1 or super load-shared charging to maximize power available to as many cars as possible. I think people prefer a dedicated charger at 1.9 kW vs sharing a 7 kW charger. Just need to install these at multifiamily everywhere
@@louiedias996 the job was done by the firm but we got a new circuit with 240 Volt 400 Amps but is is currently limited to 125 Amps to prevent surge charge. The system is balanced with max 7.2Kw. I have never seen anything less than 7.2kW even with 40 owners with EV. it is approx 5 cars that can charge at the same time and still have max speed.
That cost goes into the rent, though. Meaning everyone is forced to pay more for rent because of the EV infrastructure installation.
@@mikeydude750 yes, the $80.000 loan is split over the 157 owners and paid down over 30 years. Even those not getting an EV the next 30 years. My argument is that those $500 in real world is zero since the increase of value of apartment will increase more than those $500 since most now would expect the apartment to be EV ready.
@@evkx But "increasing the value of the apartment" is exactly the same as "paying more for rent".
Add L2 that are 240v (or 277 single leg 480v) with at LEAST 48A (truck pull through with 80A) should be getting a massive portion of NEVI yet most L2 are 208v (often 199-200v with sag) and 30A or 32A ! Thats killing satisfaction and adoption
This is what happens when the government / media uses “science” to mandate throwing huge money at something. People are suckered into the program and then find out they have to change their lifestyle to live within the mandate. Mandate versus market driven, mandate always loose.
This is the reason I just bought a PHEV and not a full EV. I take a number of road trips every year, and a number of places I go regularly have little to no level 3 charging infrastructure at all. One trip of about 320 miles only has one charging station with two level 3 chargers along the way. If that station were down when I got there, what then....? EV's are great and I want one, but until we get the infrastructure worked out a PHEV seemed like the right solution. What we need is not chargers in parking lots, we need charging stations just like gas stations. We need them everywhere.
No problem charging in so cal if you own a Tesla 😁
I absolutely agree that Workplace Charging should be more prevalent. Workplace Charging is, in my opinion, the biggest key to accelerating EV adoption in the United States. It just makes sense. Workplace Charging will allow people who live in Apartments and Condos to conveniently charge their EV, making the ownership experience nearly equivalent to Homeowners who can charge at home.
Why should your employer pay for the fuel of your personal vehicle?
@@dillonk5573 There's no reason it would need to be free. In fact, it probably shouldn't be free, because if there's one thing workers like to do, it's to biatch about perks that others get. Depending on the area, perhaps $1-$3/hr?
@@dillonk5573 First, the expense is not excessive compared to the perks your employer already pays for like health insurance. Second, if the employer chooses to, the Employee can be billed for their usage if the right charger is chosen.
Additionally, many employers are always looking for ways to attract, and keep, good employees. Offering Workplace charging is an easy, and relatively cheap, way to attract high quality employees. It is also a perk that will help retain employees because it is tangible and something the employee can appreciate every day.
I recently moved out of Southern California to San Antonio, TX. Never have to wait for a charger here in Tx but I have a Ford Lightning extended battery and have the adapter and 1 mile from me there is a 12 stall Tesla charger. Even driving to Houston, no problem charging
San Antonio in the house! I picked up two EVs and I go to the EA station on Thousand Oaks from time to time but do most charging at home. There is a lot of free blink charging around. There is a new EA charger going up in La Cantera so that will be another nice perk. I think we benefit in Texas since a lot of people refuse to even consider it, we “early adopters” will benefit. The supply of chargers seem to be far ahead of the demand in this state.
@@TheSonyExperience I wish that EA station on Thousand Oaks was closer to the freeway. It really needs to be down in the Morgan's Wonderland area. There's a free L2 at the library on Thousand Oaks when last I checked, too.
Supercharger access for other EVs needs to be sped up, so much of this issue would be solved in an instant if they just opened it up to everyone right now. I did a road trip recently and we had to stop at an EA to charge, 4 stalls and 12 cars waiting. Right across the parking lot… was a 12 stall supercharger. Completely empty. This is ridiculous
@@erich1710 yeah. Also the local rental company from the airport comes in and charges there entire fleet there. That sucks. But there is some free L2 at North Star mall and La cantera. There is also free 30 minute 50w charging blink stations around. Highway access would be better. You really have to go deep into the area if your coming from the 410 or the 35
@@staycgirlsitsgoingdown2 it’s always sad to see the Buc-ee’s station. So many empty Tesla stalls and only 6 EA stalls down the street. But they always empty so I don’t mind
8:57 best way I heard someone explain the speed of charging with the different percentages was: it's like a cinema where there are enough seats for everyone but nobody has a seat number. When the auditorium is empty, people can get in quickly and take a seat right away. Seating happens quickly. But once you get to 80% full, people start taking their time looking for a seat in the dark. They want an aisle, they need four seats together, and so on. And by the time you get to 99% capacity, people have to take their time and others are slowly shuffling across to make space for couples and larger.
People are electrons. The cinema is the battery pack. The fuller it gets, the slower it continues to fill.
If you drive a Tesla, you are NOT affected by this problem because of Tesla's own supercharger network.
If you drive a Rivian or Ford EV, you are almost never affected by this because these EV can now charge at Tesla supercharger since a few months ago.
A few quick solution:
1. Once Tesla allows more car makers (GM, VW, BMW...) to use the Tesla supercharger. This problem will be relieved quickly.
2. Electrify America needs go back to "price per minute" model in their charger. Instead of "price per kwh". That will essentially stop EV owner from holding up a charging station for 1.5 hour to charge to 100 percent.
3. Electrify America needs to update their software to set a hard limit in regard to charging time. For example, 50 mins maximum hard limit for every charging EV, no exception. And restarting a new charging session cannot bypass the 50 mins limit.
4. Software limit to stop charging at like 85 percent state of charge. In all the busy Electrify America stations. No exception, no bypass.
5. Stop all "free charging" incentive when buying an EV. Simply offer a lower selling price for the EV.
As a Tesla owner then this is going to make the supercharges less available to us owners. They need to build many more supercharging stations in general to accommodate all vehicle brands.
@@craigwflys i don't see this as a huge problem. Tesla monitor their supercharger usage very closely, once they see certain supercharger get busy, they will expand the supercharger quickly. Compare to Electrify America or EVgo, Tesla is very good in terms of expanding supercharger site quickly.
Fair enough however I live in the western part of the SF Valley and the Calabasas supercharger is always super busy. There is almost always a wait. Even up until 2 am it's quite full. The Topanga Plaza Mall would be perfect.
I live in socal and I'm so happy that I installed a LVL2 charger at my home, I've only used my free charging once in almost 2 years
Electrify America has initiated a pilot program at certain stations that limits your charging to a set level (85% I think) then stops charging and if you don't move your car within 10 minutes it will bill you for blocking the charger.
How long has EA been in business? 6 months? Is this the first time EA has known that their chargers are lousy and broken down, and overcrowded? In the computer age, how difficult is it to limit charging to 80%, then give maybe a 2 minute grace period, before charging something like $1/minute.
Did a road trip from SF to British Columbia in my Rivian.
Was ok as long as we were on the interstate. Particularly in California and Oregon.
But Washington and BC was very hit or miss. EA was a nightmare.
Interestingly came across these British Petroleum chargers, and they were awesome! Super modern and flawless.
Of course… life is easy when we’re in our Tesla.
Tesla drivers do not have this problem. There, solved your problem for you.
As a SoCal EV driver, this hits REALLY hard. You hit it in the head - it's like this EVERYWHERE and ALL THE TIME. I charge at home so it doesn't effect me as negatively as it does others but I occasionally get caught out and the experience is just about horrible enough to want to go back to driving a Super Duty and swearing off EVs.
Hard cap at 80% SOC at busy locations.
Don't forget that LFP you MUST charge to 100% on regular basis (per Ford - once per month) so if you are forced to public charge you have to go to 100% so it can calibrate otherwise you are asking for trouble.
@@LubomirGeorgievYeah, but not on a 350kW DC station.
@@adrianguggisberg3656 well if you don't have home charging you're going to fast charge to 80 and then specifically go look for level 2 charger from 80 to 100?
Nah I'll pull up Netflix and sit there the whole time
@@LubomirGeorgiev Yeah everybody has to wait because of everybodys selfishness. Serves you right. I'd suggest plugging into an AC charger whenever the opportunity shows, regardless of SoC. But hey, suit yourself.
Colorado Springs EA site is experiencing this exact issue… Thanks for highlighting the most annoying issue in EV ownership! Totally agree with each point!!
Electrify America is destroying EV ownership in Phoenix
Buy a Tesla or a new non-Tesla that can charge at Tesla superchargers.
@@twostate7822 That's the advice I give everyone.
Sometimes I think EA is actually trying to discourage EV ownership. I hope I’m wrong.
So is EVGO. Their chargers are always down or occupied by a rideshare driver.
@@bruceberger8698 i mean EA is literally volkswagen being forced to atone for dieselgate so they truly don't care about making it work well
Drove through LA last summer, 3 separate stations had 75% chargers offline. Then while in SoCal, spent over two hours finding a station that had an open terminal, only to wait in a 45 minute line. Told my wife if we lived in SoCal, I wouldn’t own an EV.
Why would you ever get an EV if you can't charge at home?! That's just plain foolish.
Yeah I'm not sure why someone wouldn't do some research before making this big of an investment. Home or work charging is essential for every ev owner. DC fast charging is for road trips only. If we are going to invest in charging infrastructure it should be to make more level 2 charging available to peope that cannot currently charge at home. I see this happening I n Atlanta but not enough.
Because it’s cheaper to own an electric car than a home, my work gives free charging and I happen to live across the street from level 2 charging, super convenient, unlike trying to buy a. Home in LA, California. 😢
Thank you so much for posting an honest CZcams video. I’ve seen so many CZcams videos where they say that the other CZcams videos mentioning the downside of getting an EV, like what you are saying here, are false. Thank you for being honest.
What happen with the federal money that was supposed to build thousand of chargers? I read so far only 6 in the whole country. That is nuts.
They sent it to Ukraine lol
Talk to your president Brandon.
@@flattire707 Thanks Brandon, for your particularly insightful comment.
Thanks for your video. Reserved an electric car with hertz for my upcoming roadtrip starting at LAX. Upgraded to a Tesla because of this. Living in switzerland i wasn‘t aware of the charging situation in SoCal.
People have no concept of time is money. They will sit there for 90 minutes to get their $35 worth of free charging. not even close to worth it in my book
I don't understand it either. By scheduling my car to charge late at night, my home charging rate is just 6.5 cents/kWh. Even if EVGo or Electrify America were to let me charge for free, I would never bother, except when on road trips.
Great video as always. This is a big nasty problem. Recently did a 2500 mile trip from DC area to Florida and charging was almost as bad as you describe for LA. My county has a very good program to help multi family communities install charging and it is facing major challenges. Seems most have a shortage of parking space to dedicate for EV and most are financially constrained even with subsidies.keep up the great work. Thanks.
Hey Kyle! I'm putting together a similar video here for the Chicago market. It's more a follow-up video we did together back in January. I can tell you right now that Chicago is going through a similar experience, although not as bad as L.A.. It's also not in particular with EA. It's also affecting with EVgo stations. I'll be happy to share more info with you very soon!
Hey Merchy! I live in LA and this is not just an LA problem, it also happens in San Diego, Las Vegas, and the Bay Area. Though the Bay Area has a lot more L2 charging, at least in Silicon Valley. Another problem not mentioned in the video is rideshare drivers with free charging plans, they have a huge incentive to overuse the resource. Kyle, the second station you went to was about a mile from my house, next time come by my driveway and we’ll get you going with our L2 😎. That station is the first one listed for me in the EA app and it is ALWAYS full, even at 2AM, as are all of the EA stations in the area. I can’t imagine owning an EV in my area without my own L2 charger. The local Tesla Supercharger with 18 stalls is also super busy, but with that many stalls waits are minimized. Speaking of Tesla, very few of the supercharger stations in the LA area are open to Ford and Rivian. The one close to me isn’t. Last time I looked only about 20% of the stations around here were included. So no solution there. Ultimately I think we need 1000x more L2 charging, which could take decades.
@jamesrea329 I agree! There's a solution to most of these problems, and it's a lot to mention here, but I will lay it out on my next video. However, the one single solution that will fix a lot of problems is more charging stations. Instead of building out 4-10 units at a parking lot somewhere, we need to adopt the gas station model and just have charging parks with a lounge and plenty of them.
@@ChargingtheRoad That kind of sounds like what Rove is planning. Did you see their booth at EVFest in Long Beach? Recently I was on the train and happened to ride right by their first location (in Santa Ana), it looks like it is pretty close to being finished and should open soon. I'm on their mailing list so I'm looking forward to getting a grand opening announcement soon 😃
I’ve used that same charging site. It’s the worst as far as wait queues I’ve ever seen. 2 years ago I never had to wait in line but now it always has a queue. Next time try the charging site at the parking garage on Green Street in Old Town Pasadena. There are 20 Shell Recharge dispensers and 24 Tesla dispensers.
People need to learn and practice good charging etiquette. My bane has been Bolt drivers tying up chargers charging to 100%. At one site with 2 dispensers I frequently saw the same Bolt drivers charging to 100%. I haven’t seen them for awhile since both dispensers have been broken for several weeks.
Oddly, the town where I live has 10 DCFC dispensers across 3 sites and it’s rare to see even 1 car at any of them. I never need any of those since I charge at home.
I can’t figure out why anyone would buy an EV that can’t plug into the Tesla network. That’s just asking for trouble unless you have no plans on driving long distances and always charge at home.
I can't figure out why anybody would buy an ev that can't charge at home.
It's still a big struggle out there for non-tesla networks. I had a relative rent an EV in cali on her last trip and told us she would never again drive an electric car because of how horrific the charging experience was. How many other stories like this are there? Probably thousands
While we definitely need more and better charging infrastructure, I don’t think the issues in LA are completely transferable elsewhere. LA is the second most populous city in US, but unlike NYC, has almost no mass public transit. The bus & metro system is tiny for a city of that size. So everyone has a car & they drive a ton! I am a Bay Area native & on recent visit to to LA, I was still surprised by the car culture there. People live in their cars in a way that I have not seen elsewhere. We were mocked for choosing to walk 10 mins to our destination, when everyone else decided to drive. BTW, We actually got there faster because we didn’t have to search for parking.
I am in Spokane WA, and a new apartment went in and they put level 2 charging in. Only one problem is they only put 2 chargers out. Better than nothing
Had to charge in Hollywood a few weeks back. was full when I got there, was first in line, had to wait about 2 mins before somebody pulled out. aparantly we got super lucky though, because right after that a line of 10 cars showed up. We reaaaaally need more charging infrastructure in cities. Here's hoping CA starts putting incentives for existing gas stations to retrofit a few chargers so they can start pulling double duty. edit - and other states too of course!
Thanks for making this video. There's really no other ways to describe the EA charging experience in Los Angeles than a complete disaster! I live in Mid city area and the two closest EA charging stations have been down for the past two months! The closest EVgo stations was down for about 6 months!! recently came back on line and went back off line 3 days later! Another issue is Rideshare drivers. I've noticed most drivers charging to 100% are rideshare drivers!
I'm in Los Angeles and manage about residential 18 sites. When a tenant has an EV, we put in a level 1 or shared level 2. If they want to buy their own L2 evse, we'll hook it up to the circuit for them. 25% of cars sold in CA are EVs though 90% of those are Tesla. That ea and other CCS providers can't keep up is horrible. What's killing them is the maintenance costs. The hardware is garbage and profitability is going out the window. No wonder they don't want to install more stations. Tesla and Rivian care about that and it shows. Autel makes amazing L2 stations. They care and probably their DC stuff is great too. I offered a Tesla tenant an outlet off their panel at home to charge for FREE. They turned me down. Said going to the supercharger was no big deal. 🤷 Workplace charging is more complex to implement as there are ada requirements in the form of dedicated ada ev spaces. Why can't all EV charge spaces be ada compliant and be for everyone first come first serve?
This really points out the need for many more 50kw DCFC posts to complement the 350/150kw charging posts. You have people lined up and waiting, doing nothing, whilst trying to get access to the chargers. I'd bet that everyone waiting could have met their charging needs on a 50kw charger, if one was available.
I really like the “shorter” videos from you all. Summaries of your big videos really help.
In the whole video, no one ever mentioned Tesla. They have lots of chargers everywhere so there hardly ever is a wait, and they are quicker to charge.
It seems this video was geared towards non-Tesla EV charging as this is the reality many non-Tesla EV drivers have to face in some areas.
But they could've mentioned that it would be nice to have a lot of charging stalls like Superchargers where there's typically 8-20 per station. If nothing else, it allows for less waiting as more vehicles can charge and get going so the next person in line can then start charging.
Thank you for this vid! It's almost impossible not having to wait in line. I even started going at 3-4 in the morning and there is still a line!! Regretfully it's seriously making me rethink having an EV for my next car.
Someone needs to hire Kyle Conner. The government, charging companies, please SOMEBODY hire this dude
Probably doesn't want to work for someone, maybe Kyle and City Nerd should Confer
He pushes for more incentives and turns around and ridicules people and calls them cheap for using the incentives. Doesn't matter if you can charge at home or not if free charging is one of the reasons you purchased the car.
@@user-ow8mf5uo1vFree charging is ruining EV experience by causing long lines. It must stop.
@@johnpoldo8817 Taking a customers money and making false promises/incentives is what's ruining evs reputation, not to many business models can survive like that, Being upfront and honest at the sale is what people remember.
@@johnpoldo8817 Free charging is NOT the problem, lack of a demand management system is the problem. All chargers full? 85% max charge allowed. (and more chargers for SoCal- it's a localized issue)
I just got back from my road trip from Panama City, FL to NJ, and apart from the extra time I spent charging my M3 RWD (2 hours), it was flawless. Also, Autopilot makes it so stress free and relaxing.
In the netherlands, there is a website where you drop a request for a level 2 public charger in your street at parking spots. In a 500 meter radius there are at least 10 L2 chargers for 20 plugs. Yes, its public charging, but it works really well.
And 4 chargers at work. Come on murica
It's a population density issue. I believe there are around 17 million population (per google) in the Netherlands, whereas just Southern California has a population of nearly 23 million. I would also venture to say that California alone has more EV's than most countries. Therefore it's going to take time and significant investment to have enough charging stations to reduce wait times to an acceptable level. This creates another two issues around who is going to pay for this and is there even enough power to support the potential demand for electricity.
@@toddkovalcik332 80% of America lives in metro areas, and for those who go to work an L2 charger there would cover their commute. The difficulty of a complete solution should not get in the way of an 80% solution.
AS a relatively new EV owner (9 months) living in Southern California, I only bought my ID.4 with the expectation of charging from home, we have a PHEV Honda Clarity for longer trips, I have a Level 2 installed in my garage, and when I had it installed, I had the electrician install a dedicated 20 amp 120 volt GFI plug as well, I then bought a variable Amperage level 1 with a 25 foot cord on Amazon,( ID.4 charge port is in the rear) and i put the car on that nightly in the driveway, it gives me about 50-60 miles of range per night, thats more than enough for the week if i start the week at 80% off the level 2. Buying a EV and relying just on public charging is insane in my opinion.
The whole charing thing needs a reboot they need to think about reliability scale and make it cheaper and easier to install chsrgers and stop putting 4 as max tesla is 8 to 12 as its lowest maybe they can swallow there pride and ask tesla for some of there tech
We are ID4 owners in So Cal we have 3 years free charging. We are fortunate to have been able to add a level 2 charger at home and can charge at work. However, road trips from So Cal to NorCal is a pain. Regardless of cost charging on a road trip is such a challenge. We recently purchased a 2024 Ford Mach e and hope we can charge at Tesla sites. We will be testing that ability this coming weekend.
This is an Electrify America Problem. Tesla works, no wait. They have higher availability because of their charging speed, reliability and charging fees over 90% if the station is regularily full.
EA is a joke, they're not serious about "electrifying America".
I guess I’m fortunate, I live inland east of LA in a house with a charger I installed. So almost 100 % of my charging is at home. I should mention I own a Tesla M3. So the few times I need to use one of their fast chargers it is no issue. They build out it seems a minimum of 8 chargers at a location and most times several more, so there is little to no waiting. We need ev competition so I hope the other charger companies start adding more stalls and fix the problem.
California may have long wait times, but I know for me in Ohio, we don’t have public charging hardly anywhere. So southern Cali may have to wait, but we can’t find fast charging anywhere and the one that is kind of close to me is broken a lot of times. That’s why we don’t buy EV’s here.
I get a train to Edinburgh 3 times a week, my car is parked for 10 hours.
The tiny train station has 125 parking spaces and has 12 x7kW chargers.
If everyone only needs to charge once per 2 weeks this is sufficient to charge the whole car park during the working week (5 days x 2 weeks x 12 chargers = 120 cars charges in each cycle).
Similar systems could be in place at these apartments if people wanted them, providing there is some level of parking provided.
1) Set up a subscription model for the level 2 chargers
2) Fit a number of chargers, over a number of dedicated spots and give everyone a parking day for using that spot.
3) Need more than one day? Purchase more spots.
4) Need to change days, organise swaps between members.