I don’t like the idea of a hard limit, but it should be disincentivized. Maybe no free charging over 85%, or increased rate above 85%. Let em do it, but make em pay!
I agree. 95% of the time, this is going to be fine, but sometimes you actually do need to charge to 100%, based on the weather, your vehicle loading, and where you are going. Adding a surcharge for the extra 5%, 10%, or 15% needed seems like it would be the way to go.
I personally like the idea of hard stop at 85% in urban areas. Too many Bolt Uber drivers clogging up the chargers to 100% in Chicago as an example, and trust me, me and everyone else are frustrated so I'm happy this is happening
@@ChargingtheRoadat least you have bolt Uber drivers. We used to have unmanned bolts with car sharing. Lots of bolts filling every dc fast charger with nobody in them until they are rented.
People charging to 100% unnecessarily is a real problem, especially in areas with more EVs. I think forcibly kicking people off at 85% is a reasonable approach given the options available to EA. Time limit would just be unfair to people with slower charging cars and would punish people even more when a station is derated.
Time is the most fair way. You’re holding up a resource. These restrictions should only be in place when station is almost full. At 2am and empty should be able to stay as long as you want
@@bbgator1 i already addressed why time isn't fair in the comment you are responding to. Plus if someone. Just unplugs and plugs back in you have no way to enforce time. Many drivers just don't realize that charging to 100% all the time is incredibly foolish. By "forcing" them out of their bad habit, hopefully some will realize the error or their ways.
The current scourge seems to be a conjunction of a a few things: 0) a history of EA never seemingly charging idle fees so people develop bad habits. 1) people who got unlimited free charging with no time limits 2) people who were never educated by the dealer, nor have self educated 3) they either cannot charge where they park or they are both stupidly cheap while simultaneously not valuing their time.
@@shou635 charging more doesn't solve the issue for people with free charging plans, which is the source of the problem. The plans don't say "free until 85%" so you can't start charging them over a certain %.
@@anthonyc8499 there’s 3 DCFC and 1 level 2. As of typing this, one of the DCFC are down. I haven’t seen many ride share cars there. It’s locals and many of them have free charging
@@anthonyc8499 I don’t recall seeing any rideshares. It’s mostly locals with free charging. There’s three DCFC and one Lvl2. One of the DCFC are out of service as of typing this
You must have a lot of stupid people in your area. People really just need more education and I do that all the time where I charge. In three years I’ve only encountered one guy that said he didn’t care. Others were glad for the help.
The underlying problem is that EAs business model was how to spend $2 Billion of penalty for Dieselgate, rather than how to build a charging network that would service all the EVs that VW was giving 3 years of free charging to, and the Uber drivers that would jump on Hyundai’s ride share deals. They built many stations that are way too small, and an inadequate service structure to keep them running 100% of the time. Tesla built and continues to expand a network that ENCOURAGES people to buy EVs, and is even taking up some of the other car manufacturers malaise in doing their own share of network building. If you want a travel charging network that “just works”, buy a Tesla, and charge it at home when you can.
This is a great idea. None of those stations are in isolated areas, so there’s no concerns about people not being able to get to their destinations. It would be different if it was done in Green River, UT
They should install L2 chargers adjacent to the fast chargers and require the EV drivers use the L2 chargers to finish up to 100% if that's what they need.
OOS needs to do a roadtrip with 2 identical EVs. One always charges to 100%, the other charge with getting to destination the quickest. Then people will see how bad it is to charge to 100%
Not always. In real life, I only charge past 80% on road trips. If you are eating or doing something else, no point in stopping it at 80% if there are plenty of open chargers. If I’m waiting on it 60-70% max. My charge level is based on the situation.
@@bbgator1 Not clue what your point is. Back to mine, charging to a 100% will ALWAYS take longer. It doesn't matter if you are eating or not. Time is time whether you are eating, walking or just sitting.
@@gregpochet4812 Eating and charging at the same time is better than sitting in a parking lot later because you couldn't get enough charge during lunch and had to let the car sit. For someone on a road trip it can be less wasted time and less stops. Drive fast charge fast is a good motto but sure is tough when you are towing. Put a trailer on that test and I think the 100% driving slow may have less headaches or risks of getting stranded. Would be interesting.
Enforced 85% State of Charge + the 10 minutes to depart before idling fees are applied is entirely reasonable. It is also better than time limit rules since cheaters have been unplugging, waiting a few moments to reset the clock and then plugging back in with a whole new block of time.
I like the idea of when they are full they limit it to 85. I am an ID.4 driver and I almost never ever charge at DCFC to more than 80. And so far on my 2022 Pro S RWD I have put in 78k miles in 2 years.
Great conversation! Kudos to EA for starting to think about ways to limit those annoying "free for years" charging plans. I doubt very much that they will implement an 85% limit on stations that are on routes with limited charging. I feel that this is very appropriate for urban areas where you have lots of people milking their "free" plans. I agree with Max that EA is improving but they have started from such a low level that even now I feel that they are just getting to OK and still have a long way to go to get to satisfactory.
The comment by Max about the skinflints who have a Level 2 in the garage but are inconveniencing people by hogging the free chargers sounds very familiar. Near my house there is a shopping plaza that has 8 EA chargers and 4 Shell Recharge (formerly Volta) chargers. The EAs might, on a blue moon, have one car but all 4 Shell spots are constantly taken, usually by a Tesla. I have a PHEV that can only use the J1772 connector of the Shell spots and when I have politely pointed out to a Tesla driver that they could use the EA spots for a faster charge, they have uniformly had the same response: "Sure but for those I would have to pay and these are free." Sometimes they add that "...but then I would have to buy a CCS adapter...."
MY21 ID4 owner…still have 1-year left on charging plan….I agree with imposed limitation….especially in urban areas….I only use DC charging when on a road trip, maybe 5% of drive time (not miles)….I can see apartment/condo dwellers needing to DC charge as a prime strategy, but for commuting This limitation will be good for all…
I agree with this action, same when I was in Tesla at a busy station and left at 80%. EA needs more cabinets at each location and the obvious uptime issue
But as a Tesla person you should know Tesla had longer to install chargers clear back in 2012. They only sell evs . They had unlimited free charging too on model s and x . I hate max he has no clue about anything and is always bashing ea who started with limited money in 2018. You can’t have things perfect in that short of time when you don’t make the chargers. I’d 4 owners deserved it just like Tesla owners did . Vw started ea. they don’t owe rivian anything rivian needs to get their network across the country . I do agree about the 100 percent since it isn’t good for the battery but people need to stop harping on bolt id 4 and bz4x owners .
This problem is caused by car manufacturers offering free charging. You have people who don’t charge at home because it’s not free. With limited resources this was a smart idea. With some cars it takes just as long to go from 80%-100% as it does from 0%-80%.
@@sonictech1000for me, it’s convenient and being free. I’ve talked to apartment people and most are paying the 40-50 cents which makes fuel cost equivalent to gas. Good people, enduring the negatives of an EV and not even getting a break on fuel.
Anyone who was paying attention to these busiest Electrify America sites could tell you this needed to happen, but EA really couldn't even do this until they activated their Idle Fees, which only happen a few months ago. The fact that they are limiting this to metro-region chargers makes it acceptable because these are not chargers needed for road trips (and they have a number of redundant stations very close by). However, I don't think this should be scaled up across their entire network, but there are definitely strategies that EA can employ to apply this networkwide.
Agree 100% I get it when it comes to road trips, there are pockets of the country where there isn't fast charging. Urban areas where there are plenty of fast chargers, there is no need to clog up these chargers to 100% and I'm happy that they are initiating this pilot program. There are too many ID.4 and Bolt drivers charging to 100%
I think this is excellent news. I live in the area where this is happening, in fact one of the stations on this list is minutes from my house - close enough that I drive by regularly (another station on this list is 10 minutes further). This station is ALWAYS full with a line of drivers waiting, usually even after midnight. Based on the EA app, the other stations in the area are the same (note that I never charge at any of these stations, I charge at home). This change isn't going to solve the problem, but it's sure to help. I think it is a great idea for congested urban areas. Some people are saying "what if I need 100% to get to my destination", well, that's baloney, there isn't a car on the market that couldn't get to 50 other EA stations with an 85% charge from any of the stations on this list. The idea that charging to "only" 85% at one of these stations will leave you stranded is simply ludicrous. If you're on a long road trip from an urban area then charge to 85% and start driving - no matter which direction you are headed you'll pass a dozen EA stations before you need an additional charge. As far as I'm concerned, the only problem with this plan is that it only affects ten stations so far. There are way more stations in this area that would benefit from this plan. In fact, I think this policy should be applied to any EA station where there are more than 10 other stations within a 25 mile radius. Of course for road trips there are large areas where stations are truly far apart. For those stations, it should still be possible to charge to 100%. There's no indication, however, that EA is planning to extend this new plan to non-urban, non-congested areas. If they do, we can complain about that then, but for now I applaud this and hope that it is rapidly expanded to all congested areas.
Here in the UK we are now seeing many more 8x 12x 16x and more station sites. Look to Norway where sites have even more stations. This is infrastructure that takes time and money to implement. US seems a year or two behind Europe perhaps
They need to reduce the idle time to 5 minutes. There are some vehicles that can charge from 85 to 100 in less than ten minutes (EV6, Ionic 5&6). EA just needs to add more chargers to every location and make sure they all are working! Broken chargers are usually my problem when getting to a full charger location.
Adding Level 2 stalls nearby may help the ID4 kinds of issues. At 85%, kick them off, but give them free charging at the Level 2 stalls as that’ll be almost as fast anyway. And it’d get folks to realize that public level 2 stalls are ideal at stores, movie theaters, malls, etc.
I'm charging my Tesla right now. Across the parking lot is 6 EA chargers, but 4 are out of service. There are 3 Kias waiting behind the 2 ID.4 charging. LOL, I think I see the reason they for the cap!
I guess the number of charging site gaps is so bad that some need more than 80%? Here in Norway one of the CPOs charge a per minute fee on top once you reach 80% while on a DCFC. It's only like 10 cents per minute, but I rarely see anyone above 80% on chargers by this CPO. I wish it was more like Tesla so it doesn't apply if the site is empty.
In the US it's complex. Depending on the utility you may not be allowed to sell electricity by the kWh so they have to run a per min rate. Other places it's just per kWh.
I would be fine with starting idle fees at 85%, and making them exponentially more expensive the longer the idle continues. Maybe give a 5 minute grace period first to unplug before the fees kick in. Something similar should be implemented for vehicles that take a 350kw station when they can't max out a 150kw station. This is obviously more problematic given the timing of when particular chargers are open and the (lack of) chargers capable of running at their peak output.
Oh I like this idea. Let anything over 80% count as idle time. Then people can charge to 100% but they’re going to pay up. I agree it should be possible to charge up high when you’re far from the next charger.
There was time when we would need travel to Ithaca NY in our Rivian and the nearest ccs station was 50 miles away so we would charge to 95-100 percent at a Binghamton NY charger to arrive with 80ish percent battery for our time in the Ithaca area. You just can't know everyones specific needs. That being said, there is still not much worse than pulling up to Electrify America station on a trip that has a number of bolts or ID4s sitting on 350kW plugs charging super slow.
I would say the only issue is if they roll it out to all, when i go to my aunts house i need to charge to 95% as she is anti EV and isnt keen on me plugging in at her house and she lives pretty far out.
I've sat behind a Bolt EV owner who insisted on going to 100% despite me telling her that there was another EA station 80 miles down the road on the way to her destination. She was causing throughput issues for the station.
12:00 Agree, Uber/Lyft drivers sometimes charge to 100% if they don't have a "fare" at any given time (especially if charging is free like for my Hyundai EV).
I think the 85% charge limit is good policy for the middle of Los Angeles, as it is not possible to take a trip in any direction long enough to drain a battery from 85% (even in an old Nissan Leaf) without running across many charging opportunities along the route. However, imposing such a limit nationwide (as I am afraid EA might do) would be a very bad idea, as there are still many rural charging deserts out there that require a 100% charge in order to safely make it to the destination without range anxiety. I say this as someone who has personally charged to near 100% off EA twice in situations where not being able to do so would have increased the trip time by at least an hour or two. Ideally, long, deep charges (especially in a vehicle like a Bolt) would not be done at 350 kW Electrify America chargers to begin with, but the problem is, there is often no alternative except for level 2, which is far too slow. Even in a Bolt, the 25-30 minutes it takes a Bolt to go from 85% to 100% on DC power is still way faster than the 90 minutes it would take on level 2. To fix the problem, we really need a lot more slow DC fast chargers in business districts, around the 50-100 kW range, so people don't have to use a 350 kW charger every time they want a charge that doesn't take hours, but nobody seems interested in installing 50-100 kW chargers anymore. We also need lots more level 2 at hotels at vacation homes. I've been on many trips where I've clogged up DC chargers for no other reason other than not being able to find a place to stay the night with an on-site AC charger.
I would think an urban charge site could have a different max charge compared to a highway location. They know which sites are plugged up by those charging past 85%.
Its about time. I hope this gets implemented on urban areas like L.A. Chicago and NYC. Talked about this problem in couple of my videos that Chevy Bolt Uber drivers clogging the chargers up to 100% and im happy about this. I do wonder how itll affect when in coldwr climate like chicago when the range dips 40% and people wants that full charge to maximize their loss of range in the cold.
12 locations 🤓 I notice the old Van Nuys Fedco location is included, which is kind of off the beaten path. The long term answer is that everyone needs L2 access.
@@camarilloconcerns8782 I agree whatever it takes most everybody needs to figure out a way to have level two charging at home somehow if possible, that would surely be great for everybody!
Not only at home but at work Shopping parking lots just everywhere people park and set for a bit that is really really a priority,it’s so inexpensive to install and saves everybody time in the long run and money.
The odd and even license plate restriction had a side effect. Some people bought a junker car that when registered,. possibly got the opposite license plate (if your main car had an even number, you tried to get an odd plate for the junker)
I'm all for this. Most likely tailored around locations far from charging deserts. But a 10 minute grace period? I'd prefer 5 minutes and triple idle fees. Still cheaper than a tow, but would heavily incentivize the juice and go mindset. The ideal solution would be to surge the pricing automatically above 80%. But I suspect software and free charging purchase contracts would interfere here.
I think this is a good thing. I have a 115 mile i3 and I still avoid charging past 85%. The road trip point isn't valid either because it is much faster to make 2 stops at 80% than one at 100%.
14:40 actually free charging is great for those living in apartments and all who cant set up home charging. I think having a limit on some urban chargers is a good idea
I like the idea of charging a premium for charging above 85% and charging above 85% would be exempt from free plans. That way it's still possible to charge above 85%, will still encouraging people to unplug at 85%.
1. Currently this a small pilot test. 2. When and if it is implemented on a more widespread basis, it will likely be limited to locations routinely experiencing congestion issues or be dynamically initiated whenever a location is at capacity.
I seldom dcfc but when I do I never charge over 80% and usually only charge enough to get to my destination. Btw, my Bolt doesn’t spend any more time at a dcfc than say an f150:Lightning. I am getting really tired of the anti bolt folks out there ragging on Bolts Its not the speed an ev charges at but the time one spends at a charger that is important.
Our 2021 awd id4 is good for maybe 200 miles on the highway in the warmer months following a semi! In the winter it is drastically reduced. I get the sentiment but it might cause some to fail in reaching their destination.
I have a 2021 RWD ID4. Just drove 230 miles, from VA to Western PA(up elevation). Still had 7%, or 30 miles left. I am sure your AWD is not that less efficient, unless you are driving 80-85 mph.
@@gregpochet4812 it all depends on the temp and the wind. To get to K. C. From omaha (200 miles) takes careful consideration of those 2 things. We have literally run it in the winter with heat off and having a blanket covering us!
The idle fee clock should start as soon as someone is charging above 85%. Stopping the session there just means less energy delivered and sold. If someone wants to unplug and replug every 9 minutes to reach 100% without idle fees, that's probably OK if that's what they really want. EA and others should also have a button in the app for people to say "I want to charge but working compatible chargers are occupied." This could help them understand demand better and maybe even have a dynamic system of enforcing limits.
You have to cut the free charging off at 80 or 85%. Charge them a rate that goes by minute after that. For other users, charge normal rate to 80-85% and then start charging a by minute rate after that. You will see a lot of people who are charging to 100% and dont need it will start filtering off. OF COURSE we need better infrastructure but that will take time. They could implement these changes today.
I hope out of spec can answer this. When a charge plan is provided at new car purchase, is this an incentive that has increased the cost of the car? In that case, is saying free charging really appropriate? In any case folks need to follow the plan terms and not double dip. I think providing 1 full charge bypass a week or 2-3 per month on any EA plan would be a way to support road tripping. Lastly, in app queuing would do a lot.
The real solution is car design: allow quick-enough charging all the way to 100% Like my phone or watch or flashlight. And then market that feature as much as "range".
They could have premium per-minute rates kick in once the charge is past 80%. If you really need to charge more to get your destination, you can, but 99% of people will unplug and move on to avoid the price penalty. Also, free charging needs to stop at 80%. If an ID.4 owner wants to charge to 100%, they also pay the premium per-minute rates.
Yeah, I think anyplace that is really dedicated to DC Fast Charging should have limits are excess charging, or at least an override to make it to specific stations afterwards that can be back fed into the system. Add to this, adding a mix of LVL 2 (w/ maybe 12kW) and low rate DC 25-50kW and having 3hr limits, and idling fees for if you've reached 100% and not moving it. Make people use there brains a little bit. If they're going to spend 3hrs in the Movie theatre and are going to be sitting there sucking up a station, and didn't grab that 12kW system that they could have gotten 36kWh, when 50kWh would have topped their 78kWh battery to the top because they were sitting on 28kWh of charge (and would have been at 64kW on that LVL2 after that 3hrs) and had 80% charge, then yeah, they should be penalized for hogging that charger for 3hrs when the needed 1hr, and you could have gotten 2 more customers through. But more importantly don't just incentivize them, instead incentivize them. Make that 150kW+ station be at $0.45/kWh, that 50kWh station be at $0.30/kWh and that LVL 2 be at $0.20/kWh (price grading will differ based on local rates.) But push for the higher speed LVL2 pay to charge, and push for having higher performance LVL2 charging systems in BEVs mandatory (maybe graded on size of the battery 9kW for 50kWh or less batter, 12kW for up to 80kWh, 19kW for larger battery systems.) While there isn't a one size fits all, there are potential solutions. Start mandating that new Apartment complexes 1.) provide 5% of parking spaces with EV charging access. 2.) Have parking prewired to support 20% of parking spaces. No idling fees from 10pm-8am, but start idling fees after 8am. Incentivize with pricing when grid usage is low (typically overnight.) Add EV parking compliance similar to ADA for office buildings.
It's worth pointing out that those people who would have charged to 100% will now have to visit the charging station more often so the congestion reduction may not be as great as some think.
The biggest behavior change for a new EV driver is changing from gassing up to full when you stop to fuel your car. Changing routines and getting used to new ones like leaving the car’s energy half full or adding power at home or level 2 destination chargers can be very difficult.
Going forward, Chargers Providers with 150/350 kw stations should consider installing a separate bank of low-kw” finishing” chargers that, during congested times, are dedicated for top-off duties for those who already did an 85% fast-charge at their station and need that extra capacity.
I elected for fast charging and nice features over range. I rarely charge above 80%, much less 85%, but if I’m facing a charging desert on a road trip I may NEED to full charge. I can get close to 200 miles with 85%, but EA CCS stations are not that closely spaced in some places.
One note - If EA would open the La Jolla UTC station (which has been sitting idle for 16 months) that would go a LONG way to easing pressure in the area!!!
I'm not opposed, but I'd rather see something where it's limited to certain dispensers. 50% or 75% of the dispensers limited to 85% charging, or something. I would think this would be a huge barrier to lower capacity/range EVs (whether small battery or towing/payload). I suppose where they are rolling this out currently, it's not so bad, but if it went nation wide it would be a more significant issue.
More, but slower DCFCs are required! If each EA station consisted of 2 x 350kw, 2 x 150kw, and 8 x 50kw dispensers it would greatly expand access to fast charging and drivers who need to charge to 100% could simply switch to a 50kw DCF charger. Also drivers who want to eat or shop and charge would probably use the slower DCFCs if they were a bit cheaper per Kw.
I own an Ioniq 5 and get free charging for 1/2 hour for two years. While I take advantage of this on long trips. I never use it while near my house. I DO CHARGE FOR THE FULL HALF HOUR on trips. But if there is a line. I leave with just enough power to get to my next charger. Whatever happened to common courtesy?
I was just at a charge point with a rental car. There is an Uber driver charging to 100%. The other charger wasn't working he knew I was waiting, I went to one down the street when I first got here but was only getting 20 kilowatt hours so after 20 minutes I figured I would come back and see what he was doing and found him at 75%. He knows it's bad for his battery.... Maybe we do need to have rules to protect people from themselves
I think EA plan is perfect for SoCal since there are a bunch of chargers everywhere so charging to 85% will be able to get you to the next charger. I do think a pricing model might make more sense through in other places. Maybe double the KwH rate from 80-90% and triple from 90%-100% whether you have a charging plan or not. I also think EA should be educating their customers that they are wasting their time by charging past 80%. People still have an ICE mentality that they get a full tank but when you tank takes longer to top off don’t waste your time. It will be more time productive to stop at more chargers for a shorter amount of time. People seem to have a tough time understanding that.
As long as they monitor that if you have filled up previously 200+ miles away within 24 hours, they recognise you are on a road trip and may need more. 😎😇
Charging speeds when you reach 85% are really slow. If this forces people to leave and therefore free up a charging station for someone waiting, this is a good move. They should code in some logic that you can charge more than 85% if all stations are not being used. For example, if I roll up at 3am, why not let me charge to 100%?
What about people who can't charge at home (e.g. they live in an apartment) who have an EV with an LFP battery that needs to be charged to 100% once a week? LFP is probably the wrong battery for anyone who can't charge at home, but the fact is that many of the least expensive EV models use LFP so people are going to buy them even if they can't charge at home. What are they supposed to do if public chargers won't allow them to charge to 100%, but their car requires them to charge to 100% once a week?
I think their idea for this pilot is fine, they specifically said that they chose stations that had alternative stations near them that did not have this restriction so that people who needed more than an 85% charge could easily find an alternative station. I do not believe they would ever be doing this along freeways for long distance travel. An alternative would be to have variable fees for going past 85%, but the issue with that is the free charging plans. A future idea for EA is to change their free charging policy to only be free up to 85% or such, this would then get many people to move on. I also have the free charging plan for my Porsche Taycan But it’s quite unfrequent that I ever go past 85%. Though even if I do that car charges quite well to 95%.😊
The biggest problem is there not enough chargers period. In theory a hard limit would solve some of these people from clogging the chargers until they hit 100% But there are some justifiable reason to charge to 100%. And I see this pushing away more EV buyers than helping. And as for charging more money the longer you charge sucks too. DC fast charging is already too high. If you could charge your vehicle as fast as an ICE, and you had more than enough chargers then maybe you could get away with that. But you can't and we don't, so if you can't be on par or better then you can't justify charging more for a service.
The effect of this is just going to be to discourage more people from becoming first-time EV buyers. Buyers are also going to want bigger and more expensive batteries to combat the 85% rule on the rare occasion they need to charge more than 85%. We already know most people buy more car than they need on a day-to-day basis “just in case.” Even if this program remains limited, the publicity from it could damage adoption for a while. Personally, I’m much more in favor of just jacking up the rate after 85%. If people want to charge to 100%, let them. The real problem is that EA and everyone else need to build more charging locations. We’ll see how this plays out. I do, however, think idle fees should kick in in much less than 10 minutes. Five minutes seems more than generous.
Electrify America has a lot more problems than this. If they fixed those 100% charging wouldn’t be a problem. Maybe some places but I’ve never had a problem. a couple times people doing it were only doing so because their next DCFC was too far or if someone was doing it arbitrarily they stopped with a friendly request.
If I'm waiting to 100%, there's a reason. I have better things to do than wait unnecessarily, degrade my battery or hold other people up. Sure give away free charging and have a bunch of broken stations when you don't build enough but blame someone when they occasionally need to charge close to 100% on the road. EA can't get anything right. They over charge paying customers for service. Buy $11 of electricity and get charged $20 on your account. I have no faith that they will implement a system that is congestion based on how long they have allowed idle and free charging. They don't even know when their stations are broken. I have a better idea. Build more working stations where there is congestion and provide station telemetry to vehicle navs so they know if they are headed to a bad station.
I have mixed feelings about that 85 % limit. Yes, it might help to stop people from unnecessarily top charging their EVs, but it also prevents people from top charging if they absolutely have to, as you mentioned. I am not only talking about Polestar 2 or Bolt owners, but more like old cars such as Kyle´s Leaf. Some of these cars can just barely make it to the next charger if they are charged to 100 %. A better idea to give people an incentive not to top charge if it is not needed, could be an extra time based fee. If that fee would be higher for the 350 kW chargers than for the 175 kW chargers, that could even solve the issue that some people use the 350 even if their car only takes less than 175 kW peak. It doesn´t even need to be a high time based premium, but just a few cents per min. could be enough to at least make people think about wether they really need to go to a higher SoC or not. It would even incentify to go for a lower charge target than 85 % if that is enough for people to get around. Another thing is that, I think we can all agree on this, EA needs to stop giving people free unlimited charging plans for their new EVs asap. They maneuvered themselves into that issue by offering this much free electricity and they continued doing that even after Out of Spec and many others made them aware of what would happen if they continue on that path. That leaves me speechless.
Hey Maxx, try not to dig too hard on the drivers of Volkswagen ID.4s. I have a free charging plan and rarely use DC fast charging so you know relax buddy. I know we all can’t be the perfect EV drivers like you but you know we’re trying
EVs should go from -33% to 133%, so when you're at 100% you're really at 80% and you actually have to go to 133% to get to 100%., and when it says 0% you are really at 20%, and you have to go down to -33% to get to real 0%. That would only work if battery capacities were much higher though.
All we need is more charging stations! I have my ID4 for 26 months and virtually no additional chargers being put in place. Nothing is happening…. Talks only … no actions … 8 chargers between Palm Springs and Phoenix? ….. Really?
I just want to point out that the three years of free charging at EA with a VW is only for 30 minutes. At 31 minutes you are paying for the charging. I have put over 16,000 miles on my ID.4 in the last year and I only went over 30 minutes once because I was going through a charging desert. That was last summer and this summer EA added a couple new locations that filled that gap. While I do usually charge my car at home because of convenience, there are EA stations at several grocery stores that I shop at and being retired I can get a 20 minute charge bump while shopping while everyone else is at work and the chargers are empty. I hate afternoon traffic in my area so I avoid being out when those stations are being used.
I forgot to mention my 2023 ID.4 can easily get from 10% to 70+% in 20-30 minutes. Sometimes it can get to 85% depending on the charger and the charge I start with. My VW has the LG pack and max charging is 140kW while most US made cars have the SK pack that can go to 170kW. However I have rolled in with 13% and hit 166kW for a few minutes a couple times. My car loses its mind if I arrive at less than 20% and starts rerouting me to terrible charging choices and since I live in the west, not any closer than my original choice. I distract myself from my point that the car will often get to 80ish% in under 30 minutes whether you plug in at 10%, or 13%, or 20%, so there is no need to wait the additional 30 minutes or so to get from 80% to 100% because there is likely to be another charger and almost certainly you can charge to 80% twice, faster than once to 100%
Tesla has a 5 minute grace period. AE implemented a 10 minute grace period, which is too long IMO. 5 minutes is reasonable to get people moving. Also, Tesla sends you notifications your charging session is about to end and you may incur idle fees if you don’t move your vehicle soon.
