I’m On The Quest To Find Reliable EV Chargers! Autel Is Getting Into The DC Fast Charging Business 

Thanks for the detailed review Kyle

Good presentation Mr. Kyle, and thanks John. four words though guys that should scare the hell out of all of us, yet virtually no one ever talks about: Electric grid blackstart capabilty. Here's one paper about this issue: www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiBl-GyvLj8AhWykmoFHWMpCMwQFnoECA0QAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pnnl.gov%2Fmain%2Fpublications%2Fexternal%2Ftechnical_reports%2FPNNL-32773.pdf&usg=AOvVaw08UF249CnG1s5hWDzEi7jo Regards all.

I'm very interested in charging, and I'd love to see more charger reviews covering both hardware, and systems. Reliability is enormously importent, but right up there with it is time to resolution of problems. They covered ease of repair. Awesome, but how about how quickly it is identified that there is a problem, so somebody looks at it? You could start with simple stuff, like 3/4 chargers charge 10 cars, and the 4th, zero, all the way to putting camers so you can see chargers getting blocked, vandalized, or lack of access. The only thing worse than a charger that doesn't work, is one you think will, and doesn't. EV drivers should not have to drive to broken chargers to find out they are broken, or even busy, frankly.

Great interview, Kyle. Thanks! 🙂👍 But please; no more stupid, intrusive apps. It's long past time for users to be able to use their ordinary credit or debit cards to activate and use car chargers. Every other product we buy legally can be bought using one card, so why don't EV charger suppliers get that simple idea into their heads? They might argue that they want to collect and sell user data, but that can still be done easily during the EV handshaking process.. Tesla do that as a routine part of the Supercharging process, for instance. All of these apps, cards and dongles are impeding smooth cash transactions by potential users, and some people are even dissuaded from buying EV's because they choose not to have a smartphone, especially one which is overloaded with a plethora of apps just so they can refill their car battery. I'm one of the millions who choose to use a text and voice-only phone, for low host and convenience, not to mention their very low value to a potential thief, so any app is a no-no for us. Consequently, many EV recharging suppliers do not get our business; we only buy from the ones who let us use a credit or debit card, preferably one of the many which gave RFID today.. It's hands-free, and extremely convenient.

Super guy. More of him: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-lmv1muHt8xQ.html

US has a fair amount of DCFC stations with large touchscreens. And yep, they are all a shitshow. Screens fail all the time, either the monitor burns out or the touch sensor fails.

Agreed - ditch the touch screens, save hundreds of dollars and increase reliability. Who wants to stand out in the freezing cold trying to play a video game on the Autel touchscreen in the depth of winter with no game controller, no chair and bare hands? This is truly misguided thinking by Autel. I'd much rather sit in the comfort of my Tesla and use either my iPhone screen or the center console screen. The most they should need on the charging unit is RFID or a barcode to scan to launch an app on your phone to handle any need for a user interface.

Touch screens don't work in the rain. 😆 (It's just the way this technology works.)

Can agree, we have a few Alfen stations as well. Very well thought out and the available software and features are lightyears ahead of most others. If they would make it to North America, they would rule the large AC deployments in garages or condominium buildings.

Screen costs these days though are getting so cheap. It's also a way to advertise the charger. It works like a billboard. For my home though I want it super simple.

Vandalism was my concern with such a large screen. Whether its graffiti or attempted smashing something e-ink and way smaller I thought would be the solution for the masses.

Yeah. This. Not sure why it has to be any more complicated honestly. I think because it just works so damn well with Tesla, they broke the system we have had for a long that works.

We're getting more and more ev chargers with regular credit/debit card readers in NL and its so nice. I think the dutch government and EU are strongly encouraging it and I dont mind at all.

Ya I see so many chargers vandalized and a giant screen like this is just asking to be smashed. Just a little 10 inch screen with a credit card reader like a gas pump is all you need. Especially with most people having a smartphone to track charging

@@joel89039 you don’t even need a 10” just a few 7 segment displays. Price, dispensed, total. Perhaps speed but my car tells me that. What more do you need? Oh wait Tesla proves you don’t even need that…no part is the best part

@@chinitout as long as every dispenser supports plug and charge I agree but that isnt going to happen on 15 different networks with every car

Agree - there's no reason after watching this video to believe that Autel chargers would fare any better than the unreliable Electify America chargers that he found non-functional in snow a few weeks ago. Also, the salesman comparing his product to 1970's "mainframe" technology did not inspire confidence.

@@ludwigbear He wasn't comparing it to that, he was just talking about the appearance of the unit.

@@ludwigbear Computer mainframes today still have the same form factor but are used in the datacenters that run websites like RU-vid. I didn't think he was comparing the product to 1970s technology.

So weird. I wish Tesla did more PR around their charger tech to educate the public on their superiority.

Because Tesla is "basically" a contactor: you plug it into your car and it (the car) will communicate with Tesla, place a hold on the credit card on file and signal to the charger to close the contactors and begin charging. These other must have all this logic built in them

@@gustavonilson Good answer as far as you went, but why can’t they model the SC using a phone app or with another solution?

It’s simple proven reliable tech, they reused the same engineering as the on board chargers in their chargers. These guys are starting from scratch and are all trying to get an edge, they have to integrate into other peoples platforms causing more points of failure and these displays just add another failure point.

@@edc1569 Starting from scratch? Any of these can be reversed engineered to be nearly exact.

I had the same thought. We don't need bright television screens shining into drivers faces while they charge.

Fully agreed. I don’t know how many different chargers I’ve come to where they’ve been vandalized by someone taking a hammer to the screen or simply spray painted. Frankly, I think the homeless around Seattle vandalize them because they light up things too much and draw too much attention to parking lots. These screens might last a week or two before being decimated. Why don’t these companies focus on more robust, vandal proof stations?? Integrating so much functionality into big, bright screens isn’t smart. At most, they should put a small status light on top of the charger (red, yellow green?) and put in a typical gas pump sized touch screen. with secondary push buttons on the side, that is dimmed until someone activates the charger.

@@steveallwine1443 the Rapid Ride kiosks with giant screens all got defaced and damaged. It was a nice thing while it lasted but the people running Metro are thinking of normal users and not considering anti-social types who don’t let the rest of us have nice things. The Autel people are making the same mistake.

Also redundancy against issues with your phone. I once had my phone brick itself at an Electrify America on me and, of course, the credit card reader didn't work either. Ended up using a passenger's phone to call EA's customer service number to initiate the charge. But, if I didn't have any passengers, things could have gotten very ugly and, of course, my bricked phone would have made it extremely difficult to locate another charger.

and I would assume a huge failure point not to mention a bullseye for vandals. Maybe for malls where they want to run advertisements it's ok but out in the middle of nowhere (along interstates) the dispensers should be as minimal as possible. I just hope these things don't have audio.

@@roberthicks686 I wonder if the industry might be able to standardize on no screen. QR code or NFC for charger.

The power electronics will be fine at +40C. The most vulnerable part is the huge display.

@@marcol869 Well, you're right. I'm talking about charging stations from other companies e.g., EA which some of their chargers remains off for a lot of time.

I'm a PTA mom & we just donated a good chunk to our child's public elementary school to help purchase a digital marquee that will display important messages & dates. The school & community center have level 2 chargers in the parking lots for community access, so there is a non-commercial case for combining the two things.

Must be easier than buying gas. If they figured out how to do this with an incredibly flammable and toxic substance in the 1980s, certainly we can do it today to push a few electrons.

L2 chargers cannot be plug-n-charge unless it's a home unit. The J1772 protocol is too simple to allow for billing, and that's the wagon all cars have hitched to, unfortunately. (But maybe using GPS from the app, it could detect you're there, and then bill you, accordingly.)