The Average EV Podcast Episode 1 - Chevy Bolts, Stop Hogging the Fastest Chargers!!! 

It is quite irritating on the other side of the token also. As a former Bolt driver I would roll into a charger and one of the chargers is down at a 2 charger Chargepoint shared site. There would be someone there charging on the only working charger. So while waiting I would plug into a L2 charger at the site while waiting for my turn. Then as soon as a charger opens I would pull into the charger and start charging. At these slow chargers it can be a while before you will get your turn to charge. Someone inevitably rolls in behind me and they also try to activate the second charger which is not working, and then come over and want to know how long I was going to be. At this point I have at least 20 more minutes before I can move on down the road. They roll their eyes and get really aggravated with me and questioning why I am charging so long... "Can't you get down the road to another charger"? OMG I don't want to be there any longer than I need to be, and I am not doing a 100% charge. I get the charge I need to move down the road. People get really pissed off at slow charging EV's. Worse yet these are slow charging sites to begin with. You roll into a Chargepoint site with a large battery inefficient EV and you are going to be sitting there about as long as that Bolt driver, so give it a rest. Take a chill pill. I have been blocked more than once by slow charging EV's that are doing 100% charges during the holidays and it really is BAD because you don't have any options other than keep a big enough buffer and try to limp to the next charger you can find or sit there for an hour or more waiting your turn. My routes typically take me through rural areas and these chargers are like an oasis in the desert even though they are slow chargers. People need to be patient, but people need to learn some valuable EV etiquette as well. We have very limited resources in these places and we need to do our best to try and help each other out. Education and patience is required. If we could get the message to EV owners to not charge to 100% and learn how to charger hop on your route they will actually save a lot of time by doing that. I don't think enough EV owners understand the charging curve and how to best make use of their time and ability to get down the road. And yes, absolutely teach people that if they have a car that can only charge at X speed to only use the charger that can provide that speed unless there isn't another charger available. I don't think enough EV owners understand how this works yet.

Good info, and thank you for your continued work at being a EV beta tester for the rest of us. We still have a long way to go, one plug type, more stations, and faster charging is sadly needed.

Kudos to you for dressing the two biggest culprits right out of the gate . That they are simply using the first charger that was available when they arrived or that they are ignorant of the rate limit their particular vehicle has.

Great first episode, congrats on launching! As someone who moved from a Bolt EV to an IONIQ 5, I nonetheless defend Bolt drivers on this one for two reasons: 1) The benefit of a 350kW charger to a 150kW is vastly overstated by many EGMP owners. The 350s only hit 230-240kW for a few minutes in our typical 18-25 minute charge sessions, while the 150s overperform their spec plates to hit around 170-180kW. In reality, the difference is three minutes extra for an EV6 or IONIQ 5 at most. 2) The "blame", such as it is, really lies with the charging provider and how they set up the site. Power distribution should go to the appropriate stall so that none of this matters (as with a Kempower-style set up). Electrify America is already admitting as much by only installing 350kW labels at new sites but making them "balanced", so this question mark over which stall to take is already being removed for the driver. Anyway, I doubt this will curtail the vilification of Bolts fast charging but I hope next time a critical IONIQ 5 or EV6 driver is on a old style 350kW site and a Taycan, Lucid Air, or Silverado EV rocks up, they'll do the decent thing and get that sluggish 240kW EV off the 350...!

Very nice first podcast. This is one of those problems that we will age out of as early adoption matures into a more robust system. You simply never know why somebody is charging at their particular charger with the current state of the network. Tyler nails it here with the fact that at the mixed speed stations you have no idea what the ground looked like when the driver checked in. If they are chatty sometimes you can find out but often times you will just never know. If they are chatty, sometimes they genuinely don't know the differences and are happy to learn. I have had a few Bolt drivers actually move once they find out. Everybody is happy and then a Lightning at 60% pulls into the 350. 🤷🏼‍♂️

It starts with misinformation by the sales guy. They are clueless, and the result is clueless drivers and wrong chargers. I have a Bolt EUV and a Lyriq and well aware of their capabilities and I don't DCFC very often, but do see the wrongs cars at the wrong chargers. Perhaps the sites need to color code the chargers so a driver can match up their EV with the right powered charger. I agree on the Chargeway app and their color coding system.

I’m glad to see you showed an understanding attitude towards Bolt owners. I have a 2023 ID. 4 and love it, but DC fast charging is way too complicated. And unpredictable. And unreliable. The average EV owner shouldn’t have to know all the in-the-weeds technical issues regarding charging. Even though my ID. 4 can theoretically charge faster than 150, it only does so for a short period of time and only if I have a low SOC. The vast majority of its charging is well below 150. I wish EA would rip out the 350 chargers and replace them with reliable 150 chargers.

what chargers need is a dual cable so you can pull up next to one almost done at malls for example and charger would just switch when done. Airports are worst, people leave for week or two. should be a valet service and you just let them know your return date.

Are you putting the podcast on the common podcast hosts?

A 2024 Chevy equinox level 2 and it is a beautiful car But I'd get better mileage off of a Chevy Camaro LOL

Oh just for the record I am paying $44,500 for my Ev I could have bought a really nice Camaro for that amount of money

I can charge where I please and if the last charger available happens to be a fast charger I am taking it !!!!

Oh yes it cost me about $35 to fill up my 2021 Chevy Malibu 2.0 l turbo and I get 35 well let's be honest between 31 and 35 mi to the gallon on the highway assuming I'm not going over mountains

First there needs to be better identification of charging speed on each stall. If you can’t tell from say 20 feet away site needs better signage. As for EA they are in the process of upgrading sites to use up to 350kw on every stall. In this situation it might be an advantage to share with a bolt as you won’t have much of a speed decrease compared to a 100kw+ cars.

And by the way if you want somebody to promote your channel I am absolutely your Man I have given links to five different salesman all with a specific chain of dealerships So that they know what to tell their customers and be informed themselves thank you for all your hard work 🙂👍

EVs that can get over 200kw, most of them only do so for the first 30%. I've seen RU-vidrs state that will save you about 8-10 mins on a 350 vs a 150. So is 8 -10 mins really worth stressing over or getting into an argument over?

Just ran into the same thing today. I have an ID.4 and I got to the site at 11%. Plugged in to the 350, got to 173kw. Took from 11 to 80 29 minutes. During the charge a Kona arrived and they took the 350 next to me, while the 2 150 were available. During the charging I spoke to her and she said that her sales person said to always use the fastest as it will charge her car faster. I explained the Max that she is able to get. She was unaware and was glad to hear about the speeds. There are many sales people out there that are misinformed. Education is needed. Sorry I really hate Chargeway app and system.

If you're driving a car you plug in wherever you can it doesn't matter what it is as long as it works I prefer gas cars because they're cheaper and safer😊

If two 150kW chargers are in use and two 350kW chargers are open, are you as the Bolt driver supposed to stay in the 150kW charger line or do you dare go to the 350kW charger? I've seen many cases at Volta L2 chargers that Tesla's are pretty much hogging all these chargers at the local shopping center. On the flip side it makes more sense to leave the L2 chargers open for PHEVs and slower charging EV's as the Tesla can go a few miles away and access the Tesla Super Chargers. What happens when the charger police come after you for your Equinox using the 350kW charger? They will assume you belong at the 150kW charger.

Hey to be completely Fair I've only ever owned internal combustion engine cars My first Eevee is a 2024 Chevy equinox that I am paying about $10,000 more than I should be paying for it even with the rebate And I'm here to tell you I have literally logged dozens of hours watching RU-vid videos specifically your videos trying to learn everything I could about my car I only just with this video discovered that my maximum charge rate is 150 KW I also only just discovered that public charging stations overcharged and I'm here to tell you it cost me $44 to completely fill up my proverbial tank when I could have filled up my 2021 Chevy Malibu that gets 35 mi to the gallon it gets better mileage and cost me less so yes thank you so very much I have learned so much from you and yes I have a level 2 charger that I charge at home my average cost is $0.11 per kilowatt hour and in theory I can gas up my electric car for about $14 I am moving up to the level two which gives me a 30 amp charge but yes cross-country travels in an electric car are clearly not worth the effort I would rather take my wife's 2016 Lincoln MKX which gets about 31 mi to the gallon on the highway or my Chevy Malibu 2021 2.0 l turbo that gets 35 mi to the gallon on the highway it's cheaper!? Right now our infrastructure does not support fully electric vehicles I fully recommend everyone that you get either a hybrid or a really good 4 cylinder

One of the positive things about owning the '23 Bolt is that the charging world is my oyster and I'm never disappointed by the charging performace of any fast charger. 50kw, 62.5, 100, 125, 150, 180, or 350kw. It's all the same. I'm still going to need 45 minutes to an hour before I expect to leave

You can also recommend that the 150 is usually a cheaper rate than the 350. As the Tesla network opens up, I think that charger crowding will hopefully get better. But really, the problem is CCS charging stations are not very clear, and not that dependable. With proper signage, you would be able to manage thing better.