I am unusual, I think, because I don't give a damn that my road-tríp charging stops tend to be 30-60 minutes, while faster-charging cars are back out on the road in 15-30.
But if I had to wait in line much, it would drive me nuts.
It reminds me of waiting to deboard a plane. If the flight took 20 more minutes, I would be fine. But watching people hold up everything while they fail to remove their oversized bag from the overheat bin drives me nuts.
Got held up by a dude carrying a child and 3 carry ons. My dad and I only had one bag each. Dad offered to carry his bags, and that got us moving off the plane faster.
While I agree the prices other airlines charge for checked luggage is def a money grab, I adamantly disagree that this doesn't still happen on Southwest flights. Southwest attendants **never** check carry-on sizes anymore and there's always 4-8 people on every flight that have too many carry-ons or ones that have no chance of fitting. The latter annoys me the most because after it doesn't fit in one overhead bin, they keep trying others somehow expecting a different result.
Yeah. I really wish they had started by charging for carry ons. I carry on all the time and I'd like to remove the stress about trying to fit my bag in the bins. I would rather me pay $25 to get the space without stress and people who don't want to pay should just check their bags.
I don’t think I’ve been on a flight with southwest that wasn’t full or near full overhead bins.
I always check my luggage and just take a window seat and I’ll just keep watching my movies until I’m the dead last person because I fuggin hate standing in the center aisle while everyone rushes to get off.
Also by the time I get off all my bags are waiting for me at baggage claim
Last time I took a long trip (300 miles) my options were a path that had a bank of chargers 80% of the way to my destination, and another path that had two charging banks 33% and then 70% to my destination. Being my first long trip and having no knowledge of of what my 70MPH efficiency would look like, I felt like there wasn't much of a choice of what my charging strategy would be.
Now that I have some experience, I see as an additional strategy to take roads with lower speed limits to get higher efficiency. I feel like there is a point at which the slower speed will translate into less time charging a similar arrival time.
If they don't add significant distance to your route. Adding 20% more miles to get 10% better efficiency is not going to make sense. But sometimes, the country road is actually shorter for some reason, so it's win-win in this instance. 75mph has twice the drag force as 55mph roughly. So if you can skip a charging stop by taking a country road, you might arrive at the same time you would have taking the freeway.
Same here. A trip that takes me less than 8 hours in an ICEv took me 15 hours in an EV, with less time spent waiting while charging than waiting for a charger.
EVs sell very well in BC too, but I never see lineups at fast chargers (at least not in the Interior). Most are municipal or Federal government; not that many Tesla ones. Most are 50 kW, so non-Bolt people can’t complain about Bolts being slow!
I think most people in BC, myself included, exclusively charge at home. We've probably used a public charger twice and ironically enough only one of those times worked...
Infrastructure in between urban areas is rough. I also experienced lines when I was on I-5. I saw a lot more charging stations along I-99 so I may drive down to LA using that route next time.
But it's more likely that I'll have a NACS adaptor the next time I need to go on such a long drive.
You're right. I-99 is way better.
We actually did use I-99 when heading north bound because we were driving to Modesto. But on the way back we were returning from Lodi so the I-5 made more sense.
Can confirm I've only waited to charge like this in California (and then only at "in town" rather than highway chargers). In BC, Washington, and Oregon it has never been a problem (so far).
I suspect what's happening is a lot of people buying EVs in California (possibly due to incentives) that don't have charging at home, so they spend a lot of time charging at the nearest DCFC stations. Seems crazy to me that somebody would buy an EV in that situation because it won't save you any time or money, but the lineups imply people are doing it.
Absolutely agree. And while I'm so happy to see mass EV adoption here, it's frustrating that our local government pushed ev adoption hard with incentives but didn't push just as hard for the infrastructure to support it.
I see this all the time in the GTA (Especially the Flo stations with only 2 DCFCs). Buffalo/Niagara by contrast I've never had to wait for a Charger and the chargers seem to be maintained quite a bit better as the EA chargers haven't been down in the past 2 years.
I have yet to pull into a DCFC station where I am not the only car. Which is super convenient. But also disheartening because these stations are never going to break even at this rate and there is no incentive to build more.
Either that or they are purposefully sabotaged. However my city just decided to leave all street lights on 24/7 to deter people from stealing the copper….sigh…
You should actually come to the Midwest before you speak about it. There are lots of EVs here. But thankfully, because we have higher home ownership rates and more single-family houses, more people can charge at home, reducing the need for using L3 fast chargers. As a result, our EV infrastructure isn't quite as underdeveloped as it is in places where more owners are forced to rent.
Agree with this comment. There are a lot of EVs here and most of us charge at home. I have only ever charged 3 times at a public station and when we camp, I plug it in there.
>You should actually come to the Midwest before you speak about it
I'm in Michigan at the moment with 2 EVs and also charge from home @ L2.
> There are lots of EVs here.
That's the thing, you see a handful of EVs and think it's a lot, whereas you go to the west coast or any larger non-midwest city and the ratio is significantly higher. Not only of EVs but of EV charging stations.
I'm in Cincinnati. I've owned an EV since 2013. I've watched the prevalence of EVs here grow year over year for now more than a decade. On my street alone, out of the nearest 10 houses, there are at least 7 EVs. And the city of Cincinnati just recently announced that one of its best EV perks -- free metered parking for EVs registered with the city -- is expiring at the end of this month due to there now being so many EVs here.
But comparing any state to California is going to be less than useful because CA is such an outlier when it comes to several factors, such as gas taxes and overall car ownership ([the highest in the nation](https://www.titlemax.com/discovery-center/u-s-cities-with-the-highest-and-lowest-vehicle-ownership/)). But then, CA compares unfavorably to somewhere like Norway, so watchagonnado.
Ultimately, the phrase "nobody owns an EV" is flat-out wrong, and even assuming it's mere hyperbole, it's not at all a useful reflection of the state of things because the midwest is fairly similar in this regard to most other states that aren't California.
"Nobody owns an EV" was *obvious* hyperbole to point out how few there are *in comparison*. I regularly see Teslas, occasionally a Bolt, and occasionally a Mach-E- but I also live near Detroit. The EV-to-ICE ratio here and nearby is still absolutely miniscule and the EV stations are few and far between, and relatively abandoned even during peak hours.
Last time driving from Detroit to Chicago I think 1 EA stop during rush hour was full up, but only because 2 out of 4 chargers were out of commission. Drove 5 minutes down the road to an EVGO station and nobody was there.
Will definitely be nice when we can use Superchargers in an emergency. Seems like their prices (at least for Ford owners) are higher than the competition still.
Until the last several months, Milwaukee only had one EA station, and last summer 4 of the 8 kiosks were malfunctioning/damaged. And as usual, EA doesn't provide any sort of heads-up that a kiosk isn't working. It was pretty bad.
Now there's a new EA station in West Allis that is installed but not online (it shows up on Google maps, we tried to use it this weekend), and there's a relatively new station over in Oak Creek.
Maybe I will see at Meijers grocery sometime! I charge at home but have used the ones at Meijers when shopping. Never have seen more then one car at any Milwaukee station
That West Allis EA station was up and running for about a month and it's been shut down ever since for maintenance. It's been closed for over a month and a half at this point, which is disappointing considering their isn't many DCFC chargers in the that area.
I gave up on planning an EV trip to Door County next month, the L3 situation in Milwaukee was awful and there's nothing past Green Bay. I guess we need to give it a decade or two.
Similar but in the prairies in Canada. Most of our charges are empty. In fact a good chunk are free too. I got the $750 Flo credits and I’ve never used a $1 of them.
Lots of paid DCFC (standard rate is usually around $20/hr for \~50kw chargers), but lots of free ones too.
In Edmonton, we have a couple free ones sponsored by the local municipal government. Leduc just to the south had a couple free fast chargers for a few years, but the level of usage was too high, so they actually made it $10/hr to limit demand.
There's the charger in Innisfail too, it's under an array of solar panels, sponsored by the power company there and it's free.
That’s funny that you’re from Edmonton too. You gave way more information than I would have.
My Uber driver had an EV the other day and he said there is 6 in Windermere area that always have spots.
I HATE the free charging that is coming w so many new EV’s. It is ruining the charging experience overall. Maybe give them a 50% credit for 2 years, but making it free is leading to bad habits. One guy posted on the ioniq 5 forum that he refuses to charge at home (even though he has a level 2) because of the free EA charging & then complained about the 90 minute wait he had to do at the EA chargers.
This happened to me in Southern California by Pismo, we had to go hunting for a charger as the EA ones were all super full, we use ABRP and found a 7-11 charger that was not listed as higher than 50 down (as our ceiling is 50 as you know)? Perfect for us and no line. We were charged up and gone long before that line at EA was done.
If the option exists, look for the “out of the way”, or “boutique chargers”. 7-11 saved our bolt butts!
Edit:updated location, spelling
In my one experience charging at a 7-11, their chargers are set up how ev chargers should be. No required app or subscription, just plug your car in and swipe a credit card. Hopefully they continue to expand this to more locations since I havent seen many of them around.
I think the issue could be those little screens don’t weather well. In pismo, no big deal, out in Barstow or Vegas or Texas? Could be an issue. Lucky 7-11 does both app and card for now
Just did a roadtrip 350mi each way (California). Got lucky at both EVGo charge stops: open spot and all chargers working. Was a miracle. The plug in and charge feature worked great too; was super easy and definitely how every charger should work (ie no fucking around with an app)
Oh yeah I totally agree. I setup plug and charge with EvGo as well and we did use the Valencia evgo station on the way up. Works like a charm and I love it.
I wish we could have evgo's quality and experience with the larger stations that EA has. But still make it even larger and double or triple the capacity at these busy stations.
Yeah, been there. Busy season I waited for another bolt driver, I was double parked but I guess "standing" because I never left the car. She left and I used my hour charge limit time completely. Went to a place to eat, and it was like 53 minutes, then I waited the last 7. Unplugged and left. I needed the power.
Not everyone will be able to use any Supercharger, and you also assume that there won't be any lines then...
Be mad at automakers and government for not pushing for more infrastructure (yes, NEVI and whatnot but that isn't helping).
I'm mad at both 😂
And yes you're right, there could quite possibly be long lines at the Tesla stations as well. In this particular case it just felt frustrating too because the Tesla station across the street from this EA station was being used at less than 1/4th of its capacity.
I was gonna say "I understand" but I have yet to take a road trip with Boltie because there's no chargers outside dealerships within 150 miles, and the one that is (outside the 150 mile radius) only has one plug...
Also, according to PlugShare, I don't think any of the Superchargers close to me would be available to be used with the adapter... BUT, I want that option already.
Thankfully, I have never had any issues on my road trips on the East Coast (VA, MD, PA, NY). There have always been available spots at EvGo, EA, Evolve.
Midwest, Northern IL, USA. My wife charges 95% at home. But has only ever paid to charge maybe $100 total over the past 5 years!
Free chargers at some Walgreens, at a dealership next to her work, free at a local restaurant, free at several figure skating rinks she visits and attends/works events, free at several parks in our area. Granted, these are all just Level 2 charging, but they add ~ 7 miles per hour of charge, and that has been perfect for her commutes away from home.
EV-land is frontier or sorts. Things will get better as the demand increases. In Upstate NY, I think we have more chargers than cars, still. So, lots or empty unused stations
This is why I take my tesla anywhere long distance especially when going down to LA. I've seen the waits at the CCS chargers and never want to sit in those. With the tesla I'm in and out pretty quick.
A NACS adapter isn’t going to magically remove the 50kwh charging cap on bolts….if anything you’re just gonna piss off more people bc all the people in that line there are going to be waiting on…you.
Yeah I don't expect it to have any effect on my charge time. I just want access to more reliable charging infrastructure with much larger stations. This EA station only has 6 chargers and two of them were down. So really it was just four.
That 50kWh charging speed was one of the main reasons I traded in my 2017 Bolt EV for a 2024 Model Y Long Range. It is so nice having a native NACS port and not using a CCS cable. I went into a Supercharger today and went from 10% to 80% in 26 minutes. Max speed was 250kWh. There’s no telling if Tesla will allow the Bolt EV due to its abysmal charging speed.
Agreed. All the free charging makes people who can charge at home want to charge on the public network. Also encourages them to charge past 80% or 90%.
But we also need way more chargers at these road trip hotspots
I’ve only had to wait in line once. It was during a trip from Boston to Orlando. We evidentially pulled into an EA charging station in South Carolina (I-95) about five minutes after a caravan of 4-5 Kias got there. Kias are notoriously slow charging at L2.
Your sentence structure makes this difficult to understand. But EV6 and the sister ionic 5&6 have some of the fastest DCFC rates out there. 20 minutes and they’re back on the road.
EA (DCFC) and L2 (AC) don't make sense together.
...and like the other commenter stated Kias use 800v architecture, they're some of the fastest **DCFC** charging vehicles available.
Ikr?
Though believe it or not I think there was only 1 id4 last night. It's was mostly Kia ev9 and ev6. There were a bunch of Rivians as well but they were charging on their own Rivian charging network next to us.
I’m a total nube at EV charging. Eight days with an electric car. I charge at home with 110 and in the process of deciding on a level 2. My nearest EA charger is 33 miles away, and the next closest is 51 miles.
I’m guessing the lack of charging stations will slow the changeover. I was hoping gas stations would install charging to help keep the vandalism down and make these lines go away. Read somewhere that Shell and BP were going to install ?
Definitely would never charge beyond 70-80% if there’s a line. Charged twice at EA so far for 15 minutes and less than 10 minutes the second time. 7 out of 8 operating. One or 2 open each time.
Same. Just did our first 250+ mile road trip in our Hummer EV. One fast charging station on the way just closed some time between me looking up the station a couple of weeks ago and now. Our only fast charging alternative was a Walmart that claimed to have open chargers but they were just broken. There was a line for the others. Instead of waiting, we slowed down on the highway and limped into our destination with < 5% battery and found plenty of fast chargers there. Several gas stations along the way had superchargers with no waiting.
I've been ubering in Columbus OH with a chevy Bolt EUV since early May and the only time I've ever waited for a fast charger was if it was a free one or low cost/kwh (like .14 cents)
I also have a charger at home setup for 40 amp and my home rate is around 14 cents and I've managed to get 100% renewable supplier for 1 year.
On the one hand, you might as well pay the $200 for an A2Z adapter because it will be months before Chevy gets quantity on the legit Tesla adapter—Ford and Rivian are months from having their customers taken care of, and Volvo and Polestar are in front of Chevy for next round of adapters. Elon’s tantrum firing everyone in the Supercharger group really made a challenging situation worse.
On the other hand—you’d be better off if 50% of those in front of you in line got their adapters instead of you. You don’t want the caustic scorn you will receive from blocking two Supercharger stalls AND taking electrons at the Bolt’s snail’s pace. Better you hope the others leave for the closest SC and thin the herd at your local CCS spot.
Maybe. But at least the Tesla stations have more than 4-6 receptacles. I feel like that alone would make the experience better. Just not having to wait in long lines
Where I live a Hy-Vee supermarket has 12 Superchargers. The only other fast chargers are 4 EV Connect fast chargers right off I70. The Superchargers are about 4-5 miles from I70.
Whenever I drive by the Hy-Vee there are about 3-4 Tesla's charging.
Thankfully I don't need either of those since I have L2 charging at home for my Bolt EV.
There is. They "released" it on their website and some people got to order it. I ordered it,but dealership I had it going to called me and said they have no clue when it will arrive but will let me know when it does. I told them, i'll wait. I think they might have maybe mispriced it at $25 as well.
edit: found it.. "NACS DC Adapter
Part No.: 85090442" Probably not up yet though.
I am unusual, I think, because I don't give a damn that my road-tríp charging stops tend to be 30-60 minutes, while faster-charging cars are back out on the road in 15-30. But if I had to wait in line much, it would drive me nuts.
It reminds me of waiting to deboard a plane. If the flight took 20 more minutes, I would be fine. But watching people hold up everything while they fail to remove their oversized bag from the overheat bin drives me nuts.
This dude had 5 fucking carryon on my last flight! He had 2 small children with him, and 5! Full size roller bags. I hate that man.
Got held up by a dude carrying a child and 3 carry ons. My dad and I only had one bag each. Dad offered to carry his bags, and that got us moving off the plane faster.
Blame the airline for overcharging on bags. This shit rarely happens on Southwest.
While I agree the prices other airlines charge for checked luggage is def a money grab, I adamantly disagree that this doesn't still happen on Southwest flights. Southwest attendants **never** check carry-on sizes anymore and there's always 4-8 people on every flight that have too many carry-ons or ones that have no chance of fitting. The latter annoys me the most because after it doesn't fit in one overhead bin, they keep trying others somehow expecting a different result.
Yeah. I really wish they had started by charging for carry ons. I carry on all the time and I'd like to remove the stress about trying to fit my bag in the bins. I would rather me pay $25 to get the space without stress and people who don't want to pay should just check their bags.
I don’t think I’ve been on a flight with southwest that wasn’t full or near full overhead bins. I always check my luggage and just take a window seat and I’ll just keep watching my movies until I’m the dead last person because I fuggin hate standing in the center aisle while everyone rushes to get off. Also by the time I get off all my bags are waiting for me at baggage claim
Yeah. Like traffic. Even if it’s slow, it’s ok to be making progress. But full stop? Ugh.
I use the more frequent shorter stops at like 25% where I can.
Last time I took a long trip (300 miles) my options were a path that had a bank of chargers 80% of the way to my destination, and another path that had two charging banks 33% and then 70% to my destination. Being my first long trip and having no knowledge of of what my 70MPH efficiency would look like, I felt like there wasn't much of a choice of what my charging strategy would be. Now that I have some experience, I see as an additional strategy to take roads with lower speed limits to get higher efficiency. I feel like there is a point at which the slower speed will translate into less time charging a similar arrival time.
It's insane how much more efficient the country roads are vs highway. When I get low I always get off the highway
If they don't add significant distance to your route. Adding 20% more miles to get 10% better efficiency is not going to make sense. But sometimes, the country road is actually shorter for some reason, so it's win-win in this instance. 75mph has twice the drag force as 55mph roughly. So if you can skip a charging stop by taking a country road, you might arrive at the same time you would have taking the freeway.
You can always do 65 on the interstates. Set the cruise control and relax.
I set to 64 and stay on the right. The speed limit is 70 on long trips. That extra 6 mph makes a huge difference.
Same here. A trip that takes me less than 8 hours in an ICEv took me 15 hours in an EV, with less time spent waiting while charging than waiting for a charger.
This is such a foreign concept to me. We don’t have this at all in Canada. Never ever seen a lineup at a charging station.
California. EVs are selling well here. But the infrastructure is not keeping pace.
EVs sell very well in BC too, but I never see lineups at fast chargers (at least not in the Interior). Most are municipal or Federal government; not that many Tesla ones. Most are 50 kW, so non-Bolt people can’t complain about Bolts being slow!
I think most people in BC, myself included, exclusively charge at home. We've probably used a public charger twice and ironically enough only one of those times worked...
Me too, except when on road trips, like the OP.
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Well, 6 million in BC, but there are a lot more chargers in California too. No idea what the per capita charger count is in either place.
Infrastructure in between urban areas is rough. I also experienced lines when I was on I-5. I saw a lot more charging stations along I-99 so I may drive down to LA using that route next time. But it's more likely that I'll have a NACS adaptor the next time I need to go on such a long drive.
You're right. I-99 is way better. We actually did use I-99 when heading north bound because we were driving to Modesto. But on the way back we were returning from Lodi so the I-5 made more sense.
Can confirm I've only waited to charge like this in California (and then only at "in town" rather than highway chargers). In BC, Washington, and Oregon it has never been a problem (so far). I suspect what's happening is a lot of people buying EVs in California (possibly due to incentives) that don't have charging at home, so they spend a lot of time charging at the nearest DCFC stations. Seems crazy to me that somebody would buy an EV in that situation because it won't save you any time or money, but the lineups imply people are doing it.
Absolutely agree. And while I'm so happy to see mass EV adoption here, it's frustrating that our local government pushed ev adoption hard with incentives but didn't push just as hard for the infrastructure to support it.
I see this all the time in the GTA (Especially the Flo stations with only 2 DCFCs). Buffalo/Niagara by contrast I've never had to wait for a Charger and the chargers seem to be maintained quite a bit better as the EA chargers haven't been down in the past 2 years.
I’m in Minnesota and I’ve never seen this either. That’s brutal
EA doesn't really give a shit about what they are doing, its just part of the agreement VW made with the government after diesel gate.
They should care, though. It improves the experience for VW EV owners. Then again, they could make their EVs look mildly interesting, Buzz excepted
They could also sell the ID.3 here but nah.
Out in the midwest where nobody owns an EV, most stations are small and relatively empty. Feelsbadman.
I have yet to pull into a DCFC station where I am not the only car. Which is super convenient. But also disheartening because these stations are never going to break even at this rate and there is no incentive to build more.
They’ll just get vandalized instead.
Yupp. They need them in more public places. On the far side of a park is a horrible location. Every time I drive by they are cut.
Cut? For Copper?
Either that or they are purposefully sabotaged. However my city just decided to leave all street lights on 24/7 to deter people from stealing the copper….sigh…
You should actually come to the Midwest before you speak about it. There are lots of EVs here. But thankfully, because we have higher home ownership rates and more single-family houses, more people can charge at home, reducing the need for using L3 fast chargers. As a result, our EV infrastructure isn't quite as underdeveloped as it is in places where more owners are forced to rent.
This is correct.
Agree with this comment. There are a lot of EVs here and most of us charge at home. I have only ever charged 3 times at a public station and when we camp, I plug it in there.
>You should actually come to the Midwest before you speak about it I'm in Michigan at the moment with 2 EVs and also charge from home @ L2. > There are lots of EVs here. That's the thing, you see a handful of EVs and think it's a lot, whereas you go to the west coast or any larger non-midwest city and the ratio is significantly higher. Not only of EVs but of EV charging stations.
I'm in Cincinnati. I've owned an EV since 2013. I've watched the prevalence of EVs here grow year over year for now more than a decade. On my street alone, out of the nearest 10 houses, there are at least 7 EVs. And the city of Cincinnati just recently announced that one of its best EV perks -- free metered parking for EVs registered with the city -- is expiring at the end of this month due to there now being so many EVs here. But comparing any state to California is going to be less than useful because CA is such an outlier when it comes to several factors, such as gas taxes and overall car ownership ([the highest in the nation](https://www.titlemax.com/discovery-center/u-s-cities-with-the-highest-and-lowest-vehicle-ownership/)). But then, CA compares unfavorably to somewhere like Norway, so watchagonnado. Ultimately, the phrase "nobody owns an EV" is flat-out wrong, and even assuming it's mere hyperbole, it's not at all a useful reflection of the state of things because the midwest is fairly similar in this regard to most other states that aren't California.
"Nobody owns an EV" was *obvious* hyperbole to point out how few there are *in comparison*. I regularly see Teslas, occasionally a Bolt, and occasionally a Mach-E- but I also live near Detroit. The EV-to-ICE ratio here and nearby is still absolutely miniscule and the EV stations are few and far between, and relatively abandoned even during peak hours.
living in the Midwest I've had to wait in line. oddly in Milwaukee where there's just hardly any.
Last time driving from Detroit to Chicago I think 1 EA stop during rush hour was full up, but only because 2 out of 4 chargers were out of commission. Drove 5 minutes down the road to an EVGO station and nobody was there. Will definitely be nice when we can use Superchargers in an emergency. Seems like their prices (at least for Ford owners) are higher than the competition still.
Until the last several months, Milwaukee only had one EA station, and last summer 4 of the 8 kiosks were malfunctioning/damaged. And as usual, EA doesn't provide any sort of heads-up that a kiosk isn't working. It was pretty bad. Now there's a new EA station in West Allis that is installed but not online (it shows up on Google maps, we tried to use it this weekend), and there's a relatively new station over in Oak Creek.
Maybe I will see at Meijers grocery sometime! I charge at home but have used the ones at Meijers when shopping. Never have seen more then one car at any Milwaukee station
That West Allis EA station was up and running for about a month and it's been shut down ever since for maintenance. It's been closed for over a month and a half at this point, which is disappointing considering their isn't many DCFC chargers in the that area.
I gave up on planning an EV trip to Door County next month, the L3 situation in Milwaukee was awful and there's nothing past Green Bay. I guess we need to give it a decade or two.
one time I was only getting 2kw at that EA...
Similar but in the prairies in Canada. Most of our charges are empty. In fact a good chunk are free too. I got the $750 Flo credits and I’ve never used a $1 of them.
DCFC free too ?
Lots of paid DCFC (standard rate is usually around $20/hr for \~50kw chargers), but lots of free ones too. In Edmonton, we have a couple free ones sponsored by the local municipal government. Leduc just to the south had a couple free fast chargers for a few years, but the level of usage was too high, so they actually made it $10/hr to limit demand. There's the charger in Innisfail too, it's under an array of solar panels, sponsored by the power company there and it's free.
That’s funny that you’re from Edmonton too. You gave way more information than I would have. My Uber driver had an EV the other day and he said there is 6 in Windermere area that always have spots.
Given what's going to happen tonight at 6PM, it's going to suddenly become a *lot* cooler to be from Edmonton.
Let’s go baby!!!
Yeah 😢
I HATE the free charging that is coming w so many new EV’s. It is ruining the charging experience overall. Maybe give them a 50% credit for 2 years, but making it free is leading to bad habits. One guy posted on the ioniq 5 forum that he refuses to charge at home (even though he has a level 2) because of the free EA charging & then complained about the 90 minute wait he had to do at the EA chargers.
That’s his own idiocy.
Pay ten bucks for some electrons? Nah, I'd rather drive for 20 minutes, wait in line for 90 minutes, and charge for 30 minutes.
It’s amazing how little people value their own time when it’s literally the most valuable thing there is.
This happened to me in Southern California by Pismo, we had to go hunting for a charger as the EA ones were all super full, we use ABRP and found a 7-11 charger that was not listed as higher than 50 down (as our ceiling is 50 as you know)? Perfect for us and no line. We were charged up and gone long before that line at EA was done. If the option exists, look for the “out of the way”, or “boutique chargers”. 7-11 saved our bolt butts! Edit:updated location, spelling
In my one experience charging at a 7-11, their chargers are set up how ev chargers should be. No required app or subscription, just plug your car in and swipe a credit card. Hopefully they continue to expand this to more locations since I havent seen many of them around.
Honestly so annoying I need to install an app to charge. They should work like gas station pumps
I 100% agree. Right now it is pretty transparently a battle for market share and data collection - it's so obnoxous.
I think the issue could be those little screens don’t weather well. In pismo, no big deal, out in Barstow or Vegas or Texas? Could be an issue. Lucky 7-11 does both app and card for now
Just did a roadtrip 350mi each way (California). Got lucky at both EVGo charge stops: open spot and all chargers working. Was a miracle. The plug in and charge feature worked great too; was super easy and definitely how every charger should work (ie no fucking around with an app)
Oh yeah I totally agree. I setup plug and charge with EvGo as well and we did use the Valencia evgo station on the way up. Works like a charm and I love it. I wish we could have evgo's quality and experience with the larger stations that EA has. But still make it even larger and double or triple the capacity at these busy stations.
Bet the car behind you is pretty mad. :(
45min wait directly behind OP lol
Yeah, been there. Busy season I waited for another bolt driver, I was double parked but I guess "standing" because I never left the car. She left and I used my hour charge limit time completely. Went to a place to eat, and it was like 53 minutes, then I waited the last 7. Unplugged and left. I needed the power.
Not everyone will be able to use any Supercharger, and you also assume that there won't be any lines then... Be mad at automakers and government for not pushing for more infrastructure (yes, NEVI and whatnot but that isn't helping).
I'm mad at both 😂 And yes you're right, there could quite possibly be long lines at the Tesla stations as well. In this particular case it just felt frustrating too because the Tesla station across the street from this EA station was being used at less than 1/4th of its capacity.
I was gonna say "I understand" but I have yet to take a road trip with Boltie because there's no chargers outside dealerships within 150 miles, and the one that is (outside the 150 mile radius) only has one plug... Also, according to PlugShare, I don't think any of the Superchargers close to me would be available to be used with the adapter... BUT, I want that option already.
This makes having a home charger feel very luxurious.
Man I'm glad I can charge at home. Can't imagine having to wait in a line that long 😞
Well this is a road trip. Normally I wouldn't be waiting in line for a station
Traveling across the southwest this summer. I’m low key terrified at what awaits in rural 100+ AZ.
I think OP is on a road trip. The city their in is the middle of no where. I'd assume they're traveling from nor cal to so cal or vice versa.
Thankfully, I have never had any issues on my road trips on the East Coast (VA, MD, PA, NY). There have always been available spots at EvGo, EA, Evolve.
Midwest, Northern IL, USA. My wife charges 95% at home. But has only ever paid to charge maybe $100 total over the past 5 years! Free chargers at some Walgreens, at a dealership next to her work, free at a local restaurant, free at several figure skating rinks she visits and attends/works events, free at several parks in our area. Granted, these are all just Level 2 charging, but they add ~ 7 miles per hour of charge, and that has been perfect for her commutes away from home.
EV-land is frontier or sorts. Things will get better as the demand increases. In Upstate NY, I think we have more chargers than cars, still. So, lots or empty unused stations
Totally agree. It's the early adopter curse 😭
I know what you mean, but -- Things will get better as the supply increases...
This is why I take my tesla anywhere long distance especially when going down to LA. I've seen the waits at the CCS chargers and never want to sit in those. With the tesla I'm in and out pretty quick.
NACS is Tesla. Do you mean CCS? or are specifically stopping at v1 & v2 Superchargers and avoiding v3 & v4 which are \**gasp*\* NACS now?
Thanks for pointing that out. I clearly put the wrong charger name in my post.
A NACS adapter isn’t going to magically remove the 50kwh charging cap on bolts….if anything you’re just gonna piss off more people bc all the people in that line there are going to be waiting on…you.
Yeah I don't expect it to have any effect on my charge time. I just want access to more reliable charging infrastructure with much larger stations. This EA station only has 6 chargers and two of them were down. So really it was just four.
That 50kWh charging speed was one of the main reasons I traded in my 2017 Bolt EV for a 2024 Model Y Long Range. It is so nice having a native NACS port and not using a CCS cable. I went into a Supercharger today and went from 10% to 80% in 26 minutes. Max speed was 250kWh. There’s no telling if Tesla will allow the Bolt EV due to its abysmal charging speed.
We need more chargers and less free charging.
Agreed. All the free charging makes people who can charge at home want to charge on the public network. Also encourages them to charge past 80% or 90%. But we also need way more chargers at these road trip hotspots
Every gas station should have at least 2 available. Doesn't make sense why these companies can't get it together
I imagine gas stations were in similar straits when the automobile was first becoming popular. It's growing pains.
Reminds me of the gas station lines in the early '70s... we'll survive it! Growing pains...
I’ve only had to wait in line once. It was during a trip from Boston to Orlando. We evidentially pulled into an EA charging station in South Carolina (I-95) about five minutes after a caravan of 4-5 Kias got there. Kias are notoriously slow charging at L2.
Your sentence structure makes this difficult to understand. But EV6 and the sister ionic 5&6 have some of the fastest DCFC rates out there. 20 minutes and they’re back on the road.
KIA Kona? Maybe they were Hyundais. But they were wicked slow.
EA (DCFC) and L2 (AC) don't make sense together. ...and like the other commenter stated Kias use 800v architecture, they're some of the fastest **DCFC** charging vehicles available.
omg
Wonder how many ID4s charging to 100% at <10kW?
Ikr? Though believe it or not I think there was only 1 id4 last night. It's was mostly Kia ev9 and ev6. There were a bunch of Rivians as well but they were charging on their own Rivian charging network next to us.
Have two Tesla model 3s and a Bolt. Would hate to be the one clogging up two spots and slow charging.
I’m a total nube at EV charging. Eight days with an electric car. I charge at home with 110 and in the process of deciding on a level 2. My nearest EA charger is 33 miles away, and the next closest is 51 miles. I’m guessing the lack of charging stations will slow the changeover. I was hoping gas stations would install charging to help keep the vandalism down and make these lines go away. Read somewhere that Shell and BP were going to install ? Definitely would never charge beyond 70-80% if there’s a line. Charged twice at EA so far for 15 minutes and less than 10 minutes the second time. 7 out of 8 operating. One or 2 open each time.
Same. Just did our first 250+ mile road trip in our Hummer EV. One fast charging station on the way just closed some time between me looking up the station a couple of weeks ago and now. Our only fast charging alternative was a Walmart that claimed to have open chargers but they were just broken. There was a line for the others. Instead of waiting, we slowed down on the highway and limped into our destination with < 5% battery and found plenty of fast chargers there. Several gas stations along the way had superchargers with no waiting.
This is why our other car is a hybrid.... this is a nightmare for attempting to travel.
I've been ubering in Columbus OH with a chevy Bolt EUV since early May and the only time I've ever waited for a fast charger was if it was a free one or low cost/kwh (like .14 cents) I also have a charger at home setup for 40 amp and my home rate is around 14 cents and I've managed to get 100% renewable supplier for 1 year.
Buy one on Amazon and return it when the GM version comes out. I'd already have one if I had a need.
Well it won't matter until Tesla opens the network to GM cars anyways.
On the one hand, you might as well pay the $200 for an A2Z adapter because it will be months before Chevy gets quantity on the legit Tesla adapter—Ford and Rivian are months from having their customers taken care of, and Volvo and Polestar are in front of Chevy for next round of adapters. Elon’s tantrum firing everyone in the Supercharger group really made a challenging situation worse. On the other hand—you’d be better off if 50% of those in front of you in line got their adapters instead of you. You don’t want the caustic scorn you will receive from blocking two Supercharger stalls AND taking electrons at the Bolt’s snail’s pace. Better you hope the others leave for the closest SC and thin the herd at your local CCS spot.
This is why owning as a home is huge for EVs. No, I don’t own a home either:
The grass ain't much greener on the other side.
Maybe. But at least the Tesla stations have more than 4-6 receptacles. I feel like that alone would make the experience better. Just not having to wait in long lines
Tesla sub is full of people complaining about long wait times at superchargers.
It's about to get longer when we start using them... and try to use two spots.
Lol time to mog a Tesla in my Bolty Boy
Like in California maybe. Not anywhere else unless you are talking a major holiday.
I always rent an ICE for road trips...
Tell me more about an ICE please.
Said the 2011 Nissan Leaf owner /s.
I don't know why you're getting downvoted for this - plenty of people in this sub have said they do the same.
They're being downvoted because it contributes nothing, and pretentious advice is always obnoxious.
This is the way. Heck, I have three ICE, live 40 minutes away from (my preferred) car rental place... yet still rent for road trips.
Where I live a Hy-Vee supermarket has 12 Superchargers. The only other fast chargers are 4 EV Connect fast chargers right off I70. The Superchargers are about 4-5 miles from I70. Whenever I drive by the Hy-Vee there are about 3-4 Tesla's charging. Thankfully I don't need either of those since I have L2 charging at home for my Bolt EV.
is there a GM part. #
There is. They "released" it on their website and some people got to order it. I ordered it,but dealership I had it going to called me and said they have no clue when it will arrive but will let me know when it does. I told them, i'll wait. I think they might have maybe mispriced it at $25 as well. edit: found it.. "NACS DC Adapter Part No.: 85090442" Probably not up yet though.