We just finished a 2500 mile towing trip in our Model X + Surveyor camper, and I have to say …. Seeing your video changes any thought I’ve had about going with anything but Tesla. It’s not the vehicle, but the charging network. I can’t imagine dealing with this! It was *smooth as silk* with the Supercharging network from NJ to FL and back again. Really couldn’t have been more pleased. Only had to unhitch twice on the way to FL, and once back to NJ! Really exceptional. Sorry you’re dealing with this but my goodness, there’s NO excuse for EA’s mess.
Exactly - I like other EVs for looks or function, but Tesla has them all beat hands down on the charging network. We never have problems other than waiting for a charger and they are getting better with V3 Superchargers.
Hey, I’m interested how did you make it with Tesla model X by towing such a camper for such long trip. I’m right now thinking to buy a trailer, but the main concern is my 2018 Tesla model x can’t tow far each charging as the battery is only 75 KWh which is about 220 miles. But with a trailer towed behind, the energy consumption might be 3 times higher. Which means I can tow about 60-70 miles per charging. Could you share some of your experience of towing a camper with your model x? Thanks a lot.
@@danieldiaz9948 About 2 minutes or so. My kid and I treat it like a nascar pit crew. I chock the left wheels, he does the right. Then I unplug the wire harness, raise the jack (look up FlipJack), pop off the left trunnion bar while he does the right, disconnect the safety chains and we’re loose. Really, less than 2 minutes with two of us.
Quick tip, you can usually get EA chargers to activate by simply tapping your phone with NFC on the area next to the credit card reader. This should work even when the app has slow network communication. At 2:20, you almost did it correctly but you put your phone on the credit card reader. The NFC area is just below it on ABB chargers. Just have the EA app open. I really wish EA would allow people to request an RFID card for more redundancy like the other charging networks. In the meantime, you have to rely on your phone with the EA app and tap on the NFC area on the charger. Overall, this is quicker than using the "swipe to charge" function in the app. I'm not sure why more people don't use it.
@@TechnicalLee EA just announced they'd be rolling out updated labeling and one of the changes is better labeling of the NFC contact area for phones. A lot of people were confusing the credit card reader with the NFC reader for their phones, just like in this video.
Call them immediately. Sometimes they need to reboot the station. It might reset As a retired person on the sidelines I am not going to get into that situation until EA starts maintaining their equipment!
Having used several CCS charging station brands in my years of EV road trips, i can confirm EA is the most frustrating and least reliable at this point in time. I always check station reviews and/or look for alternatives when possible.
Electrify America has to get their act together. They don't seem to have a plan maintenance and up keep of their charging stations. I have had my R1T for 2.5 months now and I have yet to find an EA station where all chargers were working at the same time. To compound the issue, I am running into more people at the charging stations. And last night, in Kelso, WA, there was a line of people who needed to charge but could not because only 1 of 4 stations was working.
I think what would increase the charging capacity would be to have a dedicated powerd station that is only for charging . if this was implemented then people would change over because you would have to have a dependable charging station that can charge at least 3 to 10 vehicles at once with out throttling charging like they do when you are streaming videos and downloading.
Not a ringing endorsement of EA, they really need to up their game. On the other hand, we're at the dawn of this new mobility model and you guys are pioneers documenting it, which hopefully plays a part in moving this transition along.
I hear you, but Tesla superchargers just work, everytime. It's the dawn of the new era for these other brands, but we travel all the time and have for years in Tesla's. 🙂
@@legacytesla Totally agree. Tesla's network is way better. But they're not driving a Tesla. Since Tesla is opening up their supercharger network to non-Teslas, I wonder if that would be an option for them going forward.
@@haqitman as a two Tesla car family and a Tesla shareholder, I truly hope Tesla ramps up the supercharger deployments even faster and helps the EV transition by opening more of them up ASAP! 👍
Not a ringing endorsement of EA, they really need to up their game. ? They are Honest people, not politicians. great truck, but at the end of the day, nothing green about them. Energy is luxury. green is pedal power
Electrify America chargers are pretty temperamental for sure. My car came with 2 years of free EA charging, and we did a trip from Seattle to Key West and back and made it all the way, but it seems like EA is getting worse. I was talking to an EA tech who was working on the chargers. The problem is parts shortages from the charger makers who supply EA. Most problems are related to temperature sensors in the charger and when it's 109 out my guess is that there are many failed machine. The good news in that EVgo is expanding very quickly, and they have new chargers many of which are 350kW and are their rates are cheaper than EA. I charged 42kWH's back to back on an EA 350 that the Tech just fixed and then at an EVgo. The time to charge was identical, but the EVgo was $10 cheaper than the EA member rate.
Great points about temp sensors. Separately, I saw a video from Kyle at OutOfSpec where an EA tech was working on one of their charging stations and it was running Windows! That tells me that they are making bad design choices. And when they chose to close many charging stations simultaneously for weeks along I95 two years ago, that tells us that the operations team or management has problems.
Love your videos. I was looking hard at the Rivian but I think I am going to hold out for the Cybertruck. We just did a 1200 mile road trip in out model Y for the 2nd time to our beach spot. Tesla has added so many more Superchargers we made the 500+ mile trip in only 3 stops and all were V3 giving us 250KW for a time. No waiting no troubles with charging. Out of the crazy number of Superchargers we have used in the last 2 years we only had 1 that didn't work and and since we were the only ones there moving the car to the next one was super easy and fast. For sure going to stay in the tesla eco system. Great job!
Don’t use the app to start charging. Use the NFC on your iPhone once it gets to the payment screen. And yes the Tesla Supercharger network is better, but remember it only has to charge 4 cars, so that makes it so much less complicated vs EA or the other having to work across multiple manufacturers and multiple models. And finally I’m not sure you can blame it all on EA, you have to look at the Rivian as well.
I was 100% wondering about the Rivian in the equation here. I’ve had issues but far fewer than they did. I have about 20 charges on various EA stations along I-77, I-90, I-95, I-71, I-70 and I-75. Again I’d say check the app, note if a charger is on or offline. If it’s online then look at the handles. One of the handles can be offline on an otherwise online charger and the app shows that. Based on all that I decide where to park. Then I get out of the vehicle and I’m ready to plug in but first activate through the app and quickly plug in. Works basically 19/20 times. One time the charger bugged mod charge and I had to move. Car in question is a 2022 Kia EV6 Light (58 kWh Std Range Battery).
One thing to note, and many people may not know, that Electrify America is actually owned by VW Group of America. Don't quote me on this but I think that setting up this electric charging infastructure was part of their "Diesel Gate" settlement. So in saying this, are they as motived to make sure that all stall are operating as compared to stand alone charging company? This is very discouraging and may keep me from buying any other electic vechicle besides a Tesla.
I think you're correct about VW. My hope is that since many auto makers are now relying on the CCS network for the success of their EVs that they will start pressuring EA to ensure their chargers work.
I wonder if EA realizes that almost every RUclips video that mentions them is in the context of a problem…. Doesn’t charge, broken handles, no connection…. Hopefully they start monitoring their quality…
My hat is off to you. I would have completely lost my mind! We just took delivery our of model Y, my wife really wanted a Rivian. After she watches this I believe she will change her mind. They seem to have excellent truck, they really need a better charging network.
Don't get us wrong...it's a fabulous truck. We love it and would 100% buy one again. In fact, we're considering an R1S in the future. If you have a Tesla and are worried, take it on the trips. But, if you're not towing anything and can more easily get to another charger it isn't as big of a deal.
We get it, the truck is great. That doesn’t matter if you can’t charge it. I think it’s irresponsible of you to take your family on a road trip in that thing. I would never put my kids in that stressful situation. Safety before Vanity.
Just to let you know but check with charge point the next time you have a problem with electrify america. Sometimes they might be out of the way a little but I have had pretty good luck with them.
I think of it as similar to the apple/android worlds in smartphones. Apple is unique, while android is a wild west with a million options. Apple has the lion's share because of their system, and Tesla has the EV market cornered because of their charging system
We need the Rivian Adventure Network so badly. Hurry up and install more chargers Rivian! We also need Tesla chargers to start supporting CCS in the USA ASAP.
Tesla should be paying electrify America for their free advertising. I won’t even consider a non Tesla due to these issues which are not only better with Tesla, but virtually non existent. The good thing is Tesla is opening their charging network to non Tesla vehicles this year!
To pull large RV'S it looks like the vehicle needs 175 kwh battery pack. This would make most all charging stops in 2022 and make it where you would not have to go to 90+ percent to make your next charging stop. I think this is one place where a plug in hybrid would make since. Ford has a "toolbox" generator that fits in the bed to extend your range! I have not seen them out, but Ford has the patients for it.
You will never get 350kw with your Rivian as it maximum rate is around 220 kw maximum 😉. On super hot days 100+ you may be better off using the 150kw chargers so the Rivian does not over heat. I bet your charge time would not vary much at all.
Wow...EA has some serious work to do. Again, thank you so much for taking the time to educate us on real life living with an ev while traveling. To your point, imagine when there are lines. Let's hope the infrastructure grows and becomes more reliable.
I have couple charging suggestions that worked for me, maybe they will improve your experience as well. At least it helped a couple others that were struggling. I noticed you always plug in the R1T before starting an EA charging session. I did the same on my first couple of EA charges with my R1T-and I struggled a lot, similar to your experience. On my third charge, I started by launching the app after pulling into the stall in front of the charger I planned to use. Then I started the charging session in the app for the correct charger. In a few seconds, the charger should instruct you to plug in to start the session. I then open the charge door from the infotainment UI, exit the truck, plug it in, and give it a few seconds. I have had far fewer problems since. I also noticed this approach improves my ChargePoint charging sessions. I suggested this to a fellow charging customer who had been struggling for several minutes. It worked like a charm for him. At least on my R1T, the charging port door has a touch sensor, not a swipe sensor. When I touch the three bars near the door, the door opens. No swipe needed. Also, I no longer bother with closing the charging port door when I’m done charging. The truck automatically closes the door when I put the truck in drive or reverse mode. Hopefully this helps. And thank you for sharing your RV towing experience.
I just drove almost the same path as you took for this video. I had one failed charging session (Grand Island) and drew over 220 in all of those locations in my Ioniq 5. I ran into 2 Rivian drivers, both were really grumpy about the charging network. My stats, 3600 miles, 31 charging sessions. 2 faults (moved and worked) and 1 slow charge experience. Is it a Rivian issue?
This mirrors my experience as both a polestar and R1T owner. I currently have my rivian at a service center because the DC fast charging fails so much.
I got the sweats just watching your journey. I did buy a CCS adapter for my Model Y and have tested it at local DCFC locations and my results mirrored yours. I would/could not count on them working. I fear Tesla opening up their network will degrade the experience. Thanks for sharing the details without any sugar coating. 100+ degrees, three kids, a dog, and a camper I'd be sweating bullets. And you shouldn't have to report station outages, their stalls should automatically report them.
Sorry we stressed you out! 😅 In the moment we were pretty angry with Electrify America. But, we also know that the system isn't perfected yet...so in hindsight we should have had a back up plan, especially when we are towing. It wasn't the best, but we will keep at it--our philosophy is for it to get better, people have to get out there and do it. So, we are glad to do it!
Not to excuse EA because their product is clearly in need of a ton of work. But this is a classic problem of different companies trying to achieve a standard vs a “walled garden” approach. Tesla chargers work so well because not only are they well designed, they are designed to work with one type of car: Teslas. Other chargers have to work with all makes and models. Different computer systems, different software, different manufacturers. It’s like Apple vs Microsoft. Microsoft products have to work well with every combination of computer parts you can imagine. Apple products only have to work in the Apple ecosystem.
Remember EA came out of dieselgate. It was never intended to be a good asset for EVs. Cheapest options equal crappy experiences. ....and crappy charging experiences mean fewer people choosing EVs. Isn't it mandated that EA chargers be funcitonal 90+% of the time or something, but no way they are. Best thing Tesla did was not wait for EA or anyone else to get their crap together.
loved watching your adventure! we just went from omaha to estes and back last week in our id4. it went better than i thought it would. we saw a lot of the same things at the ea's. we always looked ahead on the app to see what the next chargers were doing. we skipped northplatte both ways. there was almost always at least one charger down. ea needs to improve for sure. keep the adventures coming!!
When you consider that Electricfy America was built by Volkswagon group as punitive damages for their Diesel Gate, it would be reasonable to think that they would try to make the experiance the worst possible in order to slow or stop the electrification of the world. RIVIAN AND FORD you NEED to Get to the idea that YOU NEED TO MAKE YOUR OWN NETWORK OF CHARGERS or contribute to TESLA to expand their system . The life of your buisness depends on this very fact , the best vehicle in the world is useless if you cannot make it move .
EA is not the only fast chargers. Why did you not try other fast chargers? After the first problem with EA I would have mapped other charging stations. Personally I can count how many times I've done a road trip with the 10 cars I've on which include 8 ICE cars and one PHEV and my current BEV. So this would not be a reason why I would not get an EV.
We would love to use other fast chargers. Unfortunately the places we go only have Electrify America. You are right a lot of people don’t do many road trips so none issue for most. Thanks for watching.
On your drive stats, could you add the time off the road at each station (I do this when filling up with gas - time that I exit the interstate till the time I’m back on highway. It includes gas, washing windshield, restroom, food. For you it would include the same except charging instead of gas, and any hooking/unhooking.) Mine is typically in the 7 to 12 minute range. (I’m not bragging - just very useful information for those of us considering the switch.) Also in the stats could you add the costs (really nice if you could include the price you paid WITH any discounts you have, and the cost if you didn’t have any discounts and had to pay full price. Another great video! Keep ‘em coming!
You know it's horrible everywhere if you don't have a tesla. Here in Europe i tried to charge many times at some fast chargers like ionity and i ALWAYS had some problems, either the chargers wouldn't work at all or are crazy complicated and then charge very slow. (One noteable exception is go fast, was able to just swipe the credit card and it worked, although the speed could be better and why is there only one station??) Luckily i could just go to the nearby tesla supercharger with my model 3 and get it done very fast, but, it's been 3 years and NOTHING changed... still the same crap, no improvement on the non tesla chargers.. just ridiculous.
I wouldn't have waited until the 5th attempt to call EA. At a minimum I would call and let them know about the defective charger, had to pay more even with a paid membership and to either refund or credit my account. The only way EA is going to know about this problem *and* do something about it is if you call them.
Oh my gosh! What a nightmare! I expected your charge time to be much higher for this trip with all the charger issues, but shame on EA. Thanks for the info on the return trip. I didn't see a total trip stats green insert for your trip to CO so I'm not sure how much time you spent charging on the way there, but my guess is it was significantly less. Cheers!
This is not supposed to work like that! Its one thing when you have 3 or 4 miles/kW, but when you are only getting 1 mile/kW, you don't have a lot of margin to be driving around looking for other charging options. It has to get better or people just won't be buying EVs, at least not EVs that aren't Teslas.
Hi! Sorry to hear about the charging experience. Did yall use A better Route Planner? Think it will be more helpful to use as it should give your more charging options besides EA
We used a Better Route Planner in our initial trip planning. Unfortunately EA are the fast chargers along I-80 in Nebraska. There are other options, but they're usually J-1772s.
Good job guys getting a sponser for your video. On EV's here my takeaway from this video - The issue seems to be the 'reliability', not the capability of EV and EV networks. EV's themselves are very capable but how much you can "rely" on them to fulfill your daily needs varies and depends on multiple factors such as weather(extreme temperatures), road conditions (not all EV's are offroad capable), charging (not a cohesive and integrated electric network for all EVs). Essentially being an EV owner is for 'smart' people. People who know and want to know and put efforts. People who are just casual drivers should stick with ICE cars for now. Great job as always All Electric Family. Keep it up.
Real life with an EV 🤷🏽♂️ Overall looked like a fun trip - so cool to meet up with other R1T and EV RUclips’rs! Yeah there’s a long way to go to make this convenient but we are getting there (the recent EVGo/Pilot-Flying J collab looks great!) On to the next adventure!
Tesla definitely has the market when it comes to charging. Hopefully the auto makers will start pushing companies like Electrify America to up their game, because the success of their EVs depends on it!
I'm not an EV owner (although I rented a Tesla for a day while on vacation), but I do follow some EV related channels. Here in Canada there is a string of gas stations under the Petro-Canada brand that have set up a cross country network of chargers, and I have seen multiple joke references to "Petro-Can't" due to charger issues. I should add that Electrify America is expanding into Canada (Electrify Canada). Haven't heard about reliability but the network is still pretty small.
I see you still trying to plug in phone then start. Also I don't know if those older units or the rivian but I have never had these problems. Dallas to chi Dallas to Orlando Florida Dallas to Houston and Austin. Likely it's the car and temps
This is the 2nd video I watched Today with a Rivian charging in over 100 degree temps that's got limited. I don't think it's all EAs issue. I think this is a software issue between EA and Rivian when they are charging in high temps. I watched a lot of videos with EA chargers and while there are issues for sure, I haven't seen this kind of thing before. Makes me think that the Charger and the Rivian aren't communicated correctly.
@@skyemalcolm Why only 0.2 kW? That's only two small solar panels. They have all that roof space on the trailer roof. It would be much better, but probably still fall way short. The Rivian itself goes about 1.3 miles per kWh.
@@lesliefranklin1870 it gets you somewhere like you said. But it’s 2 orders of magnitude too slow to do any good. And that’s plastering an airstream roof which is not flat with solar to maybe go another mile. The roof of a car is useless unless you’re talking Aptera which is a whole order of magnitude more efficient than the Rivian is. But it not if it was towing, which I’m pretty sure it won’t be set up to do anyway, lol.
Ok so it costs 157 dollars to fill my E350 2002 Superduty 7.3 which goes 400 miles, towing my car Hercules with my sons truck 5,500 lbs and everything else moving him. I get 14.5 mpg towing my full van and full trailer for 27,000 lbs. I have a good question for you which company Ford or Toyota melted the last ice age. EV’s in the present form is less energy density 37% to diesel 50%. Only room temperature superconducting technology has to exist, then 5 minutes to put enough energy to go 500 miles towing, cause with superconducting you have 100% efficiency. Not to mention the amount of energy it takes to create the cobal, lithium, So the cart before the horse worse the wrong thing about climate which is controlled by the sun, volcanoes and orbit etc. does oil pollute, yes, and it is only 50% efficient at best, back in 1974 the move away from oil to again room temperature superconducting technology and MSR LFTR, So you people also are not counting your time etc, also did you know when the Earth was a frozen ice ball to the Equator, the CO2 level was 10,000 ppm, right now it’s 478 ppm note what do you think marble is calcium carbonate.. So you are not only not saving the planet but you are paying 5x the amount of energy to do it. However, reliable source of range and power, note also if the Earth gets hit with a good solar storm like right now it will effect the internet and computers.. pS I have moved my son in the Navy 3 times, last time I drove from Pax River MD too Pensacola Florida in 14 hours straight. Burned 76 gal of diesel moving a total of 24250 lbs at 60mpg the whole way most of the time in the double overdrive from US gears my 7.3 at 825rpm at 60. Am I saying that we should have better technology yup but we do not. The amount of heat loss and fast charging stations (limit) battery life etc does not work. Do I want ?Solar panels and lithium on my RV and boat you bet, but for now I will stick with my powerstroke 7.3 for reliable power and towing transportation.
They're in a massive expansion, partly funded with taxpayer money. Their equipment suppliers can't make spare parts fast enough, probably because they're made in China. They may end up like the abandoned windmills that were put up for the tax incentives, but not maintained because there's no more taxpayer money supporting that
Sad, you are not honest about this. I own a Tesla. I have a R1T on order. Sad D because you love the Rivian, want to live the Rivian, as I think I do, but the charging network SUCKS. I sold my Rivian stock today. Made a nice profit, but thinking this was the next Tesla, shattered. Supercharger network was brilliant. It just works, and in seconds, no hassle, no payment. 10 years later and the competition still can’t come close. So sad. Pathetic if you think about it. Keeping my reservation for now. Love the Truck, but bot everything else. Will likely cancel. Hate Cybertruck. Elon is crazy on that one but love MYP
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We just finished a 2500 mile towing trip in our Model X + Surveyor camper, and I have to say …. Seeing your video changes any thought I’ve had about going with anything but Tesla.
It’s not the vehicle, but the charging network. I can’t imagine dealing with this!
It was *smooth as silk* with the Supercharging network from NJ to FL and back again. Really couldn’t have been more pleased. Only had to unhitch twice on the way to FL, and once back to NJ! Really exceptional.
Sorry you’re dealing with this but my goodness, there’s NO excuse for EA’s mess.
Exactly - I like other EVs for looks or function, but Tesla has them all beat hands down on the charging network. We never have problems other than waiting for a charger and they are getting better with V3 Superchargers.
Hey, I’m interested how did you make it with Tesla model X by towing such a camper for such long trip. I’m right now thinking to buy a trailer, but the main concern is my 2018 Tesla model x can’t tow far each charging as the battery is only 75 KWh which is about 220 miles. But with a trailer towed behind, the energy consumption might be 3 times higher. Which means I can tow about 60-70 miles per charging. Could you share some of your experience of towing a camper with your model x? Thanks a lot.
How long does it take to unhitch?
@@danieldiaz9948 About 2 minutes or so. My kid and I treat it like a nascar pit crew. I chock the left wheels, he does the right. Then I unplug the wire harness, raise the jack (look up FlipJack), pop off the left trunnion bar while he does the right, disconnect the safety chains and we’re loose.
Really, less than 2 minutes with two of us.
Lmfao. It’s like watching a family lose their mind on tape. “ITS THE FUTURE!!”
Thank you for blazing the trail for everyone
Quick tip, you can usually get EA chargers to activate by simply tapping your phone with NFC on the area next to the credit card reader. This should work even when the app has slow network communication. At 2:20, you almost did it correctly but you put your phone on the credit card reader. The NFC area is just below it on ABB chargers. Just have the EA app open.
I really wish EA would allow people to request an RFID card for more redundancy like the other charging networks. In the meantime, you have to rely on your phone with the EA app and tap on the NFC area on the charger. Overall, this is quicker than using the "swipe to charge" function in the app. I'm not sure why more people don't use it.
Good catch. And the RFID card for backup is a great idea.
@@TechnicalLee EA just announced they'd be rolling out updated labeling and one of the changes is better labeling of the NFC contact area for phones. A lot of people were confusing the credit card reader with the NFC reader for their phones, just like in this video.
Call them immediately. Sometimes they need to reboot the station. It might reset
As a retired person on the sidelines I am not going to get into that situation until EA starts maintaining their equipment!
We did call, they reset the stall and it still wouldn't work.
Having used several CCS charging station brands in my years of EV road trips, i can confirm EA is the most frustrating and least reliable at this point in time. I always check station reviews and/or look for alternatives when possible.
My problem is we get the 3 years free at EA. So I really never look at other networks. I hope they get better quickly.
Unfortunately EA the chargers along the highway in our area. Hopefully other companies will start coming in and it will get better.
Electrify America has to get their act together. They don't seem to have a plan maintenance and up keep of their charging stations. I have had my R1T for 2.5 months now and I have yet to find an EA station where all chargers were working at the same time. To compound the issue, I am running into more people at the charging stations. And last night, in Kelso, WA, there was a line of people who needed to charge but could not because only 1 of 4 stations was working.
Any trip you dont have to beat the children, it's a good day.
Looks terrible with a trailer. I can't imagine spending more time at chargers.
I think what would increase the charging capacity would be to have a dedicated powerd station that is only for charging . if this was implemented then people would change over because you would have to have a dependable charging station that can charge at least 3 to 10 vehicles at once with out throttling charging like they do when you are streaming videos and downloading.
Not a ringing endorsement of EA, they really need to up their game. On the other hand, we're at the dawn of this new mobility model and you guys are pioneers documenting it, which hopefully plays a part in moving this transition along.
I hear you, but Tesla superchargers just work, everytime. It's the dawn of the new era for these other brands, but we travel all the time and have for years in Tesla's. 🙂
@@legacytesla Totally agree. Tesla's network is way better. But they're not driving a Tesla. Since Tesla is opening up their supercharger network to non-Teslas, I wonder if that would be an option for them going forward.
@@haqitman as a two Tesla car family and a Tesla shareholder, I truly hope Tesla ramps up the supercharger deployments even faster and helps the EV transition by opening more of them up ASAP! 👍
Not a ringing endorsement of EA, they really need to up their game. ? They are Honest people, not politicians. great truck, but at the end of the day, nothing green about them. Energy is luxury. green is pedal power
Electrify America chargers are pretty temperamental for sure. My car came with 2 years of free EA charging, and we did a trip from Seattle to Key West and back and made it all the way, but it seems like EA is getting worse. I was talking to an EA tech who was working on the chargers. The problem is parts shortages from the charger makers who supply EA. Most problems are related to temperature sensors in the charger and when it's 109 out my guess is that there are many failed machine. The good news in that EVgo is expanding very quickly, and they have new chargers many of which are 350kW and are their rates are cheaper than EA. I charged 42kWH's back to back on an EA 350 that the Tech just fixed and then at an EVgo. The time to charge was identical, but the EVgo was $10 cheaper than the EA member rate.
Great points about temp sensors. Separately, I saw a video from Kyle at OutOfSpec where an EA tech was working on one of their charging stations and it was running Windows! That tells me that they are making bad design choices. And when they chose to close many charging stations simultaneously for weeks along I95 two years ago, that tells us that the operations team or management has problems.
Love your videos. I was looking hard at the Rivian but I think I am going to hold out for the Cybertruck. We just did a 1200 mile road trip in out model Y for the 2nd time to our beach spot. Tesla has added so many more Superchargers we made the 500+ mile trip in only 3 stops and all were V3 giving us 250KW for a time. No waiting no troubles with charging. Out of the crazy number of Superchargers we have used in the last 2 years we only had 1 that didn't work and and since we were the only ones there moving the car to the next one was super easy and fast. For sure going to stay in the tesla eco system. Great job!
I've never planned on traveling with my lightning when I get it. But if I have to I don't believe I'll be using electrify America to charge.
Electrify America is not reliable. I have a lot of bad experiences with their charging station . I try to use EVgo whenever I can .
Don’t use the app to start charging. Use the NFC on your iPhone once it gets to the payment screen.
And yes the Tesla Supercharger network is better, but remember it only has to charge 4 cars, so that makes it so much less complicated vs EA or the other having to work across multiple manufacturers and multiple models.
And finally I’m not sure you can blame it all on EA, you have to look at the Rivian as well.
I was 100% wondering about the Rivian in the equation here. I’ve had issues but far fewer than they did. I have about 20 charges on various EA stations along I-77, I-90, I-95, I-71, I-70 and I-75.
Again I’d say check the app, note if a charger is on or offline. If it’s online then look at the handles. One of the handles can be offline on an otherwise online charger and the app shows that. Based on all that I decide where to park. Then I get out of the vehicle and I’m ready to plug in but first activate through the app and quickly plug in. Works basically 19/20 times. One time the charger bugged mod charge and I had to move. Car in question is a 2022 Kia EV6 Light (58 kWh Std Range Battery).
Finally a great post. Yes you said everything I would say. I use my iPhone on to tap on nfc rfid spot no messing with a app
You can sell the truck people will take it off your hands and wait for a cybertruck
I’ve seen similar issues with people doing tests with the Ford Lightning and EA stations. There are definitely systemic problems.
One thing to note, and many people may not know, that Electrify America is actually owned by VW Group of America. Don't quote me on this but I think that setting up this electric charging infastructure was part of their "Diesel Gate" settlement. So in saying this, are they as motived to make sure that all stall are operating as compared to stand alone charging company? This is very discouraging and may keep me from buying any other electic vechicle besides a Tesla.
I think you're correct about VW. My hope is that since many auto makers are now relying on the CCS network for the success of their EVs that they will start pressuring EA to ensure their chargers work.
I wonder if EA realizes that almost every RUclips video that mentions them is in the context of a problem…. Doesn’t charge, broken handles, no connection…. Hopefully they start monitoring their quality…
My hat is off to you. I would have completely lost my mind! We just took delivery our of model Y, my wife really wanted a Rivian. After she watches this I believe she will change her mind. They seem to have excellent truck, they really need a better charging network.
Don't get us wrong...it's a fabulous truck. We love it and would 100% buy one again. In fact, we're considering an R1S in the future. If you have a Tesla and are worried, take it on the trips. But, if you're not towing anything and can more easily get to another charger it isn't as big of a deal.
Life is short. No need to spend half your vacation charging. Tow your camper with a gasoline truck and save the electric for your daily drivers.
We get it, the truck is great. That doesn’t matter if you can’t charge it. I think it’s irresponsible of you to take your family on a road trip in that thing. I would never put my kids in that stressful situation. Safety before Vanity.
Just to let you know but check with charge point the next time you have a problem with electrify america. Sometimes they might be out of the way a little but I have had pretty good luck with them.
We use a Mi/kWh to MPGe converter online. Just Google MPGe calculator!
Tesla Supercharger network is under appreciated
I think of it as similar to the apple/android worlds in smartphones. Apple is unique, while android is a wild west with a million options.
Apple has the lion's share because of their system, and Tesla has the EV market cornered because of their charging system
We need the Rivian Adventure Network so badly. Hurry up and install more chargers Rivian! We also need Tesla chargers to start supporting CCS in the USA ASAP.
Just by watching videos from different people and the issues with the NO TESLA chargers, if I have to buy and EV it would be TESLA.
I'd much rather have a lightning than a Rivian.
waiting for my Lucid and this is very disconcerting..,
I enjoy your videos. We need pull through charging at all stations, Tesla too.
It will be helpful. I think some companies are starting to plan for people towing, so hopefully we see more soon.
Tesla should be paying electrify America for their free advertising. I won’t even consider a non Tesla due to these issues which are not only better with Tesla, but virtually non existent. The good thing is Tesla is opening their charging network to non Tesla vehicles this year!
People are saying you shouldn't plug in until told to do so.
To pull large RV'S it looks like the vehicle needs 175 kwh battery pack. This would make most all charging stops in 2022 and make it where you would not have to go to 90+ percent to make your next charging stop. I think this is one place where a plug in hybrid would make since.
Ford has a "toolbox" generator that fits in the bed to extend your range! I have not seen them out, but Ford has the patients for it.
You will never get 350kw with your Rivian as it maximum rate is around 220 kw maximum 😉. On super hot days 100+ you may be better off using the 150kw chargers so the Rivian does not over heat. I bet your charge time would not vary much at all.
Wow...EA has some serious work to do. Again, thank you so much for taking the time to educate us on real life living with an ev while traveling. To your point, imagine when there are lines. Let's hope the infrastructure grows and becomes more reliable.
I have couple charging suggestions that worked for me, maybe they will improve your experience as well. At least it helped a couple others that were struggling.
I noticed you always plug in the R1T before starting an EA charging session. I did the same on my first couple of EA charges with my R1T-and I struggled a lot, similar to your experience. On my third charge, I started by launching the app after pulling into the stall in front of the charger I planned to use. Then I started the charging session in the app for the correct charger. In a few seconds, the charger should instruct you to plug in to start the session. I then open the charge door from the infotainment UI, exit the truck, plug it in, and give it a few seconds. I have had far fewer problems since. I also noticed this approach improves my ChargePoint charging sessions. I suggested this to a fellow charging customer who had been struggling for several minutes. It worked like a charm for him.
At least on my R1T, the charging port door has a touch sensor, not a swipe sensor. When I touch the three bars near the door, the door opens. No swipe needed.
Also, I no longer bother with closing the charging port door when I’m done charging. The truck automatically closes the door when I put the truck in drive or reverse mode.
Hopefully this helps. And thank you for sharing your RV towing experience.
Electrify America sucks. Until these charging companies get it figured out, it’s only Tesla for me.
Rivian should not have gone CCS
I just drove almost the same path as you took for this video. I had one failed charging session (Grand Island) and drew over 220 in all of those locations in my Ioniq 5. I ran into 2 Rivian drivers, both were really grumpy about the charging network. My stats, 3600 miles, 31 charging sessions. 2 faults (moved and worked) and 1 slow charge experience. Is it a Rivian issue?
Not a 100% sure but we are having trouble with our Lightning as well.
@@AllElectricFamily I guess I’ll consider myself lucky.
This mirrors my experience as both a polestar and R1T owner. I currently have my rivian at a service center because the DC fast charging fails so much.
I got the sweats just watching your journey. I did buy a CCS adapter for my Model Y and have tested it at local DCFC locations and my results mirrored yours. I would/could not count on them working. I fear Tesla opening up their network will degrade the experience. Thanks for sharing the details without any sugar coating. 100+ degrees, three kids, a dog, and a camper I'd be sweating bullets. And you shouldn't have to report station outages, their stalls should automatically report them.
Sorry we stressed you out! 😅 In the moment we were pretty angry with Electrify America. But, we also know that the system isn't perfected yet...so in hindsight we should have had a back up plan, especially when we are towing. It wasn't the best, but we will keep at it--our philosophy is for it to get better, people have to get out there and do it. So, we are glad to do it!
have you tried to call EA about them not working with your account? curious if they'd retroactively fix that.
Yes, we were on the phone with EA for over a half hour when we couldn't charge.
Is there a difference better the Iphone and android apps for
EA?
Seriously, what is up with the charging stations? This shouldn’t be so hard. It’s not like electricity is a new thing.
Not to excuse EA because their product is clearly in need of a ton of work. But this is a classic problem of different companies trying to achieve a standard vs a “walled garden” approach. Tesla chargers work so well because not only are they well designed, they are designed to work with one type of car: Teslas. Other chargers have to work with all makes and models. Different computer systems, different software, different manufacturers.
It’s like Apple vs Microsoft. Microsoft products have to work well with every combination of computer parts you can imagine. Apple products only have to work in the Apple ecosystem.
Remember EA came out of dieselgate. It was never intended to be a good asset for EVs. Cheapest options equal crappy experiences. ....and crappy charging experiences mean fewer people choosing EVs. Isn't it mandated that EA chargers be funcitonal 90+% of the time or something, but no way they are. Best thing Tesla did was not wait for EA or anyone else to get their crap together.
How do calculate MPGe?
loved watching your adventure!
we just went from omaha to estes and back last week in our id4. it went better than i thought it would. we saw a lot of the same things at the ea's. we always looked ahead on the app to see what the next chargers were doing. we skipped northplatte both ways. there was almost always at least one charger down.
ea needs to improve for sure.
keep the adventures coming!!
When you consider that Electricfy America was built by Volkswagon group as punitive damages for their Diesel Gate, it would be reasonable to think that they would try to make the experiance the worst possible in order to slow or stop the electrification of the world. RIVIAN AND FORD you NEED to Get to the idea that YOU NEED TO MAKE YOUR OWN NETWORK OF CHARGERS or contribute to TESLA to expand their system . The life of your buisness depends on this very fact , the best vehicle in the world is useless if you cannot make it move .
EA is not the only fast chargers. Why did you not try other fast chargers? After the first problem with EA I would have mapped other charging stations. Personally I can count how many times I've done a road trip with the 10 cars I've on which include 8 ICE cars and one PHEV and my current BEV. So this would not be a reason why I would not get an EV.
We would love to use other fast chargers. Unfortunately the places we go only have Electrify America. You are right a lot of people don’t do many road trips so none issue for most. Thanks for watching.
On your drive stats, could you add the time off the road at each station (I do this when filling up with gas - time that I exit the interstate till the time I’m back on highway. It includes gas, washing windshield, restroom, food. For you it would include the same except charging instead of gas, and any hooking/unhooking.) Mine is typically in the 7 to 12 minute range. (I’m not bragging - just very useful information for those of us considering the switch.) Also in the stats could you add the costs (really nice if you could include the price you paid WITH any discounts you have, and the cost if you didn’t have any discounts and had to pay full price. Another great video! Keep ‘em coming!
You know it's horrible everywhere if you don't have a tesla. Here in Europe i tried to charge many times at some fast chargers like ionity and i ALWAYS had some problems, either the chargers wouldn't work at all or are crazy complicated and then charge very slow. (One noteable exception is go fast, was able to just swipe the credit card and it worked, although the speed could be better and why is there only one station??) Luckily i could just go to the nearby tesla supercharger with my model 3 and get it done very fast, but, it's been 3 years and NOTHING changed... still the same crap, no improvement on the non tesla chargers.. just ridiculous.
Why aren’t chargers in a “drive through format” wastes so much time.
I wouldn't have waited until the 5th attempt to call EA. At a minimum I would call and let them know about the defective charger, had to pay more even with a paid membership and to either refund or credit my account. The only way EA is going to know about this problem *and* do something about it is if you call them.
Better get the Nuclear plants going if we can to get off coal, solar and wind are too risky and take too many resources to make them.
Might need also to get safe nuclear boats for boat cruses in the future since they have much more CO2 emmisions than 1 million cars a day.
Nuclear to the rescue
Oh my gosh! What a nightmare! I expected your charge time to be much higher for this trip with all the charger issues, but shame on EA. Thanks for the info on the return trip. I didn't see a total trip stats green insert for your trip to CO so I'm not sure how much time you spent charging on the way there, but my guess is it was significantly less. Cheers!
Is Electrify America your only option? Wow
You guys don't seem to have much luck with chargers on any vehicles. Do your vehicles charge ok at home?
Nobody wants a rosey picture of electric, we want real world. Keep bringing it.
I love what Rivian is doing, but I'd only travel in one of our Tesla's. Thank you for sharing this, I hope EA sees it. +Sub'd.
This is not supposed to work like that! Its one thing when you have 3 or 4 miles/kW, but when you are only getting 1 mile/kW, you don't have a lot of margin to be driving around looking for other charging options. It has to get better or people just won't be buying EVs, at least not EVs that aren't Teslas.
Hi! Sorry to hear about the charging experience. Did yall use A better Route Planner? Think it will be more helpful to use as it should give your more charging options besides EA
We used a Better Route Planner in our initial trip planning. Unfortunately EA are the fast chargers along I-80 in Nebraska. There are other options, but they're usually J-1772s.
I have found that I have to pull up on the CCS handle with EA while the car tries to communicate with the station on my etron and previous Bolt.
Good job guys getting a sponser for your video. On EV's here my takeaway from this video -
The issue seems to be the 'reliability', not the capability of EV and EV networks. EV's themselves are very capable but how much you can "rely" on them to fulfill your daily needs varies and depends on multiple factors such as weather(extreme temperatures), road conditions (not all EV's are offroad capable), charging (not a cohesive and integrated electric network for all EVs).
Essentially being an EV owner is for 'smart' people. People who know and want to know and put efforts. People who are just casual drivers should stick with ICE cars for now.
Great job as always All Electric Family. Keep it up.
May want to look for alternate charge networks. EV go ect. May save you from the campground charging.
A truck cleaning video!!
Real life with an EV 🤷🏽♂️
Overall looked like a fun trip - so cool to meet up with other R1T and EV RUclips’rs! Yeah there’s a long way to go to make this convenient but we are getting there (the recent EVGo/Pilot-Flying J collab looks great!) On to the next adventure!
It's almost like the UK 2 years ago.
Be strong.... As more EV's are purchased they will be forced to build more and fix the broken ones.
This is what happens when you TRY To do EVs without the king TESLA..ijs.. LOL
Tesla definitely has the market when it comes to charging. Hopefully the auto makers will start pushing companies like Electrify America to up their game, because the success of their EVs depends on it!
I'm not an EV owner (although I rented a Tesla for a day while on vacation), but I do follow some EV related channels. Here in Canada there is a string of gas stations under the Petro-Canada brand that have set up a cross country network of chargers, and I have seen multiple joke references to "Petro-Can't" due to charger issues. I should add that Electrify America is expanding into Canada (Electrify Canada). Haven't heard about reliability but the network is still pretty small.
Maybe when everbody gets an EV it will get better. Nah. It will get worse, plus electricity will go up in cost. Welcome to the green new deal. 🤩
I see you still trying to plug in phone then start. Also I don't know if those older units or the rivian but I have never had these problems. Dallas to chi Dallas to Orlando Florida Dallas to Houston and Austin. Likely it's the car and temps
This is the 2nd video I watched Today with a Rivian charging in over 100 degree temps that's got limited. I don't think it's all EAs issue. I think this is a software issue between EA and Rivian when they are charging in high temps. I watched a lot of videos with EA chargers and while there are issues for sure, I haven't seen this kind of thing before. Makes me think that the Charger and the Rivian aren't communicated correctly.
What camera do you guys use to film and what software do you use to edit your videos?
I appreciate your efforts in documenting this.
It’s just not feasible for the masses yet.
I couldn’t deal with the amount of time you spend charging.
It's perfectly feasible. With Tesla.
America isn't ready for full Electric, we need Hybrids first but hey that's just my thoughts 😕
That’s why the all roofs on Evs and Ev truck beds should be solar just in case this happens at least enough juice to get you to a charger that works
That solar will get you maybe 0.2 kW. They need to charge this truck at 200 kW to be useful in a road trip scenario.
@@skyemalcolm Why only 0.2 kW? That's only two small solar panels. They have all that roof space on the trailer roof. It would be much better, but probably still fall way short. The Rivian itself goes about 1.3 miles per kWh.
@@lesliefranklin1870 it gets you somewhere like you said. But it’s 2 orders of magnitude too slow to do any good. And that’s plastering an airstream roof which is not flat with solar to maybe go another mile. The roof of a car is useless unless you’re talking Aptera which is a whole order of magnitude more efficient than the Rivian is. But it not if it was towing, which I’m pretty sure it won’t be set up to do anyway, lol.
yup. pay 80K for an ev. visit walmarts and failing ea stations. i agree, we really need this to be better!
Ok so it costs 157 dollars to fill my E350 2002 Superduty 7.3 which goes 400 miles, towing my car Hercules with my sons truck 5,500 lbs and everything else moving him. I get 14.5 mpg towing my full van and full trailer for 27,000 lbs. I have a good question for you which company Ford or Toyota melted the last ice age. EV’s in the present form is less energy density 37% to diesel 50%. Only room temperature superconducting technology has to exist, then 5 minutes to put enough energy to go 500 miles towing, cause with superconducting you have 100% efficiency. Not to mention the amount of energy it takes to create the cobal, lithium, So the cart before the horse worse the wrong thing about climate which is controlled by the sun, volcanoes and orbit etc. does oil pollute, yes, and it is only 50% efficient at best, back in 1974 the move away from oil to again room temperature superconducting technology and MSR LFTR, So you people also are not counting your time etc, also did you know when the Earth was a frozen ice ball to the Equator, the CO2 level was 10,000 ppm, right now it’s 478 ppm note what do you think marble is calcium carbonate.. So you are not only not saving the planet but you are paying 5x the amount of energy to do it. However, reliable source of range and power, note also if the Earth gets hit with a good solar storm like right now it will effect the internet and computers.. pS I have moved my son in the Navy 3 times, last time I drove from Pax River MD too Pensacola Florida in 14 hours straight. Burned 76 gal of diesel moving a total of 24250 lbs at 60mpg the whole way most of the time in the double overdrive from US gears my 7.3 at 825rpm at 60. Am I saying that we should have better technology yup but we do not. The amount of heat loss and fast charging stations (limit) battery life etc does not work. Do I want ?Solar panels and lithium on my RV and boat you bet, but for now I will stick with my powerstroke 7.3 for reliable power and towing transportation.
Do you think that the people in charge of EA are trying to slow down the adoption rate of evs?
They're in a massive expansion, partly funded with taxpayer money. Their equipment suppliers can't make spare parts fast enough, probably because they're made in China.
They may end up like the abandoned windmills that were put up for the tax incentives, but not maintained because there's no more taxpayer money supporting that
Sad, you are not honest about this. I own a Tesla. I have a R1T on order. Sad
D because you love the Rivian, want to live the Rivian, as I think I do, but the charging network SUCKS. I sold my Rivian stock today. Made a nice profit, but thinking this was the next Tesla, shattered. Supercharger network was brilliant. It just works, and in seconds, no hassle, no payment. 10 years later and the competition still can’t come close. So sad. Pathetic if you think about it. Keeping my reservation for now. Love the Truck, but bot everything else. Will likely cancel. Hate Cybertruck. Elon is crazy on that one but love MYP