Noobie Taycan Owner ...immediate long Road Trip .... Advice sought....

[Jonathan S.]

Free charging for 3 years. My recent ~3000mi road trip cost me $0 in charge costs.

Yes, my two EA sessions so far, at 48 min total (1st was only 18 min, as I valued getting home 12 min earlier over the add'l free kWh), saved me ~$26 (using my avg $/kWh rate at other DCFC networks so far).
However, the time wasted for that 1st EA session cost me, let's see, using my billing rate, ~7x my EA savings thus far.
Even valuing my time many multiples less than my billing rate (since un-fun EA time is coming at the opportunity cost not of add'l billings but instead of assorted fun time), I would have been much better off visiting another nearby DCFC.
Granted, the total time spent at those slower DCFC chargers might mean I'd have gotten home at the same hour anyway, but that time could have spent productively on my laptop (or unproductively yet enjoyably reading, say, this forum on my phone), instead of backing into different units, waiting for the EA phone agent to reset the unit, etc.

 

[Jonathan S.]

[...] In my opinion the other networks (EVGo, Chargepoint, Blink, etc…) while slightly more "reliable" are not competitive with EA (slower charge speeds, typically even fewer stalls, reliability that is only slightly better than EA)…

ymmv

That's exactly the tradeoff I'm struggling with ... EA alternatives during my northern New England roadtripping this spring were all just one or two units ... but from reading the PlugShare reviews and randomly checking their status, they seem to be quite lonely .... then the EA four-unit station is usually a three-unit station given the inevitable breakages.

PlugShare as seems misleading for reliability.
I checked this EA location just now:

https://www.plugshare.com/location/336298​

... and wow, perfect 10 rating!

But from a quick sampling of the Checkins:

• Jul 15 had to switch from unit to another to get a charge
• Jul 14 & 15 350kW unit is delivering in the 60s
• Jul 14 one unit broken
• Jul 7-9 one unit broken
• Jul 4 one unit broken

Also, when the station has a long line, despite being on the edge of a typically massive WalMart parking lot, no obviously means of lining up.

By contrast, even if I'm stuck at a 50kW DCFC, I can just take out my laptop and be productive (or good off on my phone), instead of struggling with an EA phone operator or playing Squid Game with other waiting cars.

Meanwhile, in the Tesla Supercharger alternative universe, I was shocked to see that one of their envy-inspiring locations (St J VT) receives only 3.7 stars out of 5 on Google: all the bad reviews are complaints about the location at a mainly defunct mall with minimal amenities ... and apparently the Tesla drivers can't walk the ~1500' to the nearby gas station.
(The EA location has 1.8 stars on Google, with all the bad reviews focused on the lack of reliability and/or long lines.)

 

[daveo4EV]

when is the trip? and we need to hear how it went!

 

[CaliPorsche]

We pick the Taycan up tomorrow from dealer - drop off for 2 days Wednesday for PPF and Ceramic... visiting friends for a few days in SoCal then drive up to PNW 2-4th August .... I will be sure to pay forward with an update on how it went .... ......Already bought the TeslaTap and set up all the Apps.... and lost 3 hours of my life last night reading through the myriad of 12v Battery issue threads/posts ... told you OCD.....

 

[CaliPorsche]

OK - so my last post in the thread, for completeness sake ...........the noobie journey was completed .......ending with two very happy new Taycan owners ... and with a fist fight, a ghost EA charger and an adventure with a poltergeist along the way ......

First off..... if I had followed the instructions fully that others gave me at the start of this thread and that I summarized .... there would have been no major issues with charging, in fact on these road trips my wife prefers the slightly longer stops every 2.5 to 3.5 hours (it has taken decades for me to find out that on road trips she thinks I am in too much hurry to get where we are going ).

DAY 2
Before we left our home area ... I tried a EA charger or two as "training" and both failed to operate, despite being on the phone for 30 minutes each time with EA customer service... it was 115 degrees outside, and as I was unfamiliar with the whole set up I was never quite certain what the issues were and what I could do (see later when I do know more) ... in the end both chargers could not be initiated .... but I put it down to bad luck and being a novice ... the next day I went out again and tried early in the morning and all worked well.

DAY 3
OK - now we are at Laguna beach for a few days stopover, the day did not start too well as I realized that my LTE had not worked since the day prior - see separate post.

We were headed out for an evening sail/dinner at Newport and so I decided to stopover and get a head start charge for the next morning - got to the Fashion island EA 350/150 chargers to find a loooonnngg line of people and 3 chargers not working... I felt kinda conflicted but decided to stay and wait... good job I did.

I was out walking and stretching when I heard a commotion behind me ... two guys going at it, one with his car askew (I think a Mach-E) as he was trying to reverse into an angled charging spot, another trying to his R1T drive in forwards. I did not know at the time but I found out later from other UFC fans they had been arguing for some time about who got there first - I do not know how that was not clear as this location was a one way system with chargers at the end of a car park - anyway fists were flying (more like handbags) - I separated them, pushed them apart at least 3 times, got my polo shirt torn and told them what I thought of them .....then offered some xanax ..... (as a joke)... anyway Rivian guy left giving me the finger ... somehow I became the bad guy ....

Charging wise - it was a breeze - 30% to 85% in 21 mins ..... tho I noticed the 350kw charger never got above 110kwh..... plus of course the entertainment was free at this location ......

DAY 5
Ready to leave the next day so went to a nearby target and charged 25% to 93% in 24 mins ... an absolute breeze.

DAY 6 - 1400 MILES JOURNEY START
OK - Leg 1 of the Journey between Laguna Beach and Medford Oregon ......so a little stressed, planned in ABRP, settled on a 4 charge day to be certain with 25% to 90% charge objectives, no less than 4 chargers at location, EA only in the filters.......checked ABRP suggested chargers in Plugshare, plumped each next charger into PCM, all went well after first charge, and second charge was great...... then I got brave and decided to push it!!!

During the second charge I looked in ABRP for a further charger - as I figured out that I could cut the charges down to 3 for this trip. So the next charger was showing in Woodland Ca (near Sacramento) - so I went for it. Traffic was really bad and slow - but I got to the charger location with 12% so I was feeling great .............. only to find out that this charger location (Yolo Transportation depot) was not available to the public. Nearest charger was 20 miles away at Dunnigan ... with a 12% battery ... oh my. So I changed drive mode to Range (weird driving at 60 on the I5 I can tell you) and for a very stressful 25 minutes prayed .... we made it with amazingly 5% of battery left. Fully charged up at a deserted set of chargers in an Americas Best Value Inn... and we were on our way again.

Lesson learnt - in ABRP place the charger rating at 6 or more - and that would have filtered out the Yolo charger - or look at the color code of the charger pin on plugshare (brown means not public) - or read the reviews every time

Got to Hotel in Medford at 10.00pm with 35% after 14 hours on the move - all Hotel chargers busy (4 chargers, only two cars charging and two ICEd but hotel could not contact owners), eventually topped up next morning over breakfast to 43%.

DAY 7 - FINAL LEG
Great start - set off on the journey but this time sticking to the 25 to 90% plan - starting at 43% and only 3 stops needed in ABRP - all good,...... until .......

I was driving a winding mountain pass at speed between Medford and Eugene - when all of a sudden all of the PCM screens went blank - then came back on and started flashing all kinds of warnings -

• Emergency Stop function not available (Temporary condition, Continued driving possible)
• Camera system error (Service necessary)
• Left high beam headlight defective (Check high beam headlight)

It occurred at about 70 mph as I was overtaking a large truck on a tight uphill bend - and some idiot came screaming up to the back of me in a pickup and ended up slamming his brakes on behind me. Once I had gathered my thoughts I pressed accept for the warnings on the right steering wheel wheel and they alarms disappeared except for an amber warning light (which later disappeared later after a power off).
I had assumed that something in the moron driving the pickup slamming up close to me caused this but later that evening I found this thread - so maybe this was just pure coincidence. I can tell you this was way worse than being at 12% ......... in any event - I am learning that poltergeists, gremlins etc. in this software are to be expected.....

Last charge of the day in Wa state - 3 car line up at the bank but 2 of the 6 chargers inoperable ... I started to feel more confident about this process, checked with the three cars in line in front of me if they had called EA - got the consensus of "No not worth it, but go for it" ... so I did ... EA customer service got a 350kw charger working in 5 mins for me and I got from 29% to 90% in 17 minutes.
A three charge very easy journey on Day 2 - and we got home to the PNW with 25% after 11 hours or so..... overall on the actual journey 7 charges all less than 30 minutes, 14 hours day 1 total and 11 hours day 2 ..... (lunch stopovers included)

All in all - my wife was already in love with this car, I fell in love with it after two days ... I am not a fan of the Innodrive yet (too unnerving when slowing down on empty roads to speed limit), but the ACC and lane keep are an absolute godsend when on long highway drives or stuck in traffic, the car drives like a dream (way better than my Panamera 4s) and in all seriousness .... I like stopping for 30 minutes every 3 hours or so .....

I am still learning a lot of things about the car ... and the dealer clearly did not do great job of showing us all the functions as I find out something new every couple of hours ... but that's all good.... and despite the software gremlins ........we absolutely love love love this car and I feel certain it will stay that way .....

 

[Jonathan S.]

Wow!
I just happened to have been reading about the Fashion Alley EA location at a BMW forum. Scores only 1.6 at PlugShare which often somehow generates nearly perfect 10 scores for miserable EA locations.
Maybe Fashion Valley deserves a rating boost for the entertainment, even if violent.

 

[Hirschaj]

anyway Rivian guy left giving me the finger ... somehow I became the bad guy

No good deed goes unpunished. Thanks for sharing your experience, it was a fun read.