Explain this, EA

[astonius]

Currently on a road trip. I pulled up to an EA station with 150kw and 350kw chargers. I plugged into the 350kw. After several minutes the charge rate never ramped past 48kw.

I back up a bit to reach a different charger — one labeled 150kw. The truck immediately ramped up to 187kw. This is not only higher than the labeled rating but faster than the supposed faster charger.

Thinking back to a prior trip, something similar happened at a different station. The 350kw charger was slow, but the 150kw was faster than labeled.

What gives? Should I just always pick the 150kw chargers at EA for the best experience?

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[DaveA]

Since the R1T only stays above 200 kw for a short period of time, I just select the 150s. And yeah, they definitely get more than 150kw on average in my experience.

 

[jjswan33]

150kW is based on 400V if your battery is in a state that is more than 400V then the truck can pull more than 150kW.

As for the 350kW station, there is a reasonable chance if you unplugged and reconnected it would have given a higher charge rate or their may just be a problem with that specific charger causing an issue, I have seen both happen.

 

[Mcdoo]

Currently on a road trip. I pulled up to an EA station with 150kw and 350kw chargers. I plugged into the 350kw. After several minutes the charge rate never ramped past 48kw.

I back up a bit to reach a different charger — one labeled 150kw. The truck immediately ramped up to 187kw. This is not only higher than the labeled rating but faster than the supposed faster charger.

Thinking back to a prior trip, something similar happened at a different station. The 350kw charger was slow, but the 150kw was faster than labeled.

What gives? Should I just always pick the 150kw chargers at EA for the best experience?

Most likely there was an issue with that 350. As for the 150 giving you more, it all depends on pack voltage and the amount of current being provided by the unit. For our Rivian's that would probably be max (187) from a 150. @OutofSpecKyle has some in-depth videos about how the charging works and I highly recommend

 

[astonius]

As for the 350kW station, there is a reasonable chance if you unplugged and reconnected it would have given a higher charge rate or their may just be a problem with that specific charger causing an issue, I have seen both happen.

I tried this. Even tried a different cable on the same charger. Did the same in my previous stop as well. Still only hit 48kw.

 

[jjswan33]

I tried this. Even tried a different cable on the same charger. Did the same in my previous stop as well. Still only hit 48kw.

It's probably broken or de-rated. What station is it? I have seen some stalls of late that EA has de-rated to 50kW. In those cases the app will say they have 50kW stations but the labels on the stall still say 350kW or 150kW. I know it is annoying but if they break at the higher rates and they can at least keep them going at 50kW it makes sense. For example I noticed that at the Colorado Springs EA station.

 

[astonius]

It's probably broken or de-rated. What station is it? I have seen some stalls of late that EA has de-rated to 50kW. In those cases the app will say they have 50kW stations but the labels on the stall still say 350kW or 150kW. I know it is annoying but if they break at the higher rates and they can at least keep them going at 50kW it makes sense. For example I noticed that at the Colorado Springs EA station.

This was the Walmart in Jackson, TN. Charger #3. App shows it as 350kw as well.

 

[astonius]

Also, the charge was free. I didn’t have to swipe a card or use the app. Is that something EA does from time to time?

 

[jjswan33]

This was the Walmart in Jackson, TN. Charger #3. App shows it as 350kw as well.

It's probably broken then. You should report the issue to EA if you haven't.

 

[jjswan33]

Also, the charge was free. I didn’t have to swipe a card or use the app. Is that something EA does from time to time?

Yes I have seen that a handful of times. Sometimes when they are having issues with communication they just flip them to free so people can still charge, or at least that is what it seems.

 

[astonius]

It's probably broken then. You should report the issue to EA if you haven't.

Happily would if they made it easy! Seems the only option is to call them.

 

[zefram47]

If you watch some review sites like Out of Spec on their road trips you'll see stuff like that...not getting above 36 kW or something abnormally low. Sounds like when that happens it's a lack of cable cooling on the charger side of the equation. Sometimes using the other cable/plug on the same unit can help, but usually means selecting a new charger. As another mentioned, the R1 doesn't really pull enough power to make a huge difference between using a 150 kW or 350 kW station either.

 

[Joints4Sale]

I often charge at a EA station in Richmond VA. This station was upgrade with new hardware about a year ago and is pretty reliable. Many times I show up and cars not capable of charging faster than 150 are plugged in at the 350 stalls. I've often gotten 175+ at the 150 stalls. One of these days I'll do a comparison test. I'm guessing it doesn't make a big difference in time to charge from 10% to 70%. My wife's Audi e-tron GT on the other hand charges much faster on a 350.

 

[kurtlikevonnegut]

Also, the charge was free. I didn’t have to swipe a card or use the app. Is that something EA does from time to time?

I've noticed a lot of weird behavior like this from multiple EA stations lately. I think the cabinets that are getting replaced were pushed an update that's caused them to go haywire because most of those that I've had with these same issues (de-rated charging and free) also had a notice on the screen that EA was improving their user experience etc etc. I think I've gotten 3 free charging sessions in the last 2 weeks from EA stations but all of them involved wonky charge rates and changing cables/cabinets multiple times to get one that worked.

 

[jeeden]

Happily would if they made it easy! Seems the only option is to call them.

When I click on a charger location in the EA app it has a "report an issue" button on the bottom were you can write a text.

Outofspec also said on his videos to hit them with the charger location on twitter.

I feel like there should be a real organized movement to report all the bad chargers to EA through the app and twitter as much as possible. I suspect that their systems shows chargers are fine when they aren't and even with all of EAs problems, they can't fix what they don't know is broken.

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