Electrify America disaster

[twall]

Never do this. I stopped at the EA at Walmart in Sequim yesterday and tried three times to download the EA app. Bumped off each time, so I swiped a credit card. The “350 kWh” charger never got above 21 kWh, so I pulled it after 34kW, enough to get home. My credit card was immediately charged $50.00. Outrageous. I went to the EA online chat and was number one in line but waited ten minutes with no chat. Hugh disappointment in EA for first time tried.

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[emoore]

Never do this. I stopped at the EA at Walmart in Sequim yesterday and tried three times to download the EA app. Bumped off each time, so I swiped a credit card. The “350 kWh” charger never got above 21 kWh, so I pulled it after 34kW, enough to get home. My credit card was immediately charged $50.00. Outrageous. I went to the EA online chat and was number one in line but waited ten minutes with no chat. Hugh disappointment in EA for first time tried.

It's probably just a $50 hold, they won't actually charge you that. Wait a day or two and the actual cost will show up and the hold will go away.

 

[twall]

It's probably just a $50 hold, they won't actually charge you that. Wait a day or two and the actual cost will show up and the hold will go away.

That’s a relief if true. Still, I cannot imagine a good reason to hold $50. I’m not renting a room. Banker float, I suppose.

 

[EVerywhere]

In my experience the EA 350s have been a complete waste of time: the last 5+ I tried either failed to initiate, were broken or limited to 30kW. I have always had better luck with the EA 150s, frequently maxing at 160kW. I’ve used 4 RAN chargers on my current road trip, all jumped starting to 220-225kW — the contrast with the EA chargers is stark.

 

[jjswan33]

Never do this. I stopped at the EA at Walmart in Sequim yesterday and tried three times to download the EA app. Bumped off each time, so I swiped a credit card. The “350 kWh” charger never got above 21 kWh, so I pulled it after 34kW, enough to get home. My credit card was immediately charged $50.00. Outrageous. I went to the EA online chat and was number one in line but waited ten minutes with no chat. Hugh disappointment in EA for first time tried.

$50 auth hold is not that uncommon. Same things happens at the gas pump in some places. Had the same thing happen at an EVCS station a couple weeks ago.

About the app.. yeah generally better to have this stuff setup in advance.

Not trying to be pedantic but you are confusing kWh and kW.

In my experience the EA 350s have been a complete waste of time: the last 5+ I tried either failed to initiate, were broken or limited to 30kW. I have always had better luck with the EA 150s, frequently maxing at 160kW. I’ve used 4 RAN chargers on my current road trip, all jumped starting to 220-225kW — the contrast with the EA chargers is stark.

Have all of those EA 350s been the same location, people say this all the time but this almost never happens to me.. When it does almost always I knew in advance checking the app that those stations were capped at 50kW but when I arrive were the only spots available.

 

[EBEG]

That’s a relief if true. Still, I cannot imagine a good reason to hold $50. I’m not renting a room. Banker float, I suppose.

This is standard practice with gas pumps and some hospitality (restaurants and hotels) as well.

 

[Bullitt]

Check your app for the account balance. EA doesn’t charge per… charge. You fill your account with $XX for it to use. I have mine set to $20 so thats always the amount that gets pulled, but I dont always use it. Your app must have added $50 to your account — not sure the default since I changed it so quickly.

EDIT: Just re-read your post and saw you didnt get the app working. EA always charges me in bulk amounts like that but I keep the balance for the next time and when I use it up it automatically it charges me a bulk amount again. Blink, Loop and EVGo have done the same.

 

[Dark-Fx]

That’s a relief if true. Still, I cannot imagine a good reason to hold $50. I’m not renting a room. Banker float, I suppose.

They don't know what vehicle you drive before you plug in. $50 hold isn't enough in some cases.

Disaster!

 

[jjswan33]

They don't know what vehicle you drive before you plug in. $50 hold isn't enough in some cases.

Your Hummer was thirsty

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

As others have said, it is a $50 hold. It will disappear (and the actual charges appear) within a few days.

I have also had bad experiences at an EA charger. Not reading card, chargers down, not connecting to vehicle, stopping randomly after a few minutes... have to admit a hasty panic to return to my vehicle after seeing a failure registered in the app. It was right around when that picture of the burned up Rivian was floating around on the forums. I half expected to return to my vehicle in flames. ??

I was eventually able to get the app installed and a CC entered into it. Plan to try that at some point. Probably when I'm less scared of it frying my vehicle, LOL.

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

The general lesson here is to download apps, in advance, when possible.

Every EV owner should have EA, EVGo, Tesla, Shell, and ChargePoint apps with accounts setup!

You'll still find circumstances where you have to download a one-off app in the field... But there's no reason not to cover the major charging players.

 

[SANZC02]

That’s a relief if true. Still, I cannot imagine a good reason to hold $50. I’m not renting a room. Banker float, I suppose.

They do not know how much your charge will be, they run the card for an amount to cover the session then settle it afterwards.

 

[oskeei]

Have all of those EA 350s been the same location, people say this all the time but this almost never happens to me.. When it does almost always I knew in advance checking the app that those stations were capped at 50kW but when I arrive were the only spots available.

During our last trip, the app was clutch in helping to manage expectations with charging speed.
App does a good job of letting you know what speed the chargers are actually at even if they are labeled for faster speeds.

Having bumped into an EA maintenance crew, I'm guessing the ill temper I came across is a result as it is probably a Sisyphean task trying to keep all the stations up and running and maybe throttling the speeds helps?

 

[WSea]

And to check out PlugShare ahead of time. I don't see any redflag user checkins at this location. I'd recommend restarting the session if charging speed is that low or switching chargers if others are available.

 

[COdogman]

Disaster!

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