AVOID PANOCHE RD (SHELL) EA CHARGER AT ALL COSTS!

[kizamybute']

I posted in June about a trip to northern California where I used the Electrify America Charger at 46331 W Panoche Road, Firebaugh, CA (Shell Gas Station off of the 5 Freeway). I had previously tried it and was horrible. In June, I wasn't paying attention and got routed there again. Same HORRIBLE experience. This past weekend, I screwed up again and wasn't paying attention and allowed it to route me there yet again. The absolute worst charging experience.

EA app shows 6 chargers, two of which are supposedly 350kw chargers. Each time I've been there, at least 4 of them were not working.

Each time I've been there, speed has never ramped up over 50kw.

The prior two times were in the middle of the night, so there was nobody there. Just had to keep switching chargers until one finally worked.

This time, was a daytime trip. I recognized it as soon as I pulled in and said "oh crap, not again", praying that by now, well over a year after the first time, that it would now be better. No such luck.

There was just one person charging when I arrived. Tried three other chargers, all not working. Was just pulling out of one spot to go to the other charger when a car snuck into the spot just ahead of me. I nicely tried to explain that I was there first, but he was apparently clueless and just waved at me and walked off.

The two working chargers were now full and charging at painfully slow speeds of around 38 kw. As I was too low on range, was stuck having to wait over an hour for one of them to unplug. In the meantime, tried calling EA customer service. They used to be pretty good. Now, hold time is well over 30 minutes each of the last few times. They also used to offer some type of concession for those having a bad experience because of their faulty chargers (a free session or something). Not any more. Got someone on the line that barely spoke english and just kept asking the same repetitive questions over and over and over. Clearly someone in a call center reading from a trouble shooting book. He indicated that 3 of the 4 non-working chargers had open tickets since as far back as May. FIVE MONTHS they've known about them and done nothing!!!

When I finally got to plug in, took 45 minutes to get 80 miles in range just to make it to the next charger. Roughly TWO HOURS wasted.

I WON'T FORGET ABOUT THIS CHARGER A FOURTH TIME. IT'S ETCHED IN MY BRAIN NOW.

Better off stopping at Kettleman City, where they have all newer chargers (see prior post). Never a problem there. But, EA needs to do better overall, at least with customer service and offering ACCURATE info in the app as to how many chargers at each location are not working.

PRIOR POST
https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...cost-reduced-to-0-00-slow-n-ca-charger.15968/

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[Zorg]

Planning a CCS trip sucks. Can't wait for more RAN (there will be one in Firebaugh BTW) and access to Tesla supercharger network

 

[jjswan33]

I mean you know it’s bad, anyone who has charged their in the last year knows it’s bad.. so…. WHY ARE YOU YELLING AT US!!

 

[COdogman]

 

[DuoRivians]

Good thing a RAN is opening up soon at Firebaugh across the freeway

 

[kizamybute']

Good thing a RAN is opening up soon at Firebaugh across the freeway

That will be GREAT!

So far, 100% positive experiences at RAN chargers. Having access to Tesla chargers, despite likely being slower charge rates, will still be a great alternative.

The NEW Electrify America chargers seem to be reliable, as noted with Kettleman City, unfortunately, know way to know which locations are new from the app.

 

[kizamybute']

I mean you know it’s bad, anyone who has charged their in the last year knows it’s bad.. so…. WHY ARE YOU YELLING AT US!!

LOL, was yelling at myself for making the mistake of allowing myself to be routed to that charger THREE MORE TIMES. First time, shame on you. Second time, shame on me. Third and fourth time, I'm just an idiot for not paying attention. Yes, was mad at EA for such a horrible location, but more mad at myself for not catching it.

 

[COdogman]

LOL, was yelling at myself for making the mistake of allowing myself to be routed to that charger THREE MORE TIMES. First time, shame on you. Second time, shame on me. Third and fourth time, I'm just an idiot for not paying attention. Yes, was mad at EA for such a horrible location, but more mad at myself for not catching it.

 

[Marchin_MTB]

I wish there was a way to tell the routing software to ignore specific charging locations. I thought ABRP might have something like this.

 

[RivianXpress]

Had that exact experience in august - 2 hours to get to 70%. I pulled in with 6 miles of range.

 

[RivAW]

I posted in June about a trip to northern California where I used the Electrify America Charger at 46331 W Panoche Road, Firebaugh, CA (Shell Gas Station off of the 5 Freeway). I had previously tried it and was horrible. In June, I wasn't paying attention and got routed there again. Same HORRIBLE experience. This past weekend, I screwed up again and wasn't paying attention and allowed it to route me there yet again. The absolute worst charging experience.

EA app shows 6 chargers, two of which are supposedly 350kw chargers. Each time I've been there, at least 4 of them were not working.

Each time I've been there, speed has never ramped up over 50kw.

The prior two times were in the middle of the night, so there was nobody there. Just had to keep switching chargers until one finally worked.

This time, was a daytime trip. I recognized it as soon as I pulled in and said "oh crap, not again", praying that by now, well over a year after the first time, that it would now be better. No such luck.

There was just one person charging when I arrived. Tried three other chargers, all not working. Was just pulling out of one spot to go to the other charger when a car snuck into the spot just ahead of me. I nicely tried to explain that I was there first, but he was apparently clueless and just waved at me and walked off.

The two working chargers were now full and charging at painfully slow speeds of around 38 kw. As I was too low on range, was stuck having to wait over an hour for one of them to unplug. In the meantime, tried calling EA customer service. They used to be pretty good. Now, hold time is well over 30 minutes each of the last few times. They also used to offer some type of concession for those having a bad experience because of their faulty chargers (a free session or something). Not any more. Got someone on the line that barely spoke english and just kept asking the same repetitive questions over and over and over. Clearly someone in a call center reading from a trouble shooting book. He indicated that 3 of the 4 non-working chargers had open tickets since as far back as May. FIVE MONTHS they've known about them and done nothing!!!

When I finally got to plug in, took 45 minutes to get 80 miles in range just to make it to the next charger. Roughly TWO HOURS wasted.

I WON'T FORGET ABOUT THIS CHARGER A FOURTH TIME. IT'S ETCHED IN MY BRAIN NOW.

Better off stopping at Kettleman City, where they have all newer chargers (see prior post). Never a problem there. But, EA needs to do better overall, at least with customer service and offering ACCURATE info in the app as to how many chargers at each location are not working.

PRIOR POST
https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...cost-reduced-to-0-00-slow-n-ca-charger.15968/

It's a good head up, but you are a victim of your own failure to plan.
Worth mentioning that "there first" doesn't entitle you to the whole station if you unfortunately picked a charger that wasn't working.

 

[WSea]

Just a reminder that a few important minutes looking on plugshare can make your experience much more enjoyable

 

[FooF]

Chargers have been broken for so long at this location EA obviously does not do any monitoring or maintenance of their hardware once it is installed. The only time things seem to get fixed is if they upgrade all chargers at a site.

 

[jjswan33]

Chargers have been broken for so long at this location EA obviously does not do any monitoring or maintenance of their hardware once it is installed. The only time things seem to get fixed is if they upgrade all chargers at a site.

Think about that for a second.. Just maybe they decided these old chargers cost to much to repair and are not worth fixing?

Then when they go to replace them people bitch about that too. Then when the replace old chargers instead of adding new sites people bitch and say why are they not expanding as fast as Tesla.

EA honestly just seems to be in a situation that no matter what they do some people will never be satisfied, so why bother trying to please those folks. I've said it before but I am happy that EA is available and allows me to travel all over the country in ways that otherwise would be impossible and I meet people all the time that feel the same way.

Do I always get 200+kW charging speeds, absolutely not but I always get where I am trying to go. And FWIW last time I was at this station I got around 100kW and I didn't bitch about it.

 

[FooF]

Think about that for a second.. Just maybe they decided these old chargers cost to much to repair and are not worth fixing?

Then when they go to replace them people bitch about that too. Then when the replace old chargers instead of adding new sites people bitch and say why are they not expanding as fast as Tesla.

EA honestly just seems to be in a situation that no matter what they do some people will never be satisfied, so why bother trying to please those folks. I've said it before but I am happy that EA is available and allows me to travel all over the country in ways that otherwise would be impossible and I meet people all the time that feel the same way.

Do I always get 200+kW charging speeds, absolutely not but I always get where I am trying to go. And FWIW last time I was at this station I got around 100kW and I didn't bitch about it.

I don't care if they expand at all since most of the time I try to use EA I have to shuffle between broken chargers until I find one that works. The least they could do is display out of order on known broken chargers that have not been working for years.

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