I think the charging grading is biased...

[cjust2006]

Guess it doesn't matter that only two of six are working. What matters most is charging speed consistency, and not the availability. Or maybe there's a bias? Hmmm....

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[HaveBlue]

It takes several hundred sessions to adjust is my understanding from the Rivian interview. Were you not able to charge? The two people that did likely would give it an A since they were able to.

 

[OverZealous]

I'm pretty sure the entire point of the new rating system is that it's not based on user reviews, but rather objective data, such as successful charges and charging speeds. They also are supposed to include uptime data.

One thing I don't know that they are incorporating—or able to incorporate—is data such as wait times if a charger is full. There's probably a heuristic way to identify that if you know how many chargers are available and a Rivian needs to use it.

At any rate, I doubt it's perfect, but in the case of the example above, it's possible only having 2 chargers hasn't caused any issues (i.e., there's never or rarely been more than 2 people who wanted to charge at a time).

 

[WhisperPickle]

Guess it doesn't matter that only two of six are working. What matters most is charging speed consistency, and not the availability. Or maybe there's a bias? Hmmm....

Listen to the podcast where Wassym explains how it works. It’s not based on just what’s happening at this moment……but because that’s an issue as well that’s why they are giving you the current status.

 

[ads75]

@cjust2006 just curious, how long was your wait to charge? Was there a line when you arrived, or when you left? If 4 chargers are down, but the ones inservice are getting minimal use, they won't be a high priority for repair. Obviously we all want the chargers working, but unfortunately things break, look at the other networks for evidence.

What should get a better score, a station with 2 of 6 chargers working, or a station with 2 of 2 chargers working? Both are as effective to the consumer. Anytime a grading or scoring system is used there are bound to be flaws.

I still use plugshare before my trips. This weekend I used a EVGO station (mostly without issue, my first time using EVGO I was stupid) that Rivian scored a B, and a score of 8.8 on plugshare. But when I read the reviews on google or plugshare, the station sounds like it is closed off by security after a mall it is located at closes, and opens sometime in the morning. If you can't physically access the charger in off hours, I doubt Rivian can score it.

 

[Dark-Fx]

"Able to get a charge" seems to be highly weighted in the calculation.

 

[cjust2006]

@cjust2006 just curious, how long was your wait to charge? Was there a line when you arrived, or when you left? If 4 chargers are down, but the ones inservice are getting minimal use, they won't be a high priority for repair. Obviously we all want the chargers working, but unfortunately things break, look at the other networks for evidence.

What should get a better score, a station with 2 of 6 chargers working, or a station with 2 of 2 chargers working? Both are as effective to the consumer. Anytime a grading or scoring system is used there are bound to be flaws.

I still use plugshare before my trips. This weekend I used a EVGO station (mostly without issue, my first time using EVGO I was stupid) that Rivian scored a B, and a score of 8.8 on plugshare. But when I read the reviews on google or plugshare, the station sounds like it is closed off by security after a mall it is located at closes, and opens sometime in the morning. If you can't physically access the charger in off hours, I doubt Rivian can score it.

The confusion came when there was one in use and figuring out whether the one with no status worked at all. Luckily it did, but there was still something wrong with it too.

Getting navigated to a charger where there is an immediate high likelihood of a problem just seems risky, is my point. Actual bias is unlikely, of course; but the immediate current status of a station should have some weight on live grading. I'd say with the information known, which is that only one charger of 6 were working, that there's a good reason to expect even the last one doesn't.

I blindly just trusted it without looking beforehand (because it's RAN, of course it works, right?) and got lucky. I'd expect RAN to be akin to Superchagers, and I don't want to equate RAN with the likes of EA and EVgo when it comes to reliability... At this location, there are also like 10 Tesla Superchargers, which all worked. Guess time will show if that continues to be the case with those layoffs... Can't wait for that adapter.

 

[Riviaenz]

It wouldn’t know about EA uptime unless you plug your Rivian into a dud just to have it log it for inclusion in Rivian’s rating system.

Yesterday, for example, we arrived to a site that had one of its 350kW units offline (was reported in PlugShare by EA that it was down for maintenance). I didn’t use - screen was dark. There was a Mach-e at the other 350 (nearly as bad as Bolt grabbing one) and we grabbed the 150 with CHAdeMo. It failed 2 times, the first time delivering 1.7kWhr, second time 2.3kWhr, and during the third session I called EA to learn that the unit’s CHAdeMo was offline and that units have to have both cables working properly for them to not have voltage issues. He recommended either moving to another or trying again. The 3rd was a charm (it was the best unit given we were towing and at the other 150 I would have been blocking in other parked cars without unhitching).

The 2 interrupted sessions with red ring around our R1T’s port are what get logged in addition to charge performance at a site. Our experience there won’t help that site improve it’s B rating.

 

[BigSkies]

I was looking at routes through Wyoming the other day.

I see the charger in Dubois is graded “A” by Rivian, but has a PlugShare score of 1.8. Lots of reports of that station totally failing, restarting, or producing a minimal output.

I love the concept of Rivian’s grading, but it’s still going to be a while before it can be relied on consistently.

 

[Riviaenz]

I was looking at routes through Wyoming the other day.

I see the charger in Dubois is graded “A” by Rivian, but has a PlugShare score of 1.8. Lots of reports of that station totally failing, restarting, or producing a minimal output.

I love the concept of Rivian’s grading, but it’s still going to be a while before it can be relied on consistently.

Hopefully it starts grading after a minimum number of sessions (reliable sample size) by Rivians at a site. It would not be a good indicated if it got an A from the one time a Rivian showed up and had a successful fast charge, or if perhaps it got an A rating for existing in Wyoming to begin with, kind of like an SAT (you automatically get 200 points for your name and email address on the test).

Still, anything in Wyoming must be better than nothing. Aren’t they still trying to actively discourage EVs?

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a42522968/wyoming-politicians-call-for-ev-sales-ban/

I thought their latest ploy was to ban NEVI funding or countering with subsidies for Diesel by incenting more refining capacity to reduce Diesel prices.

 

[BigSkies]

Hopefully it starts grading after a minimum number of sessions (reliable sample size) by Rivians at a site. It would not be a good indicated if it got an A from the one time a Rivian showed up and had a successful fast charge, or if perhaps it got an A rating for existing in Wyoming to begin with, kind of like an SAT (you automatically get 200 points for your name and email address on the test).

Still, anything in Wyoming must be better than nothing. Aren’t they still trying to actively discourage EVs?

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a42522968/wyoming-politicians-call-for-ev-sales-ban/

I thought their latest ploy was to ban NEVI funding or countering with subsidies for Diesel by incenting more refining capacity to reduce Diesel prices.

In the case of Dubois, I suspect the station broke and the PlugShare rating deteriorated rapidly, and Rivian owners haven’t tried to go there since it broke. It’s a single point of failure, so your trip is entirely screwed if that station is broken. This is complete speculation though.

I think the station grading would improve a lot if Rivian could come up with a data-sharing agreement with other manufacturers. Every participant would benefit.

I did look through Wyoming’s NEVI plan. It will give good coverage along I-80 and I-25 while doing nothing for the rest of the state. But they’re making sure these stations don’t come online until 2026.

I wrote to Wyoming’s tourism board about the status of charging on I-25. Sheridan is a potential location for a family reunion I’m planning, but the charger situation on I-25 is making that highly unattractive. Write to [email protected] if the charger situation is impacting your travel plans. If there’s one group in Wyoming that should care, it’s the tourism industry.

 

[waitingonanr1s]

I'm not sure how long it takes down stations to affect the grading but I've seen failed charges affect it. An EA station in Flagstaff was a B last month when I got there. Evidently they were having a bad day - tons of bad plugshare reports from the day I was there. I had to try a couple of stations to initiate charging, and it was still limited.

I checked the rating a couple of days later and it was down to a C due to the recent events. I've found the grading system to be relatively accurate. It's so nice not having to reference all your planned stops against plugshare.

 

[EVentually]

I think these issues could be solved if they included average wait time for the ETA you'd arrive at the charger.

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