Minimum Charging Speed Requirements at RAN

[JoulesVerne]

Also for the folks throwing around words like snob and hypocrite, you own (aspire to own?) a Rivian, where the dedicated charging network currently excludes every other EV.

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[Destreyf]

Also for the folks throwing around words like snob and hypocrite, you own (aspire to own?) a Rivian, where the dedicated charging network currently excludes every other EV.

I understand the sentiment of what you're saying, but I disagree with it.

My main reason is that I believe the actual reason Rivian has not opened the RAN up is that they do not have the payment infrastructure in place, this also lines up with the fact that Rivian was supposed to start charging for RAN access back in April but it never happened.

Additionally they need to build out support for activation/payments in the mobile app as I do not believe they have payment/card readers in the chargers, although I am uncertain on this point.

As a Rivian owner I am a little jealous of my fellow Rivian owners as there are a whopping 0 RAN chargers, and 2 Waypoint chargers at a single location near Moab here in Utah.

 

[Lisa & Bob]

I understand the sentiment of what you're saying, but I disagree with it.

My main reason is that I believe the actual reason Rivian has not opened the RAN up is that they do not have the payment infrastructure in place, this also lines up with the fact that Rivian was supposed to start charging for RAN access back in April but it never happened.

Additionally they need to build out support for activation/payments in the mobile app as I do not believe they have payment/card readers in the chargers, although I am uncertain on this point.

As a Rivian owner I am a little jealous of my fellow Rivian owners as there are a whopping 0 RAN chargers, and 2 Waypoint chargers at a single location near Moab here in Utah.

I've been trying to get in touch with Rivian about locations in "rural" Utah. It seems to me that having RANs in Moab, Escalante and Springdale would get owners the ability to get to the National Parks and National Monuments in southern Utah. So far my efforts have been unsuccessful.

 

[mkg3]

Also for the folks throwing around words like snob and hypocrite, you own (aspire to own?) a Rivian, where the dedicated charging network currently excludes every other EV.

If any Rivian owner depended only on RAN chargers, their vehicle would be sitting somewhere with dead battery, except those that live near current and just a handful of RAN chargers.

 

[jjswan33]

I've been trying to get in touch with Rivian about locations in "rural" Utah. It seems to me that having RANs in Moab, Escalante and Springdale would get owners the ability to get to the National Parks and National Monuments in southern Utah. So far my efforts have been unsuccessful.

Rumor has it they wanted to add a RAN station in Moab but the utility wanted to pay millions in upgrades so it got canned.

For the time being we will just have to use the Magic Dock in Moab and/or wait for the EA station that is supposed to come next year if I recall. A lot of good discussion in this thread.

 

[LevelHeaded]

They can address slow charging vehicles by billing by the minute

Then they wouldn’t be motivated to provide the fastest charging possible

 

[Count Orlok]

The Count has one question for everyone in this thread. What is a RAN?

 

[LevelHeaded]

Billing only by the minute is a dumb idea

The answer is to build more chargers, as others have stated

 

[Autolycus]

Build more chargers and design them with better power sharing across the entire site like Tesla is doing now with their newer v3 sites. When designed and built correctly, the total site capacity should be usable, no matter what vehicle is on what connector.

 

[blturner]

I was at an EvGo charger last night and the app said 60 minutes session limit. I took the last of 4 stalls when I pulled in. I wonder how they would enforce that. If the charger quits early and the driver was off eating dinner they probably would not even notice, let alone come back early. If the driver is sitting there, can't they just unplug and replug and start a new session?
As has been noted here, a R1T will charge at 200 miles per hour at 60kW while that same 60kW will give around 400 miles per hour to a model 3.
The animosity of all of this is enough to stop people from buying and EV till this gets worked out.
We will have to add "charger rage" to "road rage" as something to worry about.

 

[SANZC02]

I was at an EvGo charger last night and the app said 60 minutes session limit. I took the last of 4 stalls when I pulled in. I wonder how they would enforce that. If the charger quits early and the driver was off eating dinner they probably would not even notice, let alone come back early. If the driver is sitting there, can't they just unplug and replug and start a new session?
As has been noted here, a R1T will charge at 200 miles per hour at 60kW while that same 60kW will give around 400 miles per hour to a model 3.
The animosity of all of this is enough to stop people from buying and EV till this gets worked out.
We will have to add "charger rage" to "road rage" as something to worry about.

60 minutes is a really long time, my average charge time for the Rivian at CCS chargers is under 35 minutes.

The longest charge I remember was around 50 minutes when I needed to go to 90% to have buffer for a longer stretch on a trip.

If people are charging over an hour, they are trying to go to 100% and I have never found the time to do that worth the wait.

 

[jjswan33]

Build more chargers and design them with better power sharing across the entire site like Tesla is doing now with their newer v3 sites. When designed and built correctly, the total site capacity should be usable, no matter what vehicle is on what connector.

You make a good point here since RAN has power sharing too and this thread is about charging at RAN.

So in that case Johnny in his Bolt will only be pulling 50kW at 1A but 1B and 1C will have more power available to cycle other user through quicker. It shouldn’t take anyone any longer to charge when the station is running at full capacity.

 

[R1TruKaLa]

I just pulled into a EA location to find all three DCFC dispensers full.

Interestingly one of the cars charging was a Subaru Solterra with 62% SOC. It was charging at a whopping nineteen (19!!) kW. The driver said he was going to 80% SOC which the dispenser estimated would take 80 minutes. Imagine if he was going to 100%.

If RAN someday opens up to non-Rivian vehicles I hope they enforce minimum charging speeds that boot slow chargers (accounting for SOC) if the location gets full (or if they occupy the only trailer dispenser).

Otherwise escaped compliance cars (like the Solterra and Bz4x) will be clogging up dispensers.

?

 

[Autolycus]

You make a good point here since RAN has power sharing too and this thread is about charging at RAN.

So in that case Johnny in his Bolt will only be pulling 50kW at 1A but 1B and 1C will have more power available to cycle other user through quicker. It shouldn’t take anyone any longer to charge when the station is running at full capacity.

Yep, and if Rivian can eventually use the same site design that Tesla has, box 1 will be able to share with box 2 and make any potential impacts even lower.

They're still taking up a pedestal, but if there are enough pedestals and enough total site capacity, it won't matter nearly as much.

 

[zymolysis]

f they charged everyone $1 per minute, that would dissuade people from charging to 100% or from monopolizing the stall all day with a crappy slow-charging EV.

That gives the charging network companies an incentive not to fix poorly working (slow) chargers.

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