Pointers on charging

[20100]

Three weeks into owning our R1S, I figured I should preemptively start loading on charging knowledge
Would love to get some pointers on what to expect and plan for (I live North of San Diego):
- What are the best and fastest charging networks?
- Does my Chargepoint card get me access to all of them or do I need to get alternatives just in case
- Does Electrify America work? (All 10 charging station around me show 0 availabilities)
I do have a Chargepoint card, but only use it when I need to park my Tesla in a place that doesn't have a Tesla SuperCharger nearby. I don't think I've ever used a fast charger with it, so lacking knowledge about fast charging networks outside of Tesla's
Thanks in Advance
Vincent

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[Tango45]

Three weeks into owning our R1S, I figured I should preemptively start loading on charging knowledge
Would love to get some pointers on what to expect and plan for (I live North of San Diego):
- What are the best and fastest charging networks?
- Does my Chargepoint card get me access to all of them or do I need to get alternatives just in case
- Does Electrify America work? (All 10 charging station around me show 0 availabilities)
I do have a Chargepoint card, but only use it when I need to park my Tesla in a place that doesn't have a Tesla SuperCharger nearby. I don't think I've ever used a fast charger with it, so lacking knowledge about fast charging networks outside of Tesla's
Thanks in Advance
Vincent

Welcome to the club (by your questions, I'm assuming this is your first EV; apologies if that's a misunderstanding on my part)! The short answers to your questions are:

- That's not quite how it works; there's not really one network that's inherently faster than others (BTW, I'm not including Tesla in any of these because it would skew all answers).
- Your Chargepoint card will not get you access to all of them. Right now you'll be best served by installing apps for the most prevalent networks in your area and on your roadtrip routes. For example, I have Chargepoint, Electrify America, EVgo, Blink, Volta, Tesla, and SemaConnect on my phone. I've only ever really used Electrify America, but the time to download an app and set up an account is not while you're standing in front of a charger. I also highly suggest the PlugShare app and the A Better Route Planner site and app for planning trips.
- Yes, but reliability seems to vary by region, weather, the phase of the moon, and your vehicle's current mood.

Charging at this moment is a lot more complicated nuanced than gassing up. I highly recommend this video. It gets into the math and concepts behind charging, but it's all presented in a relatively understandable manner.

I would say that you should consider the charging speeds presented in various charging station listings, but the "availability" is a little... iffy. 1) I'm not sure about the reliability of the information going into the app as to whether a charger is "available" - unless you're looking at the EA app about EA stations, for example; 2) a car that's charging at one station may not be there by the time you get there.

There's lots of charging discussions here on the forum. I know it can be spread across various threads and be interspersed with A LOT of complaining (not a dig at those complaining, just a statement of fact). They're worth skimming, though.

I hope that helps. If you still have questions after watching that video, I'd be happy to come back and offer what advice I can (as I'm sure would others). However, I reserve the right to be wrong or to have opinions that others may not share.

 

[20100]

Welcome to the club (by your questions, I'm assuming this is your first EV; apologies if that's a misunderstanding on my part)! The short answers to your questions are:

- That's not quite how it works; there's not really one network that's inherently faster than others (BTW, I'm not including Tesla in any of these because it would skew all answers).
- Your Chargepoint card will not get you access to all of them. Right now you'll be best served by installing apps for the most prevalent networks in your area and on your roadtrip routes. For example, I have Chargepoint, Electrify America, EVgo, Blink, Volta, Tesla, and SemaConnect on my phone. I've only ever really used Electrify America, but the time to download an app and set up an account is not while you're standing in front of a charger. I also highly suggest the PlugShare app and the A Better Route Planner site and app for planning trips.
- Yes, but reliability seems to vary by region, weather, the phase of the moon, and your vehicle's current mood.

Charging at this moment is a lot more complicated nuanced than gassing up. I highly recommend this video. It gets into the math and concepts behind charging, but it's all presented in a relatively understandable manner.

I would say that you should consider the charging speeds presented in various charging station listings, but the "availability" is a little... iffy. 1) I'm not sure about the reliability of the information going into the app as to whether a charger is "available" - unless you're looking at the EA app about EA stations, for example; 2) a car that's charging at one station may not be there by the time you get there.

There's lots of charging discussions here on the forum. I know it can be spread across various threads and be interspersed with A LOT of complaining (not a dig at those complaining, just a statement of fact). They're worth skimming, though.

I hope that helps. If you still have questions after watching that video, I'd be happy to come back and offer what advice I can (as I'm sure would others). However, I reserve the right to be wrong or to have opinions that others may not share.

Thanks for the details. That video is very useful. Seems to confirm Electrify America is just unreliable across the board.
It's my 3rd EV, but my first non-Tesla EV.
Seems like you have more apps than you need: Chargepoint gives you access to half of the ones you listed (see screenshot below). ElectrifyAmerica isn't included though, which is weird since those two have announced a collaboration 4 years ago (https://www.chargepoint.com/about/n...te-agreement-expand-public-ev-charging-access).
First try, we ended up using EVGo, but discovered they prevented charging for more than 30 min, and the charge rate was much below what they advertised.
Will keep trying

 

[VSG]

The Rivian user interface doesn't have access to real time availability of EA chargers. You will have to use the EA app for that.

I suggest you take a short trip to your nearest EA station (and chargepoint station, and evgo station) and do a trial run. That way when you really need it you will have everything you need in place.

I agree with @Tango45 that you should have all those apps set up.

 

[emoore]

No EA isn’t unreliable across the board. I suggest you download the app and try it.

 

[Ingo B]

Welcome to the club (by your questions, I'm assuming this is your first EV; apologies if that's a misunderstanding on my part)! The short answers to your questions are:

- That's not quite how it works; there's not really one network that's inherently faster than others (BTW, I'm not including Tesla in any of these because it would skew all answers).
- Your Chargepoint card will not get you access to all of them. Right now you'll be best served by installing apps for the most prevalent networks in your area and on your roadtrip routes. For example, I have Chargepoint, Electrify America, EVgo, Blink, Volta, Tesla, and SemaConnect on my phone. I've only ever really used Electrify America, but the time to download an app and set up an account is not while you're standing in front of a charger. I also highly suggest the PlugShare app and the A Better Route Planner site and app for planning trips.
- Yes, but reliability seems to vary by region, weather, the phase of the moon, and your vehicle's current mood.

Charging at this moment is a lot more complicated nuanced than gassing up. I highly recommend this video. It gets into the math and concepts behind charging, but it's all presented in a relatively understandable manner.

I would say that you should consider the charging speeds presented in various charging station listings, but the "availability" is a little... iffy. 1) I'm not sure about the reliability of the information going into the app as to whether a charger is "available" - unless you're looking at the EA app about EA stations, for example; 2) a car that's charging at one station may not be there by the time you get there.

There's lots of charging discussions here on the forum. I know it can be spread across various threads and be interspersed with A LOT of complaining (not a dig at those complaining, just a statement of fact). They're worth skimming, though.

I hope that helps. If you still have questions after watching that video, I'd be happy to come back and offer what advice I can (as I'm sure would others). However, I reserve the right to be wrong or to have opinions that others may not share.

That's a great video. Dude is funny.

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