Too Hot to charge in NV, AZ

[s4wrxttcs]

Curious to see what they're saying over in the Tesla forum for NV/AZ charging in this kind of heat at Superchargers.

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[capitolm94]

Also been charging at ea this week in ca/nv/ut and it has been hot. Got the working stations to charge, but couldn’t really get over 80-100 kW in the sun. Got 150 sustained when one was in the shade, covers would be great.

 

[NineElectrics]

Boy, I wish I maxed out at 50% pissed

Once you reach 80% pissed you can only get angrier at about 1/4th the peak rate. If that helps.

 

[JettePack]

What about installing some canopies with solar panels?! Could this be integrated to speed charging? I’m not super educated on how solar and charging stations might connect and work together. I know the heat could still be an issue with charging speeds, but something to think about.

 

[jjswan33]

Initiating from the EA app is the only way to go. The tap to pay of membership card and anything with a CC is garbage in my experience. 5% success rate is not an exaggeration.

I have near 100% success rate using the EA widget in my Apple mobile wallet. The only times I ever use the app is if the NFC reader is broken and the screen will usually tell you it's not working and to use the app.

 

[lefkonj]

I have always been confused as to why they don't make solar covers for the charging stations. Seems like a great solution to a few problems.

 

[Crucible]

Soooo, made trip from Lake Havasu City AZ, to LasVegas NV. 95% when I left Havasu, got to Vegas, dropped off my parts, to come back in 2 hrs after the parts had been worked on. (Nothing to do with the Rivian, drive shaft shortened for a hot rod. ). It's now 117 Degrees. After lunch found a Electrify America location, plugged in and nothing, 4 charging stations there, only one was working. The other 3 people were like me, unplugging, plugging back in, repeat. 1 minute on, then stopping. I heard the fans in the EA charger on full blast it sounded like, as were my Rivian fans. After 20 mins of this, found another EA station 8 miles away, drove there and same thing. I am now 30% pissed. This time I called EA and got a person on the phone, told me the machine was locked up. Again 6 stations and only 2 worked. Now 40% pissed off. Now 118 deg. outside. Called Rivian, the service rep told me things were hot, turn off the A/C as the same system is used to cool the cab and batteries. Still no dice, guy said maybe hang out till things cool down. I have no patience for that. 50% pissed now. So the kid and I pick up my parts, take off south back home toward Havasu for about 1/2 an hour, found another EA station at a Target. 4 stations, no one there. Plugged in, A/C off, and Whalaa! Now Charging. I'm down to 25% pissed. Outside temp now 109. Range 19% . 150 kw charger got me to 91% in less than an hour, not once shutting off. Head for home, all good. Yayyy! This whole ordeal took up about 4 hours, wasted time. I'm back to cool as a cucumber. Good times with my 23 year old.

Seems if I could dial down the kw it may run cooler and let in some electrons. It always shot up to 140kw or so. No way to adjust this on a public charger.
Maybe build a canopy over everything? All were in the open sun.

Moral of this is Electric things don't work very well in big heat. Nevada, Arizona in particular from 1st hand experience. Just a heads up for all of us that are switching to EV stuff while they still try to figure some things out. Don't get stuck. Next time it's hot I'll surely take the gas car.

I had a similar experience only with my home charger. When we got to our 115+ deg days I suddenly got the "Charging Error. Unplug and try again." message on my phone and the R1T dash. First time for that. So, it may not be just EA.
I had to try it twice before it finally finished charging. Now, this was doing the day. I normally have my truck charging overnight but had not done so for a while. Could it have been something else? Maybe. But I don't think so. My emerging concern now is that the 12V batteries may be a victim of the heat earlier than planned. Anyhoo, time will tell.
I still love my R1T.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Boy, I wish I maxed out at 50% pissed

Maybe the other 50% is the UK version.

 

[Chewy734]

I had a similar issue last month at an EA station in Baker, CA. It was over 120 deg and they were limiting charging to 40 kW at all the chargers.

I drove around and found a ChargePoint charger that gave me 62 kW and stuck with that for a couple hours. Such a waste of time that day.

 

[WSea]

Maybe the other 50% is the UK version.

Probably Canadian. The ones I know are rarely very pissed about anything

 

[seatosummit]

I have near 100% success rate using the EA widget in my Apple mobile wallet. The only times I ever use the app is if the NFC reader is broken and the screen will usually tell you it's not working and to use the app.

Odd. My success rate is quite high with the app and incredibly low when initiating via NFC. I will record a video next time. Possible there is something improperly setup on my side. Haven't had much reason to troubleshoot.

 

[jjswan33]

Odd. My success rate is quite high with the app and incredibly low when initiating via NFC. I will record a video next time. Possible there is something improperly setup on my side. Haven't had much reason to troubleshoot.

I have seen quite a few people trying to tap the CC reader (which probably also has an NFC reader) and get frustrated, not sure if that is your mistake. You need to tap the NFC labeled as membership payment in the below photo. For what it's worth I have never used the CC reader at all at EA.

 

[SoCal Rob]

What about installing some canopies with solar panels?! Could this be integrated to speed charging? I’m not super educated on how solar and charging stations might connect and work together. I know the heat could still be an issue with charging speeds, but something to think about.

A 1-car cover could have solar panels to power the lighting at night and some other infrastructure-related power but probably wouldn’t have much left over to deliver to vehicles. Still, shading the vehicle and equipment could save power currently used for cooling and prevent or reduce issues like OP had. Plus it would look good to customers.

 

[SANZC02]

I have always been confused as to why they don't make solar covers for the charging stations. Seems like a great solution to a few problems.

It is a capacity issue on what solar can produce. For instance there is a solar panel that produces a peak of 500 watts but is very large at 28 sq feet (90 inches by 45 inches). Even if you can get peak output for 3 hours a day in order to reach a max output of 220 KW you would need 440 panels or 12,320 square feet, that is more than a quarter acre so you would need 1 acre of those solar panels to support 3 charge stations and it is only good at 100% for at most 3 hours of full sun a day.

 

[lefkonj]

It is a capacity issue on what solar can produce. For instance there is a solar panel that produces a peak of 500 watts but is very large at 28 sq feet (90 inches by 45 inches). Even if you can get peak output for 3 hours a day in order to reach a max output of 220 KW you would need 440 panels or 12,320 square feet, that is more than a quarter acre so you would need 1 acre of those solar panels to support 3 charge stations and it is only good at 100% for at most 3 hours of full sun a day.

Not saying to use solar to generate the power for charging, but it can put power back into the grid and provide protection from the weather.

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