Does anyone know if low output EA chargers are intentionally hobbled or just poorly maintained? My second stop of 3 yesterday was an EA 350kW charger that briefly flashed 54kW on the screen as the charge started, then immediately went to 34. The previous and the following stop were at 50kW units that both started at 45kW.
Crippled EA chargers
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I know of one EA charger in a relatively remote area on I-70 in eastern CO that users often complain about throttled speeds. I didn't experience the problem last month when I used it on our return from a long trip, but then I was the only one there. I suspect utility demand fees in sporadic high demand periods forces EA to throttle speeds. These would be perfect locations for storage backed systems to iron out demand curves.
I have also experienced SuC downgrade speeds during high demand in remote areas. On a club trip with a bunch of Teslas, I plugged in across the street at EA and was the only EV there for my entire session, but the Teslas were queued 5-6 deep at the SuC. Several owners commented that they received notifications that due to high demand, charging speeds were being reduced. It didn't help that one of the 6 stalls was out of order (yes, it happens on SuC too).
I have also experienced SuC downgrade speeds during high demand in remote areas. On a club trip with a bunch of Teslas, I plugged in across the street at EA and was the only EV there for my entire session, but the Teslas were queued 5-6 deep at the SuC. Several owners commented that they received notifications that due to high demand, charging speeds were being reduced. It didn't help that one of the 6 stalls was out of order (yes, it happens on SuC too).
There's possibly a problem w/the station. I'd report it if the charging rate is too low for your temp and % SoC.
Search 2021 Volkswagen ID.4 range and road-trip charging: Some first impressions for 32 kw and sensor.
What did Plugshare say? Sometimes people report that certain stations at a site have low output and when they switch to another at the same site, there's no problem.
I charged at this location again today and called in the low output charger as well as reporting a couple of other issues. The person on the other end of the call was surprisingly nonchalant about all of it (is that all you're calling about?). OTOH, I seemed to hit the sweet spot for Bolt charging: Using a 150kW charger here and another location, both started at 54kW at 30% SOC, didn't start to fall until 54% SOC, and were still at 50kW at 58%. First was at about 80 degrees ambient, after roughly 200 miles of driving, with 1 previous charging stop
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