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Electrify America complimentary sessions (stations set to free)

45K views 269 replies 38 participants last post by  cwerdna 
#1 ·
For those near an EA station and are still up, might be worth to swing by to see if it says "complimentary session" on it. Was like for for all a 3 DC FCs + the L2 EVSE at the SF Bay Area site I was at tonight (Fri 4/2 night). Had to swing by a fast food joint after driving over 150 miles. Lo and behold, they were set to free again.

Last time this happened was ~30 days ago (Complimentary charging on EA today in Tennessee...). Location is the same as before for me.

I picked up 41 kWh, charging to full. :)

Sorry, I could post as I was charging as I didn't have the password for this board on me.
 
#125 · (Edited)
I've been seeing some reports on Plugshare here and there of free EA charging today and yesterday. Not sure how widespread it is.

Examples:
Update: I swung by a set of EA chargers earlier tonight since I had to be in that area anyway. Only looked at the DC FCs but none were showing complimentary session.
 
#128 ·
I checked two EA sites tonight, one was BTC Power and other was Signet. Neither was showing complimentary session.

I only bothered trying to plug into the latter and there was no free juice.

At the first site, I saw a BMW i4 eDrive40 All-Electric Luxury Gran Coupe for the first time in the wild. It was DC FCing and I saw it at 81 kW. I don't recall his SoC % but IIRC, I think it was at least 60ish or 70% on a 150 kW charger.
 
#129 ·
At the first site, I saw a BMW i4 eDrive40 All-Electric Luxury Gran Coupe for the first time in the wild. It was DC FCing and I saw it at 81 kW. I don't recall his SoC % but IIRC, I think it was at least 60ish or 70% on a 150 kW charger.
I had a similar experience in Feb. at the EA in Green River, UT. i4 was charging at similar speeds, similar SOC. The driver said it reached something like 120kW at peak as I recall. He was driving it from LA to Bemidji, MN to do cold weather testing.

Sweet looking car (no cammo):
Wheel Tire Car Vehicle Sky
Sky Plant Road surface Building Asphalt
 
#131 ·
#137 ·
For those in CA, I recommend you avoid doing it from 4 pm to 9 pm today (9/9) due to Flex Alert: energy conservation tips, save energy on high demand days in California going on right now.
So there will be people getting free electricity for their EV while others get the electricity shut off at their home. That'll be a story on Fox.

Which begs the question; Do you think there will be a day when California or anyplace else will force commercial EV chargers to be switched off during peak times?
 
#133 ·
I waited behind a Rivian and he said after 2 hours EA just opened all of them at the site since they couldn't seem to get his going. I saved maybe $8 or so. Made me happier. Next EA charger on road didn't work. Made me angry.

Usually they send email or publish on their site for free weekends.

Seems on Twit they said till 9/6 or something.
 
#139 · (Edited)
See the EA twitter blob. Supposed to end today.

Yes, almost every evse either has or will have a smart grid connection. Electric companies can offer incentives like they do for AC and hot water heater use and things like backup heat strips.
My new heat pump water heater has smart connection.

Austin's fleet chargers are set to follow the Austin Power demand. I used one and only got 1kWh green while powered on with AC. Just left.

My electric co-op has their on site evse's prices according to time of day and they could easily change that display for their demands.
 
#141 ·
I can confirm it was free in my city in the Bay Area. I tried it on the way home past 11 pm.

It was showing a full screen message about system upgrades but also said complimentary session. I encountered a brand new Lucid Air DC FCing w/o permanent plates. I talked briefly to the driver before he left. He seemed like an EV n00b. He also had free charging anyway due to Lucid so he hadn't realized what the complimentary session message meant and that I just plugged in and it started right up.

I wonder how long it'll be free for.
 
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#146 ·
^^^
I knew about Palo Alto, Healdsburg and I think Alameda as it made local news, but didn't know about the additional 3 cities. I'm guessing that + Morgan Hill Residents Demand Answers After Four Nights of Power Outages + other outages kept us from rolling blackouts.

I can confirm that EA was free again tonight at a different site. The station I was using had both locking tangs broken. It's happened there and another EA BTC Power site numerous times. I did call it into EA. I was able to charge despite that but it's riskier. I made sure to stop it from the DC FC first and avoid the cable (to avoid knocking it loose).

I didn't need the juice but I guess I can save my work a bit of $ since normally, almost all my EV juice is for free from work.
 
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#147 ·
I tried EA yesterday around 6pm in PA and while it showed a price, I have still yet to see a charge pop up on my credit card. By contrast, I tried EVgo this morning and the charge popped up on my credit card immediately (authorization and then final charge after stopping the charge).

EDIT: P.S. Did you know the Bolt has its own "Stop" button for DCFC? It's not easy to find, but you can force-stop DCFC from inside the Bolt using the Infotainment screen.
 
#149 ·
Knowing where to find this is more important than you might think: I've had to use the infotainment screen stop button on at least occasion when the DCFC charger malfunctioned, the handle wouldn't release from the car, and the stop button on the station didn't work.
 
#159 · (Edited)
I was at a 3rd EA site tonight and juice was free. So, it's been 3 days in a row.

All 3 DC FCs were working. Leaf was using CHAdeMO. ID.4 was using a CCS handle w/broken locking tang. I called it in. Other handle was fine on that station.

I used another DC FC and directed the next ID.4 to use the handle w/the non-broken tang. The 2nd ID.4 driver said he noticed it was free yesterday.

I saw his car at around 131 kW, peaking at 134 kW and when I left he was still at above 120 kW.
 
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#160 ·
I was at a 3rd EA site tonight and juice was free. So, it's been 3 days in a row.

All 3 DC FCs were working. Leaf was using CHAdeMO. ID.4 was a CCS handle w/broken locking tang. I called it in. Other handle was fine on that station.

I used another DC FC and directed the next ID.4 to use the handle w/the non-broken tang. The 2nd ID.4 driver said he noticed it was free yesterday.

I saw his car at around 131 kW, peaking at 134 kW and when I left he was still at above 120 kW.
I’m a little jealous of those speeds. Thanks for the update. I’m going to check it out once again today as well
 
#171 ·
BTW, we might want to continue California-specific power, CAISO, rolling blackouts done by mistake, and the like into one of the CA threads.

I mainly intended for people to report on free EA juice or to try to figure out if/when it's regional (free in some places but not in others).
 
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