First Time EV Owner: Live experience report

[R1TVT]

I have ZERO RFID cards for DCFC chargers. I usually initiate the charge from the App (not the terminal) at EA chargers. You might have better luck if you try initiating directly from the App.

You plug in first (I believe) then choose the charger from the EA App (if you haven't tried that already), although I am going by pure recollection and have not been to an EA charger since last summer.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

I regularly use EA when I travel. I don’t think EA sends out an RFID card. I’ve never used a card for any network.

To get the EA subscription discount at a charger, these are my steps:

1. Turn off any VPN on the phone;
2. Open the EA app and find my location on the map;
3. Select the correct charging station;
4. Select the charger by ID, which is usually on the front of the post;
5. Select start charge;
6. Plug in the charger to the vehicle;
7. Race to get lunch, eat lunch, use the restroom, etc., before the charge is done;
8. Enjoy the discount

If the internet connection is flakey, the transaction can sometimes time out.

I have had some luck opening the app and waving the phone at the RFID terminal on the charger when the internet connection fails. But I don’t use the Wallet apps, so sometimes this doesn’t work.

If all else fails—which is rare for me—you can just use Plug-And-Charge. Afterward, you can sometimes get a good Customer Service Rep who will refund you the discount amount. You usually have to get on the phone with them, so I rarely do this. You need to keep a record of your charge session. Take a photo of the total cost and session screen on the charging post. Make sure you include the time and date and the charger ID.

 

[strider]

I have ZERO RFID cards for DCFC chargers. I usually initiate the charge from the App (not the terminal) at EA chargers. You might have better luck if you try initiating directly from the App.

You plug in first (I believe) then choose the charger from the EA App (if you haven't tried that already), although I am going by pure recollection and have not been to an EA charger since last summer.

Using the app worked for @Logan most of the time but he reported at one charger there was no cell service so couldn't access the app.

 

[Logan]

I have ZERO RFID cards for DCFC chargers. I usually initiate the charge from the App (not the terminal) at EA chargers. You might have better luck if you try initiating directly from the App.

You plug in first (I believe) then choose the charger from the EA App (if you haven't tried that already), although I am going by pure recollection and have not been to an EA charger since last summer.

Yep, this is the method I’ve settled on using so far.

Plug in, open app, find charger, click “start charge”, and away we go.

Using the app worked for @Logan most of the time but he reported at one charger there was no cell service so couldn't access the app.

Yep, this was it. Super remote charger, tiny town (a one gas pump at a general store sort of place), and no internet reception.

I bit the bullet and went ahead and paid the money with the card reader. I just wasn’t able to confirm where any other chargers were within range. And given it was only my third stop, I didn’t know how far I could push it. (Was at 27%??).

 

[R1TVT]

I bit the bullet and went ahead and paid the money with the card reader. I just wasn’t able to confirm where any other chargers were within range. And given it was only my third stop, I didn’t know how far I could push it. (Was at 27%??).

Nice knowing even when you bite the bullet for a card without your member discount, your trip is still going to cost way less than a gas trip!

 

[BeerParty]

I regularly use EA when I travel. I don’t think EA sends out an RFID card. I’ve never used a card for any network.

<snip>

I have had some luck opening the app and waving the phone at the RFID terminal on the charger when the internet connection fails. But I don’t use the Wallet apps, so sometimes this doesn’t work.

I have been using EA for over two years; I was not aware of a RFID card, I though that was only available via a phone.

I always try the sensor approach first. I open the app on my phone, plug in my car, and then hold the phone in front of the sensor panel on the charger cabinet. That's always been the fastest way to initiate charging for me. I don't even have to select the charging location on the EA phone app, it just works. I have had to revert to using the EA app when the phone sensor approach doesn't work, but that has been rare.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

I have been using EA for over two years; I was not aware of a RFID card, I though that was only available via a phone.

I always try the sensor approach first. I open the app on my phone, plug in my car, and then hold the phone in front of the sensor panel on the charger cabinet. That's always been the fastest way to initiate charging for me. I don't even have to select the charging location on the EA phone app, it just works. I have had to revert to using the EA app when the phone sensor approach doesn't work, but that has been rare.

One of the reasons I use the app is that sometimes my vehicle responds to the plug-in event too quickly and starts charging before I’ve had a chance to activate my subscription.

It would be nice if vehicles could securely hold your account information for the various subscriptions so P&C just worked with subscriptions. Ford was developing that capability, but I haven’t heard anything useful since they announced their tax scam…er write-down.

 

[J Alynn]

I have been using EA for over two years; I was not aware of a RFID card, I though that was only available via a phone.

I always try the sensor approach first. I open the app on my phone, plug in my car, and then hold the phone in front of the sensor panel on the charger cabinet. That's always been the fastest way to initiate charging for me. I don't even have to select the charging location on the EA phone app, it just works. I have had to revert to using the EA app when the phone sensor approach doesn't work, but that has been rare.

Learning so much! Had the Lexus now for well over a month and still getting by on trickle charge. Realized the park less than half mile away has an EV Go charger and still holding at $.25/Kwh so in a pinch we can run there to do a full charge vs trying to trickle over night if something comes up

 

[N Wilson]

One of the reasons I use the app is that sometimes my vehicle responds to the plug-in event too quickly and starts charging before I’ve had a chance to activate my subscription.

It would be nice if vehicles could securely hold your account information for the various subscriptions so P&C just worked with subscriptions. Ford was developing that capability, but I haven’t heard anything useful since they announced their tax scam…er write-down.

This is something I am thinking about as I prepare to embark on a cross-country road trip later this month. i plan to get memberships with a few of the networks to get the discounted pricing, but I know that if I use Plug and Charge through the Ford app, I won't get the discounts. Wondering if I should temporarily disable P&C while on the trip so as to make sure I get the discounts?

I recently watched an episode of State of Charge where Tom was interviewing the head of Walmart charging division about the buildout of their charging network, and they discussed the issue of P&C convenience vs network discounts. Apparently it's being worked on to be able to get the discounts through manufacturer P&C programs, but it's not a reality as of today.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

This is something I am thinking about as I prepare to embark on a cross-country road trip later this month. i plan to get memberships with a few of the networks to get the discounted pricing, but I know that if I use Plug and Charge through the Ford app, I won't get the discounts. Wondering if I should temporarily disable P&C while on the trip so as to make sure I get the discounts?

I keep it on, but only because I’m lazy.

 

[Logan]

Made the return trip last night.

We made the ~830 mile drive with only 4 stops. I used the built in navigation guidance with built in charging station selection this time (although did check with ABRP).

I did have one segment of the trip that got more exciting than intended, where I thought we’d be rolling up to the charger with like 1%, but it turned out better than anticipated, with 11% left.

We had charged in Boise ID up to 92% (eating and getting snacks/medication at the Walmart). We were cruising at about 80mph for 2.5hrs, and it was telling us to charge in La Grand OR. But when we got to La Grand, we still had 32% charge, had already done 170 miles on the first 60% charge, and thought our next stop was in Pendleton OR, which is only another 40-50 miles past La Grand. So we skipped the stop, and pressed on.

Then we found out that the next charging stop that was available was actually in hermiston OR, instead of Pendleton. And that was a total of 75 miles or so past our first stop. And our minimum range on the guess-o-meter was a few miles less than the distance to the charging station in Hermiston.

I slowed down, and drafted more, as we headed up the long slow incline out of La Grand, and that climb of a few thousand feet kept me sweating about if we’d have enough charge to make it to the charger. But the route planning navigation still said we’d be ok, and my mental math and knowledge of the upcoming terrain had me pretty sure we’d be ok.

After the long gentle climb there, you come down “deadman’s pass” into Pendleton. It’s 6 miles of 6% grade. That downhill gave us a pretty constant 15-45kw of regen power, and almost 3% charge back. And once you’re down, there is still a fairly downhill elevation profile for miles.

We rolled into the charging station in Hermiston with 11%. I was wishing for a bit more emotional support battery, but it was fine. And this is now the longest distance I’ve done on a charge at speed on the highway (the time included 15-20min of waiting with the ac on while the wife and kids got stuff in Walmart), and is the lowest SOC I’ve ever gotten the vehicle to.

The other observation this time was how much better the efficiency was. My avg efficiency for the trip, was about 2.7 miles/kwh. And my avg speed was pretty high, in the 75mph range. But the overall elevation profile of this trip was from ~4500ft in UT, down to -~500ft where I live in WA. Plus, it was decent weather, and not tons of wind (but not no wind). Also the drive was earlier in the day with more traffic, so I could draft a bit more .

 

[Logan]

I keep my trip meters to the 10k mile limit, just because I like seeing long term stats.

But we hit the 10k limit about 1/4 the way into the drive. And when I took the photo here last night as I got home, all of this mileage and drive time was our trip (the least efficient part too). And you can see we hit 2.7 miles/kWh.

Way better than the trip out where I was at 2 miles/kwh for the last two stops in ID.

 

[strider]

Thanks for the follow-up! Glad to hear the internal nav worked well. Though did you figure out why it got the one charging site wrong?