It actually felt like slipping a gasoline hose into my car and squeezing the pump handle. It just started.

This is a bit disingenuous. There are several steps one must proceed through before one can "slip the gasoline hose into my car".

The toughest part of charging at EA is having to crane one's neck skyward to get the dispenser number as the label is 10 feet above ground. I just cannot see why folks find it so onerous to pull out a phone and either tap it to the NFC reader, or to open an app, select a station and slide to charge. Just the fact that I don't have to reach in for my wallet to pull out a card makes it a winner for me.

ga2500ev

 

This is a bit disingenuous. There are several steps one must proceed through before one can "slip the gasoline hose into my car".
The toughest part of charging at EA is having to crane one's neck skyward to get the dispenser number as the label is 10 feet above ground. I just cannot see why folks find it so onerous to pull out a phone and either tap it to the NFC reader, or to open an app, select a station and slide to charge. Just the fact that I don't have to reach in for my wallet to pull out a card makes it a winner for me.

I can't say I agree that pulling my phone out of my pocket, scrolling to the app icon, launching the app, locating the charger station, identifying the charger number, plugging in the cable, and swiping to begin the charge is ever going to be faster than using a credit card. As far as NFC goes...only once have I ever been at an EA charger between MA and TN that it worked and that one was in VA.
To my surprise all the chargers I was at yesterday had the dispenser numbers printed at eye level adjacent to the main screen.

 

This is exactly how charging should work while traveling. You just plug it in and then let the car and the charging station work out the details.
This is how we charge at home and it is how the Tesla Superchargers work.

Hopefully they will all work that way someday. A nice goal for 2022.

 

Last week I had 2 trips out of state & was able to use Manchester, NH (1 session) & W. Lebanon (3 sessions) EA locations utilizing the "it's on us, Happy Holiday." All 4 sessions, flawless & immediate with 102 kW peak (on 3) & one (where I started at 46% SoC) peaking at 48kW. Two sessions were 30 minutes & two were about 10-15 minutes; quick stops placed after either two hour drives or one hour drives. No app fumbling needed. Each time, I forgot to type in my cell# to get a text of the session stats, as they were not connected to my account at session start. Had EVGo or ChargePoint extended such an offer, I would have utilized them as well.

 

I'm convinced that all the hoops we have to jump through at these charger stations are caused by EA and the other companies and the layers of poorly designed or written code that manage the payment interface.

I don't think it's EA's problem - Several cars do charge exactly this way at all EA stations. The Mustang and the Porsche plus a couple others. I think it's VW's problem and 'they say' it will be fixed if we ever get the promised software update

...and I agree the 'hoops' we currently use to charge aren't that big a deal, at least for me. Once I learned the correct protocol using the app, it's just about as fast for me as gassing up at a station using my credit card and having to verify my ZIP code, etc - Takes about the same amount of time

 

It takes even less time if you tap your phone at the NFC. That’s less time than inserting and verifying a credit card plus you don’t end up with gas on your hands or shoe soles (still wonder how there are so few service station infernos).

 

still wonder how there are so few service station infernos

There are on average 4150 service station fires causing 3 deaths and 43 injuries each year according to NFPA, I guess they are so common they don't get much press:

Service or Gas Station Fires report | NFPA

www.nfpa.org

 

I just got back from a round trip from MD to CT and back. All charging on EA along the route was complimentary in NJ, and CT en route there on Monday. Free yesterday afternoon in CT, and free in NJ and DE returning today. Plug in and charging started, regardless of Signet or ABB chargers.

I agree this ease of use would be great, it was certainly appreciated by everyone I spoke to who was surprised they were also charging free. Hopefully this will all be standard soon.

I listen to insideEVs podcast and I think they mentioned something about EA offering complimentary charging while select stations are “undergoing upgrades”

 

Unlike nearly every gas station, most EV charging stations do not have a roof/awning over them. So when it is raining outside you will want the whole "Start Charging" process to be much quicker than at the gas pump.

 

Neutronbomb: I have used EA stations many times over the past few months and did not realize I could initiate charging from my Infortainment screen. I'll try that next time I go to charge.

 

I tried it a few times with CarPlay and was never successful.

 

I use NFC myself, and that seems rock solid, but there are a few gotchas there as well, and I suspect that for some models of phone it might not work well. EA could do themselves some huge favors by adding a few short videos to the app to teach people how to set up and use NFC for those phone models that support it.

The swipe-to-start method is sort of the lowest common denominator - kind of a pain to use, but the least likely to fail. That's sort of why the EA phone people have people use that when they have troubles.

 

In the early years of the automobile there were few places to get "gasoline" outside of larger towns and the roads between towns were wagon trails. It took decades to develop the infrastructure (and public funding in the case of roads) to make long distance travel by automobiles easy. It is not surprising the EV charging infrastructure is still needing lots of improvement.

 

When I was in college I used to work at a grocery store gas station, and it was at the time the station was implementing credit card payments at the pumps (instead of paying at the window). I can't count the number of times I had to instruct people on how to properly pay at the pump. The vast majority of the time, the process would frustrate the user and then I would get an earful on how terrible and confusing it was.
It seems to be the same growing pains with the DCFC charging stations, and the new ability to "log-in" using an app for payments. Not many gas stations do this that I know of, so it is a new thing that will need to get the kinks out and for people to also get used to the proper routine.

 

Another possibility for the slow learning curve on using Fast Charging stations is that many EV owners only use them a couple times a year. Unlike pumping at a gas station every week, it takes a bit longer to remember all the steps/shortcuts when you only do it every few months.

 

It's actually the use of ISO 15118 ("Charging Plug & Go") which needs to be fully enabled by VW for the convenience of plugging it in without any RFID, app, or other intentional step on your part being required. The Mustang Mach-E and Porsche Taycan were purposely programmed with that convenient feature; VW is a 'little' behind the curve on ensuring it's a seamless process.

Also, queue all the questions about OTA updates and other SW-enabled features that we've been 'promised' for months here in the US. The downside of it being a German-engineered vehicle is that Germany-based customers will always see the most convenience and timely updates before the rest of the world.

Happy New Year.

 

It's actually the use of ISO 15118 ("Charging Plug & Go") which needs to be fully enabled by VW for the convenience of plugging it in without any RFID, app, or other intentional step on your part being required.

This is not completely accurate. There has to be a backend authorization, accounting, and payment system in place for it to work. So, at some point, someone has to set up an account, and put a payment option on that account. The user will have to have an app or a login into a website to see the results of sessions. And it is likely that that there will need to be such backend accounts and payment systems for each brand of charger that is used.

One creates a Tesla account for example upon purchase of the vehicle. There is a Tesla app too. So, there are still very intentional steps that must be taken before plug and charge will operate.

Given that I again ask why is this such a big deal for folks? Is this a case of keeping up with the Teslas or the Mach-E's? While I can see the convenience, just personally I find the trivial difference between plugging in a walking away as opposed to opening up an app, selecting a station, and sliding to authorize and "pay" for session, to be amusing.

BTW, I repeat that when Tesla opens up their SC network to non Tesla cars, they are going to run into the same issue, where even if they facilitate plug and charge, one will have to have a Tesla account, with a payment system on file, and likely an app on the phone in order to use it.

ga2500ev