[EnergizerBunny]

I couldn't agree more. My most recent trip with my ID.4 from Phoenix to San Jose and back was fraught with MAJOR drama. EVERY EA charging site had at least one or two (usually a balanced pair) charging unit out of commission. NONE of them had charging rates above 100kwh and with California's 85% max made for two extra stops along the entire oneway trip.
I've written three letters to EA with Copies to VW and not gotten any response at all from either of them.

Disappointed in the EA charging network, You Bet Ya.

Disappointed in the ID.4 NOPE! LOVE THE CAR.

Do I like California roads? I want my money back for the two rims I'm going to have to buy from chuckhole damage.

one thing I like about my ID4 charging is very consistent and that’s why I think it’s a keeper.
The other thing I love traveling to California if I wouldn’t have to wait for a charger.

 

[EnergizerBunny]

I've been cool with VW nav despite its shortcomings (lack of elevation estimations in 3.0, routing me to a Rivian station). The real-time range estimates usually do the trick and allow me to stretch legs out.

However I don't think any app is going to allow us to figure out which 5 of the 10 CCS connections at an Ionna will be open upon arrival, and soon that will be the same with EA and all the others.

Once there is some elevation involved it starts making bad decisions and is extremely annoying.
Then multiple times it told me to get to take massive detours because it believes the interstate was closed.
I fell for that once but while turning back checked with Apple Maps and no such issue existed or it was cleared.
Now I only use CarPlay.

 

[ericy]

Once there is some elevation involved it starts making bad decisions and is extremely annoying.
Then multiple times it told me to get to take massive detours because it believes the interstate was closed.
I fell for that once but while turning back checked with Apple Maps and no such issue existed or it was cleared.
Now I only use CarPlay.

It does other goofy stuff sometimes.

 

[junkdump202121]

Agreed. In 2021 EA was still a start-up in a charging landscape with a stalled EVGo only sporadically available in specific regions, often with only one dispenser.

Electrify America had a very literal mandate to guide their deployment, a business model entirely different from Teslas.

When I bought the ID.4, free EA charging was a nice perk, but I never regarded it as a promise of what was to come. In fact, in those early days, there was discussion of whether they had overextended: most of their sites were underutilized and covered in cobwebs.

This is a game of push and pull. There is real momentum now, whereas yesterday there was artificial expansion and a lot of hope.

NACS vs CCS isn't a real thing. I didn't have it on my bingo card that Tesla would get their way, but they really didn't. Tesla adapted CCS before the industry adopted their connector. It's still CCS, with a different plug. Compromise. The important thing is we've consolidated behind a single standard.

By the end of the year this Supercharger access hoopla will hopefully be behind us and we'll have moved on to more important things such as real Plug and Change deployment.

My biggest problem is that even with the EA app, it will show charging available when there are 10 cars waiting- meaning a 2 hour wait. Fixing this would go a long way. Last winter I came back to Philly from a long trip with 10% charge. Since I only have L1 charging at home, I thought I would charge at the EA charging 1 mile away at a shopping plaza. For 6 days, I only charged to 18% at home so I could test charging speed at the EA charger. On 16 different occasions, The app said a charger was available. Each time it was nonsense. A line of cars was always waiting, even at 3am. I gave up and charged at home, which took 4 days to get to 80%. Can't say that was a good experience.

 

[Nai3t]

the EA app ... will show charging available when there are 10 cars waiting

I ... charged at home, which took 4 days to get to 80%.

I haven't had that experience yet, but I agree that if a site shows full, there's no telling if there's a long queue or a smooth, no-wait churn. I've been lucky I guess? The longest I've ever waited is maybe about 20 minutes in Bakersfield, and other than that 3 or 4 times total. But site occupancy is something I pay attention to (red dots on the VW nav) and try to plan around congested sites.

4 days to get to 80 sounds torturous. If you've got a 20 amp circuit at home with no other loads on it, an aftermarket L1 16 amp EVSE ought to be able to get the battery from 0 to 100 in a bit more that two days.

But there's probably a dirt cheap way to get a very basic 20 amp 240 volt circuit set up, using just common 12 AWG Romex and a very "normal" 6-20 plug. It's nothing fancy nor fast, but will do 0 to 100 in a day, and is definitely cheaper and more convenient than EA or (eventually) a Supercharger.

 

[EnergizerBunny]

Usually when it’s just 1 stall available in the app you can assume there are cars waiting.
But sometimes you get lucky and get the last one.

 

[junkdump202121]

I haven't had that experience yet, but I agree that if a site shows full, there's no telling if there's a long queue or a smooth, no-wait churn. I've been lucky I guess? The longest I've ever waited is maybe about 20 minutes in Bakersfield, and other than that 3 or 4 times total. But site occupancy is something I pay attention to (red dots on the VW nav) and try to plan around congested sites.

4 days to get to 80 sounds torturous. If you've got a 20 amp circuit at home with no other loads on it, an aftermarket L1 16 amp EVSE ought to be able to get the battery from 0 to 100 in a bit more that two days.

But there's probably a dirt cheap way to get a very basic 20 amp 240 volt circuit set up, using just common 12 AWG Romex and a very "normal" 6-20 plug. It's nothing fancy nor fast, but will do 0 to 100 in a day, and is definitely cheaper and more convenient than EA or (eventually) a Supercharger.

I'm a renter and no empty circuits. 90% of time it's fine, I'm mostly driving in town In the day and charging at night. Philly charging is weak because space is expensive, so no one wants to build charging capacity. A majority of the Level 2 charging capacity is in private companies not available to the public. I take a half dozen longer trips during the year, and once I'm out of Philly, charging is more available almost anywhere else.

 

[Fahrer]

Holy cow! Leave the EV home and take take the ICE for such trips. No hassles. No drama. No waiting.

 

[EnergizerBunny]

Hang tight… VW will get access to Tesla.
If they don’t they can forget about selling EV’s here.

 

[PlugMeIn]

This is exactly what I do. I keep the CCS1-to-Tesla & J1772-to-Tesla adapters in my Model Y at all times. I keep the NACS-to-CCS1 & NACS-to-J1772 adapters in my wife's ID.4 at all times. As long as the L2 or L3 charger is "open" to charge any EV, then I can pretty much plug-in and charge anywhere. And its more awesome than you think.. just last month coming back south from Upstate NY I stopped to use the new 400kW Applegreen chargers on the NJ Turnpike and sure enough the only free charger was a NACS. I watched the Polestar in front of me stop and consider using it.. but then move forward to wait in line for one of the CCS1 chargers to free up. I pulled into the NACS charging space with my wife's ID.4.. whipped out the adapter and the car was charged back up to 80% before the guy in the Polestar ever plugged in.

The L2 adapters are just as helpful as many hotels & restaurants will have either Tesla destination chargers.. or J1772 L2 chargers. I also carry mobile chargers in both vehicles as I consider them your emergency lifeline. Anything happens where you can't make it to a public L2 or L3 charger.. then all you need to do is find the nearest outdoor 120V outlet. It can be the difference between you waiting on a tow truck.. vs you plugging in for an hour and then being able to make it to next charging location. Even without the drama the 120V mobile charger is awesome.. the hotel where we stayed in Upstate NY didn't have EV chargers but I was able to find an outdoor outlet and able to plug-in overnight adding about 60 miles of range before heading home the next day.

One thing that has always puzzled me about the EV community is how tightfisted some people become when it comes to charging. They have no problem first throwing $50K at a new EV.. but then either refuse to install a proper 240V charging solution at home.. or purchase additional adapters to allow them to access as many public chargers as possible. It gets even crazier when you look at how many will people will then throw money at cosmetic upgrades like PPF, ceramic coatings, colored wraps, etc.

IMO the best thing you can do for an EV.. is be able to charge whenever, wherever.. and do so as quickly, cheaply & efficiently as possible. Good charging experiences is the most important part of the EV experience. Bad charging experiences is the most dreadful part. Good vs Bad charging experiences is often the deciding factor of getting people to switch from ICE to EV.. or even from EV back to ICE.

But do people want to carry multiple adapters and be forced to bring one less suitcase on vacation to make room for them?

 

[Daekwan]

But do people want to carry multiple adapters and be forced to bring one less suitcase on vacation to make room for them?

All my charging adapters & mobile chargers are stored 24/7 in the sub-floor of the hatchback for each vehicle. The sub-floor is what's underneath the main floor, and is located where the spare tire typically goes in older vehicles. You wouldn't even know that sub-floor storage was availalble, until you started pulling the carpeted floor panels up to reveal that extra storage.

As you can see from the pictures below, anything stored in those locations have zero effect on your ability to carry any suitcase. Or any item in the main cargo hold. Most people probably never bother looking in these locations for any reason.

ID.4 sub-floor

Model Y sub-floor

 

[mikesaxon1]

Holy cow! Leave the EV home and take take the ICE for such trips. No hassles. No drama. No waiting.

I gifted my last ICE vehicle to my son, leaving my wife and I with two EVs. 95% of our mileage is within 50 miles of the house, and for the remaining 5% we bought cars that can make it to either Boston or DC from NJ without stopping (where our kids live). So, our public charging is restricted to finding a charge on the way home from a visit. the extra 10 minutes is a decent tradeoff for not having to pay insurance and maintenance on a 3rd car.

 

[PlugMeIn]

All my charging adapters & mobile chargers are stored 24/7 in the sub-floor of the hatchback for each vehicle. The sub-floor is what's underneath the main floor, and is located where the spare tire typically goes in older vehicles. You wouldn't even know that sub-floor storage was availalble, until you started pulling the carpeted floor panels up to reveal that extra storage.

As you can see from the pictures below, anything stored in those locations have zero effect on your ability to carry any suitcase. Or any item in the main cargo hold. Most people probably never bother looking in these locations for any reason.

ID.4 sub-floor

View attachment 39223

Model Y sub-floor

View attachment 39222

I think most ID.4 owners know about the under-floor storage and might be using it for emergency items already. But it's not at all where I'd want to store a charging adapter. Can you imagine going on vacation and having to unpack the car just so you can get the adapter to charge it? Not realistic, IMHO.

 

[Daekwan]

I think most ID.4 owners know about the under-floor storage and might be using it for emergency items already. But it's not at all where I'd want to store a charging adapter. Can you imagine going on vacation and having to unpack the car just so you can get the adapter to charge it? Not realistic, IMHO.

Okay now you are being ridiculous. Have you actually seen the size of the adapter? It is can be stored practically anywhere in the vehicle. Hell it might even fit in the glove box.

I don’t know why you are obsessed with this crazy idea that carrying a charging adapter is going to ruin your vacation lol

 

[ErickF]

Here's the Lectron NACS to CCS adapter in a 2021 First Edition glove box. TONS of extra room.

And on this note...VW, I'm ready. LFG!

 

[PlugMeIn]

Okay now you are being ridiculous. Have you actually seen the size of the adapter? It is can be stored practically anywhere in the vehicle. Hell it might even fit in the glove box.

I don’t know why you are obsessed with this crazy idea that carrying a charging adapter is going to ruin your vacation lol

Don't make stuff up, please. I never said carrying an adapter would ruin my vacation. I said having to unpack the car to fish it out of the under floor storage is not what I would want to do on vacation. There are other things in the glove box already. And it's not "an adapter"... it's two adapters per your post on the previous page.

 

[Daekwan]

Don't make stuff up, please. I never said carrying an adapter would ruin my vacation. I said having to unpack the car to fish it out of the under floor storage is not what I would want to do on vacation. There are other things in the glove box already. And it's not "an adapter"... it's two adapters per your post on the previous page.

If you are so convinced carrying an adapter the size of a soda can in your vehicle is such a hassle.. why even participate in a thread about VW gaining Supercharger access?

Surely you understand that adapter is required to access any non-Magic Dock Supercharger.

 

[Stu Ncal EV]

Don't make stuff up, please. I never said carrying an adapter would ruin my vacation. I said having to unpack the car to fish it out of the under floor storage is not what I would want to do on vacation. There are other things in the glove box already. And it's not "an adapter"... it's two adapters per your post on the previous page.

I carry my adapter in the sub trunk and have had to pull suitcases out of the trunk to get the adapter late at night at the hotel. Not fun. If I remember I will put the adapter on the floor behind the drivers seat.

 

[Daekwan]

I carry my adapter in the sub trunk and have had to pull suitcases out of the trunk to get the adapter late at night at the hotel. Not fun. If I remember I will put the adapter on the floor behind the drivers seat.

If I’m going on a long trip and know using the adapter is necessary I would do the same thing. Just put it underneath the drivers seat or inside the drivers door pocket.

That said I was still able to pretty easily access the adapter in the sub-floor of the hatch even with suitcases in the car during my last trip. It just flips open right near the latch. There’s also 2 side pockets in the rear hatch of the ID.4 that are a great location for storage of small items.

 

[Daekwan]

Here's the Lectron NACS to CCS adapter in a 2021 First Edition glove box. TONS of extra room.

And on this note...VW, I'm ready. LFG!

View attachment 39224

Wow that thing is even smaller than I remember. I would consider putting ours there.. that said it’s my wife car an the glove is full of things like baby wipes, sunglasses and lotion bottles lol