Same car, same charge, different prices? EV drivers face inconsistent, unreliable charging network
Same car, same charge, different prices? EV drivers face inconsistent, unreliable charging network
Yea FLO has a bad system for reporting problems, you need to record the station number, then goto a special web site and put in a ticket. No app button for it, even when you're right there.
I've seen stations go out on my long route (500km) for a month, then I report them and they're fixed in days. Turns out, many people drive up, find them broke, and ride off without reporting.
How is that not monitored though? Surely a station showing a fault code would automatically notify someone.
It does, but it’s likely the government incentives were to build the stations, not to keep them running. We had that problem in the US for a while until the rules for subsidies were recently updated.
Sometimes physical damage (like a frayed cable on the charger, or a damaged connector) can't be monitored remotely -- but they would certainly see that a station's usage stats have suddenly dropped, and could send someone by to check on it.
Do most EV drivers use charging stations regularly? I would have thought most drivers would charge at home for day-to-day usage, and only use charging stations for long trips.
There's no question that the lack of standards is stupid. I'm curious if industry will sort itself out or regulation will be necessary.
If you have an EV, unless you live in a condo/apartment that don't let you charge, then you will only every use the stations on longer trips.
You also might not use the station on longer trips if you can charge your car overnight at your hotel, and "only" drive for like 5 hours at a time.
I feel like this is just the effect of a new and growing industry. Gas stations are free to set their own pricing, but if it’s more than a few cents off the next nearest place they won’t get any sales. Reliability is also only an issue if there’s few stations, if there’s a station on every block, like we have gas stations now, then people will just go to the next nearest station, which gives companies a pretty good incentive to keep the chargers working.
I’m also okay with allowing different charging structures, but again I think that settles itself when availability increases. If charging per joule is cheaper for the consumer than charging per minute then that’s the station they’ll choose. Really, we just need to make sure it doesn’t end up an oligarchy like the cell networks where everybody just colludes to keep prices and margins high. Or put in some high marginal corporate tax rates to disincentivize those large margins.
Yup, we're all so spoiled by a hundred years of momentum in fossil fuel delivery. I remember my great uncle telling stories from the 70's about getting stuck at his in-laws farmhouse for three days because the gas station in town was out of gas, and he didn't have enough in the tank to make it the 70km to the next town with a gas station, and even if they did, they weren't sure they had any gas either.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The challenges included needing multiple attempts in order to start or end a charging session as well as problems completing payment through an app or credit card reader.
There is no single, comprehensive strategy for installation and maintenance of this country's charging infrastructure, something Joanna Kyriazis, director of public affairs at Clean Energy Canada, says should change.
Speaking to Marketplace, Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault pointed to the relatively small sample size of the test, but acknowledged "there are problems.
But George Iny, director at the Automobile Protection Association, stressed that adequate charging infrastructure must be in place to ensure a smooth transition to a zero-emission future.
After striking out at four rapid-charging locations, she found herself stranded in a seedy motel with her young daughter while her husband slept in their Leaf as it slow-charged in an empty parking lot overnight.
Flo responded by saying it has a team that monitors and resolves issues swiftly, and Ivy told Marketplace it is committed to improving its processes, including updating its app to report the status of its charging stations.
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