More than a quarter of them, 27%, were outright broken, displaying an \u201cOut of Service\u201d message on the screen or they were simply wrapped in caution tape and a piece of paper saying it doesn\u2019t work was stuck on them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a pretty high number of inoperable chargers, and it\u2019s an issue that can potentially put an end to a trip if the EV\u2019s charge is running low. It\u2019s also in line with this study\u2019s findings, which showed that the overall satisfaction with DC fast chargers in the United States has decreased compared to last year despite increased investment in that field.<\/p>\n
But the headaches didn\u2019t end here for Stern, a longtime tech writer who also recently documented her own EV testing journey.\u00a0While driving up to a charger that\u2019s out of service is frustrating, at least you know immediately that you need to find another location to charge your EV\u2019s battery. It\u2019s a whole other story when you get your hopes up seeing an online charger but spend minutes on end trying to get the thing to actually charge the car.<\/p>\n
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A Rivian R1T charging at an EVgo station<\/p>\n
About 10% of the stalls Stern visited had card payment issues. At least one stall displayed a hilarious \u201cCash Only\u201d message on its card reader, which must be very confusing for new users, especially since you can\u2019t actually pay with cash at these stalls.<\/p>\n
Then, even if the chargers accepted the payment, some of them refused to establish a “handshake” connection with the vehicle on the first try. Basically, one persistent challenge with EV charging is getting the charger’s software to work perfectly in harmony with the car’s software, as this is vastly different from the mechanical process of filling up a gas tank. Often, it\u00a0means the charging cable has to be unplugged and plugged back in, and a little prayer needs to be recited in the hopes that it will work the second time around. But sometimes it doesn\u2019t. So the cycle begins once more.<\/p>\n
Stern goes on to say that the payment issues were mostly resolved by installing the provider\u2019s smartphone app but as the highest-rated comment on the YouTube video says, it\u2019s not a very user-friendly environment, especially if you\u2019re renting an EV. \u201cRenting an electric car and having to download the 30 apps was one of the most insufferable experiences ever I\u2019ve been through,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So, what\u2019s the solution? The video says that all non-Tesla providers contacted for this piece are trying to update their hardware so that the connection issues are less of a concern. Plus, the companies deployed technicians to the sites that were out of order, to try and fix them.<\/p>\n
As for Tesla\u2019s Supercharger network, it\u2019s currently the most reliable DC fast charging network in the United States, with a stated uptime of over 99%.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But will this change after the floodgates to other EV manufacturers open next year? Let us know in the comments.<\/p>\n