I’m currently charging at an Electrify America location that only has two working stations, a 350kw and a 150kw. A woman in a Chevy Bolt EV is plugged in at the 350kw, even though her car tops out at 55kw. Now I’m stuck at the 150kw even though my vehicle can take advantage of the 350kw charger. I’m going to guess she doesn’t know about the different charging speeds, as many new EV owners don’t. As EV owners, how can we spread awareness of charging speeds and etiquette?
“Even though my vehicle can take advantage of the 350kw charger.”
I mean, /technically/ sure. But not enough to notice. Even 800v systems like the Ioniq 5 only takes like 5 minutes longer 10-80% on 150kw compared to a 350kw charger.
Your lightning peaks at 170kw, but then falls off below 150kw pretty quickly. You likely wouldn’t notice the difference in charge time, if any.
https://insideevs.com/news/615115/ford-f150-lightning-charging-analysis/amp/
So maybe before being judgmental of another driver (who may have used the only charger available when they pulled in) learn your own charge curve.
Lightning is only rated to 150kw charging and the most I’ve ever seen mine take is 180kw for a brief second, so you’re fine at a 150kw.
Now if it was only a 50kw open I might be a bit more annoyed but hey…first come, first served.
Start charging by the minute for slower charging cars. That will incentive people to move along instead of top charging
I drive a bolt and have taken 350 spots before, mainly when the only 150 spot was also the only Chademo spot and there were other 350 spots available at the time. My rationale was I was blocking a more scarce resource at the slower charger by screwing over leaf drivers. Not sure if that applies to you.
Complaining about this reminds me of Diesel pickup owners crying about people using the gas pump at pumps with diesel and gas. Like charge your shit and move on.
If I need to charge and the only one open is a 350kw charger I am gonna plug my bolt into that fucker. Because it’s a charger. That being said If a 50 or 150 and a 350 were open I would pick the 50.
I don’t think it’s realistic to police this.
The solution to it is what EA is already doing and moving to balanced charge 350kW units which have all dispensers capable and labeled as 350kW but with power sharing of that 350kW between every two posts to keep it economical.
This is like Tesla owners getting mad about someone parking next to them at a v2 supercharger that has 4 slots open. Someone has to park somewhere and you’ll be splitting power. But everyone still charges.
Many people probably don’t know the ins and out. The car manufacturers to blame for not labeling the charge port and stations labeling their devices. Kinda like leaded vs unleaded back in the day.
I just chatter with them and show them the difference. We have a great time trading information about our cars and learning about them.
I always let them know that 350 doesn’t do shit for them, but it means the world to me if it is available. They just don’t know. They don’t want to be rude. They just don’t know.
It’s hard to inform someone like that without sounding like it’s a put down. I’ve read in a few posts that dealers tell them to use the fastest available.
Setting up sites better with load sharing between cabinets would work better long term.
Just let it go. Maybe she doesn’t know, or maybe she tried every stall and it was the only one that worked for some reason, or all the other slots could have been full when she arrived and when you got there she’s still charging but everyone else is gone.
I hate people who gatekeep the “fast” chargers.
Just like understanding the different grades of gasoline, people will learn about charging speeds over time. Bottom line, be thankful to find an open dispenser that is not offline.