Study finds more than a quarter of charging stations were nonfunctional
By: Fred Lambert (Electrek)
Political eye candy and free government money to a favored few.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A new study found that more than one out of four public charging stations in the Bay Area were nonfunctional when tested. Depending on your own experience that may sound like a lot, or a little…
As an electric car driver, there's nothing more frustrating than showing up to a charging station and finding it to be nonfunctional. It happens more often than it should, and researchers at the University of California Berkeley tried to get some actual data on it.
The dataset is based on 678 chargers at 181 stations in the Bay Area:
A total of 181 open public DCFC EV charging stations and 678 EVSEs with CCS connectors were identified in the 9 counties of the Greater Bay Area and visited between February 12, 2022 and March 7, 2022.
The results were disappointing. According to the study, more than a fourth of all chargers were found to be nonfunctional when tested:
Overall, 72.5% of the 657 EVSEs were functional. The cable was too short to reach the EV inlet for 4.9% of the EVSEs. Causes of 22.7% of EVSEs that were non-functioning were unresponsive or unavailable screens, payment system failures, charge initiation failures, network failures, or broken connectors.
The study also questions the reported uptime by charging network operators:
A random evaluation of 10% of the EVSEs, approximately 8 days after the first evaluation, demonstrated no overall change in functionality. This level of functionality appears to conflict with the 95 to 98% uptime reported by the EV service providers (EVSPs) who operate the EV charging stations.
The study decided to exclude Tesla vehicles since they are not considered "public chargers" since they only work with Tesla vehicles. However, they did cite another survey about Tesla Superchargers:
In the same survey, only 4% of Tesla owners reported a major difficulty with the Tesla closed DCFC system.
This appears to be better than the chargers tested in the study, which were primarily operated by EVgo and Electrify America.
In short, the study concludes that there's plenty of room for improvement:
The findings suggest a need for shared, precise definitions of and calculations for reliability, uptime, downtime, and excluded time, as applied to open public DCFCs, with verification by third-party evaluation.
You can read the full study here.
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Biden only promised to install EV chargers. Biden never promised they would be maintained. It's more important to check the boxes on the list of pandering political projects. It's only free government money, after all.
What is Tesla trying to do, be like Apple and have their own different chargers?
I guess it could be that if it's a Tesla owned charger which Tesla has had hooked up to the power grid, they can charge their fee's on top of the price of electric and make money on the transaction. It will probably take a government action similar to what the EU recently did to standardize the charging cords/plugs.
They are going to have to Imo. If electric is to go mainstream, having different plugs and charging stations would not be sustainable.
Perhaps Tesla wants to provide reliable stations to it's customers.
I know you all are in love with Musk at the moment as he is now some kind of right wing hero, but think rationally for a minute.
So you think all chargers should adopt his standard and not the other way around? I say screw him. If electric vehicles get to the point there are millions of them, then he can be left having people looking for tesla only stations.
So you mean stations that actually are maintained and work? Where Musk can hold anyone accountable that is working for him that doesn't maintain the standard; or cancel any franchising?
I am sure he is eager to jump on Biden's publicly financed political kick back machine.
I am sure as EVs gain ground Tesla will become a niche product. Unless he can maintain charging stations across the US he will remain limited.
I don't believe he is asking anyone to adopt his standards.
In order for it to work across the US there would need to be one standard. As I said, tesla is limiting itself to tesla only stations.
Says who?
? Ok, so there should be no standard for electrical outlets?
Again, tesla is only limiting itself. Do you think he is going to add a charging station in every town...
When one out of twenty or more has its own standard, who do you think would last the longest. The one or the twenty or more...
Have you known the man to limit himself? He usually finds a work around. If he wants to keep his standard higher compared to the rest of the market, I have no doubt he will. Perhaps it is quality over quantity for his market. There is no reason there has to be one standard for all EV's unless the government gets it's greedy hands involved and forces him out due to regulations.
Currently Tesla has the most stations.
I get the feeling you are just arguing to argue and are being one of the republicans that all the sudden thinks Musk is one of the greatest people on the planet.
Oh geez, you just have to be a smart ass when someone gives you something to think about.
No surprise there.
What is there to think about. You just completely ignore what I say and say tesla will prevail...
The only way this would work is if another company like Ford did back in the day, comes along and mass produces ones cheap enough for the average consumer. So Imo unless Tesla does that itself, it would on on the losing side.
Which they are free to do.
Their choice not some bureaucrat in DC.
And you didn't listen to what I said...IMO he doesn't to keep his niche market.
You had to get her personal digs in instead and be a smartass.
Now you can fuck off.
You actually proved my point. He will be a niche market.
Aww, If I knew you would leave me alone I should do it more often.
Huh no this is what you said...
having different plugs and charging stations would not be sustainable.
Smartass and a liar....again not surprised...
Now you just don't make any sense..
Apparently you didn't understand it the first time....fuck off.
A Liar? If tesla has (generalization here) has about 100 charging stations and all other have 10,000. I doubt his niche market will sustain a billion dollar status. As of now he has an upper hand. Will that last?
I am not the one that said fuck off, you did. If you wanted to tell me that and leave the conversation do so.
YOU ARE CORRECT!
Because he's 'owned the libs'
Why so angry and bitter dear?
Tesla has been producing EVs for seventeen years. There weren't standards for charging when Tesla began selling EVs.
Tesla has been around long enough that the industry should be adopting Tesla's standards. But that's not going to happen because of royalty payments. Standardization is a role for government but, sadly, there's been no leadership to address the issue.
“What is Tesla trying to do, be like Apple and have their own different chargers?”
There’s your answer - quality, durable stuff that people are willing to pay a premium for.
Electronic cars will remain too expensive for ordinary people to buy them
I actually have to agree with you for once. GM just announced a new EV. A Caddy I think. It is going to be 200k.
I will have to say though I think it will be like other things. The more of them around the cheaper the prices will be.
What bothers me is the longevity of them. How long the car itself will last.
Hell, I still have a 2002 Tahoe I use to tow and drive around. It can be worked on. If the batteries in an EV go bad, one is screwed.
From carsguide.com:
I actually thought about just leasing a car instead of buying. Have it for two years and turn it in for another.
Our Michigan Senator, Debbie Stabemall, can afford one although I doubt she drives it herself.
What is too expensive for ordinary people?
2022 MSRP for EVs start below $35K before the federal tax incentive of $7,500.00. The Nisan Leaf MSRP $27,400. Chevy Bolt MSRP $31,500 and the Chevy Bold EUV MSRP $33,500. Mazda MX-30 MSRP $33,470. I will concede this, being not a normal market year, all cars are subject to market pricing over MSRP, but that's because of the limited number of cars available. That won't stand for too long, Ford has already stated they are doing away with dealerships for EVs and selling directly to consumers in the near future.
I've been looking for a new car in this price range and can't find an EV or hybrid within 300 miles of my house, though.
I read where Musk is pissed off that his incentive had expired.
I am just saying if I was in the market, I would try to get a truck for 40k over an EV that was say 35. Although trucks are unbelievable right now.
If I got one, I would want to be able to just plug in at home.
Cheaper to get rid of the problem.