nsoltz

As I sit here and stew with anxiety over my EQB currently scheduled for June 2023 production, I continue to read horror stories about Electrify America charging. The complaints range from inability to get a station (echoed by a friend who just bought an Ionic) to chargers that do not work and are not repaired in a timely manner to problems with both getting the cars to charge or Mercedes Me problems to inability to recognize the account for the free 30 minutes. On another forum, a user contends the physical charging issues are EQB related because he does not experience them on his EQS Claims Mercedes is unable to fix his issue and has initiated a buy-back. While the new EV-owner phrase is "range anxiety", I'm starting to have EA anxiety.

dvenneman

I can’t get on the app - “try another time”. Tried another and another and ankther

no EA chargers near me. Dealer says they are “aggressively” putting them in. 10 near him. None near me.

EVGO is good. But you pay. Mercedes makes it sound like they are paying where you go through “ChargePoint”. That is not so.

Most ChargePoint chargers are level 2 and you cannot use them for a mid trip rapid charge. That’s an 8 hour affair.

you better have a level 2 charger in your home as I did by the time you take delivery.

order now. It took ChargePoint 4 months to get mine to me.

nsoltz

We have 2 level 2 chargers. First was for Kia Niro plug in which we sold in favor of Rav4 Prime. The Rav4 could handle more juice than the Kia. And we installed 50 amp breaker to future proof for EV. Concerned more with super fast charging for short trips.

CMD_77

I've read the horror stories from other EQB owners who say they can't get EA to recognize their free charging session. I have a feeling something was not set up correctly at the time of purchase in those instances. I periodically use Electrify America and, for the most part, it works. I have NEVER had an issue with not recieving a complimentary session. I have had issues with the initial charging authentication but as time has gone on, I have realized most of it was user error on my part. I don't think a lot of people realize you only have 30 seconds to authenticate when you first plug in the charger. So, if your natural inclination is to get out, plug in the charger, and then initiate the session via the app or the car, it's likely going to fail. Once I figured that out and mastered the process it's worked without issue. Yes, there are times when a charging station is no longer working but in my experience an associated app (either the EA app, Mercedes Me, or Plug Share) will all correctly reflect that information in advance.

I have a ChargePoint HomeFlex where I charge at home most days. However, on the occasion where I take a short road trip and drain the battery down to 20% or so, I will drive the 10 miles to the only EA in my vicinity and take advantage of the complimentary charging.

nsoltz

Glad to hear of your EA success. We have a PrimecomTech Level 2 charger on a 50 amp breaker that we use for the Rav4Prime PlugIn along with a backup smaller charger on a 30amp breaker which we used when we had a Kia Niro PlugIn. And it came in handy when the Primecom needed to be returned for service due to a broken connector. So I doubt we'll use EA very often. And now apparently Tesla has opened superchargers to non Tesla vehicles so it will make the EQB more attractive for longer trips.

cadetdrivr

FWIW, that is coming in the USA but it will take quite a while for nationwide rollout as it requires upgraded hardware to support the CCS charger port on non-Tesla cars. Currently only a very small percentage of supercharging locations have been opened to non-Tesla vehicles.

https://www.plugshare.com/map/tesla-ccs-locations

nsoltz

thanks for the plug share link. Fortunately most of those ccs locations are in NY state in areas whete I would be driving!

cadetdrivr

Excellent!

Let us know how it works with the EQB.

jzchen

I’ve been using EA stations almost 90% of the time now. I do use the Mercedes me app to initiate charging by selecting the station number then as soon as I plug in I tap the “charge” button.

So far it’s been great we have two stations within 3 mi of us one at Albertsons parking lot another at the shopping mall. If you get it under 20% and let it sit overnight it will start charging and can reach very close to the 100 kW rate, I’ve seen 93, 96, I think also 97 or 98. It won’t stay there the whole time and may ramp up a little at the beginning…

Tennis Dad

I can hardly wait for this to happen. There are several spots in my area with multiple Tesla chargers at each and much fewer hi output ones that I can use, and I’ve found a surprising number out of service.

harold.bien

I second this experience although ours has not been entirely perfect. We mostly charge at home and use EA only for road trips. The first time we tried it it worked when using the "Mercedes Me" App to select the specific charger. The second time we tried it about one month ago I think something was wrong with the entire network because most EA charging stations were showing "Unknown" status and we could not selected "Charge". After multiple failed attempts, we ended up paying with our credit card instead. The machine at the end didn't send me a receipt and froze up instead. The next day I called EA customer service and the lady who answered was very nice, pleasant, and knowledgeable about EV cars in general (she recognized the EQB immediately). With very limited information (even though I had the charging station # available in the photograph, she was able to locate the session faster then I could pull up the photo) with just roughly the time and location she was able to locate the session, send me a a receipt, and reverse the charges without my contacting Mercedes. She advised me in the future if it's not working to simply contact EA Customer service and they can remotely activate. The only issue I have with this work-around is that it may take up to 10 minutes to get someone on the line. I'm hoping that in the future it will be smoother using the "Mercedes Me App" again like the first session. My only other gripe is that for some reason, none of these sessions show up at all under our "Transaction history" in Mercedes Me", even after several months has elapsed. For reference, we live in New York state.

nsoltz

Had the car for 6 weeks now and EA is definitely spotty. Chargers out of service or de-rated. There is one station about 7 or 8 miles from me that has new chargers and it works reasonably well. But once a charger goes down, it can take weeks for EA's contractors to repair. Concerns remain about taking the car on a road trip due to undependable EA. But in 2024 when the NACS adapter becomes available, charging at Tesla Superchargers will make the EQB dependable for the road.

nath_h

I just bought an EQB, so will chime in here. I've been using EA since 2019. It has improved dramatically since then. In 2019, they were definitely 'building the airplane while they were flying'. In Iowa where I live, I now get the EA stations to work every time, which was not true in 2019. We've also got a 2022 EQS 580, and so far have not had luck plugging in and getting it to recognize/charge immediately. We've tried it every which way of using the EA app, Mercedes Me app, etc. Customer service is always excellent at EA, and so far they have reimbursed me for all the sessions for which I had to pay. They told me that they knew there were bugs in the system regarding the plug-and-go concept, and they were having to fix one machine at a time (sounded a bit unlikely to me, but that's what I was told).