Crito

There are no ChargePoint or Electrify America stations anywhere near me here in New Caney, TX. There is a 50kW EVgo charger about 8 miles away though, so I thought I'd try it. Pulled up, plugged in and tried to start a session from the MBUX screen in the car. Charger said "communication error" and did nothing. Thinking maybe I did something wrong I went into the Mercedes Me app, selected my vehicle from garage, clicked charging services, logged into ChargePoint via a web browser (I have no idea what the password is though, Mercedes created it on it's own) and saw that my attempt was, in fact, communicated to ChargePoint. When I click details though to try and figure out what went wrong all I get is a spinning hourglass. So it's obvious the "communication error" is between ChargePoint and EVgo. Anyone have any ideas on what I can do to fix this? I'm not calling Mercedes. If they want me to help troubleshoot THEIR problem they have to pay me. I don't work for free just like they don't give away dashcam software for free. For now I just downloaded the EVgo app and entered my CC info because I really don't have time for stoopid @#$% like this.

Crito

.. and they ain't cheap, or particularly fast. This is my first EV so I'm still learning but I'm also starting to understand that the REAL advantage to buying a Tesla is the Supercharger network. I'm not looking forward to the 1000 mile drive I need to do in about a month. Wish I had kept one ICE vehicle. I might rent one instead of having to deal with this:

I pulled in with 50%.

icwhatudidthere

Thanks for the data point. That's disappointing that it's not seamless, I thought that was the whole point of Mercedes me Charge. After all, IIRC after the first year, that's a paid subscription so they damn well better get it working.

As for your trip, plan it out with https://abetterrouteplanner.com and you can see what chargers will be available along the way.

Crito

As stated previously, I'm new to all these EV stuff. I thought Mercedes made some kind of typo first time I saw mpkWh. But right now I'm having some serious range anxiety. I think I might need medication. According to my calculations, I'm getting almost exactly 1% per hour charge on my 120V at home. So basically I have to leave it plugged in all the time. Guess I'm going to need a level 2 charger in the garage.

Crito

That's definitely a good route planner. I was starting to think the trip just couldn't be done in an EV. Still, it's 265 miles from the Gulfport Premium Outlets EA Station in Biloxi, MS to Mercedes' Visitor Center in Vance, AL so if anything goes wrong at the ChargePoint in Boligee I'm going to be in trouble. I'm still considering just renting car, which is a real shame. I really thought the charging infrastructure was further along at this stage.


set PlugShare to 50kW minimum and got this

Crito

To be fair to EVgo, $1 of that was a session fee and another dollar was taxes. I was also charging in the middle of the day at peak rates. It's cheaper if you're an early bird. And to their credit, they seem to put stations in places not serviced by EA or CP, which is really quite helpful. It's usually just two stalls at 50kW each but still, that's a whole lot better than nothing.

Crito

Now that I've tried more of the other options I feel like I was unfair to EVgo. They may not be cheap but they seem to be reliable anyways. First leg of my new route has a 227 mile stretch to an isolated EA station that appears to have Signet chargers. I think those are the ones that are frequently "derated" from 150 kW down to 50 kW. Would really suck if I get stuck in a Super Foods parking lot for hours. Ugh!

bytemaster0

Good luck on your trip!

bytemaster0

@Crito - how'd the trip go? We're actually headed to the TN Smokies, so we won't be that far away! Stopping in Williamsburg, KY, hopefully EA station there is happy to charge tomorrow. Hope all went well!

Crito

@bytemaster0 I was a National Ski Patroller at Ober Gatlinburg in the Smokies back in the day (1985). Take the tram ride up to the lodge. It's just like being in Switzerland! OK, maybe not but hey, you can't drive to the Alps.

I've put off my trip for another month until it gets a little cooler. Was thinking of buying a used Lucid for road tripping but from what I'm reading the charging infrastructure really isn't ready for 800V vehicles yet and Mercedes' driver assist is way better. Just wish my EQE had the bigger battery pack from the EQS.

Anywho, here's an example of Signet problems. I don't think Dave's Signet surge dance will become a Tik Tok sensation but you never know. I've been wrong before.

Crito

PlugShare is the best! It's now showing a new charging station on my route that I'd never heard of before, a Red E Charge with 160 kW chargers:


I'm definitely Red E to go now!

bytemaster0

Nice! Congrats on the new charging stop!

Crito

Yeah, that's only 181 miles away instead of 227 so I can now drive 75+ MPH without worry. Dunno what kind of chargers Red E Charge uses but from photos they're definitely not Signets anyways. Looks like one bad connector but all stations are putting out full power. So it's pretty well matched to the EQE's max speed of 170 kW too. Strange that it's at a Shell station though as I thought they had their own Recharge branded chargers but whatever. I'm just happy to have another option.

Crito

Now that's what I like to hear!
EVgo Receives First Shipment of Build America, Buy America 350kW High-Power Fast Chargers from Delta Electronics