Drove from Dallas to Ouray, CO and Back on EQS 450

EA station at Amarillo, TX worked perfectly - Accepted EQS payment, gave 30 minutes free, charged at a high rate 3% to 80% in 36 minutes
EA station at Santa Rosa, NM worked perfectly - Accepted EQS payment, gave 30 minutes free,
EA station at Albuquerque, NM - First charger did not recognize EQS payment, so moved to the next stall and it Accepted EQS payment, gave 30 minute free

On the return
EA station at Albuquerque, NM - worked perfectly - Accepted EQS payment, gave 30 minutes free
EA station at Tucumcari, NM - worked perfectly - Accepted EQS payment, gave 30 minutes free (used only 10 minutes)
EA station at Amarillo, TX - First stall peaked at charging speed of 40kW (Car had 30% of SOC), after 10 minutes got a connection error and charging stopped (accepted EQS payment). Moved the car to the next stall it charged for 30 minutes again at 40kW and 30 minutes free
Next day used the same charging station and different stall to get the car up to 100% again peaked out at 40kW. Understand this was past 80% so the charging curve would be worse
EA station at Denton, TX - The stall did not accept EQS payment, tried the 2nd stall did not accept EQS payment. So paid using EA account. The car went from 15% to 42% in 21 minutes, received 31kwh, so average charge rate of 90kWh

The last two charging sessions were not the best, not sure if it is a car issue or charger issue. I am driving to Chicago this weekend... will find out... Anyone has valuable advice, please let me know

 

Charger. Luckily I dont DC charge hardly ever. Both times I used EA I had to swipe my card (I got a refund). One thing to remember, if you are using a 350 charger, if someone is using the other "tap" on the charger you only get 170k max. The same applies to any other charger.

 

Just a small correction. Only one 'tap' can be used at a time on an EA charging station.

 

in fact no, Ive shared a charger one side CCS the other Chademo.
of all things with a Mitsubishi, probably one of the rarest PHEVs out there.

 

Hello-

on Mercedes me connect app (android version), under manage services I used to have 6/6 activated, now I have 5/5, the EA is missing. Mercedes tells me EA is still active on my account. and I do have problems with plug and charge or starting session from Mbux.

1. Do you guys still see EA under manage services>charging as an active tab option or the change the user interface so its not visible in app any longer?
2. does it say 5/5 or 6/6 services on you charge tab within app?

 

I only have 5/5. I don't remember what was in the list before but "Plug and Charge" is still on of the 5.

With that being said I did have the most horrible experience trying to charge with EA last night.
30mins and charging issue during a thunderstorm. Which ended with me extremely frustrated and taking out my frustrations with the innocent EA representative trying to help me.
I remained calm throughout the entire ordeal until I snapped after 30mins of going in and out of the downpour. I yelled at the poor guy saying "I give up! I am not going out into the rain one more time! Why is it that EA chargers dont have an overhead canopy like every gas station?!?"
Seriously... WHY?

 

Thanks for confirming. So MB changed interface and 5/5 is the new normal now.

Definitely not a prime time experience. EA started building covered chargers.i haven't seem them in person.

While everything was working most of time in the past, now can't start session from vehicle or plug and charge, need to call ea to start it which is annoying [yes I do have all services activated and linked to charge point]

No help for the last 1 month from MB,ea, and charge point....

 

Hi everybody, made an account after seeing so many of y'all with Electrify America issues. When buying an EV from MB make sure your sales person activates your MB Connect account, and completes your Charging Registration Contract (THIS MUST BE COMPLETED TO MAKE USE OF THE PROMO FREE 30 MIN CHARGE AT EA). *IMPORTANT* Make sure you get on a page where it makes you sync both your MB Connect account with a Charge Point account. I've seen it skip this part and log in to MB Charge making seem like you did everything( Delete any website data for the MB website so it doesn't skip this step and log you in). Androids sometimes don't even load the link so I usually make them sign into my work iPhone to sign the contract. Enter your serial number for the Charging Card provided with your Mercedes. There has been a few EQS' that I've seen with a Bug take a week~ to load any Mercedes Me Connect info like profiles, meaning no free EA charging. If your MB EV says "Please Activate Mercedes Me" and/or "No Internet Connection" when starting up your EV then you are affected with the bug. I'm pretty sure MB will make a recall because I can't do anything about it, I've done my part and making sure all services are activated.

PS. Sometimes with the weight of the cable it pulls or tilts the charger plug connection enough to make the car stop charging to avoid any accidents and gives you an ERROR flash. You'll have to wait 16 mins to plug in again for the free Charging( You get 30 mins free charging at EA per session. You may begin another charging session for free in 16 mins after you unplug or end a charging session).

 

You do not have to wait. I have do this several times. All that matters is that your total time does not go over 30mins.

 

Just tried the EA charger to check that it worked properly….everything worked perfectly…topped off the charge to 80%.

 

Does your vehicle say "Activate Mercedes Me"? I helped a client with something similar. Chargepoint and EVgo worked because they pay, however, on EA it wouldn't "plug and charge" until we logged out of his personal profile in the car and switched into the guest account. We also drove to the station and parked in a charging spot, looked up that charger on the MB Navigation, selected the charger on the screen that we parked at (match the long number to the number on the charger) and press the green checkmark to begin a charging session manually. Its something I hope MB fixes soon.

 

For my case I have all services activated, linked through Mercedes me me so with charge point and only visible thought a charge point web browser partnership service connected with Mercedes. RFID card is there, a o payment card is there.
I looked from dealer postal desk all connect and resisted, I saw my profile there.
however everyone is clueless what do to especially support that responds in 2 weeks increments with nonsense options. Like "make sure your account is linked'even though I told them it's done already.

​​​​​​Or calling me back in a month to check if issue resolved itself, which makes even more frustrated, as I am waiting on them for help and they check if issue went away on its own

My point is, that there some of us that have all connections, registrations, activations, contracts, term agreements done and still have issues..

At this point I am about to try to find lawyer as this is not my Facebook account to be not operational for months and that would be minor inconvenience but such an expensive car and that bad support is a no no.

 

After charging on a 150 Kw charger to 83% in Oak Brook, IL yesterday, we started our drive on the way home to Des Moines, IA while showing the range was now up to 298 miles. We took I-80 (a little longer drive) instead of I-88 for a change. We stopped to get a recharge at Williamsburg, IA about 86 miles east of home) with 60 miles left on the range.
Backed in the the 350Kw charger and plugged it in. No dice! It would not work. I tried the 150 Kw charger and that also did not work. Meanwhile, a lady driving a small electric SUV pulled into the 350 Kw charger that would not work for me and it was working for her. She used the EA App on her phone. Meanwhile, I was waiting for someone at EA to answer my call. As I waited, I tried the 150 Kw charger once again and thankfully it worked this time. I explained what had expired to the EA rep. I asked if I had to use the app. She said absolutely not. It’s suppose to be plug and charge.
The general manager of my dealer in Des Moines informed me that a guy who purchased (second EQS 580 sold in Des Moines. I was the first.) almost the exact EQS 580 configuration I have had a problem using the EA charger while on a trip to Minneapolis. It was not working for him and EA was trying to place the blame on Mercedes. The GM told me that a Mercedes sales rep is visiting tomorrow and the GM will try to find out what’s going on. I told him to ask a couple questions I have: 1) Is ChargePoint also plug and charge? 2) What’s the purpose of that little card provided by Mercedes? I have never used it. I have always charged the car on EA charging stations with plug and charge. Does one need this card for ChargePoint or EVgo?

I would appreciate it if anyone here knows the answers to my questions.

 

As one of the first - if not THE first - to buy an EQS from my local dealer, here is what I learned the little black card that comes with your car must go through to make ChargePoint stations work and to make EA stations know who you car is and for the 30-minute gratis period to work...MOST OF THE TIME.
1) The little black card must be THE ONE that belongs to your car! My dealer had moved a card from the other EQS in the showroom and after an hour of trying to activate it, we switched cards and all was well.
2) The dealer has to enter your account info into his desktop computer
3) The dealer has to pair the card while INSIDE your car
4) You must receive an email from MB that your card is activated. My email arrived about 48 hours after I did 1-3 above - and the dealer was not aware that step 4 had to happen.

I also had to cancel my personal ChargePoint account BEFORE the little black card could be attached to my MB Connect account. I never had an EA personal account. When I use a ChargePoint station I use the little black card to activate the session. Every minute is charged to your account with ChargePoint that was set up on MB Connect. In my case ChargePoint adds $10 to my account and when my balance drops below $5, ChargePoint will add $10 and that appears on my credit card account that I registered with MB Connect.

I also have had a couple of "won't work EA 350kw tries" and just moved to the 150kw with no trouble. When I returned to the same EA 350kw several days later it worked just fine. We are blazing new trails here and there will be hiccups!

Hope this helps...now back to my regularly scheduled programming!

 

Thank you so much for this info. One time I barely went over (I owed 46 cents) the 30 minute free charging at EA station. I received an email from ChargePoint that they added $10 to my account. Does that mean that the little card is activated?

 

If that $10 was added to the card on file with MB Connect (the little black card), I would assume - ASSUME - the little black card is activated. I have never tried EVGo but we have a charger near us so I may stop there just to see what happens.

Glad you found this info useful.

 

Please ignore

 

Yep...I should have been more specific...as the OP referred to both getting 170KW I assumed he was talking about CCS charging.

 

I just returned from a long road trip from Las Vegas to just above Vancouver Canada. First stop on the route planned by the car's navigation was about 220 miles away was only level 2 and took about 2 hours (started with 100%). This was a Shell charger. Next scheduled charge was also a Shell charger but the two level 2 machines did not work. They kept rebooting, the agent tried but could not help. I made it to the 3rd station, I don't remember, but it was not Shell or EA. They did not work either and the phone agent could not get it to work.

I wasted about 2 hours trying to get it sorted out. The Mercedes roadside assistance number I got from my dealer would not help EQS owners and had a different number for us. That number did not answer for over 35 minutes before I hung up and called back the previous number. They still said I have to call the EQS number. It is monsoon season so it was about 100 degrees with thunder, lightning, and pouring rain. They answered on the next attempt.

The next station was about 135 miles away and I did not have enough range as this and the previous station did not work. They called a tow truck and said they would tow me on a flat bed to the next station. They said it would take about 90 minutes for it to arrive, but it was about 4 1/2 hours. I got to then next station about 3 hours after the truck arrived. It was an Electrify America station and we charged while the car was still on the truck to be sure the car was not the problem. It charged fast and as expected. At that point I was only about 300-400 miles out on a 1,350 mile trip one way.

All of the stations after that point were also Electrify America and level 3 chargers were plentiful along the route (I returned through California as the Nevada chargers were poor or just level 2). After I entered my destination and then pressed the charging station icon, often times it would not show any chargers at all until I drove an hour or more. This happened about 3 times. At this point I was charging to about 90% and the range showed about 325+ miles most of the time. I chose the next level 3 station at about half that distance in case I had stations that did not work again.

The station with the tow truck charged flawlessly, but out of about 12 more stops including the return, I had issues that required a call at 10 of those 12. Some had broken screens, 150 or 350kw chargers that only put out 30kw, machines that kept rebooting, and a few that would not recognize the car. In all cases I was eventually charged at the Electrify America stations with an agents help or using a different charger at that location. At no time did I have to wait for an open charger. All of their phone agents were very helpful!

While waiting I set my phone on the latch of the door that covers the cup holders and streamed video that played through the car's bluetooth.

The EQS 450+ performed VERY well and fast. I don't have the enhanced arrows on my nav heads up, but they do show up on the center screen. I almost always had to quickly close that window because it covered the next turn that in some cases that was only a hundred feet away. While at a stop I found the setting and disabled it and regained some sanity. Also, a few times after charging the NAV did not release that destination and kept trying to loop me back to the charger I just left. My "fix" was to cancel the route and restart it from the "previous destinations" and again use the charging stations icon to fine the next L3 charger.

I think the charging network needs some fixes, but I was happy with the results the car performed!

 

What a nightmare. We're travelling from South Florida to Virginia and back next week. Will report back on how it goes.

 

Please report how the drive goes. Once I eventually get my 580, I am planning on driving it from RI to south Florida along the 95 corridor for the winter. I will have a home charger in both locations so not worried much since 90% of my driving will be within reach of my homes, but the drive back and forth to Florida and RI is a bit concerning to me.

 

I created a ChargePoint account and connected it to my 450plus MB account using the website. I even entered the code on my tiny black charge card into the ChargePoint account. However, I tried it at an Electrify America station today. it seems it wants to charge me at $0.43/kWh. It does not appear it recognized my car. Should I also create an Electrify America account as well to enjoy the free charging?
Thanks!

 

I am not sure exactly, but on some EA chargers display I seen something like what you describe but it also shows in small font that the 1st 30 minutes are courtesy charge for Mercedes (or to that effect).

 

It turns out that I had to wait a few days after registration before MB officially notified me that my plug and charge feature was ready. I will try again later at a charging station to confirm.

 

It’s always a wait of several days after registration.