September
19, 2021 time for another network review trip. This time we will check
out all the EVgo stations in the metro Detroit area. This route
would take me to 8 single EVSE stops throughout the metro Detroit area. As far as I have been able to determine, EVgo
started as part of NRG Energy in around 2010. Was sold to an
investment firm in 2016 and was bought by US Power in 2019. In July
2021, EVgo became publicly traded by reverse merger, with US Power
maintaining a majority ownership.
Soon after
going public, EVgo was involved in some controversy. They acquired
the company Recargo. This is the company behind the popular
charging site location and review application called PlugShare.
While the Recargo direction of the app was considered mostly neutral,
the PlugShare user base is concerned on how the ownership change will
impact the service.
EVgo was an early entrant to the
electric vehicle charging service business. The capability of my locally
installed EVSE matches this in their functionality. All of the units in
the Detroit area are listed as 50kW, but in reality, they are limited by the
current output. These early BTC Power units can do 100-500 volts,
but only a maximum of 100 amps. So, the max output can only be seen if
the EVSE is charging at max voltage. For the Ann Arbor site, the EVgo app
lists this unit as a BTC Fatboy 480V, which is different from all the other
units in the area listed as BTC Fatboy 208V.
This should be related to the input power, but also seems to impact the
output power, since this is the only site that was able to put out 125A,
reaching near 44kW.
The build
dates on most of the units is January 2015. This means most of these
entered service that year, making most sites 6 years old. EV charging has
changed a lot in these 6 years and these sites really don't keep up with new
users' needs.
EVgo is working with partners,
like GM, to install many new sites with newer equipment, but there are
no signs that any of this investment is coming to the Midwest.
The age of
the early equipment is also beginning to show, with reduced reliability and
uptime. Although the EVgo web site claims ‘more than 98% uptime’, my
experience did not match. Because of
this, I have often heard of this network referred to as 'EV-no-go'. Often
the EVgo app is not trustworthy on the status of locations. During
my trip, 2 of 8 stations did not work, both still were offline 2 months later
when I was writing this update. 1 of those 2 showed there was a problem
in the app, the other gave no indication that I wouldn't be able to
charge. I hope that EVgo will work on some improvements locally,
and there will be faster and reliable EVSE for years to come.
None of my
network reviews are complete without some talk about pricing structure. EVgo continues to use the old fashion
method of charging by time spent charging, and not actually charging by the
amount of electricity consumed. This
means that users will only want to be plugged into these chargers when they are
getting peak charging speeds and disconnect as soon as speeds drop to avoid
being charged more than is needed. That
said, EVgo as a fixed network does charge a consistent $0.35 per minute
at all the Detroit area locations. This
differs from the ChargePoint network, where each of the operators sets
their own price and the price can vary widely from site to site. Still, I would like to see EVgo move
to the agreed fairer price structure of charging per kWh.
I need to
start off by giving credit to EVgo for saving the initial pickup
experience of Elektra. From my intro story, Elektra was not fully charged
when I arrived to pick her up. A local EVgo station in Palatine,
IL saved us and got Elektra charged up enough to complete my return trip
smoothly. Here I used 2 different 45-minute sessions, to charge up.
One of the quirks with EVgo is that they name each of the EVSE.
‘JEREMIAH’ at the local Walgreens did the charging. Adding
46.67kWh to the 64kWh battery pack while we completed all the paperwork.
With all of
this background, I started my lap of EVgo charge sites in Ferndale,
MI. To my surprise there was someone already charging at this stop.
One of the shortcomings of the local EVgo network is only one station
per stop. If I had needed to charge at this stop, I would have had to
wait until the current user finished charging. Nate was charging his
Chevy Bolt. His car was at about 50%. He graciously let me take a
picture of his car at the charger for my blog. While I didn't officially
charge at this site, I did see it in active use. The unit here in Ferndale is
called 'SHELLIA'. I was surprised at just how much use this site gets.
After the
quick stop in Ferndale, I was off to Trenton to find the charger named
'ROXANNE'. Easy to spot at the front of the Dunkin' Donuts near
the busy intersection of West and Allen roads. This was my first charge
of the trip, and I was disappointed to only get 35kW charging speed from a
reported 50kW unit. This is when I first found out about the downside of
these older EVSE. 100 amps max current output. With battery pack
voltage in Elektra at 350V that means these units can only provide my car
35kW. If I started charging with even lower state of charge and lower
pack voltage, the charging would have maxed out at an even lower rate.
With plenty of charge and many more sites to visit on this trip, I didn't stick
around long. When I planned the trip, I looked at about 5 minutes per
stop. Having been to two locations, and seen two successes, I was very
hopeful for a smooth trip with quick stops.
Wondering if
my negative bias towards EVgo was unfounded, I ventured onward. My
next attempt would restore my beliefs. This stop was at Dunkin’ Donuts
in Dearborn Heights. I was not encouraged when the EVgo app showed
the site as offline. But I wanted to give it a go anyway as I didn’t know how
much to trust the information in the app. I pulled up and parked next to
the EVSE named ‘WILFRED’. An initial look at the screen would not
indicate to a driver that anything was wrong. But any attempt to start
the charge, either by the app or by my EVgo card was unsuccessful.
Checking the app in the beginning of November this site still shows under
repair. EVgo should at least put some message on the screen that
indicates that they know this charger will not work to stop people from
bothering to waste time and try to get a charge from a unit that looks like it
is working. I have no idea if EVgo has a plan to ever fix this
issue. A recent call to their support number indicated that they were
waiting on parts from the manufacturer of the units, which would be BTC
Power. After a disappointing, if not unexpected stop I decided to
give up after just a couple of attempts and move to the next location.
Onward I
headed west to a Mobile Gas Station w/ Dunkin’ Donuts. This EVgo
site in Beville is immediately off the I-94 exit, making for a quick road trip
stop. This EVSE is named ‘NICHOLE’. Someone had pulled the
emergency stop to try and let others know that this site was not working.
To confirm the situation, I reset the stop button and attempted to
charge. When that failed, I called the EVgo support number and
worked through their trouble shooting steps. After a reset from the EVgo
end did not recover the ability of the EVSE to charge my car, I gave up on this
site. While later that day the site still showed available in the app,
now a couple of months later the app does show this site as under repair.
I also confirmed that this site is waiting on parts from BTC Power.
After 2
failures, I was ready for a successful charging session. The next stop on
my loop took me to the south side of Ann Arbor and a Shell gas station
just off of I-94. Easy to spot in the street side corner of the parking
lot, I was able to quickly pull up, plug in and get charging. To my
surprise, the charging didn’t limit to 35kW at this site, instead I was able to
get 44kW. Apparently, in some cases these units can output 125A, even if
listed as only 100A. ‘MARISOL’ was my favorite EVSE of the entire
trip. I spent a little longer here than I had scheduled, but with the
fastest charge and following 2 failures in charging, I was happy to juice up a
little longer.
Next stop
was at a charger named ‘RONALDO’ in Howell, MI. Located at the southwest
corner of the Shell gas station close to the I-96 highway exit.
Not easy to see from the main road. Pulling up to this site, the side
parking made for some challenge to position Elektra for easy connection.
According to the check-in on PlugShare, I missed a Harley Davidson
Live Wire motorcycle charging at this location by just a couple of
minutes. I experienced no issues starting the charging session here and
was back to the expected 35kW charging speed. I only stayed for a quick
stop, and then I was off on my way to complete my loop of EVgo charging
sites.
Now, headed
east on I-96, I continued my route to the next stop. The third Shell gas
station in a row. At the Beck Rd exit, I easily found the EVSE
‘TIFFANY’. Same parking orientation and charging speeds are here as at
the previous stop. I stayed a little longer here totalling 10 minutes and
getting a total of 5.8kWh of electricity. If it was not a late afternoon
stop, I probably would have taken advantage of either the Tim Hortons or
Starbucks, both within easy walking distance, for a coffee and snack.
With this charge done, I had one final stop left before my trip was complete.
The final
stop on this trip took me east and then south on I-275 to Plymouth, MI.
This time the EVSE is placed directly in front of the BP gas station.
This may be the easiest to find EVSE of the whole trip. Pulling up and
plugging right in, I was able to start the session very quickly. Since,
there was no real need to charge, I stayed for only 7 minutes adding a small
4.05kWh of energy on my last stop.
Overall, I
think EVgo met my low
expectations. At 3 of the stops, I was not able to charge (2 out of
service sites and one busy site). I hope that EVgo will start to invest some additional time and money into the
Detroit market to improve the offerings. With this being the home of GM,
and the recent announcement that they have expanded the agreement to install
from 2750 stalls to 3250 stalls through 2025, one could hope some of this
attention comes to the local area. In the interim users that opt to use EVgo can expect both reliability and
slow charging issues to continue. For
me, it will continue to be 'EV-no-go'.
