Electrify America’s CEO-elect took a cross-country road trip in an EV to test the company’s charging network, and this is how it went.
Electrify America’s CEO-elect took a road trip in an EV
Robert Barrosa, VP of technology at Electrify America, will become president and CEO of the company on June 1.
From March 31 to April 6, Barrosa traveled almost 2,800 miles in a Hyundai IONIQ 5. He drove from Los Angeles to Electrify America’s HQ in Reston, Virginia. He stopped at 28 Electrify America charging stations in 13 states.
The company made a video about his trip and sent it over today. I have to admit that I was a wee bit skeptical about how his journey would be portrayed – would it show the not-so-good with the good? It did, and that makes the video useful.
Barrosa had days where charging the IONIQ was problem-free, and he also had days where charging stations were either out of order or simply weren’t fast enough. In West Unity, Ohio, the EV charger was down because the application crashed, so he phoned the call center, and they successfully reset it. (But that takes time.)
He also chatted with other EV owners who stopped to charge, and he admitted on camera that “there are still issues for us and for the industry to work through when it comes to charging infrastructure.” Barrosa called his road trip “enlightening.” Good for him for taking the trip – he looked pretty tired when he arrived in Reston, lol. You can watch the video below:
Electrek’s Take
Barrosa says in the video that the company’s goal is for customers to successfully charge on the first try. Well, yes – we EV drivers want to show up at chargers and not feel anxiety about whether or not they’re going to work.
When I drive my Tesla Model 3 on a longer trip, I don’t worry about whether or not the Superchargers will work – I know they will.
If I do the same with my VW ID.4, I don’t feel as confident, and that’s due to past experiences.
The Electrek team chatted about this video. We appreciate the honesty about the glitches Barrosa encountered, and we recognize that Electrify America has to deal with the challenges of providing charging for dozens of automakers and models, whereas Tesla caters to its own brand (well, at present, but that may be about to change).
EV charging companies should drastically simplify their charging stations and get automakers to conform to them – in other words, make plug-and-charge a standard. Both the EV charging companies and their customers would hugely benefit.
Top comment by Les journées des merveilles et des miracles
I read about your problems with charging in the US and it reminds me of France in 2019 when every road trip in my Hyundai Kona was a nightmare. Three years later (and I’ve since added a Chinese-made Model Y to my garage) it’s immeasurably improved with Ionity fast charging at almost every Autoroute service area, and the Tesla network on top of that. It helps greatly that we have a common charge port for Tesla and everything else. Range anxiety simply isn’t an issue here anymore.
Read more: Here’s how the US can make EV road trips seamless
Photo: Electrify America
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