Electrify America

I will be taking a road trip soon, so I signed up for EA, gave them money, selected a plan, etc. I stopped at one station and simply could not get it to begin charging using RFID. Instead of letting me start the session using the app, I had to call the customer service number and stand in front of my car at night in the freezing wind (literally 21 degrees) while the customer service rep spent 10 minutes verifying me, even insisting that I find the credit card I used and read the last four digits. I later discovered how to put an EA card in my Apple Wallet and now that seems to initiate charges if I slowly swipe the phone in front of the reader at an exact orientation. So far, using this app to start charging is a very painful experience. Next time I need to charge, I will make sure to pack a parka, hat, gloves, and long underwear in case the sessions does not start from the app. Chargepoint handles this much more fluidly.

ask user to change the rating

Machines have been glitchy and unreliable for at least the past YEAR (since I got my EV). Customer service reps are patronizing and useless on the phone. The machines all have credit card readers, but the majority of them do not work. Worse, you cannot tell if a machine works or not until you try it. You have to drive up to each machine, turn the car off, get out, plug in, try your card, see that it doesn’t work, unplug, get back in and drive six feet to the next one, and repeat at each machine until you find one that works. (They act like this is no big deal.) Calling them is worthless. They will just waste your time patronizing and apologizing, then either put you on hold to reset the machine (takes several minutes and doesn’t fix it), put you on hold to “see if someone is available to take you credit card over the phone,” tell you to download the app, or tell you to try different machines (which you could have done without calling them). And they lie every time that they are going to get this fixed as soon as possible. If they have not fixed it in the past year, they obviously do not care about this issue.

response required

For all of the significant external investment made in this company, I’m surprised that the iOS app is rather poor at this stage. I would think that the number one thing you need to do to monetize your operation is easily and successfully onboard paying customers. Even though I was reluctant to register just to see details of the individual charging stations, I thought I might need to make use of it at some point in the future. I made it up to the point where it asked for my credit card information. It complained that I didn’t put in my full name as shown on the card, even though that is precisely what I did. I even went to my PC, fired up Chrome, and attempted to complete the registration there. After filling in all of the fields and submitting, it just spun at the bottom and never completed. Don’t get me wrong—I’d like to see this company succeed and I like that they’re pushing the power envelope with the promise of faster Ultra-fast charging and pushing the OEMs, but having a capable mobile app is essential to a public EV charging venture. Thousands of smaller companies have figured out how to perform mobile registration and credit card onboarding. Let’s pull it together, guys. P.S. Could we please get this app to work on an iPad with full-screen resolution and landscape mode?

response required

The app won’t tell you whether stations are available unless you create an account. They won’t let you create an account unless you give them a CC#. Once you give them a CC#, they want to hit it and create a local wallet with a minimum cash balance, just like a toll agency. No discount unless you pay a monthly fee to be a “member.” I can pay same price at the “pump,” no local wallet, just by swiping my CC. Why am I considering this app? Oh, right, I want to know whether a station is available before I get there. Argh!!

ask user to change the rating

Signed up for a subscription and so far have had the same experience at every charging station: Try tap-to-pay with the Electrify America pass on Apple Watch. Get “unable to process” error. Unplug. Replug. Retry with EA pass on the phone. Get same error. Unplug. Replug. Try to activate station from app. Fails 75% of the time. Unplug. Replug. Give up and pay with credit card, thus getting no benefit whatsoever from subscription. If you want people to actually use your charging network, you need to MASSIVELY improve the customer experience.