Toyota joins IONNA charging network

Be interesting to see what Toyota / Subaru / Lexus ends up doing as I can tell you right now based on observations, Kia / Hyundai / Genesis are beating them all as they move forward to beat Tesla.

Everyone is so slow at charging currently except for Kia / Hyundai / Genesis. Interesting observation is that I posted about how I got faster than the 150-kW charging on the 150 kW chargers at EA and it seems this is pretty common as many others report that on those chargers, they get much faster speeds than EA claims.

EV6 150 kW Electrify America DC Fast Charging Test | Kia EV Forum (kiaevforums.com)

Hyundai and Genesis forums seem to have the same experience and I read earlier today on Reddit about this too. Have not heard of other EVs charging that way, but I know my wife plugged in when we first got our EV9 to a 150kW charger and got her 80% and left before a standard ID4 that was plugged into a 350kW charger was to 50%.

Sadly, one of the problems on this is charging etiquette in that 80% is usually best for most drivers unless you're on a road trip. Most EV buyers are clueless to what their top speed is for EVs charging and so they plug into a charger that they cannot take advantage of due to their slow speed. Example is the Chevrolet Bolt, maximum of 50kW charging rate and yet they plug into 150kW or 350kW chargers blocking those that have faster charging speeds.

Another example is the ID4, if you buy the Pro edition you get a maximum of 170kW charging from 10% to 80% but if it is either of the two lower levels, you only get 140kW maximum charging from 10% to 80%. This totally causes backup at charging stations when people plug into a charger they cannot take advantage of.

As such, this is the problem with the current Toyota / Lexus / Subaru EVs, all are pathetic fast chargers and yet I see them plug into a 350kW charger when their maximum speed is 100kW for 10% to 80%.

Hopefully the dealers would inform the buyers, but I doubt it.

16 hours ago, G. David Felt said:

As such, this is the problem with the current Toyota / Lexus / Subaru EVs, all are pathetic fast chargers and yet I see them plug into a 350kW charger when their maximum speed is 100kW for 10% to 80%.

But their range is so small (220 miles) that 10% to 80% isn't that long of a charge.

1 hour ago, Drew Dowdell said:

But their range is so small (220 miles) that 10% to 80% isn't that long of a charge.

Having a daughter who took advantage of the Subaru EV Lease deal, it is weird how slow the EV charges. Lucky for me, she works from home and pretty much does not go anywhere mon-thur so her 110V outlet in the garage gives her a full battery pack by Friday. 

Yet with that said, she has her EV-Go free charging and has tried it but asked me why it still takes 30 to 40 min on the fast charge to get to 80%. That compared to 80% in 18 min for my EV is the comparison as to why I feel they suck at fast charging.

Auto companies need to not limit the fast charging for best experiences imho.

41 minutes ago, G. David Felt said:

Having a daughter who took advantage of the Subaru EV Lease deal, it is weird how slow the EV charges. Lucky for me, she works from home and pretty much does not go anywhere mon-thur so her 110V outlet in the garage gives her a full battery pack by Friday. 

Yet with that said, she has her EV-Go free charging and has tried it but asked me why it still takes 30 to 40 min on the fast charge to get to 80%. That compared to 80% in 18 min for my EV is the comparison as to why I feel they suck at fast charging.

Auto companies need to not limit the fast charging for best experiences imho.

Apparently they somewhat fixed that for 2024, but not up to the speed of the other EVs.

3 hours ago, G. David Felt said:

Having a daughter who took advantage of the Subaru EV Lease deal, it is weird how slow the EV charges. Lucky for me, she works from home and pretty much does not go anywhere mon-thur so her 110V outlet in the garage gives her a full battery pack by Friday. 

Yet with that said, she has her EV-Go free charging and has tried it but asked me why it still takes 30 to 40 min on the fast charge to get to 80%. That compared to 80% in 18 min for my EV is the comparison as to why I feel they suck at fast charging.

Auto companies need to not limit the fast charging for best experiences imho.

Also remember that Toyota doesn't want to do EVs, the market is forcing them to.

This is good news, they need to get these chargers built because even though most people would charge at home, you still need the charge network big enough so range anxiety isn't a thing.  Because really people have charge anxiety, I think 300 miles is plenty of range and all these EV's do that, Ford's research I think said people drive more than 150 miles in a day only days per year.  So no sense buying cars with huge batteries that are super expensive, if the chargers are there and you can easily recharge if out away from home.

On 7/11/2024 at 10:35 PM, smk4565 said:

This is good news, they need to get these chargers built because even though most people would charge at home, you still need the charge network big enough so range anxiety isn't a thing.  Because really people have charge anxiety, I think 300 miles is plenty of range and all these EV's do that, Ford's research I think said people drive more than 150 miles in a day only days per year.  So no sense buying cars with huge batteries that are super expensive, if the chargers are there and you can easily recharge if out away from home.

The caveat is that not everyone can charge at home.   People in apartment buildings or rental houses without exterior plugs can't buy EVs?

We need the network to be extensive, so that means Tesla AND Chargepoint AND Electrify America AND Walmart AND IONNA so that everyone can use an EV even if they can't charge at home.

And that's also what the big range batteries are for because if you always have to charge publicly, you don't want to have to do it that often.

On 7/13/2024 at 10:10 AM, Drew Dowdell said:

The caveat is that not everyone can charge at home.   People in apartment buildings or rental houses without exterior plugs can't buy EVs?

We need the network to be extensive, so that means Tesla AND Chargepoint AND Electrify America AND Walmart AND IONNA so that everyone can use an EV even if they can't charge at home.

And that's also what the big range batteries are for because if you always have to charge publicly, you don't want to have to do it that often.

True, but some larger apartment complexes or parking garages could put in level 2 chargers, maybe even level 1 for places like an airport extended parking.  If people have their car sit 12 hours at their apartment, or 8 hours in a parking garage while at work, there is opportunity there also for charing without having to build out expensive super chargers.

And really it is rural America that should be embracing EV's way more because there aren't many gas stations when you get into farm country, you might have to drive 30-40 minutes to find a gas station in some parts of rural America, but they have houses with electricity and can easily charge.  

46 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

True, but some larger apartment complexes or parking garages could put in level 2 chargers, maybe even level 1 for places like an airport extended parking.  If people have their car sit 12 hours at their apartment, or 8 hours in a parking garage while at work, there is opportunity there also for charging without having to build out expensive super chargers.

And really it is rural America that should be embracing EV's way more because there aren't many gas stations when you get into farm country, you might have to drive 30-40 minutes to find a gas station in some parts of rural America, but they have houses with electricity and can easily charge.  

COST, Apartment owners are very stingy even here in Liberal PNW, there is city mandates now to get apartment owners to install chargers as renters are complaining. Yet up north by my area where I live around Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, Edmonds and Mukilteo Apartment owners who have installed L2 chargers rarely have vacancy so yes, it is valuable I believe and of course the Tesla Supercharger stations are packed all the time.

Workwise, Seattle has been very progressive in having building owners install chargers and I had at one time posted pictures of all the chargers at my work where 2 years ago, there were 4 and now there is 20 and still they are filled up, so demand is truly there, but resistance to change is still very hard among older folks. With GOP Trump having control of the Rural he has them sold on Toxic Diesel is the life and EVs need to die, so I doubt rural will get chargers without the Feds forcing the install and then we have to deal with the idiots cutting the cables or icing the chargers.

I hope there is a future way to have the cables shock the idiots that attempt to cut the cables as it is just stupid.