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Writer's pictureKatie Krivolavek

Should EV Public Charging be Free with the State of Fast Charging?

We have encountered our fair share of charging woes while traveling in our Rivian R1T and Ford Lightning. Should EV road trips be free when the state of charging isn't up to standard?




Our trip to Breckenridge, CO was not without its hiccups. We were able to get a charge immediately when we plugged our Rivian R1T into the Electrify America charging stations. But our victories were short lived, during 2 out of the 3 charging stops we made, we experienced charge errors.


In North Platte, NE, where we have had to leave without a charge on a previous trip, we unplugged FIVE times. In the end, we were able to get the charge we needed, but with the repeated plugging and unplugging the charge stop took more than 20 minutes longer than it should have.


Fort Morgan, CO has always been a relatively reliable charger for us. On this trip, that proved to be the case. We were able to get the charge we needed and be on our way in under a half an hour.


It was our first time visiting the Electrify America station in Lakewood, CO. Steve could not get too far from the charger though, as we had to restart the session 2 times after the initial plug in. Luckily we had to do some grocery shopping, which took longer than the time we needed to charge, so we weren't delayed by these charge errors.


On the bright side, our charges in North Platte and Fort Morgan were both complementary. We have experienced this before where EA does not charge or reduces the cost of charging because the chargers performance is subpar. We appreciate the gesture, but would be happy to pay for the charge if it meant the increased revenue for the company would improve repairs to it's units.

What do you think, should charges on public chargers be free when the charging station is not working properly?

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