How EVCS is Repairing Reliability Concerns

One of the biggest concerns among EV drivers today is the reliability of public chargers. One recent survey from the Department of Bioengineering at UC Berkeley claims as many as 23% of public chargers in the Bay Area alone are, as Wired sums up, “nonfunctioning at any given time, stymied by broken screens, shoddy credit card or payment systems, network connection failures, or damaged plugs.” And that’s in a locale prioritizing the conversion to electric. Testimony from motorists seems to corroborate these findings. A CEC survey of 1,290 EV drivers found that fully 60% had experienced damaged or inoperable chargers, while almost half needed assistance from customer service. We find this wholly unacceptable and have taken measures to ensure that chargers in the EVCS network rise to the standard of operability our customers expect. Here are a few ways we’re doing that:

Renovating Existing Infrastructure

In the summer of 2020, we purchased the West Coast Electric Highway, a contiguous network of 56 charging stations in Oregon and Washington. Unfortunately, the chargers were outdated and several had fallen into disrepair. By October of 2021, the first phase in our estimated two-year renovation project had begun, complete with the incorporation of new proprietary networking software, updated payment portals, CCS1 connectors and replacement of old Level 2 and Level 3 chargers.

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Utilizing State-of-the-Art Hardware

Our Tritium RT50 chargers are acknowledged by industry experts as among the highest quality available. Their efficiency rating is greater than 90%, with 6000 VAC surge protection, and they maintain peak performance in both extreme heat and subzero temperatures. They’re durable, lightweight and equipped with a patented liquid-cooling technology that allays the effects of humidity, dust and corrosion.

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Remote Operational Testing

We maintain a powerful centralized platform that is connected to every charger in our network. This allows us to routinely run diagnostics checks that ensure optimum operability across every area, from electrical flow to RFID connectivity to the status of charging ports and adapters. If we find an issue, we remotely “reboot” the charger as a first step in our maintenance and repair protocols.

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Expert Technicians

If a reboot fails to solve the issue, we send a specially trained technician to service the equipment. However, some issues might fail to appear on one of our remote tests, which is why we routinely send field techs out to inspect every one of our installations across the West Coast. Working to preemptively address issues means less of a chance our customers get burdened with the hassle of faulty equipment.

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Responsive Customer Service

Despite all our mitigating efforts, we understand problems will still arise. That’s why we maintain a round-the-clock customer support team every day of the year to address charger issues. We can be reached by phone, email or website form, and we respond promptly to issues on social media. Customers who call in will be connected to a live person who is knowledgeable, empathetic and driven to achieve maximum satisfaction.

According to a recent article in Greenbiz, “To accelerate the transition to 100 percent zero-emission vehicle sales for new passenger vehicles in the U.S., the emphasis on charging infrastructure must equally focus on deploying more stations and ensuring a reliable driver experience. Otherwise, we risk slowing down EV adoption…” We completely agree. We remain committed to keeping our chargers in top working order and providing customers a simple, reliable and seamless charging experience.

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West Coast Electric Highway to Receive Extensive Upgrade from EVCS

ARCADIA, Calif. (August XX, 2021) – EV Charging Solutions (EVCS), one of the largest electric vehicle (EV) fast charging network operators on the West Coast, today announced that they are approved and funded by the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) to upgrade 44 and add three new electric vehicle charging stations on the Oregon portion of the original West Coast Electric Highway (WCEH). Eleven of the 47 stations will be called “superstations” and will include three DC fast chargers and one Level 2 AC charger. In all, more than 100 charging ports will be upgraded or added.

Is Policy Action Alone Enough to Reach Net Zero by 2050?

Recently, BloombergNEF published a telling article titled, “Electric Vehicle Sales Set to Rise Faster Than Ever, but More Policy Action Needed to Get on Track for Net Zero.” The author raises many interesting observations about where we are now in the transition to electric mobility; where we’re projected to be in 10, 20 and even 30 years based on current trajectories; and what we need to do if we’re going to be net zero by 2050.

Auto Trends Magazine: Occhiuzzo Debunks 4 Misconceptions Surrounding EV Fast Charging Stations

Our co-founder and CEO, Gustavo Occhiuzzo, is quickly emerging as a thought leader in the world of electric mobility, becoming someone stakeholders can count on to demystify obscurities and address falsehoods surrounding the installation and application of charging infrastructure. Like any new technology, resistance to adoption is often based on fallacious notions, some of which may be perpetrated by those with a financial interest in competing technologies. Therefore, countering such notions with facts is crucial if both drivers and site hosts are to make an informed decision about EV adoption. Occhiuzzo most recently addressed four of the biggest misconceptions surrounding chargers in the article below for Auto Trends Magazine.

“Who’s Saving the Planet?” Podcast Interviews Gustavo Occhiuzzo

EVCS co-founder and CEO Gustavo Occhiuzzo recently spoke on the “Who’s Saving the Planet?” podcast about the electric mobility revolution and what we as a company are doing to help realize a truly carbon-neutral future. During the conversation with hosts Anthony Noto and Jessica Miles, Occhiuzzo made several critical points that help listeners understand where we are now in that mission, the obstacles we face, what EVCS has done to overcome those obstacles, and what we can do better as a global community. Here are some of the most prescient points:

Installation of the Month (June 2021): Hyatt Place Riverside/Downtown

The ability to travel is something many of us take for granted. Our Interstate Highway System allows us to freely traverse state boundaries – to go wherever we choose whenever we choose – from the snow-capped Colorado Rockies to the soupy Everglade swamplands to the historic lighthouses of coastal New England. However, EV drivers are more acutely aware of their travel limitations because many areas of the country have yet to adopt pro-electric infrastructure policies, often leaving them with few ground-travel options other than ICE vehicles. We knew getting more Americans to embrace the electric revolution would require buy-in from the hospitality industry. As such, much of our focus has gone toward hotels that, by serving as site hosts for charging stations, can help kickstart that ubiquitous access required to convert many EV holdouts.