EVgo DC chargers were horrible up until the beginning of 2018. They're still not perfect, but improvement is being made.

[sgt1372]

I have had the EVgo On-The-Go plan for 2 years and I have been receiving statements that show usage as well as my monthly $14.95 fee. Initially, I was charging at an EVgo station that was new and free so nothing showed up on my statements. Now I see all charging sessions for all locations I visit and they are all accurate. So far, I have been very pleased with the EVgo DCFC service.

I just joined the On-The-Go plan and used it the last time I was in SF which is ref!ected in the $14.95 on statement that I just got.

Funny thing is, the last time that I was in the City and used the same charger, before I joined EvGo, I was only charged $10 for a 30 min session w/my cardit card.

So, I'm wondering if it would be cheaper if I just use my credit card ("instead of my EvGo card). Will test the idea the next time I'm in the City again.

 

[SparkE]

Since you have already paid the $14.95 for the month - no, it won't be cheaper. With your subscription, you now pay $0.10/min with no 'connection fee'.

Using your CrCard, a 30 min charge will cost about $10 (OR $4.95 + $0.20/min, depending on the charger - I have heard of both rates).

A 30 min. charge with your on-the-go plan will cost a ZERO connection fee and $0.10/min (for a total of $3). (Your $14.95/mo is a 'sunk cost'.)

If you charge ONCE a month (using CrCard) - it will cost you $10.

If you charge TWICE a month (2x 30-min charge) - it will cost you $20.

If you have an on-the-go plan and charge twice a month (2x30 min), it will cost you $14.95 + $6 ($0.10/min) = $21.

If you have an on-the-go plan and charge 4 times a month (4x30 min), it will cost you $14.95 + $12 ($0.10/min) = $27.

The 'break-even' point is about two charges. After that, it is much, MUCH cheaper to charge at EVgo than at home (if you don't have a cheap 'time of day' rate over-night) since you have already paid the monthly fee and the EVgo rate ($0.10/min) is about $0.12/kWh (if you are at < 50% SoC).

Of course, if you have access to a ChargePoint DCFC, at $0.25/kWh, then $20 will buy you 80 kWh of electricity BASED ON USAGE, no monthly fee. But if no ChargePoint DCFCs are convenient, that doesn't help you any (although there are several ChargePoint DCFCs between SF and east Contra Costa).

There's :
- a FREE 46kW dcfc at 'ford point' (the old ford plant in point richmond, prob about 5 miles out of your way unless you are going to Marin)
- a 46 kW dcfc ($7/hr, about $0.12/min or 0.16/kWh) on Cutting, less than a mile from I-80 in Richmond
- a free 46 kW dcfc at hilltop near Pinole/El Sobrante/Richmond (again, a mile or less from I-80)
- a 24 kW dcfc in Walnut Creek ($0.20/min, so maybe $0.45-0.55/kWh) - prob best as emergency 'not quite enough to get home' mini-charge
- a 24 kW dcfc in Oakland - off I-580/I-980 - ($0.20/min) - also a decent 'just need a little bit extra to get home' charge

But IIRC, you have said that you have an EVgo DCFC not far from your house. Since you've already paid the sub ($14.95), there's no reason for you to HAVE to stay connected for the full 30 min : you pay $0.10/min with no connection fee. So I can understand if your best option may be to plug in at an EVgo DCFC for 10-15 mins in SF (to get ~10 kWh to have that 'peace of mind') and to also stop at the DCFC when you get near home for a 20-30 min charge (to add 15-24 kWh while able to charge at the fastest 50 kW rate, for $0.10/min). That may just work best for you. And, if L2 EVgo charging is readily available near your home or your dest in the city, they are only $1/hr with your sub - about $0.13-.14/min (if you can charge at the Bolt's max 7.2-7.6 kW charge rate from those - about $0.15-.16/min at 6.x kW rate). They would be a better choice (money-wise) if your SoC is over 55% or so, as the DCFC would charge at a much slower rate in that case, costing you more per kWh.

Although there are LOTS of EVgo DCFCs around the south bay, there are also lots of other networks as well (including the two San Jose Chevy dealers that allow a short DCFC charge for free for Chevy drivers). A new 44-46 kW charger went in at the Saratoga library last month ($10/hr, with no connection fee, about $0.22/kWh at lower SoC %), as well as a massive charge station at NASA (EIGHT ChPoint 46 kW DCCs, at $0.25/min) and the ChrgePoint headquarters in Los Gatos, which has TWO DCFCs ($0.25/kWh). So I am lucky and don't have to pay the ridiculous EVgo subscription fee for the 'honor' of giving them even more money every time I charge.

 

[bro19991]

FYI, EVgo jacked up their monthly plan rates recently. Now it's $19.95/month and 20 cents/minute.

hosting photo

 

[SparkE]

I think they are real bastards!

Hopefully, those that subscribed earlier will continue to get the old rate. If not (if they raised the rate on you also) you MAY be able to cancel the sub without penalty. MAY. You might want to check with them to see if your rate will increase or not if you are already a customer, and what your options may be.

Did I mention that I think that they are real bastards?

 

[Anonymous]

A contract is a contract!

Careful: you are getting into trade disparagement now!

 

[SparkEVPilot]

FYI, EVgo jacked up their monthly plan rates recently. Now it's $19.95/month and 20 cents/minute.

hosting photo

I have had the EVgo On-the-Go plan for over 2 years. I just sent a message asking if my old rate still applies or I have, without any notice from EVgo, been switched to the new higher rate. This could be bad news for "big battery" EV drivers.

 

[SparkE]

I can't wait for ChargePoint, EV Connect, and Recargo to install their new DCFCs along the major CA traffic corridors so that travellers won't get stuck with with EVgo 'service' when making trips. (Bolt drivers shouldn't have much of a problem avoiding DCFCs in local use, what with a 240 mile range...)

Us in the SF Bay Area (and Sacramento area) are pretty much spoiled, what with the large number of non-EVgo DCFCs here, and/or near-by (ChargePoint, Greenlots, other independents, etc.). We don't HAVE to use EVgo (although for some with EVgo DCFCs very close-by, it can be more convenient - and can also be quite a bit more expensive - to use EVgo).

NRG - the network built on the backs of CA electricity consumers ...

 

[Anonymous]

What other hypotheticals can we waste time debating?

 

[sgt1372]

@SparkE: Thanks for that detailed explanation of EvGo's rates.

I have only used an EvGo charger once a month at most to drive into the City, so apparently it actually will be cheaper for me to just use my credit card when I drive into the City again -- $10 vs $14.95.

Haven't driven into the City more than twice in a month in over a year. So, I think it'll be needing to use my EvGo card at all.

Also thanks for the run down on alternate DCFC locations. I never drive my Bolt to the South Bay but that location in Pt. Richmond may come in handy one day.

 

[SparkE]

@SparkE: Thanks for that detailed explanation of EvGo's rates.

I have only used an EvGo charger once a month at most to drive into the City, so apparently it actually will be cheaper for me to just use my credit card when I drive into the City again -- $10 vs $14.95.

Haven't driven into the City more than twice in a month in over a year. So, I think it'll be needing to use my EvGo card at all.

Also thanks for the run down on alternate DCFC locations. I never drive my Bolt to the South Bay but that location in Pt. Richmond may come in handy one day.

Wait - you only pay the monthly subscription fee on those months that you USE the card? You don't pay the $14.95 subscription fee every month, no matter what, independent of usage? Please clarify!

If you pay the $15 every month, then it's not cheaper to use a CC.

$15 + $10 (CC) use fee for a 30-min charge : $25
$15 + $3 (30 mins @ 0.10) : $18

$15 + $10 + $10 (2 CC charges) = $35
$15 + $3 + $3 (2x 30 mins @ 0.10) = $21

 

[Anonymous]

@SparkE: Thanks for that detailed explanation of EvGo's rates.

I have only used an EvGo charger once a month at most to drive into the City, so apparently it actually will be cheaper for me to just use my credit card when I drive into the City again -- $10 vs $14.95.

Haven't driven into the City more than twice in a month in over a year. So, I think it'll be needing to use my EvGo card at all.

Also thanks for the run down on alternate DCFC locations. I never drive my Bolt to the South Bay but that location in Pt. Richmond may come in handy one day.

Wait - you only pay the monthly subscription fee on those months that you USE the card? You don't pay the $14.95 subscription fee every month, no matter what, independent of usage? Please clarify!

If you pay the $15 every month, then it's not cheaper to use a CC.

$15 + $10 (CC) use fee for a 30-min charge : $25
$15 + $3 (30 mins @ 0.10) : $18

$15 + $10 + $10 (2 CC charges) = $35
$15 + $3 + $3 (2x 30 mins @ 0.10) = $21

The monthly subscription fee is continuous throughout the duration of the 12 month contract.

 

[sgt1372]

Wait - you only pay the monthly subscription fee on those months that you USE the card? You don't pay the $14.95 subscription fee every month, no matter what, independent of usage? Please clarify!

I don't pay any monthly fee. I'm on the Flex Plan.

Sorry, I misstated the amount on my email statement. It was $10.95 (not $14.95) for a single 30 min DCFC charging session. It was the 1st time I used the EvGo card after signing up for the Flex Plan.

The prior month, before I signed up for the Flex Plan, I used my credit card at the same DCFC charger and was charged $14.95 in 2 separate charges ($10 on the day of use and $4.95 more 5 days later). Never contested the charge because I believe the total charged was the posted rate for non-member charges $5.95 + 30 cents/min.

So, I guess I was charged the correct amount in each case. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[SparkEVPilot]

@SparkE: Thanks for that detailed explanation of EvGo's rates.

I have only used an EvGo charger once a month at most to drive into the City, so apparently it actually will be cheaper for me to just use my credit card when I drive into the City again -- $10 vs $14.95.

Haven't driven into the City more than twice in a month in over a year. So, I think it'll be needing to use my EvGo card at all.

Also thanks for the run down on alternate DCFC locations. I never drive my Bolt to the South Bay but that location in Pt. Richmond may come in handy one day.

Wait - you only pay the monthly subscription fee on those months that you USE the card? You don't pay the $14.95 subscription fee every month, no matter what, independent of usage? Please clarify!

If you pay the $15 every month, then it's not cheaper to use a CC.

$15 + $10 (CC) use fee for a 30-min charge : $25
$15 + $3 (30 mins @ 0.10) : $18

$15 + $10 + $10 (2 CC charges) = $35
$15 + $3 + $3 (2x 30 mins @ 0.10) = $21

The $14.95 monthly EVgo On-the-Go fee [going to $19.95 ?] is paid monthly whether you charge or not. One gripe I have is EVgo will not give you a second RFI card on the same account. You have to open another account and pay another monthly fee. That is not acceptable to me.

 

[Anonymous]

One gripe I have is EVgo will not give you a second RFI card on the same account. You have to open another account and pay another monthly fee. That is not acceptable to me.

Just do what I do: since my RFiD "On the Go" card has never worked and no matter how many times I ask for a replacement, it never arrives.

Just call (877) 494-3833 and they access your account by your telephone number.

They are reasonably quick, since I usually have to do it every 30 minutes!!

 

[vrpratt]

EVgo reminds me of the days half a century ago, before the Internet, when there were blazingly fast (by the standards of those days) computers you could program but they couldn't communicate with each other, only with their users. To use one you had to be physically present to present your job.

EVgo has these blazingly fast DCFCs. Obviously it is necessary for your car to be physically present to be charged by them. EVgo's attitude seems to be that this is not merely necessary but also sufficient. The idea that EVgo could use the internet to augment that service in a useful way seems to be completely missing. It is as though they were afraid of the internet.

Uber figured out that by giving its customers an app that would make it easy to find one of their ride hailing drivers they could augment the 20th century taxi business in a way that made them competitive with taxis. This propelled them in short order to a market cap of 70 billion dollars.

When Houston-based EVgo hired away some of Palo Alto-based bootic.com's website developers I imagined EVgo would soon catch up to Uber, if not financially at least in internet competency.

But so far nothing. Click on any link at evgo.com and it will take you either to some vacuous promise of wonderful things to come, or to an Error 404 Page not found, or to terms and conditions that commit you to compensating EVgo up to $5000 if your incompetence somehow screws up their system while renouncing any right to either a jury trial or class action lawsuit against them, or to a page that asks you to say whether your EV is a Japanese Leaf or a German BMW (maybe Trump needs to weigh in here on behalf of American GM).

One thing that does work is their map of where to find EVgo stations. However since Plugshare already has this information, and moreover more conveniently organized, this doesn't add much to what's already out there.

The only potentially good thing on evgo.com is the set of three plans that those who own neither a Leaf nor a BMW can sign up for. My wife has a brand new Bolt and wanted to start out with EVgo's entry level plan at $4.95 and work her way up through the levels if they seemed worthwhile. EVgo enthusiastically wrote back to her by email to expect a card by USPS within a week (the US Post Office is usually able to get stuff to you in two days).

A week later, no card, and no charge of $4.95.

Not only does EVgo lack the sort of ambition that made Uber such a success, they aren't even competent to execute on their promises!

Not that competence matters to us if we happen to stumble across an available EVgo station, any more than the Republican party views competence as a requirement for the US president or his cabinet nominees. We'll still be happy to charge there for our allotted 30 minutes as long as we see our range going up. There is no black market that says a hundred amps in California is worth two hundred amps in North Dakota.

 

[Anonymous]

There is no black market that says a hundred amps in California is worth two hundred amps in North Dakota.

I am not sure what you mean by that!

NRG, the parent of EVGo is a complicated company...

 

[SeanNelson]

There is no black market that says a hundred amps in California is worth two hundred amps in North Dakota.

Power is generated by different means in different markets and so the cost of a kilowatt-hour can certainly vary. And that's not even the half of it - political meddling can saddle the power company with other costs or debt burdens that need to be serviced as well.

 

[vrpratt]

the cost of a kilowatt-hour can certainly vary.

Sorry, I should have been clearer that I was referring to the value of a kWh to the motorist, not the cost. When you're tooling around the boonies in a leased-and-loaded Bolt depreciating at 47 cents a mile, a kWh's value dwarfs its cost. Even more so given that, except for very rare long trips into the far boonies, 100% of our charging is done at home in either Pacific Grove or Palo Alto after 9 pm, at 2.5 cents a mile at least in Palo Alto.

 

[Anonymous]

I charge on the 5th "common" meter on my 4-plex, so the cost of electricity for my Bolt EV is being paid by the rental income from my tenants!

 

[sgt1372]

Improvements Coming Soon?

Just got this email from EvGo. Will be nice if what they say will happen comes true.

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We’re excited to announce that EVgo will be implementing a series of customer improvements very soon! The new enhancements will provide online access to information you need so you can easily charge your electric vehicle when and where you want and keep going.

Some of the things you can look forward to include:

An easy to use map with real time charger availability
Access to charging data
Account management features
Improved bill layout
Enhanced driver and charging support

We look forward to bringing you these new features and continuing to provide you with the fastest and most dependable electric vehicle charging available.

Thank you for being an EVgo customer!

Sincerely,
EVgo Customer Support Team