[EVRider]

In anticipation of a long-distance trip I thought I'd try out a Level 3 charger. Went to a local EVgo station and pulled into a spot and waited a couple of minutes while another vehicle was finishing up. Although the charger seemed to be working fine, I couldn't get an actual charge started. I tried three times. Each time the vehicle simply said, "starting," but never actually began charging. Yes, I jiggled the handle to ensure it was correctly connected to the car.

Called EVgo and they reset the machine. Still nothing. Called Rivian and reset the R1T. Still nothing. I learned that if you get three charging failures in a row your car goes into failsafe mode and you've got to do a reset.

I've seen this level 3 issue pop up a tiny bit on the forums and so I'm curious about the diagnosis. The Rivian charging desk put in a trouble ticket but the service center is backed up so I'm not sure how quick they'll get to it. We shall see.

 

[RITVT]

Did you confirm with EVgo that it was the R1T and not their charger? I have called EA and they have tried re-setting a machine for me, but it didn't fix the problem and it was on EA's side. Have you tried another charging station?

 

[EVRider]

Yes, we reset the charger and everything appeared in order. And it was working for the car before me and it is working now for somebody else.

 

[O. horridus]

Did you do a hard reset of your R1T to see if that fixed the problem? I would also check some other network, like EA, to see if DC charging is broken on your R1T. A few people have had that problem upon delivery. I think you are doing the right thing by checking and preparing before you take a trip.

 

[ripemandarin]

I had the same issues at the begging of November with EVgo. Tried all 4 stalls and was not able to start a session. Restarted truck and etc. Decided to move to EA and it was working fine.

A few days later I realized the payment card that I used for EVgo was expired and I think this was the issue. However, never tried again since that time. But I bet the payment method is the issue.

 

[EVRider]

The day before I was able to use an EVGo "fast charger" rated at 50kw, although I thought that was down in the Level 2 range. The one that didn't work for me was rated at 350kw. Rivian called this morning but didn't do much other than tell me they'd call back with an appointment. I'm going back to that 350kw charger to try again tomorrow just to see if it was a glitch.

 

[SANZCO2]

The day before I was able to use an EVGo "fast charger" rated at 50kw, although I thought that was down in the Level 2 range. The one that didn't work for me was rated at 350kw. Rivian called this morning but didn't do much other than tell me they'd call back with an appointment. I'm going back to that 350kw charger to try again tomorrow just to see if it was a glitch.

50 kWh is definitely level 3 direct current fast charging. Most level 2 maxes out at 48 amp (11.5 kWh), there are some that go 80 amps (19.2 kWh) but not many vehicles will support that right now.

Level 2 is 240 volts and goes through an onboard charger, level 3 is 400-1000 volts and uses direct current.

Good thing to keep in mind as the onboard charger on my Tesla died and I had to use the Superchargers until they could order in the parts to fix it. Good to know they are independent and can work as backups for each other.

 

[EVRider]

Rivian has been remarkably proactive. Unlike any dealership or manufacturer I've ever dealt with I've gotten multiple calls about the issue -- two at 7:30 pm. We are diagnosing the situation and building a profile for the engineers. I think Rivian is very interested in knowing how their vehicles interact with the various public chargers.

 

[Cactus]

Rivian has been remarkably proactive. Unlike any dealership or manufacturer I've ever dealt with I've gotten multiple calls about the issue -- two at 7:30 pm. We are diagnosing the situation and building a profile for the engineers. I think Rivian is very interested in knowing how their vehicles interact with the various public chargers.

They certainly should be. Imagine if an ICE vehicle couldn't take gasoline?!
Electrons are our go-juice.

 

[EVRider]

I'm pretty sure the error was the charger, not the vehicle. I tested the charge rate at an Electrify America lot with both a 150kw and 350kw charger, and both worked. I started with the 150kw and it worked. I then plugged in the 350kw. At that point I was up to 70 percent charge so the charge rate dropped significantly. Rivian is going to look over the data.

 

[EVRider]

Rivian fully tested the vehicle. It was able to take a charge at 180kw. So that's good.

So rather than imagining "an ICE vehicle not being able to take gas," the thought should be, "imagine pulling up to a gas station not knowing if the gas pump would actually pump gas."