Shell Has Completely Destroyed Volta
Volta, In The Good Old Days
A couple of years ago I went to a Volta charger. The experience was excellent. I plugged in my Honda Clarity BEV, and instantly it started charging. I took a quick glance at the big advertising screen and went on my way. Upon returning I had gained a few kilowatt-hours of electricity. Everyone won — Volta made advertising revenue, the host business got some added traffic, and I got a little electricity.Volta Shell Today: The Bad New Days
Today I went to a former Volta charger. Someone was pulling out as I was approaching. I thought it was a lucky break, but soon I would find out it was exactly the opposite.
I backed in to the spot and plugged in the charging cable. As a Level 2 charger, the cable and connector are lighter and easier to maneuver than a fast charging (DCFC) cable, which is a good first experience. That's the last positive part of this story, however.
None of the car's charging lights illuminated, so I knew something was wrong. Looking more closely at the station, I could still see the embossed letters "FREE", but they were covered with a large black sticker, and below was a message from Shell with a QR code instructing me do download an app. I've been down this road before, so I already had some inkling of the pain ahead, but I had no idea that it would be a completely fruitless effort.
The QR code was dense and very small, so even the initial scan was harder than it needed to be. Downloading the app went smoothly, but then came the registration process. No guest option or credit-card-only option in sight. Instead, for a one-off charging experience they make you set up an account, invent a password on the spot, and then wait for e-mail confirmation.
Next problem: The e-mail didn't show up for several minutes. When it did, it was categorized as spam (pretty accurate, really, since the promises it contained were nothing but teases and falsehoods). After finally jumping through all of the lengthy registration hoops, the Volta/Shell app asked for my location. With irrational hope, I granted it temporary location access.
It showed me the charger I was standing at — promising! But clicking on it revealed the message "Charger in use". I checked that I had the right charger number (yes). I checked that the car wasn't already charging and unplugged it. I found the 'refresh' button in the upper right, but my charger still showed that it was in use. After a few more tries I gave up, the charger was completely nonfunctional. After investing considerable time and effort, the new Shell version of Volta was a complete and total failure. No electricity delivered, but lots of time and mobile data wasted.
The magic of the Volta experience was the ease: pull up, and plug in. That's it! Shell has completely and utterly destroyed that. They've taken a simple, easy, and frankly pleasant charging experience and made it long, drawn out, frustrating, and completely ineffectual.
Summary: Avoid Shell At All Costs
Are they having problems trying to increase profits by tracking and monetizing charging sessions? Or is it something more sinister, Shell trying to make the EV charging process so frustrating that people reconsider gas cars, propping up their profit base for a couple more years before the end of fossil fuels? Either way, it's worth avoiding Shell stations of any variety. Save the planet and save your sanity.Copyright © 2024 Andrew Oliver