It couldn’t happen at a worse time. You are desperately in need of a charge , you know there is one on the way to t your destintation, but you have that feeling that it’s going to disappoint. The rest stop off the Mass Pike in Natick certainly provided that feeling and did indeed disappoint.

It was easy enough to locate, it was available, and easy enough to connect and begin the charging process. But when I got back in the vehicle to check the status, I was shocked at what I saw.

I was there at an alleged DC fast charger at 5:30 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon, so when I looked at the dashboard and saw that I would be at 80& at 6:12 a.m. on Sunday, I was mystified. So I got out of the car to see what this fast charger was producing, only to learn that I was getting only 9.98kW out of it.

I truly had no desire to stay there for the next 13 hours, so unplugged and got ready to leave. But the charger had a sticker on it asking me to tell how things can be improved at the service plaza. I wanted to share my tale, so I scanned the QR code to share my message, only to learn that the site I was directed to was not authorized. So yes, I left even more disappointed. Come on MassDOT, do better!