300,000 new model 3's will be clogging supercharging sites ?

[Stirfelt]

I'm a bit concerned about the subject of this thread as well.
Specifically, between Provo, Utah and St. George, Utah, there is one supercharger (Beaver), and it only has 4 stalls. Anyone driving between those to cities, will need to recharge at Beaver.

To date I have never personally seen more than 1 car at the charger at a time, but I'd imagine that will change soon.

 

[KJD]

You did notice that Tesla recently doubled the number of stalls in St George right ?
Supercharger - St George, UT

 

[cpa]

I'm a bit concerned about the subject of this thread as well.
Specifically, between Provo, Utah and St. George, Utah, there is one supercharger (Beaver), and it only has 4 stalls. Anyone driving between those to cities, will need to recharge at Beaver.

To date I have never personally seen more than 1 car at the charger at a time, but I'd imagine that will change soon.

I obviously have no way of knowing anything about Tesla's plans. While I believe that your concerns are valid, I also think that Beaver will be on a list for expansion. I would also think that there will be some redundancy along Interstate 15 with a SC perhaps in Cedar City and/or Fillmore eventually.

 

[Alset72]

You assume the makeup/distribution of electric car buyers is similar to ICE. The majority of EVs are sold in urban California. Most people in urban California with $30-50k cars can not afford homes with garages.

Superchargers in the silicon valley area are packed right now with folks who make enough money to buy a $100k car but not a $1M home. This most definitely will get worse with Model 3 as there will be even more folks who can afford $35-50k for a car and still can't afford a $1M home.

While California is the extreme, house prices in Portland, Seattle (also concentrations of electric car buyers) also go against your generalization.

Sadly $1M homes in the Silcon Valley near the Mountain View or San Mateo super chargers are a rare exception. Decent homes in this area these days start at $1.5M, so I fully agree that Model 3 owners in the valley may not own a home.

Those two SCs are clogged up around the clock and will continue to be.

 

[KJD]

I obviously have no way of knowing anything about Tesla's plans. While I believe that your concerns are valid, I also think that Beaver will be on a list for expansion. I would also think that there will be some redundancy along Interstate 15 with a SC perhaps in Cedar City and/or Fillmore eventually.

I would agree that Cedar City would be a great location for a Super Charger. As the 100D becomes more popular people will be able to skip a SC here and there if they have more choices.

The Shakespeare Festival is also a destination for some in the area.
Home

 

[Stirfelt]

Thanks for the info .... I hope that by the time I take delivery (January 2019 based on the estimator) there will be additional options, especially if the range is only 215 miles. I was really hoping for 300 miles.

 

[SMAlset]

Sadly $1M homes in the Silcon Valley near the Mountain View or San Mateo super chargers are a rare exception. Decent homes in this area these days start at $1.5M, so I fully agree that Model 3 owners in the valley may not own a home.

Those two SCs are clogged up around the clock and will continue to be.

While that's true about home prices in SF Bay area, lots of people have lived in homes before prices escalated. Not all those M3 new owners are house poor so to speak. Many will be buying the M3 for a second car they can use around town, easier to park in narrowing spaces and not worry so much about getting dinged in the lot. Others will be relieved to have a car that if it gets hit hopefully won't cost as much to repair...hmmm, not sure about that. And there's families buying an M3 for older kids at home to drive. All probably living in SF Bay area in homes already that they own. So until M3 buyer demographics come out I wouldn't just assume the vast numbers in the area will be without at home charging. New construction in many cities including mine are requiring chargers be part of new structures--homes, apt/condo and businesses. Just saying.

 

[SMAlset]

We also have the option of destination chargers expanding alot for those while dining or staying at a hotel. And the ChaDeMo (?spelling) on other charging networks might encourage heavy time-sensitive long distance drivers to buy an adapter if they don't already have one. Future charging systems and adapters are still unknown but could alieviate some of the congestion in certain areas.

 

[Lasttoy]

I have been from Atlanta to DC, to Florida, to LA, to Bay AREA, Reno, Salt Lake city, only place I found lines were in Bay area, rest were no wait. My complaint is Service Centers do not have Superchargers. I am touring USA, once in awhile I get away from supercharger, went by SC, quote, we only charge our customers cars. Pardon me? I got lost shopping or sightseeing and need juice. I am Tesla customer and this a Corp shop.

 

[TexasEV]

I have been from Atlanta to DC, to Florida, to LA, to Bay AREA, Reno, Salt Lake city, only place I found lines were in Bay area, rest were no wait. My complaint is Service Centers do not have Superchargers. I am touring USA, once in awhile I get away from supercharger, went by SC, quote, we only charge our customers cars. Pardon me? I got lost shopping or sightseeing and need juice. I am Tesla customer and this a Corp shop.

You get lost shopping or sightseeing but just happen to find a Tesla service center? I don't buy it. Learn to use Plugshare when you're heading away from supercharger routes and plan your charging stops.

 

[Zeromus-X]

I have recently completed my first (in Calif) cross-country tesla trip. Had no problem with supercharging sites. Always a slot available...but often only 1 or 2. Wondering what that same trip will be like after 300,000 model 3;s hit the streets!

Your experience definitely does not mirror mine. I went cross country (San Francisco to Virginia Beach and back) and once I left California, I was the only Tesla at any of the Superchargers I used, excluding one or two in Flagstaff and Buckeye AZ, and a few in Richmond VA. Maybe one other car in Albuquerque, but either way, there were definitely not "often only 1 or 2".

If you mean cross-country north-south primarily through California then yeah, I can understand the concern.

 

[BluestarE3]

Not sure about that. I have a friend with an early reservation and he is convinced they are grandfathered in. (?)

Your friend is mistaken. For Model 3, it's pay per use Supercharging:
Compare Model S and Model 3 | Tesla

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

More sales => more money => more Superchargers.
More sales => more Tesla owners => more hosts wanting to host Superchargers
More sales => more BEV owners => more landlords, condo management and even municipalities open to installation of home chargers.

More sales will make things _better_. Not just more Superchargers, but better coverage density and capacity.

 

[BluestarE3]

More sales => more money => more Superchargers.
More sales => more Tesla owners => more hosts wanting to host Superchargers
More sales => more BEV owners => more landlords, condo management and even municipalities open to installation of home chargers.

More sales will make things _better_. Not just more Superchargers, but better coverage density and capacity.

Yep, it will become an amenity that businesses and landlords will offer to attract customers and tenants. Sort of like everyone offering free WiFi nowadays.

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

I used to fear this, but my fears have been alleviated by a few developments.

The massive expansion of the Supercharger network. Especially where they've expanded superchargers.
The Model 3 roll out isn't going to ramp up that quickly. Where it overtakes the Model S/X production already taking place.
Supercharging isn't free for the Model 3.
There is a fairly significant roll out of chargers that VW is doing.

I also don't think the average Model 3 owner is as road trippy as the Model S owners have been. Model S owners have more disposable income.

I also think you'll see a lot more public charging.

Sure we're going to see growing pains in spots.

 

[Buster1]

Yep, it will become an amenity that businesses and landlords will offer to attract customers and tenants. Sort of like everyone offering free WiFi nowadays.

That's a great point and an awesome analogy. So true on the Wifi right!? I've actually found myself searching the hotels I frequent, for EV charging...and will be making it a point to discuss with the management soon if they don't have them. My company often pays a fair bit of coin to put me up in hotels we drive to from Vegas...I wonder if they'd like me to take my visits to their competitors?

 

[Tesmotorfaqcom]

If current Tesla owners are concern how about non-Tesla EV drivers? For SC locate in a shopping area, often there are public L2 chargers as well. Right now, I had never seen any Tesla plug into the L2 charger in sites with SC as SC is fast and free it's also courteous to non-Tesla EV drivers. When M3 start shipping out in California in thousands, M3 might start to take over public L2 stations as well since you have to pay for SC as some public L2 stations are free of charge. Especially if there is a long line of Tesla waiting to charge. If you look at the supercharging rate for California 20 cents per kWh isn't that cheap, that's about 60% premium over time of use rate. Owners like to mention how everyone should charge at SC only for long distance trip, but we know currently MS/MX owners are not doing this and M3 owners would even be less likely to limit SC to long distance only if it's more cost effective to supercharge.

Using SC save a lot more than penny, especially for those drive long distances on the freeway, for high mileage drivers like those doing 20k+/year the charging cost can be close to $1,500 annually in California based on Teslanomics calculation. For M3 owners saving of $1,500 annually is significant, especially there are plenty of people who are stretching their budget just to be able to afford an M3.

Remember that Tesla had not announced the cost of supercharging for the M3, the only hint is it will be cheaper than buying gas so Tesla does have a lot of room to increase the SC rate and still be below the cost of gas. If owners can justify the cost of using SC, they would likely avoid it unless it's absolutely necessary.

 

[FlatSix911]

I don't know why people keep assuming that. Most people who buy new $35,0000-50,000 cars in the U.S. have houses with garages. How many new BMWs do you see at apartments? Perhaps this is true in a few cities, but not in most of the country.

Don't forget a large number of Model S owners previously were buyers of cars in that price range. Most had never bought a car nearlynthat expensive before.

You should visit California sometime ... the land of apartment dwellers with $100K vehicles (and homeowners with $25K vehicles)

 

[SMAlset]

If I were to try to visit family in Ohio, I'd have to overshoot them to reach a Supercharger and then lose miles going back. There are a few L2's I've seen on plugshare in the general area but think they were at a car dealership. Definitely having some additional spaced Superchargers around the state would be helpful giving more choice. Definitely would get more use out of adapters traveling out there than I do in California.

Now I will add that most of the homes in my parents neighborhood were built in the 50s and probably still have 100 amp service. Not even sure if my parents home has an outlet in the garage, if so 110 outlet would be the best I could hope for unfortunately. Electric dryer is in the basement (something else we don't have here in California -- basements, LOL) so not even a NEMA 14-50 would come in handy.

 

[EVCarGUy]

Remember that Tesla had not announced the cost of supercharging for the M3,

You expect the already published supercharger costs to be different for the M3? https://www.tesla.com/support/supercharging