40 minute charging maximum

[mspohr]

They only had these signs inside city areas where most Tesla owners lived. I was at the one near Hillsdale Mall in San Mateo and 40 min charging was all it was needed to get around for the city for a day. I took the last spot, but cars were coming and going so there wasn't any lines. Also, Foster City Supercharger was nearby and on the NAV it showed 4 open spots.

I didn't run into any wait at Superchargers. Just a lot of times where I took the last spot. Once again cars were coming and going so there wasn't any lines. This will be an issue next year when more Teslas are on the road and if no additional Supercharger are built in dense areas like SF and LA.

What was surprising was there wasn't any chargers inside San Francisco city. I had to go South to Daly City to charge and then head back up North. Hotel didn't have a working charger. My mom was ticked that we had to go out of the way to charge and then loop back into the city. Also on a side note, Telsa NAV is horrible, it routed us through some crazy streets and turns. My mom's route was straight forward since she lived there and knows way easier streets to get around. I was driving so I didn't take a picture, but NAV had like 20 turns. My mom's route was 4 turns without any traffic.

I was in SF over the holidays and found several parking garages with L2 chargers which gave me a full charge overnight. Charging is free but not parking. Peace of mind knowing that the car would be safer than on the street and have a full charge. Check Plugshare for a garage near you.

 

[Big Dog]

Part of the issue here is folks waiting for full charges when it's really unnecessary.

You can't possibly know that to be true. While its a reasonable speculation, it is speculation at best. Think about it another way -- a M3 traveling from the Bay to San Diego. An only 40 minute charge here means more stops enroute; in other words, moving the wait line downstream.

 

[mspohr]

You can't possibly know that to be true. While its a reasonable speculation, it is speculation at best. Think about it another way -- a M3 traveling from the Bay to San Diego. An only 40 minute charge here means more stops enroute; in other words, moving the wait line downstream.

It's much more efficient (time wise) to charge at the low end of capacity. Much faster to charge from 10% to 50% than 50% to 90%. Faster charging, less waiting. Keep your car at a low state of charge and only charge enough to get to the next SC.

 

[SpiceWare]

Seems to be a good solution for California, especially with so many of their Superchargers being fairly close to others so you don't need a full charge to cover a large gap.

Back and forth between Dallas and Austin twice this week and there were no signs and no backup.

After seeing some short FUD on Twitter about "fights are going to break out" due to #cars/supercharger increasing, I decided to monitor the 12 Superchargers* I can reach on a full charge from Houston ever 2-3 hours on Wednesday. In the results I saw Austin full a couple times, and Waco was once at 90%. I suspect the Austin usage would have been lower if San Marcos wasn't in Reduced Service mode due to the expansion going on (the original 5 stalls are gone, 4 temp stalls are active, 12 new stalls are going in).


* actually 13, but status is not available for San Marcos at the moment.

 

[Big Dog]

It's much more efficient (time wise) to charge at the low end of capacity. Much faster to charge from 10% to 50% than 50% to 90%. Faster charging, less waiting. Keep your car at a low state of charge and only charge enough to get to the next SC.

Yes, I get that. To follow that to an extreme (charge to 50% only and then run it down to ~10%) means 2x the stops. Now the waiting depends on whether one wants fast food or a sit down meal. I prefer to stop and eat at Harris Ranch on my run to the Bay Area from SoCal. (I can make it to HR from my home leaving with a full charge and vice versa.)

 

[djlott]

You can't possibly know that to be true. While its a reasonable speculation, it is speculation at best. Think about it another way -- a M3 traveling from the Bay to San Diego. An only 40 minute charge here means more stops enroute; in other words, moving the wait line downstream.

Of course there's a healthy dose of speculation in my post. And as you said, it is reasonable.

I'm not 'supercharge shaming' and I don't disagree with the idea of charging up a bit more on a road trip. You're kind of supporting my point though. The miles you get above 65% SOC is terribly inefficient compared to the first 50%. Your point is more about travel convenience, and well taken. Less stops on a road trip may be more convenient. And charging to 100% for 90 mins on an overcrowded station is really not necessary.

I'm not on a high horse. I've certainly charged up beyond my need on the road. Station at 50% capacity so we stop to eat, shop, etc. I still go by "If there's a line, limit your time. If there's no wait, charge to ninty-eight".

-Cheers

 

[sperkin]

I forgot to check plugshare, but it was raining in SF so I probably wouldn't have used the charger away from the hotel. Also, hotel was already charging me $30 a night so I wouldn't have paid extra parking somewhere else. As a Tesla owner I know this is a rare occasion, but my parents and cousins just don't understand that I wake up to a full charge every morning and never have to go to a gas station again. They never driven a Tesla over the grapevine so they have no idea how fast and amazing this car is. This is by far this best road trip car I've owned.

Thanks for reminding me about Plugshare and I will check it to plan my Xmas trip to SF early this time. I didn't plan the Thanksgiving trip because I wanted an ICE car experience. Just get out of the house and go. Turned out okay and not too bad, but with planning, I could probably shave 30-45 min in charging and skip the next morning Supercharger visit. I over stayed at Superchargers and charged to 90-100% each time because I was afraid the next SC would be down or broken.

Also, no chargers between SF and LA had the 40 min limit. Only the one in San Mateo did and I was only there for 30min to a quick visit before heading to Gilroy. Stayed at Gilroy until 100% because In-n-Out took a long time.

 

[goldengate]

Signs up at Atascadero and SLO today. Big lines. One charger out of service at SLO....

 

[JeffTMeyers]

I have not seen these signs at any SC locations, nor heard of this policy / suggestion until today. My wife was down in OC this morning and she saw this sign when she pulled into the Santa Ana SC at Mainplace Mall.

 

[dhrivnak]

You can't possibly know that to be true. While its a reasonable speculation, it is speculation at best. Think about it another way -- a M3 traveling from the Bay to San Diego. An only 40 minute charge here means more stops enroute; in other words, moving the wait line downstream.

Do you have a Model 3? Normally I can go fro 10% to over 80% in 40 minutes.

 

[Kenz]

Charging over 80% is not necessary in most cases. With the drop in charge speed it is not time well spent.

 

[gilscales]

I just seen the same sign again in Atascadero when I was passing through on Friday and it was late in the evening (again), I was the only one there (again), just like when I originally saw this signage for the first time on thanksgiving weekend, I think they are just putting them in high usage areas in the hope that people actually keep things moving.

 

[Jedi2155]

This was reported on on the r/teslamotors discord. Not sure if anyone else has seen it.

 

[gilscales]

This was reported on on the r/teslamotors discord. Not sure if anyone else has seen it.

That is interesting, probably needed as at least here in California there is rarely a need to go beyond 80% and it is a very inefficient way to travel, last Friday as I traveled through Atascadero I cut it very close to say the least with 1 mile left on my range indicator, total charge from essentially 0 to 70% was 34 min., I was planning on stopping at the Maddona inn but just shot past the exit.

 

[mspohr]

This was reported on on the r/teslamotors discord. Not sure if anyone else has seen it.

Well, there goes my trick for avoiding overtime charges. I routinely set the charge max to 100% at SuperChargers so I don't have to worry about getting back to the car in time. (I usually do get back when I have about 80% charge to continue my trip but it's nice to have a cushion.)

 

[clyjr]

As was mentioned, this might be true in California, but not all superchargers should do it. Several issues I can see in other areas:
1. Yesterday I supercharged and 2 out of 8 stalls wouldn't charge over 25kW, if it was full those people would potentially need way more than 40 minutes to reach another supercharger.
2. My last Tesla was a Model S 60, 201 mile range which in real world conditions was normally 170 or so. There were quite a few times I needed all of 100% charge to get to another super charger or home from a supercharger.
3. Winter? if you are in a shorter range tesla, with the range loss during winter, you could very well need more than 40 minutes.

If they are going to charge you idle fees when you are actually charging, then there needs to be a way for them to absolutely know that you have enough charge to reach your destination. Yesterday the app notified me charging was complete, but the estimated battery level when I reach my destination was 6%, that's not a big enough buffer for me to be comfortable so I charged longer...

 

[kavyboy]

the estimated battery level when I reach my destination was 6%

I have had it do this to me when the destination did not have charging nearby (west Texas). A new or casual EV road tripper would have been in trouble had they left when the car said to, even under ideal driving conditions.
I was sold, and bought, and responsibly use, "free unlimited lifetime" supercharging. If both "free" and "unlimited" are being scaled back, I'm going to be on the lookout for snipers in case "lifetime" also comes into question.

 

[Tesomega]

what happens when you exceed 40 mins in these chargers?

 

[mspohr]

what happens when you exceed 40 mins in these chargers?

I think you're supposed to be polite and move.

 

[Rocky_H]

Yesterday the app notified me charging was complete, but the estimated battery level when I reach my destination was 6%, that's not a big enough buffer for me to be comfortable so I charged longer...

Is it still doing that garbage?! They really need to fix that.