Broken Superchargers “survey”

[1.21GW]

I find superchargers extremely reliable in my experience. Especially compared to level 2 public chargers.

 

[azred]

For popular locations in California, it's not uncommon to have a line of Tesla waiting for a charger, when you pulled out from a broken charger you might lose your place in line and it becomes very chaotic. Since most SC had multiple entry points even creating a line is confusing, I often see people confront other drivers coming from a different entry point as they are not aware there is a line.

That would be a nightmare and unfortunately I don’t think all Tesla owners see themselves as part of a fraternity — though many owners do. That’s why I wasn’t surprised when the helpful owner yesterday flagged me down to let me know about the Supercharger issues before I hooked up. But there was no line or I might have had a problem if I had to move, as I did on my return visit today.

 

[boaterva]

They used to have an option for the Supercharger team. That seems to have evaporated along with many of the options like software issues. Menu gets cut back every time I call.

 

[Tesmotorfaqcom]

In some busy SC locations in the past I had seen Tesla having someone there take down owner info and make sure everyone are in line but I had not seen that recently.

 

[makiri]

I live in Fremont and go to the closest supercharger to the factory that isn't actually at the factory. 3 different stations have been broken for about a month with no sign of any maintenance or repair. There is already consistently a line and losing 3 out of 12 chargers has made it even worse, especially when people park and realize they aren't charging and have to move. Then someone else goes into a broken spot and the cycle repeats over and over.

Really disappointed in Tesla for this.

 

[boaterva]

I live in Fremont and go to the closest supercharger to the factory that isn't actually at the factory. 3 different stations have been broken for about a month with no sign of any maintenance or repair. There is already consistently a line and losing 3 out of 12 chargers has made it even worse, especially when people park and realize they aren't charging and have to move. Then someone else goes into a broken spot and the cycle repeats over and over.

Really disappointed in Tesla for this.

Have you reported it? Everyone may think someone else has reported it. Who knows.

 

[mbp11]

You can also take a picture of the charger that is not working and email it to:
[email protected] and [email protected]
with the detalis of the complaints and sometimes you will get a thank you email back.

Last Saturday I noticed one of the superchargers in Pleasanton CA on Johnson Drive had their cover off and on the ground with the wires exposed and so I waited the 20 minutes on the phone to call that in. I thought that was more urgent.

 

[SMAlset]

That would be a nightmare and unfortunately I don’t think all Tesla owners see themselves as part of a fraternity — though many owners do. That’s why I wasn’t surprised when the helpful owner yesterday flagged me down to let me know about the Supercharger issues before I hooked up. But there was no line or I might have had a problem if I had to move, as I did on my return visit today.

We have flagged down drivers about to park in spots near us that we knew were not working. Nothing more frustrating than pulling in and getting set up only to find it's not in good working order and then hopefully still having a good stall to go to right after. I'm thinking a roll of fluorescent flagging tape in the car would be helpful to carry to tie on to the equipment to mark bad ones.

I have no idea if new owners are aware of calling in to report down stalls. Getting through to Tesla to report is another issue. I'll keep in mind emailing with photo. I have posted "downed" info on the SC threads here so anyone traveling and checking out the thread is aware of it. At least you can tell when it was posted about. I know Plugshare users can add downed or problem charging locations on their site.

 

[Octo]

Have you reported it? Everyone may think someone else has reported it. Who knows.

Don’t these modern chargers have self testing and report back to home base if they aren’t working? It seems unlikely that Tesla can’t monitor chargers remotely.

 

[cpa]

Don’t these modern chargers have self testing and report back to home base if they aren’t working? It seems unlikely that Tesla can’t monitor chargers remotely.

We have suggested this in other threads. Truth is, we just do not know. And Tesla ain't talking, neither.

 

[Silicon Desert]

While we seldom Supercharge either of our Teslas, I wonder if those who frequently Supercharge find that maintenance of the rapidly growing network is keeping pace with expansion. I stopped at Flagstaff yesterday and a helpful guy flagged me down to report several were out of order.

Hmmmm, I guess I should consider myself to be really lucky. I looked at my logs and see I have supercharged 219 times at 62 different superchargers across the nation in 3 years. I have yet to stop at one that didn't work. Sometimes slower than expected, yet still functional. Looks like some other people not so fortunate. My biggest issue in the last year is a slightly growing problem with having to wait to squeeze into a supercharger, mostly in the big cities of course, yet also out on the long interstate.

 

[SunspotX]

I had a very frustrating experience trying to supercharge in Clare Michigan driving from Traverse City to Detroit. The navigation took me past Cadillac to Clare and all the chargers there were off line. Ie no power at all. I was stranded. I easily could have stopped in another city. I called Tesla and got nothing more than a sorry.

 

[mbp11]

I did a quick charge at the Dublin service center this last weekend and discovered 3 were blocked off and not working, so I photographed them and sent photos and reports to the addresses above. Then I went around to the other people chargering and shared the email addresses and urged the others there to also report chargers that were damaged, defective or not working. Running as many chargers as Tesla is, they need help with the reports. And complaints will keep them on their toes.

We need to help each other out.

 

[mbp11]

You can also take a picture of the charger that is not working and email it to:
[email protected] and [email protected]
with the detalis of the complaints and sometimes you will get a thank you email back.

 

[cpa]

In the five years that we have had our Model S, I think there were two occasions where a Supercharger stall was not working properly. During those five years, I estimate that I had visited over 110 different Superchargers with over 250 sessions.

More recently, Gardnerville NV (1); Beech Grove IN (at least 2); Rawlins WY (1); Elko NV(1); Laytonville CA (brand new--1); Mt. Shasta City (1), San Ramon (1) and here in Fresno (1) were down. I heard anecdotally that one or two had been down in Mojave CA for over two months. I knew which ones they were and I avoided them when I was there.

Sometimes I received the dreaded orange ring of fire on the charge port. Other times I received the message on the dashboard that I needed to unplug and try again despite receiving the blue ring on the charge port.

It is vexing to say the least to arrive at a location, have a selection of 6-10 open stalls and select one that is not working. Then we have to unplug, get back in the car, pull out, jockey the car about, back in, get out of the car again, plug in, get back in the car to see if it working.

If Tesla is going to rely upon random acts of kindness from strangers to report issues with Superchargers, the least that they can do is to have a quick and easy way to report bad stalls without phone calls or emails (I don't have email when I travel). Of course the issue could be user error. But if there are 3-4 reports on the same stall, Tesla needs a way to test the stalls remotely. If the stall is malfunctioning, the touchscreen should notify us that Stalls 1B and 3A are not working so we do not use them.

 

[mbp11]

Got this in the email today:

RE: Superchargers not working at the Tesla Dublin Service Center [ ref:_00D506dxX._5003auLQE6:ref ]

To: Mike Peterson <[email protected]>

Mike,


Thank you for using our Supercharging network and for taking the time to report this issue. We rely on owners like you to improve our Supercharger locations. We are sorry to hear you had this experience with non-functioning stalls. This will be forwarded to the appropriate local team to address. Thank you for your support of Tesla!


Best,

Josh W. | Tesla Support
12832 Frontrunner Blvd., Draper, UT 84020
www.tesla.com/support

 

[Kleenerth3]

Got this in the email today:

RE: Superchargers not working at the Tesla Dublin Service Center [ ref:_00D506dxX._5003auLQE6:ref ]

To: Mike Peterson <[email protected]>

Mike,


Thank you for using our Supercharging network and for taking the time to report this issue. We rely on owners like you to improve our Supercharger locations. We are sorry to hear you had this experience with non-functioning stalls. This will be forwarded to the appropriate local team to address. Thank you for your support of Tesla!


Best,

Josh W. | Tesla Support
12832 Frontrunner Blvd., Draper, UT 84020
www.tesla.com/support

Thanks for the post Mike. It's good to know that there's someone on the other end. We all need to do our part to help them maintain our stations and help our fellow Tesla drivers out as well!

 

[mbp11]

I received this email from Tesla in July after someone complained about the Primm, Nevada superchargers being mostly non-functional and in a not so great part of town:
>>>>>>>>>>

Hello Michael,

Thank you for your reply.

I looked up your report on the Johnson Drive supercharger. That post has had power cut to it as we get someone out to resolve it and this was done on 7/15.

I have reported your concern about the Primm location. These reports are important and you can just email us these rather than waiting on hold if you wish.

We thank you for helping Tesla to accelerate the worlds transition to sustainable energy.

Alex G | Tesla Support
12832 Frontrunner Blvd., Draper, UT 84020
www.tesla.com/support
>>>>>>>>

Has anyone gone by the Primm superchargers lately and is there any update?

Mike P

 

[cpa]

Forgive my ignorance...

Your response from Tesla said that we could email our concerns to the Tesla Supercharger department.

I have email at home. I Supercharge away from home. Therefore, I do not have email when I am away from home. While it would be convenient to be able to email Tesla from the Supercharger that is kaput, there is no means to do that.

And it seems to me to be above and beyond our duty to keep notes on all the Supercharger locations we encounter that have issues with one or more stalls in order to file a report when we return. Moreover, some Supercharger decals to identify the charger numbers have deteriorated over the years so as to be unidentifiable.

 

[RDoc]

The Bourne, MA supercharger location had 1 stall down and 2 more only operating as single headed. A Tesla Ranger car pulled in and the drivers said it wasn't necessary to report Superchargers out because the Superchargers reported themselves. OTOH, the dead pair had been out for over a day.