Charge Anxiety

[Chuq]

Tesla should use valets at the busy super chargers.

That's a temporary workaround - not a solution.

 

[mmd]

That's a temporary workaround - not a solution.

Why is that? Valet service is much better than everyone running back and forth to the charger to move their cars, while in the middle of their meals or shopping This IS also a much better solution than the penalty system. I bet people will pay a few bucks for such service.

IIRC, Tesla already tried the valet service at few SCs to relieve congestion. The permanent solution is to build a lot more super chargers before severe congestion starts happening.

 

[Topher]

Why is that? Valet service is much better than everyone running back and forth to the charger to move their cars, while in the middle of their meals or shopping This IS also a much better solution than the penalty system. I bet people will pay a few bucks for such service.

But will a 'few bucks' do it? For an eight stall Supercharger, figure it costs Tesla $30 per hour, 50% prediction on 'peak times', 45 minute average charge time, that's about $7 per visit to any supercharger that *might* be overcrowded. Does that seem reasonable? That's equivalent to an average 17 minute idle fee.

IIRC, Tesla already tried the valet service at few SCs to relieve congestion. The permanent solution is to build a lot more super chargers before severe congestion starts happening.

That also cost money, doubling the number of superchargers per car, adds about $1,300 to the cost of each car. Adding only 50% more chargers per car would add $650 etc.

Thank you kindly.

 

[mmd]

But will a 'few bucks' do it? For an eight stall Supercharger, figure it costs Tesla $30 per hour, 50% prediction on 'peak times', 45 minute average charge time, that's about $7 per visit to any supercharger that *might* be overcrowded. Does that seem reasonable? That's equivalent to an average 17 minute idle fee.



That also cost money, doubling the number of superchargers per car, adds about $1,300 to the cost of each car. Adding only 50% more chargers per car would add $650 etc.

Thank you kindly.

Yes, it makes sense. That's just the cost of doing business
- Valet not only moves cars out, but also moves them in, when there are cars waiting. So, it relieves the drivers two times - at the beginning and at the end.
- For the 17 mins average idle fee comparison (I haven't checked the math, just taking what you said): If someone pays 17 mins of idle fee, it doesn't help the congestion. In this case, he also likely charged to 100%, which made the congestion worse. A valet can move the car out at 95%, and free up the charger immediately.So he actually helps relieve the congestion.
- Valet can also monitor the SC for vandalism, provide security, report issues to proper personnel quickly, and possibly do a few other tasks. And a warm "Hello, welcome to Tesla Super charger" is worth a few pennies too

 

[Topher]

Yes, it makes sense. That's just the cost of doing business

Meaning you would be willing to pay that?

Thank you kindly.

 

[mmd]

Meaning you would be willing to pay that?

Thank you kindly.

I'm not a Tesla owner. If I were, I would pay $5 for the "full service" experience

 

[mhan00]

Why is that? Valet service is much better than everyone running back and forth to the charger to move their cars, while in the middle of their meals or shopping This IS also a much better solution than the penalty system. I bet people will pay a few bucks for such service.

IIRC, Tesla already tried the valet service at few SCs to relieve congestion. The permanent solution is to build a lot more super chargers before severe congestion starts happening.

To be clear, the "valets" at the SC sites weren't actually valets. They weren't supposed to touch or move the cars, they were there to monitor the locations and hopefully shame people into not staying indefinitely and maintain "official" queues to keep owners from punching each other while arguing about who got there first. Using actual valets might be more difficult, depending on the agreements they have with the parking lot owners. Tesla presumably has a right to the SC stall spots, but probably not the rest of the lot, so there would be no reserved parking section for Tesla cars for the valet to move them to as they finished charging. It could also become a liability thing where valets might damage cars or owners might claim previous damage was inflicted by the valet that I'm sure Tesla would like to leave alone.

 

[AnxietyRanger]

I find the valet ideas helpful. Thank you.

Tesla could also offer the valet service as a free but mandatory service at busy Superchargers (e.g. during holidays). This would allow them to delay building more Superchargers there and keep operating at optimum capacity during peak times, while making sure their EV adoption obstacle removal tool is doings its thing in gaining more Tesla owners and keeping them happy.

Of course there are valid points about challenges to the costs and logistics of any such operational change, but if it is limited to, say, a small number of California Superchargers at this time, certainly it does not seem like an impossible hurdle either. The valets would simply be doing manually what in the future is hoped the cars will do themselves. There probably are companies they could outsource it to (including handling all hurdles such as claims associated with running such an operation).

I mean, it does not sound like something we should dismiss as an idea, anyway. It would be up to Tesla to estimate its feasibility of course.

 

[David99]

Ummmm, no, don't do that last thing. That's you being an asshole. If getting charged the idle fee is a worry, then the station is obviously at least fairly busy with at least half of the stalls in use. Don't be the asshole who parks in a stall, doesn't plug in so he can order food first, and takes fifteen minutes longer to charge because he delayed the charge start time.

I think you misunderstood. I meant you park somewhere else, go to the restaurant, order and then walk back while you are waitng for your food.

 

[David99]

I find the valet ideas helpful. Thank you.

They have been dong this at some busy locations already. Works great. It takes the pressure off the drivers having to return exactly on time and it keeps the Supercharger use optimal.

 

[JRMW]

It could also become a liability thing where valets might damage cars or owners might claim previous damage was inflicted by the valet that I'm sure Tesla would like to leave alone.

This risk is reduced due to Tesla's AP system, and their penchant for caching all of our data.
They could record the entire Valet Trip, and keep the recordings for a while.
Owner says the Valet caused the issue? Tesla pulls up the logs

this of course won't help pre-AP cars.