Charging at Tesla service center..

[AlbertVanK]

I asked this in a topic about Houston Deliveries, but I am curious to ask also a broader audience.
I do not have my MYP yet. Yesterday evening I drove by the Tesla Service center in HTown and I wanted to show TeslaS to my kids....it was like 9 pm, 3 hours after closing...the chargers were all full of Tesla owners parked there, waiting for their car to charge....is that something that is supposed to happen? Those were clearly free chargers.....sorry newbie question

 

[sewing1]

What makes you think these are free?

 

[AlbertVanK]

What makes you think these are free?

People arriving and just plugging, didn't see any swipe, NFC interaction or anything of that sort. It really seemed to me that people were just coming and charging while waiting in the car. I was just wondering if Tesla leaves those chargers open for public....which seemed weird to me

 

[house9]

People arriving and just plugging, didn't see any swipe, NFC interaction or anything of that sort.

That is how all Tesla super chargers work.
They have your credit card on file and know its your vehicle once you plugin.

 

[Big Earl]

The store on Westheimer Road? Those are Tesla Superchargers and are open to the public (Tesla drivers). Billing for Tesla Superchargers happens automatically through the car with no interaction from the driver other than simply plugging it in.

Westheimer Road Supercharger
9633 Westheimer Road, Houston, TX 77063, USA

Westheimer Road Supercharger | PlugShare

 

[AlbertVanK]

Thank you for teaching me something, I feel dumb for my question..

 

[Big Earl]

Thank you for teaching me something, I feel dumb for my question..

Not dumb at all. Tesla charging is a paradigm shift, and for someone without a Tesla, the whole process seems very strange. Enjoy your Tesla when it arrives.

 

[GMan324]

Many service centers also have free level 2 chargers, but people wouldn’t be hanging out there during level 2 charging since that is way slower than SC

 

[Bikeman]

Thank you for teaching me something, I feel dumb for my question..

Oh gosh, don't feel that way at all! I've been there too before going electric. My wife was like "You want what installed on our house?" (the L2 charging we've had for a while now). The sheer simpleness of the Tesla Supercharging network is befuddling to most people. It looks like filling a gas car and then just driving away without paying.

It is OK, since there are a bunch of misconceptions about charging and electric cars and is a learning process that we've all gone though at one time or another on this journey. You know, I find that a lot of people I work with actually assume that...

1) Charging a Tesla car at a Tesla Supercharger is just free, but only for Teslas.

2) You can only charge a Tesla at a Tesla Supercharger, but not at home.

3) "How far do you have to drive your Tesla to one of their stations to get power?"

4) "How high did your power bill go up with that electric car of yours?" (might be expensive in Californina)

5) "What if it is raining and you have to charge your car when the car and the cord are wet?"

We're all ambassadors of educating an amazing percentage of the public about electric cars and charging quandries. I find that opportunity exciting! And I am perplexed how all the "other" charging networks have got away for sooo long with their silly and often non-working multiple RFID fobs, credit card-like payments and smart phone connect methods of payments at the charger, not to mention the percentage of off-line or broken stalls. A lot of those other systems need to be re-thinked, and fast. Tesla has done their roll-out just plain right, from the get-go. And they keep improving it.

Apology for the long post.

 

[Krash]

…a lot of people I work with actually assume that...

1) Charging a Tesla car at a Tesla Supercharger is just free, but only for Teslas…

The misunderstanding is understandable. Not everyone here knows the history. Supercharging on all cars from before early 2017 is free, even secondhand unless maybe Tesla has owned them. Also later cars for a while had non-transferable free supercharging for just the first owner as did some promotional cars like the Performave 3 for a while.

4) "How high did your power bill go up with that electric car of yours?" (might be expensive in Californina)

I think this is a fair ask. Some utilities charge progressively more per meter for higher usage so an EV rate could easily be double.

…And I am perplexed how all the "other" charging networks have got away for sooo long with their silly and often non-working multiple RFID fobs, credit card-like payments and smart phone connect methods of payments at the charger, not to mention the percentage of off-line or broken stalls…

I agree this is truly embarrassing.

Also, regarding Service Center Charging in general and to conplicate the service center charging issue, superchargers are DC and have (invisible) billing systems, but not all service centers have them. But all service centers probably do have destination chargers also called High Power Wall Chargers (HPWC) which are free and AC and slower. But if you use the HPWCs during the day at a delivery center that ALSO has superchargers you can get into conflict with them if they prefer to use those to prep deliveries.

And to further complicate things 1) coming to America soon are the combo superchargers Tesla currently sells abroad that DC fast charge (but I assume not AC slow charge) non Tesla cars, but I assume never for free. And 2) OPs new Performance Model Y will arrive CCS enabled to DC fast charge on non-Tesla chargers but OP will not be told this both because the car will not have the adapter and because the car will look just like other cars that do not have this feature.

Confused yet? Did I mention that the HPWCs have different generations? Some charge more than twice as fast on some cars, but not other cars. And there is a rumor that the WiFi capabilities of the latest HPWCs chargers may allow those installing them to turn on billing which would make some not free. I am curious as to whether those Gen3 chargers can talk to the car to use Tesla’s billing system in the future.

Still, it is a great world we live in. Maybe some day a kid that get to take all the above for granted will say “what was octane? And why was there lead? Are why were diesel pumps green? Then why were all BP pumps green? And why couldn’t you pump your own fuel in Oregon? But not everywhere in Oregon? Grandpa! Grandpa are you still awake?”

 

[AlbertVanK]

Thank you to all who took time to write on this thread and made me feel just eager for more learning
On the topic of no more mobile charger....I installed my gen 3 in garage a month ago and I am a month away from delivery....my assumption is that the mobile charger, with it's trivial charging speed (unless using special sockets) is actually a nice backup but not a long term primary way of charging.
Am I right ?

One curiosity, in Italy (my home country) Gas pump is green, Diesel is black...just to add confusion....

 

[Bikeman]

While I understand a good deal about charging cars, I am still very confused why one can't pump their own gas in Oregon, but not everywhere in Oregon.

 

[jcanoe]

While I understand a good deal about charging cars, I am still very confused why one can't pump their own gas in Oregon, but not everywhere in Oregon.

Filling station attendant - Wikipedia

I grew up near Huntington Long Island, NY. I guess I never purchased gas in Huntington because this is news to me.

 

[MR52]

Thank you to all who took time to write on this thread and made me feel just eager for more learning
On the topic of no more mobile charger....I installed my gen 3 in garage a month ago and I am a month away from delivery....my assumption is that the mobile charger, with it's trivial charging speed (unless using special sockets) is actually a nice backup but not a long term primary way of charging.
Am I right ?

One curiosity, in Italy (my home country) Gas pump is green, Diesel is black...just to add confusion....

You may have helped me, Tesla has been saying a supercharger would be built in the town my in-laws live in for going on 4 years (date now shows Q4 2022 but don't believe them) They are however building a service center there with 2 superchargers and hopefully customers can use them. If not i have to drive 25 min in the wrong direction to charge before going home or cut it dangerously close to hit the one that is about 2/3 of the way home.

 

[Graham J]

Not dumb at all. Tesla charging is a paradigm shift, and for someone without a Tesla, the whole process seems very strange.

And conversely when used to Tesla chargers the other ones seem strange! What, I have to find a card or my phone and do something with the charger before I plug in?!

To be fair though, the price of that ease of use is being proprietary. It's great now but eventually CCS will be the majority and we'll need an adapter and onboard support to use them. Not the end of the world but since it's already the case in EU it would be nice if they started that transition on this side of the pond too.

 

[Graham J]

I installed my gen 3 in garage a month ago and I am a month away from delivery....my assumption is that the mobile charger, with it's trivial charging speed (unless using special sockets) is actually a nice backup but not a long term primary way of charging.
Am I right ?

Yes. And in fact soon Tesla won't even supply a mobile charger with the car. Since you've already ordered you should get one though.

 

[AlbertVanK]

Yes. And in fact soon Tesla won't even supply a mobile charger with the car. Since you've already ordered you should get one though.

I have not understood this fully. Do we think that it applies to "new orders" as if I order now after this announcement, or it applies to "new deliveries" soon to be made?

 

[Graham J]

I have not understood this fully. Do we think that it applies to "new orders" as if I order now after this announcement, or it applies to "new deliveries" soon to be made?

It seems a bit unclear from Tesla's messaging so far, but I believe it will only apply to orders after the announcement. After that they can be added to the order for USD$200.

 

[bruce4000]

Thank you to all who took time to write on this thread and made me feel just eager for more learning
On the topic of no more mobile charger....I installed my gen 3 in garage a month ago and I am a month away from delivery....my assumption is that the mobile charger, with it's trivial charging speed (unless using special sockets) is actually a nice backup but not a long term primary way of charging.
Am I right ?

One curiosity, in Italy (my home country) Gas pump is green, Diesel is black...just to add confusion....

I use the mobile charger that came with my MY to charge at home. I get 1% an hour or about 3 miles an hour on standard 120V 15A circuit. I typically only drive 25 miles a day so car always ready when I come out in the morning.

 

[Rocky_H]

my assumption is that the mobile charger, with it's trivial charging speed (unless using special sockets) is actually a nice backup but not a long term primary way of charging.
Am I right ?

No, I wouldn't say so. It's not a trivial charging speed. Tesla's mobile charging cable is highly capable and does pretty solid charging speeds on good medium level 240V circuits. I have been using my original mobile charging cable permanently in my garage for over 8 years now.

But there have been some electric code changes that have added to the expenses of doing an outlet for that so that just doing a wall connector instead is just a little bit more expensive and has a couple of advantages, so if I were to do it over again, that's what I would go for instead.