I had the luck of running into a Tesla electrical tech at the Rockford, Il Supercharger today. He had just flown into Rockford to add coolant to one of the Superchargers. He was busy, but I managed to get some information from him. - ALL Superchargers are monitored from a single central location (via wireless communication). Many times Tesla is aware there is a problem before customers even use the superchargers, and initiates action. There is a small team of specialists who fly into problem locations for repair, if required. He had a monitoring case & was verifying that his repairs were successful (I assume via wireless or sim) from his rental car after the repair. - Tesla is approximately 2 weeks behind their new Supercharger build-out schedule, but he stated enthusiastically that they have become extremely aggressive with expansion recently. Also said by end of 2014 Tesla owners will be able to drive ANYWHERE in the U.S. via Superchargers. - Asked him if he had any feeling about how the past quarter ended, he smiled, said there were a lot of Model S's on the road right now & thinks they will hit 25% gross margins already! He was young, alert, intelligent & pleasant... wish he (and I) had more time to chat.
Interesting, thanks for the info. I wondered how they monitored the superchargers, I don't have a model S yet but plan to shortly and one oft concerns was pulling up to a non functioning supercharger in the middle of the night. Hopefully he is correct on the GM also!
I ran across a Tesla job opening for a 'Data Analysis Engineer - Supercharger', kinda interested. Has more info on Supercharger monitoring. Careers | Tesla Motors
I was thinking the other day how crazy that will be to just be able to go anywhere in the US and not have to budget for gasoline. Will make for great roadtrips.
"ANYWHERE in the U.S." is pretty strong language. There are some pretty remote parts of even the lower 48. I will be happy if Tesla meets (or exceeds) their goals on their Supercharger Web Page: 2014 – 80% of the US population and parts of Canada 2015 – 98% of the US population and parts of Canada
Heck, there would be places that would be challenging to get to, let alone get back from without a recharge. The mountainous western end of NC comes to mind... while there would be SCs in Chattanooga TN, Knoxville TN and Asheville NC judging by the SC rollout map, I'd be hesitant to drive into the middle of that region for a day trip, would likely have to plan an overnight stay somewhere with slower charging capabilities.
Just came across this yesterday... http://insideevs.com/meet-teslas-hq-supercharging-dashboard-most-fills-between-30-kwh-and-40-kwh/
Re Tesla Supercharger Dashboard - The map projection is weird as it goes beyond Mercator in the wrong way! As if the globe balloon was weaker around the North Pole and it bulged out. Hope the Tesla planners have access to Great Circle corrected maps showing more accurate mileage and directions as they plan SC locations. Just sayin'. --
Ha! Looking at the picture a bit more, it really doesn't look like a terribly useful display for a true control system. Rather, it looks like something that would be shown in the lobby of HQ, or in a storefront... I'm guessing they're using some kind of third-party tool to plunk the info into the display. Still, it's neat to see.
I would guess that the effect you are seeing is from key-stoning of the image because the picture is shot from below and the left. To get a better, undistorted image, the photographer would need to have their camera centered vertically and horizontally, and at a moderate distance, zooming in to fill the frame. This obviously was a quick, on-the-tour shot and I am happy to see it. Also, this is probably an Equirectangular projection, which programers like to do, because its very simple to plot, just a constant, equal scale for latitude and longitude. This projection appears to flare out to the north faster than a Mercator projection. Its really neat to see! I would love it if Tesla put this on their public web page!!!
Walmart is the largest Trucker in North America. Pretty soon Tesla Motors may become the largest electric distributor in North America. You never know what hat(s) you are going to be wearing as your game plan fleshes out. --
I just know this is an exaggeration. Barrow, Alaska? Guam? I appreciate the sentiment, though... :wink: