Completely ICEd at Ellensburg Superchargers! Grrr

[green1]

I was at Ritzville and Ellensburg last week of June. At Ellensburg two cars from BC were ICEing the SC so I captured this photo.

Well there's the problem, those Canadians had never even heard of an EV charging spot, the first supercharger in Canada hadn't even opened yet...

That said, in that picture there does not appear to be any clear signage stating that they can't park there, so I don't really blame them.

 

[Alysashley79]

Well there's the problem, those Canadians had never even heard of an EV charging spot, the first supercharger in Canada hadn't even opened yet...

That said, in that picture there does not appear to be any clear signage stating that they can't park there, so I don't really blame them.

@green1 the Vancouver supercharger is live! And....the signage by tesla does specifically say parking for electric vehicles other than the one spot that also says 2 hour general parking.

 

[Tyl]

I had a horrible incident at Glenwood Springs?... Read iced. Make sure you put the cones back in place in front of every stalls when you leave. Every single stall was blocked by a ice vehicle later that same night 00:01 Sunday morning!!!! When you leave ......make sure all large cones are in place. No one will tow the cars...... NO ONE!!! Not Marriott. Not Tesla. Not police!!! It is controlled by the property owner..... MARRIOTT ! Won't even call to have them moved! You'll have to drive on the grass ..... slowly...... backwards..... use cobblestones to climb curb!!! Arrrrrrg!!!

 

[golfski]

Not sure why you are directing this at Bonnie either. Anyway, we never said it couldn't be a problem, just just to date it hadn't been. When I called the hotel (which Teo didn't do even after hours of research) they said they'd contact Tesla about proper signage and paint which it sounds like they are doing. People had more of a problem with how Teo went about things scolding locals from thousands of miles away, not that his point that ICEing could be a problem.

Nothing personal at all. My point then, and now, is that teo was pointing to something that could be a huge problem for a lot of owners relying on the SuperCharger network. But everyone jumped down his throat about his particular advise for a remedy, completely missing the point of what he was bringing to light. Bonnie was just a good example of that dismissive attitude in that particular thread, and who I exchanged posts with then.

Most of us are not going to use $2000+ worth of electricity at superchargers during the lifetime of our cars, we are paying (and everyone with an 85 kWh) for the convenience of being able to charge quickly on the go, enabling long distance travel (and I love it!). I just think this is a huge miss by Tesla, to not be ensuring the "uptime" of their charging network. Awesome charging technology that is fault resistant and super-fast does nothing for anyone if you can't get within 3 ft of it. At least make those cables 20ft long so we can double park in front of the ICE vehicle when this happens

 

[dsm363]

He wasn't bringing anything to light that wasn't already known. We knew people can ICE EV charging spots as they've always done. We knew states need laws to protect those spots. We knew WA passed a law last year that required spots to be marked in a certain way. I and others had brought this up with Tesla before Teo's posts. He took a sledgehammer to a point that had already been made. We really don't know why Tesla doesn't have guaranteed spots. Maybe they just took what they could get from property owners this first build out and will go back when they have more money and time to better secure those spots by actually buying the land. That would be much more expensive than leasing like they are now.

 

[bonnie]

Nothing personal at all. My point then, and now, is that teo was pointing to something that could be a huge problem for a lot of owners relying on the SuperCharger network. But everyone jumped down his throat about his particular advise for a remedy, completely missing the point of what he was bringing to light. Bonnie was just a good example of that dismissive attitude in that particular thread, and who I exchanged posts with then.

Most of us are not going to use $2000+ worth of electricity at superchargers during the lifetime of our cars, we are paying (and everyone with an 85 kWh) for the convenience of being able to charge quickly on the go, enabling long distance travel (and I love it!). I just think this is a huge miss by Tesla, to not be ensuring the "uptime" of their charging network. Awesome charging technology that is fault resistant and super-fast does nothing for anyone if you can't get within 3 ft of it. At least make those cables 20ft long so we can double park in front of the ICE vehicle when this happens

Lets not rewrite what happened. Teo had no issue with me. You and I did not *exchange* posts, rather you made some rude remarks about me. You missed MY point that before calling up the press, there were less inflammatory options. Hardly dismissive.
We have all been concerned about icing issues, long before you came to the forum. Teo was not the first to raise a concern, the disagreement was with the methods proposed and I have no apologies for that, burning bridges buys us nothing in the long run and hurts everyone.

 

[brianman]

Another data point (though fuzzy)...

 

[PhilBa]

Well there's the problem, those Canadians had never even heard of an EV charging spot, the first supercharger in Canada hadn't even opened yet...

That said, in that picture there does not appear to be any clear signage stating that they can't park there, so I don't really blame them.

Well, it's hard to argue with a Canadian aboat Canadian drivers but I'd like to point out that Canada had a transcontinental High Amp L2 network well before Tesla completed the SC route so there must be some recognition of EVs.

@Brian, thanks for a picture (blurry though it may be) of sanity.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Nothing personal at all. My point then, and now, is that teo was pointing to something that could be a huge problem for a lot of owners relying on the SuperCharger network. But everyone jumped down his throat about his particular advise for a remedy, completely missing the point of what he was bringing to light. Bonnie was just a good example of that dismissive attitude in that particular thread, and who I exchanged posts with then.

Yes it "could" be a problem. But Teo presented it in a way that it WAS already a huge problem without the evidence to support that claim. And he suggested going to extreme (including illegal) measures to make it seem like huge problem to the media and kept saying with confidence that Tesla and the hotel would completely ignore any complaints about this based on what was written on the web page (which turned out completely false once someone did).

Others pushed back with suggestions to take less extreme measures, like contacting Tesla and the hotel first, and that seems to be working as Tesla is in the process of installing those extra signs and coming up with a way to work things out with the hotel. It just takes some time.

 

[PhilBa]

Yes it "could" be a problem. But Teo presented it in a way that it WAS already a huge problem without the evidence to support that claim. And he suggested going to extreme (including illegal) measures to make it seem like huge problem to the media and kept saying with confidence that Tesla and the hotel would completely ignore any complaints about this based on what was written on the web page (which turned out completely false once someone did).

Others pushed back with suggestions to take less extreme measures, like contacting Tesla and the hotel first, and that seems to be working as Tesla is in the process of installing those extra signs and coming up with a way to work things out with the hotel. It just takes some time.

+1

Sugar usually works better than acid... I don't understand a need to attack before gentler methods have been tried.

 

[aja2460]

Tuesday at 12:30 PM and Thursday at 4:00 PM we had all five stalls to ourselves.

 

[green1]

I was mostly trying to lighten the mood a bit with my comments about the Canadian cars... But my serious point was that those red Tesla signs are simply not good enough, they do not clearly state that nobody else can park there, the wording is wishy-washy at best. (and the sign that allows general parking where that car is parked specifically allows him to ICE the spot, so it's not exactly his fault!)

Tesla has a delicate balancing act with the property owners, but if they want a stall designated for Tesla only, it needs a sign that's white with a black P in a red circle with a red line through it and words stating that you can't park there unless you are charging an EV. Those red signs are just not what people expect, and don't have the right impact.

That said, other pictures show cases of ICEing with the appropriate signs in place, and in those cases the right answer is a tow-truck. If you have negotiated for Tesla-only stalls, then you need to enforce it.

 

[gglockner]

Tuesday at 12:30 PM and Thursday at 4:00 PM we had all five stalls to ourselves.

My guess is that ICE-ing is more common when hotel guests are in their rooms -- say, 8pm to 8am.

 

[jamieb]

My guess is that ICE-ing is more common when hotel guests are in their rooms -- say, 8pm to 8am.

I think it would be worthwhile to have signage prominently displayed at the check-in desk at hotels next to Superchargers informing guests that they should not park there. Multiple layers of notification...

 

[dsm363]

To close the loop Tesla is aware of the issue and working with hotel management and on the signs/paint issue.

 

[howardc64]

7/20 (Sunday) 10am and 7/26 (Saturday) 10am had no icing. 7/26 10am had 4 Model S charging including mine. I believe only 5 charging stalls total. But other than the Tesla charging signs... no warning cones on the stalls.

Seem sensible someone suggested ICEing is more coming in the evenings when hotel guests are in their rooms.

The charging stalls at this location is basically very close to the entry from the main road. Probably a easy choice for many hotel guests after a long road trip. Definitely need bigger warning. What do you guys think of a nice big warning sign painted on the ground? Like handicapped stalls. Of course, most people wouldn't recognize the sign and its warning but I suppose it can be painted with a nice big electrical plug along with a tow truck all in bright Tesla red color

 

[freds]

Seem sensible someone suggested ICEing is more coming in the evenings when hotel guests are in their rooms.

I charged there around 3PM on Monday the 21st and all the stalls were open. I wonder was the J1772/30amp over in the diagonal corner also ICE'ed? It does have a longer cord you could have parked at a diagonal to the drive though for the business next door and maybe picked up a bit of buffer range to make it to Ritzville.

Maybe as a compromise to management permit parking; but mark two stalls as tow away zones for non-tesla cars? I.E. Do not think of parking here if you are not driving a Tesla, it will be automatically towed!!!!

 

[Francis Lau]

I recently used Ellensburg and Ritzville the following times and did not have any ice'ing issues. So maybe it is getting better. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Mon July 14th
Eastbound from Seattle to Spokane
* Ellensburg 11 am
* Ritzville 1 pm

Mon July 14th
Westbound from Spokane to Seattle
* Ritzville 6 pm
* Ellensburg 8 pm

Sat July 26th
Eastbound from Seattle to Spokane
* Ellensburg 9:30 am
* Ritzville 11:30 am

Sun July 27th
Westbound from Spokane to Seattle
* Ritzville 6 pm
* Ellensburg 9 pm

Here are some pics:

Ellensburg

Ritzville

 

[PhilBa]

Dude, you did some epic driving on the 14th.

 

[Francis Lau]

Dude, you did some epic driving on the 14th.

Left home at 9 am, spent 2 hours settling daughter into Gonzaga dorms, got home at 10:30 pm. 560 miles total. Beautiful day and drive. Priceless not paying for gas at all.