Crowded Superchargers in CA....

[HankLloydRight]

If 8% of the male population was prior to Viagra, the number is going to climb.

Why implement a system you know will fail for 8.5% or more of your customers, when there are alternatives that will work for everyone?

Why not just have a single light on each pedestal, and turn it on when it's a "good" charger to use. If there are 8 stalls, initially only 4 lights would be on (one from each pair). When one charger from each pair is filled, light the paired stall with the most power available, etc.. The rule for the drivers is simple: pick any stall with the light on, and everyone is guaranteed to get the fastest possible charge.

As I said above, yes, an intelligent charging stall is optimal. But that's not the priority for Tesla to retrofit 300 SC stations with new electronics, hardware, and software.

Stickers, OTOH, cost $4.

As I said, we've been through all this before. I'm not saying one system is better or worse, but in terms of bang for the buck and simplicity? Yes, I could sit here and architect the perfect SC charging stall notification system that integrates all of the above, as well as approaching cars, their charge status, their destination, yadda, yadda, yadda... it would be enormously complex and beneficial. That would be cool.

But again, I'm talking about $4 stickers.

 

[liuping]

As I said above, yes, an intelligent charging stall is optimal. But that's not the priority for Tesla to retrofit 300 SC stations with new electronics, hardware, and software.

Stickers, OTOH, cost $4.

I guess I don't see the problem with the current labeling system: 1A/1B are paired, 2A/2B are paired, etc. How is that not clear to people that know about pairing?

The problem is that many people don't know about the pairing at all, so any sign explaining it should help.

I wish Tesla would at least mention it to the customers during the delivery process.

 

[FredTMC]

All these ideas are over-complicated. The best user interface would be to not expose us to the concept of pairing at all. If they really wanted to make sure the charge rate is prioritized by order of arrival, then the solution is to design the system such that charging pedestals can be automatically switched between superchargers. An even simpler solution (and the best one, IMO) is to just let everyone be ignorant of pairing.

I'm actually happy with the way it is right now. I understand the numbering scheme, and I don't think I'm much affected by people who don't. It seems there is only the potential for small penalty if you are the first to plug in. The system mostly penalizes those who don't understand the numbering scheme, but even that penalty is mild.

i agree. I know how pairing works. Many don't. Doesn't really impact me much.

 

[Trnsl8r]

You all aren't thinking grandly enough.

With auto-pilot/auto-park and the new metal snake charging cable connection, you drive to the front of the queue, give a voice command of "Robocharge!", get out of the car, and the S communicates with the mothership and determines status of the charging stalls, auto-drives to the one with the greatest current capacity, auto parks itself, and then plugs in.

When it's finished it then unplugs moves itself to a waiting area and signals you via the app, at which point you have the opportunity for it to come pick you up at the curb of whatever establishment you were patronizing (determined by the GPS coordinates in your phone and facial recognition, of course).

Best idea on TMC I've heard all year.

 

[roblab]

A two light system would work for color blind people as well, with out having to add more expensive alphanumeric displays.

I just learned last week (when visiting a color blind relative), that there are smart phone apps now that can tell you the color of objects. Just point your phone at the object, and it tells you the color and color family. There are also apps the high lights adjusts colors that are not distinguishable to people with any of the color blind types.

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This is a good start, but it only helps when there is an open unpaired spot available.

It would be helpful to know which cars are ramping down, so if we do need to pick a paired charger, we pick the best one.

Only Telsa can do it properly.

I think the best solution is an in car screen that pops up when you arrive at a supercharger site, with a layout of the chargers, and a indicator of the best one(s) to pull into. No retrofitting the Hardware at the SuperChargers, just a software update for the cars.

This is great input. But let's get real. Tesla is trying to make new Supercharger stations at an amazing rate. They are NOT going to go back and figure out a system of lights. If they take time to make little lights, there will reallllllly be a backlog at SC stations. Which, by the way, I have not experienced yet. Same with making software for sending messages to all cars in a geolocation. They are busy making software which will drive your car.

Granted, there are those who don't care. Conversely, there are those who do, who want to know. I might try to make my simple instructions simpler, but that's the key word: KISS. And probably very few will care, notice, or care, or notice. But I think I will do it anyway. I bet it will beat the installation of little lights by a few years. Could be wrong.

 

[scaesare]

Best idea on TMC I've heard all year.

:biggrin:

 

[HankLloydRight]

I guess I don't see the problem with the current labeling system: 1A/1B are paired, 2A/2B are paired, etc. How is that not clear to people that know about pairing?

Because even people who know about pairing *still* get it wrong.

Just because people here get and understand the current system doesn't make it a good system.

I'm sure many people understood Windows ME, The Edsel, and New Coke... That doesn't make them good products.

 

[markb1]

Because even people who know about pairing *still* get it wrong.

Just because people here get and understand the current system doesn't make it a good system.

I'm sure many people understood Windows ME, The Edsel, and New Coke... That doesn't make them good products.

I don't think Tesla ever intended for us to care about pairing. It doesn't matter that much, and I'm pretty sure Tesla intends for us to ignore the numbers and plug in wherever we want.

 

[dandelot]

I know about pairing and yet still have not found the IDs on the SC stalls, so I just
sort of stayed away from other folks charging.

 

[cpa]

The more recent Superchargers have the "TESLA" wording across the top lighted in red. It would be easy on future installations to color-code the "Tesla" logo for availability. It might be more difficult in bright sunlight, but at least when a driver pulls up, he/she could see the potential of the stall chosen. All green means maximum rate. All red means minimum rate. A mixture would indicate sharing is in effect with a paired stall, so a green "T" would be charging at 20%, a green "TE" at 40%, etc. I think this keeps thing simple and easy to understand. This would be an easy retrofit to the existing Superchargers as well.

 

[bonaire]

I don't think Tesla ever intended for us to care about pairing. It doesn't matter that much, and I'm pretty sure Tesla intends for us to ignore the numbers and plug in wherever we want.

Pairing is important but does not show up clearly to newcomers on the web site. If you were doing your first trip, using SC recharging, and all sites had busy, almost full stalls, you end up with shared pairing recharging and far more charging time than expected from the outset. Simple enough to advertise 120Kw or 135Kw recharging. But those numbers have a few details and an asterisk with rules below should be taught to prospective buyers to educate during the research and sales process. I also said almost full. This thread also says that wait queues are happening and that is before you jump onto a paired stall and get a lower charge rate than expected until your paired partner pulls away or finishes charging.

 

[liuping]

They are busy making software which will drive your car.

They are not making any software to drive my car. Maybe my next one.

 

[markb1]

Pairing is important but does not show up clearly to newcomers on the web site. If you were doing your first trip, using SC recharging, and all sites had busy, almost full stalls, you end up with shared pairing recharging and far more charging time than expected from the outset. Simple enough to advertise 120Kw or 135Kw recharging. But those numbers have a few details and an asterisk with rules below should be taught to prospective buyers to educate during the research and sales process. I also said almost full. This thread also says that wait queues are happening and that is before you jump onto a paired stall and get a lower charge rate than expected until your paired partner pulls away or finishes charging.

But how much does it really affect charging time? If you are second to plug in, you might have to wait until the other car tapers before your charging rate picks up. But that shouldn't be very long.

 

[ljwobker]

Random data point for anyone who actually cares.... I drove my 85 across the country from Raleigh NC to Palo Alto, and until I crossed the NV/CA state line, we saw roughly 10 other Model S cars *combined* at all supercharging stations. Then I arrived in California and there were cars everywhere. We didn't have to actually wait in line at any point, but at Gilroy, Atascadero, and Tejon Ranch there was nearly 100% occupancy.

 

[pilotSteve]

numbers, letters (1A,2A). When there is a 50/50 chance of getting it right, the odds you are wrong is 100% :crying:

 

[David99]

But how much does it really affect charging time? If you are second to plug in, you might have to wait until the other car tapers before your charging rate picks up. But that shouldn't be very long.

If the first car is near empty and then you plug in as a second, you only get about 10-20 kW. The first car will not start to reduce the current until about 15-20 minutes later. So for the first 15-20 min you are only getting maybe 20-25 miles charged. Then the first car starts to reduce charge power and the second one slowly gets more and more. The first car will always get as much as it can handle and the remainder goes to the second car. So if you plug in as a second car shortly after an empty car started charging, you will easily double your charge time. Of course that's worst case. In reality it rarely happened to me that I had my charge time doubled. For the most part I get a free pair and charge as fast as it's possible.

 

[jdevo2004]

Letting people charge on the honesty system will never work. Tesla is going to have to figure out a way to make people move their car when it is finished charging.

 

[TTT]

Super Charging sure is different in Arizona.

We went from San Diego to Phoenix on the December 23rd, hitting Yuma and Gila Bend, with no one but us the whole time. On the 27th we went from Phoenix to Tucson, then that evening back home to San Diego. We hit Gasa Grande twice (on the way to Tucson and the way back to San Diego), Gila Bend, Yuma and El Centro. At every stop we were the only Tesla in sight the entire time. It was so strange compared to traveling in CA...

So you made it from San Diego to Yuma on one charge? I drove down to El Centro from San Diego with only about 80 rated miles

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Probably already mentioned in another thread but a software enhancement would help with a diagram of the stalls with the best charging rate and open highlighted in green and the other open stalls where paring would reduce the rate of charge highlighted in yellow. And stalls in use highlighted in red. This would alert the driver even before they pulled in which stall to use.

This would be a great software upgrade feature

 

[stevezzzz]

I guess I don't see the problem with the current labeling system: 1A/1B are paired, 2A/2B are paired, etc. How is that not clear to people that know about pairing?

The problem is that many people don't know about the pairing at all, so any sign explaining it should help.

I wish Tesla would at least mention it to the customers during the delivery process.

I understand pairing perfectly well, and yet I have pulled into precisely the wrong stall, and I've done it more than once. That's the sign of a bad user interface.

 

[David99]

I understand pairing perfectly well, and yet I have pulled into precisely the wrong stall, and I've done it more than once. That's the sign of a bad user interface.

Same here. Often it's hard to see it at night when you drive up. At some SC they are next to each other, on others all As are next to each other, then all Bs which makes things worse.