Did supercharger network influence your buying decision

[tomorrowman]

Thought this was interesting.
‘Why did it take nine hours to go 130 miles in our new electric Porsche?’
The existence of the Supercharger network was quite a large factor for me in going the Tesla route. I realised I would not use it much but it was an important safety network.

The problem is these sort of issues scare people and slow down the transition to EV's

 

[Ledzep]

That was almost an advert for a Porsche! Also, saying things like, “the latest vehicles require fast 50kW-100kW chargers to refill on the go” is just confusing, makes it sound like thats all you can use, yes it’s much better, but you can still use others?

In answer to the question, after a bit of research on charging electric cars, which included downloading the Zap-Map app, it didn’t for me. ( Actually I suppose it did as the Tesla supercharge network show on a Zap.Map )

rightly or wrongly it just reads like they were blindly driving around looking for charging points.

any way I’m off to trade in my Tesla for a Porsche..... apparently the best electric car on the road !!

 

[AllanO]

More than you can imagine.

(This happened in Denmark. Sorry for intruding.)

We went to the nearest Tesla showroom 100 km from home to test drive a Model 3. The test drive actually left us a bit disappointed, so we went home, not really sure that we would buy a Tesla.

On our way home, we got hungry and went off the motorway to eat at a fastfood shop 1 km from the motorway. And in the parking lot were 16 supercharger stalls. Not just destination chargers, but real v2 150 kW superchargers.

I didn't really know any locations of superchargers at that time. I of course knew they existed, and that they would be a vital part of our holiday trips down through Europe if we bought a Tesla. But I had certainly not expected to see them in front of a random fast food shop. So I thought "Wow! Is this how it works? You go somewhere random to eat, and there are superchargers!".

So we bought the Tesla anyway, heavily influenced by that experience. And then afterwards found out how incredibly luckily we had been that day, because there aren't that many superchargers in Denmark.

 

[Derek25]

Yes, it did, although not because the public charging network is as bad as it’s portrayed in this silly article. I drove a 30kWh Leaf for three years before getting my Model 3. I never had a problem with public charging in the way those Porsche numpties did, and I was using rapid charging two or three times a month.

 

[Yachtsman]

Definitely 110%
I very much liked the Audi but lack of available fast chargers (150kw) and the number of different accounts necessary really put me off.
I know I won't use the tesla network very much (once a month, if & when we return to some form if normality) but its there when I need it.

 

[AnthonyLR]

Yes it really did. I had a friend with a Tesla who explained how important Superchargers were for long trips.

 

[Glan gluaisne]

I've not used a supercharger yet, in a year of ownership (although a somewhat unusual year). I doubt we'd have need on rapid charging, TBH, as we don't tend to drive more than about 250 miles a day when we go anywhere, and it's likely that we'd just use home and destination charging almost all the time. I guess the supercharger network is a "nice to have", but it didn't factor into my decision to buy a Model 3 at all.

 

[MacJester]

Definitely. I rarely do really long distances but knowing that there will be working fast chargers on route was crucial. Particularly given many non-Tesla chargers seem to spend most of their time broken. There are four public 7kw chargers in my village and it’s rare for more than one of them to be working.

 

[UrbanSplash]

Absolutely. A friend showed me their brand new etron yesterday. Lovely car, far better built than a tesla. Top notch interior. But I just won’t be without supercharger access currently.

not sure if the situation will get better or worse in the coming years. Hopefully it gets better as I want a Rivian!

 

[Spacep0d]

Absolutely! The Supercharger network is what makes Teslas viable outside of one's home and for those where home-charging isn't even an option. How would an apartment dweller with no work charging manage to keep their non-Tesla charged? It's way easier with a Tesla, no matter where one lives in the U.S. (with some exceptions). Elon's already driven across the country (if I remember correctly) using nothing but the Supercharger network, and this was before there were 20,000 of them and counting. Tesla is installing more every day.

L2 charging is too slow on road trips, but all of our Teslas come with L2 adapters when the need for L2-charging arises. Best of both worlds. We can also buy an adaptor for regular DC-3 charging to cover all of our bases.

I found the regular DC-3 network (for non-Teslas) to be spotty; stations have too few stalls, sometimes the machines are busted among those few stalls, people are sometimes fully occupying those few stalls, etc. When I had my 2018 LEAF S I had to wait for the Chademo on occasion, and if the person was treating it like a destination charger then I was out of luck while their 'full' car sat, blocking access for others. The place where I would use DC-3 charging had a grand total of two stalls. Not one or three. Two. Compare that to any Supercharger station.

It was not lost on me that within this same shopping center was an amazing Tesla Supercharging station. I would sit in the LEAF dreaming of using it one day.

The Supercharger is not just a big deal for me, it's Tesla's killer app when it comes to selling their EVs. It's one of the primary reasons that Tesla-buyers/lessees have so much confidence in buying an EV where the 'charging' infrastructure hasn't had 135 years to mature as it has for ICE vehicles.

Other manufacturers have much lower range and a vastly inferior charging network in the States here. In my view, Tesla is the only viable EV when it comes to charging solutions, and this is before we get into the constellation of other reasons why Teslas are the best EVs going right now.

 

[Glan gluaisne]

Absolutely! The Supercharger network is what makes Teslas viable outside of one's home and for those where home-charging isn't even an option.

L2 charging is too slow on road trips. The regular DC-3 network (for non-Teslas) is spotty, stations have too few stalls, sometimes the machines are busted among those few stalls, people are sometimes fully occupying those few stalls, etc. When I had my 2018 LEAF S I had to wait for the Chademo on occasion, and if the person was treating it like a destination charger than I was out of luck. The place where I would use DC-3 charging had a grand total of two stalls. Not one or three. Two. Compare that to any Supercharger station.

The Supercharger is not just a big deal for me, it's Tesla's killer app when it comes to selling their fantastic healthy-range EVs. It's one of the primary reasons that Tesla-buyers/lessees have so much confidence in buying an EV where the 'charging' infrastructure hasn't had 135 years to mature as it has for ICE vehicles.

Other manufacturers have much lower range and a vastly inferior charging network in the States here. In my view, Tesla is the only viable EV when it comes to charging solutions, and this is before we get into the constellation of other reasons why Teslas are superior.

I suspect that things may be a bit different in the USA. Although the supercharger network here is pretty good, there is also a rapidly growing network of other CCS chargers. Some of the older chargers are pretty unreliable, but that seems to be gradually changing as new players come into the market. With other car manufacturers now joining and supporting charger providers it does look as if rapid charging infrastructure here is changing quite quickly.

I think another difference between here and the USA may be the availability of destination chargers. I've been driving plug-in/EVs for the past 7 years, and in that time things have changed from me having to use the granny lead a fair bit, to most places we stay having a Type 2 charge point. A standard Type 2 AC charge point can fully charge my Model 3 LR overnight OK (in theory, from completely flat to 100% takes about 10 hours) and there are tens of thousands of these dotted around the place, often at hotels and guest houses I've found. There are also a fair few of them in car parks and at places where we might stop for a few hours.

 

[Spacep0d]

I suspect that things may be a bit different in the USA. Although the supercharger network here is pretty good, there is also a rapidly growing network of other CCS chargers. Some of the older chargers are pretty unreliable, but that seems to be gradually changing as new players come into the market. With other car manufacturers now joining and supporting charger providers it does look as if rapid charging infrastructure here is changing quite quickly.

I think another difference between here and the USA may be the availability of destination chargers. I've been driving plug-in/EVs for the past 7 years, and in that time things have changed from me having to use the granny lead a fair bit, to most places we stay having a Type 2 charge point. A standard Type 2 AC charge point can fully charge my Model 3 LR overnight OK (in theory, from completely flat to 100% takes about 10 hours) and there are tens of thousands of these dotted around the place, often at hotels and guest houses I've found. There are also a fair few of them in car parks and at places where we might stop for a few hours.

Agreed. While there are fair number of L2 chargers here, I don't have them where I actually need to go and spend time. There are some rare exceptions. Superchargers fill the gap perfectly (and quickly) for Teslas.

As a former LEAF owner, I wasn't too impressed with the charging infrastructure outside of home, and even then I could only get trickle-charging at best (which was a saga unto itself).

Glad you have so many CCS chargers there in the U.K.!

It would be nice to have one fast-charging standard but I'm glad Tesla is leading the way. That said, Tesla is the only EV that makes sense to me here in the States.

 

[kelvin 660]

In one word, "YES", superchargers make long distance driving possible. Without them you never know what to expect!

 

[rockafunked]

I would have zero confidence in an electric car if it wasn't a Tesla.

I go on rock climbing trips to the Peak District / Derbyshire / Dorset, and more often than not it is a day trip from London during the summer months (300 miles-ish return). If there aren't any superchargers in the motorway service stations, I would be relying on a patchwork of third party chargers - which do work, don't get me wrong - but it is a small faff. And small faffs aren't great on day trips.

 

[Caterman]

Yes, definitely. I looked at the iPace and Taycan , neither had the range of the S (at my pricepoint) and needed quite a lot of extras to get to what I wanted, but at the end of the day it was the convienience of the supercharger network that clinched it, particularly after watching Harry Metcalfe's videos on the iPace and the M3.
Harry is a died in the wool petrol head, used to own Evo magazine, however he has done a few videos on EVs and been positive while challenging.
His iPace video was "expletive deleted" about trying to charge the car and I did think that he may be playing to the audience but he then tested the M3 and was very positive and a big part of that was the ease of charging on a long journey,
ipace

M3

Convienience is key, I'm a bit surprised none of the big manufacturers have grouped together the different charging subscriptions into a "Porsche" charging network with one RFID card covering multiple chargeing companies

 

[browellm]

Pretty much yes, otherwise I would have ordered a Polestar 2.

 

[jefoth]

Absolutely! I (used to) travel for business in an area roughly between Aberdeen, Greenock, Plymouth, London. The SC network made this not just possible, but stress free. It is still Tesla’s ace, and far away the best experience, and usually the cheapest by a considerable margin.

I have 4 other charging cards and charging accounts, and on the few occasions I have used non-Tesla chargers it is hit and miss. Perhaps a 60% success rate. Out of service, broken, moved to a different network, or just unable to charge for unknown reasons. Of course never assume your phone app will always work - you may not have a phone signal, and that a,so means you can’t call for assistance. Always have physical charging cards.

For rapid EV uptake the government has to step in and standardise the current mess that is charging networks. Oh, and some of the charging costs are eye watering....

 

[Glan gluaisne]

Agreed. While there are fair number of L2 chargers here, I don't have them where I actually need to go and spend time. There are some rare exceptions. Superchargers fill the gap perfectly (and quickly) for Teslas.

As a former LEAF owner, I wasn't too impressed with the charging infrastructure outside of home, and even then I could only get trickle-charging at best (which was a saga unto itself).

Glad you have so many CCS chargers there in the U.K.!

It would be nice to have one fast-charging standard but I'm glad Tesla is leading the way. That said, Tesla is the only EV that makes sense to me here in the States.

I think one advantage we have here is that the Type 2 AC connector is found everywhere. Pretty much every AC charge point here either has a tethered Type 2, or a Type 2 outlet that the supplied cable plugs into. 22 kW 3 phase AC charge points aren't that common, and anyway Teslas only seem able to charge at 11 kW using them, but 7 kW single phase charge points are found all over the place (something like 30,000 of public ones here last time I checked).

CCS has effectively become the DC rapid charging standard here now, with Chademo being a bit like Betamax in the video cassette format battle. I've not seen any new Chademo rapids appear anywhere for some time, and suspect that, as a standard, its days here are numbered, as it seems all new EVs being sold here now have CCS. In terms of charging speed, some of the non-Tesla rapid chargers are now faster, with 350 kW chargers being rolled out in some locations now. Not many EVs can really take advantage of 350 kW charging, though, and it's debatable whether that high charge rate is really that useful in practical terms.

 

[Derek_J]

Thought this was interesting.
‘Why did it take nine hours to go 130 miles in our new electric Porsche?’
The existence of the Supercharger network was quite a large factor for me in going the Tesla route. I realised I would not use it much but it was an important safety network.

The problem is these sort of issues scare people and slow down the transition to EV's

Newspapers always seem to find new EV owners who have never heard of Zap-Map and rely only on Ecotricity chargers at service stations to write stories about. The Ecotricity network is of course appallingly bad and justifies newspaper articles exposing it. However if this couple had used spent a few minutes looking at Zap-Map (or alternatives), they no doubt would have found a working rapid charger somewhere nearby to the motorway and it would have been a non story. (Although some other charging networks are pretty poor also.)

 

[NorfolkMustard]

Agreed, CCS has won the format-wars, and at a good point in EV history IMO. The EU may not have chosen the right one, but mandating new chargers need to at least have a CCS2 plug as early as they did was good.

All new BP and PodPoint ( so Lidl, Tesco too) chargers still have CHAdeMO as well for now.