PLEASE POST SUPERCHARGER STATUS TO PLUGSHARE!
I became a big fan of PlugShare during the early (pre-Supercharger) Tesla epoch and had taken considerable comfort from the universal 10.0 ratings of the Superchargers we were relying upon to complete a recent trip to Florida. That said, since the Superchargers were "always up" there seemed to be little value in posting updates on the status of the Superchargers on PlugShare (as their operational status was a foregone conclusion).
However, my views on this point were recently transformed. We recently found ourselves stuck in Lima Ohio, where Tesla eventually determined, after extensive conversations and testing, that the entire Supercharger station was incapable of providing a charge (despite being powered on and having voltage). After spending some time at a local mall getting electrons at a rate of 30 Amps at 200 VAC, Tesla arranged for transport via flatbed truck late at night to the Maumee Supercharger. While it was not a disaster, we were delayed for four or five hours (which made that a very long day), had the stress of having to track down the only available Level 2 charger in Lima (which was mechanically jammed when we arrived), sitting in a dark mall parking lot after the mall closed wondering if the Level 2 charger was going to turn off, worrying about changing hotel reservations, etc.
PlugShare is relevant to this story because we could easily have avoided the problem in Lima if the status of the Lima Supercharger had been posted on PlugShare. I would therefore propose, until such time as we get real time Supercharger status updates through Tesla in our cars, that all of us post Supercharger status information on PlugShare as a service to other members of the Tesla community. I subsequently posted the Lima status on PlugShare, and also posted warnings on the PlugShare listings for Maumee and Dayton, so that those travelling up or down I-75 would know to take on enough electrons at those Superchargers to be able to skip Lima. I note from a subsequent PlugShare posting that the Lima Supercharger had been down for more than a week, and apparently still remains down almost two weeks after first being reported.
Thanks,
Richard
