Electric car boom drives surge in charging-station demand

[Doug_G]

Electric car drivers face delays at crowded charging stations

But at the Tesla supercharger station in San Mateo, just south of San Francisco, all eight charging spots were taken when he arrived, so he had to wait. A popular charging station by a scenic ranch a few hours southeast often has waits of 30 or 40 minutes to get a quick refill, he said.

The major consumer concern with early models of electric cars revolved around something called "range anxiety," the fear that the battery would run out before you could make it to your destination or a charging station.

But now that charging stations abound — there are thousands publicly available across Canada for all makes of electric cars — an emerging worry is that electric cars are becoming so popular, there will be too much charging station congestion to plug in when you need to, particularly once Tesla's mass-market Model 3 arrives.

 

[Drone Flyer]

Let's hope that when the Model 3 arrives in 2019, Tesla will have enabled a whole lot more SC's across Canada and a few more in the States such as northern Alabama and southern Texas, to make Tesla viable for anybody.

 

[Branzo90D]

Well, Elon announced, at the Model 3 reveal, the doubling of superchargers and quadrupling of destination chargers prior to 2019, so let's hope he makes good on that promise.

 

[Chuq]

Well, Elon announced, at the Model 3 reveal, the doubling of superchargers and quadrupling of destination chargers prior to 2019, so let's hope he makes good on that promise.

I think he may have even said by the end of 2017! It would be safe to assume that the higher than expected reservations would result in the same number again (ie. triple what there is now) by the end of 2019, if not sooner.