Electric vehicle charging stations fees, membership

[aslam]

Personally I am not worried. Most of my charging is slow nightly charging at home. Superchargers on road trips only. That's a relatively small percentage. This could be a bigger concern for those who use Superchargers and CHAdeMO almost exclusively though.

Glad to hear it hasn't been an issue for you. I am in the process of purchasing my first Tesla (a Model S) and I know that I will only have 110V charging at home that will not recoup my daily driving (about 75KM). Therefore I predict I will end/begin each day probably about 20KM in deficit. There is a CHAdeMO station about two blocks from my place and so I figured I could go once a week (or so) to get back to black. So I'm a little concerned that with weekly DC charging I might be affected by that software limit. That concern is also making me debate whether to get the 75 or the 100 pack. Anyways, this is probably getting a bit off topic for this thread so I will likely start another thread asking for advice from the community.

 

[DriveMe]

Here is the thread that discusses that issue with regular DC charging:
If you fast charge, Tesla will permanently throttle charging

 

[Doug_G]

I try not to spend more than half an hour at a Supercharger. 40 minutes max. Just enough time to grab a lunch and take a bathroom brake. I've also noticed that the last 10-20% take the longest time. So, I don't usually charge to 100%. Just enough to get to the next Supercharger with a good reserve. It seems that by making more frequent stops and not charging to 100% I am not losing any extra time, but perhaps even saving some. But then again, I don't like driving for hours straight regardless of the car: I prefer stopping from time to time, to grab a coffee, or to stretch my legs if nothing else. Now I just have to plan my stops around Superchargers.

FWIW, on a long trip my typical Supercharger usage pattern is:

First leg, try to get as far as possible before Supercharging.

Short stop, 20-30 minutes; just enough to get to the next Supercharger. That way I'm charging at or near full power, which is fastest.

Lunch stop, usually end up spending up to an hour. This usually provides enough range to skip a Supercharger; if so, I skip!

Short stop, again just enough to get to the next stop.

Might or might not do another short stop depending on route.

Dinner stop, similar to Lunch stop.

Drive to hotel. Preferably one with a Destination Charger or J1772.

 

[DriveMe]

I am not that methodical, but that's a great charging pattern, Doug! Thanks for the tip!

 

[aslam]

Here is the thread that discusses that issue with regular DC charging:
If you fast charge, Tesla will permanently throttle charging

Thanks. That thread is helpful.