Extremely Disappointed about SuperCharger rollout

[Lloyd]

I drve by Atascadero today, and saw that 8 supercharging slots are imminently ready to go into operation. Sorry, no pictures, the people I was with complained that I went out of my way 1 block to go see! Ill post pictures later if I can.

 

[dennis]

Elon is prone to hyperbole and nothing he says should ever be taken at face value. Timelines, cost calculators, announcements, etc.

There is a famous quote from Larry Ellison of Oracle from a Wall Street Journal article a number of years ago. When questioned about products/features that he had announced but had not been delivered, he said "Sometimes I get my tenses mixed up".

 

[Benz]

I am not disappointed at all.

There is progress going on at several new Supercharger locations (which is great).

In July/August a number of grey dots will turn into red dots.

A delay of 1 or 2 months is no problem at all.

In Europe there is no Supercharger Station at all.

And I expect to see the first Supercharger Station in Europe somewhere in 2014 (and I have no problem with that).

Elon Musk and Tesla Motors are doing the best they can.

You know what, just imagine if Elon Musk would have gone to Germany (instead of USA)?

Then Tesla Motors would have been a German car company.

You should be glad that Tesla Motors is an American car company.

Think about that.

 

[andystj]

I am not disappointed at all.

There is progress going on at several new Supercharger locations (which is great).

In July/August a number of grey dots will turn into red dots.

A delay of 1 or 2 months is no problem at all.

In Europe there is no Supercharger Station at all.

And I expect to see the first Supercharger Station in Europe somewhere in 2014 (and I have no problem with that).

Elon Musk and Tesla Motors are doing the best they can.

You know what, just imagine if Elon Musk would have gone to Germany (instead of USA)?

Then Tesla Motors would have been a German car company.

You should be glad that Tesla Motors is an American car company.

Think about that.

You are not disappointed because you are not trying to plan family roadtrips based upon the information provided by Tesla.

Some of us did make plans based on words that came straight from the horse's mouth.

Sigh. Count me in the extremely disappointed camp.

 

[Stoneymonster]

You are not disappointed because you are not trying to plan family roadtrips based upon the information provided by Tesla.

Some of us did make plans based on words that came straight from the horse's mouth.

Sigh. Count me in the extremely disappointed camp.

Exactly. Had they said end of July, I suspect no one would have been disappointed at all. Manage expectations Tesla!

 

[deonb]

I feared something like that when the web site just listed 'Summer 2013'.

Unfortunately that would mean that the commitment is really just to get the new wave of SuperChargers open sometime before September 22nd.

 

[Cosmacelf]

It appears that Elon is "leading by press release". The supercharger announcement isn't the only one that is ahead of actual events. I was looking forward to getting a tesla loaner when I dropped off my car for service a few weeks ago. Nope, only one model s loaner for all of San Diego! So, I stay I undisappointed by realizing all Tesla press releases are vision statements

 

[markb1]

What's the scorecard right now? Here's what I have:

Online:
Normal

Imminent:
Burlington
Atascadero
Buellton
Darien

Later in July:
Centralia

Which other ones do we know the locations for?

 

[AnOutsider]

It appears that Elon is "leading by press release". The supercharger announcement isn't the only one that is ahead of actual events. I was looking forward to getting a tesla loaner when I dropped off my car for service a few weeks ago. Nope, only one model s loaner for all of San Diego! So, I stay I undisappointed by realizing all Tesla press releases are vision statements

Sadly, this.

 

[Benz]

What's the scorecard right now? Here's what I have:

Online:
Normal

Imminent:
Burlington
Atascadero
Buellton
Darien

Later in July:
Centralia

Which other ones do we know the locations for?

Greenwich (New England)
This is less then 11 miles south-west from Darien.

- - - Updated - - -

You are not disappointed because you are not trying to plan family roadtrips based upon the information provided by Tesla.

Some of us did make plans based on words that came straight from the horse's mouth.

Sigh. Count me in the extremely disappointed camp.

My dear friend,

You are talking about a bread crumb, while you do not want to look at the bakery itself (which is yet under construction) that is going to provide your bread FOR FREE, and FOREVER.

Show some appreciation for that.

Thank you

 

[brianstorms]

FOR FREE, and FOREVER

That remains to be seen.

 

[Banahogg]

From this report Atascadero Supercharger - Page 2 it sounds like Atascadero was supposed to be up today, but will be delayed a couple of days.

It seems plausible that Tesla put together timelines for these chargers intending to have them up exactly by the end of the month, but without allowing anywhere near enough slop for the inevitable slips when there's this many moving parts (local inspections, power company, weather for concrete pours, etc). That sounds like a very Tesla thing to do to me.

 

[Enadler]

Ok it looks like I have accomplished my goal and gotten many of you to commiserate with me! :smile:

It seems most of you agree that making an announcement with a 30 day time horizon and missing so badly was extremely poor communication management. Those of you who have already forgiven Elon are not just wearing rose colored glasses but blinders. I know this sounds harsh but as others have said with the short time horizon the opening of these June superchargers should have been imminent not wishful thinking.

Anyway I digress... the purpose of this most recent post is to query the group to see what the likelihood of success Elon's other "promise" made during the supercharger announcement. Elon said that he would be taking a cross country trip at the end of the year using superchargers to reenact a trip he took in college.

What are the odds that this goal is achievable in the timeline Elon laid out? I give it 50/50.

 

[Benz]

That remains to be seen.

As long as the sun shines it's energy to the earth?

- - - Updated - - -

What are the odds that this goal is achievable in the timeline Elon laid out? I give it 50/50.

What's important is that he IS going to do it, even if that would take place a bit later than he originally has planned it.
It's not a deadline, you know.
Be cool, my friend.

 

[AnOutsider]

As long as the sun shines it's energy to the earth?

Your enthusiasm is admirable, but I think as you gain more experience with tesla you'll start to see things in a more realistic light.

 

[montgom626]

I stopped being a drama queen years ago.

 

[Nathan Smith]

My dear friend,

You are talking about a bread crumb, while you do not want to look at the bakery itself (which is yet under construction) that is going to provide your bread FOR FREE, and FOREVER.

Show some appreciation for that.

Thank you

It not free... Owners have already paid for access to SC as part of the price of ownership.

 

[gregincal]

Even with a company known for missing deadlines, I just think it's a little strange to put out a press release that commits to a large number of Superchargers to be ready in a month, when it takes 4-6 weeks to install one. Why would you knowingly set your customers up for disappointment?

Even if we assume the deadline was really end-of-July, I'll be surprised if we see the Austin-DFW SC on time.

I don't know where this 4-6 weeks that people seem to be quoting comes from. Somebody visited the Atascadero site 2 weeks ago and saw zero signs of construction, and it's now finished and should be online within a couple days.

 

[Benz]

It not free... Owners have already paid for access to SC as part of the price of ownership.

There are some initial costs involved in setting up these Superchargers, right?

And these Superchargers are exclusive for Tesla EV's, right?

The actual kWh's that you will charge to your battery pack are free, meaning that there is no payment to be made every time that you actually will use the Supercharger, right?

And owners who don't want to pay for access to the Supercherger can still choose the 60 kWh battery pack without the Supercharger option, right? They could save themselves some money. But that would only be a tiny little few people who would actually do that, I think.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Yeah, missing a 30 day announcement was stupid, but also very Tesla like. It's just the way Elon rolls.

However have people stopped to consider what the vehicle landscape will be like 2 years from now? Most of the supercharger network will have been built out. Did you see the news announcements that gasoline consumption in CALIFORNIA had dropped 2% in January/February? Can you imagine how things will be vastly different 2 years from now? I have been trying to imagine it and I"m not quite there yet. Let's see, we'll start to see complaints from gas station franchisees that for the first time ever their volume is dropping. Slowly, ever so slowly, it will percolate into people's minds that Teslas are no compromise electric cars. There has GOT to be a business case for some other business (other than directly competing with Tesla) that can piggyback onto what Tesla is doing.