Extremely Disappointed about SuperCharger rollout

[Zaxxon]

To be clear, I'm not arguing specifically for a mea culpa, but rather for better targets in the first place. It doesn't take long, hard hours away from other priorities to simply make safer promises. 'Several new supercharger locations in multiple states by the end of next month' instead of 'tripling our network by the end of next month,' for example.

Promise what you're certain you will deliver. Not a time consuming or overly complex idea. Don't dig the hole and you won't find yourself buried in it.

 

[Skotty]

As long as they start every one on time, the delays of any one or more charging locations won't compound and impact the others. I hope that is the strategy they are taking.

I don't care if it's free or not. I care that it will make my regular business travel possible. I would gladly pay gas level prices for it. Though one of the reasons for making it free is to not have to install and maintain billing systems at every location.

 

[100thMonkey]

I'm reminded, as Ecotality appears headed for bankruptcy, as so many of Ecotality's Blinks don't work, are melting or better yet, were never installed as promised, that patients for the level of perfection that Tesla is producing is in order. sure, they should have under promised and over delivered, but right now, they are pretty much the only game left standing when it comes to a high speed DC charging network that is actually progressing. I try and remind myself of these things when I get frustrated, hope others do to. what Tesla is pulling off with the Super Charging network is nothing short of a miracle...

 

[purplewalt]

I am loosely borrowing here from a NYT article about a restoration project for a historical building:
<<<Like a movie, a restoration begins with an idea set to paper, and after ''a process fraught with negotiation, problems, compromise and tremendous budget and cost issues, becomes something that lasts forever.''>>>

The key word I would like the OP to consider is "RESTORATION", and instead insert the words "NETWORK OF SUPERCHARGERS", the context being similar in that creativity, invention and determination are needed to bring EACH of the individual Superchargers on-line in order to fulfill the greater vision.

Sometimes Christmas Morning arrives on December 25, sometimes it arrives in June.
Or July.
Or August.
But it does and will arrive.

My POINT is this: Christmas Morning will arrive when a significant portion of connected network supercharger pieces are in place.
And Functioning.
Which will signal the beginning of New Possibilities.
New Opportunities.
New Reality.
Forever.

Get Ready, because it is coming soon, right around the corner.
In a Blink it will be here, and you, along with thousands of others, will be in AWE.

 

[dirkhh]

Tesla drawing attention to the delays would be foolish.

What would be nice is a quiet update of the maps to be more closely related to what they (now, with new focus and new leadership for the roll-out) realistically expect will happen.

As many have pointed out - in some parts of the country they are ahead of schedule or are even rolling out SCs that aren't on the map (Woodburn, OR and Fremont, CA, respectively). And in others they seem way behind (whatever may have caused that).

If they still think they will realistically bring 54 chargers online in Q4 (my guess is that what "fall" really means - just like Q3 appears to be what they consider "summer"), more power to them. But if not, a quiet update of the maps might be the best they can do to keep the public informed, the fan-boys in check and potential buyers reasonably well informed.

I for one would be very unhappy if I bought a Model S, seeing that a long road trip route that I have to take every week (think long-distance commute) is supposed to get a SC "in Fall" and if there still wasn't a SC ready by the beginning of next year. I think misleading their customers is the worst thing they could do.

 

[gregincal]

To be clear, I'm not arguing specifically for a mea culpa, but rather for better targets in the first place. It doesn't take long, hard hours away from other priorities to simply make safer promises. 'Several new supercharger locations in multiple states by the end of next month' instead of 'tripling our network by the end of next month,' for example.

Promise what you're certain you will deliver. Not a time consuming or overly complex idea. Don't dig the hole and you won't find yourself buried in it.

Look, but you're still complaining about a single press release from a couple months ago. We still will see how they are going to meet what I feel are the latest official promises, which is what is shown on the map. If they keep missing promised map dates, then fine, but everybody can see now that promising something earlier than what the map showed was a mistake.

 

[artsci]

Has Tesla acknowledged the apparent delays in the summer supercharger installations

We're about a week from the official end of summer and it appear Tesla has lost some serious ground on the "summer" supercharger installations. In fact the supercharger map no longer includes "summer" and it appears that the most of the summer installations have now been pushed back to fall, whatever that means on Tesla's calendar. Actually, based on what Tesla said would be accomplished in the summer, "fall" may very well mean late fall or even winter. This is not good, given all the hype around the supercharger installation plan. Tesla needs to be more conservative about the schedule for this kind of thing. When Tesla sets expectations it can't meet they end up disappointing a lot of people and undermine trust.

Has Tesla said anything publicly about the delays?

 

[dennis]

We're about a week from the official end of summer and it appear Tesla has lost some serious ground on the "summer" supercharger installations. In fact the supercharger map no longer includes "summer" and it appears that the most of the summer installations have now been pushed back to fall, whatever that means on Tesla's calendar. Actually, based on what Tesla said would be accomplished in the summer, "fall" may very well mean late fall or even winter. This is not good, given all the hype around the supercharger installation plan. Tesla needs to be more conservative about the schedule for this kind of thing. When Tesla sets expectations it can't meet they end up disappointing a lot of people and undermine trust.

Has Tesla said anything publicly about the delays?

No they have not. The Tesla/Elon MO appears to be:

1) Hype good news
2) Stonewall bad news
3) Market outside the range of the headlights (i.e. without confirming achievability)

Since the start of Model S deliveries, with everything appearing to go well, that MO is working. But with the first misstep the increased scrutiny will have a cascading negative effect. Like you, I'd prefer that Tesla to set realistic expectations and then meet or exceed them.

 

[dirkhh]

No they have not. The Tesla/Elon MO appears to be:

1) Hype good news
2) Stonewall bad news
3) Market outside the range of the headlights (i.e. without confirming achievability)

Since the start of Model S deliveries, with everything appearing to go well, that MO is working. But with the first misstep the increased scrutiny will have a cascading negative effect. Like you, I'd prefer that Tesla to set realistic expectations and then meet or exceed them.

I've been saying this in a number of posts. I'm actually surprised that the press isn't picking up on that trend.
But what frustrates me even more is that when you take a step back and look at the superchargers that have been opened in the past three months you'll see that Tesla is doing a really impressive job of it. This is a HUGE task and they are making steady progress. If it wasn't for the over-hyping / over-promising I think we'd all be quite pleased and happy...

 

[Benz]

I think that we should not expect that all the summer 2013 grey dots will turn into red dots as the summer 2013 comes to an end on September 22nd, 2013. A few summer 2013 grey dots will turn into red dots during the fall of 2013 (that might even be delayed until December). So, it is possible that a few Superchargers can be delayed. Same thing happens in almost any aspect of our daily life. Not everything goes according to plan, you know.
The same thing could happen with a few of the fall 2013 grey dots. Some of those will turn into red dots during the winter 2013, and that could even be in March 2014. Don't be surprised if that happens.
But one thing is for sure, and that is that the majority of the Superchargers will go live on time. And that's what realy is important.

- - - Updated - - -

 

[Larry Chanin]

I think that we should not expect that all the summer 2013 grey dots will turn into red dots as the summer 2013 comes to an end on September 22nd, 2013. A few summer 2013 grey dots will turn into red dots during the fall of 2013 (that might even be delayed until December). So, it is possible that a few Superchargers can be delayed. Same thing happens in almost any aspect of our daily life. Not everything goes according to plan, you know.
The same thing could happen with a few of the fall 2013 grey dots. Some of those will turn into red dots during the winter 2013, and that could even be in March 2014. Don't be surprised if that happens.
But one thing is for sure, and that is that the majority of the Superchargers will go live on time. And that's what realy is important.

- - - Updated - - -

Agreed.
Last night Tesla announced the opening of the Port Orange, Florida Supercharger station next week, on September 18.
Larry

 

[artsci]

I agree that public announcements about delays do not make sense, but they do have we owner email addresses, and a few well-placed private messages now and then regarding progress on installation of superchargers in each owner's region would be well-taken. I'm sure the delays have much to do with permitting, contractor issues, and the like. Why not keep us privately informed?

 

[dsm363]

I agree that public announcements about delays do not make sense, but they do have we owner email addresses, and a few well-placed private messages now and then regarding progress on installation of superchargers in each owner's region would be well-taken. I'm sure the delays have much to do with permitting, contractor issues, and the like. Why not keep us privately informed?

Nothing they send out would likely stay private. Their rollout map was overly optimistic of course but not an explicit promise things would get done by then (meaning like any vague product launch it is subject to change). If they had said this Supercharger will definitely be installed but Sept. 2nd and then missed it by a few months that is different. They still technically have until Sept. 21st for summer too and have opened the second Supercharger in Texas so they are making progress. I think we should put all of this in perspective. How many years have CHAdeMO chargers been rolling out and how many of them are positioned between cities to make travel easy? I'm not saying Telsa shouldn't be more realistic with their projections but they aren't that far behind yet. They would be safer being more vague and looks like after this year they are just showing 2014 or 2015 so hopefully they stick with vague projections.

I do think a general e-mail with an update on the rollout would be a good idea. Something like 'we are still pursing out Supercharger rollout aggressively but permitting and site location has proven to be difficult at times. We will continue our buildout as quickly as possible'.

 

[jrreno]

I think the SC progress should be kept in perspective. I am stuck in a Nissan Leaf lease with exactly ONE Chademo fast charge station in the state of Florida and that is at a dealer that may or may not make it available! Nissan announced 9 months ago 500 more fast charge stations in the USA. So not only is Tesla delivering FREE Supercharging stations but they have the model correct! They are placing them in locations to enable long distance travel with amenities nearby. Given the difficulty in siting these types of installations I'd give them an A- at the very least on execution. Count your blessings!

 

[Larry Chanin]

They still technically have until Sept. 21st for summer too and have opened the second Supercharger in Texas so they are making progress. I think we should put all of this in perspective. How many years have CHAdeMO chargers been rolling out and how many of them are positioned between cities to make travel easy?

Agreed. I see them making excellent progress in Florida. Yes, there may have been a little slippage, but I certainly don't share the original poster's sentiment of being "Extremely Disappointed".

I think that Tesla could help mitigate these "extremely disappointed" over-reactions if they were less secretive about the status of Supercharger stations. Instead of forcing us to track them down by searching permit records, etc., Tesla should proactively inform us which are under construction and post the addresses of the "coming soon" stations on their website.

Larry

 

[GSP]

I agree. however, the searching for permits and scouting sites does add a real level of excitement to the SuperCharger deployments.

GSP

 

[emupilot]

Remember also that some stations that are open or will soon open were listed under "Fall 2013". After Port Orange, there will soon be another 3 openings and there are probably about 8 others that we know of in the permitting / preparation stages.

 

[Larry Chanin]

I agree. however, the searching for permits and scouting sites does add a real level of excitement to the SuperCharger deployments.

GSP

Really? :biggrin:

I've always considered myself a pretty rabid Tesla enthusiast, but so far searching for permits, etc., hasn't added much excitement to my life. :wink:

Converging on ribbon cutting ceremonies with my fellow club members, that has been exciting.

Larry

 

[markb1]

They still haven't quite managed to triple the number of superchargers, something they said they'd do by the end of June.

 

[gregincal]

The press release promising the Summer chargers early in the summer was obviously wrong. However, they promised 27 chargers for the summer. If you take that to be Sept 21st, then they are at 21 with at least 3 more likely to open in the next week. 24 out of 27 isn't bad (and they would have finally reached the triple landmark).