Free unlimited supercharging vs (paying for) installing charger at home...

[one true morty]

I do wonder if you misremembered the wording a little bit. It's not 1/3, and hopefully they didn't say that. It's supposed to be 1/2. Here is the page and the wording describing it:
Supercharger Idle Fee
"For every additional minute a car remains connected to the Supercharger, it will incur an idle fee. If the car is moved within 5 minutes, the fee is waived. Idle fees apply when a Supercharger station is at least 50% full, and double when the station is 100% full."

So that is supposed to be idle fees only if the station is at least 1/2 full. However, you have noticed a problem they have frequently had. Whatever sensor readings they are using to get that "information" into their database utterly sucks. It seems that way too often, their support people have a screen in front of them showing that the station is nearly full, when out here in the real world there are tumbleweeds blowing through the 7 out of 8 empty stalls. So--yeah, you shouldn't have been assessed an idle fee at all, since it was less than half full.


Yes, it applies to all Tesla model cars. Unlimited charging has nothing to do with it, because this is about when cars are just sitting there, blocking the spots and not charging. No one has a right to unlimited blocking of Supercharger stalls.

Yeah, that sounds right, I was just remembering something that my husband read to me while I was driving and being irritated that their ratio was wrong. I wanted to write to them and suggest they give my 1 time waive back to me as I was unaware (I know, ignorance of the law doesn't excuse breaking it) and also there was only 1 other car besides me there. I just will never do it again unless unforeseen circumstances of course but it would be nice to have my Get Out of Jail Free card back.

 

[one true morty]

What panel do you have currently? If it's a Zinsco or Federal Pacific, this becomes a different conversation altogether. That's a life-safety conversation, and has nothing to do with the EV at all.

All that said - I installed a Tesla HPWC outdoors for charging my Model 3. I chose the HPWC because I wanted the full 48 amps. As others have said, it's mostly unnecessary, but the majority of the work was installing the conduit, wiring and breaker. My electrician charged me $600 for the install, including an outdoor cutoff switch. So, a couple hundred more bucks for the HPWC was OK with me, for the convenience and outdoor waterproofing.

If, for some crazy reason I wanted to change to a different EVSE, I can dismount the Tesla wall charger and replace it with an outlet or a different EVSE. The hard work is done - that'd take me all of 15 minutes.

I have the wall connector mounted on the side of the house; but then put a 3D-printed mounting "block" on the side of the fence post for hanging the cable connector. This way I don't have to open the gate every time I go somewhere.

View attachment 405476 View attachment 405478

That was smart 3d printing the holster! We just bought the Tesla one but I like your idea much more!

 

[Rocky_H]

I just will never do it again unless unforeseen circumstances of course but it would be nice to have my Get Out of Jail Free card back.

I don't know how or when you use Superchargers, or if it's often. I generally only use them when I am really away from home on a trip, and if you're doing that, there is a way to generally prevent running into this. When I am about to pull out of my garage to go on a trip, I go ahead and move my charge limit slider all the way up to 100%, and it's going to stay there for the next few days while I am traveling. It takes a crazy long time for charging to stop at completely full, so that will give the extra time margin.
(I can hear some people taking a deep breath about to scream at me.)
It's not to abuse anything or hog spaces, but it's just dumb for the electrons to stop flowing and charge an idle fee if you're going to be heading back to the car in another 10 or 15 minutes anyway. You can have a little leftover energy at your next stop.

 

[one true morty]

I don't know how or when you use Superchargers, or if it's often. I generally only use them when I am really away from home on a trip, and if you're doing that, there is a way to generally prevent running into this. When I am about to pull out of my garage to go on a trip, I go ahead and move my charge limit slider all the way up to 100%, and it's going to stay there for the next few days while I am traveling. It takes a crazy long time for charging to stop at completely full, so that will give the extra time margin.
(I can hear some people taking a deep breath about to scream at me.)
It's not to abuse anything or hog spaces, but it's just dumb for the electrons to stop flowing and charge an idle fee if you're going to be heading back to the car in another 10 or 15 minutes anyway. You can have a little leftover energy at your next stop.

Good point. I don't use it very often - only on long trips. Normally I want as much charge as I can get so I would never encounter this. It was silly, I looked at the charge and thought 'oh, that is more than enough to get home w/, I will stop the charge now as no one is waiting for it and I don't need to pay for more expensive charge.' It probably would have saved me like 50 cents. Still wasn't a huge deal even if they charged me the 3.50$ . Thanks for the suggestion, I usually have it at full anyway on trips.

 

[dmurphy]

That was smart 3d printing the holster! We just bought the Tesla one but I like your idea much more!

Thank you! This is the mounting block I used - it’s working out splendidly well. As you can see from my photo, we really didn’t have the room for the Tesla one. It’s too wide.

Tesla Model S Enclosed Charger Holder by betamax

 

[one true morty]

Thank you! This is the mounting block I used - it’s working out splendidly well. As you can see from my photo, we really didn’t have the room for the Tesla one. It’s too wide.

Tesla Model S Enclosed Charger Holder by betamax

I love the little roof! I wish I had seen this before we paid for the holster that looks a bit incongruous on the side of my house. My brother has a 3d printer and he would happily have made this for me!

 

[Nguyenning]

Ended up getting the NEMA 14-50 outlet installed.

That said, I also have 5,000 free referral supercharger miles I need to use before they expire in 6 months.... and there's one located conveniently close to me with shops, restaurants, etc. around. I feel like I could solely rely on supercharging during these next 6 months. And who knows, I could get a few more referrals and turn that 6 months into another... and another.

Kind of a strange dilemma not using the outlet I just paid to have installed, but hey free is free for now. (referring to the supercharger down the street)

 

[Sailorgirl]

I am having my panel replaced and a recepticle installed at this moment to the tune of $4500.....ouch. not an expense I had anticipated, but agree with the others that it will add some value when I sell in 3 years. Charging away from home during the work week is not something I am willing to do.

 

[Dubes]

I know “a plugged in Tesla is a happy Tesla”...

But when considering the $ quotes to install a charger at home (I’ve gotten quotes in the thousands given my setup) vs. just using free unlimited supercharging, I’m wondering why this wouldn’t be a viable option if:

1.) you have free unlimited supercharging
2.) you have a supercharger near you (mine’s only 2 miles away fortunately)


Would this be ok to do?

I just ordered an X and ordered a wall charger. After receiving it FUSC came back, so I am making the same decision as you. Here are some additional thoughts that nobody seems to mention:
- I like to save money. If I drive 15,000 / yr, home electricity will cost about $700/yr at $0.15/kWh. An 120v wall plug is the most inefficient and will cost more. Using my FUSC could save me nearly $1G/yr and require me to spend more time in my Tesla.
- I'm a typical American, and I like to drive my car and spend time in it. I expect more so in my Tesla.
- It appears by research that Supercharging to <90% regularly does not degrade the battery faster than wall charging. I plan to supercharge regularly to 80%.
- I will probably still install my Tesla wall charger as a backup because it would cost me 25% restocking plus shipping to return it, and my only additional cost for self installation is $80 for 50' of 6/2 copper Romex that I already ordered ,and I also already paid $75 for the permit to install it.