Frequency of occupied Superchargers & "peak hours"

[Titus]

Hi guys, if all goes well I'm picking up a Model S in 3 week's time. One of the things I want to see is if my own time tables when I plan to bringing the car to a Supercharger is considered "off peak hours".

Which days and hours do you bring your car in for a Supercharging? And at which Supercharger? I'm not counting the other public EV charging, only Supercharging.

Not sure how to make a poll on this, but maybe you can leave your comments and then I'll combine the answers and update?

Also, how many times (say X times out of 10) do you pull into a Supercharging parking lot and find that all Superchargers are occupied?

Hopefully this helps owners down the road. It would also be nice if Tesla added a function to the phone app to access cameras installed at the Superchargers so that we can see if they are occupied before heading for the parking lot.

Also, I'm a bit confused: Tesla sent out a notice to US owners that they should treat Supercharging stations as for the purpose of long-range travel only (ie not supposed to use it for just getting a freebie charge) because they were becoming too tied up by people looking for a free charge than someone on their way from Seattle to LA who needs to charge ASAP so they can continue their trip. For Hong Kong I guess this rationale doesn't really stand (until they open up the border to direct drive across to the mainland). So it's acceptable to get all your charges from Superchargers in HK?

 

[lx3h]

Hi guys, if all goes well I'm picking up a Model S in 3 week's time. One of the things I want to see is if my own time tables when I plan to bringing the car to a Supercharger is considered "off peak hours".

Which days and hours do you bring your car in for a Supercharging? And at which Supercharger? I'm not counting the other public EV charging, only Supercharging.

Not sure how to make a poll on this, but maybe you can leave your comments and then I'll combine the answers and update?

Also, how many times (say X times out of 10) do you pull into a Supercharging parking lot and find that all Superchargers are occupied?

Hopefully this helps owners down the road. It would also be nice if Tesla added a function to the phone app to access cameras installed at the Superchargers so that we can see if they are occupied before heading for the parking lot.

Also, I'm a bit confused: Tesla sent out a notice to US owners that they should treat Supercharging stations as for the purpose of long-range travel only (ie not supposed to use it for just getting a freebie charge) because they were becoming too tied up by people looking for a free charge than someone on their way from Seattle to LA who needs to charge ASAP so they can continue their trip. For Hong Kong I guess this rationale doesn't really stand (until they open up the border to direct drive across to the mainland). So it's acceptable to get all your charges from Superchargers in HK?

Titus, good to know that you are having these questions before picking up your MS.

River has created a crowdsourced webpage, IM Tesla, register yourself with invitation code "Nikola" and observe those activities yourself.

Since you did not mention which supercharger you will visit, I cannot give you the exact off-peak hours you want. But for me, I go Hopewell. And off-peak hours are getting shorter and shorter. Before 8:20am and between 5pm to 6pm, that's about it. It is the top 5 busiest SC in the world, so don't expect there will be ever be an off-peak very soon.

For Lee Gardens, since there are only 2, off-peak will be after 10pm.

For Science Park, off-peak should be after 9pm, but the curb has already damaged a number of Model S' rear bumper there.

 

[Titus]

Titus, good to know that you are having these questions before picking up your MS.

River has created a crowdsourced webpage, IM Tesla, register yourself with invitation code "Nikola" and observe those activities yourself.

Since you did not mention which supercharger you will visit, I cannot give you the exact off-peak hours you want. But for me, I go Hopewell. And off-peak hours are getting shorter and shorter. Before 8:20am and between 5pm to 6pm, that's about it. It is the top 5 busiest SC in the world, so don't expect there will be ever be an off-peak very soon.

For Lee Gardens, since there are only 2, off-peak will be after 10pm.

For Science Park, off-peak should be after 9pm, but the curb has already damaged a number of Model S' rear bumper there.

Fantastic, thanks for the tips!! I'm planning on using the Tsuen Wan one closest to my office during lunch and then maybe Science Park closer to home.

LOL don't our cars come with back up camera displaying on the big huge display?

Well I'm still talking to a guy who is transferring his P85D invoice to me and going through all the process of trade in as well (the sales person is also out of town); hopefully no roadblocks along the way that will prevent me in joining the EV community in HK

 

[wombat]

Fantastic, thanks for the tips!! I'm planning on using the Tsuen Wan one closest to my office during lunch and then maybe Science Park closer to home.

LOL don't our cars come with back up camera displaying on the big huge display?

Well I'm still talking to a guy who is transferring his P85D invoice to me and going through all the process of trade in as well (the sales person is also out of town); hopefully no roadblocks along the way that will prevent me in joining the EV community in HK

its the height of the curb that is the problem. Since you need to back up into the space to charge, if a car is lowered on the adjustable suspension it will scrape. Even on normal suspension it just clears the curb.

 

[Joseph Yang]

So, for those of us who will have the variable suspension, we should program into our GP to raise the car near the Science Park SCs?

 

[wombat]

Yes!!

 

[lx3h]

or group buy these curb ramps from Taobao, I'm seriously considering.

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[Titus]

its the height hof the curb that is the problem. Since you need to back up into the space to charge, if a car is lowered on the adjustable suspension it will scrape. Even on normal suspension it just clears the curb.

Much appreciated on the heads up!!!

 

[joywalker]

Titus, good to know that you are having these questions before picking up your MS.

River has created a crowdsourced webpage, IM Tesla, register yourself with invitation code "Nikola" and observe those activities yourself.

Since you did not mention which supercharger you will visit, I cannot give you the exact off-peak hours you want. But for me, I go Hopewell. And off-peak hours are getting shorter and shorter. Before 8:20am and between 5pm to 6pm, that's about it. It is the top 5 busiest SC in the world, so don't expect there will be ever be an off-peak very soon.

For Lee Gardens, since there are only 2, off-peak will be after 10pm.

For Science Park, off-peak should be after 9pm, but the curb has already damaged a number of Model S' rear bumper there.

I visited the Hopewell SC, and Kai Tak SC yesterday, all occupied.
I believe it is time for Tesla to install many many more SC as this car is too popular now.
Even the ev-link chargers are fairly much engaged all the time. It will discourage people buying this car if it persists.

 

[Lerxt]

I'm sure Tesla want to install more superchargers however they have a lot of trouble finding locations with adequate power available. Even the newest building often are inadequate, for example, IFC in Central.

It would help if there was a system in your car that would let you know the status of availability of superchargers in real time. It should also be used to penalise people who park for hours when charging is finished. Perhaps reduce their supercharge rate to 40A next time they visit or lock them out for a week.

 

[icemankaka]

Just start charging their account would be best, for parking after charge is full, beyond say 15-20 mins

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Just start charging their account would be best, for parking after charge is full, beyond say 15-20 mins

 

[MS85D]

Had the test drive, done the research by watching loads of YouTUbe videos, checked financing, can't install home charger...so these concerns on Superchargers (or just normal chargers) remain the major obstacle from putting the deposit down. Sales person mentioned that a few more locations being looked at..but no timeline set.

 

[3fiftynine]

Had the test drive, done the research by watching loads of YouTUbe videos, checked financing, can't install home charger...so these concerns on Superchargers (or just normal chargers) remain the major obstacle from putting the deposit down. Sales person mentioned that a few more locations being looked at..but no timeline set.

With "only" 9 months+ experience I can only speak for myself. Should I wait to see sufficient EV infrastructure available or I should bring one more EV on the road such that people will see the demand for better EV infrastructure? I witnessed the growth of superchargers I also see the building up of queues at superchargers. Because of the high visibility of Tesla on the road (apart from iconic i3, other EVs aren't that visible) there are more and more people taking about EV (media) and the supporting infrastructure. I can see also public parking lots (gov't and private) investing in EV-friendly facilities.

I don't have home charging, I don't see it coming anytime soon. I drove 20,000+km and just now I have done more than 500k (working on a target of 1,000km) without going to supercharger. There are solutions other than queuing up or relying on supercharging. Your solutions could be different.

 

[808?]

There are solutions other than queuing up or relying on supercharging. Your solutions could be different.

Indeed, with over 1,000+ public charging points in this tiny city of 1,000km, there is plenty of options outside the SC network.

 

[MS85D]

Thank you...will convince myself that it will work...! and my wife is specially keen to do our bit for the environment. Will play around will the Configurator and take it from there. A 2016 Production and aim for March delivery according to the Sales Person but need to order this month to take adv of the referral program.

Will keep an eye out on the useful advices here on charging solutions etc.cheers!

 

[Lerxt]

In my experience the only people worried about charging are non owners.

 

[lx3h]

In my experience the only people worried about charging are non owners.

Well said!

 

[MS85D]

yes, you are right...potential owners ! looking at this forum for ideas and comments!

 

[Titus]

Well, 3 days and 500kms later I am glad to say the charging availability is a complete non-issue for me. I went to the Science Park charger and never had to wait the two times I was there. The Cyberport one was full though I left and went to the Pulse before others came back. All the charging cars were still charging so, so far so good!

 

[lx3h]

Well, 3 days and 500kms later I am glad to say the charging availability is a complete non-issue for me. I went to the Science Park charger and never had to wait the two times I was there. The Cyberport one was full though I left and went to the Pulse before others came back. All the charging cars were still charging so, so far so good!

The Pulse SC are hardly full.