My story
I started 2017 with a (pre-owned) 70D Model S having 12,000 miles and only 3 months of experience driving it. Houston lags many other municipalities in local charging. The year started with one L2 charger at 8 miles from my house and one Supercharger at 23 miles from my house. The year ended with 4 additional L2s and a second Supercharger at about 25 miles from my house.
I’d always been comfortable with driving the car down to 10 RM or lower, mainly because my environment is flat and warm — two conditions that make power consumption very predictable. Since I began the year with confidence in the Superchargers, but no confidence in the Wall Connectors (WC), I went out of my way to visit nearby WCs frequently — particularly to validate such chargers and report performance in Plugshare. I was surprised to see that 60-75% of chargers identified in Plugshare, when tested actually matched what was described therein.
Wall Connectors, if new, can’t be trusted
I found that the remaining 25-40% of wall connectors just didn’t match Plugshare reports and more importantly, did not match what Tesla’s official database reported for as much as 6 months at a time. Common problems have been a) wrong count of charging ports; b) wrong addresses; and c) exaggerated kW outputs. Tesla’s pattern seems to be get the details of the charger from the host site, and then assume that they are correct. Later, Tesla would get phone calls telling them of the errors, and it would take some 3-6 months post-phone call for them to make the correction.
Most surprising site, Sherwood, Arkansas
I made a couple of road trips through the midwest. One stretch was off the interstate system for some 250 or so miles. This stretch took me through Sherwood Arkansas, where Tesla reported a Best Western site had a whopping eight wall connectors. The site was new, and I seemed to be the first to document its performance in Plugshare. Of the eight connectors, seven delivered 16kW or better. One showed a red light on the face of the WC, and would not charge. This Best Western site made it possible to drive from Illinois through Arkansas, without having to top-off at the Memphis Supercharger, which adds at least 60 miles to my trip.
Charging plans for 2018
I’m using a 16A NEMA 5-20 at the house, which is entirely sufficient for these warm Texas garages. I think that those who insist on putting the WC into their house either need it to counter sub-freezing garages (and inefficiencies in the cold driving), or they own multiple Teslas. A long commute could also be a factor. At one time I thought the WC would be necessary — but it just isn’t. Moreover, as my town has gone from charger poor to charger rich, I’m going to refrain ‘testing’ the local infrastructure. I know where the chargers are, that they work, and that, many times (for now), if you ask nicely, mid-day, the hotels tend to be happy to allow a brief (free) charging episode. My current blend of WC charging sessions (2017) is 75/25, where 75% of the time I’m testing/verifying a charger, and 25% its absolutely necessary to complete a trip. I’m going to shift to a ratio of 10/90%, where only 10% of the time am I trying a charger to confirm it operational. The end result is I’ll charge about 1/3 as much outside of my garage — and truly enjoy non-stop (for fueling) driving.
I started 2017 with a (pre-owned) 70D Model S having 12,000 miles and only 3 months of experience driving it. Houston lags many other municipalities in local charging. The year started with one L2 charger at 8 miles from my house and one Supercharger at 23 miles from my house. The year ended with 4 additional L2s and a second Supercharger at about 25 miles from my house.
I’d always been comfortable with driving the car down to 10 RM or lower, mainly because my environment is flat and warm — two conditions that make power consumption very predictable. Since I began the year with confidence in the Superchargers, but no confidence in the Wall Connectors (WC), I went out of my way to visit nearby WCs frequently — particularly to validate such chargers and report performance in Plugshare. I was surprised to see that 60-75% of chargers identified in Plugshare, when tested actually matched what was described therein.
Wall Connectors, if new, can’t be trusted
I found that the remaining 25-40% of wall connectors just didn’t match Plugshare reports and more importantly, did not match what Tesla’s official database reported for as much as 6 months at a time. Common problems have been a) wrong count of charging ports; b) wrong addresses; and c) exaggerated kW outputs. Tesla’s pattern seems to be get the details of the charger from the host site, and then assume that they are correct. Later, Tesla would get phone calls telling them of the errors, and it would take some 3-6 months post-phone call for them to make the correction.
Most surprising site, Sherwood, Arkansas
I made a couple of road trips through the midwest. One stretch was off the interstate system for some 250 or so miles. This stretch took me through Sherwood Arkansas, where Tesla reported a Best Western site had a whopping eight wall connectors. The site was new, and I seemed to be the first to document its performance in Plugshare. Of the eight connectors, seven delivered 16kW or better. One showed a red light on the face of the WC, and would not charge. This Best Western site made it possible to drive from Illinois through Arkansas, without having to top-off at the Memphis Supercharger, which adds at least 60 miles to my trip.
Charging plans for 2018
I’m using a 16A NEMA 5-20 at the house, which is entirely sufficient for these warm Texas garages. I think that those who insist on putting the WC into their house either need it to counter sub-freezing garages (and inefficiencies in the cold driving), or they own multiple Teslas. A long commute could also be a factor. At one time I thought the WC would be necessary — but it just isn’t. Moreover, as my town has gone from charger poor to charger rich, I’m going to refrain ‘testing’ the local infrastructure. I know where the chargers are, that they work, and that, many times (for now), if you ask nicely, mid-day, the hotels tend to be happy to allow a brief (free) charging episode. My current blend of WC charging sessions (2017) is 75/25, where 75% of the time I’m testing/verifying a charger, and 25% its absolutely necessary to complete a trip. I’m going to shift to a ratio of 10/90%, where only 10% of the time am I trying a charger to confirm it operational. The end result is I’ll charge about 1/3 as much outside of my garage — and truly enjoy non-stop (for fueling) driving.
