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Gas car parked at a Supercharger

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I think the same could be said for Superchargers. The cable only needs to be long enough to reach from the Supercharger to the car parked in the designated space. :wink:
But this often requires you to back in, yes?

I've been to a SC only once and didn't back in far enough for the cable to reach, so had to inch back some more. I remember wondering why the cable was so short...

I think one advantage of short cable is just neatness: won't end up coiled on the ground, getting run over. My longer cable at home often looks messy lying on the garage floor.
 
That supercharger seems to ALWAYS have at least one spot ICE'd. (Denver @Airport) One time I was there and it had the shuttle from the hotel parked across two stalls.

I call Tesla and send them a picture each time. Not sure if that really DOES anything but at least then the mothership knows...
 
It would be nice if Tesla installed those raising posts and make them Tesla Aware and only open when a Tesla is near (I am sure they have some way of knowing). ICE problem solved.

They could even combine it with the Homelink system and let you open a/all spots from the dash.
 
That supercharger seems to ALWAYS have at least one spot ICE'd. (Denver @Airport) One time I was there and it had the shuttle from the hotel parked across two stalls.

I call Tesla and send them a picture each time. Not sure if that really DOES anything but at least then the mothership knows...
I would have called the hotel too, and posted a "review" about them on Trip Advisor. I guarantee that by the next day the manager would have posted an apology and the driver wouldn't do that again.
 
DC does not travel as well as AC does. The simplistic answer back in the day of Edison (who favored DC power) vs Nikola Tesla (who invented AC) was DC fell off the line going around corners. It isn't quite that way, but you want DC runs to be as short as possible.
Really? from elementary circuit study, DC is affected only by resistance, while AC is affected by resistance, inductance, and capacitance. Why would DC not travel an extra few feet?
 
Really? from elementary circuit study, DC is affected only by resistance, while AC is affected by resistance, inductance, and capacitance. Why would DC not travel an extra few feet?

The real problem with DC is you are mostly stuck with the voltage you start with, there are ways to do DC to DC conversion, but it's more complex than it is for AC. With AC, all you need is a transformer to step the voltage up or down. The higher the current and the lower the voltage, the higher the power losses. Long distance power lines are usually 400,000 V to get the current down as low as possible. Then at the destination, it is run through a transformer and stepped down to a safer voltage.

I don't know the resistance of the supercharger cables, but there has been talk about how hot they get and some of the newest ones have liquid cooling. That is due to lost energy from resistance in the cables. All that current going through there means even with the extremely low resistance of copper, the losses are still going to be high enough to make the cable very hot. A longer cable means more resistance which means more heating.
 
The real problem with DC is you are mostly stuck with the voltage you start with, there are ways to do DC to DC conversion, but it's more complex than it is for AC. With AC, all you need is a transformer to step the voltage up or down. The higher the current and the lower the voltage, the higher the power losses. Long distance power lines are usually 400,000 V to get the current down as low as possible. Then at the destination, it is run through a transformer and stepped down to a safer voltage.

I don't know the resistance of the supercharger cables, but there has been talk about how hot they get and some of the newest ones have liquid cooling. That is due to lost energy from resistance in the cables. All that current going through there means even with the extremely low resistance of copper, the losses are still going to be high enough to make the cable very hot. A longer cable means more resistance which means more heating.
Your explanation of AC voltage for transmission is correct. The AC voltage has no relevance to the SC cable being short. Output from the supercharger is DC which I assumed you know very well.
 
The Silverthorne CO superchargers were located in a rarely used overflow lot at an outlet mall; ICEing has never been a problem...

...until now. They built a Starbucks adjacent to the Superchargers with a drive-thru traffic pattern that utilizes the overflow lot. My wife was there charging this week and says that there were ICE cars parked in some of the SpC bays. She took no photos, though.
 
The Silverthorne CO superchargers were located in a rarely used overflow lot at an outlet mall; ICEing has never been a problem...

...until now. They built a Starbucks adjacent to the Superchargers with a drive-thru traffic pattern that utilizes the overflow lot. My wife was there charging this week and says that there were ICE cars parked in some of the SpC bays. She took no photos, though.

Not that it's a good situation, but if the chargers are only being ICEd by cars waiting for Starbucks drive-thru, the Tesla drivers who need the stalls shouldn't wind up having to wait very long.
 
Not that it's a good situation, but if the chargers are only being ICEd by cars waiting for Starbucks drive-thru, the Tesla drivers who need the stalls shouldn't wind up having to wait very long.

Fair point. But to be precise, the drivers of the parked cars aren't waiting for the drive-thru but are inside the store. Still not as bad as waiting for a charging spot ICEd by a hotel guest...
 
Fair point. But to be precise, the drivers of the parked cars aren't waiting for the drive-thru but are inside the store. Still not as bad as waiting for a charging spot ICEd by a hotel guest...

Ah, OK.

You had written that the drive-thru traffic pattern utilized the overflow lot, so I thought it was just people from the drive-thru, waiting while their drinks were prepared.

In any case, as you suggest, still better than people off shopping, or in a hotel or something.
 
Two of four chargers ICED in Duluth, MN last Thursday evening. I mentioned it to the Holiday Inn front desk and they seemed concerned and said they would take care of it. Still there after a range charge, sooooo....
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The Silverthorne CO superchargers were located in a rarely used overflow lot at an outlet mall; ICEing has never been a problem...

...until now. They built a Starbucks adjacent to the Superchargers with a drive-thru traffic pattern that utilizes the overflow lot. My wife was there charging this week and says that there were ICE cars parked in some of the SpC bays. She took no photos, though.

Half the spots, the ones closest to Starbucks, have signs that allow general short term parking. I was in 2A and came back to an ICE in 1A next to me. I was mildly annoyed until I noticed the signs. They also left about 5 minutes later.
 
I say throw in some rest areas, national parks, natural stopping points with a view along major highways, etc.

Rest areas, national parks, and scenic areas are all public areas funded by the public. No supercharger should be there and the public shouldn't and wouldn't allow it (for good reason).

Just need to find locations where the spots aren't convenient for ICEing. Malls will fill up and people aren't going to give a crap if they need a spot to park to leave it open so Teslas can charge up their S/III/X. Tesla needs to plan better and have partnering businesses enforce the spots.
 
If you can afford it, get some wheel dollies for about $50 per set. An aluminum quick pump jack. If there's an ice car parked in a Supercharger stall that's clearly marked "tesla parking only", jack that piece of crap up, slide the wheel dollies underneath the tires and roll the car out of the way. Me personally, it would be worth the $50 to just leave the Ice car on them and let the owner figure out how to get the car off of them.

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