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Has anyone been to a full Supercharging station?
- Thread starter joeblau
- Start date
It happens quite frequently at certain chargers in California - I've experienced it at San Diego (Qualcomm), San Mateo, Mountain View, Cupertino, Dublin etc - there have been queues at those chargers when I've been there, anywhere from 5 to 10 cars. In some other urban areas they have been quite busy but not full - e.g. Toronto, Vancouver, some places in Florida. In most of the rest of the country you're usually lucky if you see another Tesla at a Supercharger. I don't know about my local (NJ) SpC's as I never go there.
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You may want to add geographic area to your poll. Just completed a Cape Cod to Orlando round trip and at 90% of the SC I charged at there were only 0-3 other Teslas charging. Point being East Coast superchargers are far less utilized than West Coast.
I had one experience with a full supercharger in Laurel, MD. I was doing a lot of running around that day and needed to top off some to finish the day out. As I was pulling into the parking garage there was a fleet of MXs owned by a very large software company heading out the same time I was heading in. Luckily one stall was open. A couple more Teslas pulled in and had to wait shortly after I showed up. The charging rate ended up being relatively slow. My planned 10 to 15 minute stop turned into 30 minutes. I don't think it ever got above 60kW.
On the east coast I've never had to wait for a spot. The NJ Turnpike stations only have 4 stalls and I've seen them be full before. In general there are a ton of superchargers around here though. Tesla is doing a very good job in this area at staying ahead of the curve. The Newark DE station used to be full fairly frequently for a few months but Tesla quickly increased its capacity and also added more stations on the same travel routes.
With Unlimited free supercharging going away demand will go down so as long as Tesla maintains a proactive approach I think we'll be in good shape.
With Unlimited free supercharging going away demand will go down so as long as Tesla maintains a proactive approach I think we'll be in good shape.
I’ve had to wait up to 20-30 mins more than a couple of times at the Toronto service Center which only has 8 stalls for supercharging. The service centre uses some of the stalls for the cars being serviced as well so that doesn’t help either.
KerryOH
Member
I have been to several NJ SC locations (NJ Tpk north and south, Burlington, Paramus). I used the last available stall in Paramus Rt 17. Looked as though most cars were done charging (no fans working on a hot day). That location is at a Service Center and showroom and adjacent to a shopping mall which could account for the business. Other locations were not overly busy.
Derek Kessler
Active Member
ChadS
Last tank of gas: March 2009
I have Supercharged about 400 times. I had to wait once, for less than a minute. That was at the Mountain View Supercharger.
This is very location dependent. In my four and a half years of ownership, I've used about forty-some different Supercharger locations. I've never seen a site that was full. I can count on one hand the number of times I've even seen one half full, and I've only been charging speed limited once. But, as people have pointed out, I've never been to one in California, either. That's where the ownership density is really heavy, so Tesla is having a little trouble keeping up with capacity there.
In Asheville, NC I took the last spot. For the rest of my 2700-mile trip from TX to NC and back, I saw at most two other cars charging at any other location.
California resident echoing many of the others posts here, I’ve been to my local service center to charge several times (I don’t yet have 240 volt charging setup at home), and it’s been getting more and more busy, so you now often need to wait for a stall (which was not the case when I got the car in early July). I also went on a trip to Colorado and back, most superchargers on the way were not very busy, was pretty common to be the only Tesla there. There was a moderately busy (but not quite full) supercharger in a shopping center in CO though.
Fixed it for you
Basically coastal CA is a disaster zone. Interestingly, there are two new Superchargers that we know of that have had permits approved, just waiting for Tesla to pick them up in Los Angeles and San Diego regions, but they've been sitting there unclaimed. I suspect they got caught up in the capital expenditure freeze. Too bad, because just those two new Supercharger locations would go a long way towards eliminating the lineups that happen fairly often down here.
henderrj
Active Member
You might also consider adding a "Had to wait but I don't think it's an issue" option. The only time I've ever been to a full one was after the solar eclipse. Lots and lots of people went to Central Oregon that day! I've been on three cross-country trips where I've used a million Watt hours or more. Never once had to wait on any of those charge stops. For what it's worth we've got 126,000 miles on our car now.
Trebek1762
Let's play jeopardy
Go go Madison! i've pulled into the 3 stall at the mall and it was full and had to go down the street to the Hyvee.
When a charger is full, where do you wait? How do you keep your place in line and make sure that some jerk just pulling into the parking lot doesn't dart for the stall that just opened up? Is there some sort of etiquette for this on the west coast?
I'm trying to decide between taking my MS or taking my ICE car to my hometown (2 super charger stops) for Thanksgiving. My fear is that the charger stalls will be pretty well filled up for that trip. Rather than going up I95, I go through PA, stop at Allentown, then stop in Tarrytown, NY. Far less traffic and tolls.
I'm trying to decide between taking my MS or taking my ICE car to my hometown (2 super charger stops) for Thanksgiving. My fear is that the charger stalls will be pretty well filled up for that trip. Rather than going up I95, I go through PA, stop at Allentown, then stop in Tarrytown, NY. Far less traffic and tolls.
In California people line up nicely, in my experience, and wait their turn. In some locations Tesla has somebody there to police the line (Mountain View, Cupertino) or a valet who will move your car while you shop at Whole Foods (San Mateo). I never drive on the holidays on the East coast, so I have no experience of that. Avoiding I-95 seems like a good idea in any case.
cpa
Active Member
Qualcomm once. Fresno twice. Mt. Shasta (Best Western-4 stalls) once. Grants Pass (pre expansion) once. Buena Park once.
No eclipses, solar or otherwise. Usually between 11AM-2PM so maybe lunch time crowd plugs in and grabs a bite to eat.
No eclipses, solar or otherwise. Usually between 11AM-2PM so maybe lunch time crowd plugs in and grabs a bite to eat.
After that Aug 2017 eclipse many of the intermountain superchargers filled up immediately afterward, although there were few delays for the two days prior as people traveled, in case that helps. Otherwise have done twenty roadtrips and never seen one full.
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