Chargepoint already implements a system like that -- "waitlist" management.I did now.
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JHWJR
Member
NeverFollow
Active Member
This would even been more useful for emergency situations such as an hurricane evacuation.
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Robert831
Member
I think this thread is about to become a lot more relevant in the near future. 1) Mass production of Model 3s is flooding California with Teslas. 2) Holiday traffic is coming soon.
I already got a taste of the waiting in line issue when I went to watch the recent SpaceX launch. Just before the event and just after I found myself arriving at superchargers at the same time as everyone else who was going to the same place at the same time.
At my first 'waiting in line' experience, I was first in line. Then 4-5 other cars got in line after me, but didn't quite line up sequentially. So I guess they had to memorize who was next. It was pretty easy to line up since there was a lot of space (San Luis Obispo), but apparently not everybody has the same concept of where the back of the line is supposed to be, or how the cars should be oriented. I would think they should be front to back rather than side by side, so that the whole line can move forward as chargers are freed up.
On my return trip, I was second in line and 3 more cars showed up behind me. There was no open space to form a line (Atascadero), so we had to randomly park in empty spaces and hope we could all remember who was ahead of who.
This can work OK when there's only 5 cars in line. But what will happen come late December and you have 15+ people in line? It's easy to imagine civility breaking down. We should plan ahead with a numbering system, perhaps.
What if some of us carry a post-it note pad and a sharpie? Then we can do a "take a number" system on the fly, and self-regulate despite the larger complexity.
Even if the people ahead of me don't want numbers, I could at least count the number of cars in line and give myself the next number. Then as more people arrive I could give them sequentially higher numbers. Who would refuse getting a number to assure their place in line?
The notes could be stuck to the windshield, perhaps, to make it more obvious. If it's raining, you could write the number on the back and stick it to the inside of the windshield
Any thoughts?
I already got a taste of the waiting in line issue when I went to watch the recent SpaceX launch. Just before the event and just after I found myself arriving at superchargers at the same time as everyone else who was going to the same place at the same time.
At my first 'waiting in line' experience, I was first in line. Then 4-5 other cars got in line after me, but didn't quite line up sequentially. So I guess they had to memorize who was next. It was pretty easy to line up since there was a lot of space (San Luis Obispo), but apparently not everybody has the same concept of where the back of the line is supposed to be, or how the cars should be oriented. I would think they should be front to back rather than side by side, so that the whole line can move forward as chargers are freed up.
On my return trip, I was second in line and 3 more cars showed up behind me. There was no open space to form a line (Atascadero), so we had to randomly park in empty spaces and hope we could all remember who was ahead of who.
This can work OK when there's only 5 cars in line. But what will happen come late December and you have 15+ people in line? It's easy to imagine civility breaking down. We should plan ahead with a numbering system, perhaps.
What if some of us carry a post-it note pad and a sharpie? Then we can do a "take a number" system on the fly, and self-regulate despite the larger complexity.
Even if the people ahead of me don't want numbers, I could at least count the number of cars in line and give myself the next number. Then as more people arrive I could give them sequentially higher numbers. Who would refuse getting a number to assure their place in line?
The notes could be stuck to the windshield, perhaps, to make it more obvious. If it's raining, you could write the number on the back and stick it to the inside of the windshield
Any thoughts?
NeverFollow
Active Member
I imagine that it would not be too difficult to add to the Tesla App a waiting list registration mechanism
informing who will be next when a car just get filled up, a little bitlike when waiting at Super Duper Burgers!
Robert831
Member
I imagine that it would not be too difficult to add to the Tesla App a waiting list registration mechanism
informing who will be next when a car just get filled up, a little bitlike when waiting at Super Duper Burgers!
via Imgflip Meme Generator
cpa
Active Member
"Northern California" covers a lot of area and several choices of highways. Time of day might also factor into usage. Urban charging in the Bay Area will likely be much more crowded than rural charging along the highways.
I suggest that you plan your routes, your overnight stays, and your estimated times of day you will be driving. Then, look periodically at the Supercharger usage at the spots you intend to use starting a week or so before departure. This may give you an idea as to any potential sites where a wait might be in the offing at your particular time of day.
roblab
Active Member
If you MUST go on a weekend or a holiday, guess what!? The superchargers will be full. If you go earlier or later they will be empty. If you charge after you've driven all day, you'll find them full again. I'd recommend "go early, return early" or "go late, return late" and miss the traffic. Or you can book a motel with overnight charging, go late, stay, continue the next day. If your trip is going to be several days (cross country??) you'll find that charging late or early, or at 10 AM or 3 PM might be less congested. Seems like everyone wants to charge 8 AM or 9 PM. It helps if you can think and plan.
Tesla is building out superchargers as fast as their sub contractors can put them in, but it is common sense that building out for the least common situation is expensive.
Tesla is building out superchargers as fast as their sub contractors can put them in, but it is common sense that building out for the least common situation is expensive.
forkee
Member
reserving an open spot just because you are on the way..NO.. you could be an hour out and someone could have juiced up in the meantime
reserving a slot in a virtual queue if all spots are full..YES.. it wouldn't need to rely on whether you are there or on the way, you just better be there when a spot opens up
problems arise as to how much grace period to give someone that is in the queue when that spot opens up. lets say you are #5 in line and you go down to use the bathroom. within 5 minutes 5 people leave at once. the queue says you're up but you're still going to your car. now there is an open slot just sitting there. what is to prevent anyone from just parking there and bumping you out of the queue. it's not like there is a red/green light at each supercharger.
showing how much charge is left on everyone's car doesn't mean squat. not everyone charges to the same amount, and one can charge to 90%, change their mind and set it to 95% or 100%. we all know time remaining is off, especially on that last 10%.
the way they have it now is really the only way they can have it. show availability before getting there so that you can decide whether or not it is worth your time to make a stop. there is too much variability otherwise.
reserving a slot in a virtual queue if all spots are full..YES.. it wouldn't need to rely on whether you are there or on the way, you just better be there when a spot opens up
problems arise as to how much grace period to give someone that is in the queue when that spot opens up. lets say you are #5 in line and you go down to use the bathroom. within 5 minutes 5 people leave at once. the queue says you're up but you're still going to your car. now there is an open slot just sitting there. what is to prevent anyone from just parking there and bumping you out of the queue. it's not like there is a red/green light at each supercharger.
showing how much charge is left on everyone's car doesn't mean squat. not everyone charges to the same amount, and one can charge to 90%, change their mind and set it to 95% or 100%. we all know time remaining is off, especially on that last 10%.
the way they have it now is really the only way they can have it. show availability before getting there so that you can decide whether or not it is worth your time to make a stop. there is too much variability otherwise.
There are lots of things that could be done. Tesla knows where you are at any given time so a system could be put together where you request a reservation at a given location for an approximate time and Tesla, depending on what it knows about other requests, the locations of the other requestors, traffic and weather could assign a stall number at a given time and juggle the assignments as position reports from your car and others in the reservation queue come in. They could even determine that alternate routing to a charger different from the one you have selected might result in a shorter trip and suggest that. Software that does this sort of thing exists to assign airways and gates to aircraft. Tesla could do all this but why would they want to?
I like the idea of geofencing an area around the Supercharger and enqueuing entrants first come, first served when the Supercharger is full. They'd have to work around GPS issues, because cars would have to be removed from the queue if they left the geofence (although the exit border would likely be made wider). But otherwise, it would be relatively straightforward and the car could roughly estimate wait times for expectation purposes, and let you know when you can approach and to which stall you've been assigned.
I'm going to say the likelihood of Tesla implementing such a system is near zero, however. At least not until queue confusion causes publicity issues. Long term solution is AP/Summon and some kind of automatic connection system. Emphasis on long term.
I'm going to say the likelihood of Tesla implementing such a system is near zero, however. At least not until queue confusion causes publicity issues. Long term solution is AP/Summon and some kind of automatic connection system. Emphasis on long term.
cpa
Active Member
Yeah, just knowing how many cars are waiting at the full superchargers would go a long way towards:
A. Proving to Tesla that they need to double or triple the number of superchargers in our area.
B. Knowing which of the multiple 100% full superchargers to pick for the least horrific experience.
Outside the Bay Area, the places where I've seen lines, statistically speaking, have always been the smaller stations in areas with few Tesla vehicles. Inside the Bay Area, it was horrible in the South Bay before they started adding V3 superchargers. Now, I mostly charge in Scotts Valley (which I've only seen more than half full one time) or Sunnyvale (Bernardo, which is often almost full, but I've never had to wait).
But woe be unto anyone who thinks "I'll go to Target and charge my car while I shop," because you will never, and I mean never have less than a twenty minute wait for a supercharging spot. (As far as I can tell, it doesn't stop being full until after Target closes for the day.) So unless you plan to spend a really long time in the store, you're better off driving to Bernardo and then just stopping at Target on the way back. Heck, you're probably better off placing an order online before you leave, charging at Bernardo, driving to Target, and waiting for the order to be ready for curbside pickup....
But woe be unto anyone who thinks "I'll go to Target and charge my car while I shop," because you will never, and I mean never have less than a twenty minute wait for a supercharging spot. (As far as I can tell, it doesn't stop being full until after Target closes for the day.) So unless you plan to spend a really long time in the store, you're better off driving to Bernardo and then just stopping at Target on the way back. Heck, you're probably better off placing an order online before you leave, charging at Bernardo, driving to Target, and waiting for the order to be ready for curbside pickup....
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