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Unless there is a Tesla employee stationed at a Supercharger location (as in San Juan Capistrano and Fountain Valley California, at times) there is no formal control over Supercharger lines. Courtesy and cooperation should be employed.
If you see Teslas waiting but there is not a clear line, you could ask the other drivers who was there first and attempt to organize a line if there is space available to do so.
If you see Teslas waiting but there is not a clear line, you could ask the other drivers who was there first and attempt to organize a line if there is space available to do so.
In 2012-2013, one or more people would hop out of their cars and start conversations with others that were waiting. Civility was present, order was maintained. Atmosphere was generally polite and patient.
Since then I haven't seen as many lines, but when I do there tended to be a natural location for the line to form and people would line up. I've seen this at Hawthorne, Gilroy, Barstow, San Juan Cap., and (recently) Burbank.
Additionally, as ecarfan notes, some locations -- like Mountain View -- a Tesla employee is stationed there and points people to the line, sometimes indicating with how many are in line while redirecting so that those not really "in need" decide that they'll either come back later or charge elsewhere rather than wait.
Mountain View, CA
January 1, 2017
4:43pm PT
I'm aware that California is a big state, but every car except mine (which got in line after this picture) in line and every car charging had California plates. Just sayin'.
Since then I haven't seen as many lines, but when I do there tended to be a natural location for the line to form and people would line up. I've seen this at Hawthorne, Gilroy, Barstow, San Juan Cap., and (recently) Burbank.
Additionally, as ecarfan notes, some locations -- like Mountain View -- a Tesla employee is stationed there and points people to the line, sometimes indicating with how many are in line while redirecting so that those not really "in need" decide that they'll either come back later or charge elsewhere rather than wait.
Mountain View, CA
January 1, 2017
4:43pm PT
I'm aware that California is a big state, but every car except mine (which got in line after this picture) in line and every car charging had California plates. Just sayin'.
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NeverFollow
Active Member
Why not put a mark on your car's roof or windshield like in a shop (with time of arrival)?
Note: It would be nice to have an App showing which slot are in use and what percentage is remaining.
Also to have the possibility to put your car license on a waiting list would be nice.
Note: It would be nice to have an App showing which slot are in use and what percentage is remaining.
Also to have the possibility to put your car license on a waiting list would be nice.
UnbeknownstToAll
Member
Hopefully, with the new charge if you leave your car, you'll see drivers running back to get the car. This is a good indicator of who's almost done.Why not put a mark on your car's roof or windshield like in a shop (with time of arrival)?
Note: It would be nice to have an App showing which slot are in use and what percentage is remaining.
Also to have the possibility to put your car license on a waiting list would be nice.
Well, when I posted the question I did not mean for "the line formed" to literally be "a line of cars". I meant to ask this - how is the sequence order formed and maintained at a full supercharger?
I mean, obviously, some common sense is in order and when you see 1 or 2 cars waiting, it's easy to determine which is which. I am more curious about when three is more than a few people waiting and no psychical line of waiting cars, what then? Do you go ask every parked Tesla if they are waiting?
I'm not even sure why I posted the question. I guess after seeing a few posts about negative experience at various SCs I became curious what the etiquette. Or is there none? Everyone for himself?
I mean, obviously, some common sense is in order and when you see 1 or 2 cars waiting, it's easy to determine which is which. I am more curious about when three is more than a few people waiting and no psychical line of waiting cars, what then? Do you go ask every parked Tesla if they are waiting?
I'm not even sure why I posted the question. I guess after seeing a few posts about negative experience at various SCs I became curious what the etiquette. Or is there none? Everyone for himself?
Unless you have a need to charge at Burbank or the handful of other California superchargers that's been overrun by locals, it's not something you need to worry about.
Zaphod
Galaxy President (former)
Unfortunately common sense isn't that common anymore...
aesculus
Still Trying to Figure This All Out
Tesla could fix this easily. They could create a feature on the car that shows your position in a supercharger queue based on Time of Arrival and GPS coordinates. If you were not planning on charging, you could opt out and release your position.
When your position came up based on a free charger, the CID could tell you what stall to go to.
As others have pointed out before, they could also prohibit charging by other cars, in order to keep queue busters from pushing in front.
They certainly have the tech. But hopefully we can all be civil and not need this form of technology to force us to behave acceptably.
When your position came up based on a free charger, the CID could tell you what stall to go to.
As others have pointed out before, they could also prohibit charging by other cars, in order to keep queue busters from pushing in front.
They certainly have the tech. But hopefully we can all be civil and not need this form of technology to force us to behave acceptably.
I've never been to a supercharger with a line...but I'd have to imagine that it's always going to be fairly obvious which Teslas are in line vs. which are simply parked. If a car is in line for the charger, there will have to be someone sitting in it ready to move it up when it's their turn. Superchargers aren't places where cars sit for extended periods of time. Most cars charge for 30-45 minutes and go on their way. At a 12 stall supercharger that means a car is moving out of the stall(and a new one moving in) approximately every 3 minutes.
cpa
Active Member
When I was at San Diego two months ago, I was the first in line. The twelve SC stalls are arranged in two parking rows--six opposite six. They are back-in stalls, so I stationed my car furthest away from the first stall, so I could back up and into the first available on my side. After about 10 minutes four more Teslas showed up and more or less circled the parking lot. I was out of my car and pointed to myself to try to tell these drivers that I was first in line.
But this particular arrangement in this particular parking lot does not lend itself well to forming a queue. There are also many employees coming and going in this parking lot too. There is a lot of non-Tesla traffic. There are two entrances to this parking area.
But this particular arrangement in this particular parking lot does not lend itself well to forming a queue. There are also many employees coming and going in this parking lot too. There is a lot of non-Tesla traffic. There are two entrances to this parking area.
Sorry, I guess my post wasn't clear. Yes, in 2012-2013 that's what I would do. I would talk to each of the people waiting patiently in a parked position all over the Barstow parking lot to get a feel for who arrived when. Then I would revisit folks and tell them what I knew. From there a rough pecking order was formalized. This was with 3-6 cars waiting. Never got above that number. Hope this helps.
UnbeknownstToAll
Member
How so? Ensuring spots on the general idea of consideration of others, which sadly there is already a major shortage of. ICE holes at gas stations are generally rare but tolerated because gas stations are everywhere. With an EV you often must charge then, so it would ensure a type of policing. Even if I play the devil's advocate, I can't see how others would view as a bad thing for EV adoption.
Treating it like a logic problem, you don't need to know who of the waiting cars were there first. Any car that is there when you arrive is "ahead of you" and you are the current last in line. Any cars that arrive after you are "behind you". It might marginally matter if a space opens up and you know that a couple of cars are ahead of you and you might want to know who is "next" so you can alert them, but hopefully they are already paying attention and in the rare case where they aren't you can just let others know that a stall is open and it will sort itself out.
In most cases, the only information you need is the set of cars that are "ahead of you".
In most cases, the only information you need is the set of cars that are "ahead of you".
xkwizit
Member
aesculus
Still Trying to Figure This All Out
I was thinking about exactly your idea this morning; it would help with stall pairing too, to keep charging rates as high as possible for everyone. My boss just got an X, but is not the type to spend any time on a forum or researching charging etiquette, so I'm going to have to explain it to him (and then he will likely forget or ignore it anyhow). If your car gave you a message when you pulled into the charger lot, like "Proceed to stall 2 A for charging", or "Estimated wait time is 22 minutes. Tap OK to reserve the next spot in queue", followed up by the Proceed message when a spot becomes open, it would help even newbies like him understand what they are supposed to be doing. Even those of us who rarely see another Tesla charging would benefit, for example if I'm on a road trip to California or Vancouver and have no idea what to do, given it's a situation I've never encountered. I'd be likely to get out of the car and go talk to the others as suggested above, but not everyone will.I did now.
xkwizit
Member
Add to it a bit more smart logic..when your car is navigating to a supercharger, the Tesla servers can put you in a queue and minimize wait time.
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