How little public charging matter for a Tesla

[David99]

I have participated in several surveys that asked me how much I use public chargers. I always estimated some percentage until I finally looked at the data I have collected using Teslafi.com from the last 11 months.

Turns out it is a meaningless small amount. The only reason it even registers on the scale in my case is because I try to make it a point to use public chargers. I want the owners to see that they are being used. Other times it's access to a parking spot in an otherwise full parking lot, sometimes it's just because I know the charger is free and I have something to do in that area. The number of times I really needed a public charging station is very rare. If I subtract the times I didn't need to charge or it didn't make any difference one way or another, I think it's about 1% of my charging total.

Now I'm not saying public chargers are pointless. I don't think we shouldn't have them. Most EVs do not have as much range as a Tesla and need to top off here and there. There is also the case that someone does not have home charging. In the first few months I didn't have a home charger and had to rely on public chargers. (Quite the challenge 3 years ago!).

I wish people who are considering an EV but are worried where to find charging stations would understand how little importance public chargers have provided you can charge at home. For the most part you really don't need them. They are convenient sometimes and especially when free people love to use them. But even here in LA where there are tons of EV, payed charging stations are not used that much. The ones that get a lot of use are free stations and those that give you better parking. Often they get abused. They don't even plug in or plug in but don't activate. So really they just want the other advantages but don't really need to charge. The ones that really need public charging is really not a big number.

 

[GSP]

Before I had a Tesla, I used public chargers frequently with my Chevy Volt to avoid running the ICE range extender.

With the Model S, I don't need or use public charging for day-to-day driving in the greater metro area. I still have the Volt, but only drive it for short trips now and it no longer needs charging during the day.

However, the supercharger network is indispensable for out of town trips, as are public chargers at hotels, campgrounds, restaurants, shopping malls, and other places I stop along the way.

GSP

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Trips beyond range.
Outages.
Relocation.

For a lot of people public charging isn't necessary, until it's necessary.

 

[Buster1]

Thanks for the stats David99. That's actually quite interesting...to me. I often wonder about who and how much public chargers get used. I wonder if it's a relatively low percentage for most EV owners?

 

[Viking1]

I also rarely use public charging. I've done it once or twice as a test. I've used destination charging J1772 a couple of times. Other than that, SC and home charging. I have yet to see Tesla destination charges in the wild. It would be really nice if the National Parks Service could get on the ball.

 

[David99]

I should have mentioned that, I don't count Superchargers as 'public charging'. I use Superchargers quite a lot. Actually more than home, but only because 60% of my driving is long road trips.

 

[SDRick]

I agree with many of the comments above. Although it is nice to visit a restaurant or hotel that has a Tesla charger and have your car topped off while you are dining etc (coming home with more energy than when you left).

 

[NeverFollow]

@David99, I wish people who are considering an EV but are worried where to find charging stations would understand how little importance public chargers have provided you can charge at home.
For the most part you really don't need them.
They are convenient sometimes and especially when free people love to use them.
But even here in LA where there are tons of EV, payed charging stations are not used that much.
The ones that get a lot of use are free stations and those that give you better parking.
Often they get abused. They don't even plug in or plug in but don't activate.
So really they just want the other advantages but don't really need to charge.
The ones that really need public charging is really not a big number.

Your comments remind me about the Digital divide, but I would call it EV charging divide.

"A digital divide is an economic and social inequality with regard to access to,
use of, or impact of information and communication technologies (ICT)."

I would recommend you read this Wikipedia article and substitute the expression:
"Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)" with "EV Charging Access."

Basically you limit the possibility to own an EV to those who live in a house with a garage.

Like in the past, before the development infrastructure of DSL, Cable TV Modem, and mobile phones,
Internet usage was limited to the very few who have access to e-mail mostly from their work
and were losing everything when changing job.

Now the Internet is everywhere, I wish that one day all the ICE cars will be replace by EVs.

But so many cars are parked in the street, or in outdoor carports, and many older apartment
dwellings don't have not enough EV capacity and upgrading will be costly, and many apartments
have only one or less off street parking spot.

So, for the long term, we really need to find ways to keep EVs been able to be recharged from
different ways (beside home charging for the very few lucky one) such as City Superchargers,
overnight street plugging, wireless charging when park during the day in front of a store, or many
other plug-in solutions to make at easy and worry less as going once a week to a gas station.

 

[jaguar36]

I've also considered public charging basiclly worthless. Its generally to slow for me to ever use. In fact after 3 years I've only used it once at whole foods, and thats because it was free so I figured why not.

 

[Buster1]

You are correct. Charging and ease of charging with multiple locations is certainly the largest "divide" right now.

I have two buddies who love their big Lexuses (Lexi?) and Audis who say they'd buy a Tesla tomorrow if the charging infrastructure was closer to today's gas stations in terms of convenience and speed.

 

[bmah]

I've also considered public charging basiclly worthless. Its generally to slow for me to ever use. In fact after 3 years I've only used it once at whole foods, and thats because it was free so I figured why not.

Also, at least at the Whole Foods local to me, it seems like there are always a bunch of LEAFs, Fiat 500es, and other short-range EVs looking to charge there. They probably need it more than my Model S, so (other than a couple of test charges) I just leave those chargers free for them.

(shrug)

Bruce.

 

[SageBrush]

Yep, I expect my use of public (non Supercharger) charge stations to be zero.

 

[kavyboy]

My only public charging is overnight on longer trips. I'll try to find a public garage with a free charger near my hotel so I can start the next day with a full charge. It's also usually less expensive and more convenient than the hotel valet.

 

[EV-lutioin]

Public chargers only matter to me when they allow me to get a choice parking spot in a full parking lot

 

[thx1139]

Only use when charging really makes some sense with the Model S. Need to be at a place for a considerable amount of time and charging would be beneficial. So drive downtown Chicago once per week. Usually drive one of our Volts and I will charge up all day while working. If driving the Model S, unless somewhat low on juice I dont bother. Leave the charger for someone else.

 

[Skotty]

it's really just for shorter range EVs and maybe plug-ins. I liked to use public L2 chargers when I had a Volt, but I pretty much never use them anymore now that I have a Model S. I think not needing them should be the eventual goal, but until long range EVs are affordable, the public L2 chargers will remain useful for anyone driving a more affordable short range EV.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

I've only needed public charging once. Last month, I went on a convoy road trip to Kansas to sell my old CR-V. After leaving the Supercharger network along I-70 and heading north to Nebraska, I realized we forgot to pack the UMC so we wouldn't be able to test the new 14-50 outlet that my father had installed. Luckily we had plenty of charge to reach Kearney. There, we stopped at the Hy-Vee and charged enough so that we could comfortably make it to the Supercharger in Gothenburg the next day.

Since 12/2016, I estimate my usage to be:
39% Home charging
38% Supercharging (road trips around Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska)
15% Private chargers at work
7% Destination charging
1% Public charging

 

[thefortunes]

For the 16k miles we have driven the Model S since we got TeslaFI, we have charged (based on kWh):
69.7% at our homes
28.5% at SuC (about half of this was driving from California to Wisconsin)
01.8% at other public chargers (90% of this is at the airport)

For the 63k miles we have driven the Roadster:
91.7% at our homes
07.6% at work (I charge at 110v to keep the battery toasty during the winter)
00.7% at other public chargers (3 charges at the airport)

 

[Yggdrasill]

I have gotten a charging RFID from one of the larger charging providers, and I have bought a Type 2 cable, so everything is ready for 16.5 kW public charging. But I have no idea if I'll ever need it. I just like to be prepared for the unexpected. (Also means I can leave my UMC at home and still have some recourse for slow charging if needed.)

Thus far I've charged around 15% at superchargers and the rest at home. I expect the percentage of supercharging to fall to the 5-10% area.

 

[JHawk]

After 5mo owning my 2013 P85 CPO I'm at about 2.3% on public charging. Any time I've used public charging it was just because it's there and free anyway here in Kansas City. It's fun for my kids when they get to plug the car in and I want to show support for the network infrastructure being built out here in the city.

I've only used a SC once so far and I occasionally use a Tesla destination charger at a local restaurant.