From what I gathered, he and his wife. Drive, Work, Charge, Sleep 5 days a week! I hope they enjoy their weekends!!
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Is anyone only charging for free at a supercharger?
- Thread starter Right_Said_Fred
- Start date
From what I gathered, he and his wife. Drive, Work, Charge, Sleep 5 days a week! I hope they enjoy their weekends!!
jeff_adams
Member
Well, there are courier businesses where a Model S might make some sense. Perhaps you are leasing and writing off mileage. If you are superchargering for most of your miles, you could have a pretty low cost for high mileage write offs.
as a Chevy Volt owner with extremely limited free charging options, I can tell you that finding a free place to charge, even at a measly 120V can be thrilling. Let me rephrase that: THRILLING.
I am not privy to the driving habits of the above mentioned husband and wife team, but if I had to guess, they are probably constantly topping off their car after mild use so it is always "full" or nearly so. Spending 10-15 minutes a day at the (supercharger) station is not so unheard of in the ICE world if you substitute what's between the (---) with what the ICE consumes -- especially since it's FREE -- and if you have more expensive per kWh rates than in other parts of the country. Let's hope they are not driving more than 20 min out of their way to get to supercharger...
Obviously charging at home is much more convenient (look ma, the car charges while you SLEEP) but FREE is a powerful motivator and can cause people to act against their best interests...
Of course they could be spending 45 minutes a day fully charging their semi / seriously depleted 85 model S as everyone assumes, and agree that is a bit strange. Tho I can understand the inclination.
I'm actually interested in knowing whether anyone has seen adverse effects from supercharging regularly?
Reason for this is that when I move to USA, I will be staying with my uncle, hence no charging at home. The San Juan Capistrano S/C is opening up near there soon, so I'd use it regularly once every couple of days, to give my tesla a good top up (2nd hand = no need for tax credits, already claimed)
I am a member of Anytime fitness which is a 20minute walk, so a nice trip to the S/C once every couple of days, is good incentive to go to the gym
Reason for this is that when I move to USA, I will be staying with my uncle, hence no charging at home. The San Juan Capistrano S/C is opening up near there soon, so I'd use it regularly once every couple of days, to give my tesla a good top up (2nd hand = no need for tax credits, already claimed)
I am a member of Anytime fitness which is a 20minute walk, so a nice trip to the S/C once every couple of days, is good incentive to go to the gym
purplewalt
Active Member
Specifically, I don't know what effects supercharging might have on your car.
I do know that when using full range charge mode for multiple days, the car tells you that filling the battery all the way has implications for the (long term) battery life.
Maybe you top it to the 85 - 90% range should you be near a Supercharger.
Or maybe you can find a 110V outlet (very slow, but regular charge for your car) @ your uncles location.
The 110V would give you about 70 miles of charge a day.
It does not seem prudent (to me) to venture out of your way simply to Supercharge for free.
But with a 90 minute (or so) one way commute, I'd opt for maximizing my time at home. An extra hour a day at an SC on top of 3 hrs on the road would be horrible.
I still think this whole issue with locals "abusing" SCs is a complete non-problem. Even if the guy mentioned earlier is for real, I seriously doubt there are more than a few like him.
welcome to my life. theres been a few days where i worked for 8 hrs and commuted for 9 due to traffic....
I still think this whole issue with locals "abusing" SCs is a complete non-problem. Even if the guy mentioned earlier is for real, I seriously doubt there are more than a few like him.[/QUOTE]
i experienced this recently while charging at Folsom on a Sunday. I pulled in at 9 am for a needed charge and the guy next to me where he was traveling to. He sheepishly said he was local and charged there every couple of days. When we left all bays were filled.
i experienced this recently while charging at Folsom on a Sunday. I pulled in at 9 am for a needed charge and the guy next to me where he was traveling to. He sheepishly said he was local and charged there every couple of days. When we left all bays were filled.
mitch672
Active Member
California has way more SuperCharger sites that the rest of the country, so probably one of the few places it could even be an issue.
I just visited my first SuperCharger, and it wasn't even powered up yet (East Greenwich, RI). It's 52 miles each way from me, so about 45 minutes each way, not to mention an hour or more at the site, then, I'd use 104 miles of range on the round trip... Not a usefull endeavor, as you can see (2.5 hours of time and down 104 miles). The next closest SuperCharger is supposed to be in Portsmouth, NH, that's 75 miles each way from me... Nope, I can't see this becoming much of an issue at all.
I just visited my first SuperCharger, and it wasn't even powered up yet (East Greenwich, RI). It's 52 miles each way from me, so about 45 minutes each way, not to mention an hour or more at the site, then, I'd use 104 miles of range on the round trip... Not a usefull endeavor, as you can see (2.5 hours of time and down 104 miles). The next closest SuperCharger is supposed to be in Portsmouth, NH, that's 75 miles each way from me... Nope, I can't see this becoming much of an issue at all.
For YOU... But what about folks who live locally? My nearest SC in DE has an abundance of communities nearby. For someone living in one of them, it wouldn't be much of an issue to drive 5-10 minutes one way to get a quick charge.
mitch672
Active Member
Correct, but the SuperChargers in general are placed between population centers, or in areas with lower population densities. I am in a suburb 15 miles South of Boston. There are no SuperChargers anywhere near Boston, which is where many of the Model S owners live. East Greenwich RI is south of even Providence, which probably has several Model S owners, still it's 15-20 miles south of Providence, combined with the wait.. Not a major issue. Of course there are going to be some owners nearby, but the way they are siting them, it's minimal.
My guess is that possibly the majority of those "locals" are relatively new owners who haven't yet bothered to set up a place to charge at home.
Alternatively, this might turn out to be more of a problem in areas where electricity rates are relatively quite high, like Northern California. I would hope, though, that if someone is going to spend $70K+ on an S, that they won't be using Superchargers just to save a few bucks at home.
Alternatively, this might turn out to be more of a problem in areas where electricity rates are relatively quite high, like Northern California. I would hope, though, that if someone is going to spend $70K+ on an S, that they won't be using Superchargers just to save a few bucks at home.
Cottonwood
Roadster#433, Model S#S37
My time is way more valuable than that, and I am sure that is true for most. Let's take an example. If you get 50 kW-hr at $0.12 per kW-hr, that is $6 of electricity that you have saved. To drive 10 minutes, charge for 30 minutes and drive 10 minutes home; that is almost an hour to save $6. Come on, a few may do this regularly, it may be a nice add on to a mall visit once a week for some, but I think that you are inventing a problem.
The wonderful thing about my Tesla is that on the vast majority of days, charging takes 30 seconds, 15 seconds to plug in and 15 seconds to unplug. There is no stopping at a gas station, no worrying about running out of gas during the week, no worries. I have a friend who is notorious for running out of gas and getting to the gas station with the gas gauge way below "E". He has an MX on order, and many have asked how is he going to deal with keeping an electric car charged. The two of us have discussed this, and we both believe that he will have fewer problems, because he considers it such a bother to have to stop at a gas station, but plugging in the car when he gets home is easy. I have already told him to just have an HPWC installed in a very convenient location in his garage, and keep a UMC in the car just in case. He loves the idea.
I am sure that Tesla has included an extra stall or two in their use calculations at the Supercharger sites, and the problem has been solved. This is the price that Tesla has to pay to offer "free Supercharging for life!"
Correct. I am one of those people who lives 5 minutes from the Delaware SC. IF, I have a 'low battery' AND I am heading to the nearby mall for some shopping/picking up my wife or child, I have supercharged in lieu of plugging into my home or work 15-40 outlet. This happens about every other week I would estimate. I have a cup of coffee while I talk to people interested in Tesla. I rarely run into another Tesla charging and move/unplug if I encounter someone that is on a long trip that needs a charge.
I hope you are not planning to park in a supercharger stall, then walk 20 minutes to a Anytime fitness, work out, then walk 20 minutes back. That would mean leaving you car in the stall fully charged for quite a while. Blocking other people who may be relying on the charge for travel.
I would hope locals would check the the bays regularly and move their car if they are needed by travelers.
Waiting 30 minutes for a spot at Folsom recently and it took a lot of the "fun" out of our first long range family trip in the Tesla (partly because of the frustration of seeing full cars just sit there for over 20 minutes)
Harris Ranch and Tejon Ranch were perfect experiences though. My first time plugging in to a supercharger was at Tejon, and I hit 401mph charge rate, amazing.
i experienced this recently while charging at Folsom on a Sunday. I pulled in at 9 am for a needed charge and the guy next to me where he was traveling to. He sheepishly said he was local and charged there every couple of days. When we left all bays were filled.[/QUOTE]
People need to realize that the situation today is not what it's going to be like when there are 10x as many cars on the road. Or more.
Will there also be more SC's? yes, but it's not likely sustainable to keep the same ratio of SC bays-to-vehicles on the road for the next 10 years as they ramp up in to millions of cars sold...
And there are enough "intercity work commuters" that will drive past SC stations outside city limits that it can still be an issue. Especially during peak commute times.
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