Local Supercharging: Yea or Nay?

[P100DHG.]

I see this topic in various threads so I decided to start one dedicated to this issue.

Scenario 1: Your low on charge and you've got a full day ahead of you of driving. Charging at home will take 8 hours. It will clearly take too long. Local supercharger is near by. Yay or Nay?

Scenario 2: I've got unlimited supercharging and I'm going to supercharge anywhere I damn well please including my local supercharger. Yay or Nay?

Disclaimer:
Don't disagree with the thread express your opinion, it's a question not a statement. I'll post my response and you can disagree with that.

 

[rickgt]

Scenario 1 yea
Scenario 2. No

 

[Knightowl]

personally
1. yea
2. nay

 

[Zextraterrestrial]

1 yes
2 IF local SC has 1 or 2 cars max at a time of 8 stalls and there is never even a power sharing issue ...ok (crescent city / ukiah / eureka etc. ) but I think this will become harder to find soon. In some remote areas it brings some brand awareness though and is still a good thing
if it has potential to fill up (say Petaluma or many Bay Area / LA SCs) -NO

 

[RayW]

Scenario 1 yea for a fee
Scenario 2. No

Superchargers are for travelers passing thru who have no other choice. However, nothing wrong with charging locals a premium if they are in scenario 1, perhaps 2x or 3x the cost to charge at home. I suppose this would lead to the buildout of more Superchargers.

 

[Dax279]

1. Yea
2. Nay

 

[YauKwan]

I'm going to say yea to both.

scenario 1 - I've supercharged 4 times in the last 3 days as its been cold and I've been driving a ton unexpectedly. My range on the car is maybe 160 actual miles when its stop and go errand running. If i don't charge and wait to charge slowly at home, I would never be able to get stuff done in time before the hardware store closes. The car is fine on the highway, its even fine in continuous stop and go traffic. But when its stop and go every hour or so, the range drops precipitously.

scenario 2 - Since they took away unlimited supercharging for all new cars produced, this is limited to only cars produced before 2016. Its a limited population that will be able to do this. Tesla will continue to increase the number of supercharging stations, so this over time should become a moot issue. That being said, I calculated based on my local utilities that it really only cost $5-$10 to fully charge the car. Saving $10.00 over the course of an hour is not the most efficient use of your time.

If i can supercharge at home with solar that would be awesome.

 

[P100DHG.]

1. Definitely
2. There are empty stalls and no one around then sure. There is a wait then common courtesy would say no and public shaming should be the punishment.

Problem is it's hard to say if people are charging because of scenario 1 or 2. You'd have to hook them up to a polygraph I guess.

 

[Max*]

1. yay
2. why? charging at home is much easier and convenient.

 

[DOCAL]

1. Yes, but plan better next time
2. No

The superchargers are there to get people where they need to be quickly. I think that includes scenario 1, which should be a rare occurrence.

 

[JohnnyG]

1. Of course
2. Not with that attitude
2a. If you are courteous, respectful, and it's not inconveniencing anyone, I don't see the issue. As others have pointed out, it's really not an efficient use of your time for the miniscule money saved, so I wouldn't see many people taking this route just for the h*ll of it.

I've been in need of a quick local charge a few times, and I've charged at my local free CHAdeMO, instead of driving to the supercharger, just because it would be a wash once you consider the drive time, and the fact that I didn't need 100% charge. But I've also charged at my local supercharger a few times just to show other people what it's all about. That said, in Ohio, I've never seen more than 3 cars at a supercharger station at once.

 

[No2DinosaurFuel]

Answer to both should be just be courteous. If it's full and you can really get by at home charging for your upcoming trip around town, maybe use what you have left or charge at home with whatever time you have and return later to the SC when there are less people.

So my answer is:
1.Yes,
2.Yes.

And to point out, now that tesla have implemented a rate system, I think the people in the 2. will think twice to charge at the SC unless the absolutely need too.

 

[oktane]

YES and YES.

FREE UNLIMITED SUPERCHARGING means exactly that. That's what I paid for.

Is it morally and ethically right? Yes. I paid for it. There were no stipulations that I not use what I paid for.

However, is it wrong to park at a SC stall and prevent someone else from using it, even though you are charged. Yes.

That being said, I have only used the supercharging network twice in several months, and probably won't again for a long time. I just charge at home and use the car to commute locally. I take my ICE on road trips.

 

[MX1028]

1. Yes
2. Yes

 

[Gizmotoy]

I'd say yes to both provided you're considerate of others, though I'll say the theoretical person from Scenario 2 does not strike me as someone who will charge considerately.

Full disclosure: I've done Scenario 1 myself a half dozen times or so. We have a local Supercharger a mile from my former apartment, where the charging stalls were shared among all tenents. Occasionally I'd be very unlucky and unable to secure charging for several days in a row and use the Supercharger to get me the 40 miles or so round trip to work. I think a local Supercharger can be nice piece of mind for those without a 100% reliable charging option.

 

[BrokerDon]

I see this topic in various threads so I decided to start one dedicated to this issue.

Scenario 1: Your low on charge and you've got a full day ahead of you of driving. Charging at home will take 8 hours. It will clearly take too long. Local supercharger is near by. Yay or Nay?

Nay

Scenario 1's "Charging at home will take 8 hours. It will clearly take too long." is questionable unless you:

• you arrive how with you battery almost completely depleted
• are only home for 8 hours... meaning you'd have to get home late AND leave super early
• didn't spend the money to install a 14-50 outlet with 50A (Model S) or 40A (Model X) at your home so you can do a full charge overnight which IF you needed a 300 mile "refill" (ONLY possible in a 300 mile range Tesla = 90D or 100D). Even then 300 miles only takes 10.5 hours in an S and 11.9 hours in an X if they ONLY have a single charger (Charging | Tesla). YUP that's a LOT of "if's"
• need a 100% charge to return to your hom OR reach the optimum Supercharger on your "full day of driving"... doubtful if you use EVtripPlanner or other charge planning tool

Realistically most people get home by 7:00 PM which leaves them 11 hours to charge if they leave at 6:00 AM... PLENTY of time to charge at home.

 

[Max*]

FREE UNLIMITED SUPERCHARGING means exactly that. That's what I paid for.

You got a link for the free unlimited supercharging that you paid for?

Tesla sold free lifetime supercharging. Not free unlimited supercharging.

EDIT: I take it back, it's there when they updated their SpC program to limit it to 400kw -- An Update to Our Supercharging Program

 

[igotzzoom]

Only reason I could see using a local supercharger is if power was out at home, or I was critically low on range.

 

[davinci2017]

Yes to both

In scenario 2 though, if the place is crowded, I'd rather go home anyway, so I'd only really do it if there aren't many folks around and its relatively free to begin with, at which point I I'm using a "feature" of the car I bought and not really inconveniencing anyone. Free unlimited super-charging is a major reason I jumped in this year instead of waiting on an "interior refresh", so I'm bloody well gonna use that.

Leaving the car once its fully charged is a BIG NO NO IMO, but it is a problem I can relate to. If you do end up in a store or mid-meal scenario when the car has finished charging, its not unreasonable to want to wrap up the task at hand to head to the car, but I can see the other side of it as well when someone desperate for a charge has to wait on a fully charged car for no valid reason.

 

[TexLaw]

Scenario 1: Of course.

Scenario 2: