Non-deterministic "Nearby Superchargers"

[bmah]

Weird thing I noticed: The set of Superchargers in the "Nearby Superchargers" section of the Tesla app seems to be non-deterministic, or at least not solely dependent on the car's location. Maybe this is only observable in places that have a high density of Superchargers. I've observed this in the Tesla iOS app and by exercising some of the API calls, so I don't think it's peculiar to the iOS app.

Example: When my car is at home in Lafayette, CA, I'm accustomed to seeing the stall counts for Concord, San Ramon, Dublin, and Alameda. That's a pretty reasonable set. Yesterday I drove over to Corte Madera to get a quick charge there, and the app started showing results for Concord, San Ramon, Corte Madera, and Daly City. It stayed that way even after I got back home and parked my car in the garage. These results aren't necessarily wrong, just...interesting.

I wonder if the back-end servers are implementing some kind of hysteresis so that the result set maintains some consistency as you drive around.

Anyone else notice this?

Bruce.

 

[suraj1194]

Yes I have . While in SoCal last weekend the superchargers list I saw in the app from San Diego area included options someplace along the northern arc of LA . I figured something was just broken in their algorithm.

 

[BCCA]

I have noticed this too. I think it always gives you the four closes superchargers based on the location of your car. However, I think it takes awhile (hours in my experience) to update the location of your car, So it would show the locations closest to where you were for a period of time before it notices your car has moved. Then it updates the supercharger list based on this new location.

 

[Chuq]

Interesting, is it related to how full the superchargers are? (highest number of free stalls?)

 

[suraj1194]

That’s something I considered might be the reason - maybe it didn’t want to list half a dozen nearby chargers all with 0 occupancy and randomly picked ones further out .

 

[animorph]

All I've noticed so far is that it never shows me the next Supercharger along my route, just Superchargers from where I've been. Normally I set the nav for the next Supercharger on my list from a trip planner. It never shows up in the list, even though it would be the most obvious destination. I usually have to type in the name.

 

[cpa]

I have noticed this too. I think it always gives you the four closes superchargers based on the location of your car. However, I think it takes awhile (hours in my experience) to update the location of your car, So it would show the locations closest to where you were for a period of time before it notices your car has moved. Then it updates the supercharger list based on this new location.

I think that this is the most plausible explanation.

I appreciate the thinking; the end result could be a lot better.

 

[Ande]

The worst part is that the "nearby" chargers are calculated by direct distances, not roads.
So in northern Norway, with fjords, you may easily see a charger listed as 70km away, but the driving distance is 280km.

I notified Tesla about that.

 

[Dpc131]

I live on a peninsula in Maryland and the same thing happens. It lists SCs as the crow flies (e.g. 40 miles) that are 150 miles by car.

 

[croman]

I never get the supercharger I live 2 miles from. Instead it offers me the others. It could be dropped since it's very frequently full.

 

[ucmndd]

I never get the supercharger I live 2 miles from. Instead it offers me the others. It could be dropped since it's very frequently full.

I noticed something similar in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. I stayed about 10 miles from the SC for 5 days and the app never showed me that charger. It’s also one of the busiest in the state, almost always full, which was my theory for why the app pretended it didn’t exist.

 

[kev1n]

i dont get why we cant get a map instead of the crap they gave us

 

[bmah]

It's an interesting theory that the API tries not to return data for "full" Superchargers, but a data logging app I threw together was watching San Ramon being consistently full (or nearly full) for many daytime hours last week. So I'm not sure I buy this, although "full-ness" might be a part of some more complex behavior.

EDIT: We did a trip out for lunch in the vicinity of the under-construction Newark, CA Supercharger. When we came back, I'm now getting data for Corte Madera, the two San Mateo Superchargers, and Alameda.

Bruce.

 

[dcseward]

Weird thing I noticed: The set of Superchargers in the "Nearby Superchargers" section of the Tesla app seems to be non-deterministic, or at least not solely dependent on the car's location. Maybe this is only observable in places that have a high density of Superchargers. I've observed this in the Tesla iOS app and by exercising some of the API calls, so I don't think it's peculiar to the iOS app.

Example: When my car is at home in Lafayette, CA, I'm accustomed to seeing the stall counts for Concord, San Ramon, Dublin, and Alameda. That's a pretty reasonable set. Yesterday I drove over to Corte Madera to get a quick charge there, and the app started showing results for Concord, San Ramon, Corte Madera, and Daly City. It stayed that way even after I got back home and parked my car in the garage. These results aren't necessarily wrong, just...interesting.

I wonder if the back-end servers are implementing some kind of hysteresis so that the result set maintains some consistency as you drive around.

Anyone else notice this?

Bruce.

I see the same thing. If I go on a long drive, if I try to find a supercharger with my phone app, it shows me the supercharger locations nearest to my home. Then, when I get home, I see the supercharger stations near where I was before. This feature is completely useless as is. Why can't the app just use my car's current location? Or better still, just use my phone's current location? It is weird that this important feature is so fragile.

 

[airborne spoon]

Yes I have . While in SoCal last weekend the superchargers list I saw in the app from San Diego area included options someplace along the northern arc of LA . I figured something was just broken in their algorithm.

I've never seen one pop up for that far away. Or are you one of those weirdos/nutjobs that considers Bakersfield Nor-Cal?

Interesting, is it related to how full the superchargers are? (highest number of free stalls?)

This was a thought of mine but plenty of times I've been at a station that was empty or close to empty and it doesn't list it as the top one.
For example on Saturday i was at Barstow and when i plugged in it listed Beaumont and Chino Hills as the top 2 closest ones. But when i went to leave it listed Hesperia and Santa Ana as the 2 closest. Normally for most stops it lists the one I'm currently at as the closest 0.0 miles away with some random below that but i never pay attention to those ones.

This feature is completely useless as is. Why can't the app just use my car's current location? Or better still, just use my phone's current location? It is weird that this important feature is so fragile.

I don't understand the point of the nearby SC location on the app considering how i always plan my routes via clicking the SC location button on the MCU, but it is super helpful in my logging of SC usage. I made a spreadsheet with Kw, SoC, date/time, and SC location. I make a screenshot of the app at all my SC stops and later plug them into the computer, looking at the top one that says 0.0 miles away i know that is where i was stopped at. Sometimes like in the example above from this weekend if it doesn't say properly where it was i just edit the screenshot with the name across the pic so i can have it properly saved.

 

[smilepak]

The app list is useless. There is at least three closer locations available according to the car nav but the app show one closest 20 miles away.

 

[MagnusMako]

It's amazing the app still sucks in this regard. Like at the very least they shouldn't pidgeonhole you into their definition of 'nearby'. They should atleast give some view filter options such as distance and or based on stall availability. I do know in the latest ui software on the Model S (perhaps this is rolling out to the fleet as well), there is finally now an option to show charging locations on the map. With so many more planned to come online, some improvement and customization to the experience would be welcome.

 

[israndy]

Did this change at all with the app updates? I notice we no longer get a list of 4 Destination and 4 Superchargers, now we get a map with about 10 Superchargers listed. But the API still returns the old weird geography list of 4 each Super/Destination Chargers.

Is there a new entry for returning the list of 10 local Superchargers with the updated API?