Not able to charge at home....new perspective on EV ownership.

[Need]

I leave for work at 5:15. This morning I checked the status of the 3 Superchargers between the house and the train station, and all were indicating full (Downey, Westchester, Fountain Valley).

Do you mean Westminster? The one by the mall? That one is never full or even close to full at 5am. If you leave for work 30 min earlier, you should be able to find a spot. Now if you tried to do it after 8am or after work, then it is always full.

I am checking the two supercharger at Downey @ 4:51am right now. One shows 12/12 available, the other shows 11/12 available.

EDIT: It is 5:20am right now, and both Downey Superchargers showing 12/12 available. Is it possible that you got a software problem with your car? Or maybe your phone app? Or maybe you read it as 12/12 full?

 

[vickh]

Do you mean Westminster? The one by the mall? That one is never full or even close to full at 5am. If you leave for work 30 min earlier, you should be able to find a spot. Now if you tried to do it after 8am or after work, then it is always full.

I am checking the two supercharger at Downey @ 4:51am right now. One shows 12/12 available, the other shows 11/12 available.

EDIT: It is 5:20am right now, and both Downey Superchargers showing 12/12 available. Is it possible that you got a software problem with your car? Or maybe your phone app? Or maybe you read it as 12/12 full?

here in AZ one of the SCs reads as full 1/16 but when I show up lots available. Does each SC communicate in real time with app/server

 

[TW14 9LF]

Do you mean Westminster? The one by the mall? That one is never full or even close to full at 5am. If you leave for work 30 min earlier, you should be able to find a spot. Now if you tried to do it after 8am or after work, then it is always full.

I am checking the two supercharger at Downey @ 4:51am right now. One shows 12/12 available, the other shows 11/12 available.

EDIT: It is 5:20am right now, and both Downey Superchargers showing 12/12 available. Is it possible that you got a software problem with your car? Or maybe your phone app? Or maybe you read it as 12/12 full?

Looking at SC availability from the car, not the app. Yes, I meant Westminster, oops. Yesterday I stopped by Downey after leaving Norwalk. Two spots available when i got there, plus three chargers that were non operational. Got charged up to 92%.

Still missing my in-garage charging........

 

[Eagledon]

While not ideal I have managed to charge my Chevy Volt and now Tesla On a public street since 2012. So I just wanted to let anyone in a situation like mine it is possible.
My property is close to the curbline and the treelane is fairly narrow so with a DIY Ballard using a spare fence post I'm able to reach my charge port.
Big caveat of course is getting the parking spot, but oddly enough I have very courteous neighbors and I live in a part of New York City so most people will leave it spare for me.
I use a wide heavy duty cord cover to help keep the cord from being a trip hazard across the sidewalk.
So it's possible not ideal or workable for everyone.

 

[Scrannel]

I am in Malibu, and charge at home, plus as a writer, don't have a regular commute. But, I check local supers and between Thousand Oaks and Santa Monic there are a lot avail about 6am. So, as suggested, get your lazy ass out of bed and go charge your car.

 

[Missile Toad]

If Tesla would raise their prices to Supercharge, then the EvGos, Chargepoints, etc., could raise their prices, and start to afford to better maintain their stations. There are no free lunches out there. I think that Tesla, by subsidizing their network buildout with car profits, is impairing the flourishing of their competition.

 

[TW14 9LF]

I am in Malibu, and charge at home, plus as a writer, don't have a regular commute. But, I check local supers and between Thousand Oaks and Santa Monic there are a lot avail about 6am. So, as suggested, get your lazy ass out of bed and go charge your car.

My "lazy ass" is out of bed at 4:45 each morning, and I leave the house at 5:10 at the latest.

 

[camalaio]

I am in Malibu, and charge at home, plus as a writer, don't have a regular commute. But, I check local supers and between Thousand Oaks and Santa Monic there are a lot avail about 6am. So, as suggested, get your lazy ass out of bed and go charge your car.

I tried coming up with a nicer way of saying this, but it's not within me. Approaches like these are why people get upset about EVs and their owners... as if you're saying "make it fit your situation even if it's entirely inconvenient! Lazy ass!". And honestly, what if your work doesn't offer the flexibility of starting work at 5:00am? I have atypically flexible hours, but the earliest I can start my day is 6:30am. Surely the path to EV adoption will fail if this is what is expected of people. "Sorry boss, I'm tired and useless today because I had to wake up 2 hours early and disrupt my sleep rhythm to be able to charge my car". My goodness.

There are just situations where an EV is really inconvenient, and that's fine. People are not lazy for not wanting to go significantly out of their way (distance and time) for something that used to be a 5 minute gas station stop pretty much wherever you want. At that point, public transit is honestly very attractive: it may get you around faster, is cheaper, and probably strengthens your immune system in the long run!

If my wife had to stop at a CHAdeMO station every day (she has two such options, zero Superchargers), in addition to her 1.5 hour two-way commute she'd need to charge for 30 minutes as well, in addition to driving 30 minutes total out of her way. And much like people in the Bay area (though not at all like it in other ways), there's a line of people waiting at these stations. Sacrificing an extra hour at minimum (nearly double transit time) every day is simply ludicrous. I realise she would not necessarily need to stop every day, but two days would be the max and would start to limit the ability to hop in the car and just go somewhere.

Sorry. Nerve was touched. I cannot fathom how not wanting to literally waste time and/or be awake at reasonable hours for charging an EV could be considered lazy.

My "lazy ass" is out of bed at 4:45 each morning, and I leave the house at 5:10 at the latest.

I applaud your commitment to early mornings.

 

[Scrannel]

Relax, was a joke -- irony lost. The point being, of course, you shouldn't HAVE to jump through hoops just to charge your car. And, sorry about the nerve.

 

[camalaio]

Relax, was a joke -- irony lost. The point being, of course, you shouldn't HAVE to jump through hoops just to charge your car. And, sorry about the nerve.

The classic internet blunder, reader not seeing the joke! Thanks for the clarification and level head

 

[Scrannel]

It'll be funny, till it happens to me, of course!

 

[jlindy]

Guess you have to move to the Midwest. Closest 3 super chargers usually have 90% stalls free at most times. Ha! We are obviously pretty far behind California but can imagine supercharging options would be more difficult. What about charging over your lunch or doing it later at night near your house vs during work hours?

 

[TW14 9LF]

Whew, this thread took a hard left, didn't it!! While I thank all of the posters for their ideas and suggestions, that wasn't my intent with this post. I'm making my situation work, at some inconvenience, but like I said in my original post, soon I'll be back in my house and able to use my garage charger; plus, I'll have a new house to boot!

The purpose of my post was as a warning to others that are considering buying an EV and aren't as lucky as I am to have the ability to charge at home, that there are some things they need to think about before making the commitment while planning to rely on public charging. That's all. And the struggles that I'm facing aren't applicable to everybody; like one poster suggested, wouldn't have this problem if I lived in the Midwest!!

Meanwhile, I continue to love driving and owning my Model 3. If I had to do it again, no question I'd buy another one.

Cheers!

Keith

 

[Sklith]

If Tesla would raise their prices to Supercharge, then the EvGos, Chargepoints, etc., could raise their prices, and start to afford to better maintain their stations. There are no free lunches out there. I think that Tesla, by subsidizing their network buildout with car profits, is impairing the flourishing of their competition.

The non-Tesla DC fast chargers suck not because the rates are cheap, it's the opposite in fact. They suck because they don't have a manufacturer throwing billions into building the network out like Tesla has. Electrify America looks hopeful since Volkswagen is contractually obligated to do so since dieselgate, and we'll see how that works out when they launch the ID 4 here.

 

[M3-Florida]

If Tesla would raise their prices to Supercharge, then the EvGos, Chargepoints, etc., could raise their prices, and start to afford to better maintain their stations. There are no free lunches out there. I think that Tesla, by subsidizing their network buildout with car profits, is impairing the flourishing of their competition.

I rarely see a broken chargepoint. I don't think Tesla needs to raise their rates. Chargepoint already charges upwards of $6k for a charger installation (not sure about monthly fees for data collection, reporting, etc) but if employers are looking to provide L2 charging, keep rates LOW.

 

[TW14 9LF]

Update.....been using a L2 Chargepoint station that's about 6 blocks from the house. I stop every 2nd or 3rd day on the way home from work and leave the car until about 10:30 or so. Have been getting enough charge to stay even given my commute. A lot cheaper than a Supercharger as well, plus I get some exercise walking from the charger to the house and back. Win - Win!!

Having said that, still not as convenient as backing into my garage and plugging in. So my original premise remains....if you're thinking about buying an EV, and you're planning to rely on public charging, make sure you do your homework, and that you fully understand the time and effort of actually getting the charge. May be easy, depending where you live. Definitely not easy where I am.

Keith