Overloaded superchargers

[Vitdoc]

It's not realistic to expect the number of supercharger stalls to be sized so there is no wait during the times of peak demand. No one ever promised you would always have one available the instant you wanted it. As cars are always coming and going, if you waited odds are a car would have left in the next 10 minutes and you would have been able to start charging. Think about how many minutes you would have spent at a gas station each month if you didn't have a car that charges overnight at home and starts with a full "tank" each morning. If one isn't willing to accept a minor inconvenience now and then as a tradeoff for all the advantages of a EV over ICE, perhaps a EV isn't right for you.

The wait times are part of the issue. The other is the increased time for charging when the stalls are at capacity. The original promotion was around 150 miles/ 1/2 hour or so. Now we are sometimes seeing 1/3 of that rate during peak times. This needs to be addressed otherwise using the car for long trips will be not feasible. Hopefully this will be done by Tesla or some other supplier. When Tesla is pumping out 100,000 cars/yr there will be a market for selling electricity fast. Already some of the charging companies like Blink are talking about DC charging. So hopefully things will improve.

 

[GoBlue88]

Is it true that the Hawthorne SC is used by a lot of locals in lieu of charging at home?

I gotta believe that is true. If you work or live nearby, the temptation to charge up for free would be pretty compelling.

 

[brianman]

Remember 73!

I can't recall anything from '73, though I have "borrowed" (pictures and anecdotes) memories that I believe to be true.

 

[Cottonwood]

The wait times are part of the issue. The other is the increased time for charging when the stalls are at capacity. The original promotion was around 150 miles/ 1/2 hour or so. Now we are sometimes seeing 1/3 of that rate during peak times. This needs to be addressed otherwise using the car for long trips will be not feasible. Hopefully this will be done by Tesla or some other supplier. When Tesla is pumping out 100,000 cars/yr there will be a market for selling electricity fast. Already some of the charging companies like Blink are talking about DC charging. So hopefully things will improve.

With the new 135 kW Superchargers, the power limit only happens for any length of time if two Teslas show up at the same time at close to 0 miles. Even then, with an 80/20 split, the first car gets 108 kW and the second gets 27 kW. The one getting 108 kW will start tapering down in 10-20 minutes and the second car will start ramping up, maybe creating a 15-30 min additional charge time for car 2. Remember this is a worst case scenario. It will only happen if you are the last car to arrive and another thirsty Tesla arrived just before you on the same cabinet. I have had plenty of times where I was car 5 to arrive at an 8 Stall Supercharger site. Often there is an unpaired stall because most people don't understand the pairing. A couple of times, I picked at random, got a slow rate, and just moved over to another stall and paired up with a Tesla deep in the taper, giving me nearly full charge rate.

Even when last to arrive, or filling in from the queue, you are most probably going to pair up with a car that has already started its taper. 135 kW Supercharger Cabinets make this even less painful. It's the old 90 kW cabinets that are the worst, but those are being phased out, like with the Barstow upgrade.

 

[brianman]

And if you're paired with a 90-limited vehicle, you'll start with more juice and you'll see they taper faster (which is also good for you).

 

[Teriyaki88]

I don't know for sure. I've used Hawthorne about 20 times since I got my car 14 months ago and I've never had to wait (knock-knock). And no. I'm not a local. I live in SD about 100 miles away from Hawthorne. I use it on our family road trips.

Is it true that the Hawthorne SC is used by a lot of locals in lieu of charging at home?

 

[Gregsbeach]

I went and charged at the San Juan Capistrano supercharger Friday.......all 7 slots were full and two were waiting....at 11:00 AM!

 

[Gregsbeach]

yesterday, at 3:00-4:00 PM all 7 slots at SJC were full, and three cars waiting! Wow,......at least when I got in it charged at 196 MPH.....not 40

 

[David99]

I gotta believe that is true. If you work or live nearby, the temptation to charge up for free would be pretty compelling.

I think it's anything but compelling to sit at a Supercharger for 40 min instead of spending the time home with your family only to save $4. I live close to 8 Superchargers and often pass by them on my way. I can't be bothered wasting time there just to save a few bucks. So not worth my time. There might be a few that do it here an there, right after a Supercharger opens, but overall it's not a problem.

Hawthorne has actually not been busy during most time of the day. I have charged there many times before I had a home charger. All the people I talked to were passing through. There were no locals. The only times when it got crowded was on typical busy travel days/times in combination with slow charging stalls. They had issues with their chargers for a long time causing long charging sessions.

 

[Gregsbeach]

At Oxnard Supercharger Monday morning at around 11:30 AM....Every charger was taken and three people waiting....look how crooked the red tesla parked...they still squeezed in beside him/her!

 

[No2DinosaurFuel]

View attachment 82254At Oxnard Supercharger Monday morning at around 11:30 AM....Every charger was taken and three people waiting....look how crooked the red tesla parked...they still squeezed in beside him/her!

Man some people can't park for ****. I think that should be part of the charging etiquette. Park so others can park and charge.