Packed Superchargers

[CMc1]

I read a UK LinkedIn profile yesterday and they had listed “quadruple the UK supercharger role out within 12 month” as a upcoming aspiration so I expect many site to come through this year as well as many site being expanded (like Canary Wharf was last month).

Issue I see going forward is X and S not being able to utilise all the bays due to not having CCS and potentially a 3 using V2 with a V3 being available preventing use. Kinda flip reverse of the early 3 rollout when only few stalls were CCS.

 

[Yev000]

Issue I see going forward is X and S not being able to utilise all the bays due to not having CCS and potentially a 3 using V2 with a V3 being available preventing use. Kinda flip reverse of the early 3 rollout when only few stalls were CCS.

You can get an adapter for that

 

[Dilly]

You’ll know if supercharging at bank holidays is expected to be bad. Chemical loos will start appearing

 

[GRiLLA]

You are most likely not be able to charge up at the place you are staying.

I don't really see that, it's clearly desirable for customers and relatively cheap for a property owner to provide charging, tbh even an outside socket is likely to be sufficient. Yes there are properties where it's not possible, but very many where it is. Already I choose where I book based on charging availability or local public charging.

 

[Dilly]

I stayed in a cottage in the middle of nowhere in the Cotswolds. The owner was happy for me to charge from a socket in the kitchen and run the lead through the window.
he would have provided a suitable extension lead but we didn’t need it.

 

[nxsynjs]

I stayed in a cottage in the middle of nowhere in the Cotswolds. The owner was happy for me to charge from a socket in the kitchen and run the lead through the window.
he would have provided a suitable extension lead but we didn’t need it.

I did that last year. Left a fiver to cover the charging i'd done (I'd assumed the highest Pence/kwh I could find)

 

[Mrklaw]

Yesterday I had to help a lady at the Exeter SuC. She approached me asking for help because she could not plug in the cable. I had a look at it and she tried to connect the old Tesla connector to a new Model 3 ;-)

Sometimes you have to charge up to over 80% (At least with an SR+). We are going to Southampton from Exmouth and there are no SuC on the way. I will have to charge up the car the night before and it seems I am losing up to 10% overnight in a public car park at the moment (the car hasn’t slept since we left home on Monday. It seems overly excited to finally get out ;-) and I need at least 80% of charge leaving here if I want to leave a bit of safety. So while the main routes seems to be covered some areas are still a wasteland when it comes to SuC.

have you checked for non-superchargers? Even if you limit your search to contactless, reliable, rapid chargers (eg ionity, shell recharge etc) you may find a few en route and save some time. I wish the in-car nav was better at finding non supercharger options

 

[Mrklaw]

No they would be stupid to plan the SuC for Bank Holiday demand. But as there are more and more Teslas around the need for SuC is increasing. Just check densely the SuC network is on the East and West coast of the US to the UK and you will see that there is still a lot of room for improvement.

So far the SuC seem to be planned around major routes but the problem in holiday areas (e.g. Devon/Cornwall) is that you need a SuC to be able to charge up for your day trips. You are most likely not be able to charge up at the place you are staying.

coudl they software lock the superchargers at high peak times to 80%? they already have idle fees but that doesn't help if you're setting the car to 100%

 

[Adopado]

I stayed in a cottage in the middle of nowhere in the Cotswolds. The owner was happy for me to charge from a socket in the kitchen and run the lead through the window.
he would have provided a suitable extension lead but we didn’t need it.

Destination charging options will be invaluable and will reduce pressure on Superchargers and public chargers generally. We charged via a 3 pin plug at our friends holiday cottage in Yorkshire last year and it was ideal. You can put on a lot of miles when you are parked all night and don't leave for the day at the crack of dawn! We rent out a small holiday cottage in the Scottish Borders (close to our own house beside St Mary's loch) and I am happy to make arrangements for any guests to charge "at cost" using our Zappi. All the EV guests so far have had Model 3s! Google Half House Cottage St Mary's Loch.

 

[MrBadger]

coudl they software lock the superchargers at high peak times to 80%? they already have idle fees but that doesn't help if you're setting the car to 100%

They sort of do, when its busy. But it can be overridden.

It's a kind of polite, we limited you to 80% as it's busy, but if you do need more, you can adjust it back up yourself.

 

[Adopado]

They sort of do, when its busy. But it can be overridden.

It's a kind of polite, we limited you to 80% as it's busy, but if you do need more, you can adjust it back up yourself.

Yes, I had that at Tebay Superchargers but, as you say, it's not a hard limit it just pops up as 80% limit on the screen but you can manually adjust the percentage above that in the usual way if you need to.

 

[ParHunter]

I must say that after having completed my first ‘road trip’ with the Tesla I would do a much longer one without hesitation. It was really easy and painless. We charged up 20 min on the road on the way out and back and then 1h40 min over the few days we were out there for round trips and to charge it up for the way home. Not once did I have a charger that did not work (although I had to unplug and plug-in again to start charging once). But I am still a bit scared to ‘just rely‘ on the navigator when it comes to charging. On the way back (via Gunwharf for the wife) the GPS told me to re-charge at Liphook where I would get with 7%. I preferred to charge up at Portsmouth as the one thing I’ve learned with my Leaf is to never rely on just one charge location. I guess with Superchargers there are always multiple chargers to chose from and not all will be out of service.
But one thing I’ve noticed charging up at a SuC compared to charging up my Leaf is that people don’t chat at SuCs. With normal EV chargers you would often have a chat, I guess charging up at a normal station is more hit-and-miss, you chat about your bad experiences or tips on which chargers work etc. SuC is more like a normal petrol station, you wouldn’t chat with others about ’oh this pump doesn’t work or avoid that ’petrol network’ ;-)

I did get annoyed at Gunwharf though, I hoped to charge up at the PodPoints so that I could charge up enough to get home. They have 4 there there but two bays where ICEd and the other two taken. There is a sign that misuse is being fined with £100 - so I went ahead and reported them. I hope they are enjoying their parking. There were 500 empty parking spaces but they had to chose to park in the charging bays!

 

[Jason71]

I must say that after having completed my first ‘road trip’ with the Tesla I would do a much longer one without hesitation. It was really easy and painless. We charged up 20 min on the road on the way out and back and then 1h40 min over the few days we were out there for round trips and to charge it up for the way home. Not once did I have a charger that did not work (although I had to unplug and plug-in again to start charging once). But I am still a bit scared to ‘just rely‘ on the navigator when it comes to charging. On the way back (via Gunwharf for the wife) the GPS told me to re-charge at Liphook where I would get with 7%. I preferred to charge up at Portsmouth as the one thing I’ve learned with my Leaf is to never rely on just one charge location. I guess with Superchargers there are always multiple chargers to chose from and not all will be out of service.
But one thing I’ve noticed charging up at a SuC compared to charging up my Leaf is that people don’t chat at SuCs. With normal EV chargers you would often have a chat, I guess charging up at a normal station is more hit-and-miss, you chat about your bad experiences or tips on which chargers work etc. SuC is more like a normal petrol station, you wouldn’t chat with others about ’oh this pump doesn’t work or avoid that ’petrol network’ ;-)

I did get annoyed at Gunwharf though, I hoped to charge up at the PodPoints so that I could charge up enough to get home. They have 4 there there but two bays where ICEd and the other two taken. There is a sign that misuse is being fined with £100 - so I went ahead and reported them. I hope they are enjoying their parking. There were 500 empty parking spaces but they had to chose to park in the charging bays!

most of the ones I've used are at motorway services Normally by the time I use the facilities and get a coffee I'm done so not much time to chat.
Also Netflix

 

[Mrklaw]

I must say that after having completed my first ‘road trip’ with the Tesla I would do a much longer one without hesitation. It was really easy and painless. We charged up 20 min on the road on the way out and back and then 1h40 min over the few days we were out there for round trips and to charge it up for the way home. Not once did I have a charger that did not work (although I had to unplug and plug-in again to start charging once). But I am still a bit scared to ‘just rely‘ on the navigator when it comes to charging. On the way back (via Gunwharf for the wife) the GPS told me to re-charge at Liphook where I would get with 7%. I preferred to charge up at Portsmouth as the one thing I’ve learned with my Leaf is to never rely on just one charge location. I guess with Superchargers there are always multiple chargers to chose from and not all will be out of service.
But one thing I’ve noticed charging up at a SuC compared to charging up my Leaf is that people don’t chat at SuCs. With normal EV chargers you would often have a chat, I guess charging up at a normal station is more hit-and-miss, you chat about your bad experiences or tips on which chargers work etc. SuC is more like a normal petrol station, you wouldn’t chat with others about ’oh this pump doesn’t work or avoid that ’petrol network’ ;-)

I did get annoyed at Gunwharf though, I hoped to charge up at the PodPoints so that I could charge up enough to get home. They have 4 there there but two bays where ICEd and the other two taken. There is a sign that misuse is being fined with £100 - so I went ahead and reported them. I hope they are enjoying their parking. There were 500 empty parking spaces but they had to chose to park in the charging bays!

My local tesco has them near the store (probably for electric hookup reasons) but that means they're taking what used to be parent/child bays so will likely be ICEd quite often. My local shell just got a couple of rapid chargers installed - but they built a bloody big electrical box near the entrance to the petrol station, and then put the chargers right by the entrance to the shop bit - so again they're likely to get ICEd by customers doing shopping but this time they could easily have put them further away by swapping over the locations.

My very first charge stop at Membury I had an issue with the first charger not seeming to register with the car. Moved to a different stand and it was fine. Came back from the loo and there was an X in my old place charging just fine. So maybe I hadn't plugged it in correctly? Still need to get used to it

 

[Mean and Green]

For those who haven't ventured out much to the Tesla superchargers there are 4 types of user:
1. Model X user with free charging who spends the day charging to 100% because it's free.
2. New Model 3 user who didn't spend lockdown watching youtube videos on charging curves and so doesn't know that you don't charge to 100%
3. Outlander driver who doesn't know what day it is.
4. Smart TMC forum readers who arrive at 10% SOC and depart at 50% 8 minutes later having spent the time picking up litter carefully left by the red Model S driver with the personalised number plate. (You know who you are)

Smart TMC forum users also know that in the real world it's not always possible to arrive at the SuC @10% SOC or that perhaps 50% wont get you to the next charge point or that the temperature of the battery along with the ambient temp, plays a big part in determining charge rate. Some of us long time owners that have free charging, have never charged to 100%! I doubt that any owner would in reality, who wants to wait unnecessarily longer than they have to? We have lives to lead and places to get to just like everyone else. This constant unsubstantiated M3 owner whine on the forums becomes tedious. Just saying.
As a suggestion to alleviate tensions......
Charging Bay aparthied could be introduced, this may reslove this ongoing heirachy issue. Split the bays equally between the different vehicle groups, That way we all know our place.... and the presumed entitlement and superiority complex of some owners may disappear.

Right with you on the litter louts though, Mr Miserable. I am appaulled sometimes when I pull into my local SuC. There are Mcdonalds and other fast food outlet's rubbish amongst other things strewn all over the place. Some people have no respect for the site owners that have to come and clear the crap up. Some bins might help but who pays to service those? Another 1p on the charge cost might solve it? I would have thought that buying a Tesla meant that we were more inclined to be environmentally aware and responsible. Take it home and recycle where possible, it's not much to ask and like Mr miserable pointed out, you know who you are......

 

[Zigway]

A black mark against Tesla Leeds from me; last Friday lunchtime I pitched up at the Leeds SuC (just outside the service centre) for a quick splash-and-dash, only to find all eight stalls occupied but only 6 charging. Tesla had actually blocked 2 of their own SuC stalls with what looked like new Model 3's not actually connected, but waiting for customer collection I assume. Luckily, there was enough space on the paved area behind the chargers to park up and connect my car for 10 minutes... come on Tesla, surely you should lead by example?!?

 

[fancealot]

A black mark against Tesla Leeds from me; last Friday lunchtime I pitched up at the Leeds SuC (just outside the service centre) for a quick splash-and-dash, only to find all eight stalls occupied but only 6 charging. Tesla had actually blocked 2 of their own SuC stalls with what looked like new Model 3's not actually connected, but waiting for customer collection I assume. Luckily, there was enough space on the paved area behind the chargers to park up and connect my car for 10 minutes... come on Tesla, surely you should lead by example?!?

It's the downside of Leeds' SC the lot is really small, I was surprised they put in the 8 superchargers TBH.

 

[Bantam]

Its mayhem at Leeds SC towards the end of the Quarter rush, I mistakenly turned up on the last Saturday of the Quarter for a quick splash and dash (using up my free miles before they expire) and just kept driving past as there were people/cars blocking the Lot and road outside. Also on a quieter day I have seen Tesla staff directing customer arriving for a test drive to park their ICE car in one of the SuC parking bays as there was no available standard parking bays.

 

[Blokie]

I use Leeds quite a bit on my trips north, and I'd say on 80% of my visits there have been at least one (sometimes 4 or more!) cars parked up in the SC bays not being charged. Sample set of about 15 visits.....

 

[DigbyChicken]

Amesbury today (Sunday afternoon on the A303 in an English summer!): nine or ten out of 16 bays occupied, plus two Teslas parked at the Holiday Inn that seemed to have just finished charging, and we passed two more that were approaching on our way out. Convivial atmosphere but also the shape of things to come!

(Still, this felt like luxury to us (8 1/2 years in two Leafs and this was our first ever Supercharger experience)... We felt confident there'd be space, confident the chargers would be working, and confident of a seamless experience (no app, no QR code, no RF card, no need to pre-authorise a credit card or even for a credit card at all).

We arrived at 13% and averaged 106kW (peaked at 164kW). Left with 63% one we'd both been to the loo and we'd bought some snacks. Amazing!

Plus I have more confidence in the Model 3's predictions than we've ever had in the Leaf's guessometer...!)