Pay to Park at new Supercharger

[TaoJones]

Proper "no parking unless charging else towed" signage resolves ICEing. See Washington State as well as coastal Oregon - been working fine for years.

I'd like to see idle fees increase to $1/minute with credit card required to be on file after 60 offending minutes lifetime, and to $5/minute after 120 minutes lifetime. Anyone with a smartphone is notified via app and can set a timer as a backup. A good rule of thumb is 1% per minute.

The biggest threats to SC demand management are ICEing by our own, and then livery adjacent airports. ICEing by ICEs ranks a distant third along with those few garaged locals who are more cheap than they are lazy. Most are more lazy than cheap and simply charge at home if they have a garage.

 

[alcibiades]

Hopefully Tesla recalculates their "supercharger savings" equation to include the new (and apparently happily accepted by masochistic owners) paradigm of surcharges to supercharge. At the very least, is it made clear on the page that some SC's will have access fees? (checked, it is not mentioned.)

@AnxietyRanger There are no other supercharger options when you're in Grand Island Nebraska in the middle of the night on a road trip with your family. Hopefully Bosselman Travel Center doesn't realize this and start charging $20 to get to the chargers. But what is stopping them?

 

[kort677]

(as an aside -- at the Southampton NY SC you get 10% off your purchase at the liquor store at the SC location when you show your Tesla key..) those Tesla keys are valuable

at the corsicana tx SpC, go into the adjacent bakery restaurant show your key and get a free cup of coffee and a cookie. some places adjacent restaurants will offer discounts to tesla drivers using a close by SpC

 

[kort677]

There are no other supercharger options when you're in Grand Island Nebraska in the middle of the night on a road trip with your family. Hopefully Bosselman Travel Center doesn't realize this and start charging $20 to get to the chargers. But what is stopping them?

their agreement with tesla might be stopping them

 

[alcibiades]

their agreement with tesla might be stopping them

It'd be strange for Tesla to have different policies with respect to this -- I'd think it's a standard contract. But I dunno. Here's to hoping.

 

[boaterva]

Completely OT for the thread, but on the Urban Supercharger topic, the Chicago ones are in a parking facility that has a lot of permanent parking for local highrises, so, people pay by the month and will be using the 'chargers as part of their 'permanent' parking. Probably more of the game plan than people driving through town, for the long term.

See KMan's post:

 

[vdiv]

It really begs the question of what the point of this Supercharger really is. It is not to park, it is to charge the car as fast as possible and move on. If one wants to actually visit National Harbor/MGM Grand/Outlets (all separate locations) and enjoy the amenities then perhaps parking in a garage and plugging into one of the existing L2 stations is a better option.

 

[3PHASE]

This location, from what I understand, makes over $10 million on parking every year. They have other garages with L2's where they charge for parking. I wouldn't be surprised if they charged for parking at the Superchargers (why) because if it were free, you could keep your car there past 30 min. and go eat for a couple hours, and the price, with the Tesla per minute fees (after your car is done), might still be cheaper than paying in one of their garages or lots. This lot is close to everything; it's really a nice spot.

The Casino could use this as a lesson because when there is an event, the L2 spaces are often ICED. MGM plans on charging for parking at some point. The Casino is less likely to have someone towed because they are spending money inside.

 

[3PHASE]

When I spoke to the developer, they said they are not making any money off this initiative, so we'll have to see if any accommodations are made, but I would be surprised (it's still possible) since they have L2s in other lots and charge a fee to park. Certainly they would not be making any money if nobody charges there and they have premium spaces just sitting there not being used and not being paid for.

 

[boaterva]

And, also, the National Harbor location is on the Capital Beltway. It's on the main route from Florida to New York/New England. They could have perhaps found a place without paid parking, but if you need to charge on your way up or down the coast, and miss Woodbridge, this is the only spot really close to 95 for a while. This isn't really a 'destination' Supercharger:

 

[Bumper]

Hopefully Tesla recalculates their "supercharger savings" equation to include the new (and apparently happily accepted by masochistic owners) paradigm of surcharges to supercharge. At the very least, is it made clear on the page that some SC's will have access fees? (checked, it is not mentioned.)

@AnxietyRanger There are no other supercharger options when you're in Grand Island Nebraska in the middle of the night on a road trip with your family. Hopefully Bosselman Travel Center doesn't realize this and start charging $20 to get to the chargers. But what is stopping them?

I hope this does not catch on with other SpC locations. If developers realize they could ding us $5/hr to park while we charge for free they have us over a barrel pretty quickly.

 

[brucet999]

I'll try this for size:

I find the unpredictable idle charges much more annoying. I can time accurately how long I am away from the car (a minute/hour based parking fee), I can not time accurately when my charge will end (current idle charge)...

That's been no problem for me. My iPhone app warns me when the car is almost finished charging, giving me plenty of time to walk back and vacate the space.

 

[S100D]

Birmingham AL has the Superchargers in a pay for parking lot. If you eat at one of the restaurants you can get your parking validated and not have to pay for parking.

 

[brucet999]

…but the very nice lady at the toll booth simply asked to see my Tesla key, and let us go without paying.

Apparently the fact that you were there in an actual Tesla was not proof enough, so she had to see your Tesla key?

 

[Galve2000]

Apparently the fact that you were there in an actual Tesla was not proof enough, so she had to see your Tesla key?

I too thought that was strange at the time... but yes, she did ask to see the key

 

[vdiv]

Rats! The Model 3 does not have a key, will have to pay then!

 

[Galve2000]

Rats! The Model 3 does not have a key, will have to pay then!

This is what I was thinking when I mentioned the discounts and other perks for showing your Tesla key, but i figured it was too OT and hate when I am accused of hijacking threads. people are super touchy here. Heaven forbid you actually give them something (related) to think about.

 

[brucet999]

The biggest threats to SC demand management are ICEing by our own, and then livery adjacent airports. ICEing by ICEs ranks a distant third along with those few garaged locals who are more cheap than they are lazy. .

"Icing by our own"? Presumably you mean people charging to 100% or remaining after charging is complete?

What does "livery adjacent airports" mean?

"Garaged locals" may be more of a problem than you think. Famously over utilized SpCs in SoCal - Burbank, Fountain Valley and San Juan Capistrano - are surrounded by lots of single family housing, not by high-rise expensive apartments where you might expect to find Tesla owners without home charging capability.

 

[AnxietyRanger]

I find the unpredictable idle charges much more annoying. I can time accurately how long I am away from the car (a minute/hour based parking fee), I can not time accurately when my charge will end (current idle charge)...

That's been no problem for me. My iPhone app warns me when the car is almost finished charging, giving me plenty of time to walk back and vacate the space.

Notifications are not always reliable, there are plenty of reports of that.

But I'm not intending to re-open that debate... there's an app, sorry a thread for that.

 

[AnxietyRanger]

@AnxietyRanger There are no other supercharger options when you're in Grand Island Nebraska in the middle of the night on a road trip with your family. Hopefully Bosselman Travel Center doesn't realize this and start charging $20 to get to the chargers. But what is stopping them?

I hope this does not catch on with other SpC locations. If developers realize they could ding us $5/hr to park while we charge for free they have us over a barrel pretty quickly.

Did my anxiety fail me? Bummer.

You guys do have a point.