Payment Method now on Tesla's My Tesla Page [Since Removed]

[Buddy]

Nope. I've pulled in to an empty SpC after 11 pm and many hours on the road. The last thing I felt like doing was waiting for my car to finish charging. I hit the sack and moved the car first thing in the morning. Perfectly reasonable IMO.

I'm in SoCal also and about to pick my model S up this Saturday. Would you mind PM'ing me your experiences with superchargers in SoCal? Mainly interested in wait times and busy times to avoid. I'll probably need to use the one near Qual Com this Sunday.

 

[ohmman]

So if you SC at the restaurant where Tesla is installing SC's.... you have to get up in the middle of the meal and move your car.....or you will be charged?

I already do this, and it wouldn't cost me anything to stay in the spot. Well, except I'd have to live with the fact that I'm breaching my social contract. This is how you're supposed to behave - today. An idle fee will incentivize owners to be respectful of others.

In this era of smart-phones I can easily imagine Tesla sending a message to an owner saying the charge is completed and to please move the vehicle.

This already occurs, though it doesn't remind the owner to move the car. I've mentioned before that I think the rewording would be valuable. Currently it tells you that Supercharging is almost complete, then that it is. It says nothing about "return to your car," but that verbiage would help quite a bit. Then again, charging people who don't move is likely to be much more effective.

 

[SageBrush]

This already occurs, though it doesn't remind the owner to move the car. I've mentioned before that I think the rewording would be valuable. Currently it tells you that Supercharging is almost complete, then that it is. It says nothing about "return to your car," but that verbiage would help quite a bit. Then again, charging people who don't move is likely to be much more effective.

I wasn't clear -- I meant that Tesla could monitor the occupancy rate at the SC so that owners would know when their hogging a spot is likely to cause a problem. Heck, drivers could notify Tesla of their intention to use a SC in near time for even more refined social sharing.

"Dear driver: your car charge will complete at <time>! Please vacate the charging spot within the next 15 minutes for an incoming car. Idle charges accrue from <time.> I also like the idea of idling charges ramping up: First 5 minutes: $1. Next 5 minutes: $2. Every 5 minutes thereafter another $4.

And more refinement: full charge is 85% at busy stations. People *can* charge to 100% in these cases but an idle surcharge will be added. So long as demand charges are added to encourage efficient social sharing and not profit per se, I am all for them. The idling charges can be credited to the inconvenienced driver.

 

[Canuck]

I already do this, and it wouldn't cost me anything to stay in the spot. Well, except I'd have to live with the fact that I'm breaching my societal contract. This is how you're supposed to behave - today. An idle fee will incentivize owners to be respectful of others.

That's likely in the future for me too. However, I mostly supercharge during my travels in Hope, BC, which is a 6 supercharger site, that is halfway between my home and cabin. There's rarely more than one vehicle at that site, and often there's none. I walk a block and a half to the Blue Moose to eat and I don't consider myself as breaching my societal contract if my car fully charges while I'm away since there's no hope in hell someone needs my spot. But I do consider the fact that I hate my car sitting with a full battery so I usually return pretty soon after anyway. I can't see Tesla charging me for failing to return unless there's a need for the space. I wouldn't even consider staying longer than necessary for a charge if there was even a remote chance of keeping someone waiting.

 

[ohmman]

That's likely in the future for me too. However, I mostly supercharge during my travels in Hope, BC, which is a 6 supercharger site, that is halfway between my home and cabin. There's rarely more than one vehicle at that site, and often there's none. I walk a block and a half to the Blue Moose to eat and I don't consider myself as breaching my societal contract if my car fully charges while I'm away since there's no hope in hell someone needs my spot. But I do consider the fact that I hate my car sitting with a full battery so I usually return pretty soon after anyway. I can't see Tesla charging me for failing to return unless there's a need for the space. I wouldn't even consider staying longer than necessary for a charge if there was even a remote chance of keeping someone waiting.

There are certainly always reasonable exceptions. I'm not sure how, or if, Tesla will accommodate these. However, one methodology would be to begin charging the instant all other spots are occupied. In your case, you wouldn't incur any charges because it's so unlikely. But in cases where people are being a little more generous with the odds, it might wind up costing them.

 

[David99]

This is awesome news! Having to pay for each session makes people much more aware and much less likely to use Superchargers unless they really have to.

 

[Garlan Garner]

That's likely in the future for me too. However, I mostly supercharge during my travels in Hope, BC, which is a 6 supercharger site, that is halfway between my home and cabin. There's rarely more than one vehicle at that site, and often there's none. I walk a block and a half to the Blue Moose to eat and I don't consider myself as breaching my societal contract if my car fully charges while I'm away since there's no hope in hell someone needs my spot. But I do consider the fact that I hate my car sitting with a full battery so I usually return pretty soon after anyway. I can't see Tesla charging me for failing to return unless there's a need for the space. I wouldn't even consider staying longer than necessary for a charge if there was even a remote chance of keeping someone waiting.

Good point.

So maybe the perfect way for Tesla to do this is to evaluate whether or not all SC spots have been exhausted at a particular location before starting this fee/fine/punishment.

I can't see getting a ticket/fine/fee charged to me when I'm the only one at a 6 site location and no one is there but me.

 

[Lanber]

Instead of paying pr kwh I think a better solution is to pay pr minute. That way people will remove their cars from SC once they have enough onboard instead of getting that extra bit of charging that is so slow on top SOC

 

[jkk_]

And more refinement: full charge is 85% at busy stations. People *can* charge to 100% in these cases but an idle surcharge will be added. So long as demand charges are added to encourage efficient social sharing and not profit per se, I am all for them. The idling charges can be credited to the inconvenienced driver.

I was not aware that the distance I need to travel (and in essence, how much I need to charge) is dependent on how many other cars happen to be around the charging station.

 

[SageBrush]

I was not aware that the distance I need to travel (and in essence, how much I need to charge) is dependent on how many other cars happen to be around the charging station.

It is not, but you obviously require a little education (aka extra fees) to understand the notion of a shared resource.

 

[jkk_]

It is not, but you obviously require a little education (aka extra fees) to understand the notion of a shared resource.

And instantly going in to ad hominem, how nice.

 

[garsh]

Supercharging stations need charging snakes.

Then when a car is finished charging, the snake would unplug and the car would self-park someplace nearby to free up the station.

 

[Jayc]

An idle fee will incentivize owners to be respectful of others.

I totally agree.

Some people need to be reminded over and over again to be considerate to other SC users and move their car out of charge bays once charged. However, they will need no such reminders to pay for parking and return before ticket expires. Basically it comes down to policing and where there is none, there will be no order. Seems like Tesla may have stumbled upon a very clever way of policing there SC network which is great news.

 

[Garlan Garner]

I totally agree.

Some people need to be reminded over and over again to be considerate to other SC users and move their car out of charge bays once charged. However, they will need no such reminders to pay for parking and return before ticket expires. Basically it comes down to policing and where there is none, there will be no order. Seems like Tesla may have stumbled upon a very clever way of policing there SC network which is great news.

Some parents just don't teach their kids what etiquette is...soo.....I guess Tesla has to do it.

Its a shame...I know.

 

[CmdrThor]

Nope. I've pulled in to an empty SpC after 11 pm and many hours on the road. The last thing I felt like doing was waiting for my car to finish charging. I hit the sack and moved the car first thing in the morning. Perfectly reasonable IMO.

So what's going to happen when Model 3 hits the road and there is a Supercharger at a hotel. 8 weary travelers arrive between 8-10pm, plug in and head off to bed. You arrive at 11pm and the Superchargers are all full. No problem though, it only takes 30-60 minutes to Supercharge right? Nope, everyone is plugged in for the night and you are screwed.

 

[dsvick]

Haven't they figured out that there are a few hundred thousand nerds constantly monitoring their web assets for changes like this?

Yeah, I haven't coded since college and even I know that's a pretty big basic screwup lol.

I'd be willing to speculate that it was not entirely a mistake. It could have a fast way to get some feedback, or even simply a way to keep the interest going without saying anything official.

 

[Az_Rael]

I think idle fees will have to be consistent across the board to work well. No variability due to potential traffic of an SC. SCs are never parking spots IMHO even if they are deserted.

I believe one of the 3rd party Level 2 charging companies already does this (leaving cars parked too long at Level 2s is an even bigger problem than at SCs). Basically, they start charging a per hour fee X minutes after the charging is done. Blink Implements Post-Charging Occupancy Fee At Charging Stations

 

[cronosx]

So what's going to happen when Model 3 hits the road and there is a Supercharger at a hotel. 8 weary travelers arrive between 8-10pm, plug in and head off to bed. You arrive at 11pm and the Superchargers are all full. No problem though, it only takes 30-60 minutes to Supercharge right? Nope, everyone is plugged in for the night and you are screwed.

It's an etiquette question, you shouldn't left you car all the night attached to the supercharger
If all it's empy, maybe it could be ok, but you should leave some cell phone to call you for moving the car

 

[EaglesPDX]

I logged in this morning to Tesla's My Tesla page to see if anything had changed concerning my Model 3 order. There is now a Payment section to add Credit Card information for future purchases.

Nothing about payment method on my reservations page. Wish I could change the color of the T3 they show above my reservvation number to red vs. the blue.

 

[jgs]

I've thought about this as well. I wonder if Tesla would have the ability to make the case that they're selling a service and not the energy. The energy commodity is free, but the proprietary delivery mechanism (Supercharger) is the source of the charge. Certainly sounds like a difficult sell.

If they use kWh as the charged unit, I think if they tried to tell a judge they weren't selling electricity their lawyer wouldn't be able to keep a straight face, the judge definitely wouldn't be able to keep a straight face, they'd have a good laugh together and then the judge would say "so do you want to leave my courtroom now or should I have the bailiff kick you out?"

But IANAL of course.