[Rant] locals clogging the Highland Park, IL supercharger

[TaoJones]

I think it's less about coddling the sensitive and more about the fact that denigration waters down the validity of an argument.

The message's validity is hardly weakened by attacks upon the messenger by easily offended handwringers.

At the end of the day, I defer to supercharge.info. The proof is in the pudding. Elon himself announced a doubling of resources not 2 months ago. If all 400,000 reservations are delivered by 2019, then 100,000 non-garaged M3s are in the mix. Globally.

No. Handwringing. Necessary. No hinky pay per use schemes, and for the love of god, no geofencing.

Having said all of that, I remain convinced that the fastest way to turn a 12-bay SC into a 2-bay SC is via ICEing *by our own*. And to that end, there are plenty of opportunities for improvement with both the app, and with a strong push toward user education. It's analogous to an 18-wheel truck stopping at the fuel island of a truck stop and the driver going to take a shower. Bad form at best. But again, no pay per use necessary. Personally, I'm in favor of a good local towing company - but that's just me. Support that local economy! .

 

[tomas]

The message's validity is hardly weakened by attacks upon the messenger by easily offended handwringers.

geez, who stole your cup of coffee?!?!

 

[jgs]

1) most owners have not, do not, and will not even use SCs.

Really? I find this surprising. Do you have evidence? OTOH, I'll readily accept that most owners don't use SCs for local charging, or don't frequently use SCs. But never, at all, seems like a bit of an extraordinary claim.

 

[dgpcolorado]

Really? I find this surprising. Do you have evidence? OTOH, I'll readily accept that most owners don't use SCs for local charging, or don't frequently use SCs. But never, at all, seems like a bit of an extraordinary claim.

I agree.

Awhile back Musk said something to the effect that 92% of charging was not done at Superchargers (don't remember the exact figure but it was low 90s). My impression is that some people interpreted this to mean that 92% of people didn't use Superchargers, which was not what he meant at all. While I have no idea what the real number is for Model S and X drivers who have never used a Supercharger, I'd be flabbergasted if it was anywhere near 50%, much less "most". But, then, I am biased because it was the presence of Superchargers in my area, and on the routes I travel, that was the primary reason I purchased my car.

 

[kort677]

Really? I find this surprising. Do you have evidence? OTOH, I'll readily accept that most owners don't use SCs for local charging, or don't frequently use SCs. But never, at all, seems like a bit of an extraordinary claim.

I know a few owners who have never been to a SpC, it's not uncommon.

 

[tomas]

I know a few owners who have never been to a SpC, it's not uncommon.

Agree. I'd say half of owners I know are never or seldom. There are a ton of people who just do not do long distance auto travel, they fly. Particularly those with assets that put them in the Tesla price range.

Of course, most of the owners I know do not frequent this forum either. Probably a high correlation between "enthusiasts" on this forum, and owners who use every dimension of the product.

 

[Garlan Garner]

Tesla actually had to explain the supercharger accounting to SEC in early 2015.

Ongoing expenses like electricity, depreciation, lease, maintenance related to the supercharger network are counted as deferred revenue (this was the calculated $500 per vehicle from previous SEC filings).


About the infrastructure cost model for superchargers, the less popular stations are a marketing expense, the popular stations are cost of sales.


Letter to the SEC

Tesla no longer breaks any of this down in recent SEC filings (no more mention of amount of deferred revenue for superchargers).

So they built the price of the SC's into the S/X and a $500 supercharger cost AND the funding of the M3 AND.....whatever else.

No wonder the S/X was/is so expensive. I wonder what the real price is of the S/X.

 

[andrewket]

Why is this surprising? They had to be funded somehow.

 

[Electroman]

They even priced in their employees salary and perks and vacation time into the S & X. What nerve..!

 

[mhan00]

Blink tried that a while a go. They charged a reasonable fee for charging, but once you were full and let you car sit there, they would bill you $5 per hour or something pretty high. It backfired. The response from Blink members was so bad that they decided to not implement that plan before it even went into effect.

Blink is dependent on people using their chargers so they can make money, Tesla isn't. If people throw a hissy fit and stop using super chargers entirely because Tesla charges them ten bucks every fifteen minutes if they stay longer after an hour of free charging (I'd prefer 30 to 45 minutes myself), that's perfect since it's less congestion at a super charger. I really doubt prospective owners would decide not to buy the car because of that, and that's all Tesla cares about. Superchargers are there so people worried about road trips know they can get to their destinations with little inconvenience. That message takes a big hit if superchargers become infamous for having hour or longer wait times, so less people using super chargers entirely would be a huge benefit.

 

[David99]

Superchargers are there so people worried about road trips know they can get to their destinations with little inconvenience. That message takes a big hit if superchargers become infamous for having hour or longer wait times, so less people using super chargers entirely would be a huge benefit.

I've taken many long road trips. A total of 40k miles I spent on the road visiting 60 different Superchargers and a total of aprox 300 Supercharging sessions. Except in Los Angeles I have never had to wait a single time at any Supercharger. For the most part I'm pretty much alone at Superchargers across the country.

 

[mhan00]

I've taken many long road trips. A total of 40k miles I spent on the road visiting 60 different Superchargers and a total of aprox 300 Supercharging sessions. Except in Los Angeles I have never had to wait a single time at any Supercharger. For the most part I'm pretty much alone at Superchargers across the country.

And? Most super chargers right now are fine, because most owners are in CA. You haven't had a problem yet, which is great for you, but doesn't change the fact that it's been an issue for many others. The problem also gets worse along popular travel routes during popular travel times (long weekends, holidays, etc). The problem areas will only increase as more Teslas are put on the road. Tesla is obviously aware of this and is thinking about ways to address the issue, which is clear from the commented out code that people found on its website, which included stuff about an "Idle time charge".

You also didn't address the rest of my post. Blink depends on people using their chargers, Tesla doesn't. Blink goes bankrupt (as they already have) if people use their chargers only if they have no other options, Tesla would throw a party in the same circumstance.