Suggestions for Tesla's Supercharger Network

[BobbyGood]

Tesla is doing a good job of creating a supercharger network so that long range travel is possible. Now that the base network is out there, it's time for them to refine the process. Tesla owners depend on their cars for long distance travel and need to have a consistent charging experience.

Tesla is a technology company so they should be able to do the following;
1) Provide consistent charging standards at every supercharger (standard charge rates every time at every supercharger)
2) Detect defective superchargers through the Tesla network and repair them in a timely manner (make this a priority and perform regular maintenance)
3) Provide a clearly defined method within the car to report supercharger issues (put an icon in the Tesla screen to report supercharger problem)
4) Provide a method in cars and at the supercharger site to indicate charge stations that are down (this prevents users from tying to charge at defective superchargers)
5) Provide indications within the in car navigation directions of the number of chargers available (right now you have to bring up superchargers on the map and touch the specific icon to show how many slots are available, if you are navigating to a supercharger why doesn't this just show right next to the supercharger destination in navigation?)

What are your suggestions to Tesla?

 

[BobbyGood]

During a recent trip to Atlanta, I experienced wildly variable experiences at supercharger locations. Lake City FL - fine, Tifton GA - stopped charging 5 times, Macon GA - miserably slow charge rates, Tifton GA - fine, Ocala FL - very fast. It's time for Tesla to provide the consistent supercharger experience that Tesla owners expect from a world class company.

 

[KerryOH]

I'm on the east coast and travel between northern NJ and lower, slower Delaware frequently with occasional trips to upstate NY. I have several SC options available (NJ Tpk, I 95, I 81 PA Tpk) and more being constructed. They are not always consistent with charging speeds but I appreciate the ability to charge when necessary. My suggestion to Tesla would be to make the "Coming Soon" chargers on the map a tad more accurate if they can. Update with permit and under construction with a target date would be great.

 

[juliusa]

I've supercharged a lot in the past 5 years. Only once gotten to a supercharger and not been able to charge - they shopping center had just been closed due to a gas leak. Rarely I have had to move to a different stall because of a charger problem - less than 1% of the time.

 

[BerTX]

I'd like to see a more proactive maintenance program. Rather than only having somebody deployed when there is an outage, have migrant Supercharger Doctors who travel around in a Model X pulling a camper/toy hauler full of tools and test equipment. They can sleep in the camper on the road, testing every SC along the way and repairing issues. If there is an outage, they can disconnect the trailer and rush to the site more quickly.

Consider this my job application, Elon!

 

[KJD]

Tesla has done much more than anyone else when it comes to building a charging network. I would just like them to fill in the gaps that remain.

For example it would be great to finish I-15 north of Butte MT to Fort Macleod AB. There is 367 miles in between these 2 superchargers.

 

[ewoodrick]

Tesla is a technology company so they should be able to do the following;
1) Provide consistent charging standards at every supercharger (standard charge rates every time at every supercharger)
Sorry, but technology changes and charge rates increase. Are you talking about the A/B thing? When chargers are empty, this is a great thing.
2) Detect defective superchargers through the Tesla network and repair them in a timely manner (make this a priority and perform regular maintenance)
I believe that they do, but sometimes things can't be detected with automation
3) Provide a clearly defined method within the car to report supercharger issues (put an icon in the Tesla screen to report supercharger problem)
I thought that the Tesla number in the car has a specific option for charging issues.
4) Provide a method in cars and at the supercharger site to indicate charge stations that are down (this prevents users from tying to charge at defective superchargers)
Maybe something better can be done, but it is rare. You ought to try charging and the DC fast chargers that other EVs use.
5) Provide indications within the in car navigation directions of the number of chargers available (right now you have to bring up superchargers on the map and touch the specific icon to show how many slots are available, if you are navigating to a supercharger why doesn't this just show right next to the supercharger destination in navigation?)
Mine shows the number of slots on the map, when superchargers are showing.

 

[gavine]

Off topic, but I'd like to see more locations with solar canopies.

 

[NeverFollow]

Tesla is doing a good job of creating a supercharger network so that long range travel is possible. Now that the base network is out there, it's time for them to refine the process. Tesla owners depend on their cars for long distance travel and need to have a consistent charging experience.

I wonder why there is no SuperCharger waiting line mechanism:
- This would avoid any conflict issue especially when you cannot determine who was waiting first,
or if you are waiting at one end of the Supercharger row and the spot at the other end become free
so someone closer might then take the spot.
- and allow to park your car while waiting instead of blocking all the traffic.

 

[juliusa]

I wonder why there is no SuperCharger waiting line mechanism:

Because there should never be a waiting line.

We seem to survive gas lines without a waiting line mechanism.

 

[cpa]

Tesla is doing a good job of creating a supercharger network so that long range travel is possible. Now that the base network is out there, it's time for them to refine the process. Tesla owners depend on their cars for long distance travel and need to have a consistent charging experience.

Tesla is a technology company so they should be able to do the following;
1) Provide consistent charging standards at every supercharger (standard charge rates every time at every supercharger)
2) Detect defective superchargers through the Tesla network and repair them in a timely manner (make this a priority and perform regular maintenance)
3) Provide a clearly defined method within the car to report supercharger issues (put an icon in the Tesla screen to report supercharger problem)
4) Provide a method in cars and at the supercharger site to indicate charge stations that are down (this prevents users from tying to charge at defective superchargers)
5) Provide indications within the in car navigation directions of the number of chargers available (right now you have to bring up superchargers on the map and touch the specific icon to show how many slots are available, if you are navigating to a supercharger why doesn't this just show right next to the supercharger destination in navigation?)

What are your suggestions to Tesla?

#1. That might be difficult for the standard Supercharger set-up as it now stands due to sharing. In addition, there may the the odd pair that has a charging stack develop issues so it delivers a lower rate than normal.

#2. I agree with this. The network should be able to test each stall every ten minutes or so to determine its state. (Granted, I know zero about these things, so what I say may be impossible or cost prohibitive.) Repairs must be done timely regardless of location.

#3. Yes! The general toll-free number just is an epic fail when there are lengthy wait times to report these issues. Have some method via the touchscreen or the Tesla app to send a message to the Supercharger team to be reviewed and investigated further.

#4. I believe that the list of Superchargers that drops down on the left-hand side of the touchscreen is where the occupancy information should be displayed in a larger font size. We cannot count the little red hash marks on the touchscreen without taking our eyes off the road. Moreover, this is where any notification of "reduced service" or closure should be presented. Reduced service should be defined as either "X stalls are reporting charging issues," or "all stalls are experiencing intermittent reduced charging levels."

#5. Partly addressed above with the disclosure on the large vertical strip that lists the Superchargers with their availability. Then, the occupied, vacant, and problem stalls should be displayed at each location to give the driver an idea as to which stall to select upon arrival. This would be fairly simple at locations with <20 stalls or so, but might be problematic at the larger locations like Kettleman City.

A. The display of Supercharger locations needs much improvement. I was recently in the Rancho Mirage area. When I pressed the charging icon on the touchscreen, one (yes one) Supercharger appeared. It was Indio. The remaining 15+ locations were all destination chargers. Really? We should be able to exclude destination chargers if desired. We should be able to exclude Superchargers that are not in the direction that we are headed, or that are along an alternate route of which we have no desire to take. The Superchargers should not be listed by air miles. Here in Fresno, the seventh (and last) Supercharger that appears on the touchscreen is Mammoth Lakes, about 74 miles away. This is patently absurd. Superchargers within 80% range of our house that are omitted include Tejon Ranch, Atascadero, San Luis Obispo, Manteca, Sacramento, Gustine, Hollister, Gilroy. Why not list those instead? Why not ask us what highway(s) and directions we plan to take, and only list those that are along that route?

B. The navigation by Supercharger is condescending (at least to me.) Once I dial in my destination, I do not get a choice of routes. I must stick to some computer program to tell me what route to take, where to stop, and for how long to stop. I should be able to select my route. I should be able to decide whether I should charge at X for 45 minutes, bypass Y, and arrive at Z with 15% to charge for an hour to bypass Q to arrive at R with 12% instead of charging at X for 15 minutes, charge at Y for 40 minutes, bypass Z, charge at Q for 35 minutes to arrive at R. Maybe Q is a crappy location like Quartzsite or Lovelock. Maybe Z is around lunch or dinner time with lots of choices to eat.

 

[mjrandle]

Can't agree more. Especially with #3-5. Yesterday I pulled into the Springfield, IL SC and all stalls were down - not working. Stuck with 30 miles range and a pissed off wife. Had to go to a L2 and sit for 3 hours to get enough range for a different SC. Contacted Tesla and they were not aware of the SC being down. The outage was posted on Plugshare. No doubt his needs to improve.

Tesla is doing a good job of creating a supercharger network so that long range travel is possible. Now that the base network is out there, it's time for them to refine the process. Tesla owners depend on their cars for long distance travel and need to have a consistent charging experience.

Tesla is a technology company so they should be able to do the following;
1) Provide consistent charging standards at every supercharger (standard charge rates every time at every supercharger)
2) Detect defective superchargers through the Tesla network and repair them in a timely manner (make this a priority and perform regular maintenance)
3) Provide a clearly defined method within the car to report supercharger issues (put an icon in the Tesla screen to report supercharger problem)
4) Provide a method in cars and at the supercharger site to indicate charge stations that are down (this prevents users from tying to charge at defective superchargers)
5) Provide indications within the in car navigation directions of the number of chargers available (right now you have to bring up superchargers on the map and touch the specific icon to show how many slots are available, if you are navigating to a supercharger why doesn't this just show right next to the supercharger destination in navigation?)

What are your suggestions to Tesla?

 

[roblab]

I wonder why there is no SuperCharger waiting line mechanism:
- This would avoid any conflict issue especially when you cannot determine who was waiting first,
or if you are waiting at one end of the Supercharger row and the spot at the other end become free
so someone closer might then take the spot.
- and allow to park your car while waiting instead of blocking all the traffic.

All you have to do is get out of your car and walk up to a couple of the waiting cars. Just ask who all is ahead of you.

Captain Obvious also wants to remind everyone that THIS IS A FREE SERVICE. Tesla is giving you a free charge, unlike every other company. If you don't like waiting, go ask the locals ahead of you to go charge at home, although I did that once and was assured it was their right to charge free instead of at home, a hefty three mile drive.

 

[Rocky_H]

The navigation by Supercharger is condescending (at least to me.) Once I dial in my destination, I do not get a choice of routes. I must stick to some computer program to tell me what route to take, where to stop, and for how long to stop. I should be able to select my route.

You're the one holding the steering wheel. You do get to choose what route you take. We are not yet in that dystopian future where the AI has taken over and drives you somewhere you don't want to go. If there is a different Supercharger you want to go to, pick that one and navigate to it. You aren't being forced to go on the route the car suggests to you or use the Superchargers it suggests.

 

[ljbad4life]

You're the one holding the steering wheel. You do get to choose what route you take. We are not yet in that dystopian future where the AI has taken over and drives you somewhere you don't want to go. If there is a different Supercharger you want to go to, pick that one and navigate to it. You aren't being forced to go on the route the car suggests to you or use the Superchargers it suggests.

I agree to with you to a point. I drove from NYC to Toronto. On the way up I followed the nav to the T(elsa ) with charging stops etc. On the way back i knew there was one supercharger I wanted to avoid because it was located near a denny's and a dunkin donuts and that's it. I manually routed to each supercharger.

At that point I had the confidence in the car and the terrain that I was comfortable driving more on my own. A more flexible supercharging navigation would be good for the more experienced drivers and would have made it easier for me in that instance. It's a want but definitely not a need and it's not that high up on my list of wants from Tesla at the moment.

 

[TexasEV]

There is flexible supercharger navigation. Navigate to the supercharger you want to go to. From there navigate to the next one you want to go to. Rinse and repeat.

 

[cpa]

I guess I did not make myself clear, so here is the unabbreviated version:

From my garage the screen lists the following seven Superchargers with the "distances" in parenthesis: Fresno (3); Fish Camp (45); Harris Ranch (46); Kettleman City (59); Gustine (67); Groveland (72); Mammoth Lakes (74). What is the logic behind listing a SC three miles from my house when my battery is at 75%? This makes zero sense to me. When I dial the screen out for a larger area, a handful of others are visible like Atascadero, San Luis Obispo, Buttonwillow, Bakersfield - West, and Manteca. Manteca, Atascadero, and San Luis Obispo are sensible locations to stop if needed. But Buttonwillow and Bakersfield (both on interstate 5) are out of the way since highway 99 is a direct route south.

Well, guess what, Groveland is almost impossible to reach with a nearly full battery (especially in winter) and Mammoth Lakes IS impossible to reach when Tioga Pass is open without stopping at Fish Camp to charge to about 80+%. And today, with Tioga Pass closed for the winter, it is an 8-9 hour drive plus charging time to reach Mammoth Lakes.

The Superchargers that I would use would be Tejon Ranch and/or Santa Clarita if heading south. Mojave if heading east. Sacramento, Roseville, Rocklin, Folsom (either one) if heading north or northeast. If heading to the bay area, I would have a choice of a number of locations like Dublin, Livermore, Concord, Gilroy, et cetera. Yet those locations are but an overlapping blur on the touchscreen if they are even visible at all. Typing in "Supercharger - whatever" does not work for me. The circle of doom just keeps spinning and spinning and craps out. So, if I am on the road, I have to pull over, check PlugShare for the street address, and then enter that into the touchscreen. If I am home, I have to do the same thing to determine if I have enough charge now, or if I need to add additional charge before I depart.

So, yes, I use a paper map if I am in unfamiliar surroundings, otherwise I just go from memory. I use EVTripplanner. I dial in each Supercharger station-by-station. I've been doing this since Tesla released the program. But for the new owners who are not up to speed on these alternate methods, the navigation system fails them until they become comfortable with the method behind Tesla's programming.

Finally, even when dialing in a location, the software wants to route me via Superchargers. It is easy to drive west across the Sierra from Bridgeport or the Gardnerville Supercharger via highway 108 (when open) or from Minden, Nevada, across either highway 88 or highway 4 (again when open) to my home if I leave with a 90% charge. I usually arrive home with about 15-20%. Yet time after time the software routes me to either US50 or Interstate 80 and wants me to charge at one or more Superchargers en route. This adds about 70 miles and nearly two hours. It is not until I surmount the crest of the Sierra Nevada and am cruising downhill that the software recalculates the route and determines that I can make it home without stopping. These are but two examples out of about six that I have experienced the past three years where the software routed me along a route that was full of Superchargers, but not the route that was shorter and easily reached with my current state of charge.

So, for my purposes, there is a lot of room for improvement to make it easier to find the locations and to determine the proper level of charge for the route desired, not the route foisted upon me by the programmers.

 

[Rocky_H]

@cpa It sounds like you just don't want any Supercharger suggestions en route and want to pick your route entirely yourself. I will say I prefer that too. Just go into the settings and turn off the "Beta Trip Planner" feature. It will just route directly to the destination you pick instead of trying to send you off on side jaunts to Superchargers it thinks you need.

Or, if it has plotted a route with one of those detours, there is button right there in the Nav for "remove Supercharger stops".

 

[NeverFollow]

You're the one holding the steering wheel. You do get to choose what route you take.
We are not yet in that 'dystonia' future where the AI has taken over and drives you somewhere you don't want to go.
If there is a different Supercharger you want to go to, pick that one and navigate to it.
You aren't being forced to go on the route the car suggests to you or use the Superchargers it suggests.

The navigation feature is not very practical and almost useless.

When selecting a destination, using supercharger or not,
you should be able to select an itinerary or to make any modification you would like like with Google map.

What the point to have a graphical screen if you cannot select a location by just touching the screen?

When you are in a city, sometimes the Tesla navigation decides to take what seems to be the shortest road
and make you use some narrow residential streets, instead of taking some major highways.

You should have a set of options like Google maps, such as using Hwy or not, avoiding HOV,
re-routing to avoid traffic...

If you don't follow the given itinerary, the voice activated instructions then asks you to constantly make a U-turn
to go back to the initial road. This is very annoying. So I have to turn off the sound, but I cannot listen to any music or use my phone.

As a result, I don't use the navigation system, I only use the map to display my current GPS location.

 

[gavine]

So I have to turn off the sound, but I cannot listen to any music or use my phone.

You can turn off the navigation sound without affecting the stereo. You can also adjust the navigation volume independently.