Supercharger - Bethesda, MD (Permanently Closed, Oct 2016)

[DiamondDave]

Visited the Bethesda supercharger this afternoon. (There are a few issues I need to get sorted before I will have the 14-50 plug in my garage. I also wanted to try supercharging!) One other person got there when I did at 2pm. Charged from 26 to 90%, 170 miles, in about an hour, just enough time for lunch at Blaze Pizza.

This notice was posted on the Supercharger confirming that there is no plan to upgrade this site. Decommission date is June 30.

2016-05-17 14.00.06

• DiamondDave
• May 17, 2016

Bethesda Supercharger will be decommissioned on June 30, 2016. The new Laurel Supercharger will...

2016-05-17 14.00.25

• DiamondDave
• May 17, 2016

Charging at Bethesda Supercharger. About 170 rated miles in an hour.

 

[Sir Guacamolaf]

Ooh that sucks. This pretty much kills any hope of having a SC around 270 at least in the near term.

 

[techmaven]

I would think the "right" place for a Supercharger on I-270 is around Germantown Road. Heading towards the city, it's before the Intercounty Connector. It's almost half way to Frederick from the I-270/I-495 interchange. It's only 47 miles from Woodbridge, but if you went from Germantown to, say, Dulles Airport and back, that's 70 miles or so. Or the other side of the Beltway, like Clinton and back would be 100 miles. It's also 97 miles to the Harrisburg Supercharger. It's also 85 miles to Roundtop Ski resort, so it's a 170 mile roundtrip. I don't think it should be any closer to D.C.

Another possibility is Urbana, off Route 80.

I still think the parking lot where Panera, Chick-fil-A, Taco Bell, Red Robin, etc. is the most ideal, but I don't know how crazy it gets there.

 

[WABarb]

They need to realize that 95 N to Laurel is significantly different from 270 and the traffic volumes are huge on the 270 corridor. Hopefully they add one in any of the areas that @techmaven mentioned.

 

[brad.md.us]

Over the weekend I noticed that the a notice has been posted on the charging units at MM that this temporary location will be taken offline. Sorry, but I didn't note the date so someone else can post that info.

For those occasions where I made a list minute decision to take a road trip or when returning from one the slow chargers at Montgomery Mall came in very handy for me. I really hope that another location (in addition to Laurel) is added to help the DMV area owners and for the I-270 corridor.

 

[Sir Guacamolaf]

I stopped by the MM store and asked. They clearly told me that the unit will be removed, and no plans of adding anything close by in the near future. Really hope they add a SuC location somewhere on 270, ideally closer to 495 so it accommodates both freeways.

 

[techmaven]

I think if people can come to a consensus, do some legwork, we have an ability to affect the next Supercharger location in the DC area especially since that location apparently hasn't decided yet. Especially if we can do the legwork to convince a local business/mall/plaza owner that to give Tesla a sweet deal. Then with that consensus we can present it Tesla with the weight of many owners.

 

[Curt]

I'll support the group in this, but only if it includes a requirement for an HPC or HPWC at the site so ALL Tesla owners can benefit from it.

Just sayin'

 

[CHRGIT]

Another area that needs to be looked at for a Supercharger is Annapolis, MD. Without taking a multi-mile detour through Laurel, there is just over 200 miles from Salisbury to Harrisburg & over 200 miles from Salisbury to Strasburg & 147 miles to Woodbridge from Salisbury. Pretty important for those beach weekends. It would allow avoiding the I95 corridor and going through the Eastern shore to Newark. It would also make the Delaware beaches much more accessible without needing to go to Salisbury. The local beach chargers have improved significantly in the past 12 months, but Superchargers are for trips.

 

[techmaven]

I think long term, there will be many more Superchargers in the DC and Baltimore area, much like LA or SF. We just need to convince more people to buy more Tesla's in the area.

I think I-270 corridor and I-66 corridor are prime contenders...

I would love to see one in the Bowie area, another in the Gainesville/Haymarket area, and another in the Germantown/Clarksburg area. Then another in the Elkridge area near Baltimore. And then finally, somewhere around Brandywine/Waldorf.

I think as Tesla sales double/triple in the DC area, we will start to get Supercharger rollout like that.

 

[Skipdd]

Another area that needs to be looked at for a Supercharger is Annapolis, MD. Without taking a multi-mile detour through Laurel, there is just over 200 miles from Salisbury to Harrisburg & over 200 miles from Salisbury to Strasburg & 147 miles to Woodbridge from Salisbury. Pretty important for those beach weekends. It would allow avoiding the I95 corridor and going through the Eastern shore to Newark. It would also make the Delaware beaches much more accessible without needing to go to Salisbury. The local beach chargers have improved significantly in the past 12 months, but Superchargers are for trips.

I second the Annapolis request. I get nervous every time I look at going to the Eastern Shore. Salisbury is not convenient to most of the places I want to go. And there is a dearth of public high capacity chargers as well. I have the same problem when I go to Southern Maryland - a Supercharger in Waldorf would also be useful.

As for the DC area, that would also be great. Maybe someone could talk to the Federal Realty folks about locating a SC at either Pike and Rose or at the new mixed use development being built at White Flint. Either one would be a great spot and would bring additional clients to their tenants..

 

[CatB]

+1 on Waldorf. Right now 301/Harry Nice Bridge is only do-able if you plan to charge in Glen Allen. If you want to take 17 down to the beaches, Waldorf would help a lot (or maybe Port Royal, which one has better "nice lunch" options, as well as 24/7 services that make late night stops more secure?)

 

[CHRGIT]

The orange supercharger icon has disappeared from plugshare. The green icons are still there. Looks like it is slowly disappearing.

 

[Sir Guacamolaf]

Still hoping Tesla decides to put a real supercharger in the vicinity. :-/ sorta sucks that we are loosing this.

 

[CatB]

+100 Initially, there was talk of finding another Bethesda location, but I'm afraid our griping about the limo service convinced them it would make more sense to wait until that company figures out and implements their own private solution before adding one in. I've met a few people traveling who needed it legitimately, a lot of new owners who were waiting on installations, a few people who don't have charging options at home, but I'd guess still a lot of "local abusers."

 

[Sir Guacamolaf]

Speaking of abusers ..

Filling gas = 5 min
Charging your car = 1 hour ~ 12 times longer. .. and if you consider range, then its more than 12 times.

So for 1/12th the Tesla's as compared to ICE cars, you will need the same # of super chargers, as gas stations to see the same level of congestion. No matter what Tesla does, the supercharger situation in 3-5 years will be ugly.

The only counterbalance to this is to charge at home, because once you consider home as a gas station, the # of chargers is far greater than number of gas stations.

So ..... IMO ..... Tesla should charge for supercharging, the same price they'd charge you as what you'd pay at home. Basically take away the incentive to leech. And that is the only long term solution to this supercharger issue. Otherwise good luck when Model 3 rolls out.

I for one would GLADLY pay 5 bucks to supercharge if that meant I didn't have to wait in lines, EVER, and superchargers were as plentiful as gas stations, and that I didn't have to plan trips around superchargers, that I could just google directions, and go.

 

[mikeash]

Home charging changes the picture a lot. 90% of Tesla miles aren't Supercharged, so the number of stations needed drops by a factor of 10.

The slower charging speed and the reduced need roughly cancel each other out, so for the same number of cars you need about the same number of stations.

 

[mmccord]

Unfortunately, it's not even that simple. 90% of charging may happen at home, but long-distance travel has a tendency to happen in droves. When do people drive long distances? Weekends in the summer and holidays, primarily. We've seen it already in Newark and on the West Coast.

 

[scaesare]

Still hoping Tesla decides to put a real supercharger in the vicinity. :-/ sorta sucks that we are loosing this.

I agree... I work around the corner, and while the temp installation wasn't great, the general vicinity could really benefit from retaining supercharger capability...

 

[Reba]

Add me to the list wanting a better solution for this area. Laurel probably will work most of the time for me. But I drive back and forth MD to VA without having destination charging yet so I have needed to use Bethesda or Tyson's.

I ran into the limo service guys here. They do seem to charge here a lot and for a long time.