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

[jaguar36]

There are two reasons Tesla builds superchargers. One is for traveling and one is for use in a city. The latter isn't discussed as much because they don't really want people to use them instead of charging at home, however they have built a number in downtown locations that don't make sense for traveling.

While obviously more supercharges are better, with Laurel going in Bethesda doesn't make sense for traveling. There is one on each interstate going out of DC. Hagerstown on 270, Strasburg on 66, laurel on 95N, and Woodbridge on 95S. It also isn't really close enough to downtown to make sense for a city location. So while I'm sad to see it go, and would love to see a replacement, at this point there are much more pressing locations.

 

[scottreds2k]

There is one on each interstate going out of DC. Hagerstown on 270, Strasburg on 66, laurel on 95N, and Woodbridge on 95S.

Hagerstown is not on 270, it's 30 miles west of Frederick on 70. If you're planning on traveling N/NE of Frederick from the Beltway, you're not going to Hagerstown to charge. The next Supercharger is Harrisburg

 

[Sir Guacamolaf]

Here is an example of a trip that would benefit from a supercharger in the 270/495 interchange area.
If you are coming from greenbelt or below (annapolis, etc.), and wanted to make a roundtrip to winchester,va, harpers ferry, frederick etc. You couldn't do that comfortably without a super charger in the middle. Most metro areas have superchargers less than every 100 miles. So certainly DC is behind when it comes to supercharger locations.

 

[jdo]

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.

I agree, the current model for Superchargers is absolutely unsustainable if Tesla gets to 500K sales per year, no matter how many more they build. For the foreseeable future, the time to charge up at an SC is never going be competitive with that for gassing up, so any kind of extra waiting will be deal-breakers for most potential buyers. The only solution that makes sense is a payment system, and likely franchising SCs in a manner similar to gas stations.

I'm guessing most people will understand this, but there will still be some angry about losing free SCing as an entitlement.

 

[Sir Guacamolaf]

I agree, the current model for Superchargers is absolutely unsustainable if Tesla gets to 500K sales per year, no matter how many more they build. For the foreseeable future, the time to charge up at an SC is never going be competitive with that for gassing up, so any kind of extra waiting will be deal-breakers for most potential buyers. The only solution that makes sense is a payment system, and likely franchising SCs in a manner similar to gas stations.

I'm guessing most people will understand this, but there will still be some angry about losing free SCing as an entitlement.

EXACTLY! For so many reasons Tesla needs to look into franchising SC tech so they are as common as gas stations. The patents are already open, but that isn't enough. As far as payment system, Tesla can always take the stance of "If you buy a Model S today .. you will need to pay 5 bucks to charge" .. etc. So that way they don't break their promise.

But yes, they need to get out "SC is free for life" stance. That is just not sustainable, no matter how you slice and dice it.

The inconvenience around charging is the #1 downside of owning an EV, BY FAR!

 

[TexasEV]

I agree, the current model for Superchargers is absolutely unsustainable if Tesla gets to 500K sales per year, no matter how many more they build. For the foreseeable future, the time to charge up at an SC is never going be competitive with that for gassing up, so any kind of extra waiting will be deal-breakers for most potential buyers. The only solution that makes sense is a payment system, and likely franchising SCs in a manner similar to gas stations.

I'm guessing most people will understand this, but there will still be some angry about losing free SCing as an entitlement.

This is only true for people who go to a supercharger to charge, or think they have to go to a supercharger to charge. Most charging is done overnight at home. That time is more than competitive with going to a gas station- a few seconds to plug in at night and a few seconds to unplug in the morning. Most people don't drive supercharger-length trips more than a few times a year.

 

[Sir Guacamolaf]

This is only true for people who go to a supercharger to charge, or think they have to go to a supercharger to charge. Most charging is done overnight at home. That time is more than competitive with going to a gas station- a few seconds to plug in at night and a few seconds to unplug in the morning. Most people don't drive supercharger-length trips more than a few times a year.

Experience has shown that people are cheap. Which is why taking the incentive of free electricity away from superchargers will coax people to not abuse it.

 

[techmaven]

EXACTLY! For so many reasons Tesla needs to look into franchising SC tech so they are as common as gas stations. The patents are already open, but that isn't enough. As far as payment system, Tesla can always take the stance of "If you buy a Model S today .. you will need to pay 5 bucks to charge" .. etc. So that way they don't break their promise.

But yes, they need to get out "SC is free for life" stance. That is just not sustainable, no matter how you slice and dice it.

The inconvenience around charging is the #1 downside of owning an EV, BY FAR!

No, no, no.... gas station model is exactly what we should not do. The grid demand is terrible and the costs are unsustainable for people using Superchargers as their primary means of charging.

SC free for life is absolutely possible, as long as Tesla charges enough up front and 90% of the charging is at home or wherever the car is parked for a long time. It's a lot like buying solar, which is basically buying a futures contract on electricity.

Your car is parked for roughly 21-23 hours a day on the vast majority of days. Your vehicle should charge during those times. Ideally, a night when the grid demand is very low or during the day if you are charging off solar.

As for the D.C. area, we need one probably just north of Gaithersburg... maybe Germantown. And something west, like Leesburg and something east, like Bowie. Then we're pretty much set as far as Superchargers for a while... and that should be complemented with the Destination Charging program as well as other EV charging solutions such that every hotel, convention center, and most parking decks have slow AC charging.

 

[scot]

Tech: I already suggested a great location near leesburg (one loudoun) but post after post shot it down, and it needs requests from us to get it done. Even had the builder and management on board as it was and still is under construction with new parking garages going in.

The bethesda location is VASTLY better than the new location, though of course it needed an 8 bay supercharger. While I get the idea, Montgomery Mall was directly inline with most 495/270 travelers. The new location is only useful for people going north on 95, not travelers going west to 270 or going east on 50 who may not be headed to salisbury, or where salisbury is out of the way.

The 2016 map shows a location near Annapolis/BayBridge but no official word on it that I have heard of.

We need a better way to get around in this area, even a day trip for work (200mi for me some days) is an effort in frustration and nerves due to lack of charging opportunities. Something the current 208v30amp j1772 rollouts really won't help with as they take too long if you can't make it to a meeting.

 

[Sir Guacamolaf]

Heads up - Newark is down! Laurel is not yet online. Have fun charging at the two sipperchargers in Montgomery Mall before they shut them down permanently (1 more week).

They really need to not shut down, but expand and improve the Montgomery mall location. I'd be very nervous planning a trip with a "must rely on" supercharger going down at an inopportune moment.

 

[Lanny]

With Newark down, you just need to drive slower. ;-)

 

[mikeash]

Or drive shorter. I'm not familiar with that area besides I-95 itself, but from the map it looks like you could take route 40 to slice off a bunch of miles. As a bonus, the smaller road would naturally have you driving slower too.

 

[Half Dollar Bill]

With Newark down, you just need to drive slower. ;-)

View attachment 182289

Aww, are you on your way to the Egg Harbor supercharger? I was thinking of doing that this weekend

 

[Sir Guacamolaf]

Or drive shorter. I'm not familiar with that area besides I-95 itself, but from the map it looks like you could take route 40 to slice off a bunch of miles. As a bonus, the smaller road would naturally have you driving slower too.

I've tried that in an ICE. I didn't save time of course, and there are a lot of red lights. I wonder if in a Tesla it'd be different. Towards Atlantic city is particularly bad for public charging spots (my knowledge is 1+ year old).

 

[mikeash]

I'm sure route 40 would be no faster, but the idea is that you'll use less energy due to it being slower and less distance, and hopefully not lose too much time. There are a lot of cases out there where there are two routes with a five or ten minute time difference but a substantial mileage and energy usage distance, and Tesla's navigation always goes for least time.

 

[PatD]

Going by what the bible says. . . Interesting RM!

 

[mikeash]

Hey, actual numbers, cool!

According to that, you'll lose about 13 minutes, but save about 38 rated miles. I played with the speed multiplier to make the longer trip take 13 extra minutes, and with your settings that gets it down to 77 rated miles, for a savings of 13. So at least in this case, it's a lot more effective to take a shorter but slower route than it is to keep to the original route but slow down to save energy, if your goal is to maximize efficiency.

 

[vdiv]

As Eric Garcetti said in WKTEC "From my charger's dead cold hands!" except that Bethesda supercharger's hands have always been rather warm, especially when recently shaken

 

[CHRGIT]

Maybe when this station is decommissioned, Tesla will keep these Superchargers on a trailer and can drive them to stations that are "temporarily" down.

 

[Lanny]

Maybe when this station is decommissioned, Tesla will keep these Superchargers on a trailer and can drive them to stations that are "temporarily" down.

Yes. I had assumed that Tesla already had some portable Superchargers that were staged and ready to be delivered for such a contingency. Perhaps not.