Supercharger - Bowling Green, KY

[ElectricTundra]

For nearly 2.5 years I had not driven more than to a Supercharger and back. The past 2 weeks I have driven 2000 miles on Superchargers. When the goal of Supercharging is to get from city to city the fastest way is about 100 miles between and battery charged to about 150 miles, arriving with 50 to spare. At 50 miles the full 120 kW charge rate applies and one can be in and out in about 20 minutes. A "deep soak" to span 190 miles of Nashville-Louisville is about an hour.

I think likely true for absolute shortest time A to B and assuming the chargers are all close easy-off easy-on the interstate (Country Club need not apply).

From a best day of driving standpoint however I think we prefer; drive 2 hrs (160 miles?), morning coffee break, drive 2, lunch charge, drive 2-3 afternoon espresso break, drive 2-3, no more espresso if I want to sleep so tea will do nicely, drive 2, dinner, maybe drive a bit more. Reality often means an extra stop or 3, particularly in really cold weather or just simple charger spacing.

 

[ElectricTundra]

Yes. The bias to shorter spacing could be because Tesla, for obvious reasons, likes to put Superchargers near intersections of Interstates and major US Numbered Highways, so those intersections determine spacing. But, Tesla had a couple of larger gaps on I-10 and I-95 and filled them in after dependent construction was completed.

The must durable gaps greater than 150 miles seem to be on I-5.
Manteca, CA to Corning, CA is 175 miles.
Centralia, WA to Burlington, WA is 151 miles.
There are also some bigger gaps if you consider multiple Interstates. I believe that Tesla does look at multiple Interstates and will continue to back-fill gaps. Shorter distances improve tolerance of site failures, and helps avoid congested nodes.

Thanks for all the stats. Very true on the last statement. It will also be nice to eventually have some better choices of where to charge with better restaurant options rather than choosing from what's available where we need to charge.

 

[WhitestoneFarm]

Photo of 8 stalls under construction:

Looking forward to seeing this one open as it should enable us to travel more easily into western Kentucky!

 

[ModelZ]

So...Road trip in a couple of weeks!

 

[JPWhite]

@Rifleman

"Not only would it require a full range charge at each station to give sufficient margin, things like a cold or hot day, higher speed limit, elevation change, passengers or cargo, or battery degradation can eat into that margin quickly."

So how much "margin" do you feel comfortable with?

 

[JPWhite]

There are also some bigger gaps if you consider multiple Interstates. I believe that Tesla does look at multiple Interstates and will continue to back-fill gaps. Shorter distances improve tolerance of site failures, and helps avoid congested nodes.

If we are trading fisherman's tales about the biggest gap, how about Nashville SC to Oklahoma City SC along I-40 (and a bit of I-65/840)?

694 miles.

As the man at the Bank Underground station says, "Mind the gap"

 

[Rifleman]

@Rifleman

"Not only would it require a full range charge at each station to give sufficient margin, things like a cold or hot day, higher speed limit, elevation change, passengers or cargo, or battery degradation can eat into that margin quickly."

So how much "margin" do you feel comfortable with?

I am probably more conservative than most when it comes to range margin. The amount of margin I give myself depends on where the final destination is located. If it is in an area with lots of L2 charging to divert to if things go poorly, I will generally only charge to 15-20 miles more than what I think I need. If I am going to a charger like Lexington or Somerset, that has very few L2 options along the way, I try to give myself 40 miles more than I think I need.

 

[Rocky_H]

@Rifleman

"Not only would it require a full range charge at each station to give sufficient margin, things like a cold or hot day, higher speed limit, elevation change, passengers or cargo, or battery degradation can eat into that margin quickly."

So how much "margin" do you feel comfortable with?

The thing I really like about the Tesla is how much information it gives you as you drive to know how well you are doing and how much you may need to adjust to make it. In the Energy: Trips tab, where it shows the % remaining at your destination, I have departed with a full battery, and estimated -2% and a 6% on two different trips and made them both by careful driving. That's obviously not my preferred margin, but it's good to know the car well enough that you can do it. If it's just hopping from one Supercharger to the next, I shoot for between 15 and 20% remaining.

 

[JPWhite]

I am probably more conservative than most when it comes to range margin. The amount of margin I give myself depends on where the final destination is located. If it is in an area with lots of L2 charging to divert to if things go poorly, I will generally only charge to 15-20 miles more than what I think I need. If I am going to a charger like Lexington or Somerset, that has very few L2 options along the way, I try to give myself 40 miles more than I think I need.

You are correct that is quite conservative. I think I will do famously in the Model 3.

Your 40 mile "margin" is my typical driving range

If I get home with more than 1 mile to spare before low battery warning in my LEAF I feel I've had it easy!! As awkward as it can be to drive a limited range EV like the LEAF I think I will be much more accepting of the Model 3 and gaps between SC's than say a typical gasoline driver. EV's are very accurate at predicting when they will be empty compared to a gasoline fuel gauge. Inaccuracy is what leads to range anxiety, I've added tools to my LEAF to provide such accuracy such that I have replaced range anxiety with range confidence.

 

[Rifleman]

You are correct that is quite conservative. I think I will do famously in the Model 3.

Your 40 mile "margin" is my typical driving range

If I get home with more than 1 mile to spare before low battery warning in my LEAF I feel I've had it easy!! As awkward as it can be to drive a limited range EV like the LEAF I think I will be much more accepting of the Model 3 and gaps between SC's than say a typical gasoline driver. EV's are very accurate at predicting when they will be empty compared to a gasoline fuel gauge. Inaccuracy is what leads to range anxiety, I've added tools to my LEAF to provide such accuracy such that I have replaced range anxiety with range confidence.

If you drive a Leaf now, you are going to do great with a Model 3. I agree that lower range EV owners who transition to Model 3 will have significantly less range anxiety than the typcial ICE convert. That being said, I leased a volt for 3 years before I owned my Model S, and I still leave myself a 10-20% margin for every leg of a road trip in my Model S.

 

[ElectricTundra]

Until chargers (and tow trucks w/ huge batteries of extra electrons) are more common it's always good to leave a bit extra for the unexpected. Driving through KY once we had a long detour due to a rock slide that added 25 miles and a lot of up and down compared to the motorway. In this case we were going so slow due to traffic that we actually had more range left than the original route prediction but it also could have gone the other way.

I don't worry if I'm only predicted to have 5% but 10% to 20% is a bit more relaxing.

 

[ElectricTundra]

Looking forward to seeing this one open as it should enable us to travel more easily into western Kentucky!

And allow us a more direct route down I-65 to the gulf coast rather than taking the longer route through Lexington & Knoxville. (Thanks for the pic btw).

 

[Zcar]

I'll be in the area this Sunday and will post updates.

 

[Skione65]

Looks like it's coming along nicely! Let us know when it's active. Looks like site cleanup, a little sod and good to go. Where in Bowling Green is it located?

Ski

 

[Zcar]

It's in the Meijer's parking lot, just off to the side. Actual address is 1676 Westpark Dr. which is a whole new area of development in the past few years. Not super convenient from I-65 as Scottsville Rd can get busy at times, but there are a few shops within reasonable walking distance.

 

[Zcar]

As of an hour ago...the transformer has landed!

 

[Skione65]

As of an hour ago...the transformer has landed!

@Zcar,

Looks great.....no cables on the SuperChargers yet though. Guess that's next. Sites coming along.
Thanks for the updates!

Ski

 

[Jtrader]

Looks like it's almost there. What are that chances it opens by this weekend? I need it Sunday.

 

[ElectricTundra]

Looks like it's almost there. What are that chances it opens by this weekend? I need it Sunday.

Possible but not necessarily likely. There are a lot of things outside of Tesla's control. Once construction is complete then it has to be inspected and then the power company will tie in and then Tesla will test and open.

Some great info on supercharge.info under charts. It'd be interesting to see a chart showing how many chargers took how many days from beginning of construction to open.

 

[e of pi]

Some great info on supercharge.info under charts. It'd be interesting to see a chart showing how many chargers took how many days from beginning of construction to open.

Pulling supercharge.info's...info, I looked at the 220 US superchargers that had both a date for "under construction" and "open". (A few weren't added under construction--they turned up complete and were immediately added as Open.)