Supercharger - Brandon, MB

[wayner]

Hopefully this site won't be busy but that sucks as it could be almost permanently ICE'd by short term parkers.

 

[DigAdrenaline]

Yes; there are stretches of the TCH where there is actually nothing. No farms, no corner gas stations, no occasional cottages. Certainly no random power feeds of the right magnitude. Plus they wouldn't want to put that sort of equipment away from some sort of small restaurant/gas station where there are people to watch it. Otherwise, it's too easy for idiots to vandalize. There really isn't an appropriate spot to put anything between Thunder Bay and Upsala except English River, which is too close to TB. Similarly, There is nothing between Wawa and Sault Ste Marie in close to the right place except Bachawana.

If someone wants to start a restaurant, it might make sense. I'd be curious to know how many truckers pass by every day.

 

[tmoz]

Any update here? Are the SCs along Highway 1 go live all at the same time?

 

[Manitoba Keith]

Was hoping to hear that all the TCH #1 were active by December 1.

 

[tmoz]

Any update here? Are the SCs along Highway 1 go live all at the same time?

Are the SCs along Highway 1 supposed to go live all at the same time?
Too late to fix my grammar, so I had to repost. Drove me crazy.

 

[ccudmore]

Are the SCs along Highway 1 supposed to go live all at the same time?
Too late to fix my grammar, so I had to repost. Drove me crazy.

No one from the public knows. Tesla has never (from what I've read or seen) released opening dates for SuperChargers.

 

[MarcoRP]

No one from the public knows. Tesla has never (from what I've read or seen) released opening dates for SuperChargers.

Are you sure about that?

Chatted with mobile service when car was being worked on, asked about when the path to Thunder Bay from Toronto will be turned on since it looks like everything is in place in a number of the locations. He pulled up a spreadsheet that he just got and asked when I was headed up, I said Dec 12th, he said, don't complain if it is not on, but it looks like you could even leave on the 10th if I wanted. So no guarantees, but looks like Wawa, Sault etc might be turned on by then.

 

[PLUS EV]

Are you sure about that?

These type of reports are batting below the Mendoza Line historically. I wouldn't put much stock in them.

 

[XHabjab]

Are you sure about that?

Okay, nobody publicly knows.
There are a lot of claims, but all the observations I've seen is somebody BSing somebody else as if from a point of faux authority on the matter.
Just for the TCH, we've had 4 or 5 theses on what is happening, all shot down so far. Shooting the breeze with a "Tesla guy at location X" so far seems to have little credibility.
Whatever is happening is ridiculous but we don't really know what the plan is.

So far, the guidance that is wrong has come from

• Staff at the gas station or business on property
• SC Construction workers
• Electric providers
  
• Tesla Service Center staff ( <- perhaps the poorest source)
  
• Newspapers (and the chain that feeds them: Facebook etc.)
  
• TMC members (including you, me and several others)

Some of the things that they are doing with current builds are also out of the ordinary and are throwing off the crowdsource info:

• Installing the transformer before anything else
• V3 sites are built differently (duh)
• Construction late into the winter months
  
• Never before have so many SCs been built to the point of "not quite turning them on" as the TCH build
• Tesla never wants to isolate SCs in islands but this TCH buildout is overdoing it.

Avoiding the island stuff may have merit, but without much effort they could have now had

• Calgary to Winnipeg to Fargo (to Council Bluffs IA?)
  
• SSM to Kenora to Fargo
• SSM over Lake Superior to Duluth
• Duluth to Kenora
  
• Minneapolis to Seattle
  
• (lots of other choices)

SSM to Duluth seems to have the least value in this list but I don't understand why they are holding up the rest of the chain for Wawa and Batchawana Bay.

Tesla is doing something really bizarre that is unprecedented. There are a lot of pissed off Tesla owners and lost sales from this. They are shooting themselves in the foot.

Somebody obviously knows. But nobody that really knows is providing correct information. And it is intentional. And the grand plan is dumb.

Sorry, somebody kicked my dog today. Need another beer.

 

[PLUS EV]

Okay, nobody publicly knows.
There are a lot of claims, but all the observations I've seen is somebody BSing somebody else as if from a point of faux authority on the matter.
Just for the TCH, we've had 4 or 5 theses on what is happening, all shot down so far. Shooting the breeze with a "Tesla guy at location X" so far seems to have little credibility.
Whatever is happening is ridiculous but we don't really know what the plan is.

So far, the guidance that is wrong has come from

• Staff at the gas station or business on property
• SC Construction workers
• Electric providers
  
• Tesla Service Center staff ( <- perhaps the poorest source)
  
• Newspapers (and the chain that feeds them: Facebook etc.)
  
• TMC members (including you, me and several others)

Some of the things that they are doing with current builds are also out of the ordinary and are throwing off the crowdsource info:

• Installing the transformer before anything else
• V3 sites are built differently (duh)
• Construction late into the winter months
  
• Never before have so many SCs been built to the point of "not quite turning them on" as the TCH build
• Tesla never wants to isolate SCs in islands but this TCH buildout is overdoing it.

Avoiding the island stuff may have merit, but without much effort they could have now had

• Calgary to Winnipeg to Fargo (to Council Bluffs IA?)
  
• SSM to Kenora to Fargo
• SSM over Lake Superior to Duluth
• Duluth to Kenora
  
• Minneapolis to Seattle
  
• (lots of other choices)

SSM to Duluth seems to have the least value in this list but I don't understand why they are holding up the rest of the chain for Wawa and Batchawana Bay.

Tesla is doing something really bizarre that is unprecedented. There are a lot of pissed off Tesla owners and lost sales from this. They are shooting themselves in the foot.

Somebody obviously knows. But nobody that really knows is providing correct information. And it is intentional. And the grand plan is dumb.

Sorry, somebody kicked my dog today. Need another beer.

Stay calm

 

[Manitoba Keith]

I think that they have sold all the cars they want to sell in Canada. So they have determined that if they build enough Super Chargers across Canada and fail to turn them on, it will discourage those pesky all important sales in the pre Christmas season. This will give their staff time to answer the telephones. /s

 

[ChopperMB]

I think that they have sold all the cars they want to sell in Canada. So they have determined that if they build enough Super Chargers across Canada and fail to turn them on, it will discourage those pesky all important sales in the pre Christmas season. This will give their staff time to answer the telephones. /s

I know that I'm not buying until the SCs in MB are on

 

[DigAdrenaline]

I think that they have sold all the cars they want to sell in Canada. So they have determined that if they build enough Super Chargers across Canada and fail to turn them on, it will discourage those pesky all important sales in the pre Christmas season. This will give their staff time to answer the telephones. /s

If a built, but unpowered supercharger prevents someone from buying a car, the buyer isn't worth fighting for because they aren't thinking rationally and their goals are completely out of alignment with Tesla's. They're better off with dino juice.

Heck, if PetroCanada went to Tesla and said "Look, we just powered up our Chademo/CCS locations, and we're offering them free to people. Give us a month for word of mouth and good will to grow, and we'll open links along the Yellowhead", I would prefer Tesla give them the month. And I won't foreseeably use the Yellowhead. It's just better for everyone, rather than just me/Tesla owners. This is possible because Tesla's goal is adoption of EVs, not their own corporate domination.

Since we have no idea why they aren't on, it only makes sense to give Tesla the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps there's a power problem upstream, perhaps there's some other reason we don't know. But I have a really hard time putting any stock in the idea that Tesla spent millions of dollars, likely 10s of millions of dollars across many, many locations, and is now leaving them powered off just to be spiteful to Canadian owners. These will power up. Again, for me, I've waited several years, another month doesn't really matter much, even if it would be convenient given the timing.

EVs are still new. In planning a trip from Calgary to Miami, I was curious. A Better Route Planner can't find a way to travel that route in anything other than a Tesla. MOST EVs have it far worse than we do even without the Superchargers, and it's not hard to get into a location where superchargers won't be helpful. It's harder all the time, but it's still true. So if people NEED a supercharger, they shouldn't be buying an EV for the next several years.

 

[tmoz]

If a built, but unpowered supercharger prevents someone from buying a car, the buyer isn't worth fighting for because they aren't thinking rationally and their goals are completely out of alignment with Tesla's. They're better off with dino juice.

Heck, if PetroCanada went to Tesla and said "Look, we just powered up our Chademo/CCS locations, and we're offering them free to people. Give us a month for word of mouth and good will to grow, and we'll open links along the Yellowhead", I would prefer Tesla give them the month. And I won't foreseeably use the Yellowhead. It's just better for everyone, rather than just me/Tesla owners. This is possible because Tesla's goal is adoption of EVs, not their own corporate domination.

Since we have no idea why they aren't on, it only makes sense to give Tesla the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps there's a power problem upstream, perhaps there's some other reason we don't know. But I have a really hard time putting any stock in the idea that Tesla spent millions of dollars, likely 10s of millions of dollars across many, many locations, and is now leaving them powered off just to be spiteful to Canadian owners. These will power up. Again, for me, I've waited several years, another month doesn't really matter much, even if it would be convenient given the timing.

EVs are still new. In planning a trip from Calgary to Miami, I was curious. A Better Route Planner can't find a way to travel that route in anything other than a Tesla. MOST EVs have it far worse than we do even without the Superchargers, and it's not hard to get into a location where superchargers won't be helpful. It's harder all the time, but it's still true. So if people NEED a supercharger, they shouldn't be buying an EV for the next several years.

I can't imagine going cross country in any EV but a Tesla. Even using a Tesla today, the trip takes longer and is borderline acceptable to me.

 

[ChopperMB]

If a built, but unpowered supercharger prevents someone from buying a car, the buyer isn't worth fighting for because they aren't thinking rationally and their goals are completely out of alignment with Tesla's. They're better off with dino juice.

Heck, if PetroCanada went to Tesla and said "Look, we just powered up our Chademo/CCS locations, and we're offering them free to people. Give us a month for word of mouth and good will to grow, and we'll open links along the Yellowhead", I would prefer Tesla give them the month. And I won't foreseeably use the Yellowhead. It's just better for everyone, rather than just me/Tesla owners. This is possible because Tesla's goal is adoption of EVs, not their own corporate domination.

Since we have no idea why they aren't on, it only makes sense to give Tesla the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps there's a power problem upstream, perhaps there's some other reason we don't know. But I have a really hard time putting any stock in the idea that Tesla spent millions of dollars, likely 10s of millions of dollars across many, many locations, and is now leaving them powered off just to be spiteful to Canadian owners. These will power up. Again, for me, I've waited several years, another month doesn't really matter much, even if it would be convenient given the timing.

EVs are still new. In planning a trip from Calgary to Miami, I was curious. A Better Route Planner can't find a way to travel that route in anything other than a Tesla. MOST EVs have it far worse than we do even without the Superchargers, and it's not hard to get into a location where superchargers won't be helpful. It's harder all the time, but it's still true. So if people NEED a supercharger, they shouldn't be buying an EV for the next several years.

The NEED for myself has to do with a few factors:
- one is time. I can't be sitting at level 2 chargers
- the other is range in the cold winter months. My kids play winter sports and, being rural, we can put on over 300 km on a single trip to and from another town in our league. If it's -30C and I own the long range M3 (assuming 40% loss), I'm not confident I'm going to make it even under perfect conditions.

Being able to top off at a SC in Brandon, Portage or Winnipeg is absolutely key to owning an EV in Manitoba.
Most people associate the SC network with long trips and I get that, but living in rural Canada a short day trip could be 300-600 km.

 

[DigAdrenaline]

I know that I'm not buying until the SCs in MB are on

Then you likely shouldn't buy.

These are early adopter cars.

• Autopilot is a Beta project, and there are times that becomes obvious.
• EV charging is spotty, still. The Chademo at RRCC, for example fails as often as it succeeds (Look at Plugshare).
• Service Centers don't exist in your province, so if anything major happens, it's going to take a long time to fix.
• Road Side assistance doesn't exist. Ask CAA for an emergency charge.
• AutoBody shops are very few. I don't know if there are any Tesla Certified shops in Manitoba.
• Parts and knowledge are still very rare and specialized.
• In wet snow or heavy rain, you will lose Cruise Control.

But in spite of all of this, in my view, they are the greatest cars on the face of the Earth, and by a very large margin.

My point is, if you're looking for an Electric version of your Toyota, it's not available. If you're looking for something totally different and much better, get a Tesla. But don't pretend that the conveniences like 5 minute fill ups exist with the other. They don't. That goes both ways though.

• In the other vehicle, Children/pets regularly die after being left/forgotten in the back in the sun.
• Carbon Monoxide poisoning.
• Accidently dozing off in a Tesla isn't the death sentence it is in other cars.
• Walking away from accidents that would kill people is a routine occurrence in a Tesla.
• Autopilot can see in the dark/fog/etc and is a better driver than a human in 90%+ of situations.
• HEPA air filters resolve air quality concerns.
• Almost never going to a gas station because you leave full every morning.

 

[MarcoRP]

If a built, but unpowered supercharger prevents someone from buying a car, the buyer isn't worth fighting for because they aren't thinking rationally and their goals are completely out of alignment with Tesla's. They're better off with dino juice.

Heck, if PetroCanada went to Tesla and said "Look, we just powered up our Chademo/CCS locations, and we're offering them free to people. Give us a month for word of mouth and good will to grow, and we'll open links along the Yellowhead", I would prefer Tesla give them the month. And I won't foreseeably use the Yellowhead. It's just better for everyone, rather than just me/Tesla owners. This is possible because Tesla's goal is adoption of EVs, not their own corporate domination.

Since we have no idea why they aren't on, it only makes sense to give Tesla the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps there's a power problem upstream, perhaps there's some other reason we don't know. But I have a really hard time putting any stock in the idea that Tesla spent millions of dollars, likely 10s of millions of dollars across many, many locations, and is now leaving them powered off just to be spiteful to Canadian owners. These will power up. Again, for me, I've waited several years, another month doesn't really matter much, even if it would be convenient given the timing.

EVs are still new. In planning a trip from Calgary to Miami, I was curious. A Better Route Planner can't find a way to travel that route in anything other than a Tesla. MOST EVs have it far worse than we do even without the Superchargers, and it's not hard to get into a location where superchargers won't be helpful. It's harder all the time, but it's still true. So if people NEED a supercharger, they shouldn't be buying an EV for the next several years.

PLUS EV: Stay Calm.

 

[DigAdrenaline]

PLUS EV: Stay Calm.

Right now in Calgary, there's a 2019 Raven Model S for sale on Kijiji. This is obviously someone who isn't happy with their car. There's also a 2018 Model X, which is likely the same story. And I bought my winter tires from a guy who sold his Tesla because "It's great in the city, but doesn't work for long drives". (I had 25000 KMs on my car in 2 months at that point. It was news to me.)

There are a TON of people on TMC who have spouses who don't like the family's Tesla because of charging speeds. That's a flashpoint, but ultimately, it's a different car, and it's used in a different paradigm. Superchargers are nowhere close to the speed of a gas station. V3 chargers are faster, but they are not equal to gas, even in a LR 3.

My concern is that people buy a Tesla thinking it'll be the same, when it isn't and won't be. Superchargers won't change that.

I just care that people see "different", rather than "bad". And, I don't want people to buy a Tesla, and then be disappointed with it. If Chopper plans to drive 600kms between towns in the evening for Hockey, he's not going to like adding an hour to the night while he stops to charge. And that won't change until he can destination charge at every arena while the game is on. Which is many years away, realistically.

Investing in a Quick220, and using the UMC might be possible and might help for now. It should get 23-25 Km/hr charging if you can pull 16 amps across both circuits.

 

[tmoz]

All those under construction is definitely an anomaly. Maybe something to do with permitting.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

All those under construction is definitely an anomaly. Maybe something to do with permitting.View attachment 484281

I think it's just a combination of:
(1) Completing the TCH will be good for marketing and sales
(2) They are Supercharger Version 3, which is new, so Tesla is being cautious about opening them
(3) Winter is here so not likely the best time for sales, so Tesla won't be in a great hurry.
(4) They are covering a large distance, across many areas with low population, and mostly disconnected from the current network, so very few of the Superchargers add significant value by themselves.