Supercharger Burn-in: Darien

[Trnsl8r]

I used Darien Friday night. Wasn't iced in, but did get a lot of questions. View attachment 25083

I'm ready to forgive any ICE drivers that park there. That sign was lame. "reserved for... fuel-efficient vehicles"?! That could be anybody. "Oh good, my Civic is fuel efficient. Parked. Hmm... wonder what this weird Tesla coat rack is about?"

"Reserved for actively charging Tesla vehicles only." Bom, done. This is not California, not everyone knows what a Tesla charger is.

 

[mknox]

I'm ready to forgive any ICE drivers that park there. That sign was lame. "reserved for... fuel-efficient vehicles"?! That could be anybody. "Oh good, my Civic is fuel efficient. Parked. Hmm... wonder what this weird Tesla coat rack is about?"

Funny story: We have a company Volt and were lending it to employees for a week at a time as part of a pilot project. We had a designated spot for it in our parking lot with a sign that read (something like) Chevy Volt Parking Only. Well one day I had a vendor come in to see me and he was driving a (you guessed it) Chevy Volt, spotted the sign and pulled right in. We had a chuckle about it, and the employee who was just out for lunch or something found another spot to park in.

There is definitely something to be said for clear, concise signage!

 

[mitch672]

I'm ready to forgive any ICE drivers that park there. That sign was lame. "reserved for... fuel-efficient vehicles"?! That could be anybody. "Oh good, my Civic is fuel efficient. Parked. Hmm... wonder what this weird Tesla coat rack is about?"

"Reserved for actively charging Tesla vehicles only." Bom, done. This is not California, not everyone knows what a Tesla charger is.

I think that's all your going to get for signage. Probably to meet federal LEED certification, these rest areas are being rebuilt to meet the LEED standards. I was kidding about keying / blocking drivers, if you didn't notice I came up with a suggestion of a high power Model S extension cord, the site manager could deploy it in an emergency, if there are no spots left and 1 or 2 are ICEd, the ICE car gets blocked in while the Model S is charging, I would suggest staying with the Model S to educate the ICE driver to not do it again, and avoid any "keying" from upset ICE drivers. Each SC site would only need 1 high power extension cord for emergency/educational use.

 

[evme]

Of course.

Plus, what do the people who are at the gas pump have to do with the people blocking the charging station? When I was ICE only, I don't recall any compulsion to block EV charging stations. Punishing innocents doesn't seem to be particularly helpful.

I have a compromise, a way to punish them in the same way. Bring some superglue and superglue their gas cap door. Then they will know what it is like to be low on gas with no way to refill.


On a more serious note though, they should sensors in the superchargers that tell you if the spot is occupied or not remotely. Cameras are going a little too far as it can make privacy concerns.

 

[loganss]

I am charging at darien tomorrow - assuming that I don't get ICE'd. Any pictures in particular you want? I plan ro update plug share

Thanks for updating Plugshare. I looked for pictures there yesterday and saw none. Mike posted a pic but i only see 2 stalls. Tesla's email said there'd be 4. A pic of all 4 if they're there.

 

[jerry33]

Seems to me a simple chain with a "Reserved for Teslas" sign across the charging lane would fix the issue with no fuss. Those who ICE parking spaces can't be bothered to remove the chain.

 

[bhuwan]

I am charging now. ICEd big time. Tesla deployed this way too quickly!!! There isn't a holder for the chargers or proper signage. I'll take plenty of pictures.

 

[aaron.s]

All -

There's a thread I started weeks ago in the "Charging Standards & Infrastructure" sub-forum when the Darien rest area opened (but chargers were not active) - took pictures and explained that only the Northbound rest area was open and that the southbound area was still under construction. That sub-forum is the best place to go to find out/discuss the supercharger network...

Didn't know at first that there were 4 chargers - but another poster to the thread found the other 2 and took a picture as well.... Check out the thread:

http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/18066-Darien-CT-Rest-Area-Open-Supercharger!

Happy Supercharging!

Aaron

 

[bhuwan]

Slowly we wre taking over Darien. Another tesla just parked next to me

 

[kendallpb]

Funny story: We have a company Volt and were lending it to employees for a week at a time as part of a pilot project. We had a designated spot for it in our parking lot with a sign that read (something like) Chevy Volt Parking Only. Well one day I had a vendor come in to see me and he was driving a (you guessed it) Chevy Volt, spotted the sign and pulled right in. We had a chuckle about it, and the employee who was just out for lunch or something found another spot to park in.

There is definitely something to be said for clear, concise signage!

LOL! It should've said "Parking for Fred Smith's Chevy Volt Only." ;-) Then someone else with that name would come up, in a Volt . . . there's no way to win.

 

[loganss]

I added some pics to the thread aaron mentioned. The supercharger forum is extra confusing though. Some things are buried in the region subforums and some aren't. Some charging discussions are in the bigger region thread and some aren't. Too many subforums to check.

 

[Dwdnjck]

Maybe painting the curbs would help.

 

[Jack]

I don't know if you got the e-mail (did they send to everyone east of the Mississippi? just east coast? just northeast?), but it did say "DARIEN NORTHBOUND I-95 SUPERCHARGER" (all caps theirs, not mine). The web site says "I-95 North," which would be more consistent as "Northbound" like the e-mail and like the Milford ones ("Northbound" and "Southbound"). But yeah, on the phone it would've been good to clarify. I believe the Milford ones came online together. Maybe they figured if someone knows enough to ask, they know where it is/what the deal is.

Anyway, sorry for the repeated ICEing. ;-( And thanks for the detailed report! I wonder if they'll announce when the clamped ones are available, or if we'll need spies like you checking it out. ;-)

Thanks for the correction - the email did mention northbound - in a subtitle I didn't see.

Net - agree with bhuwan - this came online too fast and the company should revisit and improve its provisioning process and readiness criteria for new superchargers, as it builds out the network - that's all. The signage in Milford works just fine - needs to be there however.

 

[bluetinc]

Jack I'm not sure I quite follow. Are you saying that they should have just kept the power switches turned off at Darien for the big weekend around the 4th because they haven't had the signage put up yet? We know that they have been rushing these and they turned them on just as soon as they could, and yes, they still need to wrap up the install but at least they worked and I didn't have to drive up to Milford which saved me over an hour today.

All, I was there just a few hours ago (7th) and the spots were all ICEd at once point or another. I can't blame any person that uses the spaces as they are now, there simply isn't any signage that would tell anyone they are not allowed to be there. Every person that I spoke with who ICEd a spot (3) was ok moving the car, and a bit apologetic for parking there. I also apologized to them that the signs didn't mark the spots better. I moved multiple cones into all the spots, added notes on the first two chargers that there are two more at the end of the center, and added notes on the cones noting that they are EV charging spots. I'm sure once the marking are put up this won't be nearly the same issue. Delaware's problems seem to have gone away almost entirely once they finished marking the spots.

Peter

Thanks for the correction - the email did mention northbound - in a subtitle I didn't see.

Net - agree with bhuwan - this came online too fast and the company should revisit and improve its provisioning process and readiness criteria for new superchargers, as it builds out the network - that's all. The signage in Milford works just fine - needs to be there however.

 

[Mayhemm]

I'm sure proper signage and maybe a green "EV" version of the "handicapped" icon painted on the pavement would deter 99% of potential ICErs.

 

[Jack]

Just suggesting that there should be a readiness criteria for opening a supercharging station - a checklist of items to ensure the customer experience is a good one - are the signs up (signage should be installed much earlier in the process) - are all the stations ready for customer use (e.g., cables unclipped, etc.) - is there anything else needed to ensure a good customer experience? Tesla had certainly done that with the Model S itself - essentially 0 defects. Why not extend this to the entire customer experience?

 

[Joe]

Signs at the Darien Supercharger stations are being changed. Here's what they are putting up

Joe

 

[loganss]

Nice. I'm glad they're putting proper signs in.

 

[wormhole]

See, it does pay to email [email protected] :biggrin:

 

[kendallpb]

Signs at the Darien Supercharger stations are being changed. Here's what they are putting up

Most excellent! Thanks for being our TMC spy, Joe. ;-)