Supercharger Burn-in: Darien

[Jack]

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

Agreed - Here's the response i received, professional and satisfying - great to see the results.

Hi Jack,

My name is William and I’m part of the Ownership Experience Team at Tesla Motors. Thanks for sending us feedback about your experience with our new Darien Supercharger location.

I’d like to apologize for the confusion and frustration you’ve experience while trying to charge up your Model S at the Darien location. We are attempting to fully install and prepare these locations before customer visits, and we learning from every opening. We also appreciate the feedback about your experiences, as this gives us an idea on how we can improve our offerings.

I’m submitting your feedback to our Supercharger team, and they will be able to make whatever necessary updates to the location. Ultimately, we want your road trips to be enjoyable, and convenient, and it sounds like we’ve got some room to improve.

Thank you again for your feedback, and if you have any additional concerns or questions, please contact us at [email protected] or by emailing me directly.


Best Regards,
William Masterson | Ownership Experience Advocate
3500 Deer Creek Rd. | Palo Alto, CA 94304
p 877.79.TESLA (877.798.3752) | e [email protected]

 

[Mayhemm]

Now THAT's how it should work!

When did you contact ownership, Jack, a couple days ago? And signage is already up?

Nice work, Tesla. Hopefully, from now on they will put the signage up before the supercharger goes online in order to minimize ICEing.

 

[Iz]

The signs are a good measure. At a serice area, physical proximity of the SC to the food courts and restrooms will most likely determine how often they will be blocked. Putting the SCs in a less convenient area may resolve that; but can increase the risk of vandalism. Also, one does not want to be sitting in their vehicle in some empty corner of a service area while it is charging late at night.

 

[Mike_Schlechter]

My one nit, and it really is a nit, about the Darien and Milford SCs is they aren't under any sort of cover. If you are charging in the rain you get utterly soaked (and I know from experience!). Otherwise, I'm basically hitting Darien every day and adding some range, taking a quick break, then finishing my 125 mile round trip home.

 

[scaesare]

A canopy at the SC stations would be nice. The one in Delaware is exposed as well, and I got caught in a downpour a couple of weeks ago using it...

 

[mitch672]

A canopy at the SC stations would be nice. The one in Delaware is exposed as well, and I got caught in a downpour a couple of weeks ago using it...

Yep, pretty odd that the ones in CA are under Canopy's (being that the weather is generally better), and the Eastern US SuperChargers are all in the open. Probably due to being shared spaces at highway rest stops....

 

[Joe]

That's because east cost folks are tougher

sorry - that was just too easy.

 

[kendallpb]

The signs are a good measure. At a serice area, physical proximity of the SC to the food courts and restrooms will most likely determine how often they will be blocked. Putting the SCs in a less convenient area may resolve that; but can increase the risk of vandalism. Also, one does not want to be sitting in their vehicle in some empty corner of a service area while it is charging late at night.

The Delaware one is in a nice spot, but it's by a side/back entrance to the very large building. In these smaller service areas, they may have more limitations in terms of cost or practicality of running power; they probably can't just drop power anywhere.

With no cover (as mentioned below), it's nice to not have to run far in the rain, also. I don't mind the location, and I suspect the signs will mostly do the trick. Also, over time, people will get more used to things like this--really, most of it's ignorance, not maliciousness. As they get used to things like this, they'll learn to notice it more and not ICE us out of spots as much. Well, I hope.

 

[kalikgod]

Yep, pretty odd that the ones in CA are under Canopy's (being that the weather is generally better), and the Eastern US SuperChargers are all in the open. Probably due to being shared spaces at highway rest stops....

You answered your own question Mitch. The canopy is the solar portion. The solar canopy doubles the cost of the site. Musk has said before that the rollout of those will be 1 - 2 years behind the chargers themselves. I am betting that the sunny places get them first, just a hunch.

 

[LMB]

Musk has said before that the rollout of those will be 1 - 2 years behind the chargers themselves. I am betting that the sunny places get them first, just a hunch.

The Milford CT locations have their solar arrays already - they're on the canopies over the gas pumps. It's very ironic-looking. Don't know about Darien, but the rest stops are identical to those in Milford, so I would suspect they have their solar, too.

 

[Ven Rala]

Nice to see Tesla fix the signage issue at Darien so quickly. Very responsive to owner emails as well, awesome.

 

[Jack]

Now THAT's how it should work!

When did you contact ownership, Jack, a couple days ago? And signage is already up?

Nice work, Tesla. Hopefully, from now on they will put the signage up before the supercharger goes online in order to minimize ICEing.

I followed wormhole's suggestion earlier on this thread regarding writing to ownership experience. There is 100% chance of issues given the magnitude of new technologies Tesla is driving into the market. I think a company is defined by how it reacts to issues. Their response to this issue is a prime example. I continue to be amazed at how few issues I've experience with the S - none, really - and I was in the 1st 1000 production vehicles shipped (P880). This is perhaps the best manage company I've experienced, and I consult with most of the leading tech companies. World-class management at Tesla.

 

[Electric700]

I know it can be frustrating to have ICE cars park in our charging spots, but I don't think revenge will help the EV cause. These ICE owners are potentially future EV owners, and if they get keyed or have nasty notes put on their windshields, the next time they pass by a Tesla store they may just remember what was done to their car (or the note) and not go in. If you are courteous, they might go in to the Tesla store and buy a Model S! It does happen!

 

[Mayhemm]

I know it can be frustrating to have ICE cars park in our charging spots, but I don't think revenge will help the EV cause. These ICE owners are potentially future EV owners, and if they get keyed or have nasty notes put on their windshields, the next time they pass by a Tesla store they may just remember what was done to their car (or the note) and not go in. If you are courteous, they might go in to the Tesla store and buy a Model S! It does happen!

Yeah, but where's the fun in that? :wink:

 

[wormhole]

That's the exact same person who emailed me when i originally emailed [email protected]

 

[johnnydop]

Milford Solar Array on Google

Google Maps updated. How nice is that. ZERO EMISSIONS to the max!!!!

The SolarCity system proposed for my house is for 24 panels which would produce about 7,345 kWh annually. This array is 96 panels so the system should produce more than 4 times that, about 30,000+ kWh.

How many charges would use up 30,000 kWh?

 

[bluetinc]

1-2 full charges a day

Google Maps updated. How nice is that. ZERO EMISSIONS to the max!!!!

The SolarCity system proposed for my house is for 24 panels which would produce about 7,345 kWh annually. This array is 96 panels so the system should produce more than 4 times that, about 30,000+ kWh.

How many charges would use up 30,000 kWh?

View attachment 26105

 

[markb1]

Google Maps updated. How nice is that. ZERO EMISSIONS to the max!!!!

That solar array predates the supercharger by a bit. Not clear it has anything to do with the supercharger, other than being nearby.