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Supercharger - Chattanooga, TN

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Chattanooga SuperCharger is now live. It is not officially open until this afternoon, but the Tesla Tech allowed me to be the first to charge. He tells me he as to post one more software update to the superchargers but that will be accomplished by this afternoon.

Thanks for keeping us up-to-date Chip. I look forward to using the SC on my next trip through Chattanooga.
 
I said "almost" and leave it to Tesla to plan the best route north to serve St Louis and Chicago.

Frankly, I am surprised how N-S routes in the midwest have been completely ignored, even on the 2015 map. Paducah, KY is an example of a key gap that should be filled in!

My point was that you included all of the Superchargers necessary to make that route except 1. Just thought it was strange but yes you did say almost :smile:
 
Great News!

Now if Tesla would just have the sense to finish Nashville, and work on Paducah, they would almost have the route from Chicago and St Louis complete to Florida for this winter!

Chattanooga, TN to Paducah, KY - Google Maps

I as at the Nashville Center a few hours ago. They said that the southeast SC's are behind schedule right now. Specifically, they mentioned that they are having trouble identifying the right location in Nashville.
 
My point was that you included all of the Superchargers necessary to make that route except 1. Just thought it was strange but yes you did say almost :smile:

Actually, I think that it is a little more complicated than that. If you go through St Louis, then you want to add Mt Vernon (on the 2104 map) and also Springfield, IL to keep distances within reason (less than 133 miles or so) for bad weather and 60's.



If you really want to have a good route to Chicago, then I-57 north of Mt Vernon needs to be filled in with another 2 or 3 Superchargers on the way to Chicago, also.

 
Actually, I think that it is a little more complicated than that. If you go through St Louis, then you want to add Mt Vernon (on the 2104 map) and also Springfield, IL to keep distances within reason (less than 133 miles or so) for bad weather and 60's.





If you really want to have a good route to Chicago, then I-57 north of Mt Vernon needs to be filled in with another 2 or 3 Superchargers on the way to Chicago, also.


Well no not really. Normal, Il makes the trip doable.
 
Well no not really. Normal, Il makes the trip doable.

Depends on where the St Louis Supercharger is, but Google Maps says St Louis to Normal is 169 miles. That is too far between Superchargers for quick charging, fast driving, bad weather, etc, not to mention 60's. For fast charging, bad weather, fast driving, and 60's, Superchargers should be no more than 133 miles apart on flat ground. Any more distance than that and you start having to do detailed planning, hypermiling, etc.

169 miles is doable, but too far for an all-weather, no-planning, fast-charge, just-enjoy-the-drive Supercharger experience. If you look at most new Supercharger installs, Tesla is roughly following this max distance rule.

To make St Louis to Normal easy, you need Springfield, IL or a similar location for another Supercharger.
 
Chattanooga SuperCharger is now live. It is not officially open until this afternoon, but the Tesla Tech allowed me to be the first to charge. He tells me he as to post one more software update to the superchargers but that will be accomplished by this afternoon.

This is great--just in time for my road trip to Chattanooga at the end of the month! Macon to Chattanooga is the only leg that is a little bit of a stretch.

I hope the SuperCharger police don't find out Chattanooga is my destination--err, I mean, Lookout Mountain. :wink:
 
Depends on where the St Louis Supercharger is, but Google Maps says St Louis to Normal is 169 miles. That is too far between Superchargers for quick charging, fast driving, bad weather, etc, not to mention 60's. For fast charging, bad weather, fast driving, and 60's, Superchargers should be no more than 133 miles apart on flat ground. Any more distance than that and you start having to do detailed planning, hypermiling, etc.
Sorry, I completely disagree with you ... provided you leave an SC with range charge, 70mph with A/C is easily doable.
I've done a cross country run and I only ever left 70 extra miles to make me very comfortable.
Agree with you - no go- with a 60.
Then again, what do you mean by quick charging? Fast driving?
 
Sorry, I completely disagree with you ... provided you leave an SC with range charge, 70mph with A/C is easily doable.
I've done a cross country run and I only ever left 70 extra miles to make me very comfortable.
Agree with you - no go- with a 60.
Then again, what do you mean by quick charging? Fast driving?

Assume that St Louis is a waypoint on the journey and not an overnight. For quick charging, you don't want to put more than 200 miles or so into an 85. After that, charging, even Supercharging, quickly becomes painfully slow. Hit 20˚F. temps or lower, or some freezing rain, maybe add some driving in excess of 75, then you can start to consume 1.5 Rated miles per actual mile (435 Wh/mi). At that rate of consumption, 200 rated miles turns into 133 actual miles pretty quickly.

Don't get me wrong, I have done winter hypermiling at 25˚, even hitting some freezing rain for a few minutes, and covered 229 miles gaining 1,000 feet on a single charge. That kind of 100% charge takes over 1.5 hours at a Supercharger, and few people want to nurse the car along at below 60, sometimes closer to 50 speeds, wearing ski pants, long underwear, gloves, and a sock cap. The Tesla is meant to be driven in comfort at speed, charge fast, and driven some more. To do that, Superchargers should not be more than 133 miles apart!
 
I tried yesterday on my way back from Atlanta to Murfreesboro. It was about 10 minutes to the airport from I-75/I-24 split and 10 minutes to get back on I-24.

Ouch! I was hoping it would be quicker than that. I had planned to try it last week, but ran out of time. Thanks for letting me know. So I guess the SC stop in between is going to cost me an hour. If I recall correctly from the early posts in this thread, food options are quite limited at the airport, too.
 
Great News!

Now if Tesla would just have the sense to finish Nashville, and work on Paducah, they would almost have the route from Chicago and St Louis complete to Florida for this winter!

Chattanooga, TN to Paducah, KY - Google Maps

Exactly my feelings, Superman. And in a slightly selfish note, perhaps Mt. Vernon and Champaign, IL. There is already a "Coming Soon" dot approximately where I-57 enters Chicago. With all that done, I can avoid the embarrassment of driving an ICE to Chicago and seeing an MS with FL plates (happened last week).