Supercharger-Coral Gables, FL?

[jbcarioca]

Hi JC,

Whereas I agree that this location is the closest Tesla has to a traditional car dealership, we disagree if you believe that the primary purpose of this location is sales over service.

Larry

I doubt that we really disagree. The external positioning of the service functions is not a major issue, because owners will find the service center. the sales functions do need external visibility. The CG location has that distinction. No doubt at all that the service is more important once the sale has been made.

Why would a service center need 2 Superchargers dedicated to them?

There are plenty of service locations with no Superchargers. Are they not able to perform tasks that require a Supercharger present?

I do understand that having Superchargers present in a small parking lot could cause an issue if you have all stalls in use and then people lined up waiting to charge. That is a valid concern. But holding off on installation because the service department needs Superchargers seems nonsense.

In fact, this is one of my major complaints about the West Palm Beach Superchargers... The sales/service team tie them up frequently as they have customer cars charging during peak times when traveling customers need them. This causes unnecessary waits or slower charging.

I vote no Superchargers to be installed at any Tesla sales/service centers as it just seems they are used for customer goodwill. Or if they install them they are installed for that purpose alone and aren't listed on the in car map as a charging option.

I agree on these points. Some locations (e.g. the brand new Denver SC) have Supercharging internal to the service area that is not published, so far anyway. That allows service customers to leave fully charged if needed, but avoids being clogged with non-service customers. Denver comes to mind because I was there for service a week ago.

By contrast, Decatur-Atlanta is co-located and seems to have plenty of mixed use between ordinary customers and service/sales use. That one has been pretty full each time I have been there including four days ago.

I think Tesla is doing a magnificent job building new Superchargers including the urban ones. Clearly there is a steep learning curve that is still going on, not only in North America but globally. By the end of 2018 I doubt there will be very many places in the US, Canada and Mexico that have no easy options for Supercharging and/or Destination Charging.

Possibly I am a trifle giddy about my recent trip. I used 54 Superchargers, of which more than 30 have been commissioned within the last year, and a half dozen are less than two months old. The pace of new openings planned for Miami alone convince me that, even with the acceleration of Model 3 we'll have plentiful charging options. Why am I optimistic? The move to pay-for-play for Model 3 and non-former-owner-conencted Model X and S will certainly see less congestion of the type famously mentioned with Mountain View, Harris Ranch, San Mateo and some others.

 

[Larry Chanin]

Why would a service center need 2 Superchargers dedicated to them?

There are plenty of service locations with no Superchargers. Are they not able to perform tasks that require a Supercharger present?

Sorry, to clarify my remarks a bit better, my point wasn't that service centers need two dedicated Superchargers. It was that in as much as the infrastructure is already installed for this particular location, it would make sense to at least install one Supercharger in the Supercharger cabinet to provide two Supercharger stalls to support Service Center operations.

I do understand that having Superchargers present in a small parking lot could cause an issue if you have all stalls in use and then people lined up waiting to charge. That is a valid concern. But holding off on installation because the service department needs Superchargers seems nonsense.

My point wasn't to hold off installation because the service center needs a Supercharger. It was to wait for the other nearby Miami Supercharger Stations to go operational to reduce traffic to the Coral Gables location before revisiting the issue of making the Coral Gables location a 24/7, public Supercharger Station with 8 charging stalls.

In fact, this is one of my major complaints about the West Palm Beach Superchargers... The sales/service team tie them up frequently as they have customer cars charging during peak times when traveling customers need them. This causes unnecessary waits or slower charging.

The West Palm Beach location serves multiple functions. It is the main Certified Pre-owned location, a service center and a modest sales center. As you may know, the Supercharger was never listed on the "Coming Soon" map and apparently it never was intended to be a 24/7 public Supercharging location because the charging stalls were initially located behind a locked gate in off-hours. No doubt after the fact Tesla felt that the Superchargers could also be made available to the traveling public when they relocated the fence.

I vote no Superchargers to be installed at any Tesla sales/service centers as it just seems they are used for customer goodwill. Or if they install them they are installed for that purpose alone and aren't listed on the in car map as a charging option.

Yes, this is the Tesla philosophy regarding the Wall Connectors installed at Store locations. I don't disagree with the policy in general, but I would think that if a Service Center happens to be located in a strategic location off of a major highway, I would hope that Tesla would evaluate it on a case-by-case basis as to whether it makes sense to install a 24/7 public Supercharger Station there.

Larry

 

[alseTrick]

Miami needs super chargers. Period.

 

[jbcarioca]

Miami needs super chargers. Period.

At risk of being repetitious:
True, but we also need to appreciate the near term Miami-Dade plans:
At present we have Plantation just North in Broward and Florida City as the only Miami-Dade Supercharger.
The 2017 plans publicly on Tesla include:
Aventura
Bal Harbour
Wynwood
South Beach
Brickell
plus Coral Gables showing for 2018

This thread covers the CG part only. The situation seems a bit fluid at the moment, for CG anyway.

Based on the very fast progress Tesla is making on Supercharger locations right now I believe that all or most of these Miami-Dade locations will be completed still this year or early next year. Clearly permitting and location negotiations are likely to be bigger factors than will be contractor and equipment limitations, which also must be quite stressed at the moment.

During the last three weeks I have personally used several Superchargers that have been commissioned within the last six months, a few of them within the last few weeks. Some of them, Mount Shasta for example, have been expanded with "temporary" Superchargers positioned on skids and wired into the preexisting transformers. Those experiences make me quite prepared to give Tesla the benefit of the doubt on Florida plans, Miami-Dade in particular.

As Larry explained:

... It was that in as much as the infrastructure is already installed for this particular location, it would make sense to at least install one Supercharger in the Supercharger cabinet to provide two Supercharger stalls to support Service Center operations...



My point wasn't to hold off installation because the service center needs a Supercharger. It was to wait for the other nearby Miami Supercharger Stations to go operational to reduce traffic to the Coral Gables location before revisiting the issue of making the Coral Gables location a 24/7, public Supercharger Station with 8 charging stalls.
...

The CG sales and service centers are certainly going to have both Supercharging and destination-style chargers, just as most newer locations have. Quite a few off them are not for public access. Despite the recent changes I firmly believe that Tesla will have Superchargers broadly available in Miami-Dade in tourist-intensive locations. Looking at their Miami-Dade locations list that becomes really apparent; they're planning 2017 for five tourist-intensive locations still this year with the slightly less 'sunbird' concentration area in CG planned for next year.

Of course we also have the plethora of new Superchargers all up and down the East Coast of NA and the other new Florida locations.

So, in my opinion we should be excited and thankful that Tesla is delivering charging alternatives at a very rapid pace, while recognizing that permitting and logistical issues cause some unexpected divergences from stated plans, both positive and negative.

 

[alseTrick]

A bird in the hand vs 8 in the bush. Or something like that.

 

[Larry Chanin]

The bad news is that GoCanes reports no progress on Superchargers at this location.

Miami Service Center

The good news is that GoCanes has revealed the location of the Miami - Brickell Supercharger location that is well underway.

Anyone wondering about the 27 new superchargers in Florida?

Larry

 

[jbcarioca]

It is now a certainty that there will be no Superchargers at this location for the foreseeable future. They did not disconnect or remove the electrical infrastructure but they did cap off the former Supercharger post locations.

But they have installed support for ICE diesels!

 

[Larry Chanin]

It is now a certainty that there will be no Superchargers at this location for the foreseeable future. They did not disconnect or remove the electrical infrastructure but they did cap off the former Supercharger post locations.

But they have installed support for ICE diesels!

Hi JC,

Thanks for the photos.

Did you happen to notice if the utility transformer for the Superchargers was removed?

Thanks.

Larry

 

[jbcarioca]

Larry,

the Transformer and the conduits are still in place. The wiring has been capped, but it could be reactivated quickly if they ever decide to do so since they uninstalled nothing other than the Supercharger cabinets. I did attach a photo of the capped off connections as well as their installed and now functioning diesel fueling station.

 

[DJ Frustration]

Anyone passed by the Coral Gables service center lately and see whether or not they've progressed at installing Supercharger stations? Last I heard they decided not to proceed forward or ran into some stumbling blocks with permitting.

 

[jbcarioca]

There was no permitting issue. Tesla decided there was not sufficient space for Superchargers as well as Store/Service Center parking. The current congested state there suggests they made a good decisions. AFAIK nobody has any idea where they are planning to put the Gables Superchargers. Given that they are likely to be Urban Superchargers one possibility is the Shops at Merrick Park, while nearby but not CG Dadeland was thought likely because of the Tesla Store and existing BEV charging there. Certainly there are quite a few other options, including CG municipal parking facilities.

I have contacted the Tesla partner team and the GM of the Shops at Merrick Park, trying to get enthusiasm built. I ask everyone who is interested in this option to ask them to choose that one as soon as possible. If anyone wants the email for the Shops at Merrick Park GM just PM me.

 

[DJ Frustration]

FYI, when working on my car in the Coral Gables SC, they did mention that they have their own internal to the building Supercharger for the use of the service team.

Off-topic: Stopped by this am and there were so many Model 3s ready for delivery that I lost count. I'd estimate between 20-30. Model 3 was the majority of new vehicles that were sitting around waiting for delivery. Pic of three Model 3's and my son who was with me.