Supercharger - Frederick, MD

[gnuarm]

Lanny,

Ok to make things interesting,

1. I don't know what version my CHAdeMO is, I'm working with Tesla to figure it out, but it's not as easy as it sounds. When we figure it out, I'll add that info.
2. I charged at MOMs on December 7th 2018 and it worked great (with my adapter).
3. I swung by today (3/8/19) and charged with both my adapter and MOMs and both worked perfectly for me.
4. My car is running software version 2018.50.6 4ec03ed today.

As before, if anyone is interested in chasing this down, I'm happy to pop over to MOMs and meet someone there who's car doesn't work (I work just a couple miles away), and swap things around in case it helps, and then work with Tesla to figure out the root cause if we don't figure it out.

Peter

I will take you up on your offer this time. I sent you a private message.

 

[KG2V]

I swear I don't get how the cabin heater can sap the range much. It can't be running at 5 kW or it would run me out of the car. 5 kW is a LOT of heat. My problem is it doesn't matter what I set the heat to it doesn't warm the cabin. It will keep the windows clear though.

I'll be headed up to Frederick later and it is supposed to get cold again, snow even in Frederick Sunday night through Tuesday. It would be a good time to have a Supercharger in Frederick, but I should be able to make due with the one in Hay Market.

Can we put it in Jefferson

 

[secondchld]

Hi I'm new to the forums and live in Frederick, MD, so I thought I'd post here. Anyone with a M3 willing to meet up for a coffee or a beer (on me!) and show me around your car? I'm looking to buy one and would like to test drive one, or at least check one out in person inside and out before pulling the trigger. PM (conversation?) me if you've got an hour to spare and want to help me seal the deal. I will use your referral, if that's still a thing.

 

[gnuarm]

I will take you up on your offer this time. I sent you a private message.

Just to report to people here, I met with Peter today and my car won't charge on the Chademo charger at MOM's in Frederick just like it won't charge on the store's adapter. His car does charge just fine. So the problem isn't the charger and the problem isn't the adapter. At least the problem isn't specific to one adapter. Either there is an issue with all/many adapters, or there is an issue with mine and some other cars. In other words, we still don't know much, but Peter is going to pursue this with Tesla.

Thanks Peter!

 

[gnuarm]

I'm still jonesing for a Supercharger in Frederick. I came up Rt 95 today so I could stop at the Gaithersburg charger and the road was pretty bad, so I won't be doing that anymore. I got the last spot of 12 again. I guess that's better than there being no slot. Seems it is common for the G'burg charger to be pretty busy. I don't think the Frederick charger will relieve a lot of charging there other than maybe me. I think a lot of people who live around there don't charge at home. I know they have that problem in California.

So it's back to Haymarket.

 

[Nilnoc]

Still no sign of any construction activity at the future Frederick site. Drove by yesterday afternoon.

 

[ckoval7]

I'm still jonesing for a Supercharger in Frederick. I came up Rt 95 today so I could stop at the Gaithersburg charger and the road was pretty bad, so I won't be doing that anymore. I got the last spot of 12 again. I guess that's better than there being no slot. Seems it is common for the G'burg charger to be pretty busy. I don't think the Frederick charger will relieve a lot of charging there other than maybe me. I think a lot of people who live around there don't charge at home. I know they have that problem in California.

So it's back to Haymarket.

Unfortunately the Gaithersburg SC is always full of people going shopping, which means there isn't a chance of that one being freed up by placing other chargers in the region.

 

[RTPEV]

I don't think the Frederick charger will relieve a lot of charging there other than maybe me.

I don't know...Frederick is a pretty key stopping point when traveling on US-15. I know that I personally use this route 1-2X per year (going in both directions), although I also usually find this a convenient overnight stop, so I would probably stop at Marriott TownPlace Suites (very EV/eco-friendly hotel) rather than Supercharge.

 

[Walker34]

Had some time to kill on Sunday, so stopped at MOM’s to test their CHAdeMO. Worked fine. Weird that it works for some and not others. 2013 P85 with dual chargers. I will try our Model X the next time in the area.

 

[MMC-]

View attachment 392454 Had some time to kill on Sunday, so stopped at MOM’s to test their CHAdeMO. Worked fine. Weird that it works for some and not others. 2013 P85 with dual chargers. I will try our Model X the next time in the area.

Fyi.. dual chargers have nothing to do with CHAdeMO charging. They are strictly for A/C charging. But it's good to know that your car will charge there. Have you had any failure there before? I'll try to get by there myself in the next few days to test it with my 2016 S which has failed there regularly for the past year or so.

Edit..

When you try your X will it be with the same CHAdeMO adapter? That would be interesting to find out. I don't think we've isolated that aspect of the issue.

 

[Lanny]

We were at MOM's yesterday at 5:00 PM in a 2015 70D and it failed on all three attempts. Will be interested in your experience @MMC-

Lanny

 

[Reddy Kilowatt]

Anyone go by the site lately?

Any paint marks on the ground or signs of the power company running cable up from the restaurant. The power company has more work to do than Tesla does.

 

[Walker34]

I drove by the proposed sight on Sunday and nothing has been done, yet.

 

[ckoval7]

it was too expensive to charge at home costing her more than $100 each month

Did she even consider what she's not spending on gas?

 

[gnuarm]

Did she even consider what she's not spending on gas?

I tried to explain that to her. Sometimes you just need to know when to quit.

On another note, I took a picture today of my car at the Frederick Superchargers. My friends were inside visiting the Easter bunny with their kids and I wanted pick up a few kWh.

 

[gnuarm]

Anyone go by the site lately?

Any paint marks on the ground or signs of the power company running cable up from the restaurant. The power company has more work to do than Tesla does.

So how's your crystal ball looking? Haymarket works ok for me during the summer months. I just have to stop in both directions if I've done much local driving. But in the winter the range gets so bad it's hard to even make it back to Haymarket with confidence in spite of the fact it is only 50 odd miles each way.

I'm getting pretty doubtful of completion anywhere near June if nothing has even started yet. I just hope this charger gets in before winter... which I'm also not confident in.

 

[Reddy Kilowatt]

So how's your crystal ball looking?

Not to good. I got an "On Hold" It should have been started by now to make that June prediction.

I swear if someone (like Leesburg) does something wrong they get pushed to the end of the line or dumped all together. which we have seen a lot of around town here lately. Things are busy around town, you miss a date, they tell you "call us when you get your S*** together", then we will put you on the schedule.

 

[gnuarm]

Not to good. I got an "On Hold" It should have been started by now to make that June prediction.

I swear if someone (like Leesburg) does something wrong they get pushed to the end of the line or dumped all together. which we have seen a lot of around town here lately. Things are busy around town, you miss a date, they tell you "call us when you get your S*** together", then we will put you on the schedule.

What could someone do wrong at this point? Is it one of those things where you can't know if you have done everything right or not? I got that impression reading the drama on one of the other chargers, maybe Annapolis. I seem to recall many inspection failures and lots of speculation on what was wrong including stickers. I'd think inspections would be very different from planning.

 

[Reddy Kilowatt]

What could someone do wrong at this point?

Everything can go wrong. They have to get the permits, do load calculations. Pay for the incoming service, this is not free, and as far as they have to run the service for this one it could get costly. A lot of people are involved in public utilities, and they have to approve it every inch of the way.
With the digital systems everyone is running something can fall through the cracks in a blink of an eye, I'm trying to get a building permit right now on a job. How do you talk to a computer, when no one replies to your email requests. Even with the paper method, I remember a site where one person left a file sit on their desk to long the person who it was to be returned to left for a two month vacation and bang six months down the drain. Probably need two minutes to review the file and simply forgot. Someone has to police all these sites and endlessly chase someone around to get things done. In a city environment this can really drag out where a site like Gainesville is a small jurisdiction and shot right through the process. I have pulled permits in Frederick and walk into the permit office and everyone is in the same room. Got a question scream across the room. Tesla just needs to get it there.

Look at Fairfax, the reviewers just ask endless questions about nothing holding up permits. That site a Kohls sat there forever, turned out not to even be Tesla.

With permitting and public utilities you can really get the run around trying to do the simplitist of jobs. get used to "you need this first" I have had jobs where the permit process takes more time than the job itself.

 

[gnuarm]

Everything can go wrong. They have to get the permits, do load calculations. Pay for the incoming service, this is not free, and as far as they have to run the service for this one it could get costly. A lot of people are involved in public utilities, and they have to approve it every inch of the way.

I meant, what could have gone wrong to this point that would have delayed it before anything had happened? I thought they had the permits already? I guess there are more permits for the new lines? Paying isn't hard, it just has to be done and I would believe that is the part being delayed. Tesla is a hurting pup for money these days and it's only going to get worse. I may have made my worst investment ever by buying an overpriced golf cart...

With the digital systems everyone is running something can fall through the cracks in a blink of an eye, I'm trying to get a building permit right now on a job. How do you talk to a computer, when no one replies to your email requests. Even with the paper method, I remember a site where one person left a file sit on their desk to long the person who it was to be returned to left for a two month vacation and bang six months down the drain.

That has nothing to do with computers or anything else other than a poorly run office. When people are not rewarded for good work and punished for mistakes,performance suffers. This is nearly always a matter of poor management.

Probably need two minutes to review the file and simply forgot. Someone has to police all these sites and endlessly chase someone around to get things done. In a city environment this can really drag out where a site like Gainesville is a small jurisdiction and shot right through the process. I have pulled permits in Frederick and walk into the permit office and everyone is in the same room. Got a question scream across the room. Tesla just needs to get it there.

Ok, that's why I'm asking what can go wrong.

Look at Fairfax, the reviewers just ask endless questions about nothing holding up permits. That site a Kohls sat there forever, turned out not to even be Tesla.

With permitting and public utilities you can really get the run around trying to do the simplitist of jobs. get used to "you need this first" I have had jobs where the permit process takes more time than the job itself.

Bottom line is the people involved don't have an incentive to make things happen. If it is government we know how to fix it, but it requires getting people to make it into an election issue and take action at the polls.

I lived in Fairfax in the late 80's when traffic had become a disaster. The entire Board of Supervisors was removed from office over the issue regardless of whether they were part of the problem or not. But mostly voters don't care about much. After all, our problems are mostly 1st world problems... BTW, traffic never got any better, we were all just pissed and we felt a little better having a voting booth to vent our anger in.