Supercharger Full

[davraker]

On a return trip from Upstate NY yesterday and pulled into an almost full set of Superchargers. While changing, the final two stalls were filled with non-Tesla’s. When a few more Tesla drivers came along and saw this, they were not happy. Making things worse, these Supercharger newbie’s took a ton of time to figure out and then start their charging. Making the wait times longer.

It was also unclear if they received the same message about not charging beyond 80% because of the full chargers.

I have seen non-Tesla’s at superchargers before, but never when completely full. I suspect Elon’s inbox will receive lots of negative messages as this type of issue grows.

 

[nate704]

Just wait 2-3 more years when the other makers install the NACS plug on their cars. It will be fun.

 

[Tronguy]

According to one of the videos put out by Tesla at some point or other, Tesla performs some kind of Operations Research on Teslas doing trips or heading for Superchargers. So, for example, if one is going from Detroit to Miami, the NAV will attempt to send one to SCs that aren't going to be full when one gets there.

My current understanding is that this kind of integration hasn't hit 3rd parties and their SC desires. Come next year when the API of the SCs gets integrated into third party apps from Ford, GM, and so on, the OR software will start doing re-routing of cars that aren't Teslas as well, or at least taking account of them.

In addition, the solution set for OR problems like Teslas doesn't have to be designed to be fragile. (Fragile meaning, like, what happens to, say, United when a rain squall hovers over Dulles Airport and causes cancellations of flights from SFO to Spokane.) Noisy inputs, people going elsewhere, and so forth are problems that the OR people know all too well and, over time, can adapt to.

3rd parties showing up at Tesla SC's is a relatively new phenomenon, so I'm not surprised that things are getting a little strange right now. Give it a couple of months and we'll see if it improves.

 

[jpfive]

On a return trip from Upstate NY yesterday and pulled into an almost full set of Superchargers. While changing, the final two stalls were filled with non-Tesla’s. When a few more Tesla drivers came along and saw this, they were not happy. Making things worse, these Supercharger newbie’s took a ton of time to figure out and then start their charging. Making the wait times longer.

It was also unclear if they received the same message about not charging beyond 80% because of the full chargers.

I have seen non-Tesla’s at superchargers before, but never when completely full. I suspect Elon’s inbox will receive lots of negative messages as this type of issue grows.

I haven't had the pleasure of experiencing that situation yet, as these "dual purpose" chargers seem to be rolling out in your neck of the woods first. What will be worse is when vehicles like the EF150 occupy two stalls to charge. Standardization of plug placement on vehicles will also need to come. One course of action that makes sense to me is to be engaging, and helpful, with these newbies. They will feel better, and so will the Tesla "old hands".

 

[TacoGuy]

the golden age of owning a Tesla is behind us. Gone are the days when you could grab a coffee and talk to another Tesla owner for a few minutes while charging.

V3 is fast enough to get you in and out, and the masses have caught on to the convenience (not value) of owning an EV.

I expect charging is going to be a fuster cluck for a while. Be patient, it is going to get worse before it gets better.

 

[acarney]

Oh the plus side, EVERYONE will build out Tesla (NACS) plugs. EA will have them, EVGo, ChargePoint, etc. While Tesla will be the primary stop point, having options will be great, and hopefully reliability will improve, since Tesla will eat everyone lunch if it doesn't.

Tesla should also have access to all that sweet sweet government money that will greatly help build out charging, in fact, I suspect Tesla will be labor constrained instead of funding. Time and time again they've been able to build MORE plugs per station for the same cost as the other guys. If we see the supercharger network double in two years or something because of this influx of cash and 3rd party cars, AND each station turn into a 12-20 plug station... well, I think we'll see isolated growing pains, but overall a better experience.

AND, hopefully we can suck up some juice at national parks and stuff thanks to Rivian. Owning a Tesla is just going to be more and more flexible and easier. We're just getting to a tipping point where we'll start to see chargers show up everywhere. I actually wouldn't be surprised if Tesla spun off the supercharger division as it's own company and increased it's scale as fast as possible. They're now what EA was supposed to be but never turned into.

 

[exxxviii]

It’s all good. Tesla can manufacture V4 superchargers almost as fast as all the other BEV carmakers combined can sell cars. So, Tesla will likely outrun the rush.

 

[Tha_Ape]

Just wait 2-3 more years when the other makers install the NACS plug on their cars. It will be fun.

I think Tesla makes up like 70% of EVs so it'll only be a minor increase

 

[TacoGuy]

Oh the plus side, EVERYONE will build out Tesla (NACS) plugs. EA will have them, EVGo, ChargePoint, etc. While Tesla will be the primary stop point, having options will be great, and hopefully reliability will improve, since Tesla will eat everyone lunch if it doesn't.

Tesla should also have access to all that sweet sweet government money that will greatly help build out charging, in fact, I suspect Tesla will be labor constrained instead of funding. Time and time again they've been able to build MORE plugs per station for the same cost as the other guys. If we see the supercharger network double in two years or something because of this influx of cash and 3rd party cars, AND each station turn into a 12-20 plug station... well, I think we'll see isolated growing pains, but overall a better experience.

AND, hopefully we can suck up some juice at national parks and stuff thanks to Rivian. Owning a Tesla is just going to be more and more flexible and easier. We're just getting to a tipping point where we'll start to see chargers show up everywhere. I actually wouldn't be surprised if Tesla spun off the supercharger division as it's own company and increased it's scale as fast as possible. They're now what EA was supposed to be but never turned into.

Spinning off a profitable business unit may be a challenge. After all, subscriptions (Including SC usage) are going to be the major profit centers to Support Elon's strategy. In the traditional sense, the subscription services at Tesla are the SUV that everyone buys from ford, gm, etc, so the manufacturer can continue to build the flagship sports car in low quantify at high prices.

Now what will get interesting is the government position on SCs. Currently it is viewed as an overall benefit to have ev charging infrastructure grow rapidly, and the government is offering different incentives to any EV charging company that can fulfill its requirements (also happening at a local an municipal level). However, anti-trust laws may come in to play if there is lack of competition.

I agree though that soon chargers will be everywhere and nobody will "care" about them anymore. Its not too long before we'll see them every mile or so in populated areas and on the highway there will be so many it will no longer be a matter of can I make it, but where do I stop (It is already in the SW US.)

 

[Brian-MS90D]

Since owning my 2017 MS, every year there is someone griping about how Superchargers will become over crowded to the point of uselessness. These same posts were made when the Model 3 was rolled out. Then the Model Y. Now it's about non-Tesla's.

The only thing constant since 2017 is that the Supercharging experience has gotten dramatically better on average every year. I don't see any reason why this trend will cease. 6+ years later, the naysayers will still be proven wrong.

 

[AC Traction]

I think the only times fast charging will really fill up will be during heavy travel holidays, at least in this part of the country. I can count on two hands the number of times I've used a supercharger over the year I've had my M3. With the exception of traveling around the holidays, the SC locations I've used have had more spots open than used.

Now I do understand that many new EV owners may not live in a place conducive to home charging, say a condo, apartment or rental property. That's why with the proliferation of DCFCs, we also need to incentivize building out L2 charging infrastructure in places like this. Having affordable, accessible L2 charging where they sleep at night or work during the day will keep people from having to use DCFCs as "gas stations."

I did come very close to having to wait during my holiday trip. On two occasions, I pulled into the last spot available. During the charge, I observed some others arriving waiting for a spot for less than five minutes. Still beat the 15+ minute wait at the Costco gas station. If people are using them right, i.e. not charging to a high SoC at a fast charger, throughput is quite quick.

 

[tm3lrawd]

I also encountered a full Tesla supercharger site in upstate NY on Sunday afternoon. It was a magic dock setup with a 3 non-Teslas in charge stalls. One sat there for about 15 min unable to get the charger to unlock because there was no cell service or wifi at the site. Not sure how the other non-Teslas got their chargers to unlock. Seems like a bad idea to require network communication to initiate charging at a site without wifi or cell service.

 

[MrOlatheGuy]

Recently, on my trip out of town, my MYLR asked me to choose an alternative SC since the one I selected on the map (8 spot) was 'busy'. It did so again 2 days later when I was coming back again. I did take the alternate SC site both times.

 

[gmetcalf18]

We've taken our Y as far west as Missouri, as far east as Boston and literally everywhere between (we live in Michigan) and New York is the only state we have encountered full super chargers and that was before non Tesla can use them. No idea why, obviously demand is higher there than surrounding areas and their SC rates are a lot higher in NY than PA or even MA but it seems as NY needs more chargers and quickly to keep up with the demand

 

[jsight]

Since owning my 2017 MS, every year there is someone griping about how Superchargers will become over crowded to the point of uselessness. These same posts were made when the Model 3 was rolled out. Then the Model Y. Now it's about non-Tesla's.

The only thing constant since 2017 is that the Supercharging experience has gotten dramatically better on average every year. I don't see any reason why this trend will cease. 6+ years later, the naysayers will still be proven wrong.

Yeah, I remember when we used to complain about I-26 in my area. Zero superchargers in South Carolina! That was really just a few years ago.

Now there are at least 4 along that route. Things have gotten better along basically every route that I routinely look at.

I'm sure there will always be localized issues at certain times, but the general trend is improvement.

 

[Tha_Ape]

I rarely see them more than 1/2 full, but I do see dummies like this

 

[brkaus]

View attachment 963405

I rarely see them more than 1/2 full, but I do see dummies like this

Just a guess, but I’d suspect it’s the Tesla auto-park

 

[Tronguy]

Just a guess, but I’d suspect it’s the Tesla auto-park

Nah. The user is an idiot.

The actual Tesla Autopark (of which I got the FSD-b variant of same, camera-only methods and all) actually does a decent job once one has managed to line the car up so it decides the parking job is worthy. In that case (and, yes, I've done it) it does an OK job and doesn't have to be moved once parked.

Like... it might be... Tesla actually tested a Tesla FSD-b autopark at a Tesla Supercharger. Who would've thunk?

 

[Gndy]

in Dubai we only have 4 supercharging stations, a nightmare, always full

 

[TomServo]

The V2 locations will probably get hit the hardest given their POWER SHARING nature. And if Chevy Bolts start flocking to SCers with their 55 kWh MAX charging speed things could get dicey. One of the locations we charge at on our road trips is Glen Allen VA. It's our last stop before we get to our kid's house in southern MD. We usually arrive with about 20% SOC and charge to at least 80%. Glen Allen is a V2 location and always busy so POWER SHARING is the norm. We plan on at least 30 minutes so we grab a bite to eat at the Panara. In the future, we'll have to monitor Glen Allen or Ashland (a V3 location) just north of Glen Allen on I-95 for congestion.

I hope Tesla UPGRADES all V2 locations to at least V3.