Supercharger - Gaithersburg, MD

[Sir Guacamolaf]

I tried Gaithersburg recently, went from 50% to 90%. I never crossed 33kw, most of the time I was right below 30kw. It was cold outside, but I had been driving for a while, so I think the battery should have warmed up.

I think it's time to call this a sippercharger!

 

[marsh1n]

I was there last night around 8:45. There were 5 of us charging. I got between 105kw and 110kw the entire time. Arrived with 15%, left with over 60%.

This was the first time I've seen more than 50kw at the charger. Hopefully this means it's getting better.

 

[SNMD]

I'm sitting here at 5:30 pm with it going from a 10KW to 14KW max. Three other Teslas here, but none close to me.

 

[bluetinc]

So I finally made it by at the end of a trip with a the car in the right state to see a decent charge (~80 miles on it, and the battery was warm from driving for hours), and I saw 110kW peak that came back down to 100kW solid, which is exactly where it should be for that point of the charge profile on my 85. I was on 6B, and I would have tested other chargers, but they all had someone on at least one of the two heads.

Peter

 

[SNMD]

It's good to see 110KW. I stopped by late last night 12:30 AM (I know!!), after coming back from DC, and got 40KW only. I was the only one charging (and possibly the only one in the parking lot) . Hoping to get to fast charging one day.

 

[MMC-]

Thursday Feb 15th approx noon est.

I was on 4a and got up to 82kw on my high mileage 2016 S75D. Current mileage 78,600 with a lot of DC charging so am probably rate limited. It was about 68° and battery would have been warm as I had just come down 270 from Frederick.

 

[SNMD]

Got up to 96kW and 318 mi/hr today! Started with 20 miles of charge remaining after driving back from VA.

 

[bluetinc]

All,

So I managed to make it by yesterday on the way back from a small trip. It wasn't a perfect test as even though we had been driving for 2 hours, it was in the cold wet snow, and slow going, so the battery was only in the low 20s (C), so not warm enough to pull full current from the chargers. Even so, I managed to test all 6 chargers, and they all seem to be operating nominally, and I saw peak currents in the 92-102 kW range. This is just as I would have expected, as the currents increased as my battery warmed, and then decreased as it filled up. See pics below -- Peter

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4



3


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5


1

 

[Ride Long]

Pricing question:

The Tesla web site says all Superchargers in Maryland will charge $0.16 per kWh. I pulled in to Gaithersburg and charged my Model 3 last week and was charged $0.20 per kWh.

Other Superchargers I have visited in Maryland have charged the $0.16 rate, but not this one. Does anyone have any info from Tesla or elsewhere as to why that could be?

I emailed Tesla support with my question and they sent a non-responsive form letter that repeats info from their web site.

thanks
Paul

 

[sb74]

I got 95 kW last week when there were two others charging around me and it was 55 degrees outside. But on Thursday, I was alone and got only 50 kW when it was 45 degrees. There seems to be no rhyme or reason with my experiences recently.

 

[bluetinc]

I got 95 kW last week when there were two others charging around me and it was 55 degrees outside. But on Thursday, I was alone and got only 50 kW when it was 45 degrees. There seems to be no rhyme or reason with my experiences recently.

sb74, you didn't include any details about what state your battery was in each case, or how warm the battery was (or which battery it is), so it's hard to evaluate your experience. I'll just say:

There are a number of stars that need to align to receive 120kW when charging. They are:

1. You must not have anyone else on the other matched pedestal, i.e. if you are on 4b, 4a must be empty. This is because the 120kW is split between the two spots with a greater rate given to the first car to plug in.

2. Your battery must be near empty. How empty depends on which battery, generally that larger batteries charge at higher rates for longer. (there are some great charge rate graphs for all the batteries here on TMC) In an 85kWh battery, you will generally only see over 110kW rates when you are below about 25% full.

3. Your battery must be warm. Generally the battery will need to be above about 90 degrees F. This can take a LONG time when it's cool/cold out. After my car cold soaks below 32F I've found that it can take over an hour of driving to fully warm the battery up for a 120kW charge (this of course varies depending on car settings and type of driving). If a cold winter storm, I found it took over two hours of strait driving.

4. The SuperCharger must be at 100% health. This is the last item that is very hard to tell if it's met, because Tesla doesn't make public the % health of the chargers. The chargers fail gracefully, so it's quite possible to have a charge that should put out 120kW put out only 90kW or less when some of the internal modules have failed. In the past when 1-3 are met, and I see a very low rate, I've called the Supercharger number while charging and had them verify the charge that was taking place and made sure they had a ticket to repair it in their system. I'm not sure if they are still doing this now that there are so many chargers and they have just moved to an automated ticket generation system.

Peter

 

[CHRGIT]

Pricing question:

The Tesla web site says all Superchargers in Maryland will charge $0.16 per kWh. I pulled in to Gaithersburg and charged my Model 3 last week and was charged $0.20 per kWh.

Other Superchargers I have visited in Maryland have charged the $0.16 rate, but not this one. Does anyone have any info from Tesla or elsewhere as to why that could be?

I emailed Tesla support with my question and they sent a non-responsive form letter that repeats info from their web site.

thanks
Paul

The MD rate is now $0.23kWh. MD and most other states just changed.

Supercharging
Tesla increases cost of using its Supercharger stations, still says it ‘will never be a profit center’

 

[Nilnoc]

Just stopped at this Supercharger for the first time. Definitely my least favorite, given the logistics of getting to the site and the arrangement of the pedestals in the parking garage. Hard to maneuver a Model X in the tight space.

Anyway, not posting to bitch, rather to say that there was a Tesla technician working on the site. He replaced one of the connectors and said he was doing some other maintenance work there.

 

[mrjwen]

Pulled in with 21mi left so we critically needed a charge to get home. All stalls occupied and a line forming. And there's this guy here ICEing 1B. Granted it's one of those 30 minute general parking spots, so I give them the benefit of the doubt, get a bit creative, parallel park, and plug in. While waiting there, the owners of the Teslas on both sides of the ICE return both confirming the car has been there for over an hour. SMH.

 

[Lanny]

A few months ago I wrote to the Rio management to make them aware of the issue of ICE vehicles occupying the stalls when Teslas need to charge. I asked them to consider new signage. I never got a response.

 

[MacGreiner]

I’ll write as well. Not good enough.

 

[Half Dollar Bill]

Pulled in with 21mi left so we critically needed a charge to get home. All stalls occupied and a line forming. And there's this guy here ICEing 1B. Granted it's one of those 30 minute general parking spots, so I give them the benefit of the doubt, get a bit creative, parallel park, and plug in. While waiting there, the owners of the Teslas on both sides of the ICE return both confirming the car has been there for over an hour. SMH.

View attachment 357112

Irony would be if the owner of the vehicle came out while you were charging and asked you to move.

 

[Big Earl]

Gaithersburg has been packed recently, usually over 50% full between 8am and 10pm. It sure would be nice to get those 24 stalls built at Montgomery Mall. Does anyone have any updates on permit status for these projects?

 

[MacGreiner]

Noticed the same. Sometimes when I check on the app I see it is full.

 

[David.85D]

Last time I was there it was completely full, and 3 cars were waiting to charge. A model 3 with temp tags was sitting in a stall, not plugged in. Avoids the fee that way ... Remained that way the entire time I was there (waiting for a spot plus maybe 45 mins charging).