That's not good if those are still offline for Christmas and new years. That site is really busy.
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Jeremy3292
Active Member
As a local resident, you don’t want to stop at this SC unless absolutely needed. Plan your route to avoid it if possible.
Knightshade
Well-Known Member
Thunder7ga
Member
Same...I now plan to drive right past this one...I waited every single time on getting a charger at this place before Fair Play. Won't do that again.
Also as a local resident, I'll just add that the reason to avoid is this exit and road is often highly congested. Not that its a bad area of town, etc.
I like having a walk to lunch at nearby Whole Foods……
Jeremy3292
Active Member
Local resident - had to charge here today due to a whirlwind trip I’m on across NC and SC. This SuC is constantly full, which I already knew, but on top of that the power sharing absolutely sucks. That’s even with the new Piedmont SuC 11 miles down the road. Tesla really needs to work on the I-85 corridor between CLT and ATL. The new Gastonia, NC SuC is supposed to be coming soon, but even then that’s still a bandaid for this corridor. Gaffney and Spartanburg both need SuC as well as another between Fair Play and ATL. On top of this the EA charger 1 mile away only has 3 stalls online and they were all open according to the EA app. Meanwhile I’m pulling sub 100 kW on this Tesla V2…ok rant over haha happy charging!
Knightshade
Well-Known Member
There's one in Buford just a bit off 85.
Between that and Fair Play, even starting a fair bit east of Charlotte, driving to Atlanta has been a super easy route for charging for me for a good while now.
Jeremy3292
Active Member
Sorry I should’ve been clearer. The spacing is not adequate for travelers between CLT and Greenville, especially when the CLT SuC are a bit off I-85. So for those passing through who don’t have ATL or CLT as their final destination, it can be a bit cumbersome. It’s not awful but it could be much better. There is a reason the Greenville SuC is constantly full
Buford is also a V2 and prone to capacity issues, though. I had stall sharing the last time that I was there. It'd be nice to have another v3 close to there.
I really don't understand why there isn't one in Spartanburg, maybe near the intersection of I-26 and I-85. I-26 gets tons of traffic in the summer as people from the mid west travel to the South Carolina beaches.
Right! But....if you happen to have a CCS adapter, there is an EA station at the nearby Sam's Club.
Jeremy3292
Active Member
You must not have read my entire post
I said that exact thing lolYeah, I26 improved a lot with the Orangeburg site, but it is still a problem. If you have the CCS adapter, there is a new 80kw site opening soon in Duncan that will help, though.
Knightshade
Well-Known Member
Sorry I should’ve been clearer. The spacing is not adequate for travelers between CLT and Greenville, especially when the CLT SuC are a bit off I-85. So for those passing through who don’t have ATL or CLT as their final destination, it can be a bit cumbersome. It’s not awful but it could be much better. There is a reason the Greenville SuC is constantly full
I haven't stopped in Greenville (which I agree sucks) since Fair Play opened-- no need with all the other options.
Including Piedmont which as noted is only a few minutes further south, and V3 instead of V2.
So Charlotte to Atlanta (city center to city center) is only 280 miles. Theoretically that's already doable without even charging in anything but an SR or an older S/X.
Certainly any single SC stop of 10-15 minutes would be plenty.
For folks starting north or east of Charlotte (as I do)-- Charlotte itself has 4 superchargers adjacent to the 485 beltway, 2 V2 and 2 V3- plus a V3 under permit in the center of the city.
Then 2 more superchargers within 10 minutes of each other on I-85 about 2 hours south of Charlotte, the V2 in Greenville and the V3 in Piedmont.
Then another V3 another 35 miles south on 85 in Fairplay
Then a V2 another hour south in Buford.
Then a buttload all around metro Atlanta.
Even discounting the supercharger sites in the starting and ending metros, you drive past/near 4 superchargers in about 280 miles.
If you ARE just "passing through" Charlotte then you're up to 8 superchargers in about 300 miles.
And at no point do you not have at least 2 different superchargers less than 100 miles ahead of you on the route.
Seems adequate to me... and I do this trip several times a year (well, starting about 2 hours east of charlotte, and ending maybe half an hourish NE of Atlanta, so longer overall)....and once alternatives to Greenville opened a while ago I've never had any wait whatsoever for charging at any step.
If you wanna see inadequate check out 64 west of Asheville... absolutely nothing for 226 miles till Chattanooga- and that is currently one 6-stall V2 location. (there's a 12 stall V2 under construction nearby at least) (or for legit inadequate check out the upper midwest anywhere not along the single major interstate in a bunch of states- especially when it's well below freezing in those places)
Jeremy3292
Active Member
I disagree. On I-85 there are no SuC in CLT. You must take the 485 beltway to get to a SuC, while not terrible, is certainly out of the way. So on I-85 from Archdale, NC to ATL (Buford) there is one 8 stall V2, one 8 stall V3, and one 12 stall V3. So that’s all you get for 283 miles on a HEAVILY traveled corridor. You can simply look on the Tesla map and see how much dead space there is on I-85 too. The new Thomasville SuC is a welcome but small relief, the new CLT one is literally downtown in a shopping parking garage far away from 85, so my only hope is the new Gastonia one is a 12 stall in a parking lot or something.
I’ll leave it at this: if a SuC is constantly full, then there are simply not enough to service the area. It needs to get better, especially with how many cars Tesla is pumping out. This isn’t 2016 anymore, Tesla’s are everywhere now.
I’ll leave it at this: if a SuC is constantly full, then there are simply not enough to service the area. It needs to get better, especially with how many cars Tesla is pumping out. This isn’t 2016 anymore, Tesla’s are everywhere now.
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I agree. I sometimes drive there from Spartanburg and go back the same day. That doesn't always get me anywhere close to the current superchargers in Charlotte. Gastonia will be a great help.
I understand that they can't always put them where they want, though. Site selection and approval is hard in some regions, from what I've heard.
Jeremy3292
Active Member
I agree and if they could somehow get a 12 stall SuC around the interchange of I-26 and I-85 that would kill two birds with one stone as they say. I think they certainly have struggled finding anyone who wants to sign a lease along I-26 too.
Knightshade
Well-Known Member
More often than not 485 has been quicker than 85 to get through the area based on traffic in my experience (which is a shame because the 85 charlotte one has a decent Chinese restaurant there).
Apart from which the Mallard Creek supercharger is nearer to 85 than it is to 485--- so EITHER route has at least one supercharger nearer it in NE charlotte.
So counting the charlotte one (since again there's one near your route on EITHER 485 or 85, just a different one- so either an 8 stall V2 or a 12 stall V3, there's that, plus:
An 8 stall V2 in Greenville
An 8 stall V3 in Piedmont
A 12 stall V3 in Fair Play
Then the 10 stall V2 in Buford.
So over 283 miles-(Archdale to Buford) - a distance any new Tesla but the SR can already cover without ANY supercharging outside dead of winter- there's either 46 or 50 total stalls all on/near 85....plus as you note ANOTHER 8 V3 stalls in Thomasville where construction appears already complete they just haven't flipped the switch--- putting you at 44-54 total stalls- the majority of them V3- over a 283 mile stretch.
Or too many folks who got used to Greenville just haven't bothered to plan better as the system has expanded.
Again a few years ago when there was no other choice I stopped there too- and yeah it sucked- and I had a wait.
But Fair Play (and now Piedmont extra so) makes it entirely unneeded, and I've never come near to having to wait there, not even over Thanksgiving last year.
Piedmont especially is pretty new, so I'd expect Greenville to suck less as more people discover it given how near to each other they are.
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