Supercharger Idle Fee

[brkaus]

@zer0frequency many cars being delivered now still gave 6-9 months free supercharging. That offer is no longer available, but some of the cars ordered with the referral deal are likely still in the pipelin.

 

[Rocky_H]

Please understand that for those of us in the Midwest, there simply isn’t any congestion at Superchargers. It goes without saying that one shouldn’t bump to 100% if you’re charging at a busy location. I’ve documented how I Supercharged at 20 different SC locations from Seattle to Davenport and almost always was the solo Tesla. I’ve never Supercharged when the stalls were even half full; usually it’s just me - or plus one (max two) other Tesla(s) - and 5 or more open stalls. I feel for those of you in CA with constant SC waiting lines, but that’s just never the case where I’ve been (Seattle to Bristol, TN). It should go without saying that folks clearly shouldn’t be “blocking/hogging” a needed SC stall.

This is my experience as well. In 60+ different Supercharger locations in about 17 states in 5 years, I have still never seen a Supercharger site full. And I can count on my fingers the number of times I've even seen half full. I've only been charge limited from being the secondary paired car about twice ever. People with Cali-tinted glasses don't seem to realize there is still a lot of Supercharger capacity in the middle of the country, and the charge limit is going to be at 100% whenever I'm on a trip. It just makes sense to keep the current flowing if you're not back to the car yet.

 

[LoudMusic]

On Friday I stopped at a supercharger, plugged in, and mosey’d to the nearby Starbucks with my laptop. This supercharger location posted 30 minutes max and the time for my charge was @ 20 minutes. Got my Starbucks, signed in on my laptop, and about 15 minutes later headed back to my car. I arrived with car charged to my set limit. That evening I got an email “Supercharger Idle Fee”. Here’s what the email said:

“Idle fees (up to $1.00 per minute) are applied to cars occupying a Supercharger after completing a charging session. Idle fees only apply when at least half the station is in use.” “7 min. idle at $0.50/min.”.

I didn’t know about Idle Fees (I think this is a GOOD thing to keep people from blocking a needed charger location) and thought I’d get back to my car in time (I was 7 minutes late). But the Tesla app only hollers when the charge is complete and does not give an early warning. The estimated charge completion time shown when first plugged in varies, so the initial completion time is not reliable.

Charge times vary during the charge process (heat/state of charge/multiple vehicles using charger/ etc.)., and owners hang out at locations with varying distance from the car, so it’s hard to guess how much time is needed to get back to the car on time (i.e., arrive when charging is complete). So I called Tesla support and recommended:

Ø The mobile app should allow giving an alert prior to charge completion, giving the owner time to get to his car before getting ding’d.

Ø Perhaps this early alert feature might consider how far you are from your car (i.e., phone to car distance), and calculate the time it might take to get back to your car, and thus calculate how much early warning to provide … or just let the owner specify how much lead time is needed to get back to the car. When the car’s variable charge rate calculates “EstimatedCompletionTime – WalkToCarTime”), that’s when to send the alert to the owner.

This would help folks to get back to their car close to when their charge time is complete without having to guess.

> This supercharger location posted 30 minutes max and the time for my charge was @ 20 minutes.

I'm curious what the sign ACTUALLY said. I bet it was one of the signs that is telling non-Teslas that they can park there for 30 minutes max. Not that Teslas can only park there for 30 minutes.

https://i.redd.it/3njr8tob2nf21.jpg

"General Parking" means non-Teslas.

 

[jjrandorin]

> This supercharger location posted 30 minutes max and the time for my charge was @ 20 minutes.

I'm curious what the sign ACTUALLY said. I bet it was one of the signs that is telling non-Teslas that they can park there for 30 minutes max. Not that Teslas can only park there for 30 minutes.

https://i.redd.it/3njr8tob2nf21.jpg

"General Parking" means non-Teslas.

The post you are replying to was made in 2019, just under 3 years ago. No idea what the policy is now, but 3 years is a long time.

 

[Ziebo]

I was road tripping this week and went to a Tesla SC in Dalles Tx which was crowded but not full. I had previously set my charge to 100% however unbeknownst to me TESLA RESET MY CHARGE SETTING TO 80% due to traffic there (I learned this later which cost me more time to charge to 100%). So I re-adjusted the charge and waited an extra 20 minutes before taking off. Later that evening having arrived at my destination 230 miles away I got the message I had idle charges...I understand the need to keep things moving at the SC stations but changing my (required for travel) charge settings then assessing an idle fee? kind of tricky aren't these Tesla folks? And I don't see a way to appeal this charge with Tesla either- thoughts Tesla community?

 

[Rocky_H]

I was road tripping this week and went to a Tesla SC in Dalles Tx which was crowded but not full. I had previously set my charge to 100% however unbeknownst to me TESLA RESET MY CHARGE SETTING TO 80% due to traffic there (I learned this later which cost me more time to charge to 100%). So I re-adjusted the charge and waited an extra 20 minutes before taking off. Later that evening having arrived at my destination 230 miles away I got the message I had idle charges...I understand the need to keep things moving at the SC stations but changing my (required for travel) charge settings then assessing an idle fee? kind of tricky aren't these Tesla folks? And I don't see a way to appeal this charge with Tesla either- thoughts Tesla community?

That has been in place for several years now. When you plug in, the car immediately shows a message on the car's screen telling you it is doing this, and saying that if you need more, you can go ahead and move the limit back up to 100% if you want to. If you pay attention, it's a non-issue.