Supercharger - Macquarie Park, NSW

[Sir Surfalot]

I would do it through the App first, they should route it to the correct area.

Done. I left feedback on the supercharging session, but I don’t know if/how any comments there actually get read and escalated.

What I also did, and it is kind of the wrong thing, is “request service” in the app, selected Other then wrote up the max kW problem with those two bays. Had to create a service appointment, etc.

Got a reply already from Tesla saying they would escalate it to the “energy team” to research further and also cancelling the appointment because (and I made this clear in my message) there isn’t anything wrong with my car, but rather just with those two chargers bays.

So I still don’t know the right way to tell Tesla there is a problem with a particular supercharger stall (or two). If they are actually dead they seem to know and fix them quickly but the fact these ones seem to have been going slow for over a month - from the PlugShare comments - makes me think they don’t know about these because they are otherwise succeeding the charge sessions, just slower than they should be. I can see how that sort of issue wouldn’t really stand out amongst all the telemetry data they would be getting, vs actually failed sessions or some bay not being used at all (eg because a cable is physically damaged) would stand out and get fixed quickly as we all know they do.

 

[Hairyman]

I charged there last week too and got "full speed" (not on that 1B stall though) and as I said moving from 1B to 4A this morning got me immediately from 65kW peak to the correct 130kW peak.

1A is the furthest one on the "left" bank of stalls and 1B is one in - back towards the entrance - from it. 4A is about 1/2 way along the "right" bank of stalls (where you have to go past the valet building - in front or behind - to get to them)

I looked in the history of Plugshare comments actually after posting to this thread this morning. There have been several people either mentioning slowness or reporting specifically a ~65kW peak at stalls 1A and 1B in the last few weeks.

I just re-looked now too - properly on plugshare.com on my desktop computer - and found what appears to be a definitive comment about it (which I wished I had seen earlier because I could have saved myself some time this morning...) from user "somethingstartingwiths" back on 12-Dec-22: "Units 1A + 1B seem to be capping out at 65kW on last two visits even if no one else on other chargers. Moved to 5B and straight up to 128kW". Also from user "duka" on 4-Jan-23: "Charging on 1A, 1B empty. I have low SOC 7 %, so charging rate (64 kW) seems slow."

Doesn't directly explain why the Tesla app+car consistently thinks 2 more bays are in use than what are actually in use at that site, but maybe that's what happens as some side-effect of whatever is wrong with bays 1A/1B giving 1/2 power only? It's not that the two bays are completely removed from the count, because when I plugged in (at both 1B and 4A) the number of available bays went from 8 to 7 in both cases - even though I was the only car around and it should have been going from 10 to 9.

Anyway, pro-tip: don't bother using bays 1A/1B there (furthest two on the left hand side of the station) until people start reporting they are getting the proper peak speeds on Plugshare - unless you deliberately want a slower charge for more shopping time perhaps?

Thanks. Looks like I was on 4B.

 

[Vostok]

What I also did, and it is kind of the wrong thing, is “request service” in the app, selected Other then wrote up the max kW problem with those two bays. Had to create a service appointment, etc.

Got a reply already from Tesla saying they would escalate it to the “energy team” to research further and also cancelling the appointment because (and I made this clear in my message) there isn’t anything wrong with my car, but rather just with those two chargers bays.

You did exactly what I meant - lodge a service request even though it’s not for your car. I don’t think it’s “kind of the wrong thing” at all - there’s no other mechanism (SC comments probably won’t do it) and clearly that approach worked and they are on to it!

 

[cafz]

So I still don’t know the right way to tell Tesla there is a problem with a particular supercharger stall (or two).

It seems a bit weird but I think Service Requests are the front door to report all problems to Tesla, whether with your car, the Superchargers or the app.

 

[Sir Surfalot]

…I think Service Requests are the front door to report all problems to Tesla, whether with your car, the Superchargers or the app.

I couldn’t find any category for “a service request NOT relating to my car” so I put it in Other. Had to choose a service appointment and so on for my car. The service person who replied (quite quickly, maybe within 1/2 hour) said specifically they couldn’t directly deal with a supercharger fault report - which makes me think it isn’t the normal way they get to the people who fix them - but also didn’t offer me any other more correct/direct route to make a similar report in the future.

Feels like it is shoe-horned into the wrong process if this is the correct/only way to report a flaky Supercharger, as I shouldn’t have to schedule an appointment for the car and so on at all (and then have the service person need to cancel it) just to get their attention for it.

Anyway I will keep an eye on the PlugShare reports to see how long those two bays keep being complained about for being slow - when the complaints stop for a while I guess we can assume the fix has been done. I don’t charge there often enough to test it myself directly.

 

[Sir Surfalot]

I was just looking in the Tesla app (playing with the new search function for Superchargers actually) and saw that stalls 1A and 1B - the two that were running at half-speed - are now marked as “out of order”:

 

[bcarp]

I was just looking in the Tesla app (playing with the new search function for Superchargers actually) and saw that stalls 1A and 1B - the two that were running at half-speed - are now marked as “out of order”:

What surprised me more is that 0 out of 10 chargers were available. I just checked, and that's the case again. Are these really getting hit this hard? Only two time points, but still surprised.

 

[moa999]

Both Macquarie and Broadway pretty regularly hit 0 availability on weekends.

 

[Hairyman]

What surprised me more is that 0 out of 10 chargers were available. I just checked, and that's the case again. Are these really getting hit this hard? Only two time points, but still surprised.

Yeah, it gets pretty busy in there. At the moment the waits are fairly short if you get stuck. Less than 10 mins so far for me, although it is a bit agonising to be staring at a full supercharger with no one in the cars.

 

[bcarp]

it is a bit agonising to be staring at a full supercharger with no one in the cars.

They are being hit with idle fees, aren’t they?

 

[Vostok]

They are being hit with idle fees, aren’t they?

If 50%+ stalls are occupied, and a car has finished charging, yes. I think Tesla gives you about 5 minutes grace period.

 

[Hairyman]

They are being hit with idle fees, aren’t they?

Yes, but I think most people are just keeping an eye on the app and coming back to the car park when their charge has reached their goal. I usually plug in and head upstairs for some food while the car charges. So the cars end up empty, although the owners don’t seem to be abusing the occupancy of the charging station.

 

[Sir Surfalot]

So the cars end up empty, although the owners don’t seem to be abusing the occupancy of the charging station.

A couple of visits ago there - on a Sunday morning fairly early but 5-6 cars charging (it has definitely got a lot busier at previously-quiet times lately), the car in the stall next to me wasn’t plugged in (and nobody in it), so my best guess is someone finished charging before finishing breakfast/shopping so they disconnected to avoid the idle charges BUT left the car in the bay until they finished whatever they were doing.

Car had very new sequence NSW number plates on it too, so maybe the owner hadn’t received “etiquette training” yet. I’d happily have made it a teachable moment for them if I had seen them

 

[OzVic]

A couple of visits ago there - on a Sunday morning fairly early but 5-6 cars charging (it has definitely got a lot busier at previously-quiet times lately), the car in the stall next to me wasn’t plugged in (and nobody in it), so my best guess is someone finished charging before finishing breakfast/shopping so they disconnected to avoid the idle charges BUT left the car in the bay until they finished whatever they were doing.

Car had very new sequence NSW number plates on it too, so maybe the owner hadn’t received “etiquette training” yet. I’d happily have made it a teachable moment for them if I had seen them

They would've 'forgotten to plug in', so you should've done the right thing for all and plugged them in?

I would've.

 

[Sir Surfalot]

They would've 'forgotten to plug in', so you should've done the right thing for all and plugged them in?

When a car is locked and unattended (specifically was a Model 3 in this case), can the charge flap be opened with the button on the CCS2 charge handle, and just as importantly will the charge session handshake and start (and thence accrue idle time later) - asking for a friend?

 

[OzVic]

When a car is locked and unattended (specifically was a Model 3 in this case), can the charge flap be opened with the button on the CCS2 charge handle, and just as importantly will the charge session handshake and start (and thence accrue idle time later) - asking for a friend?

Yes and yes.

 

[Vostok]

Yes and yes.

Interesting. I thought that a valid key (i.e. phone) needed to be present in the vicinity of the vehicle concerned to be able to do that. Otherwise, couldn’t anyone also end your charging session?

 

[Vostok]

my best guess is someone finished charging before finishing breakfast/shopping so they disconnected to avoid the idle charges BUT left the car in the bay until they finished whatever they were doing.

Tesla could put proximity sensors and a rego plate camera in the base of their SC units, so that if someone finished charging and unplugged, but then did not move their car to vacate the space, the session would not be treated as being completed and idle fees would continue accruing. And if someone parked there and didn’t plug in, the time-stamped photo of the rego plate would be emailed to NSW police (since NSW will soon make it unlawful to park in an EV space and not be plugged in and charging).

 

[meloccom]

Interesting. I thought that a valid key (i.e. phone) needed to be present in the vicinity of the vehicle concerned to be able to do that. Otherwise, couldn’t anyone also end your charging session?

In the past you could use the Supercharger or a Tesla charger handle to open the charge port door and plug in without unlocking, but I'm less certain that you can do this now. Once plugged in, charging or not, the charge handle is locked into the car until the owner comes along and unlocks it.

 

[ARMARM]

And if someone parked there and didn’t plug in, the time-stamped photo of the rego plate would be emailed to NSW police (since NSW will soon make it unlawful to park in an EV space and not be plugged in and charging).

Yeah, waste the cops time with BS like this. Most fines are handed out by council parking rangers, also I'm pretty sure the new rules don't apply to private car parks unless the owners have an agreement with council for them to patrol it, and the finally, the spots have to be properly signposted.