Thanks! 10-stalls. That will barely cover the locals. The rich folks from Pacific Grove and Carmel who are 'owed' their 'free' charging. Whenever I stop at the seaside one, it's always filled with over-dressed, over perfumed, over-bleached locals.
10+6=16, which is almost triple their current capacity in that area.
You can complain all you want about the locals charging, but if I were a local in Pebble Beach, done with my appointments for the day, and that used up 27% of my charge, then I'd be at, let's see, over there let's say I'm old money, so in my 85**, I'd be at 80%-27%=53%, and if I want to go anywhere long distance, I would want to add some more to reach the following next SuperCharger stops in the SuperCharger network:
- Mountain View (via Hwys 1, 17) -- very close to running out without a charge
- Gilroy (via Hwys 156*, 101) -- easy to reach without charge
- Gustine (via Hwys 156, 152) -- would have to charge to reliably reach
- Harris Ranch (via Hwys 68*, 101, 198) -- would need ~11kW additional to reach (if going via 198, more if via 156, I5)
- Atascadero (via Hwys 68*, 101) -- would need ~16kW additional to reach
Then, there's the round trip type of thing: let's say you are in Pebble Beach on your way to Santa Cruz or San Jose, and then coming right home. With your 53%:
- Santa Cruz (no SuperCharger): would use up all remaining charge to reach there and back, so need to add a little.
- San Jose (via Hwy 1, 17, very often faster than 156*, 101) (no SuperCharger): would require almost a whole battery charge to reach there and back again.
So, you can be a rich local Carmel/Pacific Grove/Pebble Beach high-battery size Tesla Model S or X owner locally SuperCharging ("over dressed, bleached, & perfumed" as you put it, all-in), and have plenty of legitimate reason to charge up locally at the local SuperCharger. (Btw, as someone who frequented that SuperCharger, I found the locals to be rather down to earth compared to their usual Silicon Valley, Gilroy and Harris Ranch counterparts; and I'd be hard pressed to ever remember any bleached, overly perfumed, or overly dressed patrons of Seaside.)
And, you know what? Who cares! They go shopping, they charge. They charge at home. No one's keeping track. It's just convenience. The car keeps going happily. They pay for what they want. They get it. They have to be frugal like you and me (relative to their reality), but why pinch around the corners when there's a charger right there next to the Starbucks and whatever. Just plug in, if it's worth the extra inconvenience of doing so, and that's practically all the disincentive you need for time-conscious and/or convenience-conscious people. I seriously doubt many are going to be trying to get free charging for the price. That's Model 3 territory, not Model S and X. Del Monte Shopping Center is going to be a nice way to get a few things done walking around while getting the next leg of your driving up to snuff.
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* Many location-specific alternatives exist to this highway, depending exactly where you are in the Monterey region.
** Actually, many old-money would still have their other (ICE) car for a very long time, until it ran out, and they'd then buy the then-current Tesla, so quite possibly a 90 or 100 model. Also, there's frugal old money who go out and get something cheap, like, say, a used Tesla, so again, an 85 or 90. In reality, many of the people out there drive fleet cars (mostly Mercedes, etc.)***; someone will have to explain that to me. Their homes come with fleet cars for free? Like Google Bicycle in Mountain View? Just get in and drive? Obviously, fleet managers do most the charging for that situation; no need to bother fleet drivers with menial tasks like filling up.
*** Yet another example of reality being more real and interesting than the illusions we create for ourselves trying to figure things out. Like the Intel Hotel Factory, where the guests are Machine Owners.
