Supercharger Occupied?

[smartypnz]

Planning a 3000 plus mile road trip with my M3 (Main goal is to go to Montana being the only state I have not been to). Leaving in less than 2 weeks.

Anyway, almost totally on the Supercharger route and am looking to make use of all I pass - maybe skip occasionally.

My question here is.... Any possible way to see availability for each charger? Yes, I know that if you put in a destination the screen pretty much covers availability of those within range. But I am interested in checking other locations on my intended route for day of week and hour of day that I may be there.

Multiple (12 or more) chargers are not a big concern. But there are several locations with just 4 chargers and if I know in advance that they may be in use during my visit, I can plan a different route or time of day or even skip if charged higher in advance.

 

[P85_DA]

No way to check..other than scrolling forward on map ...I doubt anything would be full you are not traveling in SoCal

 

[Skidmark]

Yes, if you touch on the supercharger station on the map or if you click on the lightning bolt button on the nav screen, it will show you the slots in use and total slots. Surprised you haven't already tried this out in your MS - it works the same way on the Model 3.

 

[eli_]

Just a heads up, I found it's not totally accurate. I was sitting at a Supercharger with one other Tesla charging, and the nav screen showed 4 slots as in use.

 

[P85_DA]

OP was asking about chargers out of his range ....the nav will only show SCs within current range of charge ..to show others u have to zoom out in the nav map than u can click the SC to see stalls in use ...not sure that really matters 300 miles out as by the time you get there stalls will probably clear

Yes, if you touch on the supercharger station on the map or if you click on the lightning bolt button on the nav screen, it will show you the slots in use and total slots. Surprised you haven't already tried this out in your MS - it works the same way on the Model 3.

 

[smartypnz]

OP was asking about chargers out of his range ....the nav will only show SCs within current range of charge ..to show others u have to zoom out in the nav map than u can click the SC to see stalls in use ...not sure that really matters 300 miles out as by the time you get there stalls will probably clear

Actually, I am hoping to see the ones 300 miles out or greater. This is for planning purposes and ‘time of day occupation’ is key. If a certain station is regularly busy at 10 am (for example), I could plan my overnight in a different location which will route me to that area say at 2 pm.

 

[alloverx]

Thats serious research there, has the makings of a speed-run. I like the detailed approach. You need to ping the DBA folks at Tesla to get some analytics.

 

[jaguar36]

Nope, Tesla doesn't want to share this information beyond what's local to your car. When they first publicly released this feature a few enterprising individuals tried to make maps of all the superchargers and track their availability and Tesla blocked them and asked them not to continue trying.

 

[cpa]

I would think that the most direct route for you would be across Interstate 80 to Wells, then north to Twin Falls, east to Interstate 15 then on into Big Sky Country. I know for fact that Lovelock and Winnemucca are four stalls, but I believe that the other SC along that route are at least six. Truckee to Winnemucca is around 200 miles, well within the range of a Model 3 LR. Lovelock to Elko is also about 200 miles. Lovelock to Winnemucca is about 70 miles, so a 90% charge at Truckee could give you the best of both worlds. You at least have some options once you reach Truckee. You ought to be able to zero in on both Lovelock and Winnemucca from the Truckee SC and plan accordingly en route.

But I highly doubt that these locations will be full up despite only having four stalls. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, to do at Lovelock besides leave as soon as you can. Winnemucca does have that casino adjacent for a beverage or games of chance, but not much else.

I do not know how many stalls are in Lima, Montana. And I am unfamiliar with the Superchargers in western Montana along Interstate 90 if that is your preferred route.

But I like your approach, and I agree that it would be nice for some of us to see any usage patterns that develop at Superchargers at various times of day and week.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

There is nothing, absolutely nothing, to do at Lovelock besides leave as soon as you can.

We kept busy counting how many flies the host killed in the McDonald's dining room. That seemed to be his entire job.

Back at the Supercharger, we had to figure out how to remove the Supercharger cable in the 108F+ weather without burning our hands!

 

[cpa]

We kept busy counting how many flies the host killed in the McDonald's dining room. That seemed to be his entire job.

Back at the Supercharger, we had to figure out how to remove the Supercharger cable in the 108F+ weather without burning our hands!

Haha! too funny (McDonald's). I keep a rag in the car to use when the temperatures are extreme for that very purpose. I open the charge port from the car and not the push button on the plug. I then cover the plug with the rag during the charge. Then a quick push to release the plug when done. The rag seems to keep the temperature from reaching skin-burning temperatures during the brief instant that I release the plug.

 

[smartypnz]

Oven Mitt is a good inclusion in the Frunk.

Anyway, I see how Tesla may be protective of that info and will bow to their reasons.
But maybe like Google - when you click on a restaurant it will show you busy times for the day - I am not interested so much in real time data - just typical occupational info for certain times of day.

Extra info.... those interested - my plan is thru Kettleman, Inyokern (all local info there), then Beatty, Vegas or Henderson (if completed), Kingman, Flagstaff, Holbrook, Gallup, Farmington, Blanding, Moab, Grand Jct, Glenwood Spgs, Silverthorne, Boulder (or Estes Park), Cheyenne, Lusk, Spearfish, Gillette, Sheridan, Billings, Big Timber, Bozeman, Butte, Missoula, Superior, Coeur d'Alene, Ritzville, Ellensburg, Centralia, Aberdeen, Seaside, Lincoln City, Bandon, Crescent City, Eureka, Laytonville, Ukiah, Concord, Gilroy.

Of course not necessarily charging at each station. But generally that route. Side diversion to Glacier Nat'l Park.

BTW, if necessary the length of the driver's side from the back of driver's seat to rear lip of trunk (with left side back seat folded) is 6' 2" and fairly flat. Just need a nice pad and maybe thin sleeping bag - to be used in a pinch.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

You might want to replace Lusk with Wheatland now that it is open. There's also a Supercharger in Custer now too.

 

[smartypnz]

You might want to replace Lusk with Wheatland now that it is open. There's also a Supercharger in Custer now too.

Yes, was looking at that as possibility before opening. However, years ago, when Lusk opened someone posted a pic and I thought 'YES' I just had to visit this little town that had put faith in Tesla (at that time just a novelty).
So maybe also I will divert to Wheatland to spend some money there.

Similarly, always wanted to cross Death Valley.

 

[animorph]

Because of Supercharger tapering at higher battery levels, it's usually faster to stop at all Superchargers along the way, charging only to the level that gets you safely to the next Supercharger. Unless you're in California and they're ridiculously close together, or they're too far off your route. EVTripPlanner and the car's nav will figure that out for you. On the other hand if you're eating dinner let the car charge until it hits 100% or you're ready to go. In that case you may be able to skip the next SC, or at least spend less time there. And you might want to charge extra at the SC just before your destination if it doesn't have destination charging. The nav will have you arrive at 15-20% or so since you can't tell it where you're going after that.

The only problem I've ever had with busy Superchargers was in large urban areas.

 

[smartypnz]

Yes, I have always used the 'charge to next plus buffer' method.

EVTripPlanner has become the EV traveling 'bible'. Occasionally the eating dinner letting it go full has thrown all scheduling out of whack - upsets the universe / time continuum or something.

Then there's the "wanna get as many 'SC notches' on my belt" thing - where you stop, attach plug, take pic, then leave in a cloud of dust and gravel (or snowballs) while screaming at the top of your lungs "Hi Ho Silver!!! Away!!"

 

[EchoDelta]

Actually, I am hoping to see the ones 300 miles out or greater. This is for planning purposes and ‘time of day occupation’ is key. If a certain station is regularly busy at 10 am (for example), I could plan my overnight in a different location which will route me to that area say at 2 pm.

I wish google had the occupancy histogram for superchargers, but there isn't enough data in most of the rural ones I guess. Tesla could share that data IMO.

 

[smartypnz]

I took an extended weekend trip the last few days and discovered.... at 6 of the 7 SC's I encountered, the availability reported on the screen was wrong. And not by a little. I pulled into one SC that claimed only 1 was available - but in reality (and the whole time I was there) I was alone.
Point is - the info we are getting is unreliable for trip planning (or real - time planning).

It is a nice feature, but please fix this Tesla.

 

[alloverx]

Yes if its bad data its useless. Who is managing this database, or is it an API issue? Possibly a database refresh issue too.