PSA: Tesla’s official map has been updated that it’s 72kw and limited hours (though they don’t offer more details than that).
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Supercharger - Seattle, WA - Union Street
- Thread starter geoc
- Start date
PSA: Tesla’s official map has been updated that it’s 72kw and limited hours (though they don’t offer more details than that).
Man this garage has tight spots!
I pulled in around 5pm with a little under 40% and decided to hit the destination chargers (on C-East). I left around 10:45 and paid $25. Not cheap for sure but at least the charge was free. (Approx 31kWh) There were two other Model 3s but funny enough they weren’t charging... I was the only one. The stairs up to Two Union Square are right at the intersection of 7th & Union.
I pulled in around 5pm with a little under 40% and decided to hit the destination chargers (on C-East). I left around 10:45 and paid $25. Not cheap for sure but at least the charge was free. (Approx 31kWh) There were two other Model 3s but funny enough they weren’t charging... I was the only one. The stairs up to Two Union Square are right at the intersection of 7th & Union.
At some point in the evening I believe the parking rate becomes a flat $7. I don’t know when that starts, but looks light you might have just missed that.
Ya, I think it’s at 7pm. I had an 8pm show today get to and wanted dinner before so I didn’t try to play the game on getting the car in right at that time.
I would encourage you all to email [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] if you would like to have the 15-min grace period reinstated. I was one of them who was taking regular advantage of this rule since 15 mins was good enough for me. It's a shame that some folks misused this privilege and now we're being charged.
Are you kidding? From the garage/business's standpoint, YOU were also abusing the rule in the exact same way, just on a less ambitious scale. Short grace periods like that are there for people who drive in, spend time finding a space, then suddenly remember they left the stove on at home or something, so they turn around and leave immediately. And here's the key point, they leave without being able to do/get whatever they came for in the first place. They are the business's recognition that you're probably going to come back to do/get XYZ when your schedule allows it again and they aren't trying to make you pay twice for what should otherwise have been a single trip. But going there for a specific purpose, using an amenity/service offered at the location and just speeding through so you can squeeze out under the limit is only a less egregious form of abusing their generosity/understanding than those idiots who were running laps.
im.thatoneguy
Member
The thing is that I do sometimes need to make a single trip 2. I generally charge here after hours. But sometimes I have to stop on the way to work because I'm desperately low like today due to cold. I just need enough miles to come back tonight when I have more time. A full charge here is 1 hr. So 15 min means you are just picking up a quick boost.
Sure, on a rare occasion we all do stuff like that and few people or companies are going to really care or make any kind of deal out of it. I'm certainly as guilty of that as anyone else is, the "I just need to stop in for a quick few minutes and I'll be right back out" stop. It may even get me to jog up and down the stairs to try and make it. But we should recognize that we're still breaking the spirit of the rules when we do it. Which is why, IMO, it's important that it remains a "rare occurrence." But that's totally different from a regular/semi-regular and/or repeated practice, which was the context of the original comment I replied to.
How do you charge after hours when the garage isn't open to overnight stays? I would love to leave my car down on the level 2 chargers overnight and stay at the Hilton across the street. I don't need access to the car during that time (basically could leave it from 8pm to like 8am with no worries) but I don't want to show up to my car towed...
Also, rather than asking for a free 15 minutes, maybe we should be asking for a $2 fee for under 30 minutes or up to 15 minutes or something. That way they still "make something" for the service they're providing (hosting a supercharger) but for people with free supercharging it's $2 to get 13kW or something (11 min charge, leaving 2 minutes to get down there and 2 minutes to get out). It's not a great price, but it's a city, everything is expensive and 13kW should still be enough for 40+ miles.
im.thatoneguy
Member
I agree. I don't object to the spirit I wish there was a more equitable solution (such as the $2 token fee to prevent abuse). The spirit of the pricing also doesn't really work for me often. It's not that rare or infrequent I have to visit twice in a day for one 1hr charge. If I visit for 3x 20 minute visits that's that's $18 (3 x $6/<30min) for 1 hour of parking vs $10 at the standard rate of $10/hr or $8/evening or $7/weekend.
If it was $2.50/quarter hour I wouldn't even think twice about the pricing structure. I'm paying the same as someone who actually parks. But needing to stop for 10 minutes and paying $6 is pretty steep even if $0 might be violating the spirit of the rule (The lot was full and you give up and leave).
I've also been socked by another rule that isn't really the spirit of the pricing which is I've only needed a 10 minute charger after 5pm at which point it's the flat $7 rate. That's actually $1 more than the standard <30 minute so I've paid $7 for 20 minutes of parking which should use a separate rate for quick stops.
I feel confident that the supercharger is not driving any pricing considerations. It's less than a fraction of 1% of their total spaces in use. So the "spirit" of the pricing seems to be exclusively directed at regular customers.
Sorry by "After Hours" I just meant outside of the standard hourly rate (After 5pm or weekends).
Yep, I would also be more likely to hit it as I swing into downtown on a visit (I'm from out of town) to top off for 10 minutes at the 72kW rate and then swing by again before hitting the road to just get enough for the North Bend supercharger or something. I don't really want to sit at a supercharger paying parking time when I'm charging at 50, 30, or even 20kW as the SOC goes up. If I hit it at 40% and stay for 11 minutes I'll be at 66% and I'm sure I'll start to slow down on the charge fairly soon. The next 20 minutes is going to be more expensive for how much energy I'm adding. I think I would much rather drive to my hotel, park over night with sentry mode on, lose a few % and while I'm down town and stuff and then hit the supercharger again on my way out of town for another 10 or 11 minutes to get back up to 60% or so and then hit the road for North Bend or somewhere else on the way home. That would be $12 for two 10 to 11 minute stops when it really probably should be like $4 or $5 total.
I'd like to be in the room when they read your emails. Why do you think they'd want to change something so you can park for FREE? Also, you realize you were the one abusing the grace period right? You even say "I was one of them who was taking regular advantage of this rule."
Yeah, one of the problems is that the fee schedule is designed around the assumption that their customers are shopping/eating/etc in the area and the purely charging use case has somewhat different time and access needs, as a result people using the supercharger regularly probably don't match up well to their average customer. This is the type of thing that ideally you could offer a separate fee schedule for. It might be worthwhile approaching the management with a suggestion along these lines. It's quite probable that they don't really understand the nuance of fast charging needs. Does the garage already offer monthly/permanent parking plans?
goneskiian
Active Member
Then it might be worth it to try and get the management to create a modified monthly plan for people who are coming for the superchargers. It won't help the folks just passing through Seattle, but for those who are living there and making regular use of the supercharger, it might improve the experience and make things smoother.
I wonder if they could set up something like $75 for 20 hours a month or something. That would be like 40 minutes a day at about ~$2.50 a session. That should be more then enough time for a charge from a low SOC, probably 40+ kWh or a full charge on a 70-100kWh car every other or every few days.
You could probably make more doing that then with normal monthly parking since the turn over on supercharger spaces would be much higher than other spaces (figure 1 hr or less on the superchargers and probably 6+ hours on standard spaces on a monthly plan).
im.thatoneguy
Member
I sincerely hope nobody is spending 20 hours at the Supercharger every month.
I hope so too, but if you’re living at an apartment or something without a local charging solution (work, etc) than you might need to swing by 20 to 40 minutes a day depending how much driving you’re doing... especially since this is an urban charger at 72kW max.
Similar threads
- Article
