Supercharger - Sulphur Springs, TX

[sublimaze1]

I rather enjoy the Lindale to 380 drive. It is kinda like the Drive from Huntsville headed towards Lake Charles or through Mississippi (heading from I20 to Mobile) ... two lane and rather fast. More scenic than the interstate. Certainly a departure from normal SC to SC travel.

 

[sublimaze1]

Okay,

So I called the support line, and after looking at their "notes" they (support) stated that they are awaiting the local utility company to evaluate the site.

Not sure what that means, and they could give me no timetable as to the work progress. Thanksgiving and the holiday weekend are surely playing a part in this.

WJ

 

[cab]

So here is another data point. We drove from Grapevine to Sulphur Springs today (105 miles) and hemmed and hawed about taking the Tesla, but decided to try it and baby it up here (I am in Sulphur Springs now). Worst case we would come back through Lindale (60 miles south) or consider a 30/60 minute L2 charge in Rockwall if absolutely necessary.

As it turns out, neither was/is necessary as the chargers were accessible and I was able to charge successfully. I will note 2 items, however,:

1. When I first plugged in (in the first bay), I got an error stating I needed to check the voltage. I unplugged it, waited a few seconds and tried again and all was good. I may not have seated the charger fully the first time...who knows? I charged to 253 miles while we ate lunch.

2. The parking lot still has construction going on and my sister-in-law, who lives here, said she thought it might have been inaccessible at some point. This could change on any given day I suppose.

link with some photos:
https://goo.gl/photos/bLPHBDPNNs6Z9wDm9

 

[sublimaze1]

Thank you cab for the information, and the gutsy-ness to pull off the jaunt.

(oops, did I say jaunt)?

 

[jerry33]

I've been to about fifty different SCs. Once in a while I've had to switch stalls or replug in due to a fumbled attempt. I don't bother with checking for alternatives anymore.

 

[sublimaze1]

I don't know why this is bothering me so much .... Tesla (Fremont) still has no answers (just "local utilities notified") but I still have the "Temporarily Closed" on my NAV. Anyone local have any clue?

 

[brkaus]

Will they consider adding 80a wall connectors as backup?

 

[cab]

sublimaze1 - I'm wondering if it is the construction as much as anything. The superchargers are part of a larger lot that is being completely redone. I suppose at any given time, access to the chargers could be blocked. They may just want to avoid having a status of it's open, no wait it's closed, no wait it's back open, kind of thing. I wouldn't be surprised if the one person who had a charging issue was impacted because the construction dug something up, etc.

 

[Rockster]

That makes it 290 miles on a 85..I am finding that a bit hard to believe..

What was your wh/mile during those trip?

Believe it. My average wh/mi was 258, I believe. Documented in a separate thread.

 

[jerry33]

Believe it. My average wh/mi was 258, I believe. Documented in a separate thread.

258 is quite believable. I averaged 251 from DFW to Thunder Bay and back a couple of weeks ago.

 

[Electroman]

... but but.. you are jerry33. I am just a mortal.

-

 

[sublimaze1]

258 is hypermiling. I did it in the pre-supercharger days. Careful toes (not even a foot) on the accelerator and gentle passing as well as speed reduction. It can be done. Personally, I like to use the half foot between my ears and get to the next supercharger with about 1 mile on the ticker. Some may remember the days when the car did not tell you what your trip estimate remaining would be ... those were the days.

 

[Missile Toad]

258 is hypermiling. I did it in the pre-supercharger days. Careful toes (not even a foot) on the accelerator and gentle passing as well as speed reduction. It can be done. Personally, I like to use the half foot between my ears and get to the next supercharger with about 1 mile on the ticker. Some may remember the days when the car did not tell you what your trip estimate remaining would be ... those were the days.

Do you find that the last 7 or so miles really only uses 6 RM worth of charge, on account of drawing from the kinetic energy of switching from 65 MPH down to 0? RM figure in the instrument cluster is purely of the state-of-charge (SOC), and takes no kinetic energy into account, right?

 

[sublimaze1]

Do you find that the last 7 or so miles really only uses 6 RM worth of charge, on account of drawing from the kinetic energy of switching from 65 MPH down to 0? RM figure in the instrument cluster is purely of the state-of-charge (SOC), and takes no kinetic energy into account, right?

I am not as educated as I would like to be on this, but I do know that in the earlier software iteration, the car got "pissed" at me ... red alarms popped up on the nacelle, cabin thermoregulation was diminished, cabin lights dimmed. I made it three miles on "zero" on the I-45 access road in League City. So, there is/was a discrepancy. I do not think the battery will let you tank it completely to zero. It shunts reserve to life sustaining functions.

(sorry for the thread hijack).

WJ

 

[Missile Toad]

I am not as educated as I would like to be on this, but I do know that in the earlier software iteration, the car got "pissed" at me ... red alarms popped up on the nacelle, cabin thermoregulation was diminished, cabin lights dimmed. I made it three miles on "zero" on the I-45 access road in League City. So, there is/was a discrepancy. I do not think the battery will let you tank it completely to zero. It shunts reserve to life sustaining functions.

(sorry for the thread hijack).

WJ

This is super helpful info. I've always supposed that the Tesla makes the car 'soft fail' when you reach 0 range miles. Basically, as I understand, the car balances the interests of a) the driver making it to a just-visible charging station versus; b) protecting some (parts) of the battery from suffering a permanent change that reduces range (a near brick experience). Somebody, in Europe, in the last month, videoed his efforts to stretch about 10 miles past the zero range report. So this seems to still be true as of the 8.x software updates.

 

[Fluxed]

FYI we used this Supercharger twice the last 3 days, and it is working fine. Full power. Even though the Nav still says it is closed. It appears that the construction in the parking lot is finally completed. The temps were cold on both occasions though (near freezing).

 

[cab]

Excellent - thanks for the update Fluxed as we'll be headed back out there on New Years day to see family again.

 

[randy1077]

It looks like all the construction is complete. I Charged today at 286 miles per hour which is almost my max on my little 60D battery (300 mph max)

 

[cab]

Ditto. We charged there on both Christmad Eve, Eve and on New Years day. Added about 70 miles each time in roughly 20 minutes (from 110 to 180 or so). Another Tesla (white Model S) was they on New Years day.

As an aside, the first time I chRged it stRted around 80'kw and taperd to 60... the second time I seemed to just hang out at 60 almost the whole time. The SS charger is the only one I have ever used (about 4 times now) so I never know if what I am seeing is "normal", but I think it is.

 

[alderct]

Trip Planner still had this charger as inactive as of yesterday, but we were able to charge with no problems.