Supercharger - The Star, NSW

[LimoX]

So Tesla should subsidise your business and ignore how 99.99% of owners will actually use the car?

Tesla knows exactly what our Cars were being purchased for - commercial operations and at NO TIME suggested that there were usage limits. On the contrary they sold Free Supercharging as a feature.

Tesla get benefits from the exposure we give their vehicles to travelling Public. Supercharging is a small price to pay for that exposure

 

[Mark E]

I was told in October 2016 that "free Supercharging" would come to an end. Orders before the end of the year would have this ownership feature FOR THE LIFE OF THE CAR. "Even if it's a commercial vehicle doing 60,000km per year?" I honestly asked.

"Yep! It's attached to the VIN No of the car, if it's still alive, Tesla will charge it for free". No Conditions.

He also added that the reason for the free supercharging coming to an end was to help fund the DOUBLING of Supercharger sites. This hasn't happened. Tesla has dropped the ball in regards to Supercharger roll-out here in Sydney and around Australia. 6 months on and only 2 new sites, and one shut down.

October 2016 there were 10 supercharger sites in Australia, including 2 temporary ones (Coffs, Euroa). At the end of 2017 there will be 20, plus upgrading the temp ones to permanent. That would seem to be a doubling to me - sorry that the new ones in Bathurst, Nowra, Cooma, Lorne, Ballarat, Horsham, Keith, Brisbane, Gympie & Bunbury don't suit your personal business better. You are still getting your free supercharging but they aren't putting another 2 superchargers in Sydney as a priority.

On the other side, By the end of this year I'll be able to easily drive to Rockhampton in Qld or down to Melbourne, do the great ocean road and drive across to Adelaide all on superchargers. Since delivery of my car in 2014 I have never charged in the Star, and only once or twice at St. Leonards. I've changed more in Pt. Macquarie than in Sydney. The link to Brisbane means I can do a trip to see family there easily, and similarly visit family in SA. If it were confined to Sydney then my car would be much more restricted.

Thank you Tesla.

 

[Shock-On-T]

State Treasurer wanting to throw $$$$ at them

I'd love to see your sources for your assertion that the NSW State Treasurer

I didn't say the "NSW State Treasurer".

Perhaps you need to clarify what you mean

What exactly do I need to clarify?

You need to clarify which State Treasurer is wanting to throw $$$$ at Tesla, if it's not the NSW State Treasurer.

 

[LimoX]

You need to clarify which State Treasurer is wanting to throw $$$$ at Tesla, if it's not the NSW State Treasurer.

Not on a Public forum. Tesla has that info, but plods along, missing out on opportunity.

 

[Shock-On-T]

Not on a Public forum. Tesla has that info, but plods along, missing out on opportunity.

Hmm, that's a bit depressing.
I must say, Australia does seem to miss out a bit. It's actually a bit embarrassing how redneck we are sometimes. Our governments don't seem at all interested in promoting sustainability measures, from the near-zero EV incentives, to low feed-in tariffs.

 

[LimoX]

October 2016 there were 10 supercharger sites in Australia, including 2 temporary ones (Coffs, Euroa). At the end of 2017 there will be 20, plus upgrading the temp ones to permanent. That would seem to be a doubling to me - sorry that the new ones in Bathurst, Nowra, Cooma, Lorne, Ballarat, Horsham, Keith, Brisbane, Gympie & Bunbury don't suit your personal business better. You are still getting your free supercharging but they aren't putting another 2 superchargers in Sydney as a priority.

On the other side, By the end of this year I'll be able to easily drive to Rockhampton in Qld or down to Melbourne, do the great ocean road and drive across to Adelaide all on superchargers. Since delivery of my car in 2014 I have never charged in the Star, and only once or twice at St. Leonards. I've changed more in Pt. Macquarie than in Sydney. The link to Brisbane means I can do a trip to see family there easily, and similarly visit family in SA. If it were confined to Sydney then my car would be much more restricted.

Thank you Tesla.

I sincerely hope I'm wrong here, and that Tesla's promise to "double" the amount of sites in Oz comes to fruition.

I count 12 in operation now (this includes Cooma)
That just an increase of 2 in 6 months.
The other 9 sites if delivered by end of 2017 would be a great improvement in the Network and over-deliver on their promise (which they like to do elsewhere).
I guess we should just wait and see if 8-9 sites in 6 months is achievable.

(I appreciate the info of the other sites - didn't know till now those proposed sites).

 

[meloccom]

The Star Supercharger was always a strange animal.
Perhaps the management thought that by putting it in the Valet Parking section wealthy Tesla owners would use the Valet service to have their car charged and this didn't happen often enough.
I had been to The Star precisely once prior to getting my Tesla, and had not enjoyed the experience so had no reason to return.
I used it a few times in the first weeks of ownership as my home charging was a bit slow and I had no charging in the Southern Highlands house. I tried to reward The Star by always buying something when there and even organised a celebration at one of the restaurants which generated a $2,600 bill. Pretty sure I generated more profit than I used in electricity but it's my understanding that Tesla paid for the energy bill whilst The Star merely sacrificed a half dozen parking spaces.
However there was no noticeable effort by The Star management to track the additional income generated by Tesla owners and I presume when the initial contract period was up they thought it not worth the effort. We don't know how much notice was given by The Star to Tesla but given the lead times I think there was always going to be a period of time between the shutdown and another site being established. Why that decision reflects poorly on Tesla I fail to understand.
As to the comparison between Sydney and places like Hong Kong I think a lot comes down to volume of Tesla sales and with 600 to 700 odd sales in NSW, even if we assume all in Sydney metro I think Tesla has done a pretty good job so far. A faster roll out would be nice but any business has limited resources and have to prioritise.

 

[Mark E]

I sincerely hope I'm wrong here, and that Tesla's promise to "double" the amount of sites in Oz comes to fruition.

I count 12 in operation now (this includes Cooma)
That just an increase of 2 in 6 months.
The other 9 sites if delivered by end of 2017 would be a great improvement in the Network and over-deliver on their promise (which they like to do elsewhere).
I guess we should just wait and see if 8-9 sites in 6 months is achievable.

(I appreciate the info of the other sites - didn't know till now those proposed sites).

Tesla have always delivered a bunch of new SC sites in the last month or two of the calendar year - even in 2015 we spent most of the year without a route from Sydney-Melb. Cooma came online without us even knowing it was planned! From my observations there seems to be a lot of background work needed to get each of the new sites up, because once construction starts the sites are completed within weeks. The Port Macquarie one started construction on the 30th of Jan and was operational on the 19th of March. Some of the Syd-Melb ones were done in 4 weeks.

It seems like they bring in a team to do a bunch of them at a time, towards the end of the year.

 

[Jays200]

You wanna feel ripped off.

City (Perth) of over 2 million people and zero superchargers. Doubling zero still gets you zero.

The first proposed SC in WA will be in Bunbury by years end, hopefully, some 200kms south of Perth. Still don't have a service centre and have to have our cars pre-delivered in Melbourne.

Want to make a difference?

Lobby your local, state and federal MP's, join a user group like Australian Electric vehicle association or Telsa Owners Club Australia.

AEVA | The Australian Electric Vehicle Association

Tesla Owners Club of Australia

Contacting Senators and Members – Parliament of Australia

It's a numbers and squeaky wheel game.

 

[LimoX]

The Star Supercharger was always a strange animal.
Perhaps the management thought that by putting it in the Valet Parking section wealthy Tesla owners would use the Valet service to have their car charged and this didn't happen often enough.
I had been to The Star precisely once prior to getting my Tesla, and had not enjoyed the experience so had no reason to return.
I used it a few times in the first weeks of ownership as my home charging was a bit slow and I had no charging in the Southern Highlands house. I tried to reward The Star by always buying something when there and even organised a celebration at one of the restaurants which generated a $2,600 bill. Pretty sure I generated more profit than I used in electricity but it's my understanding that Tesla paid for the energy bill whilst The Star merely sacrificed a half dozen parking spaces.
However there was no noticeable effort by The Star management to track the additional income generated by Tesla owners and I presume when the initial contract period was up they thought it not worth the effort. We don't know how much notice was given by The Star to Tesla but given the lead times I think there was always going to be a period of time between the shutdown and another site being established. Why that decision reflects poorly on Tesla I fail to understand.
As to the comparison between Sydney and places like Hong Kong I think a lot comes down to volume of Tesla sales and with 600 to 700 odd sales in NSW, even if we assume all in Sydney metro I think Tesla has done a pretty good job so far. A faster roll out would be nice but any business has limited resources and have to prioritise.

The Star wants more Valet spots. There have been a few busy nights where they seemed overbooked. At $80.00 a car lost revenue for those SC spots someone did their sums.

Too late now, but even though the time was free for an hour, The Star Never seemed to ask for payment for those that over-stayed.

 

[LimoX]

Tesla have always delivered a bunch of new SC sites in the last month or two of the calendar year - even in 2015 we spent most of the year without a route from Sydney-Melb. Cooma came online without us even knowing it was planned! From my observations there seems to be a lot of background work needed to get each of the new sites up, because once construction starts the sites are completed within weeks. The Port Macquarie one started construction on the 30th of Jan and was operational on the 19th of March. Some of the Syd-Melb ones were done in 4 weeks.

It seems like they bring in a team to do a bunch of them at a time, towards the end of the year.

I hope you are right.

Talking with a fellow who was working on a SC post at Mama Bear (St Leonard's) about 6 weeks ago he said he usually did work on new sites, but none apart from Cooma were being worked on in NSW.

From all reports, the Cooma Sub-contractors did an excellent job, within allotted time. Hopefully Tesla will keep them busy with other sites.

 

[Dborn]

The commercial use of supercharger sites has always left a bad taste in my mouth. Even if Tesla officially knows about it. Australia is the only place that it seems to happen though. Schiphol airport taxis installed their own private supercharger....

 

[LimoX]

The commercial use of supercharger sites has always left a bad taste in my mouth. Even if Tesla officially knows about it. Australia is the only place that it seems to happen though. Schiphol airport taxis installed their own private supercharger....

I'm ignorant on the location of Schiphol - do enlighten me.

Then we'll compare the 2 Tesla markets.

 

[Mark E]

I'm ignorant on the location of Schiphol - do enlighten me.

Then we'll compare the 2 Tesla markets.

Schiphol is the airport in Amsterdam. There are loads of Tesla taxis there.

 

[Vostok]

Not on a Public forum. Tesla has that info, but plods along, missing out on opportunity.

Right, so by the process of elimination it is the Treasurer of South Australia.

You ruled out NSW. Although there is a government in Queensland with the name "Labor" on it, they love Adani so it's not them. Tasmania has a Liberal government so it's not them. WA has just elected a Labor government but they already have the RAC Electric Highway and significant budget pressures so it's not them. Victoria has enough superchargers (in service and planned) for the time being for the size of the state so it's not them either.

Thanks for clarifying.

 

[LimoX]

Schiphol is the airport in Amsterdam. There are loads of Tesla taxis there.

Ok, you have a progressive Government and proactive business in Holland. Great subsidies for the purchase of EVs, and the airport puts in an order for 167 Model S sedans. Tesla has a MAJOR service HQ there.

The whole of Holland is just a little bigger than greater Sydney Metro area. A little over 6 million people compared to 5 million and growing fast in Sydney.

9 Superchargers in Holland v 1 for the whole of Sydney Metro (about 10% smaller in area, approx 20% smaller in population ).

According to Tesla European sales figures Tesla sold 4,555 cars 2013-2016

I read somewhere on this forum that Tesla registrations in New South Wales total is 691.

Maybe not having a convenient network of superchargers has something to do with the comparative lack of sales here in Sydney/NSW

Maybe the small handful of Tesla limousine operators provide benefits to Tesla in getting the vehicle out there working amongst the public

i'm sure the reality of 167 commercial users would force Tesla to change policy and improve accessibility to supercharges as well

"Free Supercharging" for life is clearly an unstainable subsidy. Subsidies are generally a method to kickstart a program. Or support an new industry/product. There would be many here that took advantage of the government subsidies that began around 2005 for rooftop solar panels. Then there was money thrown around for insulation and schools.

I can't afford a Tesla if it didn't pay its own way. Good luck to those who can. Mine is a Tool, not a Toy.

 

[LimoX]

Right, so by the process of elimination it is the Treasurer of South Australia.

You ruled out NSW. Although there is a government in Queensland with the name "Labor" on it, they love Adani so it's not them. Tasmania has a Liberal government so it's not them. WA has just elected a Labor government but they already have the RAC Electric Highway and significant budget pressures so it's not them. Victoria has enough superchargers (in service and planned) for the time being for the size of the state so it's not them either.

Thanks for clarifying.

The assumptions continue

 

[meloccom]

Moderators note
This thread is to discuss The Star Supercharger and it appears to have strayed off topic to discuss numbers of Superchargers in comparison to other parts of the world and is in danger of becoming unpleasant.
This is a Tesla enthusiast forum, so if anyone makes a negative statement about Tesla based on information they are not willing to share, its not a surprise that this be challenged.
LimoX has had his say but it stops here.

 

[powerfactor]

Sort of wrong thread but the St Leonards one is 2 years quiet, looks like we will get access to 3B now.

 

[reecho]

All this pissing in the wind about a supercharger site closing down in Sydney. You have a choice of 2 sites in NSW. WA has zero. You will survive. If the "promise" of free supercharging was all important you should of got it in writing.

But you wouldn't of. Because it was never forever.