Superchargers need “targets”

[Gigaron]

I guess I should not be amazed at the number of people that cannot properly back into a parking space.
At the San Bruno SC near me, many cars either park on the line or over the line, effectively taking two spaces.

Perhaps a target that the car could use for automated back-in parking would help?

 

[gaswalla]

Had a similar conversation about toilets

 

[qdeathstar]

Had a similar conversation about toilets

Coming in December

 

[AmokTime]

The back-up cameras make it so easy you have to either be completely incompetent or “JDGAF” to end up on or across the line.

 

[roblab]

How about concrete bumpers between each station that guide people into the stalls -- or gently insist they stay in their own space. Perhaps if one were to park REALLY close to their driver's door.... Really, most people can't drive, much less park, FAR much less park backwards. You'd think that Tesla dealers would give lessons on reverse parking before they let the car loose with some people. "Your car is over there on the lot. All you have to do is back it out without hitting the walls around it." Some could do it easily, others would have to leave the car and go buy a Honda to practice with.

 

[Gigaron]

The back-up cameras make it so easy you have to either be completely incompetent or “JDGAF” to end up on or across the line.

So I may be a bit incompetent but it takes me 2-3 tries to back in straight even with the camera. Things look perfect on the camera yet when I get out I can see that I am angled and my nose is in the next place over. At least I re-do until I am reasonable perfect, but some others don't.

 

[srs5694]

So I may be a bit incompetent but it takes me 2-3 tries to back in straight even with the camera. Things look perfect on the camera yet when I get out I can see that I am angled and my nose is in the next place over. At least I re-do until I am reasonable perfect, but some others don't.

I've learned to pay attention to the parking spaces opposite the one into which I'm moving. (This assumes that the spaces are all 90-degree perpendicular spaces, not angled spaces.) It's easier to judge if I'm out of alignment based on the next row of spaces over (in front of me) than by looking to my sides or in the rear-view mirror.

 

[Rocky_H]

I've been to several Supercharger locations where they mounted the wheel stops in the spaces soooo far out that if you were centered in the space, the Supercharger cable won't reach the port. I had to pull out again and re-back into the space and hug the line along that left side of the car to get close enough for the cable to reach. So that's not always a driver's fault, but is more of an installation problem.

 

[srs5694]

I've been to several Supercharger locations where they mounted the wheel stops in the spaces soooo far out that if you were centered in the space, the Supercharger cable won't reach the port. I had to pull out again and re-back into the space and hug the line along that left side of the car to get close enough for the cable to reach. So that's not always a driver's fault, but is more of an installation problem.

I saw a YouTube video recently (I don't recall which one it was, so I can't reference it more precisely) in which I noticed that the parking spot lines at a Supercharger station had been blacked out and then re-painted. Of course, this might have been done when the station was first set up, if it was done over existing parking spots that weren't quite properly aligned for where they wanted to put the pedestals; but it could also have been to correct for the sort of problem you're describing.

 

[Earl]

So I may be a bit incompetent but it takes me 2-3 tries to back in straight even with the camera. Things look perfect on the camera yet when I get out I can see that I am angled and my nose is in the next place over. At least I re-do until I am reasonable perfect, but some others don't.

I recommend using the side mirrors (they nicely tilt down when backing) to line yourself up with the parking lines, then use the backup camera to know when to stop backing up. - Just a suggestion. The camera is too geometrically distorted because of its wide angle properties IMHO for lining up.

 

[house9]

I recommend using the side mirrors

I prefer the backup camera with the side cameras enabled (swipe up I think).

The tilting side mirrors always throw me off, I find them disorientating.

I suck at backing up, but I always take make the effort to get it right before starting to charge.

 

[Aellinsar]

I wish the London, KY supercharger at least had lines. It's hard to back up properly there.

 

[MrWattson]

I was at the Binghamton, NY Supercharger over the weekend and the lines were faded to being non-existent. I am usually very good at backing in but needed a second attempt here.

 

[LoudMusic]

I guess I should not be amazed at the number of people that cannot properly back into a parking space.
At the San Bruno SC near me, many cars either park on the line or over the line, effectively taking two spaces.

Perhaps a target that the car could use for automated back-in parking would help?

It seems like free automated back-in parking at Superchargers would be a great sales pitch for Tesla to sell that kind of feature to more people, now that it's subscription based. It could also be used to collect a crap ton of data on their software/hardware backing cars into parking spaces. Like literally thousands of instances per day.