Someone took this picture of the newly opened SC at Atascadero, people have to be curiuos & some might walk over to investigate, I am sure owners would be happy to chat with folks but having a Tesla sales associate at peak times or a kiosk to provide info might increase sales at a few choice locations.
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LagunaHJames
Member
That is a lot of Model S' at one time. I hope this was a special occasion to celebrate the opening. We are planning on using Atascadero next Friday on our way from Morro Bay to Carmel. I am a little concerned about people on their way to Teslive or just road tripping may have the same plan. We will need to do a range charge for this segment of our trip.
Ron95030
Member
This was just a random gathering of folks en-route to wherever they were going just after noon on the 7/4th. The temps were 97 degrees and most of us were gone within an hour. Initially, upon arrival, the 3 southern most SC units were not delivering power. After walking over to the big green step-down transformer and listening to it hum softly, then listening to the faint sounds of the SC rack mounted units (cooling fans working feverishly) - a phone call to the Roadside Assistant resolved that easily.
The location is ideal; easy ingress/egress, and several choices for refreshments nearby. The pavement still needs finalization but it's "up and running"! :biggrin:
-R
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LagunaHJames
Member
Thanks for the update and the call to the Roadside Assistant. Looking forward to checking it out next Friday.
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AMPd
Well-Known Member
No, it would be a bad use of money. Tesla is in malls because that's a shopping location. People have time and are open to sales. It's a very high traffic location. People are in rest areas because they have to be there, traffic isn't that great and if they 're curious they can probably ask an owner who's using one.
I think that a link to he website would be good, but under the "copy us or join us" philosophy I don't know if they'd do that long term.
I think that a link to he website would be good, but under the "copy us or join us" philosophy I don't know if they'd do that long term.
With that many stations, hard to think that Atascadero will be a problem.
OTOH, Gilroy is and will be the main bottleneck on the entire SC system unless and until they add more units, and hopefully of the 120 kWh kind. We were able to use it on Friday morning around 10 without waiting but there was a wait at 4:30 later in the day when we returned from Monterey, so we didn't wait around. There were two cars waiting when we left. Three or four had new temporary plates, suggesting they had just come from the factory or just wanted to drive down to Gilroy to test out the SCs to see if they really do work.I was told my someone in Menlo Park that Tesla does have a plan to expand Gilroy, but who knows when that will be. I guess Tesla management doesn't want to divert valuable resources from the swapping plan.
OTOH, Gilroy is and will be the main bottleneck on the entire SC system unless and until they add more units, and hopefully of the 120 kWh kind. We were able to use it on Friday morning around 10 without waiting but there was a wait at 4:30 later in the day when we returned from Monterey, so we didn't wait around. There were two cars waiting when we left. Three or four had new temporary plates, suggesting they had just come from the factory or just wanted to drive down to Gilroy to test out the SCs to see if they really do work.I was told my someone in Menlo Park that Tesla does have a plan to expand Gilroy, but who knows when that will be. I guess Tesla management doesn't want to divert valuable resources from the swapping plan.
Lets leave the traffic problem at Gilroy out of this for a minute, lets say a SC is in a great location with upper income shops in the same lot & people see 6-8 Tesla's uniformly parked charging, people will walk over to take a look, sure the owners will be happy to chat but what about having an employee there on nice weekends handing out info or collecting emails so when that person gets home they are reminded to check out the website, maybe even have a car there for people to examine closer, soon there are going to be Superchargers in 5 mall parking garages that lots of men will pass by on weekends, wouldn't it be cheaper & a better selling spot then inside the mall & seeing only 1 car, seeing 6 cars lined up next to each other is priceless.
jeff_adams
Member
I'm waiting for some entrepreneurs to start a mobile detail business at the superchargers. Wash your car, empty trash and vacuum. They could also act as valets and move cars in and out (plus contact owners when the charging is over).
cfOH
Member
@jeff_adams Well, there's nothing stopping anyone from creating their own EV charging and detailing stations. That could be a real growth business in some locations.
swaltner
Active Member
Two possible reasons for not getting the full 90 kW power out of a Supercharger.
- The charger mechanism backs off as the SOC (State of Charge) approaches full. Charts have been posted on the forums showing this charging profile. Tesla Motors phrases it as being able to charge to at least 50% in 30 minutes, not as getting 50% additional charge in 30 minutes. Basically, if you're above 50% charge, you won't get the full power.
- Each Supercharger node has multiple charging stations attached to it. I believe the stations marked 1A and 1B are attached to the same charging station. If you attach to a charging station that is attached to a charger already in use from a companion charging station, you get the table scraps of the power that they are not using. As they approach a higher SOC, you are given more power and can charge at a faster rate.
So, if you pull into a Tesla Station that has minimal traffic, you want to pull into a charging station that doesn't already have a car parked in the companion spot. If there's only a single charging spot available, go ahead and plugin right away since you can start charging right away and will get extra power soon enough as the other car starts approaching full. This will change slightly as TMC upgrades Superchargers to 120 kW. They have talked about putting 4 charging stations on a single Supercharger and at the same time changing the profile to be able to charge to a higher SOC before backing off the power. The same rule will apply of preferring to park at a charging station for a Supercharger that isn't heavily loaded.
I happened to think it's a good idea to have some kind of marketing or sales presence there at Supercharger stations.
Why? The biggest hold-up for me before ordering Model S (for me anyway) was the exterior color choice!!!
BTW, I couldn't decide between red and white, then settled on Blue! It took me a month to decide, until I saw ALL the colors in person.
Why? The biggest hold-up for me before ordering Model S (for me anyway) was the exterior color choice!!!
BTW, I couldn't decide between red and white, then settled on Blue! It took me a month to decide, until I saw ALL the colors in person.
