Wiki Superchargers Visited

**** NOTE: We have transitioned to a new platform ****
More Info: Supercharging.Life database​

This is a friendly contest for Tesla owners to track the number of unique public Superchargers where they have charged

- "Supercharger count" is the number of unique public Superchargers where you have charged (just being there does not count), whether or not you were the person plugging in the vehicle (such as a Valet Parking garage or a Passenger) and whether or not it was your own personal vehicle (such as a rental, a loaner, or a friend's Tesla) as long as you were the one who drove >50% of the distance to reach the charger(s).
- The list of chargers in the supercharging.life database are the ones included in the game. If you think one should be added or removed from the list, let us know.
- Only chargers available to the public without special permission are included in the game.
- Chargers not connected to the grid are not counted.
- Doublet locations like the North/South Supercharger 'pairs' in CT, ME, NH, etc. count as individual locations.
- More than 1 charger at the same address, such as Lenox Square Mall (Atlanta, GA) or Montgomery Mall (Bethesda, MD) count as individual locations when they appear as a separate location on the Tesla Nav screen.
- Inactive competitors will be archived and removed from the leaderboard. Just post an update to be reactivated.

See Supercharging.Life database for info on how to post your own visits to the database (preferred), or post your locations with date visited to this thread and one of the admins will update your list for you. All visits must be posted to this thread - not just entered in supercharging.life. If you are the first in the game to visit a supercharger location, please post to the thread as soon as you can so others know it has been visited.

 

[theflyer]

The big one is the upper and lower bounds for the slider "Narrow by visit totals". For bonus points, add the ability to exclude specific competitors, or even better, add a slider to select the look back duration, and add it to the URL. E.g., I see some competitors in my visit range that haven't visited any superchargers in the past two or more years, so they are obviously no longer active and they clutter up the view. So it would be nice to have an easy way to exclude competitors who haven't had any new visits in a selectable range of recent past.

Nicely stated.

I had to modify the way the viz works, but here is the URL structure you can now use to save a particular view, so you always see it the same way.

public (dot) tableau (com) com/app/profile/don.burke/viz/SuperchargingCompetition/Horserace?Competitor%20Name=<handle1>,<handle2>,<handleX>&Horse%20race%20low=<total visits (low)>&Horse%20race%20high=<total visits (high)>&Horse%20race%20active%20since=<competitors active since YYYY-MM-DD>

Replace the various fields articulated by <>s with those you want to use. You can include as many handles as you want. You can include or eliminate any of the parameters. If you do not include a parameter, the viz will use the default for that field (e.g., show all competitors if you don't include the handle parameter).

Here is an example with real values
public (dot) tableau (dot) com/app/profile/don.burke/viz/SuperchargingCompetition/Horserace?Competitor%20Name=LittleBlue,GreenFreaK&Horse%20race%20high=100&Horse%20race%20low=50&Horse%20race%20active%20since=2023-06-01

In working format, the example URL above configures the Horse race viz to show LittleBlue and GreenFreak as long as they have between 50 and 100 visits total and if they've been active since June 1.

If you'd still like the ability to exclude competitors rather than include them, I can add another field for that. Let me know. Too many fields though can get pretty overwhelming.

Edit: To illustrate the point a bit more. The following URL structure will show just @Bighorn and @PLUS EV and leave everything else defaulted.
public (dot) tableau (dot) com/app/profile/don.burke/viz/SuperchargingCompetition/Horserace?Competitor%20Name=Bighorn,PLUS%20EV

Try it in linkable form.

Let me know if you need any help building your URL.

Here's the result of the working link above.

 

[cpa]

Flyer, my old-time reference materials relate the Latin abbreviation/contraction, viz, as namely or to wit. "We visited several of the Western National Parks on our vacation last year, viz., Grand Canyon, Arches, Zion, Bryce Canyon, and Rocky Mountain."

So, obviously, for me context is missing when you write viz. Sorry!

 

[khorton]

I had to modify the way the viz works, but here is the URL structure you can now use to save a particular view, so you always see it the same way.

public (dot) tableau (com) com/app/profile/don.burke/viz/SuperchargingCompetition/Horserace?Competitor%20Name=<handle1>,<handle2>,<handleX>&Horse%20race%20low=<total visits (low)>&Horse%20race%20high=<total visits (high)>&Horse%20race%20active%20since=<competitors active since YYYY-MM-DD>

Replace the various fields articulated by <>s with those you want to use. You can include as many handles as you want. You can include or eliminate any of the parameters. If you do not include a parameter, the viz will use the default for that field (e.g., show all competitors if you don't include the handle parameter).

This is exactly what I hoped for. And your explanations are perfect. The time you spend to not only make the changes, but give a detailed explantion of how to use the features is very much appreciated. Thank you so much.

I don't need to directly specify or exclude specific competitors if I limit the view to a reasonable upper and lower bounds of visits, and also specify a reasonable period to look back. So, I created a URL without the Competitor portion:

public (dot) tableau (dot) com/app/profile/don.burke/viz/SuperchargingCompetition/Horserace?Horse%20race%20high=<total visits (high)>&Horse%20race%20active%20since=<competitors active since YYYY-MM-DD>

Actual link

I'm very happy with the Tableau visualizations now. All I need is an opportunity to snag some new chargers. My wife thinks I have lost my mind to even be tempted to do long drives just to hit a few chargers. She does prefer slightly shorter legs than I do, so now that I am officially a competitor, I will take the opportunity to make an extra stop or two each day when we are on the road. But, I'll never climb the ranks quickly, unless she becomes convinced I am no longer of sound mind and divorces me.

 

[PLUS EV]

I’m just learning that I traversed a number of countries without the requisite international driver’s permit. I had one last time I toured Europe, but it required a trip to AAA in Denver back then. If you have the time, you can mail in the application and passport photos.

Right before I flew out, I was told that I might need an International Drivers License to drive in Italy. It was pretty much too late to get it done before my flight. I did some googling and it looked like the main reason for the requirement is because they wanted everything translated into Italian. In 2023, it doesn't seem like it would be too tough to translate the pertinent fields from an English document into Italian so logically, it didn't seem like it should be that big a deal. But who knows what would have happened if I got in a wreck or something.

By the way, I did actually get pulled over in Italy. They were doing check points upon entering the toll booths. I saw them set up probably 5-10 times, but I only actually got pulled over once. The two cops just kind of joked around with me. The one guy actually said he just picked me because he wanted to see the inside of the Tesla. Asked me how I liked driving it, etc. Who knows if that was the actual reason. The other likely reason was my French plates (wasn't near France and wasn't really in a heavily touristed area). Or it could have just been random. He definitely noticed the French plates because the first thing he said was "do you speak Italian?" We conversed for about a minute probably half Italian and half English. I don't think the other cop spoke any English, but he could follow along. I did tell them I was American and that the car was a rental from Paris. It was only after they let me go that I thought about the International Drivers License thing. It didn't seem likely but it would have sucked if they perked up and asked to see it after I mentioned being American.

I still don't know what those checkpoints are all about. Would be interested if anyone could shed some light on the topic.

 

[PLUS EV]

I got pulled over after a speed trap and my Dad in the passenger seat tried to pretend like we didn't speak German.

This is the right move if the sh!t ever hits the fan in my opinion.

 

[PLUS EV]

thank you for your feedback. I'm interested in making the visualizations work for everyone, especially the non-insane people that aren't at the top of the leaderboard.

Easy there. We all know that sanity prevails!

I believe it was Elon who once said "The arc of the supercharger game is long but it bends towards sanity."

 

[PLUS EV]

@PLUS EV
Like this?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1684992727342108673

I've actually seen that video before. Pretty cool. I had a similar but not quite as crazy downburst at the Schierling supercharger today. There is a cool looking trailer set up for Tesla drivers with toilets, vending machines, coffee machines, etc., but I couldn't get into it with the code. I think it's possible that, because it was raining so hard, the water interfered and it couldn't sense my fingers typing in the password. After about 30 seconds of trying, I gave up and went back inside the car. Even in that time, I got so soaked that I had to change my clothes at the next dry stop.

I also got dumped on pretty good at ****ing, Austria, which is now disappointingly called Fugging. I mean come on, that doesn't even look like an Austrian name. At least there was still a business called "****inger Kartoffeln und Heidelbeeren" which I found amusing.

 

[theflyer]

Flyer, my old-time reference materials relate the Latin abbreviation/contraction, viz, as namely or to wit. "We visited several of the Western National Parks on our vacation last year, viz., Grand Canyon, Arches, Zion, Bryce Canyon, and Rocky Mountain."

So, obviously, for me context is missing when you write viz. Sorry!

The context is the entire series of posts about updating the tableau visualizations. Viz is slang for a visualization of data. A graph, line plot, map, etc.

 

[PLUS EV]

Check-ins for 2023-07-29
- Holzkirchen, Germany (#2313)
- Rosenheim, Germany (#2314)
- Niederndorf, Austria (#2315)
- Piding, Germany (#2316)
- Berchtesgaden, Germany (#2317)
- Salzburg-Nord, Austria (#2318)
- Mühldorf, Germany (#2319)
- Erharting, Germany (#2320)
- Plattling, Germany (#2321)
- Hengersberg, Germany (#2322)
- Regensburg - Ostenviertel, Germany (#2323)
- Schierling, Germany (#2324) (First to check-in)
- Wörth, Germany (#2325)
- Dasing Bauernmarkt, Germany (#2326)
- Augsburg, Germany (#2327)
- Zusmarshausen, Germany (#2328)
- Merklingen, Germany (#2329)

Check-ins for 2023-07-30
- Illertissen, Germany (#2330)
- Aichstetten, Germany (#2331)
- Woringen, Germany (#2332)
- Türkheim, Germany (#2333)
- Kaufering, Germany (#2334) (First to check-in)
- Munchen - Pasing Arcaden, Germany (#2335)
- München - OEZ, Germany (#2336)

A long but productive day driving mostly in Bavaria. I am staying in Munich and it seemed like the best way to clear a big area was to make two big loops, one east of the city and one west. I'm pretty sure I was right to do the eastern loop first since it was probably more scenic and I knew the end of my drive would be in the dark. I made a mistake however but heading to Berchtesgaden first. There was a lot of Stau with holiday makers traveling from the city to the Alps on a Saturday afternoon. In hindsight, I should have gone clockwise rather than counterclockwise for this loop. It probably cost me an hour or so. There was a silver lining however. The Nav re-routed me off the Autobahn onto some idyllic country roads. Interestingly the highway signs tell you to stay on the highway even in the event of heavy traffic (presumably as a means of traffic control and to preserve the peace and quiet in the little villages). It seemed like most of the Germans (and tourists) followed this rule because the country roads had almost no traffic. Anyways, it's not very German of me, but this is a rule I am happy to break if it saves me time and gets me out in some nice scenery.

The Augsburg supercharger was ICEd so badly that at first I wasn't sure if I was going to get to charge there. Fortunately one of the few actual Teslas pulled out right after I pulled in so I grabbed the spot before anyone could block it. There was a lot of other ICEing at nearby superchargers too. I remember one where all the IONITY chargers were blocked by Audis and VWs. I was trying to figure out what the deal was. It didn't seem entirely malicious and I think maybe someone would have moved one of their cars if necessary. For some reason, hanging out at the gas station for hours seems to be a thing to do in these parts on a Friday or Saturday night. I didn't understand it then either, but I seem to remember this from my trip in 2019 as well. The people doing this were generally young men with maybe a female or two sprinkled in. I could see it if you were like 18-20yo and too poor to go to the pub or discotheque or whatever, but a lot of these people were closer to 30 than 20, which kind of had me scratching my head.

In other news the German system of paying to use the restroom is still maddening. Somehow I had forgotten about this. At some point, I'm going to have to look up how this tradition came to be because it makes no sense to me. The Wert-Bons are a borderline scam as well. I think I'd rather just pay for the toilet than feel like I need to buy some overpriced item to get part of my toilet money back On the bright side, the Autobahn and really all the roads are in amazing shape and there are no tolls (and perhaps even more importantly, none of the annoying toll plazas!). The expense aside, 2-3 weeks of dealing with the toll roads in France and Italy was exhausting. And I'm sure I paid >1000EUR in tolls between those two countries. Ugh!

 

[Bighorn]

Check-ins for 2023-07-29
- Yermo - Sunrise Canyon Rd, CA (#2359)
- Las Vegas - Paradise Rd, NV (#2360)
- Chandler, AZ (#2361)

Finally fell victim to superimposed pins in LV. Not entirely chagrinned at not having to wait in two long lines to charge. As others have noted, it’s common lately for every charger in Las Vegas to have a line. Appears related to local commercial operators.

Fair warning.

New Mexico
Milan

 

[StefanSarzio]

In other news the German system of paying to use the restroom is still maddening. Somehow I had forgotten about this. At some point, I'm going to have to look up how this tradition came to be because it makes no sense to me.

It only makes sense to the owner of Tank & Rast. There's a good article on Wikipedia. But as far as I can tell it didn't have enough relevance to get translated to a more relevant language.

Tank & Rast – Wikipedia

de.wikipedia.org

Basically is boils down to that it was state-owned, they wanted to privatize it and in order to prevent high prices and monopolization they gave all of it in one hand. . .

 

[PLUS EV]

It only makes sense to the owner of Tank & Rast. There's a good article on Wikipedia. But as far as I can tell it didn't have enough relevance to get translated to a more relevant language.

Tank & Rast – Wikipedia

de.wikipedia.org

Basically is boils down to that it was state-owned, they wanted to privatize it and in order to prevent high prices and monopolization they gave all of it in one hand. . .

Thanks! I'll attempt to read later today lol. Certainly the history of the practice goes beyond Tank & Rast, but the pay toilets feel particularly inappropriate at these type of establishments where nearly everyone is already buying fuel and also nearly everyone will be desperate to use a toilet while traveling (at least 2-3 times over the course of a long drive).

You could even argue that it's a public health issue since they all have some sort of fresh hot food available. You know a certain percentage of people are not going to spend 1EUR to wash their hands prior to eating their Burger King... ewwww...

That's a good point about the monopoly though. For example, I could only imagine what would happen in Italy if AutoGrill started charging to use the restroom. Everyone would then only stop at the Sarni service areas (or vice versa). It's good to have at least a little bit of competition!

 

[cpa]

Thank you Flyer.

Visualization means something that I conjure up in my mind; it really does not exist outside my imagination. What you shared with us to my way of perception are displays or screen shots. I went to the dictionary to find out that there is another definition of visualization like what you mentioned. But there was no mention of viz. So, I learned something! I just hope that I can remember it the next time this term arises somewhere in the distant future.

We are all ignorant, only in different things.

 

[Thinkje]

Check-ins for 2023-07-30
- Baltimore, MD (#1735)

 

[PLUS EV]

Check-ins for 2023-07-30
- Eching, Germany (#2337)
- Pfaffenhofen, Germany (#2338)
- Reichertshofen, Germany (#2339)
- Kösching, Germany (#2340)
- Greding, Germany (#2341)
- Feucht, Germany (#2342)
- Erlangen, Germany (#2343)
- Knetzgau, Germany (#2344)
- Münchberg-Nord, Germany (#2345)
- Plauen, Germany (#2346)
- Schleiz, Germany (#2347)
- Hermsdorf, Germany (#2348)
- Leipzig-Flughafen, Germany (#2349)
- Beelitz, Germany (#2350)
- Berlin EUREF-Campus, Germany (#2351)

Check-ins for 2023-07-31
- Schönefeld, Germany (#2352)
- Parkhaus Gleisdreieck, Germany (#2353)
- Blankenfelde, Germany (#2354)

I forgot to check in at the Parkhaus in Berlin so it is listed after Schoenefeld when it should be before. It was just after midnight though so at least the date is right.

I was thinking I would try to do a shorter day after yesterday's long slog, but the temptation to get the two in Central Berlin on a Sunday night vs. during Monday traffic was too great. And honestly, I think I'll be glad I did when I do my drive tomorrow. I still have some Berlin area chargers to clean up but they are all pretty far on the outskirts to the east, so I don't anticipate too much traffic during the middle of the day on a Monday. Of course I could be wrong, because I obviously know very little about traffic patterns in Germany

I took the direct route on country roads from Plauen to Schleiz and it was a beautiful drive just before sunset. I was surprised how high up I got considering that most of Germany (with the exception of the extreme southern border area in the Alps) is extremely flat. My phone said I was at about 1900 ft above sea level at one point. I really should have stopped to take pictures but everywhere I thought of stopping there was already someone there with their car in the perfect spot either enjoying the view or taking pictures themselves. It wasn't at all crowded up there, just a weird coincidence that a few people had the same thing in mind that I did.

I'm not sure why but I always get a very peaceful feeling in the rural parts of the former East Germany. I guess it is less populated than the west so that might be part of it. I think I might die of boredom if I tried to live here or something, but it's definitely a nice place to visit (and drive!). I feel fairly similarly about many places in Middle America.

 

[Bighorn]

Check-ins for 2023-07-30
- Milan, NM (#2362) (First to check-in)
- Albuquerque - Lang Ave NE, NM (#2363)
- Plainview, TX (#2364)
- Big Spring, TX (#2365)

Fair warning.

Texas
Fort Worth, North Freeway

Arkansas
Hope

 

[PLUS EV]

Check-ins for 2023-07-31
- Panketal, Germany (#2356)
- Uckerfelde, Germany (#2357)
- Gützkow, Germany (#2358) (First to check-in)
- Süderholz, Germany (#2359)
- Wismar, Germany (#2360)
- Linstow, Germany (#2361)
- Herzsprung, Germany (#2362)

Check-ins for 2023-08-01
- Wittenburg, Germany (#2363)
- Winsen (Luhe), Germany (#2364)
- Hamburg - Stillhorn, Germany (#2365)
- Hamburg-Wandsbek, Germany (#2366)

Wittenburg was actually before midnight but I'm too lazy to go back and change it.

The supercharger at the Gigafactory was listed as a Temporary Closure in the Nav and when I got there it was completely fenced off with some workers milling around. That was a busy place on a Monday afternoon. Tons of activity even in the parking lot. It was weird to me to be able to get that close to it since it's difficult to even get close enough to see the Gigafactory in Nevada. I actually missed the exit the first time around and the Nav re-routed me onto roads that were behind the Gigafactory gates

Kind of a disappointing day with weather ranging for mediocre to very bad at times. With the exception of Berlin, I had never been to northeastern Germany so I would have liked to have seen it on a better day.

I did have a funny experience at Uckerfelde. It's an old 4-stall v2 supercharger and when I got there all 4 stalls were occupied and one guy driving a non-Tesla EV was waiting. I parked and we both waited. A few minutes later, he comes over and shows me his phone with a translation app open with a paragraph in German and then below the same paragraph in French. My rental has French plates so he assumed I was French lol. Now my German is very rusty but it's still 100x better than my French To make matters worse, my near-sighted vision has gotten much worse in the last year so I wasn't even going to try to read whatever it said on his phone. Anyways, I was able to speak enough German to him and we had a short chat.

His chargeport was on the right side of his car so he was very particular about which stall he wanted to charge at, and I was parked nearest to it, so I think he was worried that I was going to take it even though I never would have cut in line. As we were talking a car unplugged and left, but it wasn't the stall he wanted. The funny part was, he easily could have plugged into that stall but it was a parallel parking stall and he would have had to park perpendicular. Now, this was a rural gas station in East Germany with a huge parking lot and very few customers. It would not have been a big deal at all for him to park like that, but I guess he really wanted to follow the rules and park within the lines (How very German of him!). Considering that it was to my benefit, I wasn't going to argue with him. I just told him, okay I'll take that stall then and I only need to charge 5-10 minutes anyway. So after using the restroom and buying a snack at the store, I come out and he's still waiting patiently for his stall to come open. It kind of seemed like the guy who was in that stall was one of those "charge to 100% every time" guys, so that wasn't working in his favor lol. I almost stopped to encourage him to take my stall after I left, but I figured it was his decision to make. At least no one else was waiting at this point. So I drove off and I'm kind of curious what he did at that point, but I'll never know. I'm too tired to look up pictures of this location and post them here right now, but if you do look them up you will see what I'm talking about. Definitely a very unique design, but really the chargeport on the right people should be able to plug in to 3 out of the 4 stalls without blocking any of the others and without causing too much of a problem.

In other news, I'm having trouble breaking my free right turn on red light habit. I sure hope they don't have cameras for those!

 

[Bighorn]

Check-ins for 2023-07-31
- Panketal, Germany (#2356)
- Uckerfelde, Germany (#2357)
- Gützkow, Germany (#2358) (First to check-in)
- Süderholz, Germany (#2359)
- Wismar, Germany (#2360)
- Linstow, Germany (#2361)
- Herzsprung, Germany (#2362)

Check-ins for 2023-08-01
- Wittenburg, Germany (#2363)
- Winsen (Luhe), Germany (#2364)
- Hamburg - Stillhorn, Germany (#2365)
- Hamburg-Wandsbek, Germany (#2366)

Wittenburg was actually before midnight but I'm too lazy to go back and change it.

The supercharger at the Gigafactory was listed as a Temporary Closure in the Nav and when I got there it was completely fenced off with some workers milling around. That was a busy place on a Monday afternoon. Tons of activity even in the parking lot. It was weird to me to be able to get that close to it since it's difficult to even get close enough to see the Gigafactory in Nevada. I actually missed the exit the first time around and the Nav re-routed me onto roads that were behind the Gigafactory gates

Kind of a disappointing day with weather ranging for mediocre to very bad at times. With the exception of Berlin, I had never been to northeastern Germany so I would have liked to have seen it on a better day.

I did have a funny experience at Uckerfelde. It's an old 4-stall v2 supercharger and when I got there all 4 stalls were occupied and one guy driving a non-Tesla EV was waiting. I parked and we both waited. A few minutes later, he comes over and shows me his phone with a translation app open with a paragraph in German and then below the same paragraph in French. My rental has French plates so he assumed I was French lol. Now my German is very rusty but it's still 100x better than my French To make matters worse, my near-sighted vision has gotten much worse in the last year so I wasn't even going to try to read whatever it said on his phone. Anyways, I was able to speak enough German to him and we had a short chat.

His chargeport was on the right side of his car so he was very particular about which stall he wanted to charge at, and I was parked nearest to it, so I think he was worried that I was going to take it even though I never would have cut in line. As we were talking a car unplugged and left, but it wasn't the stall he wanted. The funny part was, he easily could have plugged into that stall but it was a parallel parking stall and he would have had to park perpendicular. Now, this was a rural gas station in East Germany with a huge parking lot and very few customers. It would not have been a big deal at all for him to park like that, but I guess he really wanted to follow the rules and park within the lines (How very German of him!). Considering that it was to my benefit, I wasn't going to argue with him. I just told him, okay I'll take that stall then and I only need to charge 5-10 minutes anyway. So after using the restroom and buying a snack at the store, I come out and he's still waiting patiently for his stall to come open. It kind of seemed like the guy who was in that stall was one of those "charge to 100% every time" guys, so that wasn't working in his favor lol. I almost stopped to encourage him to take my stall after I left, but I figured it was his decision to make. At least no one else was waiting at this point. So I drove off and I'm kind of curious what he did at that point, but I'll never know. I'm too tired to look up pictures of this location and post them here right now, but if you do look them up you will see what I'm talking about. Definitely a very unique design, but really the chargeport on the right people should be able to plug in to 3 out of the 4 stalls without blocking any of the others and without causing too much of a problem.

In other news, I'm having trouble breaking my free right turn on red light habit. I sure hope they don't have cameras for those!

Sounds like a case of malignant presbyopia. Better get home ASAP to get that checked out

 

[Bighorn]

Check-ins for 2023-07-31
- Fort Worth - North Fwy, TX (#2366) (First to check-in)
- Fairfield, TX (#2367)
- New Boston, TX (#2368)
- Hope, AR (#2369) (First to check-in)
- Ruston, LA (#2370)
- Vicksburg, MS (#2371)
- Southaven, MS (#2372)
- Jonesboro, AR (#2373)

Fair warning.

Illinois
Normal, West Raab Road

 

[PLUS EV]

Check-ins for 2023-07-31
- Panketal, Germany (#2356)
- Uckerfelde, Germany (#2357)
- Gützkow, Germany (#2358) (First to check-in)
- Süderholz, Germany (#2359)
- Wismar, Germany (#2360)
- Linstow, Germany (#2361)
- Herzsprung, Germany (#2362)

Check-ins for 2023-08-01
- Wittenburg, Germany (#2363)
- Winsen (Luhe), Germany (#2364)
- Hamburg - Stillhorn, Germany (#2365)
- Hamburg-Wandsbek, Germany (#2366)

Wittenburg was actually before midnight but I'm too lazy to go back and change it.

The supercharger at the Gigafactory was listed as a Temporary Closure in the Nav and when I got there it was completely fenced off with some workers milling around. That was a busy place on a Monday afternoon. Tons of activity even in the parking lot. It was weird to me to be able to get that close to it since it's difficult to even get close enough to see the Gigafactory in Nevada. I actually missed the exit the first time around and the Nav re-routed me onto roads that were behind the Gigafactory gates

Kind of a disappointing day with weather ranging for mediocre to very bad at times. With the exception of Berlin, I had never been to northeastern Germany so I would have liked to have seen it on a better day.

I did have a funny experience at Uckerfelde. It's an old 4-stall v2 supercharger and when I got there all 4 stalls were occupied and one guy driving a non-Tesla EV was waiting. I parked and we both waited. A few minutes later, he comes over and shows me his phone with a translation app open with a paragraph in German and then below the same paragraph in French. My rental has French plates so he assumed I was French lol. Now my German is very rusty but it's still 100x better than my French To make matters worse, my near-sighted vision has gotten much worse in the last year so I wasn't even going to try to read whatever it said on his phone. Anyways, I was able to speak enough German to him and we had a short chat.

His chargeport was on the right side of his car so he was very particular about which stall he wanted to charge at, and I was parked nearest to it, so I think he was worried that I was going to take it even though I never would have cut in line. As we were talking a car unplugged and left, but it wasn't the stall he wanted. The funny part was, he easily could have plugged into that stall but it was a parallel parking stall and he would have had to park perpendicular. Now, this was a rural gas station in East Germany with a huge parking lot and very few customers. It would not have been a big deal at all for him to park like that, but I guess he really wanted to follow the rules and park within the lines (How very German of him!). Considering that it was to my benefit, I wasn't going to argue with him. I just told him, okay I'll take that stall then and I only need to charge 5-10 minutes anyway. So after using the restroom and buying a snack at the store, I come out and he's still waiting patiently for his stall to come open. It kind of seemed like the guy who was in that stall was one of those "charge to 100% every time" guys, so that wasn't working in his favor lol. I almost stopped to encourage him to take my stall after I left, but I figured it was his decision to make. At least no one else was waiting at this point. So I drove off and I'm kind of curious what he did at that point, but I'll never know. I'm too tired to look up pictures of this location and post them here right now, but if you do look them up you will see what I'm talking about. Definitely a very unique design, but really the chargeport on the right people should be able to plug in to 3 out of the 4 stalls without blocking any of the others and without causing too much of a problem.

In other news, I'm having trouble breaking my free right turn on red light habit. I sure hope they don't have cameras for those!

Here's a pic of the setup at this supercharger. With his right side chargeport, he only wanted to charge with the right most cable in this picture. He wanted to park in the space just to the right out of this picture. That way he would be legally parked and not blocking any of the other 3 stalls. The stall that opened was center-left in this pic and as you can see, he could have easily just parked perpendicular to the curb, but he would not have been within the painted lines.

In my opinion, a car with a right side chargeport should be able to use all of the stalls with the exception of the one that is occupied in the pic. Of course they could charge there too, but they'd be blocking the right most stall to any Tesla (or left side chargeport EV). Hypothetically if there were two right side chargeport cars, they could both charge on the right side of this photo without any issue.