Superchargers with Charge complete indicator & other suggestions

[Nicola_Won]

I'm sure it's already been suggested, but what I would find very useful when turning up at a supercharger centre is to see how complete a station is to finishing a charge. When you pull into a petrol station, you don't mind waiting as you know it won't be long. But at a supercharger centre, you have no idea how long you might have to wait if they are all full.

They ideally should be positioned so you can drive through, that way cars can queue behind one another.

I'm guessing the vision though is probably something else - like a notification of which bay to drive into - or even the car moving itself.

Being able to reserve a station or knowing how long the wait can be expected on arrival would be good, then you might skip a station and go for the next one if you have the range spare.

All things I've been thinking about since considering a long trip from London to Megeve in the French Alps.

 

[EVie'sDad]

I think a digital countdown for each stall and a red siren on top that goes off when charging is complete, the only way to inforce overcrowding measures is to shame those that abuse the system.

 

[paulkva]

I think a digital countdown for each stall and a red siren on top that goes off when charging is complete, the only way to inforce overcrowding measures is to shame those that abuse the system.

Or, you know, make people pay $0.40/minute for blocking a plug after their car is done charging... like Tesla just started doing. (Not sure what the fee is in the UK.)

The countdown and siren would be amusing though...

 

[Craig-Tx]

Not an easy solution for a drive by, but it is my understanding that the lights at the charge port on the vehicle flash at a speed relative to the charge rate. When charging quickly, the lights flash quickly. When charging slowly (like when near full) the lights flash slower.

This could also just be unique to the North American charge port. But it is a good indication if you pull up to a SC location that has a couple of empty stalls. If you have to pair up to another vehicle, you can pick the stall that isn't using the full capacity. For example, if stalls 2B and stalls 4B are open, and the vehicle at stall 2A is flashing slowly, but the vehicle at stall 4A is flashing quickly, parking in 2B would be advantageous. It would have more available power to charge your vehicle.

 

[BerTX]

Currently the charge port light goes out after the car locks, to "avoid attracting attention". I don't see why they couldn't keep the port light active when Supercharging, though. Simple software change. If the car is in a Supercharger, I think it is probably already attracting attention...

 

[Craig-Tx]

That's right. I forgot that detail.

So, there I go once again, spouting details about how something works that I've never actually used. I really need to work on that.

 

[Az_Rael]

If the car is in a Supercharger, I think it is probably already attracting attention...

True. When I was using the supercharger at Mojave while I waited in my car I heard some laughing and loud talking. Then someone said "not that one, someone is in it!" I looked up and there was a small group of 20 somethings walking away from my car. I am guessing they were going to try and mess with my car in some manner.

So yeah, charging port lights staying on during supercharging wouldn't draw any more attention than just supercharging already does.

 

[Nicola_Won]

Ah the thread lives.... What's important for me is to be able to see at a glance how far someone is into their charge. Of course someone maybe just topping up, but to know how long you have to wait would be useful.

When those Model 3's hit the road there's going to be a lot of full superchargers and a lot of annoyed tesla drivers moaning about the 'good ol days when you didn't have to wait 2 hours just for a charger spot'.....

Here's a tip that I think works though: If the charge port is not lit, you can go up to the charger, press the charge button and it will attempt to disconnect. Because it's locked in place it won't remove, but it does start the light again as far as I'm aware..... Gonna piss people off though when others keep coming up and grabbing the cable just to see how fast the car is charging! (someone please test and confirm....)

 

[Az_Rael]

Here's a tip that I think works though: If the charge port is not lit, you can go up to the charger, press the charge button and it will attempt to disconnect. Because it's locked in place it won't remove, but it does start the light again as far as I'm aware..... Gonna piss people off though when others keep coming up and grabbing the cable just to see how fast the car is charging! (someone please test and confirm....)

That is a bad idea. That does stop the charging session, so if the car was the 1st car on the paired stall it instantly loses that priority to the other car and gets the slower charging rate when it restarts.

So its actually counter productive since you slow down the charging of the car you are waiting for.

 

[Nicola_Won]

So if you want to get higher priority, simply interrupt their charging? Got it! Fantastic tip.....

 

[BerTX]

So if you want to get higher priority, simply interrupt their charging? Got it! Fantastic tip.....

This is one of those posts that I want to give multiple ratings to -- both funny and informative.

I have never tried walking up to a car at a Supercharger without the fob and pressed the button to see what transpires. I don't think it does anything. Certainly if you do that with the fob, it stops the charge and restarts if you don't remove the handle. Somebody near a Supercharger should test it, if someone hasn't already.

 

[jaguar36]

Ideally, the 17" would just have a status display indicating which stall you should park in, or if completely full, how long until charign completes.

 

[Missile Toad]

Tesla HQ knows which stalls are occupied, how long they've been occupied, and if they can't get an accurate kW in-progress, they could make an educated guess. Having said that, WTF, why don't they tell you whom to pair with, or which one is working the best on the dashboard display? My theory, they have every man, woman and baby who can write code, writing code for full autonomous driving.

 

[AMPd]

Ah the thread lives.... What's important for me is to be able to see at a glance how far someone is into their charge. Of course someone maybe just topping up, but to know how long you have to wait would be useful.

When those Model 3's hit the road there's going to be a lot of full superchargers and a lot of annoyed tesla drivers moaning about the 'good ol days when you didn't have to wait 2 hours just for a charger spot'.....

Here's a tip that I think works though: If the charge port is not lit, you can go up to the charger, press the charge button and it will attempt to disconnect. Because it's locked in place it won't remove, but it does start the light again as far as I'm aware..... Gonna piss people off though when others keep coming up and grabbing the cable just to see how fast the car is charging! (someone please test and confirm....)

Don't forget those super chargers are now pay per use so there won't be as many people using them just because, as there was/is with the model S.

 

[TexasEV]

Don't forget those super chargers are now pay per use so there won't be as many people using them just because, as there was/is with the model S.

Wrong. They're pay per use after 400kWh per year for cars ordered after 1/15/2017. All the people who were able to use them for free are still able to use them for free.

 

[brianman]

If the charge port is not lit, you can go up to the charger, press the charge button

Bad. Stop touching other people's stuff.

 

[thegruf]

phone app for supercharger stall status and/or on the main display when you are close to the SC site as "more detail"?

 

[AMPd]

Wrong. They're pay per use after 400kWh per year for cars ordered after 1/15/2017. All the people who were able to use them for free are still able to use them for free.

Although you are correct.
The people abusing the sc's will go through that 400kWh quickly, after which they'll curb their usage.

 

[TexasEV]

Although you are correct.
The people abusing the sc's will go through that 400kWh quickly, after which they'll curb their usage.

Maybe so, but all the pre-2017 owners will still be using them for free. I don't see how you conclude "there won't be as many people using them".

 

[AMPd]

Maybe so, but all the pre-2017 owners will still be using them for free. I don't see how you conclude "there won't be as many people using them".

Well you quoted that out of context so that's why you don't see.
I said there won't be as many people using them just because, as there were with MODEL S/X

I was referring to model 3, and none of those will have unlimited free supercharging.