Supercharging Nightmare Begins

[Tic-tac-toe]

Not.pnly that, but they explicitly told me to use the SC. (I'm in the same position as you).

I have two SC witihn 10 miles of me (Capistrano and San Clemente) and a new one even closer is opening (Mission Viejo). But still, it's long waiting times most of the day .

Us too. Tesla salesperson used free supercharging for as long as we own the car as an incentive to purchase before the end of the third quarter. We live in a typical 100 + yr old DC row house without parking and even if there is a garage in back, it is detached without electric power.

I have had to wait once at a supercharger since taking delivery Sept 24 and that was less than 5 minutes at a mall in NJ on a road trip. If I didn’t want to wait, there were open SC stalls on the other side of the mall according to Tesla navigation.

While supercharging may have been designed for road trips, Tesla is using their Superchargers as a sales tool to sell to urban dwellers who they know damn well don’t have access to home or work charging.

 

[Racerx22b]

I think it’s regressive to blame the owner for his choice. Seems to me folks here want more EVs on the road, not less. These are necessary growing pains. The solution is not to judge owners, it’s to pressure the powers-that be, whether it’s local government or constructively “tweeting Elon” about superchargers.

Of course we all want more EVs on the road and more Superchargers. For EVs to succeed owners must have some kind of home charging option (if at all possible) while we are going through these growing pains. This is a critical element. Don't forget about destination chargers. I've successfully lobbied 5 hotels I frequent to get them installed via Tesla's program.

My issue with the OP is not with his frustration with waiting on a Supercharger (that is annoying) it's with his apparent lack of foresight that this would be an issue. If he lived in Rapid City, SD I would probably cut him some slack.

But really, lives in San Francisco with no home charging option and complains about waiting on a Supercharger when his situation is a big reason why there are waits at Superchargers?? To me it's ridiculous. It's like moving to a chicken farm and then complaining about the smell.

 

[Racerx22b]

Us too. Tesla salesperson used free supercharging for as long as we own the car as an incentive to purchase before the end of the third quarter. We live in a typical 100 + yr old DC row house without parking and even if there is a garage in back, it is detached without electric power.

I have had to wait once at a supercharger since taking delivery Sept 24 and that was less than 5 minutes at a mall in NJ on a road trip. If I didn’t want to wait, there were open SC stalls on the other side of the mall according to Tesla navigation.

While supercharging may have been designed for road trips, Tesla is using their Superchargers as a sales tool to sell to urban dwellers who they know damn well don’t have access to home or work charging.

You mean a car salesman lied or only told you what you needed to know in order to make a sale??? Please don't tell me you strictly went off only what a salesperson told you.

I am really trying hard not too come off as a jerk off here but you're telling us you bought a $150k all electric car and did zero independent research on how you would get it charged? I spent the weeks leading up to my first Tesla purchase reading through all the forums and then the month I waited for my car to be delivered I continued my research and had my wall charger installed. If I had no way to get a charge at home I would've done drive by's of the local Superchargers to gauge availability and looked up public chargers as well to know of all my options.

I guess people actually buy Teslas just like they are buying a Toyota Corolla and just think it's like every other car out there? If this is what Tesla salespeople are doing them shame on them. But to the purchaser who comes in blind shame on them as well.

 

[Tic-tac-toe]

You mean a car salesman lied or only told you what you needed to know in order to make a sale??? Please don't tell me you strictly went off only what a salesperson told you.

I am really trying hard not too come off as a jerk off here but you're telling us you bought a $150k all electric car and did zero independent research on how you would get it charged? I spent the weeks leading up to my first Tesla purchase reading through all the forums and then the month I waited for my car to be delivered I continued my research and had my wall charger installed. If I had no way to get a charge at home I would've done drive by's of the local Superchargers to gauge availability and looked up public chargers as well to know of all my options.

I guess people actually buy Teslas just like they are buying a Toyota Corolla and just think it's like every other car out there? If this is what Tesla salespeople are doing them shame on them. But to the purchaser who comes in blind shame on them as well.

I find it interesting that you think only suburbanites with houses with garages that can have home charging should buy Teslas. There is a Tesla showroom in downtown DC that caters to city dwellers. Tesla has NO supercharging center in DC itself currently although they are promised in the near future. There are plenty of chargers in parking garages and businesses. DC is very EV friendly and charges no sales tax on EV purchases.

My car has a range of 315 miles. For in town driving - less than 15 miles round trip generally, I usually don’t need to charge at all and generally if I need to charge I can charge going about my errands, Whole Foods, Tyson’s mall, etc. I sometimes charge at a parking garage overnight if we are planning on leaving for a road trip and I don’t feel like stopping at a supercharger along the way. I always charge at a SC on the way back into DC however. Never had to wait for a supercharger yet except that once in NJ.

We looked at lots of ICE cars in a similar price range before purchasing Sexy Hotness: so far we are willing to put up with a lot of crap from Tesla (and attitude from early owners too because it is a great car.

 

[Eevee]

To the OP
Use PlugShare to find ALL the charging options near your home, your work, etc. You might learn there are destination chargers near your work
Also, keep watching the superchargers. There are times and days that are less busy than others.

I guess the new M3 owners just wanted to try out superchargers like new toys. Remember when Apple first launched Apple Pay, McD saw a huge sales surge because ppl would try out the new payment system there.

Things would get better!

I agree that this is temporary. The supercharger network will expand. And may of us new owners will back off use.

For me, we bought a used Model S with free supercharging and didn't yet have the 240v installed so we used supercharging at first. I found all the local ones and tested them out (learned that certain ones are much more busy than others). But the experience of finding all the busy ones made me more urgently schedule the electrician to come out to do my garage. I'm sure there are others who are similar and will use superchargers a lot at first and then get frustrated by how busy they are and set up an alternative more quickly than they would have if it weren't busy.

I’d say this topic is actually why it’s important for people to back initiatives that make it easier (or even possible) to have apartment buildings, condos, or houses governed by associations retrofitted to meet growing demand. We should also be focused on requiring new structures to be more compatible with this burgeoning technology.

Agree.

But remember, too that even apartment chargers may not always be the best option for some owners. Holidays often pose increased demand on all parking - charging parking included. There's an apartment near my home that has a charger set up for tenants. Well, over the holiday weekend someone broke into a car parked at the charger. Not only did it damage that car but also it left glass on both the two parking spaces set up for charging. Since it was a holiday, there weren't staff there to clean it up - so those chargers were effectively out of use the entire holiday weekend.

For all those who say that this is not what superchargers were meant for, you do realize that Tesla sales team never mentions this even when I clearly told them that I have no option to charge at home or work.

The sales team 'forget' to mention a lot of things. It's very frustrating. I think many of them don't even own Teslas.

It's not your fault about crowded superchargers. Also, there's a lot of debate about whether or not using the superchargers is really all that bad for the battery. Don't worry too much about it all, just try to enjoy your car. FWIW, often when I have to wait for something, after the initial annoyance subsides, the wait turns into something productive. I get reading done or phone calls, or recently with the supercharging it turned out that my son and I spent quality time together. Instead of each of us just using our phones to pass the time while parked, we played games with the Tesla - we did the drawing app and played hangman. My point is just: try to find the silver lining. There's ALWAYS a silver lining.

 

[zanary]

You do realise you are part of the problem here! Superchargers were never intended to be used for daily charging and now the market is flooding with M3s it will only get worse. Especially if they are using them in the same way as you are for their daily charging routine!

The problem is that statement is false today. Tesla published this blog posts which indicates just the opposite.

"...
In addition, many sites will be built further off the highway to allow local Tesla drivers to charge quickly when needed, with the goal of making charging ubiquitous in urban centers.
..."

Source URL = Charging Is Our Priority

 

[xyeahtony]

You think its bad with a tesla, imagine owning another EV. Most other third-party charigng solutions only have 2-4 charge points tops. At least tesla builds superchargers with dozens of stalls.

 

[Bill Price]

Does Elon have his own private SC stall?

 

[gnuarm]

I agree that this is temporary. The supercharger network will expand. And may of us new owners will back off use.

Yes, the network will expand, but likely not fast enough. The number of chargers was supposed to double in 2018, it fell far short of that. The number of Teslas on the road will double in the next year. So expect the charging situation to get worse, not better, especially in the already crowded areas.

I will say that while many times the waiting for a charge is not such a big deal, there are times when charging is crucial. I drove some hundreds of miles to be with a friend having surgery. She wanted me to take her home in my Tesla. Because of the combination of cold battery, lack of time and the inconvenience of the only Supercharger being in an airport parking lot combined with the chargers not working at full rate, I barely was able to get enough charge to bring her home. Not only was the lot pay parking, but people park in the aisles making it hard to get in and out of the charger spots. For travelers this spot is not convenient to any highway. Not one of my better charging experiences.

With ICE, if you don't like a gas station, you drive a mile (or across the street) to another. When a Supercharger is a crap spot you find a way to make it work. One of the upsides to this was we had a chance to talk to an administrator at the hospital and I mentioned they should add a few chargers. I would have been able to charge overnight and had a full battery. She said they were planning an expansion and she would mention this.

 

[brkaus]

I don't really think it is about the "free". A full charge is $15 or less in most areas of the country. I'm not going to bother with saving $15 unless it is very easy.

But look at the lines at Costco gas stations selling gas for $0.10/gal lower than the empty station across the street.

People wait 5-10 min to save $2.

 

[juliusa]

The number of chargers was supposed to double in 2018

Actually, the number of supercharger locations was supposed to double in 2017 in North America, which would have been 722 locations by the end of 2017. We are at 652 now, so they are over a year behind schedule.

They will get there...soon.

 

[gnuarm]

Actually, the number of supercharger locations was supposed to double in 2017 in North America, which would have been 722 locations by the end of 2017. We are at 652 now, so they are over a year behind schedule.

They will get there...soon.

Yeah, but meanwhile the tortoise will have moved as well Achilles. "You will never catch up!", said Zeno. Actually it is more like the tortoise will never catch up with Achilles. Not unless they start building Superchargers and destination chargers a lot faster.

The old timers.. er, ah, "early adopters" seem to think I'm being silly with my concern. I think if Tesla doesn't build out the charging network at a much faster rate we will see something akin to the Population Bomb forecast in the 60's. The world was saved from mass starvation by the Green Revolution or at least it would be postponed for a while.

Sales of Teslas depend critically on availability of adequate charging infrastructure. That is presently the great enabler for Tesla to sell over 100,000 BEVs in a year while competitors (who beat Tesla to the punch of mass produced affordable BEVs, thank you Chevy) still sell so very few BEVs. Without the charging network Tesla would be selling many fewer cars. As those cars find the roads and start exploring their environment they need ever more chargers in evermore locations.

Bottom line is that Tesla has to up its game and continue to make charging accessible in spite of the ever larger growth of cars on the roads. This is no time to slack off.

 

[juliusa]

Old timer here. People have been predicting the impending collapse of the supercharger network for 4 years. So far, just some isolated areas of congestion.

 

[GWord]

I have seen an astounding increase in supercharging station use within the past 3 months. Went from no waiting for a charging station almost any time of the day to waiting for a station every time (sometimes at least for 30mins!).

I don’t have any other means to charge the MX at the moment other than the supercharging station.

Almost every 2nd car I see is a Model 3 waiting to charge. Obviously this has impacted the supercharging stations.

This is in the SF Bay Area.

Since you have the Model X, have you thought about the chademo adapter? Seemingly lots of chademo options in the SF area. The charge rate is a tad lower but if you don't have to wait, perhaps you are ahead from a net time basis.

 

[Eevee]

This is TESLA, people. They literally ALWAYS over-promise and under-deliver.

There's no point in whining about how they promised to double the supercharging network whenever and then they haven't done it yet. The reality is the reality, we have to make due. The way to make due is to:
- try to schedule your supercharging use to avoid high traffic times as much as possible
- use home or work charging as much as possible
- charge only as much as you need
- use an ICE or hybrid when you can't risk getting delayed or stranded by supercharger problems

The more EVs on the road, the more demand there is to government and industry to build out additional charging stations to relive the burden on superchargers. So... when I say that the charging network will expand, I'm not just talking about what Tesla does or promises, I'm talking about the entire society shift to allow more charging everywhere. There will be some growing pains for sure, but overall we WANT more EVs and fewer ICE cars on the roads so let's try to see the bright side of things.

 

[juliusa]

The more EVs on the road, the more demand there is to government and industry to build out additional charging stations

Yes!! When all hotels have L2 charging, that will make a big difference. We drove 180 miles to Boston last week, and stayed at a hotel with a 30a L2 charger. Didn't need any supercharging, although we did stop for dinner at Five Guys in Manchester and charged a little on the way home.

 

[wycolo]

> Being heavy on the pedal does not equate to savings of time at all while Supercharging. [oldschool496]

Wether true or not, this brings up an interesting methodology to long distance Tesla travel, which states as a basis that in order to cover a lot of ground quickly one should arrive at the SC with a minimum of miles remaining in the battery. Like 10 miles or so, just above the possible system-error range (which might leave you stranded!). And as a corollary add the notion that you should drive as rapidly as possible between SCs.

Why is this? A properly functioning SC will deliver a maximum 125kw (or more) shot to an 'empty' battery so that is how you should arrive at the SC. And go as fast as possible to get there sooner.

Caution: this technique is for long-distance commuters to fine tune over the same exact route keeping an ever watchful eye on road moisture and headwinds, etc which could easily end you up in the ditch. If I arrive at 40 miles remaining or less I'm either quite pleased or relieved; still working on it.
--

 

[KJD]

No option provided by the property owner. For all those who say that this is not what superchargers were meant for, you do realize that Tesla sales team never mentions this even when I clearly told them that I have no option to charge at home or work.

Do you live in a rented house or do you live in an apartment building ?

How far is your parking spot from the nearest electrical outlet ?

 

[GWord]

Being heavy on the pedal does not equate to savings of time at all while Supercharging.

Believe it or not, it sort of does actually. 100mph+ seems to be the break over point for the larger packs in terms of trip time versus average speed.

What is the speed you arrive fastest in a Model S over long distance? : teslamotors

 

[Racerx22b]

I find it interesting that you think only suburbanites with houses with garages that can have home charging should buy Teslas.

Never said that once. Plus correct me if I'm wrong.

My issue (I'll explain it once again) is with people buying a Tesla (or any EV) knowing they have no charging option at home and then acting all dumbfounded when they have issues finding charging or waiting for a charger. If you live in San Fran and have no at home charging system (whether it's by choice or due to your living situation) you should have ordered a huge box of patience along with your car because even I know that would be a nightmare and I live in South FL.

This is nothing to do with being an early adopter. It's just plain old common sense.

No different than moving to Buffalo, NY and then acting all dumbfounded with the amount of snow you need to shovel.