Supercharging pain in rear

[Archer]

Dunno about closing this location, as while it's possible to avoid it, it is in the key point when traveling up/down Interstate 5. Needs to be fixed and Service Center cars should not be charging there (I'm sure they can add more L2 charging at the facility for that).

I did not see an answer from OP though on why he would just sit there for 2 hours and would not explore other options. He came with 60 miles rated range, Tejon Range is 65 miles away traveling north, and Buena Park is 32 miles away south.

I asked him earlier why his travel plans were so unique that he couldn't use the numerous other supercharger options around given this is in California. He never replied. Instead, he bashes TM with many false statements in another thread.

 

[JasonA-EV]

Just came back from Burbank and all stalls are charging normally but still throttled quite a bit. We were at Culver City last night (or this morn at 12:30am) and it was just us, 1 other and 3 Tesloop's but they were not charging.

Burbank I've only been able to pull 75kwh max (latest 70d)..21% and slow WAY down around 45 to 50% at 45/50kwh.
Culver City last night (28%) right up to 98khW to 57% then taper at 73% at 60khW then to 50something khw..

That's what the typical SpC experience should be!!! Tesla should fix Burbank ASAP!

 

[roblab]

Am I the only one who gets a little irritated when reading these two things in combination? Not being all that familiar with California geography, is Burbank in the middle of nowhere such that you need to occupy a supercharger stall to get to 100% in your P90D to make it to your next charger or destination? (A rhetorical question)...

You are not the only one.

NO one should charge to over 90% at a supercharger. NO one should charge at a local supercharger. They are for trips. That's the problem, though. Some people have not been taught, and some cannot understand.

 

[Rocky_H]

NO one should charge to over 90% at a supercharger.

How about you tone down telling people what to do with such absolute statements?
Baker City Oregon to Bend Oregon in winter: 271 rated miles
Boise Idaho to Winnemucca Nevada in winter: 333 rated miles

Some gaps between Superchargers on fairly major U.S. highways are still not covered, and even above 90%, the Supercharger is still a bit faster than the charging at the slow level 2 charging point you will have to use in the middle.

 

[HankLloydRight]

NO one should charge to over 90% at a supercharger.

How about you tone down telling people what to do with such absolute statements?

Agreed. There are exceptions to every "rule".. how about something like:

No one should NEED to charge to over 90% at a supercharger except:
-- unless one needs to do so for their trip
-- there are no others waiting to charge

 

[Max*]

-- there are no others waiting to charge

That's a want, not a need

 

[TexasEV]

NO one should charge to over 90% at a supercharger.

Another example of California-centric thinking. Are you aware that in other states there are places to go that aren't within range of a 90% charge at a supercharger? And even if it might be within range of a 90 kWh battery, not all of us have 90 kWh batteries as you do?

 

[Brass Guy]

NO one should charge at a local supercharger.

What about the person who's still trying to get their condo association to approve an outlet near their parking spot?

I would however agree that it's unlikely that anyone with any flavor 90 needs more than 80% charge at any CA SC to get where they're going and/or to another SC.
I really think Tesla should change the mph charge display to instantaneous. When a driver sees it drop below 30 (maybe even 60) they might be more likely to move on.

 

[qadaemon]

Another example of California-centric thinking. Are you aware that in other states there are places to go that aren't within range of a 90% charge at a supercharger? And even if it might be within range of a 90 kWh battery, not all of us have 90 kWh batteries as you do?

I don't know how the smaller batteries do it in the midwest if they need to travel as much or more as we do. Ours is a 90D and even navigation often requires 100% charge at a supercharger to make it, often with well below 10 miles to spare.

 

[roblab]

I don't know how the smaller batteries do it in the midwest if they need to travel as much or more as we do. Ours is a 90D and even navigation often requires 100% charge at a supercharger to make it, often with well below 10 miles to spare.

On the plus side, away from CA, you don't have locals charging and filling the SC stalls. Rare it is to even meet another Tesla at a SC. But when I went on my last 5000 mile jaunt, superchargers were well within 200 miles of each other, so unless one owns a 60 (and they made that decision AND the one to go on long distance trips with it) there is no need to charge over 90%.

And with a 90D, in the "midwest", there are corridors, of course, and uncompleted corridors. It will improve, but I don't buy "having to" charge to 100%. I have found that one can slow down 5 mph and go 10% farther. I-70 in MO has two speed limits: Max and Min. Min used to be 40 mph while Max was 70, even if some felt they could not possibly drive slower than 80. And I-70 has 3 chargers across the state, at less than 150 miles apart.

What I see is people charging for 2 hours who have no other reason than they think they are the only people in the world that matter. Other SCs are within 130 miles (several) and they are charging only because they don't want to charge at home. People who live in condos certainly have some time to get charging plans figured out before delivery. If they simply "have to" use SCs, they should come more often and charge shorter times, or come when the SC is not full. Even if it's inconvenient! We all have to live here. Let's be thoughtful of others.

 

[roblab]

How about you tone down telling people what to do with such absolute statements?
Baker City Oregon to Bend Oregon in winter: 271 rated miles
Boise Idaho to Winnemucca Nevada in winter: 333 rated miles

Some gaps between Superchargers on fairly major U.S. highways are still not covered, and even above 90%, the Supercharger is still a bit faster than the charging at the slow level 2 charging point you will have to use in the middle.

How about some reality? There's a 70 amp charger in Burns. When I go that route, I usually plan to motel it in Ontario and charge to full at their 14-50, and I still top up a little in Burns. I have relatives in Sisters, and they have a 14-50 outlet. But all this takes planning, not just driving out. I have not seen the charger in Bend. Used to go from Shasta to Sisters, but I did 55.

Second point, those chargers you mention are never full, and there is never waiting. Winnemucca was empty last time I came down from Boise area. Although I did not use it, there's a 14-50 at the OR/NV border. I drove at 60 mph and made it to Winnemucca, which is the uphill direction, which takes a lot less time than sitting at an outlet. Slowing down is an option.

It worries me that so many think they simply must have a full charge, that they must travel Saturday afternoon, they must use the busiest chargers, and they must drive above the speed limit. And then they come here and complain how Tesla has to build more SCs everywhere and increase the charge rate to 350 kW.

Disliking it doesn't change it.

 

[Max*]

I have relatives in Sisters, and they have a 14-50 outlet.

Can I visit too?

 

[qadaemon]

On the plus side, away from CA, you don't have locals charging and filling the SC stalls. Rare it is to even meet another Tesla at a SC. But when I went on my last 5000 mile jaunt, superchargers were well within 200 miles of each other, so unless one owns a 60 (and they made that decision AND the one to go on long distance trips with it) there is no need to charge over 90%.

And with a 90D, in the "midwest", there are corridors, of course, and uncompleted corridors. It will improve, but I don't buy "having to" charge to 100%. I have found that one can slow down 5 mph and go 10% farther. I-70 in MO has two speed limits: Max and Min. Min used to be 40 mph while Max was 70, even if some felt they could not possibly drive slower than 80. And I-70 has 3 chargers across the state, at less than 150 miles apart.

What I see is people charging for 2 hours who have no other reason than they think they are the only people in the world that matter. Other SCs are within 130 miles (several) and they are charging only because they don't want to charge at home. People who live in condos certainly have some time to get charging plans figured out before delivery. If they simply "have to" use SCs, they should come more often and charge shorter times, or come when the SC is not full. Even if it's inconvenient! We all have to live here. Let's be thoughtful of others.

I'm curious where they put the SC's in CA. What's typically around them & what do people do for multiple hours? The ones we use are usually in airports, movie theatre parking lots, and Tesla Service centers. It's hard enough to find a bathroom, let alone something better than just sitting in the car. Other than being an asshole and flying out of the airport with my car still plugged in, I can't imagine staying at one any longer than needed for charging.

When it is cold out the Wh/Mi and charge time increase dramatically which hurts the whole networkl. It will improve, but it is not there yet even on the charging corridors especially with outages & weather. I just follow the nav route in AP at the speed limit until it tells me to go slower, and charge as long as it tells me. It definitely tells you to charge to 100% at some locations through some routes. The X is obviously worse than the S as well.

Just some anecdotal ones in the last month:
Bloomington IL to Peru IL in ~10F weather. It had me charge 100% in Bloomington and arrived in Peru with 2% remaining having to slow down from the 70 limit to 60.
Asheville NC to London KY in ~40F weather. 100% in Asheville with and arrived in London 1% remaining (Knoxville was down)
Bowling Green KY to Chattanooga TN, 100% again, arrived with 0% (Nashville was down)

Bowling Green to Terre Haute is bad too, but it doesn't always take us that way in the winter, which is probably smart. Maybe an Evansville one will open and make that segment moot.

Perhaps we're "lucky" but we seem to run into at least one outage per trip that makes a 100% run on 55mph highways a requirement. Supercharger uptime would certainly reduce those.

 

[Rocky_H]

How about some reality?

Wow, you've got some nerve.

There's a 70 amp charger in Burns.

Good for the people with dual chargers.

When I go that route, I usually plan to motel it in Ontario and charge to full at their 14-50, and I still top up a little in Burns.

Seriously? That's your recommendation? Turn a 318 mile drive into an overnight two day affair, rather than admit it could use one Supercharger in the middle?

But all this takes planning, not just driving out. I have not seen the charger in Bend. Used to go from Shasta to Sisters, but I did 55.

I have done extensive planning with these routes through eastern Oregon over and over, trying different variables on EVTripplanner on both highways 20 and 26, trying to see which would be better before ever trying it. I didn't just "drive out". In April when I was having to do this route across Oregon, I was doing Sisters to Baker City to Boise because it's a shorter gap to get to a Supercharger than the much longer route all the way from Bend to Boise that has no Supercharger and would require about a 3 hour stop on 40A. I NEVER went above 47mph on that drive with NO HEAT to make it from Sisters to Baker City without having to make a charging stop because we were a little time crunched, so you can stop giving me an earful about not speeding--I don't.

Second point, those chargers you mention are never full, and there is never waiting. Winnemucca was empty last time I came down from Boise area.

Right, why are you telling me this? That was part of the point I was making. @roblab was just putting his foot down, telling no one to charger over 90% ever. I was saying to not be so absolute, and that sometimes it's fine, as in this case, where these sites are usually empty, so it's not a problem.

Although I did not use it, there's a 14-50 at the OR/NV border. I drove at 60 mph and made it to Winnemucca, which is the uphill direction, which takes a lot less time than sitting at an outlet. Slowing down is an option.

Yeah, I did that route when I went to Comic Con in SLC this past fall. It's an 80A J1772, though, not a 14-50. I did use it for an hour lunch stop, although with my single charger it was still only 40A. I DON'T speed when pushing distances on these routes, precisely because I know I have the limitation of my single charger. I was below 60mph the whole time, and with the 1 hour charging stop to get about another 25 miles, I made it OK.

 

[mblakele]

Another example of California-centric thinking. Are you aware that in other states there are places to go that aren't within range of a 90% charge at a supercharger? And even if it might be within range of a 90 kWh battery, not all of us have 90 kWh batteries as you do?

No need to get all state-ist . California's a big place and there are plenty of trips inside the state that need careful planning too. Of course not everyone realizes that....

Back in June I filled up to 100% in Manteca, for a camping trip well off the grid. It was a weekday and the site was 2/3 empty the whole time. If there'd been a line I suppose I would have yielded my slot to someone else and waited, because I wasn't in any hurry. But the next time I'm going that way I'll charge over 90% again, because I needed it.

 

[Shock-On-T]

You guys have some wonderful advice overall but no need to defend Tesla. From your own admission this is a known problem, I'm guessing for a long time. Tesla is on the cutting edge but it seems the infrastructure is 2 years behind what is needed to make this car a practical replacement for ICE. None of us on this forum are ignorant or we couldn't afford this car. Of course there are positives with the car, which I am not disputing.

I had a lot of resistance recently from the girlfriend for getting a nerd car even though I had wanted one for about 3 years. I couldn't defend my decision much in Burbank when she said "we are never taking a road trip in your Tesla again."

I can't say I blame her. It's not really fun for non-nerds to be at a supercharger station. I will just use it locally for now and pick up a nice luxury SUV for road trips.

Do what I did and get yourself a nerd girl. You won't regret it!

 

[HankLloydRight]

None of us on this forum are ignorant or we couldn't afford this car.

Oh, you'd be surprised. "Correlation is not Causation"

 

[GlmnAlyAirCar]

Taking a road trip in CA this weekend and needed to stop at the Burbank SC. I had about 60 mi rated range left and several hundred to go. Got the last open stall in the station with 3-4 cars waiting in line. My car was charging at a paltry 35 kW, with over 2 hours needed to make it to my next waypoint. Other SC gave me 115 kW.

This is not what I signed up for. My time is waaay more valuable then waiting 2 hours at a Starbucks in the ghetto for what would have been a 7 minute fuel stop.

I didn't realize that when all SC stalls are occupied they lower the output. What's the point of having more stalls?

Pretty eye opening. I probably won't waste time driving my Tesla on a road trip anytime soon. Hope instead of penalizing Tesla owners for idling he builds many more SC stations instead.

Happened to also be at the Porsche dealer this weekend with a friend. The $150k I paid for my Tesla buys a lot of Porsche. And I don't have to see all the miserable Tesla drivers camped out like bums sleeping in their cars at the SC stations.

Based exclusively on the title of this thread, are you certain you are putting the supercharger cable in the right hole?

 

[artsci]

Taking a road trip in CA this weekend and needed to stop at the Burbank SC. I had about 60 mi rated range left and several hundred to go. Got the last open stall in the station with 3-4 cars waiting in line. My car was charging at a paltry 35 kW, with over 2 hours needed to make it to my next waypoint. Other SC gave me 115 kW.

This is not what I signed up for. My time is waaay more valuable then waiting 2 hours at a Starbucks in the ghetto for what would have been a 7 minute fuel stop.

I didn't realize that when all SC stalls are occupied they lower the output. What's the point of having more stalls?

Pretty eye opening. I probably won't waste time driving my Tesla on a road trip anytime soon. Hope instead of penalizing Tesla owners for idling he builds many more SC stations instead.

Happened to also be at the Porsche dealer this weekend with a friend. The $150k I paid for my Tesla buys a lot of Porsche. And I don't have to see all the miserable Tesla drivers camped out like bums sleeping in their cars at the SC stations.

The subtext in this post is very revealing. No other comment.

 

[Rocky_H]

The subtext in this post is very revealing. No other comment.

Read through the rest of the thread. Yes, he had a really bad attitude at the start of the thread, but he did come to understand (somewhat), that he just had a really bad experience at one of the really bad locations and became more reasonable in the next several pages.