TaoJones
Beyond Driven
The annual production rate goes to 500,000 next year. That's a whole lot of cars no matter how you divide it up.
I think Model 3 drivers will be more likely to use SCs since I bet a lot of use are in condos or apartments without charging available and certainly not DC charging capability.
The FUD is strong with this one
The 10,000 cars per week target is a target. If it is reached by year end, then the first year during which 500,000 cars/year will be produced will be 2018. And about half of those cars are not for the US market. And that number includes MS and MX.
500,000 --> 250,000 US of which 2/3 go to garaged owners (probably more now and probably less later so split the difference) and that leaves 83,333 cars to the non-garaged. By the end of 2018. By then the SC network will have more than twice the pedestals it has now. And now, 97% of the network moonlights as cricket and tumbleweed models. So 97% tumbleweeds today, and the network more than doubles by the time just 83,333 non-garaged cars hit the road. Nationwide.
All will be well. Tesla's commitment to density as well as to distance has been in place for over 2 years now.
Further, a significant number will order the M3 without SCing enabled; most people in areas of density don't travel more miles than they can recharge overnight at home. So that 83,333 number could well be 50,000 cars or less with SC capability belonging to a non-garaged owner. And those owners aren't going to visit SCs on a daily basis.
Again, all will be well insofar as capacity and demand are concerned. Will there be chokepoints? Sure - but the exception does not make the rule. People don't go to Costco to get gas on Friday or Sunday afternoons either, if they value their time.
The clear and present problem in the future will be the same as the clear and present problem today - and that's ICEing by our own, which coincidentally is the point of this thread. As painfully observed in Reno over the weekend, there's no better way to clog an SC than to park in it after the charge is done.
As I have opined before, I would love to see simultaneous text, email and automated calls go out to owners 5 minutes after their charge is complete if the cable hasn't been removed from their cars. And 5 minutes after that? The car should emit unpleasant, most foul, and embarrassing noises. And 5 minutes after that? A voice from within the car that would loudly announce, "Oh, dear. My owner is an asshat. Please call a towing company to remove me from this space immediately." In the voice of C3PO, of course.
I understand that we all pay for SC usage up front. But it's a scarce resource and we should treat it as such. I've seen SCs go from empty to full to empty in the space of an hour. As the OP has noted, a little kindness and consideration go a long way. Put another way, let's regulate ourselves before regulation is foisted upon us.