Tesla Supercharger map 3Q21 update - comments, complaints, surprises?

[RTPEV]

Tesla updated their Supercharger map for the third quarter on Aug 3rd. Any interesting updates that anyone would like to discuss?

Note: there are already individual Supercharger threads that cover things like XYZ Supercharger opening date moved from 1Q22 to 4Q21, so no need to duplicate that here. But in general, are there any takeaways, such as an apparent acceleration in expansion? Any areas of the country/world getting particular attention, or being ignored?

 

[RTPEV]

I'll start: I was disappointed to see that I-81 in Pennsylvania between Carlisle/Harrisburg and Moosic/Scranton continues to get no attention. Hazelton, PA would be a good midpoint on that route, yet still nothing. And Pennsylvania is the home of Sheetz, which is a huge Supercharger proponent! What gives?

(granted, a lot of those Sheetz sites are initiated by Sheetz themselves and don't necessarily show up on the findus map)

 

[mociaf9]

I haven't spent that much time looking at the updated map yet and have only paid attention to US sites so far, but the three locations that immediately caught my eye as interesting new additions were:

Mansfield, PA -- Hopefully this is just the first move to put superchargers along US-6 going across northern Pennsylvania.

Camden, ME -- A nice add to US-1 along the Maine coast north of Portland. This will be especially important if the eventual Bar Harbor, ME supercharger targeted for Q4 of this year is actually in Bar Harbor (i.e. on Mount Desert Island) instead of close to US-1 like in Ellsworth.

Bad Axe, MI -- Puts the first supercharger in the Thumb region of Michigan's Lower Peninsula which had been looking very empty before. A few more sites along Lake Huron and the eastern part/coast of MI will be pretty well covered.

 

[WarEagleGo]

Lets talk about this map update and South Carolina (I-95, I-26 and Columbia).

First, 4 "coming soon" Superchargers on I-95 in South Carolina sounds great but they are spaced about every 25 miles in the southern part of South Carolina.
-- Yemassee SC (4Q 2021) has an I-95 interchange with a Loves Travel stop, and other likely hosting candidates
-- Walterboro SC (1Q 2022) is 20 miles up I-95 road from Yemassee, with 2 interchanges and several hosting candidates
-- St George SC (4Q 2021) is 25 miles up I-95 from Walterboro... with 1 interchange with a couple of hosting candidates
-- Summerton SC (2Q 2022) is 12 miles from the existing Santee Supercharger (originally from 2013) and 35 miles from St George
-- but then there is a 60 mile "gap" to the Florence Supercharger from Summerton. Obviously 60 miles is not a real gap... but the spacing is odd.

Second, St George SC is about 10 miles from I-26 and I-96... and hopefully that Supercharger will be very close to that interchange and the city name is just the closest Tesla could find.

Finally, a second Supercharger is needed in or near Columbia, SC, to gap fill I-26 between Charleston SC and Greenville SC

Note Host a Supercharger | Tesla has been soliciting businesses in Columbia SC and Charleston SC, but nothing from this tesla.com/findus update to show any progress in that regard.

 

[Mishakim]

I'll start: I was disappointed to see that I-81 in Pennsylvania between Carlisle/Harrisburg and Moosic/Scranton continues to get no attention. Hazelton, PA would be a good midpoint on that route, yet still nothing. And Pennsylvania is the home of Sheetz, which is a huge Supercharger proponent! What gives?

(granted, a lot of those Sheetz sites are initiated by Sheetz themselves and don't necessarily show up on the findus map)

I'd add to that that I-84 needs some chargers east of Scranton. We were driving from Carlisle to Boston on Sunday (day 2 of a trip starting in Asheville, NC), and didn't quite have enough charge at the start to make it to Middletown or Newburgh, so had to charge in Moosic and then again in Connecticut (lots of choices on I-84 there). Something in Milford, Matamoras, or Port Jervis might have gotten us home with just that one stop. (The other issue with Middletown and Newburgh is that they don't have great lunch options close to the charger when traveling with kids)

 

[theothertom]

Several months ago the map showed a coming soon charger at Beaumont, TX and Kalispell, MT. Both have been missing for some time now. And like @WarEagleGo said, one is desperately needed along I-26 in Columbia, SC (and I would add Spartanburg SC as well).

 

[Rocky_H]

Damn it! They still don't have the connection between Winnemucca and Boise! Nothing even planned. That is THE route that people use, driving between the SF Bay area or Reno to get up to Boise. Everyone uses that, and it's a gap of over 250 miles. My wife and I are going on a really large vacation trip next month, going from Boise to Salt Lake City, and then down to Las Vegas, and then down to L.A. and then all the way back up to Boise. Almost every single bit of this 1,800 mile loop is totally fine, without a thought, except for this stretch on the very last segment to get home. I am fortunate to have a CHAdeMO adapter, so I should be able to get across there on the Greenlots stations that are there, but sheesh, it's 2021! Why hasn't Tesla filled this annoying gap with a Supercharger yet?

 

[wws]

Damn it! They still don't have the connection between Winnemucca and Boise! Nothing even planned. That is THE route that people use, driving between the SF Bay area or Reno to get up to Boise. Everyone uses that, and it's a gap of over 250 miles. My wife and I are going on a really large vacation trip next month, going from Boise to Salt Lake City, and then down to Las Vegas, and then down to L.A. and then all the way back up to Boise. Almost every single bit of this 1,800 mile loop is totally fine, without a thought, except for this stretch on the very last segment to get home. I am fortunate to have a CHAdeMO adapter, so I should be able to get across there on the Greenlots stations that are there, but sheesh, it's 2021! Why hasn't Tesla filled this annoying gap with a Supercharger yet?

Speaking of Nevada, Fallon and Ely - for US 50 travel. And Ely is also an intersection with US 6 and 93.

You'd think of all places, Elon would want a Supercharger in Roswell, NM...

 

[mnev]

Would like to see Tesla try to get into the popular national parks. I am sure that is a huge ask but it would make going to these often times remote and beautiful locations a much simpler task. I am just starting to plan a trip to Yellowstone. It does not look at all difficult but it could better with some strategic superchargers. There is nothing on the east side of the park. At least put one in Cody WY. I've never seen new locations even planned in this area.

 

[KJD]

Would like to see Tesla try to get into the popular national parks. I am sure that is a huge ask but it would make going to these often times remote and beautiful locations a much simpler task. I am just starting to plan a trip to Yellowstone. It does not look at all difficult but it could better with some strategic superchargers. There is nothing on the east side of the park. At least put one in Cody WY. I've never seen new locations even planned in this area.

Yes Cody would be a good location for a supercharger. There are a couple of J plugs in town, but one location seems to have some issues.

Cody Wyoming Level 2 Public Charger

I'm trying to install couple of Level 2 public charging stations in Cody Wyoming. I've had 3 sites not work out so far this summer. Could use a local to help me out if finding a good spot. I have funding now and need to get it installed this month. It would be installed for free and they...

teslamotorsclub.com

Buffalo Bill Center of the West | Cody, WY | EV Station

Dual Level 2 80amp Stations next to the Robbie PowWow Garden

www.plugshare.com

 

[Jimmologist]

You'd think of all places, Elon would want a Supercharger in Roswell, NM...

Agreed! Plus it’s a bit of a challenge to get from I-40 to Carlsbad Caverns. The Clovis SC (when it opens) might help those driving eastbound I-40 to Carlsbad Caverns.

Thanks to a local PV company and their GoFundMe project there are Level 2 Tesla chargers at the McDonalds in Roswell and Artesia (plus soon in Carlsbad).

 

[mociaf9]

Agreed! Plus it’s a bit of a challenge to get from I-40 to Carlsbad Caverns. The Clovis SC (when it opens) might help those driving eastbound I-40 to Carlsbad Caverns.

Thanks to a local PV company and their GoFundMe project there are Level 2 Tesla chargers at the McDonalds in Roswell and Artesia (plus soon in Carlsbad).

There's about to be a bunch of new CHAdeMO/CCS stations at ~15 Allsups locations across SE New Mexico thanks to some of the VW dieselgate money going to Francis Energy. This will make it easy for any Tesla with a CHAdeMO adapter (and maybe owners of the Setec CCS adapter, but we'll have to see how well those work on whichever station type Francis is installing).

See: DCFC in SE NM

 

[theothertom]

Would like to see Tesla try to get into the popular national parks. I am sure that is a huge ask

Yes, I would like to see superchargers in nat'l parks. I don't think it's too much to ask for...keep in mind gas stations in nat'l parks are few and far between so seems like it would be ok to put one or two supercharger stations in nat'l parks
I think Rivian is planning to do that, or something similar, for their trucks. Even though the plugs will be CCS, it will be an exclusive network.

 

[vanjwilson]

Lets talk about this map update and South Carolina (I-95, I-26 and Columbia).

...

Finally, a second Supercharger is needed in or near Columbia, SC, to gap fill I-26 between Charleston SC and Greenville SC

...

I've seen it pointed out that the Supercharger network, in general, is really good for going across East-West, but not so much North-South. However, in North and South Carolina in seems to be the opposite: I-95 and I-85 (which is effectively a N-S route) get most of the love.

While I don't travel I-26, I can see why those who do are frustrated. In NC, I would like to see anything in the East-West corridor that is US-74/I-74 from the mountains to the coast.

Do folks in other states see odd local patterns like this?

 

[Jimmologist]

This will make it easy for any Tesla with a CHAdeMO adapter (and maybe owners of the Setec CCS adapter

Thanks for that info!

I probably will not get the Tesla CHAdeMO adapter due to it's cost and CHAdeMO seems be to going away. And I'm hoping for a US release of the Tesla CCS Adapter.

 

[Rocky_H]

I've seen it pointed out that the Supercharger network, in general, is really good for going across East-West, but not so much North-South. However, in North and South Carolina in seems to be the opposite: I-95 and I-85 (which is effectively a N-S route) get most of the love.

While I don't travel I-26, I can see why those who do are frustrated. In NC, I would like to see anything in the East-West corridor that is US-74/I-74 from the mountains to the coast.

Do folks in other states see odd local patterns like this?

You are talking about this in much more vague conceptual terms that are kind of missing the forest for the trees. It can be put much more simply than that.

Tesla DOES Supercharger coverage on INTERSTATE highways.
Tesla DOES NOT do Supercharger coverage on NON INTERSTATE highways.

There. That is the much simpler explanation. There are a few exceptions here and there, but that is basically it in the vast majority. In the middle and West side of the country, they are major Interstates of I-70, I-80, and I-90, but hardly any North-South connections. Along the East coast, there are major North-South Interstates. At the end of your comment, you wanted to see an example of this. Winnemucca to Boise is the most obvious one and happens to be right here where I live, and is something I'm going to have to deal with in a couple of weeks on an 1,800 mile vacation trip. That segment between Winnemucca and Boise is over 250 miles! And it is the route everyone takes driving between the northern California area or Reno to get to Boise. It is the joining route between I-80 and I-84.

Tesla keeps adding capacity and redundancy and shortening the gaps on the Interstates down to 60 or 30 or 20 miles between them, but is leaving gaps of hundreds of miles on these major U.S. highways that people need to use, which don't happen to be Interstate highways.

 

[RTPEV]

You are talking about this in much more vague conceptual terms that are kind of missing the forest for the trees. It can be put much more simply than that.

Tesla DOES Supercharger coverage on INTERSTATE highways.
Tesla DOES NOT do Supercharger coverage on NON INTERSTATE highways.

There. That is the much simpler explanation. There are a few exceptions here and there, but that is basically it in the vast majority. In the middle and West side of the country, they are major Interstates of I-70, I-80, and I-90, but hardly any North-South connections. Along the East coast, there are major North-South Interstates. At the end of your comment, you wanted to see an example of this. Winnemucca to Boise is the most obvious one and happens to be right here where I live, and is something I'm going to have to deal with in a couple of weeks on an 1,800 mile vacation trip. That segment between Winnemucca and Boise is over 250 miles! And it is the route everyone takes driving between the northern California area or Reno to get to Boise. It is the joining route between I-80 and I-84.

Tesla keeps adding capacity and redundancy and shortening the gaps on the Interstates down to 60 or 30 or 20 miles between them, but is leaving gaps of hundreds of miles on these major U.S. highways that people need to use, which don't happen to be Interstate highways.

Well said, although at least in some areas they are starting to hit the US highways pretty hard. One example I can point to is in southern VA (south of I-64, west of I-85 and east of I-81). That area is served mainly by US highways, and with Lynchburg (US-29), Farmville (US-15/US-460) and South Boston (US-501/US-360/US-58) some common travel corridors are being filled in now.

It seems like the area in West Texas around Lubbock needs some serious attention though.

 

[D-ATL]

Why is the map showing Auburn, AL as getting a SuperCharger Q2 2022? The Auburn SC has been there for awhile now, weird it's showing coming. Unless they're planning to upgrade that location.

 

[WarEagleGo]

Why is the map showing Auburn, AL as getting a SuperCharger Q2 2022? The Auburn SC has been there for awhile now, weird it's showing coming. Unless they're planning to upgrade that location.

Here is what I know.

The Find Us | Tesla website was updated August 2nd or so. There are posts on TMC discussing several "obvious errors and omissions". The omissions maybe things like TMC super-users find permits for Super Chargers are retail outlets like WaWa or Sheetz which were not also disclosed on this Find Us | Tesla update. To me those are not omissions, just different data sets

The only obvious error I know of relates to the "Auburn" Supercharger. Auburn, CA is getting a Supercharger, and the existing Auburn AL Supercharger disappeared from Find Us | Tesla. Someone on TMC speculated that the Supercharger ID numbers got confused (or re-assigned)... and the error propagated to the Find Us | Tesla website. If you search TMC for Auburn CA... you can find a post on this confusion.

I personally contacted Tesla (using the online chat, since there is no phone number) to report that they had removed the Auburn, AL Supercharger from the Find Us | Tesla website. The person (or bot?) on the other end was dubious, but promised inform the "web team." That was back August 6th or so.

Someone else on TMC speculated that Auburn Alabama would be getting a 2nd Super Charger, since the original Super Charger is an older unit at a dying mall (note I am not confirming the mall is dying, just repeating what I remember about the post) and several miles/minutes from the interstate. The hope was the 2nd Super Charger would be at Tiger Town (a new shopping complex, sometimes called a Power Center) with lots of retail and restaurants located at the interstate exit . I think this 2nd Super Charger theory is pure speculation and very likely not true.

 

[D-ATL]

Here is what I know.

The Find Us | Tesla website was updated August 2nd or so. There are posts on TMC discussing several "obvious errors and omissions". The omissions maybe things like TMC super-users find permits for Super Chargers are retail outlets like WaWa or Sheetz which were not also disclosed on this Find Us | Tesla update. To me those are not omissions, just different data sets

The only obvious error I know of relates to the "Auburn" Supercharger. Auburn, CA is getting a Supercharger, and the existing Auburn AL Supercharger disappeared from Find Us | Tesla. Someone on TMC speculated that the Supercharger ID numbers got confused (or re-assigned)... and the error propagated to the Find Us | Tesla website. If you search TMC for Auburn CA... you can find a post on this confusion.

I personally contacted Tesla (using the online chat, since there is no phone number) to report that they had removed the Auburn, AL Supercharger from the Find Us | Tesla website. The person (or bot?) on the other end was dubious, but promised inform the "web team." That was back August 6th or so.

Someone else on TMC speculated that Auburn Alabama would be getting a 2nd Super Charger, since the original Super Charger is an older unit at a dying mall (note I am not confirming the mall is dying, just repeating what I remember about the post) and several miles/minutes from the interstate. The hope was the 2nd Super Charger would be at Tiger Town (a new shopping complex, sometimes called a Power Center) with lots of retail and restaurants located at the interstate exit . I think this 2nd Super Charger theory is pure speculation and very likely not true.

Yeah I can't see Auburn getting a 2nd SC even if the mall doesn't have allot of activity and the SC is a drive to get too. Why place a 2nd SC in Auburn when they have Montgomery scheduled for Q3 2021? I agree I think this is a mistake with the Auburn, CA supercharger and Tesla just hasn't caught the error and made the update. It makes me wonder how often are these types of mistakes made and not identified by Tesla. This is just a very small mistake.