We took a drive from the Los Angeles area to Las Vegas on Sunday, returning on Tuesday. After charging in Barstow and downtown Las Vegas, I wanted to share some thoughts.
- We arrived at the Barstow supercharger around 12:30 Sunday afternoon, with about 50 miles of range left. All four stalls were occupied, and another model S was waiting before us. We waited roughly half an hour to get a stall, then had lunch. Charging was quick, under an hour to reach 250 miles of range. Two cars were waiting when we left. Sunday is a prime day for travel to/from Las Vegas, so the wait wasn't a big surprise.
- Onto to Las Vegas, where we arrived at the downtown charger sometime around 4:00 or so with 50 miles of range left. Only one of the eight stalls was occupied, so we started charging immediately. Walked down to Fremont street, returning in maybe 40 minutes. We'd gotten 150+ miles of charge, so we left for our hotel on the strip. A couple of more cars had shown up while we charged. No waiting.
- I returned around 4:00 the next day and finished charging. It took a little under an hour. When I arrived, three other cars were there, and two more arrived while I charged. Again no waiting.
- We left Las Vegas late Tuesday morning, arriving in Barstow around 1:00 pm. To our surprise, all four stalls were occupied, and one model S was waiting. We only waited ten minutes or less this time, then got a stall. Charged for under an hour to 240 miles, and departed. When we left, there was one other free stall.
Observations:
- Lots of new Model S's out there -- two of the cars in Barstow on Sunday had "zero emission" plates instead of license plates. One when we returned.
- Waiting sucks
Superchargers are awesomely fast, when they're charging. But when we arrived at a full supercharger, uncertainty reigned -- most of the drivers were away from their cars, there's no information about how long the cars have to go to reach charge, there's no information about when the drivers will return. All we could do is stand in the hot sun and wonder. Somewhat reminiscent of waiting in a gas line during the gas crisis! As it turns out, the wait wasn't terrible, and people were very friendly and responsible.
- What's going to happen as more cars are sold and more people use the superchargers? Barstow was one of the first superchargers, so it's one of the smallest...and very popular. Suppose ten cars are waiting? What happens when people don't want to wait...or believe they should go in front of you (maybe for a good reason), or don't return to their car when it's done (no way for you to know -- there's no feedback about charging when the key isn't near the car). Right now, we've got a bunch of good-natured enthusiasts sharing the superchargers, but that may change as the cars before more popular and mainstream.
When you're at a supercharger, you're probably there until you can charge -- you can't make it to another one.
I think there's several implications here:
- Lack of information breeds uncertainty and discomfort. Tesla could nip this one in the bud by providing information about the charge status of the cars currently charging. This could either be done at the podium, through the smartphone app, or a website.
- Most people want to do the right thing -- if their car is done charging, they'll free up the stall. To help, it'd be nice to have a text alert that could be sent to your phone when your car is finished.
- As lines become longer, aid may be needed to maintain fair ordering. Essentially, some way to say "I'm number 3 behind that guy". Again, a text alert when you're #1 in line would be helpful, so you could be at the car to move it into the stall when it becomes available, but not have to wait by the car if it's going to be a long time.
- Hour(s) long lines will quickly breed dissatisfaction and tarnish the reputation Tesla has been so carefully building. To some extent, we see this today reflected in some of the comments about the Hawthorne supercharger. Managing the lines, making sure that the tools are in place to reduce wasted time in the stall, and such, will help, but as more cars appear, lines will be a problem. I can only think of two ways to mitigate this: bigger superchargers, or more that are closer together so you have a choice of superchargers. At some point, I think this implies that Tesla will need to have third parties build superchargers (that charge $$$ to use). This is the equivalent of today's for-profit gas stations.
Very interesting trip, we had a great time and some good conversations with other owners. The car ran flawlessly and was very comfortable.
