Tesla Supercharger network

[Kevin Harney]

As I've posted earlier, the new SC rate for North America in the last couple of months has dropped to about one every 2 weeks. This now seems to be picking up but not to the level that will get us to 200 by year's end.

And, the problems with relying on any Tesla SC map other than "now" is well known at this point so 200 is just a guess. It's a good guess but a guess nonetheless.

My point is that it is not even a good guess at this point. Just a pie in the sky dream that will never happen ! Take that Elon - guantlet thrown :biggrin:

 

[callmesam]

I've suspected that Elon is building out the Supercharge Network in places where he needs to spur demand. The factory at 1000 cars/week can't delivery more North American cars than it already does.

EU (Norway excepted) hasn't embraced TM in quite the desired numbers.

I'm actually (somewhat) convinced that the Supercharge network is put together like the Gigafactory.

Build out many sites simultaneously and whatever locality wants them, can permit, connect and inspect as fast as they want.

If a site pulls shenanigans, then redirect the SC team somewhere else.

There doesn't seem to be any obstacles in mainland EU so far like there has been in Oxnard, San Juan Capistrano etc.

But judging from the state of supercharge.info, many sites move the ball quickly, then something gums up the works.

21 known under construction/permitted US Superchargers. There's at least (WAG) 50-200% more that remain undiscovered.

 

[Joel]

I've suspected that Elon is building out the Supercharge Network in places where he needs to spur demand. The factory at 1000 cars/week can't delivery more North American cars than it already does.

EU (Norway excepted) hasn't embraced TM in quite the desired numbers.

I'm actually (somewhat) convinced that the Supercharge network is put together like the Gigafactory.

Build out many sites simultaneously and whatever locality wants them, can permit, connect and inspect as fast as they want.

If a site pulls shenanigans, then redirect the SC team somewhere else.

There doesn't seem to be any obstacles in mainland EU so far like there has been in Oxnard, San Juan Capistrano etc.

But judging from the state of supercharge.info, many sites move the ball quickly, then something gums up the works.

21 known under construction/permitted US Superchargers. There's at least (WAG) 50-200% more that remain undiscovered.

I agree with this assessment. I'd add that Tesla is also creating as many transcontinental routes as possible by 2014.

 

[S-dog]

Ever tried to build a house or a building? Now multiply the headaches you get trying to pull permits, get utilities to site, buy material, coordinate contractors, etc, etc etc, X 200.
Tesla has a crew on this but they are at the mercy of cities, utilities and everyone with their hand out. They have lots of sites already spec'd and ok'd by owners but its all the other hoops that have to be jumped through. That being said...200 by end of 2014 is not going to happen.

 

[Cottonwood]

Ever tried to build a house or a building? Now multiply the headaches you get trying to pull permits, get utilities to site, buy material, coordinate contractors, etc, etc etc, X 200.
Tesla has a crew on this but they are at the mercy of cities, utilities and everyone with their hand out. They have lots of sites already spec'd and ok'd by owners but its all the other hoops that have to be jumped through. That being said...200 by end of 2014 is not going to happen.

Could not agree more, but even with the roadblocks, if Tesla would start more and have more in process, then more Superchargers would start appearing.

Here is a WAG: If it takes 4-6 weeks to build a Supercharger site, and 4-6 weeks to get site permits and if there are 0-33% of under construction and permit review sites that we don't know about, then we should see 16 u"Construction" and 16 "Permit" icons on the Superchargers map for North America. Right now the totals are 9 "Construction" and 12 "Permit" icons; we need almost double this number in process to reach a turn on rate of 4 per week!

Tesla needs to start more to finish more. Even if the process is takes a while, if Tesla keeps starting the process at a good rate, after waiting for the pipeline to fill, finished Superchargers will start appearing.

 

[Cosmacelf]

From today's shareholder letter: "We also continue to expand our Supercharging network, with the introduction of our Superchargers in Canada and a substantial increase in the rate of deployment in Europe and China". Left out of the sentence is any indication about the US! Hopefully someone will ask about this in the conference call...

 

[HankLloydRight]

I was at the Greenwich, CT (NB) SC yesterday, and out of the 4 spots, 1 was ICEd (2B) and 2 were down for service.

There was an electrician there with both cabinets open. As I'm backing in, he says that only the 2nd bank is now up, but one of those spots is ICEd, so at least I could pull into 2A and get a charge. 1A and 1B were down. So if another MS showed up, no spots were available until I left.

What's really interesting is that he watched me plug in, and as I watched my dashboard for charging amps, he says "208 amps?". I look, and yes, my car was at about 208 amps, while he's looking at his iPhone, he can see the full status of my car charging.

So the take away (which makes sense) is that their service techs also have a nifty iPhone app to monitor the status of *all* the stalls at the SC stations. Pretty neat -- it would be nice to have something like that (sanitized for our protection, of course) for owners to see the live status of all SC stalls across the network.

While I was waiting, it was apparent he was changing out one of the 12 chargers in Bank 1, which required draining all the coolant out of the cabinet, which looked like motor oil.

 

[AudubonB]

...which required draining all the coolant out of the cabinet, which looked like motor oil.

Just PCB. Nothing to see there, move right on, please. :scared::biggrin:

 

[Benz]

I was at the Greenwich, CT (NB) SC yesterday, and out of the 4 spots, 1 was ICEd (2B) and 2 were down for service.

There was an electrician there with both cabinets open. As I'm backing in, he says that only the 2nd bank is now up, but one of those spots is ICEd, so at least I could pull into 2A and get a charge. 1A and 1B were down. So if another MS showed up, no spots were available until I left.

What's really interesting is that he watched me plug in, and as I watched my dashboard for charging amps, he says "208 amps?". I look, and yes, my car was at about 208 amps, while he's looking at his iPhone, he can see the full status of my car charging.

So the take away (which makes sense) is that their service techs also have a nifty iPhone app to monitor the status of *all* the stalls at the SC stations. Pretty neat -- it would be nice to have something like that (sanitized for our protection, of course) for owners to see the live status of all SC stalls across the network.

While I was waiting, it was apparent he was changing out one of the 12 chargers in Bank 1, which required draining all the coolant out of the cabinet, which looked like motor oil.

That's an interesting App.

 

[Benz]

From today's shareholder letter: "We also continue to expand our Supercharging network, with the introduction of our Superchargers in Canada and a substantial increase in the rate of deployment in Europe and China". Left out of the sentence is any indication about the US! Hopefully someone will ask about this in the conference call...

Could it be that this has got to do with the fact that Tesla Motors yet do not want to create too much demand in the US (temporarily). Because the more Supercharger stations will go live in the US, the more that will result in more Tesla Model S orders. Maybe Tesla Motors momentarily want to focus their attention on Asia and Europe, resulting in temporarily starving the US in order to feed Asia and Europe? Could this be the explenation?

 

[Cottonwood]

I was at the Greenwich, CT (NB) SC yesterday, and out of the 4 spots, 1 was ICEd (2B) and 2 were down for service.

...

While I was waiting, it was apparent he was changing out one of the 12 chargers in Bank 1, which required draining all the coolant out of the cabinet, which looked like motor oil.

Even though the Greenwich, CT spots tend to get ICEd a lot, the turnover rate is fast so it usually does not take long to get a spot.

I think that the coolant is just like in the car, an ethylene glycol (anti-freeze)/water mixture. It does have a strong resemblance to oil...

 

[Kipernicus]

After getting over the sight of the walking billboard, I noticed that the posts are labeled 2A and 2B right next to each other, which I like.

The ones I have visited in Cali tend to be 1A 2A 1B 2B (Folsom is like this) which isn't as good because most peoples' tendencies are to leave an empty space away from cars that are already there so that there is more room to open doors etc.

Having 1A 1B right next to each other means cars are naturally picking non-paired spots for faster charging. Smart!

View attachment 54819

This is me at the newly built Supercharger-station outside Arboga, in Sweden. I found 3 Teslas charging there, only norwegian plates. Very nice spot to charge, we had a nice bite at Dinners about 30 meters away from the chargers. Maybe I should work as a walking banner for Tesla? lol

 

[Gear]

After getting over the sight of the walking billboard, I noticed that the posts are labeled 2A and 2B right next to each other, which I like.

The ones I have visited in Cali tend to be 1A 2A 1B 2B (Folsom is like this) which isn't as good because most peoples' tendencies are to leave an empty space away from cars that are already there so that there is more room to open doors etc.

Having 1A 1B right next to each other means cars are naturally picking non-paired spots for faster charging. Smart!

Most of the ones I've used here in CA have pairs next to each other. Tejon Ranch, Atascadero, and SJC are all like this. I can't remember if Hawthorne is. Yuma is paired like this as well.

 

[AEdennis]

Most of the ones I've used here in CA have pairs next to each other. Tejon Ranch, Atascadero, and SJC are all like this. I can't remember if Hawthorne is. Yuma is paired like this as well.

Hawthorne is paired side by side. The two closest to the design center were both out and will be repaired by end of day today (Aug 1).

 

[HankLloydRight]

Even though the Greenwich, CT spots tend to get ICEd a lot, the turnover rate is fast so it usually does not take long to get a spot.

I'd agree, except the one car ICEing stall 2B was there for at least the 30 minutes I was there, with no owner in sight. There's just not that much to do there, so I wonder what were they doing for 30+ minutes??? Strange.

I think that the coolant is just like in the car, an ethylene glycol (anti-freeze)/water mixture. It does have a strong resemblance to oil...

It was black, like motor oil. A little bit ironic.

The ones I have visited in Cali tend to be 1A 2A 1B 2B (Folsom is like this) which isn't as good because most peoples' tendencies are to leave an empty space away from cars that are already there so that there is more room to open doors etc.

I know we're all pretty smart people here, but I thought that color-coding the stalls would work better than trying to figure out this 1A/2B thing. Have a big round colored sticker on each stall. See someone in a GREEN stall, pick the RED or YELLOW stalls first. Never double up on the same color stall unless necessary.

On a Tesla facebook group, I saw someone go into a very long explanation how they SCs are arranged in "A" and "B" banks, so if someone is in an "A" bank (say stall 1A) then choose a "B" bank (say stall 1B) so you're charging on a separate "bank". The prefixed this by saying that's what a Tesla employee just told them. I told him (and everyone else) he had it totally backwards. But I can see where the confusion comes from. But the way I see it, there's no need to number them that way (you can tell geeks were in charge of the numbering schemes, I'm surprised they're not labeled 0a/0b and 1a/1b ).

Anyway, just label them with pairs of colors, and there's very little for people to get confused about and very easy to explain.

 

[PhilBa]

Grants Pass is like that I believe (1A, 2A, ...). Last week, I had started charging in 2B (with a very low SOC) when a couple rolled into 2A. I waved at them and got an odd glare, no wave back. Decided they wanted no interaction so didn't tell them that they wanted to be in a 1 slot.

 

[memcd]

Tesla announces Supercharger for Portsmouth, NH but no location or timing.

Tesla Plans To Put Supercharger In Portsmouth | New Hampshire Public Radio

 

[purplewalt]

I was at the Greenwich, CT (NB) SC yesterday, and out of the 4 spots, 1 was ICEd (2B) and 2 were down for service.

I drove by on Thursday, saw both a MC Red one and a White one charging.
Saw a total of NINE MS on Thursday around Greenwich and Stamford.

I stopped by yesterday (Friday) could not find a parking space, so I stopped at one of the gas station lanes in order to pop in for lunch on my way to Westport.
Yellow/orange cones with an attendant at the two West Superchargers, no cones at the East pair of bays.
No MS spotted on Friday, East-bound traffic on I-95 was a complete beating...

 

[airj1012]

The Dalles, OR is live - http://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger/thedalles

 

[memcd]

Whitehall, PA (Lehigh Valley Mall) gets preliminary approval with final approval Aug.11th.

Tesla will charge its electric cars at LV Mall | Regional: Lehigh Valley - Home