Tesla Supercharger network

[Kleist]

Well there actually is progress with 3 permits towards the eastern front, but your certainly correct that Texas has been an island too long.
http://supercharge.info/
View attachment 62802

I would see it different... Texas has been privileged to get early superchargers. The nation wide network was promised end of 2015.

I live in CA and there are ZERO superchargers that help ME to go where I need to go. But I will not complain until the nation wide skeleton network is complete.

 

[TexasEV]

I would see it different... Texas has been privileged to get early superchargers. The nation wide network was promised end of 2015.

I live in CA and there are ZERO superchargers that help ME to go where I need to go. But I will not complain until the nation wide skeleton network is complete.

You're in California, and you're saying that Texas was "privileged" to get early superchargers? This may get moved to snippiness, I don't care, but that really takes chutzpah.

Superchargers are a marketing tool. There would have been almost NO market for Tesla in Texas (a really big car buying state) if the major cities of Houston, Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio weren't being connected quickly. Now there would be a much bigger market in Texas if travel via superchargers was possible away from those cities to elsewhere in the state and beyond. Every a Tesla owner in Texas knows others who are waiting to buy one when that happens.

 

[swegman]

TexasEV, I agree with you. SC's are a marketing tool. I know many people that have foregone buying the Tesla for a BMW, MB or Audi because it is not practical to drive a Tesla at the present time between FL and points west, such as TX and AZ.

Tesla is never gonna sell significant number of cars in states other than CA until such time as they give priority to building SC in states other than CA.

 

[thranx]

TexasEV, I agree with you. SC's are a marketing tool. I know many people that have foregone buying the Tesla for a BMW, MB or Audi because it is not practical to drive a Tesla at the present time between FL and points west, such as TX and AZ.

Tesla is never gonna sell significant number of cars in states other than CA until such time as they give priority to building SC in states other than CA.

Funny. I bet a poll of Tesla owners in Florida, much as they would like to have sc's all along I-10 and I-8, would show that when traveling from FL to CA or AZ or TX, would clearly indicate that when traveling that route, they prefer to fly.

 

[bollar]

Funny. I bet a poll of Tesla owners in Florida, much as they would like to have sc's all along I-10 and I-8, would show that when traveling from FL to CA or AZ or TX, would clearly indicate that when traveling that route, they prefer to fly.

I know a number of people who drive from Dallas to Destin once or twice a year, but I think Lubbock, Stillwater and Little Rock would be much more regularly travelled from North Texas -- especially during football season.

 

[swegman]

Those in thir 60's+ yes. Those that are in their 30's and early 40's with families, no, they would drive. Maybe not to AZ or CA, but to TX and points in between TX and FL. But that is not presently possible.

 

[TexasEV]

Funny. I bet a poll of Tesla owners in Florida, much as they would like to have sc's all along I-10 and I-8, would show that when traveling from FL to CA or AZ or TX, would clearly indicate that when traveling that route, they prefer to fly.

But they may use them to drive to the next state. And the people in the next state may use them to drive to their neighboring state. An so on. Most SCs on cross-country routes won't be used by people driving cross country but rather by people driving <1000 miles.

As I've posted elsewhere, seeing there is the ability to drive somewhere sells Teslas even if the person has no intention of driving there. It's a way of overcoming the objection "how would I drive to X?" when the person probably hasn't driven to X in years and has no intention of driving to X. At TMC Connect Steve Jurvetson said he hasn't driven from SF to LA since Southwest Airlines was invented, but having superchargers along the way is important so he knows he could drive if he wanted to, and that sells cars to people in SF and LA.

 

[purplewalt]

I would see it different... Texas has been privileged to get early superchargers. The nation wide network was promised end of 2015.

I live in CA and there are ZERO superchargers that help ME to go where I need to go. But I will not complain until the nation wide skeleton network is complete.

Nope.
I did not get my MS to sit at home in the garage, and use it just to go to/from work.
I have already been to both East and West coasts in my MS, and I live in Texas.

Since you live in California and cannot find a single (ZERO) Supercharger to assist you going someplace, then you obviously are not inclined to do much research, travel nor adventure.

I don't see it IS a privilege to have superchargers, but it certainly WAS a privilege for me to go to three of the Texas Supercharger ribbon cuttings.
My view it is a chicken and and egg scenario.
Built it, people see it as a viable means to travel and it will get used.
Don't build it, and you don't sell as many Tesla Model S (or X).

I seriously doubt the number of Model S sold in CA would be as substantial if there was only a group of 5 that served Southern CA, and another group of 5 that served Northern CA, and another group of 5 that served WA/OR -- all with substantial gaps in between requiring RV parks or Blink.

My boss goes to Colorado three or four times a year, and currently drives his S or CL class MB as he is transporting his bike to ride in the mountains.
And I know he might be in the market for a MS if there was a viable direct route from North Texas to Colorado using superchargers.
And I also know he is not inclined to wait 7 hours at a RV park for a charge to jump the gap there.

I also suggest you use a wider and clearer lens as you attempt to view the world, because the 2014 Supercharger Map indicates Texas as being connected, NOT 2015.

 

[purplewalt]

That's only true because of the high gas prices over the past few years. With Tesla owners, car trips are favoured due to the low cost of fuel, the convenience of using your own car, the fun of driving a Tesla vs. the cattle car conditions of commercial airplanes, the inconvenience, expense, and safety issues of renting a car, and the anti-terrorism tactics at the airport.

Believe it or not, it is almost quicker to travel from Dallas Love Field to Austin via a Tesla MS than flying (about 190 miles).
Some of the less traveled cities (Tyler, Palestine, Fredricksburg), it takes less time because it is more direct to drive.

Granted, the actual time in the air is much less to the major city city airport.

But, you have travel time to go to the airport, park your car, queue up thru security, partially disrobe -- (shoes, belt, phone, keys, etc. and re-assemble) and then queue up again to get on the plane, find your seat and buckle in, listen intently to the FAA instructions, wait for the plane to taxi around and finally take off.
If you are tall(ish) and are in standard coach, you get to feel like a vertical sardine for the duration of the flight.

The plane lands, taxis, you deplane, visit the restroom, walk back to the main terminal, and if you have checked luggage you need to retrieve that, and then either get a cab, bus, train or rental car (or some combination of them).
And finally arrive at your actual destination (unless the airport was your destination).
All of those activities require time.

This may sound pedantic, but there may also be the parking fee at the airport where you left your car. Multiply that by a couple of days, and you might be looking at another $100 bucks or so.

And that is part of the genius of having superchargers.
They aid travel in a Model S.
They don't take a lot of time for recharging.
And if you can string a couple of them together, you have a viable network that will take you anywhere the road leads....

And to tag onto what Jerry33's thought about driving the Model S: it is indeed fun to drive.
Grins galore.

 

[Franko30]

First one actually in a gas station?

Hi from Germany,

the ones in Germany are almost always at gas stations/fast food/restaurant places called "Autohof" right next to Autobahn exits.

The reason for that is rather practical: Autobahn restaurants and gas station areas can only be reached from the Autobahn direction, you're travelling in. You cannot cross (for instance) from the west to the east side service area. So if you would want superchargers there, you would have to install 8 on each side of the Autobahn.

By using the Autohöfe near exits, which can be reached from both directions of travel, Tesla saves a lot of money (and hassle: for building at Autobahn service areas you deal with federal government institutions, the authorities responsible for the Autohöfe areas are community run, thus more accessible and faster).

Add the wonderful general contractor they use for Germany (midsized company from my area) and superchargers can actually pop up within1-2 weeks of building time.

Cheers

Frank

 

[techmaven]

I just wanted to acknowledge that last week, we had a terrific 9 Supercharger openings worldwide.

Indianapolis, IN
Setermoen, Norway
Elverum, Norway
Missoula, MT
Hengersberg, Germany
Bristol, UK
Maienfeld, Switzerland
Orange, France
Sagamore, MA

The week before... 8, and the week before that, 7. And the week before that, 9.

WTG Tesla!

 

[MartinAustin]

I just wanted to acknowledge that last week, we had a terrific 9 Supercharger openings worldwide.

Indianapolis, IN
Setermoen, Norway
Elverum, Norway
Missoula, MT
Hengersberg, Germany
Bristol, UK
Maienfeld, Switzerland
Orange, France
Sagamore, MA

The week before... 8, and the week before that, 7. And the week before that, 9.

WTG Tesla!

Yep - nice going!

 

[Cottonwood]

I just wanted to acknowledge that last week, we had a terrific 9 Supercharger openings worldwide.

Indianapolis, IN
Setermoen, Norway
Elverum, Norway
Missoula, MT
Hengersberg, Germany
Bristol, UK
Maienfeld, Switzerland
Orange, France
Sagamore, MA

The week before... 8, and the week before that, 7. And the week before that, 9.

WTG Tesla!

Great to see progress!

I went back to check the numbers and October had a total of 27 openings. The reason October did not pass the 1 a day threshold was that the first week only had one opening. So far the only month with more than a 1 a day opening rate is July 2014 with 33, but August had 26 and September had 23.

Tesla is picking up to a nice install rate; I would just like to see a few more in North America...

 

[Kevin Harney]

Tesla is picking up to a nice install rate; I would just like to see a few more in North America...

+100000000000

 

[swegman]

Especially since Tesla's own map shows there will be 200 SC in the U.S. by the end of 2014. With just 2 months left to the year, it is highly unlikely that this will be reached.

 

[smartypnz]

Hi from Germany,

the ones in Germany are almost always at gas stations/fast food/restaurant places called "Autohof" right next to Autobahn exits.

The reason for that is rather practical: Autobahn restaurants and gas station areas can only be reached from the Autobahn direction, you're travelling in. You cannot cross (for instance) from the west to the east side service area. So if you would want superchargers there, you would have to install 8 on each side of the Autobahn.

By using the Autohöfe near exits, which can be reached from both directions of travel, Tesla saves a lot of money (and hassle: for building at Autobahn service areas you deal with federal government institutions, the authorities responsible for the Autohöfe areas are community run, thus more accessible and faster).

Add the wonderful general contractor they use for Germany (midsized company from my area) and superchargers can actually pop up within1-2 weeks of building time.

Cheers

Frank

Yes, it's great that you don't have the bureaucratic mess we have - right down to the local level.

My surprise was one being installed at a gas station where here, most are owned or controlled by oil companies.

I have used the Autohof in Germany and suspect the gas stations there are on property they don't own - which makes it easier to install 'competing' interests.

 

[David99]

Up to date stats from superchargers worldwide

Surprised that Hawthorne isn't in the top ten any more. The last few times I have been here it's always been almost empty, maybe one other car.

 

[gaswalla]

It's inly for the past 24 hours and the monitoring for Hawthorne May be offline since it is all temp chargers during the massive expansion

 

[Kleist]

Since you live in California and cannot find a single (ZERO) Supercharger to assist you going someplace, then you obviously are not inclined to do much research, travel nor adventure.

Nope - I am quite active. However I do not go where the masses tend to go... 99 (Sierra Nevada) and 101 North of SF is where I go - not luck there. I live exactly in the middle between Gilroy and Fremont - 20 miles each is too close to extend my range. On the 101 I have a work around as I installed some outlets at friends and family.

I didn't mean to pick on Texas, CA is very privileged. But I will be patient for more coverage in CA until the rest of the US has a skeleton network.

 

[purplewalt]

Especially since Tesla's own map shows there will be 200 SC in the U.S. by the end of 2014. With just 2 months left to the year, it is highly unlikely that this will be reached.

Agreed.
If superchargers were coming on-line solely in North America @ the rate of 9 a week, then the 200 number of SpC in NA could be accomplished.
Realistically, that would be a near miracle at this point and time.

On the flip side: In order TM to be successful worldwide, they need to build Supercharger networks in a lot of areas in addition to North America, because those owners (and future owners) also want to be able to travel using Superchargers in their Model S.
And Model X.
And Gen 3.
And so on...

Certainly a lot of people in NA would like to use their MS for holiday travel during Thanksgiving and Christmas 2014, and then also to use it to go to the mountains and ski during the Winter.
Maybe Dec. 31 is not the actual date for 200 SpC in NA, perhaps it closer to Jan. 31 or even Feb. 28.
I am going to cut TM some slack to work towards their stated Goal.
The future projections illustrated on Supercharger Maps are to be used as guidelines and tools, not something set in stone on a prescribed date.

Kudos to TM for filling in the gaps and getting the Network built ===>>> WORLDWIDE.
Nine in a week is a very healthy clip.