Tesla Supercharger network

[bluefuego]

You have to be kidding me.

How many months before an Illinois owners group does a trip and a photo shoot at the chargers.

"Tesla Model S: The New Normal"

no kidding! I was even going to suggest it as a field trip for the St. Louis Tesla group... no matter what, Tesla just gave me a huge incentive to stop in Normal to/from Chicago instead of the McD's in Lincoln. In the past twenty odd years that I have been driving between STL and Chicago, I have literally stopped in Normal/Bloomington once (and that was last year). Lincoln, IL has gotten the majority of my stops of late (for some reason my hubby always wants to stop at McD's for some fries).

 

[aviators99]

All the existing stations are on private land, so I expect this one is the exception rather than the rule.

Aren't the Delaware and Connecticut ones on public land?

 

[Pmacafee]

Funny, I've stopped in Davis a total of four times now on road trips just because it has a 70A charging station. We've had coffee, dined and/or shopped there each time. We never would have stopped there but for this 70A charging station.

Where is the 70A station?

 

[jvonbokel]

How many months before an Illinois owners group does a trip and a photo shoot at the chargers.

Months??? Try days... I'm itching to go up there as it is. I know somebody already mentioned the buildout could be completed in a matter of about 2 weeks, so I'm going to be paying close attention, and as soon as it's done, I'll probably be there the next weekend. In fact, I already have a trip to Champaign planned for the weekend of May 18th, and Bloomington-Normal is not on my route, but I would go the extra 45 miles out of my way in a heartbeat just to lay eyes on a Supercharger in person, let alone get to use one.

Note: after re-reading this paragraph, I'm feeling a little extra nerdy, but I regret nothing.

no kidding! I was even going to suggest it as a field trip for the St. Louis Tesla group

Agreed, we will need a group field trip to test it out!

 

[ElSupreme]

no kidding! I was even going to suggest it as a field trip for the St. Louis Tesla group... no matter what, Tesla just gave me a huge incentive to stop in Normal to/from Chicago instead of the McD's in Lincoln. In the past twenty odd years that I have been driving between STL and Chicago, I have literally stopped in Normal/Bloomington once (and that was last year). Lincoln, IL has gotten the majority of my stops of late (for some reason my hubby always wants to stop at McD's for some fries).

Make sure you tell people you are there because of the supercharger! Stuff like that trickles up.

 

[Larry Chanin]

The Normal Town Council Action Report includes the first Tesla communication that I am aware of that mentions the potential installation of a battery system. I suspect that the inclusion of battery storage to reduce demand charges will be featured in Elon's next communication regarding future technology improvements to the Supercharger network.

Interestingly Tesla's Letter of Intent included in the Normal report fails to specifically mention the possible installation of photovoltaic arrays even though the location suggested by Tesla for the Supercharger installation is on the top level of a large parking deck and is an ideal location for a PV carport installation. The omission of the PV array might merely be an oversight and I'm guessing that it could likely be included in the final leasing document.

Larry

 

[dsm363]

That would be amazing. Not to mention the shade it would provide the top deck with the solar panels. I'm sure people not charging would appreciate that as well.

 

[jomo25]

Make sure you tell people you are there because of the supercharger! Stuff like that trickles up.

I posted this in the Normal Superchargers thread in the Great Lakes forum. But relevant idea here too...

Agree that something like this is a great idea. At the very least let restaurant and shop owners you patronize there know you are there because the chargers are there. Do it casually like 'Great shop/restaurant you have here! Glad the Tesla Superchargers were installed here too entice me to visit!' Bet that will help put the local word out how they are bringing customers to their businesses! This goes for any SC location.

Long term would be great to be able to track how much extra business is received due to chargers. If there was someway to tag all sales with a Tesla 'flag' of some sort hmmm...

Need to start a new Twitter hash tag and tweet every time we stop somewhere...like 'Just had a great lunch at Joe's in Normal, IL! #TeslaSuperCharged'. It would be an easy albeit unofficial way to show the impact...

 

[elecblue]

You have to be kidding me.

How many months before an Illinois owners group does a trip and a photo shoot at the chargers.

"Tesla Model S: The New Normal"

As one of the founding members of the TOI group (Tesla Owners Illinois) I can safely say that we will most likely have a scheduled road trip to Bloomington/Normal within a month of the Supercharger installation. We can easily get a dozen or more cars to caravan down (or up if any STL folks want to join us that day!). Once the superchargers are up then we'll post a Meetup in the TOI webpage.

Ideally we need about a dozen mid-west locations at a minimum. Would love to go to the UP or Mackinac Island via the Model S!

 

[bluefuego]

As one of the founding members of the TOI group (Tesla Owners Illinois) I can safely say that we will most likely have a scheduled road trip to Bloomington/Normal within a month of the Supercharger installation. We can easily get a dozen or more cars to caravan down (or up if any STL folks want to join us that day!). Once the superchargers are up then we'll post a Meetup in the TOI webpage.

Dude! A meeting in the middle.. Bloomington/Normal Supercharger will be our Golden Spike! Please keep us STL folks in mind when you do schedule it. And I would think someplace called EVTown would def. want to know that we plan on gathering there thanks to the soon to be SC.

 

[jvonbokel]

Dude! A meeting in the middle.. Bloomington/Normal Supercharger will be our Golden Spike! Please keep us STL folks in mind when you do schedule it. And I would think someplace called EVTown would def. want to know that we plan on gathering there thanks to the soon to be SC.

+1

A joint meet-up between St Louis and Chicago groups would be awesome. And I bet Lynn in Bloomington would volunteer to shuttle us back and forth from the Superchargers to wherever we go to eat so that we can cycle everybody through in a timely fashion!

 

[wraithnot]

I used the Gilroy supercharger yesterday around noon and had to wait for the first time in 11 supercharger visits. I had to wait about 45 minutes for a charging bay to open up- and I got there when no one else was waiting. At one point, there were a total of eight cars there (4 charging and 4 waiting). There was even a wait for the two J1772 chargers (a BMW active E and another car were charging and an electric focus was waiting). There was a also a reporter or blogger from the Netherlands shooting video on a small handheld camera and talking with the owners.

It's great that Tesla is putting so many cars on the road (3 of the 4 cars charging when I got there had temp plates and 2 were red). But at least the Gilroy supercharger is now getting overloaded. I hope they add some more charging bays at Gilroy soon. There is plenty of room next to the existing chargers and that part of the parking lot isn't very full.

Here is a photo I took at the time (not the best photo I've ever taken, but enough you give you the idea). There are four cars charging, a multi-coat red waiting next to the chargers, and three other cars waiting on the left side (although you can only see one of them clearly). While I was there, two others didn't want to wait and left without charging.

 

[jcstp]

Twitter / Coast2Coast_EV: Full House in Gilroy: Level ...

 

[dsm363]

I wonder if installing one paid Supercharger per location might be a good idea. The cost would have to be enough to discourage people just stopping by for a quick top off but who actually don't need the charge. They would still have to have plenty of free Superchargers as that is what was promised but it might keep one charger open most times at least.

 

[Raffy.Roma]

I disagree with you Dave. In my opinion Superchargers should be free always (only for Tesla cars of course). If a Tesla owner wishes to make a quick top off he should be free of doing it. It will be a quick stop. Then no problem for other Tesla cars coming. If the waiting time gets too long it means that other Superchargers are needed.

 

[Lloyd]

I believe they should not be free if they are within 60 miles of your home. JMO.

 

[ckessel]

I believe they should not be free if they are within 60 miles of your home. JMO.

What if your home is an apartment that doesn't allow charging?

 

[Raffy.Roma]

What if your home is an apartment that doesn't allow charging?

Not only. How could the Supercharger recognize if the Tesla owner is living within 60 miles? It starts getting too difficult. I think that we should happy if there is the queue at the Superchargers. It means that more and more people are getting Tesla cars. The solution is simple. Let's get more Superchargers.

 

[Lloyd]

What if your home is an apartment that doesn't allow charging?

I beleive the law is that they can't deny you. You have to pay for the power, and provide the proper insurance.

- - - Updated - - -

Not only. How could the Supercharger recognize if the Tesla owner is living within 60 miles? It starts getting too difficult. I think that we should happy if there is the queue at the Superchargers. It means that more and more people are getting Tesla cars. The solution is simple. Let's get more Superchargers.

The car knows!

 

[wraithnot]

Twitter / Coast2Coast_EV: Full House in Gilroy: Level ...

Thanks for posting that video- the guy shooting the video is the one I talked to. And my car is the one in charging bay 1A. Thanks to technology, we truly live in a small world now!

He didn't quite catch the peak because there are only 3 cars waiting in the video. At one point, there were four cars waiting. I convinced one person who was waiting that his 200 miles of range was more than enough to make it to Harris Ranch so he left before charging. And another person in a grey model S drove up, looked at the line, and then kept on driving.