Tesla Supercharger network

[aronth5]

Nashua! How useless...its not even on the 93 expressway. Plus it's only 42 miles from Boston, ugh...how are people going to drive into the NH Ski Areas....

I think "useless" is a bit strong. You would be surprised how many people drive up Rt 3 to get to northern NE. Not everyone is starting from Boston:smile:
What better location then on the Daniel Webster highway near the Pheasant Lane Mall highway and all the car dealerships!
Tesla is smart enough to understand they will need additional superchargers further north for people driving north on 93 or taking 89 to Vermont or the Sunapee area.

 

[Wattson]

@Wattson: Wow I am glad you gave me a heads-up on this. I am going through Normal on Friday, at around 4:00-6:00pm (not sure exactly when). I was there on Sunday, but was the only one there. I am curious. Are the Normal SCs used by commuters? I saw it was in a bus/rail terminal. If so, will it be full when I come through?

crazybit: I've been through Normal 10 times on Chicago-St. Louis trips. I would say 6 of those times I've been the only one, three times there was one other Model S, and once there were two other Model S. On one trip I met a driver who lived in Normal, and said charging there was cheaper than charging at home. I'm not a fan of locals charging at superchargers, but I haven't seen much of it at Normal.

Recommendations:
Coffee: Coffee Hound
Sandwich: Garlic Press
Fast food: The Rock

 

[cjc9er]

Very exciting to think of being able to go north to Grand Junction, northwest to Moab, west to Blanding, southwest to Gallup, or south to Farmington, all within range of a 60 from Durango and all now open. Once Tesla brings on a supercharger in south central or southeastern Colorado, we'll essentially be able to go any direction we want from here and hook into the broader network. Nicely done, Tesla!

 

[Gear]

On one trip I met a driver who lived in Normal, and said charging there was cheaper than charging at home.

Man those people get on my nerves. How much of a cheapskate do you have to be? I'd much rather charge in my garage for a couple dollars than sit at a supercharger for half an hour. Last I checked, we all paid in the six figure range for our cars, right? Nobody here should be that hard up for cash. All the time saved by not having to make trips to the gas station once or twice a week was one of the big selling points for me.

 

[BlueShift]

Looks like someone visiting the Bethesda, MD store (mall) found a fork lift with supercharger diagrams on it. Pictures here:

Supercharger Locations (existing/planned) - CONFIRMED - not rumored or speculated… | Forums | Tesla Motors

 

[andrewket]

Looks like someone visiting the Bethesda, MD store (mall) found a fork lift with supercharger diagrams on it. Pictures here:

Supercharger Locations (existing/planned) - CONFIRMED - not rumored or speculated… | Forums | Tesla Motors

Link doesn't work.

 

[Mayhemm]

Changing gears a bit; does anyone know what metric Tesla uses to determine the number of charging bays at a given supercharger site? Is it density of Tesla owners, or just what the host will agree to?

Some seem to have a ton of bays (Silverthorne, CO), while others have very few (Madison, WI)

 

[Kraken]

Monsoon, here you go.
Mods, if there is a better spot for this, I apologize. I've only see it in this thread.

 

[Chipper]

Man those people get on my nerves. How much of a cheapskate do you have to be? I'd much rather charge in my garage for a couple dollars than sit at a supercharger for half an hour. Last I checked, we all paid in the six figure range for our cars, right? Nobody here should be that hard up for cash. All the time saved by not having to make trips to the gas station once or twice a week was one of the big selling points for me.

I am not sure why this bothers you. The owner has obviously paid for it up front. There is obviously no crowding at the SuperCharger. If he wants to spend his time at a supercharger why does it get on your nerves? Maybe he just likes to meet other Tesla owners.

 

[Benz]

The majority of the people who charge their Tesla Model S at a Supercharger station, do not charge for more than twenty minutes. We saw that on the Tesla Supercharger Dashboard, on the top left side of the screen.

 

[Monsoon]

@Kraken, thank you. Much appreciated.

 

[scaesare]

I am not sure why this bothers you. The owner has obviously paid for it up front. There is obviously no crowding at the SuperCharger. If he wants to spend his time at a supercharger why does it get on your nerves? Maybe he just likes to meet other Tesla owners.

There's been a bit of discussion about such behavior on the Supercharger Crowding thread. Ultimately such things don't scale well in the long term, and it goes against the grain of the intended usage for the network, IMO.

 

[dhanson865]

SAE and CHAdeMo charge protocols all have the car control the charging process. In most, or maybe all, cars the battery controller commands the instantaneous voltage and current from the charger throughout the charging process. This is true for both on-board chargers and off-board DC fast chargers.

The taper rate should be identical for any given car, no matter what charger is used.

GSP

If the charge rate is slower it might not generate as much heat and thus not taper as soon. Of course that point may be academic if you are comparing 120KW vs 50KW.

Yes the Telsa controls the curve, but the Telsa might respond differently if temps allow.

 

[Chipper]

There's been a bit of discussion about such behavior on the Supercharger Crowding thread. Ultimately such things don't scale well in the long term, and it goes against the grain of the intended usage for the network, IMO.

In principle I would agree. But if/when it becomes an actual problem, then perhaps it will need to be addressed. Until such time my philosophy is "no harm, no foul". It certainly does not seem to be something to get excited about at this stage of the game at this particular supercharger.
Ka-CHING...(my 2 cents expired!)

 

[dhanson865]

The majority of the people who charge their Tesla Model S at a Supercharger station, do not charge for more than twenty minutes. We saw that on the Tesla Supercharger Dashboard, on the top left side of the screen.

That part of the display says kwh charged and most do 20 kwh or less per session.

Some chargers are limited to 90kw, some 120kw, some will be congested and charge below 90kw so lets say the 90kw profile is near average. I guess if we assume no taper that means all those cars on the 20 or less lines charged in 15 minutes or less.

That surprises me, 20 kwh is only 50 to 60 miles so these people are charging just enough to get to their next charging spot/destination

I wonder how many of those short charges were crews testing new chargers followed by model S owners going to test a new charger?

 

[Robert.Boston]

In principle I would agree. But if/when it becomes an actual problem, then perhaps it will need to be addressed. Until such time my philosophy is "no harm, no foul". It certainly does not seem to be something to get excited about at this stage of the game at this particular supercharger.
Ka-CHING...(my 2 cents expired!)

Although Tesla has said that SCing is safe, I'm still of the opinion that it's probably not great for battery life to be using the SCs on a daily basis.

 

[biotweak]

Agree, "useless" is a bit strong. I just emailed [email protected] to try to get any idea of a Concord NH supercharger which would satisfy both the owners using Route 3 and the 500+ MS owners in Boston, Cambridge, Brookline, Newton area. It is truly a supercharger wasteland north of Boston...

I think "useless" is a bit strong. You would be surprised how many people drive up Rt 3 to get to northern NE. Not everyone is starting from Boston:smile:
What better location then on the Daniel Webster highway near the Pheasant Lane Mall highway and all the car dealerships!
Tesla is smart enough to understand they will need additional superchargers further north for people driving north on 93 or taking 89 to Vermont or the Sunapee area.

 

[PhilBa]

I am not sure why this bothers you. The owner has obviously paid for it up front. There is obviously no crowding at the SuperCharger. If he wants to spend his time at a supercharger why does it get on your nerves? Maybe he just likes to meet other Tesla owners.

I have to agree. SC use is unconditional - you pay for the ability to use it and you get to for the life of the car. I see no asterisks on this. Nothing about only travelers. There are so many things in life to get angry about, how does this even make the top 1000???

 

[dhanson865]

Although Tesla has said that SCing is safe, I'm still of the opinion that it's probably not great for battery life to be using the SCs on a daily basis.

Why do it daily?

If I drive 35 miles a day and my Tesla has a 200 miles range I could easily go once a week for a top off while using the UMC at home for slow charging in between. Depending on the amount of time I spend on the slow charger and the time of year (think spring and fall) I could probably go to a local supercharger twice a month to top up a bit and still use the UMC at home only.

The battery would have a bouncy SOC curve but it'd go up to 80% or 100% or whatever you are willing to charge to then slowly drain down to say 50 miles left over the course of many days, then be even lower by the time you get back to the supercharger again.

If I'm doing that at a time of day outside of rush hours it's just an issue of electricity instead of congestion. If they put up solar panels the cost of the electricity will be very very low and in some parts of the country electricity is just plain cheap no matter the source.

So maybe for my driving pattern it would be more convenient to supercharge a couple of times a month than to plug in at work (where the only option is a 120v outlet in the EV charging spaces in the parking lot).

In the winter I could plug the UMC in just to offset vampire losses and allow some preheating of the cabin, in the spring/fall I wouldn't bother to plug in the UMC, I'm not sure if it'd be worth it in the summer even (the EV spots at work don't get shade so it might be easier to park in a different part of the lot with shade but no electricity).

 

[callmesam]

I supercharge once a week at Hawthorne just so I can check out the SpaceX rockets with my son.