Thanksgiving 2019 Supercharger lines?

[goldengate]

101 Santa Barbara to San Rafael today....SLO was very very busy but they had a valet handing out water and keeping things organized. Two destination chargers are online but the new V3 and V2 charging stations are not live yet. Megapack charger returning on Sunday.
Salinas was full (which I have never experienced) and the exit was a nightmare due to Black Friday, so I passed Gilroy (also a nightmare due to BlackFriday) and went to the Urban SC's at Morgan Hill... very civilized and likely the same speed charge as a paired SC I think?
Morgan Hill seemed to be the least busy along the corridor. Atascadero as usual was a s-show, and I saw it from the freeway - cars all over the place in line.

 

[ucmndd]

10+ cars waiting mid-afternoon today in Fresno, CA.

 

[gilscales]

Came home from Paso Robles tonight and had just enough to get to Oxnard, one of my favorite stops on the way home with 20 SC spots, only 10 were taken at about 8:15 pm

 

[PlayaVista]

Kettleman City. Saturday 5 PM. 20 cars deep.

 

[bmah]

Kettleman City. Saturday 5 PM. 20 cars deep.

I’d be curious to know how long it takes to work through a 20 car line with 40 stalls operating?

Bruce.

 

[ReddyLeaf]

Kettleman City. Saturday 5 PM. 20 cars deep.

Whoa!

 

[juliusa]

I’d be curious to know how long it takes to work through a 20 car line with 40 stalls operating?

50% of the average charge time. I'd guess 20 minutes or so.

Thanksgiving travel is a good stress test - Tesla should learn a lot from this weekend.

 

[BM3B]

Latest reports around 6pm were 40 cars in line! But with 40 working chargers should be moving about a car a minute. KC looks more open now

 

[BM3B]

Fresno was worse, 90 minutes wait with 17 cars in line for 9 chargers.

 

[ucmndd]

Wow, 40 cars in line. Unfathomable.

Sadly, I think this is the new normal for peak travel periods - it's just not economical to size a network for peak needs that only represent ~5% of the time. Will be interesting to see if the Mobile Megapack idea takes off to manage peak demand.

My wife was in an accident last week in our ICE car that unfortunately totaled it. We're still waffling about what to do to replace it - I'd love to be an all-electric family but these sorts of stories and experiences have given me great pause. I'm just not sure we're there yet.

For the past 3 years we've taken a New Years trip down to Southern CA in the Model S. This year? I'm thinking probably not.

 

[juliusa]

Sadly, I think this is the new normal for peak travel periods - it's just not economical to size a network for peak needs that only represent ~5% of the time.

I don't think so. They fixed Quartzite. Still learning. Looks like maybe 2% or so of superchargers had queues. It would not take much more capacity to solve those issues.

 

[PawelM]

Seems true- 50% of the average charge time.

 

[goldengate]

Twitter feed from yesterday (search term: "supercharger") was disheartening. Huge lines (30 at SLO) even at Kettleman, where a line of cars curved around the block and people reported 30-45 minute waits. I hope Tesla looks at some of these chokepoints and does more than rolling Megapack mobile charging stations.

 

[bmah]

Twitter feed from yesterday (search term: "supercharger") was disheartening. Huge lines (30 at SLO) even at Kettleman, where a line of cars curved around the block and people reported 30-45 minute waits. I hope Tesla looks at some of these chokepoints and does more than rolling Megapack mobile charging stations.

It might be that for the short term, building more Megapack mobile Superchargers is the right thing to do. No permits / land acquisition costs required, and Tesla can deploy them on fairly short notice to meet temporary demand. If there were a small fleet of these things (remember there's only one right now), they could go to the usual hotspots (Kettleman City, SLO, or some other place that emerges in the future) during heavy travel weekends. But the Megapack mobile Superchargers could deploy for other occasions too (cough cough PG&E PSPS cough cough).

It's also possible that there are already plans for more Superchargers on these routes but we just don't know about them yet.

Bruce.

PS. Yeah I know, easy for me to say, because I stayed home this Thanksgiving. But I was road-tripping last Christmas.

 

[ucmndd]

I don't think so. They fixed Quartzite. Still learning. Looks like maybe 2% or so of superchargers had queues. It would not take much more capacity to solve those issues.

I’d dispute that 2% number. Almost every single charging location on the major travel corridors in California was well beyond capacity yesterday. Today is going to be even worse.

It’s not an easy problem to solve, and I don’t think Tesla can do it by themselves. This is a real problem they’re going to have to address extremely soon given their new normal production rates. We need standardized charging infrastructure to introduce competition. Everyone else has more or less agreed on that standard, but Tesla has us over a barrel in the US by withholding a CCS adapter.

 

[Dr. J]

I’d dispute that 2% number. Almost every single charging location on the major travel corridors in California was well beyond capacity yesterday.

But so far, the only reported queues are in California, AFAIK. So, 2% of California SCs, of US SCs, or worldwide? There's definitely an issue in California.

 

[goldengate]

SLO / Madonna Inn Saturday night... can't imagine what today (Sunday) will be like. Agree on the megapacks, but in the case of 101 corridor they need to get more SC's up and running. There are lines even on non-holiday weekends with SLO / Atascadero maxxed out in the middle of the day on a regular basis according to my NAV.

If I pulled up to this scene at the Madonna Inn, I think I would just get a room for the night! haha

 

[ReddyLeaf]

This is amazing, terrible and wonderful all at the same time. Thank you all for choosing electric over gas. The extra hour spent waiting for a charger this Thanksgiving means cleaner air for those less fortunate, a safer nation/world as we transition away from the number one conflict mineral. Soon all of the trillions of dollars spent on US military intervention in oil producing areas will stop. That is my Thanksgiving wish and you all are making it happen.

PS, next you drive by the continuous Costco gas lines, just smile and remember this day. Or, just drive by the gas stations today and see if it’s much different.

 

[ReddyLeaf]

Twitter feed from yesterday (search term: "supercharger") was disheartening. Huge lines (30 at SLO) even at Kettleman, where a line of cars curved around the block and people reported 30-45 minute waits. I hope Tesla looks at some of these chokepoints and does more than rolling Megapack mobile charging stations.

Wow, 30-45 min wait. I hope they didn’t die of boredom. Well, on the bright side, they had time to post on Twitter.

 

[GHammer]

Thanksgiving weekend is the most heavily traveled weekend for all forms of transportation. Waits and crowds occur at airports, train stations, malls, and traffic in general. I think anyone making the decision to travel during this time needs to accept that there are going to be delays. Tesla installing costly infrastructure that will stand unused for 360 days a year is probably not a sound financial decision.

I know I will get a lot of flack for this, I know many people will disagree. Dont bother giving me the thumbs down, I know already.