Unreliable SuperCharger open stall number

[rrodby]

Driving Chicago to Madison to Chicago, planning my one required charge stop, I decided to use the supercharger in RockFord, IL.
While driving, the car's screen, tapping on the Rockford charger it told me there were 8 charging stations there and that 4 were open. Then a while laeronly 1 open, then later 3 open. Upon arriving it still said 4 open, but in fact only one was being used.

When it was down to only 1 available , I was going to not take a chance and go to a different charger on the way (but then things opened up) , so it does help to get reliable information. But this information was totally unreliable.

Has anyone else experienced wrong information from a supercharger ?

 

[P85_DA]

Driving Chicago to Madison to Chicago, planning my one required charge stop, I decided to use the supercharger in RockFord, IL.
While driving, the car's screen, tapping on the Rockford charger it told me there were 8 charging stations there and that 4 were open. Then a while laeronly 1 open, then later 3 open. Upon arriving it still said 4 open, but in fact only one was being used.

When it was down to only 1 available , I was going to not take a chance and go to a different charger on the way (but then things opened up) , so it does help to get reliable information. But this information was totally unreliable.

Has anyone else experienced wrong information from a supercharger ?

Plenty of posts on this ..,in short yes they have been unreliable ...not sure when this started though

 

[roblab]

Driving Chicago to Madison to Chicago, planning my one required charge stop, I decided to use the supercharger in RockFord, IL.
While driving, the car's screen, tapping on the Rockford charger it told me there were 8 charging stations there and that 4 were open. Then a while laeronly 1 open, then later 3 open. Upon arriving it still said 4 open, but in fact only one was being used.

If, IF, the average traveler charges just what they need to get to the next supercharger plus a small buffer of maybe 50 miles, it takes about 15 - 20 minutes to charge.

IF you are driving down the road and decide to check on charger availability 20 miles out, by the time you get there ALL THE CARS ARE DIFFERENT. If there are eight stalls, a car moves in or out every two minutes or so.

Of Course the information changes. And since there is a delay of the charger reporting activity, and a delay reporting to the charger info site, it does not line up. It is not instantaneous. So even using the app is just a generalization of usage. Nothing new here. Just the way it has always been (well, since they've started using superchargers).

 

[EVSteve]

If, IF, the average traveler charges just what they need to get to the next supercharger plus a small buffer of maybe 50 miles, it takes about 15 - 20 minutes to charge.

IF you are driving down the road and decide to check on charger availability 20 miles out, by the time you get there ALL THE CARS ARE DIFFERENT. If there are eight stalls, a car moves in or out every two minutes or so.

Of Course the information changes. And since there is a delay of the charger reporting activity, and a delay reporting to the charger info site, it does not line up. It is not instantaneous. So even using the app is just a generalization of usage. Nothing new here. Just the way it has always been (well, since they've started using superchargers).

Strongly disagree. I live near a supercharger and noticed on several occasions at odd hours the listing showing 6 of 8 stalls in use. Every time I have decided to wander over to verify after hearing of other locations having these issues the supercharger is EMPTY. It then stays empty for 30+ minutes. There is something wrong with the system.

By comparison ChargePoint’s chargers update immediately after unplugging or plugging in. Why is it they can get it done in real time but Tesla cannot?

 

[boaterva]

What no one has done (as far as I know) is test everyone of the stalls where these numbers show up. There could be a couple out of service or low output or something. What we *really* need is a way for the Tesla light on the Supercharger to change color or something when it's not in (perfect) service. That would match up with the reported numbers when OOS and help people not waste time using a bad one and then reporting it to the Supercharger Team when they already know about it.

Wonder why this wasn't included in the design, they thought it would be *so* reliable?

 

[bob_p]

Tesla should address this issue - since the SuperCharger network will be a major benefit for Tesla owners vs. purchasing from other manufacturers relying on 3rd party long distance chargers.

During last year's hurricane, as we were evacuating Houston, we called Tesla to verify chargers were available on our way out of town. They indicated all the chargers were available in Columbus (TX). When we got there, we saw why - the entire area was covered by water and inaccessible.

We've also encountered incorrect counts - and partially or non-functioning chargers that were not reflected in the # of available chargers. One of the older SuperCharger locations has 3 chargers/6 stalls. As we approached, it indicated 4 were available. But when we got there - one was blocked by an ICE parked in the spot. And of the other 3, they all were having charging problems, which we discovered only after calling Tesla to report we couldn't get a steady charge.

One thing Tesla could do is provide a way for owners to report issues via the console or smartphone interface - items such as blocked or inaccessible stalls or damaged/non-functioning chargers - which they could then add into the charging status display.

They should also be able to do the same with the destination chargers, using data collected from the cars using those chargers.

 

[pinball_player]

Every single time that the car reports incorrect numbers for the super chargers, it is always that there are more spots in use than are actually in use. This is simply because when the super charger is offline (has not connected back to corporate in a period of time), they mark it as in use so that you do not arrive and are not able to charge.

I prefer that instead of arriving and not finding any spots.