Supercharger - Seattle, WA - Union Street

[im.thatoneguy]

city folk in the surrounding neighborhoods

Lol, I don't want to be "that guy" but if you live in the surrounding neighborhoods in a house with a garage you aren't "City folk".

If Lynwood or Issaquah are acceptable drives to charge you are firmly "suburb folk" so of course a downtown charger isn't for you. The best alternative chargers right now to this Urban Charger isn't Lynwood or Issaquah it's Seattle Science Center or Pacific Place L2 chargers.

There is only 1 public 'high speed' charger within 5 miles of downtown and it's 3 destination chargers in a garage in SLU. But SLU is pretty much dead at night for charging-activities and the garage even closes at 6pm-10pm.

 

[Kuhz]

Lol, I don't want to be "that guy"

I see what you did there

 

[LyftupX]

Got it , my garage is 3 miles from downtown Seattle .... i will now consider myself in suburbia.

I mentioned if i was out and past Northgate or in Belleve areas and really needed to juice up quickly, i have not found going to the superchargers a major issue.

 

[im.thatoneguy]

3 miles? You most likely are. West Seattle, Ballard, Fremont, Magnolia, Columbia City and even Madison Park are suburban.

This is how the city of Seattle even determines where the suburban line is:

 

[LyftupX]

Fair enough.... learned something new!

 

[PLUS EV]

3 miles? You most likely are. West Seattle, Ballard, Fremont, Magnolia, Columbia City and even Madison Park are suburban.

This is how the city of Seattle even determines where the suburban line is:

Not to get in a pointless pissing contest about the definition of suburbia, but literally all the places you mentioned are within the Seattle city limits. And it isn't a large city in terms of square miles.

 

[im.thatoneguy]

Not to get in a pointless pissing contest about the definition of suburbia, but literally all the places you mentioned are within the Seattle city limits. And it isn't a large city in terms of square miles.

It's not a large city in terms of square miles but it usually takes about 20-30 minutes to drive from one side of downtown to the other. I literally average <20mph in my commute. If you live and park in Magnolia you'll never pay for parking and probably have an attached garage since 90% of Magnolia is single family homes. That's radically different from someone 3 miles away living on capital hill who is in a below ground garage or street parking and are happy to pay $7 in parking fees to access a supercharger once every 2 weeks (which is how often I charge). It's not a pissing contest, it's pointing out the huge differences such a short distance can make in the Tesla owning experience.

This supercharger is HUGE for me. I street park and there are no L2 chargers within walking distance of my office building. I haven't been to Lynwood in nearly 2 years except to drive through on the way to Canada or the islands because it's "so far away". I drove out to Issaquah the other day to drop something off at a friend's house and it was about 45 minutes each way. As someone else mentioned, just getting to the freeway can take 30 minutes on a bad day. You can say it's only a couple miles across but I spend about 95% of my days driving within just that 3 mile radius. I don't often just happen to find myself in Bellevue. And I only ever go as far north as Northgate on a weekend and even then infrequently. A supercharger like Issaquah or Lynwood can service a very large area because it doesn't take very long to travel long distances the further out of the urban core you get.

It's "only" 8 miles from Brooklyn to Columbus Circle but that's also like an 1-2 hour long drive at rush hour. Urban Superchargers are going to need to be pretty dense to account not just for range but travel time for the sake of convenience.

 

[aromasca]

It's not a large city in terms of square miles but it usually takes about 20-30 minutes to drive from one side of downtown to the other. I literally average <20mph in my commute. If you live and park in Magnolia you'll never pay for parking and probably have an attached garage since 90% of Magnolia is single family homes. That's radically different from someone 3 miles away living on capital hill who is in a below ground garage or street parking and are happy to pay $7 in parking fees to access a supercharger once every 2 weeks (which is how often I charge). It's not a pissing contest, it's pointing out the huge differences such a short distance can make in the Tesla owning experience.

This supercharger is HUGE for me. I street park and there are no L2 chargers within walking distance of my office building. I haven't been to Lynwood in nearly 2 years except to drive through on the way to Canada or the islands because it's "so far away". I drove out to Issaquah the other day to drop something off at a friend's house and it was about 45 minutes each way. As someone else mentioned, just getting to the freeway can take 30 minutes on a bad day. You can say it's only a couple miles across but I spend about 95% of my days driving within just that 3 mile radius. I don't often just happen to find myself in Bellevue. And I only ever go as far north as Northgate on a weekend and even then infrequently. A supercharger like Issaquah or Lynwood can service a very large area because it doesn't take very long to travel long distances the further out of the urban core you get.

It's "only" 8 miles from Brooklyn to Columbus Circle but that's also like an 1-2 hour long drive at rush hour. Urban Superchargers are going to need to be pretty dense to account not just for range but travel time for the sake of convenience.

Sounds like in your case owning a car doesn’t make sense at all if you charge every 2 weeks with vampire drain and everything else you can probably walk the rest of the milage(??)

 

[ReddyLeaf]

Snip....Urban Superchargers are going to need to be pretty dense to account not just for range but travel time for the sake of convenience.

I hadn’t thought about it, but I think you’re right. Travel time is often more important than distant in cities. I’ve only been to Seattle proper three times in decades, and all of those were for my annual Tesla service near the stadium. A SC would be nice for lots of folks, but I’d be happier with Northgate or South Center, or even better, Tacoma-Fife. BTW, I’ve always preferred bicycles for congested cities, and would always beat cars on my commute. Now I’m older and slower, so an electric bicycle would be nice and faster.

 

[MikeBur]

Great news for all and wonderful find

Long awaited Seattle Supercharger is in permitting stage now!

Record number 6685741-EL

601 Union Street - 2 Union Square underground parking

10 Stalls Urban Superchargers
5 Tesla Destination Chargers
5 Clipper Creek

Pay parking at $6 first half hour. or $9 first hour. I think this will discourage local freeloaders but great for travelers needing to have a quick charge.

If interested the entire site plan is available for viewing at Seattle.gov

View attachment 365919

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[Yarder]

LOL! That map is just like the national weather maps. There is NO weather in Canada. Apparently, there are NO suburbs in Snohomish County!

 

[im.thatoneguy]

Sounds like in your case owning a car doesn’t make sense at all if you charge every 2 weeks with vampire drain and everything else you can probably walk the rest of the milage(??)

• Biking in the dark with 40 degree drizzle and traffic and road spray is not my idea of a good (or safe) time.
  • Similarly riding a bike in 90 degree weather with 450 feet of elevation gain is equally unpleasant.There is a narrow window which I do take advantage of when it's mild, dry and light out during my commute. And yes a bicycle takes the same or less time to commute when it's nice out. But if I have a meeting I don't want to show up with helmet hair. If I have to go over to the east side for a meeting I don't want to Uber. So I can only average at best about 3 days a week by bike about 4 months out of the year.
• Bus takes an 1hr each way vs 20 min driving. And my buses are often packed at rush hour. So I would end up standing for half of the trip. Plus buses running late and bus transfers. It's a pain.
• Walking would take 2 hours.
• Uber would be $30-$40/day * 20 work days + probably like 10-15 $50 round trips beside commuting is like $1,000/month which is more than a Tesla payment. And you still have to wait for an Uber to show up. Then you randomly get surge pricing... bad choice.
• Car2Go\Reach never seem to have a car close and they're about $10/trip. So same price as a Tesla.

I want to live my life not commute. +$15/day for the freedom to get somewhere fast is worth it for the extra 2 hours of family and friends time.

My commute round trip is about 12 miles. If I don't use Heat or AC I've found a route that actually gets actual mileage. 310 miles * 80% / 17 miles (12 + Vampire) = 14 days. +/- trips to the east side or west Seattle and opportunistic charges. So yes paying $7 and sitting in my car for 30 minutes at a super charger every 2 weeks is only adding about 2 minutes a day to my commuting schedule.

 

[hehexd]

I literally average <20mph in my commute.

Bus takes an 1hr each way vs 20 min driving.

My commute round trip is about 12 miles.

Sorry, just had to note that these numbers don't add up, as if you literally average < 20 mph, you'll have a very difficult time traveling 12 miles in just 20 minutes.

 

[PLUS EV]

Sorry, just had to note that these numbers don't add up, as if you literally average < 20 mph, you'll have a very difficult time traveling 12 miles in just 20 minutes.

As the sign on the peanut stand outside the Kingdome used to say:

"*exaggerated hyperbole*"

 

[im.thatoneguy]

I literally average <20mph in my commute. My commute round trip is about 12 miles. Bus takes an 1hr each way vs 20 min driving.

Sorry, just had to note that these numbers don't add up, as if you literally average < 20 mph, you'll have a very difficult time traveling 12 miles in just 20 minutes.

5.2 miles there 6.1 miles back. Round trip is approximately 11.3miles. So I guess slightly closer to 11 than 12.

5.2 miles / 20 min / (60 min / hr) = 15.6 miles / hour
6.1 miles / 26 min / 60 min / hr = 14.07 miles / hour

You're right it doesn't add up... it multiplies and divides up...

 

[⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️]

Infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure. Come on Seattle get your *sugar* together, we need more charging infrastructure.

 

[ChrisH]

Seattle traffic is pathetic and the geniuses that developed the interstate through downtown and then put a convention center on top of it are even worse.

 

[ChrisH]

How is it possible to disagree that Seattle traffic is ridiculous and the planning for traffic flow through Seattle was very poor?

 

[RedMS]

How is it possible to disagree that Seattle traffic is ridiculous and the planning for traffic flow through Seattle was very poor?

I agreeed with you some geniuses are also wanting to cap the rest of the freeway north of the CC.

 

[PLUS EV]

I agreeed with you some geniuses are also wanting to cap the rest of the freeway north of the CC.

How exactly does capping a freeway hinder traffic flow?