Western Canada Superchargers

[dchuck]

I was hoping to see a supercharger right along the highway, So happy to see this.

I know there is one in Red Deer, but it is kind of off the beaten path if all your doing is driving from Edmonton to Calgary. It would have been better to have it along Gasoline Alley. Not that the current location is bad, but if you have ever driven down 50th ave on a Friday evening you will know it is not exactly 100 kph.

TLej - No Kidding, A heck of a lot easier to get to service in Calgary than going all the way to Vancouver. Hopefully there will be enough of us Model 3 folks to convince Tesla that there should be 2 service centers in Alberta by 2018.

 

[Canuck]

Hopefully there will be enough of us Model 3 folks to convince Tesla that there should be 2 service centers in Alberta by 2018

I bet you won't see one Model 3 delivered to Alberta in 2018 unless it's late 2018 -- and there's no chance at two service centers by then, at least in my view.

 

[derekasch]

I know there is one in Red Deer, but it is kind of off the beaten path if all your doing is driving from Edmonton to Calgary. It would have been better to have it along Gasoline Alley. Not that the current location is bad, but if you have ever driven down 50th ave on a Friday evening you will know it is not exactly 100 kph.

I was so surprised that they didn't put it on gasoline alley.

 

[Lon12]

I've always wanted to take a picture of my car under the gasoline alley road sign.

 

[dchuck]

@Canuck

I don't expect my car until the 2nd quarter of 2018. But i am willing to wager on a delivery in the first half of 2018. So i'll take that bet, What did you have in mind?

It should be a pretty safe bet if you believe Elons comments on production in the conference call. Tesla could be well on the way to producing 350,000 by mid 2018. Even if he is off by 1/2 (which is unlikely, its more like 20-30% less than forcast) there is still a chance i will get my car since i reserved the morning of the 31st.

To break ground on a service center sure, it would be silly to do it before more cars are delivered. But you don't need physical deliveries to plan for a service center, all you need is a significant number of orders for a particular location. if there were 20,000 Tesla's going to Yellowknife i am sure they would put a service center there.

But i agree a service center around here is just wishful thinking on my part. There is not a chance in hell there are enough orders in Northern Alberta to justify a service center. Probably not until at least 2020, and especially not with Calgary only a 3 hour drive away.

@derekasch

In my mind the only way it makes sense is if they prefer locations with overnight accommodations nearby. I have not been past the Supercharger since it opened, but i seem to remember it is next to a hotel of some sort.

 

[TLej]

@dchuck Without knowing how much it costs to do either, once the Calgary service centre is in place I'd rather see Tesla Supercharge the Yellowhead to Saskatoon and the Trans-Canada to Winnipeg before an Edmonton service centre. Not that I wouldn't like to see one here, but we need the charging infrastructure more than the service centre (once Calgary's in place). A Tesla store at West Ed or Southgate or something in 2018 or 2019 would be fine, it would give us free Ranger service (I think that's the deal, free Rangers in places with stores +80 km radius?). Then once we're Supercharged to the East, backfill a service centre in Edmonton in 2019/2020 and a Regina one in 2021/2022 and we're good. Assuming they also expand westward through Ontario in the same timeframe, a fully Supercharged Trans-Canada by 2019 would be pretty cool. Meet in Winnipeg, like the Last Spike in reverse.

 

[dchuck]

@TLej

i agree, it would be nice if Tesla would install superchargers on the trans-Canada in 2018-2019. I have no use for that route, i would use the route south through Montana more, but i know folks like S'toon would welcome them with open arms. it is after all a chicken and egg problem. You need charging and servicing to support the cars but you need car sales to to figure out where they need to go.

Where did you hear that Rangers are based out of stores? (80km area, etc..) Have not heard that before. i would think they would be based out of the service centers, although It makes sense since you could ship spare parts to the store.

 

[green1]

I may not have been the first, but I called Cross Iron mills
I drive in to see a movie there occasionally so that's handy.
Surprised nobody caught on before they had the thing mostly built.
Good catch!

Except that with Tesla's new policies around superchargers you can't actually watch a movie while charging...

 

[dmd2005]

Except that with Tesla's new policies around superchargers you can't actually watch a movie while charging...

You can plug in as long as you want but you will pay idle fees...so someone with money to burn can watch a movie while charging but can expect hefty idle fees.

 

[Bet TSLA]

...but you will pay idle fees

Not if the supercharger is uncrowded.

 

[TLej]

@TLej

Where did you hear that Rangers are based out of stores? (80km area, etc..) Have not heard that before. i would think they would be based out of the service centers, although It makes sense since you could ship spare parts to the store.

I remember reading about it in here, but that was a long time ago. I just did some searching and can't find any info about the Ranger program now, so my assumption may be wrong and badly out of date. If I can remember where I saw the info, I'll post a link.

 

[dchuck]

@TLej

Thanks i would appreciate that.

 

[Canuck]

@Canuck

I don't expect my car until the 2nd quarter of 2018. But i am willing to wager on a delivery in the first half of 2018. So i'll take that bet, What did you have in mind?

I'd offer to take you to a Canucks' game but that could be seen as a punishment these days... So let's just make it for bragging rights. It's a bet I'd be happy to lose since I also reserved on the first day, I'm a current owner, and I plan to get mine fully loaded, plus I'm on the west coast (albeit across the border). So if you get yours in the first half of 2018, I should get mine late this year, or early next. I don't see it happening but I sure hope you're right.

It should be a pretty safe bet if you believe Elons comments on production in the conference call. Tesla could be well on the way to producing 350,000 by mid 2018. Even if he is off by 1/2 (which is unlikely, its more like 20-30% less than forcast) there is still a chance i will get my car since i reserved the morning of the 31st.

I see you just joined on January 17, 2017 so you're forgiven for not knowing what "Elon time" means around here but you basically need to understand this...

Since 2011, Tesla has failed to meet Musk’s product-launch, production, and financial-performance promises more than twenty times, according to an analysis by the Wall Street Journal.

 

[dchuck]

Deal, bragging rights it is.

Oh i am well aware of Tesla time. I have been following Tesla since before the release of the Model S and I lurked here since the model 3 reveal but didn't have much to say so i never created an account.

as i said, Elon is probably too aggressive on schedule by 20-30%. He says 1000 cars a week in July, i figure 500-600. 2000 by August, maybe 1500, 5000 by the end of the year, maybe 3000-4000.

I live in Edmonton so i would expect you to get your car before me. Not sure if the current owner and fully loaded will mean as much in Canada as it currently does in the US. I also have an ulterior motive in hoping for a mid 2018 delivery date, My birthday is in August.

I am confident Tesla will produce enough cars to get to my spot in line (only 118,000 reservations the first day). The problem is they may not produce a single Canadian car until after July 1 2018 because they want to get as many US folks into the fold before the $ 7,500 incentive starts drawing down. To me that is the biggest unknown.

A smarter bet for me would have been, will Tesla produce 200,000 cars by July 2018?

Unfortunately i do not subscribe to the Wall Street Journal so i cannot comment on the whole promises vs deliveries article. However Tesla has actually been reasonably accurate in forecasting how many units they will produce. Even with a poor Q4 in 2016 (considered a failure in the financial community) they were within 95% of their yearly target of 80,000 forecast and only 76,230 delivered.

 

[Patk]

I'm a new Tesla driver in Saskatoon and curious what people know about charging between Saskatoon and Calgary.

 

[SMSMD]

I'm a new Tesla driver in Saskatoon and curious what people know about charging between Saskatoon and Calgary.

Welcome to the Group

 

[dchuck]

@Patk

Your best bet is to have a look at www.plugshare.com it has an excellent map which shows the location of most publicly available chargers and has a comments section to let you know exactly where the charger is located and if there is anything notable about that location.

I just had a quick look and unfortunately your only option along the way is a 90 amp charger in Kindersley.

 

[TLej]

I'm a new Tesla driver in Saskatoon and curious what people know about charging between Saskatoon and Calgary.

Welcome. Some Saskatchewan guys on here, @Mayhemm is one I've seen posting before. Basically, I think it comes down to Plugshare and Peavey Mart being your friends and I'm not sure about much past that. Leave lots of time for the trip. Elon promised a Swift Current Supercharger this year though, if I recall correctly.

 

[Canuck]

Not sure if the current owner and fully loaded will mean as much in Canada as it currently does in the US.

“In order to be as fair as possible, there will be a different queue for each region,” says Tesla. “And as a thank you to our current owners, existing customers will get priority in each region, meaning that the fastest way to own a Model 3 is to own a Model S or Model X.”

Canada is a region, plus that would sure be a slap in the face to us Canucks if Tesla didn't award those of us who supported their mission with our pocketbooks by being the first deliveries.

Elon Musk:

“Our default plan as we have done in the past is that the initial sales are relatively highly optioned versions of the car, because we’ve got to pay back the investment of the tooling and everything, so it makes sense to have the higher optioned versions first. That’s what we did with the S and obviously again with the X.”

I can't see any way this will change for us in Canada since Tesla needs cash really bad and that's what shareholders demand. It will apply to US, Canada, Europe, Australia, etc. Once the highly optioned cars have all been built, and Tesla has maximized its cash flow, then I think we will see the basic versions.

But we've derailed this thread enough.... now back to regular programming... there's a lot of talk down south about superchargers not delivering maximum power and it may be to save Tesla cash. Any news of that happening here?

 

[Patk]

Welcome. Some Saskatchewan guys on here, @Mayhemm is one I've seen posting before. Basically, I think it comes down to Plugshare and Peavey Mart being your friends and I'm not sure about much past that. Leave lots of time for the trip. Elon promised a Swift Current Supercharger this year though, if I recall correctly.

Thanks TLej. This is helpful. I'll watch for Mayhemm.