What is the line up process when Kingston Supercharger is full?!

[Mikeydeek]

hello all!

Planning an Ottawa to Toronto trip next weekend and I notice the Kingston supercharger is often full.

What is the process there when all the chargers are full? Does Tesla automatically assign a next slot to people waiting or is it a good old fashioned line up? If it’s a line up, does it move quickly and is it orderely?!

Thanks all!!

 

[Booner_k]

Just use Belleville instead. I don’t know why everyone insists on using Kingston...

 

[ca-r$m]

Agreed - use Belleville if you can. Got to Kingston last Sunday with 6 cars waiting to charge. Decided to drive to Belleville, got there with 13 km left on the battery with plenty of stalls available

 

[mrElbe]

It's a good old fashioned line up. You exchange pleasantries with the waiting drivers and determine your slot.

 

[shellderp]

Just use Belleville instead. I don’t know why everyone insists on using Kingston...

maybe cause they're going to ottawa?

 

[5_+JqckQttqck]

This happened yesterday around 4PM coming home from Ottawa. Not enough juice to make it to Belleville. With one charger down, we had a 30 minute wait in line to charge. Tesla definitely needs to add capacity at this location as it's a pivot point between Ottawa and Montreal.

Everyone was pleasant and a young man name Tyse offered to take our phone number and text us once he was able to charge.
We went to check out Levis and ten minutes later, Tyse let us know he was charging and I came back to stand in line.

Tesla owners are nice and generally want to chat about the car or road trip experience while waiting; two guys had a graphic wrapped Model S by 3M. They do wrapping professionally and we had a good conversation about the product and wrapping process.

I plugged in when my turn came and went to Boston Pizza for a drink and snack. Came back to unplug so other can charge when I hit 70%.

 

[wayner]

I went from Scarborough to Ottawa and back this weekend and I used the Belleville SC. I would have preferred Kingston but I didn't want to risk a lineup. Kingston appears to be a better location for coffee and fast food as at Belleville you have to go into the mall or across the street to A&W. There is a Starbucks in the Chapters/Indigo at Quinte Mall but that is about a 400m walk. When starting in Toronto and driving east Kingston would be preferable as Belleville is a bit too close to Toronto, especially from Scarborough where I live as it is about 160km or about 1.5 hours. The Kingston SC is 235 km or about 2.25 hours which is closer to halfway to either Ottawa or Montreal.

They really do need to expand the Kingston site to about 20 SC units, or do a Barrie and build another one nearby with 20 chargers.

 

[yyzbig6]

I noticed the Nav automatically chooses Kingston vs Belleville when coming from Montreal even if you have enough juice to make it to Belleville. Does the same happens on the Ottawa to Toronto drive? If so, of course Kingston gets overloaded.

 

[Vawlkus]

I noticed the Nav automatically chooses Kingston vs Belleville when coming from Montreal even if you have enough juice to make it to Belleville. Does the same happens on the Ottawa to Toronto drive? If so, of course Kingston gets overloaded.

I noticed this on my last roadtrip between London Ont and Halifax NS. My X’s Trip planner defaulted to Kingston both times.

 

[Booner_k]

maybe cause they're going to ottawa?

I do Ottawa to Southern Ontario all the time. Belleville works fine with a Model S 75D (in all but cold weather) and is in fact the midpoint for my drive.

They do need to hurry up with the Brockville SC though. That should also help to take the load off of Kingston.

 

[Saghost]

I noticed the Nav automatically chooses Kingston vs Belleville when coming from Montreal even if you have enough juice to make it to Belleville. Does the same happens on the Ottawa to Toronto drive? If so, of course Kingston gets overloaded.

I think the Nav uses the shortest possible route at the moment, which will favor Superchargers that are closer to the big roads. I'm hoping that one of these days we'll get a version that takes Supercharger usage into account.

Since the cars prefer to allow the mothership to route them, in principle all of the expected arrival times of every car on a Nav routing into each stop are on a server at Tesla HQ already, so if they assembled those they're know which locations are likely to be overloaded and when, and could route cars around them just like a traffic jam.

 

[bijan]

I think the Nav uses the shortest possible route at the moment, which will favor Superchargers that are closer to the big roads. I'm hoping that one of these days we'll get a version that takes Supercharger usage into account.

Since the cars prefer to allow the mothership to route them, in principle all of the expected arrival times of every car on a Nav routing into each stop are on a server at Tesla HQ already, so if they assembled those they're know which locations are likely to be overloaded and when, and could route cars around them just like a traffic jam.

That would be very cool, but even taking into account current usage would be a start. Right now it'll route me to Kingston when it's current usage is 5/6 or even 6/6 and Belleville isn't even a quarter full.

 

[sakimano]

If you're travelling to Ottawa you can actually charge in Belleville, then head north on 62, catch highway 7 and drive a beautiful route through Canadian shield lakes and pine trees.

This takes the same time as 401 does, and is MUCH nicer.

That route is also shorter by 40 kms so any 'gains' you may have by charging later in Kingston are largely offset by going the long way to Kingston and wasting 40 kms.

Further, you'll be more fuel efficient (wh/km) going 90 kmh along highway 7 vs whatever speed you go on the 401.

There's a reason tesla built a 20 supercharger location in Belleville. They looked at the map.

 

[Doug_G]

Never mind Hwy 7, take regional road 15 (Perth Road). Less traffic, far more beautiful, avoids larger towns, and way shorter than the 416 route. Also a great route for saving power - lower speed limit and shorter = virtually the same travel time with less power usage. Comes out right at the Supercharger.

 

[bijan]

Never mind Hwy 7, take regional road 15 (Perth Road). Less traffic, far more beautiful, avoids larger towns, and way shorter than the 416 route. Also a great route for saving power - lower speed limit and shorter = virtually the same travel time with less power usage. Comes out right at the Supercharger.

Isn't that from Kingston. He's talking about from Belleville.

 

[5_+JqckQttqck]

I noticed the Nav automatically chooses Kingston vs Belleville when coming from Montreal even if you have enough juice to make it to Belleville. Does the same happens on the Ottawa to Toronto drive? If so, of course Kingston gets overloaded.

The NAV always wants a 10 to 20% buffer and cycle it back to what's needed to make it to the next point at a 20% buffer to maximize battery pack life (going below 10% is no Bueno if done often). Driving conservatively at 100kph to arrive at Bellville SC is doable. A bunch of people skipped Kingston even though the NAV routed them there. You'll learn as you go.

Bonus is - arrive with less than 10% = 147kW guaranteed for a minute or two if the charge rate is available (which it is always available at Bellville with so many open stalls vs Kingston).

 

[oakvillemike]

Never mind Hwy 7, take regional road 15 (Perth Road). Less traffic, far more beautiful, avoids larger towns, and way shorter than the 416 route. Also a great route for saving power - lower speed limit and shorter = virtually the same travel time with less power usage. Comes out right at the Supercharger.

That's a cool route - never thought of that one, thanks!

 

[Doug_G]

Isn't that from Kingston. He's talking about from Belleville.

Yes it comes out at the Kingston Supercharger, not Belleville. Even so, I'd still prefer that route + some 401 over going on 7.

 

[malou]

How is stopping at Cornwall and Belleville on a Montreal to Toronto trip? I know it's two stop compared to one in Kingston, but if you have to wait 30 mins for an open stall in Kingston, might be worth stopping 10 mins in Cornwall and get a coffee?

 

[bijan]

How is stopping at Cornwall and Belleville on a Montreal to Toronto trip? I know it's two stop compared to one in Kingston, but if you have to wait 30 mins for an open stall in Kingston, might be worth stopping 10 mins in Cornwall and get a coffee?

I do that often. Cornwall is a bit out of the way so you lose some time but you make it up in no waiting and high charge speed. If you have a long range you can do Belleville and Fairview Pointe Claire in warmer months. Makes sense especially if you have a longer stop in Belleville.

Edit: I drive a bit too fast to do Belleville to Montreal directly and do destination charging there but I've done that too once.

Edit 2: I see you're asking about the opposite direction but my comments apply in inverse and those are usually the stops I do.