Where do you charge your Tesla Model S?

[sakimano]

Just wondering what people do to charge in general, and wondering if they are anticipating that changing over time with the production of the model 3 and just more and more S/X perhaps rendering the superchargers a bit busy. Anyway, just thought it was an interesting question.

I charge at home largely with some supercharging thrown in on the roadtrips but failing a long drive requiring a supercharger stop, I charge at home.

 

[xenodata]

Same, I was thinking of using supercharger and/or chargers at Whole Foods more, but overnight charging at home in the garage is just so convenient after you get a 14-50 outlet installed.

 

[David99]

If I exclude road trips, 95% of my charging is at home.

 

[sdorn]

I would expect almost all EV owners to primarily charge at home. Exceptions would be people that live in apartments, but it is difficult to use an EV as your primary mode of transportation if you can't charge at home. More and more businesses offer EV charging as well, but you still have weekends to think about (depending on how much you drive) and whether you can always depend on the office EV charger. We have EV chargers at our building, but there are only 2 of them and about 50 EVs in the building. Plus they break down a lot.

Personally the only time I charge anywhere other than at home is when traveling. I plug in at the airport every time I go (Level 1 charger). I have used L2 chargers in various parking lots when seeing attractions or eating, and used one overnight once that was near a cottage we were renting. I've also rented cabins and used the dryer outlets to charge, which is handy. I have a long 14-50 extension cord and a whole bunch of adapters that I use to run from the dryer outlet usually out through a window to where the car is. Works great.

I've only ever used one supercharger, as there is never any reason to use one near our home and they are really only useful for long road trips otherwise. Most of our travel is less than 150 miles from our home and not often on interstates so usually no superchargers around. I used a CHaDeMo charger up in the north Georgia mountains once that worked well. We've had a couple of longer road trips, but generally use the mini-van for those as it is better suited for traveling long distances with small children. As soon as Tesla comes out with a 400-500 mile range electric mini-van I'm on board.

Sounds like BMW is going to have a 435 mile range all electric SUV coming out in a couple of years, so should be interesting.

 

[303JeffB]

I do most of my charging at home, but do take advantage of superchargers at Denver Airport and Park Meadows Mall if I'm in the neighborhood and need a top up, otherwise Superchargers just for long trips. Have used L2 chargers in public parking at Vail several times, when we're in town.

 

[appleguru]

I do not have a place to charge at home, but got my office building to install a level 2 charger... So, with the exception of road trips and when I'm running really low (where I use superchargers to top up), I charge at work every day for a few hours. Not ideal by any means, but does the job!

 

[appleguru]

I do most of my charging at home, but do take advantage of superchargers at Denver Airport and Park Meadows Mall if I'm in the neighborhood and need a top up, otherwise Superchargers just for long trips. Have used L2 chargers in public parking at Vail several times, when we're in town.

I noticed the L2 chargepoint chargers in the vail parking garage the other day... I do wish the east coast resorts would get with the program and install charging stations. Would save an hour+ of supercharging/driving time being able to roll up to the mountains with very low SOC and leave fully charged after a day of skiing!

 

[henderrj]

We put 40,000 miles on the car in the last 10 months, and charge every night at home. We also use two superchargers, one out by the coast and one up in Monroe Washington, about three to four times a week. So, a pretty good mix. Only very occasionally have I used level 2 Chargers anywhere. We also did a road trip from Phoenix, where we got the car, to Tulsa for relatives, to Seattle area. That was somewhat over 3K if I recall. Obviously, all superchargers on that part.

 

[mach330]

i trickle charge at home. i live in a condo and i'm still exploring on installing a fast charger . my electrical panel is upstairs so it will be very pricey to put one. it's been ok for me so far since my daily commute to work is 30mi round trip. the only time i have issues is when I drive back to back days (fri-sun most likely) of over 100+ mi then i'll have to supercharge (which is out of the way for me at 6 mi away).

i tried quick220 but it didn't work for me as i'm guessing my 3 plugs in the garage are all out of phase. i talked to them and they did say that in about 6 mos they'll have a new one that doesn't require the two plugs to be out of phase (but will be 3x the price).

 

[dss33]

We put 40,000 miles on the car in the last 10 months, and charge every night at home. We also use two superchargers, one out by the coast and one up in Monroe Washington, about three to four times a week. So, a pretty good mix. Only very occasionally have I used level 2 Chargers anywhere. We also did a road trip from Phoenix, where we got the car, to Tulsa for relatives, to Seattle area. That was somewhat over 3K if I recall. Obviously, all superchargers on that part.

40k in less than a year!? Whoa. Mostly business or lots of road tripping?

We're about 20 mins from the Monroe SC so cool to hear you're stopping there. Our go-to's are either Centralia when we're heading South or Burlington when heading North.

 

[BerTX]

i tried quick220 but it didn't work for me as i'm guessing my 3 plugs in the garage are all out of phase. i talked to them and they did say that in about 6 mos they'll have a new one that doesn't require the two plugs to be out of phase (but will be 3x the price).

The two plugs will still need to be on separate circuits, so likely it would not help you (or very many people) anyway.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

We have three Teslas in the household. Two of them are charged at home but I typically charge mine once a week at one of the 36 solar-powered Level 2 stations at work.

 

[BerTX]

My closest Supercharger is 90 miles away and the closest L2 charger is 50 miles away. So yeah, I charge at home.

 

[Chaserr]

I keep a quick 220 at my summer home, it wasn't hard to find 2 circuits and it charges 3 times faster than just the one 120v outlet alone. I wouldn't recommend anyone use that as a primary source of charging but for old homes that can't be wired for 240 without tearing up the whole house to redo everything, it gets the job done.

Other than that, I only charge at home or supercharge when driving to the beach house and back, or other distance trips.

 

[brkaus]

I charge at home. For the first few months, I charged L2 at whole foods as often as possible to save a few $$... Quickly decided that was a silly waste of time.

I do not believe I would enjoy the EV experience if I did not have a home charger of some reasonable capability (I think 240v/20a would do it).

 

[Rockster]

Excluding road trips that absolutely require Supercharging, >99.9% of our charging is done at home.

 

[RyanS]

Same as above. Mostly home using a mobile connector to 220v. Would like to get a fancy looking silver Tesla charger but...

 

[AndrewTX]

I charge at home. For the first few months, I charged L2 at whole foods as often as possible to save a few $$... Quickly decided that was a silly waste of time.

I do not believe I would enjoy the EV experience if I did not have a home charger of some reasonable capability (I think 240v/20a would do it).

The convenience of charging at home is, IMO, the most under-reported benefit of BEV ownership. I've spent basically a net of zero time since I purchased my MS refueling it. It's charged while I was sleeping, working, or eating. No extra stops or dedicated trips to the gas station in almost one year.

 

[Qbenjamin]

Currently enjoying my 4 mph return via 120V charger at home. All good though, I only put about 8 miles on my car per day.

 

[steve841]

I own an office building and put in my own Tesla wall charger.... rarely ever plug in at home.