Where is free emergency supercharging?

[krusen]

Picked up my Model 3 SR+ yesterday and I had to alter my travel home plans due to flooding blocking roads. This prompted me to end up using a couple superchargers to have enough juice to make it home.

Now I have a couple questions.
1) Is there a way to see supercharger usage history from the car?

2) A day later, I dont see a history tab on my account page where others report seeing their usage history online, so I presume I will not be billed?

3) How does one proactively know which chargers are free to use due to emergency or other situations? The flooding I was avoiding was happening along a river that borders 4 states on my way home, and I'm not sure which states had declared an emergency and which had not.

4) How do I proactively know if Tesla was offering me a perk for time spent in the shop to fix up the car under warranty?

Thanks for helping a noob plug in to the Tesla family.

 

[TexasEV]

If it’s an emergency, are you really going to decide which direction to travel based on whether or not fees are waived at a particular supercharger? What’s important is if they’re operational and not affected by flooding. The car nav system will tell you that.

 

[dhrivnak]

Picked up my Model 3 SR+ yesterday and I had to alter my travel home plans due to flooding blocking roads. This prompted me to end up using a couple superchargers to have enough juice to make it home.

Now I have a couple questions.
1) Is there a way to see supercharger usage history from the car?

2) A day later, I dont see a history tab on my account page where others report seeing their usage history online, so I presume I will not be billed?

3) How does one proactively know which chargers are free to use due to emergency or other situations? The flooding I was avoiding was happening along a river that borders 4 states on my way home, and I'm not sure which states had declared an emergency and which had not.

4) How do I proactively know if Tesla was offering me a perk for time spent in the shop to fix up the car under warranty?

Thanks for helping a noob plug in to the Tesla family.

It can take a few days for charges to show up. So not seeing them is no guarantee. But I would bet it is likely due to a disaster help. We did experience it once on a trip to the beach. But I have found SuperCharging fees to be reasonable. We do not alter our trips due to SuperCharging fees or lack there of. If needed for a long trip we use them. If we do not need them we charge at home.

 

[Ciaopec]

Picked up my Model 3 SR+ yesterday and I had to alter my travel home plans due to flooding blocking roads. This prompted me to end up using a couple superchargers to have enough juice to make it home.

Now I have a couple questions.
1) Is there a way to see supercharger usage history from the car?

2) A day later, I dont see a history tab on my account page where others report seeing their usage history online, so I presume I will not be billed?

3) How does one proactively know which chargers are free to use due to emergency or other situations? The flooding I was avoiding was happening along a river that borders 4 states on my way home, and I'm not sure which states had declared an emergency and which had not.

4) How do I proactively know if Tesla was offering me a perk for time spent in the shop to fix up the car under warranty?

Thanks for helping a noob plug in to the Tesla family.

Don't new owners get 400Kwh free every year? If so, nothing will show up on your "recent supercharging" tab until you use your free allotment. I do not believe there is any "emergency" or "free to use" supercharger unless you are using the phrase in the sense of "is it available in light of major outages"? If that is the case your charging locations (lightning bolt on nav screen) will show all chargers available including a notation of those that are out of service. As far as "emergency declarations" by states or local governments: those will never show.

Your perk for time spent in a shop to fix warranty items is a loaner at a Tesla Service Center. I am not aware of warranty work being accomplished elsewhere.

EDIT: Looks like some posts that made in ahead of mine clarified some things about which I was unaware. With free supercharging available I have not paid attention to "emergency" situations.

 

[krusen]

If it’s an emergency, are you really going to decide which direction to travel based on whether or not fees are waived at a particular supercharger? What’s important is if they’re operational and not affected by flooding. The car nav system will tell you that.

Valid point. While it was not an 'emergency' for me, I had 2 return trip options and free charging could impact my decision on the optimum route to take. I'm also still in the 'marketing' phase of EV life with my significant other, and she likes to know what this 'toy' is really costing us

 

[krusen]

It can take a few days for charges to show up.

Thanks, I'll keep an eye out for a few more days. I did purchase on a weekend so it may be a delay due to 'business hours' of the billing team. But I still think I would like to be able to see a real time tally of my expenses on a trip without keeping a notepad in the car.

 

[Ciaopec]

Valid point. While it was not an 'emergency' for me, I had 2 return trip options and free charging could impact my decision on the optimum route to take. I'm also still in the 'marketing' phase of EV life with my significant other, and she likes to know what this 'toy' is really costing us

A lot less than the ICE vehicle you were driving. I have used 30,000+ Kwh in the 100,000+ miles I have driven in the nearly 3 years I have owned the car. If I had been charged $0.15/Kwh that is still only $4500; cannot do that in an ICE vehicle. No service charge yet, either.

 

[eprosenx]

Slightly off topic, but I am actually a little bit concerned about the policy of making superchargers free for disaster situations.

My concern is that by making certain stations free you might encourage additional use of those stations by folks that have other charging options available and hence you may cause them to be overloaded.

So I am not sure that it is a good idea overall... (unlocking folks software locked battery capacity on the other hand IS a good idea)

 

[TexasEV]

Thanks, I'll keep an eye out for a few more days. I did purchase on a weekend so it may be a delay due to 'business hours' of the billing team. But I still think I would like to be able to see a real time tally of my expenses on a trip without keeping a notepad in the car.

Your most recent supercharging charge should show in the bottom right of your charging screen. Whatever it is, it’s a lot less than gas would have cost to travel that distance. You could also just look for the Tesla charges on your credit card statement.

 

[zhu-]

If you login to your account on Tesla.com, in your history it will show all your paid supercharger sessions. Free ones are not shown anywhere. As far as free emergency supercharger goes, I don't think that's a thing except for that one time during wildfires in California.

 

[krusen]

@TexasEV - I tried looking on my account page from a desktop browser and on my mobile. I'm not seeing any history menu option that others have described.

@eprosenx - I agree with you here. Open up capacity (although I suspect my SR+ is already maxed out); but don't publicize free supercharging.

@caiopec - I'm too late to the game to get the 400Kw/year deal; but would have loved that option. For my normal 'trip to Grandma', ICE is actually cheaper - when you factor in minimum wage for just a car load of people one sitting at the super-chargers.

Thanks all, for the thoughts and ideas. I'm heading out now to check out the auto pilot trial that just showed up! Woot!!!

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Slightly off topic, but I am actually a little bit concerned about the policy of making superchargers free for disaster situations.

My concern is that by making certain stations free you might encourage additional use of those stations by folks that have other charging options available and hence you may cause them to be overloaded.

So I am not sure that it is a good idea overall... (unlocking folks software locked battery capacity on the other hand IS a good idea)

The idea is to ensure that people are just focused on getting out of there. The free Supercharger also ensures that Tesla shows it's not exploiting the situation, and encourages people to get out rather than optimize for cost.

 

[SSedan]

If you login to your account on Tesla.com, in your history it will show all your paid supercharger sessions. Free ones are not shown anywhere. As far as free emergency supercharger goes, I don't think that's a thing except for that one time during wildfires in California.

Believe they did it for a hurricane or two as well, and one time actually uncorked software restricted batteries for the same.

I would not worry about it or expect it. If a month or two after I made a journey I didn't see a charge I would just grin and think a happy thought for Tesla.
They can't keep track of every weather challenge and open up charging for it, the fact they have done so for a few BIG EVENTS is great but not to be expected.

 

[Dana1]

Picked up my Model 3 SR+ yesterday and I had to alter my travel home plans due to flooding blocking roads. This prompted me to end up using a couple superchargers to have enough juice to make it home.

Now I have a couple questions.
1) Is there a way to see supercharger usage history from the car?

2) A day later, I dont see a history tab on my account page where others report seeing their usage history online, so I presume I will not be billed?

3) How does one proactively know which chargers are free to use due to emergency or other situations? The flooding I was avoiding was happening along a river that borders 4 states on my way home, and I'm not sure which states had declared an emergency and which had not.

4) How do I proactively know if Tesla was offering me a perk for time spent in the shop to fix up the car under warranty?

Thanks for helping a noob plug in to the Tesla family.

Supercharger fees aren’t typically waived. There’s been a few well publicized incidents...hurricanes and wildfires...that the company waived them but that’s rare. One Tesla owner said they’d gotten a message on their tablet about it. You’ll get an email or look them up on your Tesla account. You’ll need to include a credit card with the account to keep using Superchargers.

 

[Az_Rael]

When Tesla turned on free supercharging for the So Cal wildfire, we got a pop up notice in the car. So far, mine has not been turned off yet, but I assume another pop up will notify me when it happens.

I have used 0kWh of supercharging in that timeframe (since last Oct), so it certainly didn’t cause any behavior changes on my part.

 

[Dana1]

Valid point. While it was not an 'emergency' for me, I had 2 return trip options and free charging could impact my decision on the optimum route to take. I'm also still in the 'marketing' phase of EV life with my significant other, and she likes to know what this 'toy' is really costing us

While “optimum” has different definitions for different people, absent scenic options, direct routes are optimum from an energy consumption/time perspective. If supercharging is $0.20/kw (it’s less than that in Texas) but at that price it’s $15 for 325 miles (depending on how you drive). That’s $0.046/mile. If you have an ICE that gets 30 miles/gallon, and gas is $2/gallon it’s $0.067/mile. That’s before you factor in oil changes, etc.

 

[krusen]

While “optimum” has different definitions for different people, absent scenic options, direct routes are optimum from an energy consumption/time perspective. If supercharging is $0.20/kw (it’s less than that in Texas) but at that price it’s $15 for 325 miles (depending on how you drive). That’s $0.046/mile. If you have an ICE that gets 30 miles/gallon, and gas is $2/gallon it’s $0.067/mile. That’s before you factor in oil changes, etc.

Yea, in my area they charge by the minute rather than Kw and I'm still trying to figure out the real costs based on driving pattern. (This messed up pricing model is our Government's fault; not Tesla's). When I'm on my own, I'm driving off the bottom of the tank to minimize charging time (and maximize charging rate). But this practice causes range anxiety for others in the car who know that a 10 mph headwind would cause us to not make it to the next supercharger. Also, your calculation assumes I could get 325 miles on 75Kwh. On our 75mph interstate, I was actually burning at 314kw/,mile (or 3.18 miles per Kwh) meaning I would need 102 Kwh *.2$/kwh = $20.41 or $.0628/mile. Admittedly not more cost, but almost equivalent to the ICE example; and the ICE would have got me there faster since it would not need to stop to charge.

It is interesting just how many variables go into all of these decisions. I love creating mental models of all of the options, where my wife is more interested in just getting from point A to B without any drama. You're right 'optimum' is a challenge to define.

But I'm still loving the new ride, and the chance to learn from all of you on this forum.

Still no charges showing on my account as of Sunday evening.

 

[Dana1]

Yea, in my area they charge by the minute rather than Kw and I'm still trying to figure out the real costs based on driving pattern. (This messed up pricing model is our Government's fault; not Tesla's). When I'm on my own, I'm driving off the bottom of the tank to minimize charging time (and maximize charging rate). But this practice causes range anxiety for others in the car who know that a 10 mph headwind would cause us to not make it to the next supercharger. Also, your calculation assumes I could get 325 miles on 75Kwh. On our 75mph interstate, I was actually burning at 314kw/,mile (or 3.18 miles per Kwh) meaning I would need 102 Kwh *.2$/kwh = $20.41 or $.0628/mile. Admittedly not more cost, but almost equivalent to the ICE example; and the ICE would have got me there faster since it would not need to stop to charge.

It is interesting just how many variables go into all of these decisions. I love creating mental models of all of the options, where my wife is more interested in just getting from point A to B without any drama. You're right 'optimum' is a challenge to define.

But I'm still loving the new ride, and the chance to learn from all of you on this forum.

Still no charges showing on my account as of Sunday evening.

If you let the battery charge go too low it’s slow, too.

 

[krusen]

If you let the battery charge go too low it’s slow, too.

Thanks for that. Have any details on what's too low? I did note that on today's charging there was a ramp up period, but was not aware of a too low slow start. I thought the only other reason for a slow start would be a cold battery.

I also got my answer to my question #2
2) A day later, I dont see a history tab on my account page where others report seeing their usage history online, so I presume I will not be billed?
Today the 'history' menu showed up on my account and showed the charges from today's outing. So it appears I got free charging on the day of purchase; but now that they found me they're gonna bill me.

 

[Dana1]

Thanks for that. Have any details on what's too low? I did note that on today's charging there was a ramp up period, but was not aware of a too low slow start. I thought the only other reason for a slow start would be a cold battery.

I also got my answer to my question #2
2) A day later, I dont see a history tab on my account page where others report seeing their usage history online, so I presume I will not be billed?
Today the 'history' menu showed up on my account and showed the charges from today's outing. So it appears I got free charging on the day of purchase; but now that they found me they're gonna bill me.

I’ve never really investigated it but off the cuff I’d guess less than 10%. It has to do with heat generation when charging a nearly empty or nearly full battery.