purplewalt
Active Member
CONGRATULATIONS: QUITE AN ACHIEVEMENT
My understanding is that over 50 percent (actually 52%) of the US population lives within 50 miles of an ocean, and in 20% of the country's land area (excluding Alaska).
http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/population.html
http://www.livescience.com/18997-population-coastal-areas-infographic.html
So in reviewing the current Tesla Supercharger MAP:
** The East coast is covered by Superchargers, except for the upper part of Maine's wilderness (pop. 1,328 K).
** The West Coast is covered by Superchargers. Period.
** The Gulf Coast does have some spots that need to be filled in, and Tesla has a couple underway that may still be completed before the end of the year.
Let's remove both Alaska (pop. 735 K) and Hawaii (pop. 1,404 K) from this discussion as Alaska is vast and very spacious wilderness, and Hawaii because each Island is small enough to cover on a single charge from home, and about 80% of their entire State's population is on Oahu.
And let's also remove Puerto Rico (pop. 3,615 K), because it is similar to each of the Hawaiian Islands, not being part of the lower 48 contiguous states.
IF we use the criteria that each of the largest population by state in descending order for the top 25 States, we note that Western and the Panhandle portions of Texas (#2) is not covered (those areas are very rural/desert/mountainous), then dropping down to Western Tennessee (#17) (Memphis) is not covered, Southern Missouri (#18) is not covered, and upper Minnesota (#21) is not covered.
Continuing on, Southwest Alabama (#23) is not covered, and the majority of Louisiana (#25) is not covered.
The rest of the Top 25 States (by population) are fully covered.
The next 25 (or so) states comprise pop. of roughly 58 M, and several of those are already fully covered/connected: OR, CT, IA, UT, KS, NE, WV, NH, RI, DE, DC and VT (virtually pop. 24 M), so that number drops to ~34 M out of 308 M total for the US.
IF we are using the criteria that the ALL current 4 major sports leagues locate their team franchises in cities with populations large enough to support them, I notice ONLY three US cities that are currently not served by the Supercharger NETwork: New Orleans (Saints and Pelicans), Memphis (Grizzlies) and OKC (Thunder).
(My apologies to several (4) Canadian cities with NHL teams that are currently not connected, but the established criteria is US population).
So, IMHO, (without being an apologist) YES Tesla has already met and exceeded their goal of 80% coverage of US population by the end of 2014.
In fact, quite a bit earlier than December 3, 2014.
Is there room for improvement and further connection? Ubetcha.
Are there some routes that still need better connectivity? Ditto.
Are there some very large land areas that need to be covered? Yes, but they are generally highly rural/mountainous/desert/wilderness in nature.
Do I wish Tesla's Supercharger map was a bit more accurate in its depiction of forthcoming Superchargers? Sure.
Do I (personally) want to be able to (occasionally) get "off" the 'Texas Island' strictly using Superchargers? Duh...
My Glass may not be completely full, but according to the above math, it is certainly well over 80% (probably over 90% full).
Stand by for further successes and Supercharger accomplishments in 2015.
My understanding is that over 50 percent (actually 52%) of the US population lives within 50 miles of an ocean, and in 20% of the country's land area (excluding Alaska).
http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/population.html
http://www.livescience.com/18997-population-coastal-areas-infographic.html
So in reviewing the current Tesla Supercharger MAP:
** The East coast is covered by Superchargers, except for the upper part of Maine's wilderness (pop. 1,328 K).
** The West Coast is covered by Superchargers. Period.
** The Gulf Coast does have some spots that need to be filled in, and Tesla has a couple underway that may still be completed before the end of the year.
Let's remove both Alaska (pop. 735 K) and Hawaii (pop. 1,404 K) from this discussion as Alaska is vast and very spacious wilderness, and Hawaii because each Island is small enough to cover on a single charge from home, and about 80% of their entire State's population is on Oahu.
And let's also remove Puerto Rico (pop. 3,615 K), because it is similar to each of the Hawaiian Islands, not being part of the lower 48 contiguous states.
IF we use the criteria that each of the largest population by state in descending order for the top 25 States, we note that Western and the Panhandle portions of Texas (#2) is not covered (those areas are very rural/desert/mountainous), then dropping down to Western Tennessee (#17) (Memphis) is not covered, Southern Missouri (#18) is not covered, and upper Minnesota (#21) is not covered.
Continuing on, Southwest Alabama (#23) is not covered, and the majority of Louisiana (#25) is not covered.
The rest of the Top 25 States (by population) are fully covered.
The next 25 (or so) states comprise pop. of roughly 58 M, and several of those are already fully covered/connected: OR, CT, IA, UT, KS, NE, WV, NH, RI, DE, DC and VT (virtually pop. 24 M), so that number drops to ~34 M out of 308 M total for the US.
IF we are using the criteria that the ALL current 4 major sports leagues locate their team franchises in cities with populations large enough to support them, I notice ONLY three US cities that are currently not served by the Supercharger NETwork: New Orleans (Saints and Pelicans), Memphis (Grizzlies) and OKC (Thunder).
(My apologies to several (4) Canadian cities with NHL teams that are currently not connected, but the established criteria is US population).
So, IMHO, (without being an apologist) YES Tesla has already met and exceeded their goal of 80% coverage of US population by the end of 2014.
In fact, quite a bit earlier than December 3, 2014.
Is there room for improvement and further connection? Ubetcha.
Are there some routes that still need better connectivity? Ditto.
Are there some very large land areas that need to be covered? Yes, but they are generally highly rural/mountainous/desert/wilderness in nature.
Do I wish Tesla's Supercharger map was a bit more accurate in its depiction of forthcoming Superchargers? Sure.
Do I (personally) want to be able to (occasionally) get "off" the 'Texas Island' strictly using Superchargers? Duh...
My Glass may not be completely full, but according to the above math, it is certainly well over 80% (probably over 90% full).
Stand by for further successes and Supercharger accomplishments in 2015.
