Worst Super Charger in USA?

[Joshan]

After my recent road trip, I have to say Chattanooga.

Pulled up with 9 miles remaining, on Christmas day in the middle of the night. There was not a single person around and the gate was down to the parking area and not opening or giving tickets. There was ZERO chance I was making any other charger, so I lifted the gate myself manually while my wife drover under it.

This must have triggered something as a security person pulled up and started screaming at me that the airport was closed and locked down and I had to leave immediately.

Obviously I refused, as I had no battery, How exactly am I going to leave?

He called the police and when they showed I explained the situation and they told the guard to let me charge to the amount I needed to the next charger (thank goodness)...

After getting enough charge to move on, I had to pay a damn parking charge to leave?!?! (to the guard no less, did he just keep it?)

This was very bad and Tesla needs to move this charging station out from behind a gate that gets locked up and the cops called on owners for using it.

 

[Mattopotamus]

I have been to that charger before, so I know the exact gate you are referring to. It is the only airport charger I have been to, but I would image some others are in parking areas where you have to pay to access. With that said, it is absolutely ridiculous that they are located in an area that is not 24/7.

edit: After rereading your post, it sounds like it should be a 24/7 location, but the gate was malfunctioning. This could happen anywhere.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

It's an exceptional situation, and an older location.

 

[Joshan]

edit: After rereading your post, it sounds like it should be a 24/7 location, but the gate was malfunctioning. This could happen anywhere.

Agreed, the more worrisome part was the guard calling the police on me.

 

[Mattopotamus]

Agreed, the more worrisome part was the guard calling the police on me.

Yeah that is frustrating. Sounds like someone "going by the book" instead of using common sense.

 

[cwerdna]

Was this the location?
PlugShare - Find Electric Vehicle Charging Locations Near You at 1001 Airport Road, Chattanooga, TN 37421?

If so, maybe you can add some useful notes for the next person(s). Also, if you can't edit the listing about the availability problems and guard, maybe click report to get Plugshare to update the listing w/useful info about this.

 

[Matsayz]

Personally Gallup, NM has been my worst charger. Super slow and no services that wouldn’t require a few booster shots afterwards

 

[reddy]

Joplin, MO. Built next to an abandoned 1950s hotel. and a half mile walk to a Sams Club for food and drink.

 

[Rocky_H]

Joplin, MO. Built next to an abandoned 1950s hotel. and a half mile walk to a Sams Club for food and drink.

I've been to that one, and yeah, it's just as desolate as that sounds, being next to an abandoned building and all. And that was before Covid!

 

[cwerdna]

On that note, I disagreed with this guy's suggestion of where EA might want to place DC FCs Electrify America Outreach Webinar
"That kind of approach would encourage EA to put its chargers where the cost to the utility is least... like maybe find an abandoned mall off the freeway with a vault of unused transformers."

Ummm... would you like to go charge at or next to an abandoned mall?

 

[emiliorescigno]

Sioux Falls, SD has a pretty bad reputation. It's located very close to a liquor store, and not far enough back in the lot. Being over 50% ICE'd is quite common, and the locals tend to be EV-hostile.

 

[webbbcam]

The worst supercharger?

It’s the one that hasn’t been built yet!

US 95 from Winnemucca, NV to Coeur d’Alene, ID has only one SC in Boise. 635 miles!

Winnemucca to Boise is doable with a CHAdeMO adapter but Boise to CDA is impossible without a long level 2 charge in the middle.

US 95 needs some love!

 

[Teefal]

I'm sure this is common, but Paramus NJ on Route 17 is a pain to get to and always full with a haphazard line of waiting cars that usually blocks the entrance and parking lot lanes. It's a service center, so the parking lot is overfull with Teslas. Route 17 has long been known as one of the worst highways in America. I grew up there.

"With constant traffic of more than 125,000 vehicles per day, an eight-mile section of Route 17 in Paramus is especially dangerous. With consistent congestion and vehicles traveling at high speeds, it’s no wonder this is one of the most dangerous section of road in the state. "

 

[Missile Toad]

Joplin, MO. Built next to an abandoned 1950s hotel. and a half mile walk to a Sams Club for food and drink.

I've been to Joplin. Grass is growing in the cracks in the pavement. I vaguely recall seeing chain-link fence across part of the derelict hotel. At night, a single streetlamp lights the entire parking lot. All chargers work there, however.

However, worse than Joplin, is the DeFuniak Springs FL site. It is some 2-3 miles off the interstate within a town that is slowly becoming a ghost town. 5 chargers, but only 3 of them operate up to 150 kW. The other two are flickering on and off at 25-30 kW (with no signs that they will be repaired anytime soon). This was the state of the charging site in 2/2020. Today, 1/2021, it appears to be in no better condition. DeFuniak Springs is, sadly, not much different than other failing sites. You report it to Tesla, and they fix it a year or two down the road (if ever).

There is another site, here in Texas, that floods at least once a year, that would be my runner up. I'm baffled why Tesla would put chargers in a location known to flood (the adjacent hotel is up on concrete stilts). I suppose that happened when they were tiny and stupid.

Incidentally, if you go to these 'last legs' or 'congested' sites anytime after noon, you can count on congestion. I wouldn't mind Joplin or DeFuniak Springs if I showed up at either at 10AM. Outside California, competition for charging stalls really doesn't occur in the mornings.

 

[reddy]

I've been to Joplin. Grass is growing in the cracks in the pavement. I vaguely recall seeing chain-link fence across part of the derelict hotel. At night, a single streetlamp lights the entire parking lot.

However, worse than Joplin, is the DeFuniak Springs FL site. It is some 2-3 miles off the interstate within a town that is slowly becoming a ghost town. 5 chargers, but only 3 of them operate up to 120 kW. The other two are stuck at 25-30 kW (with no signs that they will be repaired anytime soon). This was the state of the charging site in 2/2020. Today, 1/2021, it appears to be in no better condition. DeFuniak Springs is, sadly, not much different than other failing sites. You report it to Tesla, and they fix it a year or two down the road (if ever).

There is another site, here in Texas, that floods at least once a year, that would be my runner up. I'm baffled why Tesla would put chargers in a location known to flood (the adjacent hotel is up on concrete stilts). I suppose that happened when they were tiny and stupid.

Yes, I've been to DeFuniak Springs FL as well, twice, at night both times.

I'd still give Joplin a slight edge on creepy ambiance.

 

[Rocky_H]

It's funny/sad how many people I still see sneering and dismissing that electric cars can't be used for travel. So I like how this thread had multiple people comparing notes on sites they have been to in Missouri and Florida. Yes, there is travel happening with Teslas.

 

[Joshan]

It's funny/sad how many people I still see sneering and dismissing that electric cars can't be used for travel. So I like how this thread had multiple people comparing notes on sites they have been to in Missouri and Florida. Yes, there is travel happening with Teslas.

I am the OP and this thread came about because I just completed a Chicago to Tampa and back trip last week. 3 Adults in the car and about 26 hours each way total.

 

[Missile Toad]

Yes, I've been to DeFuniak Springs FL as well, twice, at night both times.

I'd still give Joplin a slight edge on creepy ambiance.

While traveling in the opposite side of Missouri (SE Miner), I came to what _could_ be a creepy site. I plugged in, behind a restaurant that had closed 6 months earlier -- alone, in a well-lit parking lot. To one side, there was an elevated highway atop a 30 foot berm. To another side, was a marshy empty lot. Then, all the overhead lot lights went out.

Now, that would have been creepy, except that in the 15 minutes prior to that, my S70D had shut-down, just 200 yards away, and I was stranded at the roadside with 0 RM on the battery. The short story, is that though it was late evening, and threatening rain, two locals came to my aid. A woman and a police-man, and gave me a push for 8-10 minutes. So, certainly in this case, the dreariness of the charger was more than made up for by the warmth of two local Missourians who came to my aid.

 

[Dre78]

Joplin, MO. Built next to an abandoned 1950s hotel. and a half mile walk to a Sams Club for food and drink.

That one street light isn't even working...

 

[israndy]

When I read the title, I immediately jumped to all the stalls in parking garages. There is one near me that closes at 9 pm. But I am not sure if the car knows that. If this was out in a desert would the car expect to go that way unless it was getting close to closing time? Certainly your story lines up with what I think of as a Bad Santacharger.