Tesla's Supercharger network is amazing. Not just how fast the chargers are, but the handle design, how they take advantage of Tesla's large batteries for speed and spacing, how fast they are deploying them, the frictionless business and usage models, ownership by the automakers so there's no finger-pointing when there are problems, the co-location sites, etc. Tesla put a lot of thought in to this, and they are doing way better than anybody else in the space.
But, yeah. Using non-dedicated spots can be a huge problem. When I talked to them about site planning a year and a half ago, the key point I made was that unusable chargers are WORSE than no chargers. The chargers have to be available when people get there. This is something that could really bite them (though so far, we mostly seem to be seeing close calls rather than true problems, at least in terms of ICEing).
But at the same time, a startup company doing this sort of work has to watch costs, and they are getting the parking spots MUCH cheaper (as in, free) this way. Perhaps a Supercharger network with a few hiccups is better than no Supercharger network at all (assuming the cost difference meant whether the whole network was viable or not; I don't know). Maybe at some point - presumably after studying what they have for a while - they will be able to do something better.
I think the key to improvements going forward is to make sure Tesla knows when there are problems. So if you ever arrive at a Supercharger and can't charge (no matter what the reason), please make sure you either call the phone number on the chargers, or email 0
[email protected].
In the mean time...what would it take to make a 25' Supercharger extension cord just in case? :smile: