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What Did 2012 MS Buyers Know About SC's and DCQC?

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I had some level of interest in Tesla since the early days of the Roadster, but never thought of buying one until the Supercharger announcement, which happened a few months after the first deliveries. Did the early buyers know that Supercharges were coming? Had Tesla promised a chademo adapter or any sort of DC quick charging?

Thanks.
 
Tesla promised DC fast charging for the Model S at the unveiling in 2009. I think they called it a "45 Minute Quick Charge." I don't believe there was any more specific information on the subject until the Supercharger announcement, however.
 
The first 60s were not delivered until 2013. The 60s were not delivered until all the early 85s were delivered. There was confusion over whether or not the 60s had to pay. I was at the supercharger announcement in September 2012. Very few cars were delivered before the announcement. We had just a fuzzy idea of quick charging. I remember when I went I hoped to see some model Ss--I think there were just a handful there that night. I think there were as many roadsters there as model Ss. Soon after that we received an email from Tesla "Do you want your car in 2012?" We said yes and we got ours December 22. We took our first supercharger trip in the spring of 2013. There were only 6 superchargers and Harris Ranch was a single stall where a roadster charger was located. While charging we saw a white model S drive up--my wife and I looked at each other and said, I wonder if that is Richard. Sure enough a guy we had met who lives close to us was driving. It is amazing to see how Tesla has grown since then.
 
Tesla didn't start producing 60's until early 2013, and I think it wasn't possible to configure a 60 until after the announcement.

This is true. But some of us got supercharging for free. Tesla had led us to believe we would get supercharging standard, then told us (after we had signed contracts) that we would need to pay extra. After a bit of an uproar, Tesla did right by us, and gave supercharging access to everyone who was already under contract at the time.
 
This is true. But some of us got supercharging for free. Tesla had led us to believe we would get supercharging standard, then told us (after we had signed contracts) that we would need to pay extra. After a bit of an uproar, Tesla did right by us, and gave supercharging access to everyone who was already under contract at the time.

Yes, I was part of this small club as well (as we had to finalize in August, 2012 before Tesla clarified the free-for-only-85s part). Thanks to George Blankenship who was probably the most responsible for this.

I do recall the 45-minute-quick-charge part from the early version of the website when I made my reservation over 5 years ago.

And, the Supercharger was not a big secret before the formal unveiling (of that obelisk in Hawthorne). Back at the first Beta test ride event at the Fremont factory in October, 2011, there were whispers about the test ride cars being taken out back from time to time for a quick juice-up.

And, at the first Get Amped test drive event at the factory again in June 2012, there was a big white refrigerator-like cabinet, out in the open for everyone to see, that was serving as the supercharger for the test drive cars.
 
Those of us who are taking delivery now appreciate the early pioneers who get the ball rolling. What a leap of faith to spend that amount of money with the uncertainties and limitations that existed at that time!

(funny to talk about pioneers from 3 to 7 years ago but such is the tech world)

As much as the Tesla founders and funders stuck their necks out, the early buyers of the Roadster and Model S took large personal risks that made Tesla of today a reality.

Thanks!
 
I already had two EVs I liked (a Roadster and a RAV4-EV) before the Model S came along. I'd also taken several L2 road trips, which were nice except for the charge rate. My interest in the Model S was almost entirely because of the promise of fast charging - as others have noticed, they had long promised a 45-minute quick charge, but had never given any details of how, when or where that would happen.

Sig buyers had to lock in their orders by the end of July 2012. There were repeated rumors from the stores that there would be some announcement on fast charging during the spring and then the summer, and as GG notes some had seen a mysterious fast charger at the factory. At the first test drive event in Fremont (June 2012) I asked George Blankenship about it, and he said that such announcement would not come until after Sig buyers had to lock in orders.

I made a complaint or two on these forums, and nearly canceled my order as fast charging was critical to me. But I talked to somebody I knew at corporate. Of course this person could not give me any details, but I explained why I was buying the car and that I did not have enough information, and wondered if I would be disappointed with the car. I was assured that I would be happy with it. Still shy on details, but trusting Tesla to deliver something useful (just a CHAdeMO adapter would have been nearly good enough for me given all the stations in WA and OR; at the time I assumed that would come faster than Superchargers in WA, silly me. They didn't promise one was coming, but did say that enabling charging anywhere possible was a goal of theirs), I locked in my order on the last day for Sigs, July 31 2012.

The fact that the Superchargers were free to use was a surprise.
 
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When I reserved my Sig, Colorado was still a no-man's land with almost no charging stations anywhere except possibly for a few early ones at Walgreen's. I planned to use my Tesla and the Leaf strictly around the metro area; the Supercharger network was a great unexpected bonus. Unfortunately, much of the state still remains off the map as far as quick charging goes.
 
When I reserved, the SC's were mentioned but still a pretty decent unknown.

I did the math though and figured that an S85 would make an awesome Bay Area day-tripping car. The second car was going to be an ICE so going with the S seemed like a reasonable bet.
 
I don't remember what I knew at the time, but I purchased the car primarily for local use. Even if I was aware of supercharging at the time, I didn't expect it to come anywhere near me for many years, because I live in a very rural area. As it turns out, Normal, IL was one of the first Superchargers (because Normal is considered "EVtown") outside of California.

A pleasant surprise to me.
 
Perhaps an interesting data point is that when the Natick Mall Tesla showroom opened in Sept 2012, we went and talked to several Tesla people there from California. When I mentioned how great the supercharging system would be, one of the Tesla people was quite dismissive. She said most people at Tesla thought people would buy the cars as at least second if not third cars and would only use them locally, using their other (ICE) vehicles for any longer distance travel.

It hasn't quite worked out that way it seems.

Incidentally, she also was unimpressed by the notion of using older, partially degraded packs for grid storage. We'll see.