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Everybody remembers their first time.......

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I'm referring to supercharging, of course.

Mine was Port Orange, FL. It was my first road trip and I had extreme range anxiety regarding whether I would make it from Tampa to Port Orange on one charge.

Where was your first time?
 
"Supercharging".

So is that:eek: the term used these days? :biggrin:


Our first time at a supercharger was at the fairly elaborate Grand Opening of Arizona's first supercharger, at Quartzite. Here is Carl Levecque (sp?) of Carl's Jr pointing through the sun glare to our 2mph (malamute-power-hour) Model S.

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Burlington WA, the start of our 17,000km / 12,500mi ElektrikTrek last year. Didn't have range anxiety, but found that I had over-estimated the amount of time we would have to spend there. The speed was incredible (still is... the car is almost ALWAYS ready for the next leg before we are).

There *is* one drawback, or disadvantage, of using superchargers. My wife will absolutely not ever again take a trip where we have to use an L2 during the day. :)
 
My first time was a year ago. There were no Superchargers in Canada yet and I had driven and stayed overnight in Windsor Ontario (across the river from Detroit) to charge at the hotel's Level 2 station. From there I ventured all the way to Angola, IN and pulled in with maybe 20 miles of Rated Range left. I plugged in and got nothing but a red ring! Tried several more times and still got the red ring. I moved to another stall and again, got a red ring. I was a bit panicked. After I fiddled some more, I eventually got it charging, but when I climbed back into the car I got a charging error and the ring was red again. I realized the slight movement of the car when I got in had wiggled the cable slightly causing the problem. So I got it going once more and carefully backed away from the car and it did complete the Supercharging session. I had the same issue at Mishawaka, IN and Aurora, IL on my way to northern Illinois.

When I got home, I took the car in to Service to check it out. I had no problem with my UMC or with the J1772 adapter. Tesla in Toronto had no Supercharger to test it on, but couldn't find anything wrong.

Later that year, when the Toronto, ON Supercharger opened, my car connected and charged like a champ. Ditto with the Woodstock, ON Supercharger later that fall.

I just came back from a repeat of that trip to northern Illinois and had absolutely no issues with Superchargers. I guess my car was just a little shy on it's first time :smile:
 
I've actually been thinking about this some because I am getting near my first Supercharger opportunity. I got the car in March 2014, so it has been about a year and three months, and I still haven't had one close enough to use. During that almost year and a half, I have taken it on trips from Boise to Logan Utah and to Salt Lake City, but still never got to use a Supercharger because they hadn't been built there yet. In July, we are going on a trip from Boise to Portland, and we will get to use a Supercharger for the first time.
 
My first time was Dec 2014. Got my car end of Oct 2014, and planned my cross-country trip from California to Virginia & back for mid December. Come early December, I realized that I should probably try out supercharging before I head out with the wife on a 7,000+ mile trip in winter that relied exclusively on superchargers.

A friend flew into San Diego, so I decided to drive down and meet him. Stopped by SJC on the way there and back. It was crowded (it was a Friday, after all), but I found a spot and had a nice chat with a couple parked next to me. I was quite nervous about the range down to SD (with some driving around) and then back up, but I shouldn't have been. Used the bathroom and grabbed a drink at that busy mexican restaurant/bakery nearby - came back and found the car ready to go! Like others, I was amazed at the speed. A chat and bathroom/drink ate up the 20-25 mins real quick.

My one drawback from using Superchargers? The wife loves to shop. The savings on gas quickly was spent on clothes, accessories, and wine. But ya know... happy wife, happy life.
 
My first supercharger was Billings, Montana. It was the very first SC in the state. I remember the temperature was in the low 80's and when I plugged it in, it sounded like a spaceship getting ready to take off!
All that power blasting into the battery got that coolant pump circulating big time! Then I went into "Tesla Time Mode" when the hotel manager came out and asked a million questions since seeing some one actually charging was a first for her, too! Last time I saw her she said the hotel is considering buying a Tesla or Two for airport shuttles to and from the hotel! I had told her about the 100's of taxis in airport in Amsterdam. :)
 
Oddly, I don't remember which was my first supercharge for TesS. I'm sure I documented it, but my human memory doesn't hold it.

As for Mercury, I definitely remember the first supercharge at Burlington, WA. Rolosrevenge had the honor of doing the actual plug-in action.
 
I owned mine for nearly a year before a SC was even in range but we drove to Asheville, NC and destination charged (L2) at the city garage and then got to Burlington, NC on a trip to Suffolk, VA. Then again at Rocky Mount for #2. The problem was when a got back to Rocky Mount a few days later on our return trip, I arrived with 0 miles left and the charger failed. Moved it to another pedestal and got the same response. A call to Tesla and they pulled the logs and had me try again. Nope! Red Rings. Rebooted main screen. Still nothing. THEN Tesla asked, "Are you opening the charge port via the screen or via the charger button?" Response: "Uhh...via the screen. Didn't even notice the button on the charge handle." "OK let's try it the other way then." BINGO! Since that time I can use either the screen or the button and it makes no difference but that first time...