shyboy
Member
on my last trip, it took me to the supercharger at 5%, when I get there, I couldn't' find a way to get in, it was one of those underground garage where you need to have a pass to get IN the parking. I drove around that area for 5 min to find a way IN and couldn't. Asked a resident and he said oh yeah we have a charger but it is for residents. Now either the nav lying by saying it is tesla supercharger or the resident lied just to push me away.When you charge at a Supercharger, try to plan it so that you don't need to go past 80% charge. That next 10%, and the last 10% take dramatically longer times to finish the charge. The sweet spot for charging speed itself is having a low battery, so starting at 10% or even 5% will cut the time needed to get enough charge.
5% is probably pushing it as a new owner and being unfamiliar with the experience, but after you've done the same trip multiple times you'll get a feel for how reasonable that can be.
Use the internal estimates that the car provides, the Tesla prediction software is very good, and you'll find it routes you to the optimal Superchargers. Be sure to set the destination for the Supercharger- that will allow the car to know you are planning to charge and it will precondition the battery to make the charge faster. If you hit a Supercharger with a cold battery it's a lot slower. On screen you'll see a notice that it is 'preconditioning battery'.
I turned around and found another supercharger few miles away. but the anxiety to find another charger at 5% was very tensed.