Supercharger - Seattle, WA - NW. Ballard Way (LIVE Dec 2020, 8 V2 stalls)

[Big Earl]

That might just be the way things will be for a city charger (slow charging because the battery didn’t have long enough to warm up) unless someone is in the middle of a road trip or stopping for a charge at the end of one. The 35 minutes it took for me to drive the 15 miles, with preconditioning starting as I pulled out of my driveway, wasn’t enough to get much speed of charge.

Yep - that’s how it goes with local supercharging. In addition to being slow, it takes a lot of additional energy to warm it up to supercharger temperature compared to warming it up for AC (level 1 or 2) charging. It can be several additional kWh, which can add up to a buck or two every time you charge.

If you can charge at home or at work, that’s always the best option. If superchargers are your only option, plan your trips accordingly and use the time productively; it’s going to take longer than a typical road trip charging session, especially in cool weather.

 

[PLUS EV]

Pretty much every supercharger thread these days has locals complaining about slow supercharging after it first opens, and yeah, usually it's cold battery, high SOC, etc. although in the case of v3s it does seem like they nerf them for a couple weeks as they monitor them and then take the training wheels off later.

Also, let's keep in mind that even for locals who want to supercharge here regularly, this cold battery issue is only going to be a thing for maybe 4-5 months out of the year. Also, the locals themselves will likely figure out that supercharging after driving for a while is better than supercharging when the car is ice cold. It isn't all that bad!

 

[rgr4]

I charged my model y here Saturday night at around 8pm. Had about 15% charge and was charging at 120kW.

 

[phcd]

Woke up this morning to drop off my loaner from Tesla since my MY is in for repairs

I live about 30mins from Lynwood but discovered my car only had 7miles of charged left this morning. I haven’t installed a home charger so supercharger network is my only way to get a charge. I was pleasantly surprised to see this Ballard location on the Tesla map this morning.

Arrived with 2 miles of charge left, took me a while to find the chargers at the bottom of the ROSS parking lot. Guess they don’t t have way finding signs from the outside. Now I’m sitting here waiting for a charge with 1 bar of LTE connection on my TMobile iPhone 12 Pro.

This loaner is a 2018 MS 75D. Starting from 2 miles of charge I got a peak of 88KW on stall 2A which has tapered down to 63KW at around 50% charge.

(This is my first post in TMC. Loving this community and all the updates on Seattle superchargers, it’s been super helpful and informative. Personally waiting on the Northgate one to get built since I live 5mins away and haven’t decided if I want to fork up the extra money for home charging while COVID is still around and weekday trip being limited)

 

[Doanster1]

View attachment 618469 View attachment 618470 View attachment 618471 Woke up this morning to drop off my loaner from Tesla since my MY is in for repairs

I live about 30mins from Lynwood but discovered my car only had 7miles of charged left this morning. I haven’t installed a home charger so supercharger network is my only way to get a charge. I was pleasantly surprised to see this Ballard location on the Tesla map this morning.

Arrived with 2 miles of charge left, took me a while to find the chargers at the bottom of the ROSS parking lot. Guess they don’t t have way finding signs from the outside. Now I’m sitting here waiting for a charge with 1 bar of LTE connection on my TMobile iPhone 12 Pro.

This loaner is a 2018 MS 75D. Starting from 2 miles of charge I got a peak of 88KW on stall 2A which has tapered down to 63KW at around 50% charge.

(This is my first post in TMC. Loving this community and all the updates on Seattle superchargers, it’s been super helpful and informative. Personally waiting on the Northgate one to get built since I live 5mins away and haven’t decided if I want to fork up the extra money for home charging while COVID is still around and weekday trip being limited)

Basically 0% SoC and you maxed out at only 88kW? Nothing higher than that, if even for 5mins before it settled in at 88? Strange if so.

 

[Araman0]

It's a loaner Model S, so the battery charge rate might be capped. My 2012 S exhibits similar behavior.

 

[Long Ranger]

I haven’t installed a home charger so supercharger network is my only way to get a charge.

Welcome to TMC!
Do you at least have access to a 120V outlet at home? It’s slow, but plugging in nightly sure beats using superchargers for daily use in my book. And If the outlet is 20 amp, get the $35 Tesla NEMA 5-20 adapter instead of using the 5-15 that comes with the car.
Gen 2 NEMA Adapters

 

[GHammer]

Basically 0% SoC and you maxed out at only 88kW? Nothing higher than that, if even for 5mins before it settled in at 88? Strange if so.

Not really, if he only had 7 miles and arrived with 2 he didn't drive very far so, as noted upthread, cold battery.

 

[Doanster1]

Not really, if he only had 7 miles and arrived with 2 he didn't drive very far so, as noted upthread, cold battery.

Ah, yes, neglected (didn’t read!) the fact that he started with 7miles.

 

[PLUS EV]

Basically 0% SoC and you maxed out at only 88kW? Nothing higher than that, if even for 5mins before it settled in at 88? Strange if so.

He parked it overnight with almost nothing left on the battery, so he would have been arriving with the battery being ice cold. I don't think 88kW is unreasonable there. Honestly, he's lucky he didn't get stranded either at home or on his way to the charger. Parking overnight with 7 Rated Miles left is suboptimal to say the least.

 

[PLUS EV]

Welcome to TMC!
Do you at least have access to a 120V outlet at home? It’s slow, but plugging in nightly sure beats using superchargers for daily use in my book.

This is 100% true. I was in an apartment for 4 years and had no L2 charging available, but getting a parking spot with a 120V outlet was HUGE. In my case, it was generally enough to meet my charging needs during the warmer months as long as I was sure to plug in every night. During the winter months, I would lose a net of about 10 rated miles per day, but I frequently go on road trips, so that was usually enough to last me in between road trips and prevent me form having to use local superchargers. Maybe once or twice a winter, I would drive up to Lynnwood just to charge to full, but it was rare. The biggest inconvenience was having to charge to near full at my last supercharger stop on the way home from a road trip, but that wasn't really that big a deal either.

On the other hand, not having a 120V outlet and having to use local superchargers monthly or even weekly would have totally sucked!

Now I'm in a house that also has a 120V outlet near where I park. I was going to install a HPWC, but I'm driving so little during the pandemic that it hasn't been necessary. And I live ~2 miles from this supercharger in Ballard so that has me questioning if it's worth it to install a HPWC (I'm renting the house from a family member). Even when the pandemic ends and I start driving more locally, doing my grocery shopping down in Ballard is a decent option. I'm not exactly a coupon clipper but I do have FREE supercharging which is a small factor

 

[im.thatoneguy]

Tried it out today with only about 7 miles preconditioning best I got was 44kw which is the same I get off of the city Chademo pedestal for $0.17kwh and actually get reception to watch netflix/hulu.

Looks like I'll actually be passing on ballard until the summer thaw. 2x expensive and no entertainment. Hopefully like downtown they add WiFi.

 

[PLUS EV]

Hopefully like downtown they add WiFi.

I never heard about this. Who added wifi and how? I assume you're talking about the supercharger at One Union Square?

 

[im.thatoneguy]

I never heard about this. you're talking about the supercharger at One Union Square?

There is one charging space closest to the pit that has free wifi good enough to watch tv.

It's called like TeslaGuest and the car just connects automatically.

 

[PNWLeccy]

Driving for about 30 minutes and preconditioned. Arrived at ~45% and wasn’t sharing a stall and only got max 63kw. Switched stalls and still only got 60kw. Have 3g reception in 1B.

Saw no signage to indicate where the charger was and followed another down to the basement to find it.

 

[Big Earl]

Driving for about 30 minutes and preconditioned. Arrived at ~45% and wasn’t sharing a stall and only got max 63kw. Switched stalls and still only got 60kw. Have 3g reception in 1B.

Saw no signage to indicate where the charger was and followed another down to the basement to find it.

What kind of car?

 

[PNWLeccy]

What kind of car?

Model 3 LR

 

[sosinc3]

I think it is great that Tesla is making more and more of these available but I have been told by now several Tesla service technicians to avoid using superchargers as my only means to charge the car. They have said it is detrimental to your battery life and health to keep charging only at superchargers. Also for those that say oh well I have 8 year unlimited mileage warranty on my battery pack like i do I have news for you. My batteries only charge up to 98% now no matter what we do and the service center has looked at it multiple times. They are saying the battery pack health is within their norms and even though it is not charging at 100% which is what we do prior to leaving for trips there is nothing they can do and short of a cell failing they will do not replace the battery pack.

I have been told the supercharger network was really designed originally for travelers and yes they are now putting them in urban areas mostly as a marketing help to get past the resistance for people to buy Tesla vehicles if they don't have a charger at home. If you live in a house or other dwelling that you have access to/or can have access to charging via a 120V outlet or better yet installing a 40A outlet or a HWPC, you are better off doing that.

I mean for me, my time is way more valuable than the free supercharging I get (I had paid a $2,000 upfront cost for lifetime supercharging mostly for traveling as we go to Oregon and California several times a year). I much rather be sitting on my couch relaxing or doing something productive vs. waiting around in the car for it to charge. Also if you don't have free supercharging, then charging at home at least in the Seattle area is always your least expensive way for the electricity charge not to mention your time.

After trying to live with just a 120V/12A outlet when I first got my car, I decided to install both a HPWC and a 240V/40A outlet so that I would have a backup just in case -- and I am glad I did. This past Spring, my HPWC stopped working after 6+ years and while I was waiting for a new one to be delivered and installed, I was really glad to have the 40A outlet as a backup. It cost me about $150 to install the 40A and about $400 to install the HPWC. Keep in mind costs will vary depending on the location of these outlets and their distance from where your main circuit breaker box is and what needs to be done to get wires there.

Do yourself and your car a favor and use the superchargers only when you have to.

 

[Roadsailing]

Used this location yesterday. Went there after taking delivery that afternoon. Pretty straightforward and there were 3 other cars there. Liked that it was covered and the spaces were of a decent size (which is somewhat difficult to find in many buildings going up).

 

[PLUS EV]

Cruised in here at 3am on a Thursday just to confirm that it's open 24 hours. It is! They close the south gate but leave the north gate open. Just like the last time I went here late at night there was no sign of security but also no signs of anyone sketchy. Kind of strange actually given how many people are living on the streets just a couple blocks away. This location still needs signage indicating how to get to the supercharger imo.