Supercharges and ICE occupancy

[TaoJones]

Had to wait a record 20 minutes at SJC at peak time for a charge today. Queuing was civil (we were the 2nd of 3 cars waiting).

My passenger had a great idea - public app-driven shaming. That, and the addition of a red flashing light on top of each charger pedestal that would fire off after 5 minutes of delay after a completed charge. People need to get in the habit of being in their car 2-3% prior to a completed charge so they can amscray promptly.

Obviously this only matters at underserved areas (having only 1 SC in the most densely-populated (owners) county on the continent is indicative of poor planning).

It was a judgment call to stop at SJC at all. In hindsight, I could have charged more in Los Angeles and then not charged at all at SJC, or minimally just for peace of mind.

No indication of locals hogging the chargers with daily charging - lest that the myth continue to be perpetuated by those posters who neither use SCs nor live in SoCal.

I used to wait 20 minutes at the neighborhood Costco for gas, so don't mind 20 minutes at an SC; the difference is that I can get work done at an SC - can't do that while in line at a gas station.

 

[jcaspar]

This could be eliminated 90% of the time if they would just put the chargers as far back in the parking lot as possible. Only people (Ice and EV) that really needed them would use them. I guess that might require longer electrical runs and add cost.

 

[TaoJones]

Well, proper siting and getting SCs out of the malls and into truck stops would go a long way.

 

[TexasEV]

Had to wait a record 20 minutes at SJC at peak time for a charge today. Queuing was civil (we were the 2nd of 3 cars waiting).

My passenger had a great idea - public app-driven shaming. That, and the addition of a red flashing light on top of each charger pedestal that would fire off after 5 minutes of delay after a completed charge. People need to get in the habit of being in their car 2-3% prior to a completed charge so they can amscray promptly.

Obviously this only matters at underserved areas (having only 1 SC in the most densely-populated (owners) county on the continent is indicative of poor planning...

No indication of locals hogging the chargers with daily charging - lest that the myth continue to be perpetuated by those posters who neither use SCs nor live in SoCal..

I don't understand why you think the density of owners should affect the number of superchargers in an area, if locals aren't hogging the chargers. It's the density of owners passing through an area, or traveling to an area, that matters. Owners don't need more superchargers where they live unless it's an area where people are unable to charge at home.

 

[TaoJones]

I don't understand why you think the density of owners should affect the number of superchargers in an area, if locals aren't hogging the chargers. It's the density of owners passing through an area, or traveling to an area, that matters. Owners don't need more superchargers where they live unless it's an area where people are unable to charge at home.

Yes, when there are more non-garaged owners, and more owners of any kind in, commuting to, or just passing through the area, that area would benefit from Tesla's recently-stated commitment to density as well as distance (e.g., more SCs - see LA County). Neither group qualifies as "locals hogging the chargers". That designation would best be reserved for "the garaged", as livery/commercial are really in their own category.

The underlying factor that affects an SC no matter what is ICEing. Tesla could build 24-stall SCs and if 20 of them are used as a parking lot, it's useles. SJC has the double whammy of spaces marked "or 30-minute customer parking" to satisfy perceptual or legal concerns.

Density of owners or density in general (Fox Hills Mall during the holidays) correlates to ICEing incidents. My passenger's observations were made in the spirit of reducing ICEing for the population we can most easily address with what we already have (data and the app(s)).

It's worth noting that none of the above makes all that much difference at all at an SC in, say, Quartzite. It would just be nice to promulgate best practices early on within our own community instead of relying upon law enforcement to write $125 tickets to modify behavior. Not going to happen in most places.

It's a complex problem and yet so simple (ICEing).

But I digress. With regard to your assertion that SCs aren't needed where owners live unless there are more non-garaged there: The distinction in a place like Orange County (and my contention that it is underserved at this time) is that people live *or* work in the same area (unlike, say, Quartzite). Whether they're there for the day or permanently is less important - some are still going to charge at an SC *not every day* but periodically. Example: a garaged person wakes up with their usual 90% charge, and off they go to work in the OC, ~65 miles later. Once a week they have a meeting another ~40 miles further down the road, and at that office all the destination chargers by the time they get there are full of Prius owners getting their 11 miles-worth or are broken. On the way home, they might stop at an SC to top off. Not all the time, and certainly not daily, but perhaps weekly or twice weekly. After all, people with longer commutes are more likely to buy EVs. A big deal? Well, combined with all the other scenarios, it does stand to reason that an area such as Orange County would rate more than 1 SC, regardless of how many owners just reside there.