Supercharging pain in rear

[sorka]

I was told by the service adviser at Burbank that the Local Grid Feed was maxed out, and that additional power for the existing superchargers, and/or additional SC's was not available without a major upgrade of the local grid.

Then they should mark this site as "reduced service" so that it shows up in the nav that way.

 

[sorka]

Wife just said she's never driving the Tesla again......

One of my favorite old threads. We need to get that one opened back up

Still no explanation as to why it was closed. The mods should have just moved the few offending comments.

 

[TexasEV]

What it was supposed to mean is that you are likely less ignorant than you sound.

Yes, that is exactly what I was saying. If he reads the posts here as much as he posts about how his Tesla doesn't match up to some expensive ICE cars, he would know that Burbank has problems. With all the supercharging stations in California, it should be possible to plan whatever trip of several hundred miles it was without stopping there. Driving a Tesla does take some advance planning, something early adopters took for granted but recent purchasers who arent into EVs don't think about.

Off topic, but for example here's a recent message to the local Austin Tesla owners group:
"I'm in San Antonio with 10 miles range and need to get back to Austin quickly. Doesn't San Antonio have any DC fast chargers?" (No, it doesn't, and you should have looked at options for charging there before now).

/rant off.

 

[sorka]

100% agree.

And Tesla CAN actually know how many people are in line and waiting - unlike PlugShare.

Additionally, they can even know how many Tesla's are in route to each supercharger. That combined with how many are there, the current status of the grid, the stacks(like which ones aren't able to deliver full charges, etc would allow them to accurately and hours in advance, calculate you're wait time, if any, long before you get there and even possibly reroute you if going to an alternate sc would allow your route to be traveled faster.

 

[roblab]

And that's supposed to be an excuse on behalf of Tesla? You either own stock or they are paying you… lol. Keeping my fingers crossed that Tesla works quickly to address customer concerns.

It used to be that Tesla owners were expected to be smarter than the average driver. It's like driving on a mountain road up into the snow and then being shocked that your traction is lowered and you slide off the road. It's something the smart drivers understand.

Smart Tesla drivers know that we are on the front of the curve. They know what Tesla is able to do at this point, and that any company in the world is unable to do any better. They can figure out how to get the best use of this best car. They understand that there are some compromises to any new technology. And they know Tesla is doing far more than any other company at addressing customer concerns, though some concerns might be a little more important than others.

Some of us have figured out how to travel in CA. I found Burbank to be uncrowded and operating well, but it was at 6AM Saturday. Otherwise, it's used a lot by locals, who think "that makes me smart", and that supercharging is a right: others' needs are not important. Tesla will probably add more chargers, but it's only 25 miles to Culver City, or 75 to Tejon, wherever they put it will probably not suit someone.

Yeah, I own stock. Smart Tesla drivers do.

 

[jelloslug]

Sounds like you need to just sell it and move on.

 

[habanero69]

That makes sense. Surprised there is no real-time information about vacancy such as on the PlugShare app. It would make sense to know if there were 3-4 people in line so I can plan accordingly and not drive there.

Sounds like an APP would work in this case. You know. THE apps that were promised and supposed to make our life easier? What are there? 2 apps? EMBARRASSING.... Then, who in the right mind would develop? Who will pay for them? Even more of an issue, access to Tesla mother ship data (aka API) is practically non existent as it is, and I don't see that changing...

 

[habanero69]

Additionally, they can even know how many Tesla's are in route each supercharger. That combined with how many are there, the current status of the grid, the stacks(like which ones aren't able to deliver full charges, etc would allow them to accurately and hours in advance, calculate you're wait time, if any long before you get there and even possibly reroute you if going to an alternate sc would allow your route to be traveled faster.

Wait. That sounds like a technology company and not a car company. Wait. Tesla IS a Technology company first, and a car company second. Another case of them not sharing easily providable mother ship data.

 

[sorka]

Part of the problem you experienced is charging from 150 to 250 miles of range. As the battery gets full, the charge rate slows considerably. One is best off charging from 10 miles of range to 180 to make it to the next supercharger. While topping off is great at home, before leaving for a trip, it's not very efficient at a supercharger.

I continually run into folks on long trips charging from 40 to 80% not realizing that charging from 10 to 50% would be twice as fast.

 

[oktane]

Sounds like you need to just sell it and move on.

Yes, I might end up doing that if the car doesn't grow on me soon. I'm trying hard to rationalize away the flaws. Not everyone has so little going on in life that they can plan their entire day around a supercharger and read every workaround posted on an Internet forum to make up for flaws.

And to roblab, you own stock in Tesla and that makes you "a Smart Tesla driver?" You lost me there buddy, I don't see the correlation other than it makes your opinion biased.

 

[bhzmark]

I continually run into folks on long trips charging from 40 to 80% not realizing that charging from 10 to 50% would be twice as fast.

Charging 40 to just 50% would be the fastest.

 

[⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️]

Still no explanation as to why it was closed. The mods should have just moved the few offending comments.

Out of the 204 threads in my "All Watched Threads" list it's the only one that's been shut down for inappropriateness.

 

[sorka]

Charging 40 to just 50% would be the fastest.

But that's only a 10% charge

 

[MP3Mike]

Additionally, they can even know how many Tesla's are in route to each supercharger.

Not exactly. They could know how many are using the navigation and planning to stop at a Supercharger, but I am sure that some people don't use the navigation they just know that is where they are going to stop and go there on their own. (Or are using Waze or some other navigation system.)

 

[Bet TSLA]

Not exactly. They could know how many are using the navigation and planning to stop at a Supercharger, but I am sure that some people don't use the navigation they just know that is where they are going to stop and go there on their own. (Or are using Waze or some other navigation system.)

That's not really much of an impediment. They know how much charge people have left. They know how far they are from home. They know generally which way they're heading. It's not hard to come up with a probability that they will go to the supercharger, and how much they will want to charge. Tesla can do some pretty good analysis if they want to.

 

[DarkMatter]

Plan your entire day around a supercharger? That's an exaggeration. It stinks that the infrastructure is not as evolved as one with a hundred year head start. It also weakens your totally valid point to result to superlatives. You should not have had to wait that long, and should have been getting better than ChaDeMo rates. Also those experiences are likely to still happen for at least the next 10 years until we achieve high density of reliable charging. It's still going at breakneck pace. For some other vehicles your unacceptably low charging rate was better than their highest possible charging rate.

 

[dhanson865]

Tried SuperCharger the first time yesterday. I was not prepared for the shock. It took me 1 hour to charge from 150mile to 250mile for my S90D. The initial charge rate was like 10mile/hour, i thought the stall I use had issues so I moved to a different one. Quickly, I realized that cold weather was limiting the charge speed. After 30min, the charge rate goes up to 100mile/hour.

Way slower than I thought I heard from tesla.

Now, for winter driving and charging, prepare charge frequently and longer.

Supercharging is fastest from 0 miles remaining. Why were you charging from 150 remaining? Did you need 250 miles charge to make it to your destination?

If you didn't need 250 miles range then that is why supercharging was slow, you aren't supposed to charge to full or anywhere near full unless you need it.

 

[oktane]

Plan your entire day around a supercharger? That's an exaggeration. It stinks that the infrastructure is not as evolved as one with a hundred year head start. It also weakens your totally valid point to result to superlatives. You should not have had to wait that long, and should have been getting better than ChaDeMo rates. Also those experiences are likely to still happen for at least the next 10 years until we achieve high density of reliable charging. It's still going at breakneck pace. For some other vehicles your unacceptably low charging rate was better than their highest possible charging rate.

Fair enough, I will concede your point that "entire day" is an exaggeration. Still annoying though!

 

[No2DinosaurFuel]

Supercharging is fastest from 0 miles remaining. Why were you charging from 150 remaining? Did you need 250 miles charge to make it to your destination?

If you didn't need 250 miles range then that is why supercharging was slow, you aren't supposed to charge to full or anywhere near full unless you need it.

Actually on the newer batteries charging from 10% and on is faster than from 0-10%. My 90D caps at around 50-60KW until it reaches 10% then it goes up to 100+KW.

 

[ReddyLeaf]

You guys have some wonderful advice overall but no need to defend Tesla. From your own admission this is a known problem, I'm guessing for a long time. Tesla is on the cutting edge but it seems the infrastructure is 2 years behind what is needed to make this car a practical replacement for ICE. None of us on this forum are ignorant or we couldn't afford this car. Of course there are positives with the car, which I am not disputing.

I had a lot of resistance recently from the girlfriend for getting a nerd car even though I had wanted one for about 3 years. I couldn't defend my decision much in Burbank when she said "we are never taking a road trip in your Tesla again."

I can't say I blame her. It's not really fun for non-nerds to be at a supercharger station. I will just use it locally for now and pick up a nice luxury SUV for road trips.

Actually, the Tesla is a great road trip car. The last time I was through Burbank the SC did not even exist and I made it just fine from WA State to Southern CA. Apparently that station is under powered, so you experienced a longer stop than expected. Don't judge the system by one experience. Such things will always happen periodically. Just look at Barstow around Christmas. It was packed with 2 hour waiting just to get to the charger. Now it's completely empty. I had a bad experience in Ellensburg (five stalls, 3 ICE'd and five Tesla's trying to charge) but made it through, though I was plenty upset at the time because I was trying to make it to a funeral 300 miles away. Try a relaxing vacation where there are no time constraints.