Tesla Superchargers are overwhelmed with Model 3s

[juliusa]

The rest of the country does not have these issues, except maybe around NYC.

Around NYC is fine.

 

[Webeevdrivers]

I kinda like the term plague. Hoping to be infected soon.

 

[abasile]

Isn't everything like this in CA? Roads full of car to the point where you cannot even maintain a safe following distance because it pisses other drivers off. Bad air quality. Not enough water. Not enough electricity. It's a challenging place to live in general. The rest of the country does not have these issues, except maybe around NYC.

California has the same issues as any place with high concentrations of people. But it's also a big state with wide open spaces and amazing beauty. This Spring in particular, the desert wildflowers are a real treat.

Yesterday evening, we Supercharged in Cabazon, CA, a key stopping point along I-10 between Los Angeles and Palm Springs. The majority of the cars there were Model 3s, and even still, the majority of the stalls were empty thanks to Tesla having expanded this location. Also, within the last few days, Tesla finally opened a new Supercharger site in Fontana, CA, further west.

So, it's not all gloom and doom out here. I feel very blessed to live in California and to see more and more Tesla vehicles on the road every day. The vast majority of those vehicles are being charged with no difficulty.

 

[PDX-JP]

Keyword being “immediate” as in you bought the car but haven’t yet finalized a solution to charge at home or at work. It still doesn’t convey using the SC network as primary charging for the life of the vehicle.

I hope it’s not the life of my vehicle but charging at home (condo) is moving at a glacial pace. However I am retired so I only visit the SC during off peak times. There’s an urban charger “planned” near me that if ever built would allow me to do shorter charges - ~70%

 

[timk225]

What is happening right now is exactly what so many of use predicted. Once the Model 3 is out, Superchargers will be crowded. Having to wait at a Supercharger was extremely rate for the first 4 years I had my Tesla. Now it's a common thing. :-/

Sucks to be you! You knew this would happen eventually with smaller, more efficient Model 3's.

 

[ljbad4life]

Isn't everything like this in CA? Roads full of car to the point where you cannot even maintain a safe following distance because it pisses other drivers off. Bad air quality. Not enough water. Not enough electricity. It's a challenging place to live in general. The rest of the country does not have these issues, except maybe around NYC.

There are 3 stark differences between LA and NYC:

1)The number of Tesla's is far greater Ia LA than NYC
2)There are a lot more destination chargers (particularly in parking garages) in NYC (251 chargers) than LA (179) according to Plugshare. Tesla driver's here aren't as hungry for superchargers because when they park there's probably a destination chargers in the garage
3) Every supercharger/urban charger has an attached parking fee in NYC limits. This encourages people make the stop quick and charge efficiently. Most places charge $5-7 dollars for an hour parking then get radically more expensive from 2 hours on($20).

 

[BridgeMojo]

I took delivery of my Model S on December 17, 2018. My first extended drive was from Pasadena to Scottsdale, AZ ...

... on December 22, the Saturday before Christmas.

We paused for a driving break at Indio, found a stall and plugged in, though the car said we really didn't need to. It had our trip planned out to charge in Quartzsite -- an easy one-stop day trip. So we unplugged after ten minutes or so and headed on to Quartzsite.

Big mistake! One of the eight Quartzsite superchargers was out of service, and there were twelve Teslas lined up waiting for a spot with the other seven.

We waited an hour forty for a stall, then managed about an hour's charge before continuing our trip. While we were there the line grew as long as 15 waiting Teslas.

In retrospect, it was a predictable situation. We hit a nexus in time where Tesla was delivering cars like gangbusters before the federal EV credit dropped. Every new Tesla owner was eager to make that first road trip. Why not go visit the family at Christmas to show off the new wheels?

Since that trip, we avoid Quartzsite if at all possible, opting for stops at Wickenburg and Indio. On my last trip through, I looked in to see four pallet-based stalls had been added.

Since that time I've only encountered one instance of having to wait for an available stall -- on a holiday weekend in Atascadero. In that instance we had options and didn't need to wait.

In the end, everyone has been good-natured about it. These are great problems to have, honestly. Being a bit late to my sister's did not lead to a life of sorrow.

 

[ForeverFree]

California has the same issues as any place with high concentrations of people. But it's also a big state with wide open spaces and amazing beauty. This Spring in particular, the desert wildflowers are a real treat.

Yesterday evening, we Supercharged in Cabazon, CA, a key stopping point along I-10 between Los Angeles and Palm Springs. The majority of the cars there were Model 3s, and even still, the majority of the stalls were empty thanks to Tesla having expanded this location. Also, within the last few days, Tesla finally opened a new Supercharger site in Fontana, CA, further west.

So, it's not all gloom and doom out here. I feel very blessed to live in California and to see more and more Tesla vehicles on the road every day. The vast majority of those vehicles are being charged with no difficulty.

+1

Photo yesterday in horrible California ...

 

[SanDiegoM3]

I'm jumping late on this thread and didn't read everything, but the simplest solution is to make it unattractive to recharge on a consistent basis within a specific locality on a consistent basis. Follow me here:

If there are too many model 3's traveling the country, that's not the user's fault, that's Tesla's fault for not having enough chargers.

However, if 50% of the model 3's never leave SoCal and charge once or twice a week at a supercharger, well, they're high users and should be taxed as such - or - Tesla should build more stations. Simple as that.

There's plenty of ways to justify this mathematically as well as simple fairness to the network to not allow a small subset of users to disrupt the experience of the masses. It's the the 80/20 rule in that 20% of the users are potentially taking 80% of the resources because they bought a vehicle where they rely on the network, or they know the on-peak/off-peak times and are trying arbitrage for non-sensical monetary savings versus time expense.

 

[b0n3z]

I'm jumping late on this thread and didn't read everything, but the simplest solution is to make it unattractive to recharge on a consistent basis within a specific locality on a consistent basis. Follow me here:

If there are too many model 3's traveling the country, that's not the user's fault, that's Tesla's fault for not having enough chargers.

However, if 50% of the model 3's never leave SoCal and charge once or twice a week at a supercharger, well, they're high users and should be taxed as such - or - Tesla should build more stations. Simple as that.

There's plenty of ways to justify this mathematically as well as simple fairness to the network to not allow a small subset of users to disrupt the experience of the masses. It's the the 80/20 rule in that 20% of the users are potentially taking 80% of the resources because they bought a vehicle where they rely on the network, or they know the on-peak/off-peak times and are trying arbitrage for non-sensical monetary savings versus time expense.

How would you suggest local people in smaller apartments charge without a place to charge at their residents?

This wouldn't even be a conversion/thread if Telsa had delivered on their supercharging schedule. What happened to the Irvine location? What about Buena Park? Maybe the Tustin location is done...? I could go on.

 

[SanDiegoM3]

How would you suggest local people in smaller apartments charge without a place to charge at their residents?

This wouldn't even be a conversion/thread if Telsa had delivered on their supercharging schedule. What happened to the Irvine location? What about Buena Park? Maybe the Tustin location is done...? I could go on.

Supercharging degrades the battery over time. Maybe they should wait until they have a place that can charge their car? Frankly, it’s a risk to rely solely on public charging because then the person is subject to the whims of Tesla or other charging companies pricing policies.

 

[mrbulk]

Wouldn’t it be great if every EV (and I do mean Every) could have a home charging setup somehow? Then Tesla could restrict supercharging to long-distance trips only.

I realize that a certain class of UV owners will not have access to home charging (renters, condo dwellers, etc.) but perhaps some type of federal legislation to help accommodate this class of EV ownership to alleviate the overcrowding beginning to occur at Supercharging stations, similar to how homeowner associations now cannot block installation of solar panels on roofs, etc.?

 

[Rocky_H]

Wouldn’t it be great if every EV (and I do mean Every) could have a home charging setup somehow? Then Tesla could restrict supercharging to long-distance trips only.

I came to realize that different "cities" are an entirely different regional situation. Your location says Las Vegas, NV, so your location is kind of similar to mine in Boise, ID. It's a geographically smallish city, with really nothing outside it. So if you leave the "city", you are doing a long-distance trip.

But I did come to realize that areas like the SF or LA area in California has continuous dense population for maybe 60 or 70 miles in a few directions, and people do "local" type of things pretty far away. People might need to go here and then there and then over there and back home again in a day that really could use up over 200 rated miles of range in what is normal "daily" driving around home, which isn't really a long distance trip. So it's hard to set such a restriction fairly.

 

[abasile]

Wouldn’t it be great if every EV (and I do mean Every) could have a home charging setup somehow?

Yes, and we know it can be done given time. If cities in the frigid north can have outlets everywhere for engine block heaters, then we know it's possible to have wiring for EV charging stations everywhere. The best time to do this is when building new roads and parking lots. All new homes should be pre-wired to accommodate EV charging stations.

Then Tesla could restrict supercharging to long-distance trips only.

No, if you arrive home with a low battery and you need to go somewhere else, you're effectively "dead in the water" unless you can Supercharge / fast charge, or wait several hours for your home charger. Or what if there's a power outage affecting your neighborhood? Or maybe you simply forgot to plug the car in, which happens occasionally when distracted. Or you live in an older house, can only charge slowly, and you need a boost from time to time.

I realize that a certain class of UV owners will not have access to home charging (renters, condo dwellers, etc.) but perhaps some type of federal legislation to help accommodate this class of EV ownership to alleviate the overcrowding beginning to occur at Supercharging stations, similar to how homeowner associations now cannot block installation of solar panels on roofs, etc.?

Yes, there needs to be legislation nationwide, and internationally, to enable tenants and condo owners to pay to install their own charging stations. Too many HOAs and landlords have been refusing to allow charging stations for no good reason.

To address Supercharger overcrowding, the bottom line is that Tesla needs to continue adding many, many Superchargers. Tesla should also try to avoid using "free Supercharging" to sell cars.

Perhaps Tesla could do more to help new owners install home charging stations. Tesla is already helping by charging very reasonable prices for Wall Connectors and for plug adapters. The next step would be offer cheaper, faster home installations. Ideally, if someone decides to buy a Tesla vehicle, they should be able to bundle a "standard charging station install" with the car, and Tesla should send an electrician to their home ASAP. The goal wouldn't be to make money on installations, it would be to reduce friction in taking ownership of EVs.

 

[b0n3z]

I'm not saying the majority of people do this... I'm saying some do. @Oldschool496 is the one that said this:


You can also look at TeslaFi if your a member and see people charging live above 80% or 90% daily.

Because triple quotes don't reply correctly
Tesla Superchargers are overwhelmed with Model 3s

Looks like I called it:
Tesla to cap battery at 80% charge in high-usage Supercharger stations to increase site throughput

 

[Evbwcaer]

If Tesla offered a reduced price at times that when there is both low demand and low kWh rates, they would incentivize locals to charge at those times.

Where I live, there are commercial off peak rates about 1.5 cents from 9p to 7a.

Tesla could make a bigger margin, take stress of SC's, save cusomters money.....