Worst moment since owning my S

[bollar]

Would a big red X on the nav over Shamrock really have helped you? I suppose you could have range charged in Weatherford, but getting to Amarillo in that weather might have been tight.

It would have let him spend the night in a town with power, or given his destination, reroute on I-70.

Shamrock is nice place to visit and I love my Big Vern's steaks (when there's power), but I would rather be stuck elsewhere. It's a town of 2500 people (only 5000 in the entire county) and if something goes wrong, there aren't many choices.

 

[David99]

Would a big red X on the nav over Shamrock really have helped you? I suppose you could have range charged in Weatherford, but getting to Amarillo in that weather might have been tight.

I would have stayed at the previous Supercharger and looked for alternative routes. Worst case I would have stayed at a hotel there. But without the warning I was trapped in that little town without any power. With the energy I had left in the battery I could not reach anything that had power.

This is just one unfortunate scenario. There are many reasons why Superchargers might be out of service. When traveling in a Tesla we really need to know if Superchargers are down.

 

[RockinWithKids]

When traveling in a Tesla we really need to know if Superchargers are down.

Have you and/or others directly given this feedback to Tesla and gotten confirmation that they recognize the problem?

 

[green1]

I bet nobody told the gas cars the stations were down either.
There is simply nothing tesla specific about this situation

 

[tga]

It would have let him spend the night in a town with power, or given his destination, reroute on I-70.

Shamrock is nice place to visit and I love my Big Vern's steaks (when there's power), but I would rather be stuck elsewhere. It's a town of 2500 people (only 5000 in the entire county) and if something goes wrong, there aren't many choices.

Depends on where you are in the trip when the power goes out. In this case, he may have been too far along to re-route on I-70 when the SC lost power. Although if you're going to be stranded, I guess it's better to voluntarily strand yourself where there's power and you can get a hot meal or shower.

In this case, I think you'd be stuck regardless of your motive power. Sounds like not many people were moving in the panhandle for a bit (relatives in OK said it was a mess).

I'm not arguing against a big red X on the map, was just thinking out loud how you'd use the info. Agreed, more info is better, and the cost to Tesla to provide it is pretty low. Outside of CA, superchargers are sparse enough there isn't often an alternate route...

 

[RockinWithKids]

I bet nobody told the gas cars the stations were down either.
There is simply nothing tesla specific about this situation

I agree that there may not be anything Tesla specific. However, Tesla has the ability to make this unfortunate experience much better for Tesla owners and superior in every way to ICE owners.

 

[TexasEV]

When power to the Corsicana supercharger was knocked out in a construction accident, the message showed up in the nav system that the SC was offline if trying to navigate to that SC, but not when using a route to a more distant place that needed a stop at that SC. Tesla said then they were aware of the problem and they plan to fix it in a future update.

 

[wdolson]

I agree that there may not be anything Tesla specific. However, Tesla has the ability to make this unfortunate experience much better for Tesla owners and superior in every way to ICE owners.

Probably true. I was just thinking, imagine calling Ford when stuck in a town with no power and none of the gas stations work. They aren't going to send out a tow truck to tow you to the next town with working gas pumps.

 

[green1]

I agree that there may not be anything Tesla specific. However, Tesla has the ability to make this unfortunate experience much better for Tesla owners and superior in every way to ICE owners.

They already did. How many of the ice vehicles waiting at gas pumps had their manufacturer arrange a tow to the next station? I'm betting the answer is zero.

 

[David99]

Probably true. I was just thinking, imagine calling Ford when stuck in a town with no power and none of the gas stations work. They aren't going to send out a tow truck to tow you to the next town with working gas pumps.

Of course not. Ford doesn't own or operate gas stations. Tesla, on the other side, owns and operates the entire Supercharger network and it is made exclusive for Tesla owners and we all payed to have access. I think that makes it a totally different situation.

 

[green1]

Of course not. Ford doesn't own or operate gas stations. Tesla, on the other side, owns and operates the entire Supercharger network and it is made exclusive for Tesla owners and we all payed to have access. I think that makes it a totally different situation.

So how many of the gas station owners called tow trucks for their customers then?

 

[wdolson]

Of course not. Ford doesn't own or operate gas stations. Tesla, on the other side, owns and operates the entire Supercharger network and it is made exclusive for Tesla owners and we all payed to have access. I think that makes it a totally different situation.

You are right about that, though I think Tesla would probably send a truck to tow you if you ran out of juice trying to make it through an area with no superchargers too.

 

[svp6]

So how many of the gas station owners called tow trucks for their customers then?

In fact, Tesla is lagging behind on this. Mercedes, BMW (personal experience) and many GM brands (from what I understand about OnStar) have onboard diagnostics and communication with the mothership (similar to Tesla). In addition, you can directly talk with the concierge via car-mounted communication line. Towing (aka roadside assist) is included in the service. System will also monitor for airbag deployment and other things suggestive of an accident and call you in the car to confirm you are OK / send EMS if needed. This is a service I hope Tesla implements too. If you ever forgot your mobile phone when leaving on a trip, you understand why redundancy in communication lines may be important if you get in trouble. If David did not have a cell phone with him, sending messages to Tesla would have been much more difficult.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

I think it would be a lot easier to just send somebody with a few 5 gallon gas cans from the next town over. No need to tow. Within a few minutes, all ICE cars could get a gallon and be in their way and fill up when they get to the next town.

Also a pickup with 50 gallons on the back could easily handle dozens of cars. I bet a generator could also be used to run those gas pumps at the station. It wouldn't take nearly as long to get those ICE cars back on the road.

 

[flankspeed8]

Probably true. I was just thinking, imagine calling Ford when stuck in a town with no power and none of the gas stations work. They aren't going to send out a tow truck to tow you to the next town with working gas pumps.

But AAA can bring you 5 gallons of gas. I think it is possible to be pro-EV, but still acknowledge that in certain situations, with our CURRENT infrastructure, ICE cars do have a few advantages over EV's and the ability to be refueled from a gas can is exactly one of them.

 

[AWDtsla]

But AAA can bring you 5 gallons of gas. I think it is possible to be pro-EV, but still acknowledge that in certain situations, with our CURRENT infrastructure, ICE cars do have a few advantages over EV's and the ability to be refueled from a gas can is exactly one of them.

AAA has EV charger trucks. How many and where, I don't know.

BTW, an small inverter based generator will work with the appropriate wiring.

 

[David99]

Again, I want to make it clear I didn't start this thread to bash Tesla or say EVs suck. I got this car knowing very well it will be compromises and drawbacks compared to ICE cars. I'm still very much convinced about EVs. But it's silly to dismiss the drawbacks and pretend EVs never cause any problems that ICE cars don't have. This is one of those situations where having an EV made things a lot worse than it would have been in an ICE car. I would have been stuck for a few hours, but not for almost 24 hours. I would have been able to pick an alternative route avoiding the outage area. Gas stations are everywhere. Currently the only route available to me is the one following the Superchargers. If one is out, that's it.

A few things came together that were not Tesla's fault. I don't blame them, I appreciate everything they have done to help me out! But it is frustrating when the Tesla person tells you they knew about the outage for hours, yet they can't figure out a way to let people heading that way know. Having Supercharger status updates in real time in the car has been requested so many times.

Do I want to switch back to an ICE? Heck no! Do I think Tesla could have done better? No, they did what they could in the situation. Can we learn something? Yes! How about stop drawing 200 mile circles around each Supercharger and claiming all of that area to be 'covered'. That's not how people use cars. That's not coverage. How about rethinking priorities when it comes to features. Tesla seems to have plenty resources to come up with one performance update after another. But there is no time to fix the stupid trip planner that tells me I have enough energy to continue my trip, but the moment I'm on the road again it sends me back to the Supercharger I have just been because it thinks I don't have enough to make it to the next.

 

[abasile]

I think it is possible to be pro-EV, but still acknowledge that in certain situations, with our CURRENT infrastructure, ICE cars do have a few advantages over EV's and the ability to be refueled from a gas can is exactly one of them.

+1. We should have no problem being honest and acknowledging the current limitations of EVs. Clearly, in comparing ICE vs. EV, there are tradeoffs. But there's no doubt that EVs provide a better day-to-day experience and lead to a better future for humanity. For most people who can afford a Tesla, I feel that the downsides of today's EV tech can be acceptably mitigated. In that vein, it absolutely makes sense for Tesla to use their copious data to proactively provide SC users with important notifications.

 

[jerry33]

+1. We should have no problem being honest and acknowledging the current limitations of EVs. Clearly, in comparing ICE vs. EV, there are tradeoffs. But there's no doubt that EVs provide a better day-to-day experience and lead to a better future for humanity. For most people who can afford a Tesla, I feel that the downsides of today's EV tech can be acceptably mitigated. In that vein, it absolutely makes sense for Tesla to use their copious data to proactively provide SC users with important notifications.

Also everyone is used to the inconveniences of an ICE car (although some of us, not so much anymore), so mainly they are just part of driving and don't stand out.

 

[CTemp222]

Maybe Tesla needs to have a backup generator at each Supercharger with a 200V long HPWC cable.

How about back up batteries