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How competitive will it be when all these model 3 owners start clogging them up?

moorhosj 8y ago
This would be a great problem for Tesla to have and a signal for them to simply build more stations/partnerships. It reminds me of great the Yogi Berra quote: "Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded."
ddoolin 8y ago
When? That time has already arrived for many of us in California. :) Their response is to build more, of course, and to expand the current ones. I agree with the sibling that this is a good problem for Tesla to have, particularly as new Teslas are paying into those costs.
andrewmunsell 8y ago
It'll be worse for the next couple years as they ramp up, but I expect with Urban Superchargers coming in more places things will get better. It's even worse right now if you have a non-Tesla EV and rely on the 1-2 DCFC stations in some random mall and can't count on them being working or not filled. I really think the problem will be significantly worse for non-Tesla cars until another manufacturer-- or maybe an investor in EVGo or ChargePoint or some charging company-- invests hundreds of millions into building out new stations with large numbers of chargers, and maintains them.
rconti 8y ago
That's a great question. Model 3 owners pay to use superchargers where S/X owners typically do not. That said, it's not prohibitively expensive (26c/kWh in CA where it cost me 16c/kWh to home charge, off-peak only, in tier 1 (tip: I'm not in tier 1!) Because it's not prohibitively expensive, Model 3 owners will use them fairly regularly, but not to replace home charging in a way an S/X owner might. For the most part. Right before our 3 arrived new superchargers went in within 5mi from my house; 1 in East Palo Alto and 1 in San Carlos. They're virtually everywhere around the bay area now, so they've been pretty good at quick rollout of urban superchargers, and it FEELS LIKE they can keep up with demand, here at least. When I check on the map they're busy but never full.
- SEJeff 8y ago
  Wow is electricity seriously that expensive in CA? I pay 11c/kWh in Chicago and looove charging my 3.
  - azernik 8y ago
    Renewables aren't cheap (mostly because of the intermittency problem).

This would be a great problem for Tesla to have and a signal for them to simply build more stations/partnerships. It reminds me of great the Yogi Berra quote: "Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded."

ddoolin 8y ago

When? That time has already arrived for many of us in California. :) Their response is to build more, of course, and to expand the current ones. I agree with the sibling that this is a good problem for Tesla to have, particularly as new Teslas are paying into those costs.

andrewmunsell 8y ago

It'll be worse for the next couple years as they ramp up, but I expect with Urban Superchargers coming in more places things will get better. It's even worse right now if you have a non-Tesla EV and rely on the 1-2 DCFC stations in some random mall and can't count on them being working or not filled. I really think the problem will be significantly worse for non-Tesla cars until another manufacturer-- or maybe an investor in EVGo or ChargePoint or some charging company-- invests hundreds of millions into building out new stations with large numbers of chargers, and maintains them.

rconti 8y ago

That's a great question. Model 3 owners pay to use superchargers where S/X owners typically do not. That said, it's not prohibitively expensive (26c/kWh in CA where it cost me 16c/kWh to home charge, off-peak only, in tier 1 (tip: I'm not in tier 1!) Because it's not prohibitively expensive, Model 3 owners will use them fairly regularly, but not to replace home charging in a way an S/X owner might. For the most part. Right before our 3 arrived new superchargers went in within 5mi from my house; 1 in East Palo Alto and 1 in San Carlos. They're virtually everywhere around the bay area now, so they've been pretty good at quick rollout of urban superchargers, and it FEELS LIKE they can keep up with demand, here at least. When I check on the map they're busy but never full.

SEJeff 8y ago
Wow is electricity seriously that expensive in CA? I pay 11c/kWh in Chicago and looove charging my 3.
- azernik 8y ago
  Renewables aren't cheap (mostly because of the intermittency problem).