Connect with us

News

Calling all Tesla Supercharger abusers: Don’t ruin it for the rest of us

Published

on

Full house at newly opened Santa Ana, Calif. Supercharger [Credit: achen]

Model S owner and French entrepreneur, Loic Le Meur, reached out to Elon Musk on Twitter yesterday to bring to light something Tesla and its driver have been struggling to curtail – Supercharger abuse. In this particular instance, Le Meur reports abuse taking place at the popular San Mateo Supercharger station in Silicon Valley, which apparently has become home to an increasing number of Tesla owners that use Supercharger stalls as parking spaces, without charging.

Musk quickly replied back with acknowledgement of the growing “issue”, further adding that Tesla “will take action”.

California has more electric cars than any other US state with Silicon Valley leading the way in terms of EV density. According to the Center for Sustainable Energy, 7 out of every 1000 cars registered in the tech. hub area are electric so it’s not surprising the often crowded Supercharger facility in San Mateo is heavily utilized.

What can Tesla do about Supercharger abuse?

What sort of action might Elon have in mind? Tesla could begin with friendly persuasion, a tactic the company adopted 18 months ago when it sent an e-mail to Model S owners identified by the company as abusing their Supercharger privileges. “The Supercharger Network’s intent remains to expand and enhance your long distance travel while providing the flexibility for occasional needed use during local trips. Our goal is to provide the best charging experience, keeping charge times low to get you back on the road as quickly as possible. As a frequent user of local Superchargers, we ask that you decrease your local Supercharging and promptly move your Model S once charging is complete….”

Advertisement

Line for charging at the Tejon Ranch Supercharger [Credit: EVA_2015]

In June, Electric Jen proposed five strategies for alleviating Supercharger congestion, including dedicated express chargers with clear time limits, valet services, publishing peak usage times so people could plan their charging times more efficiently, upgrading the Tesla in-car navigation program to notify others when a car is waiting to charge, or simply building more Superchargers. With regard to that last point, Tesla is aggressively adding to the number of Supercharger locations both in the US and around the world as it prepares for the the time when production of the Model 3 begins.

Tesla has already begun staffing valet attendants at the busy San Mateo Supercharger during known busy travel weekends. They enforce a 30-minute stay time while charging. Though this approach isn’t necessarily scalable, the company can just as easily enforce a time limit for free charging. After 30-minutes of being plugged in or once the vehicle has reached a 90-100% state of charge, the vehicle owner would incur a time-based or flat rate fee.

Being billed for Supercharger use via ‘credits’ is something that the company is already planning for and could extend to preventing Supercharger abuse. “For Teslas ordered after January 1, 2017, 400 kWh of free Supercharging credits (roughly 1,000 miles) will be included annually so that all owners can continue to enjoy free Supercharging during travel. Beyond that, there will be a small fee to Supercharge which will be charged incrementally and cost less than the price of filling up a comparable gas car. All cars will continue to come standard with the onboard hardware required for Supercharging.”, said Tesla through its blog post.

Also, as Tesla’s Full Self-Driving Capability begins to take shape, the company could automatically disconnect any car that has more than a 90% charge using its automated snake-bot charging system and have the vehicle drive itself to an open parking space.

While we wait on Tesla to come up with a means to deter Supercharger abuse, we’re making this open call to all existing abusers: Don’t be an EVhole and ruin it for the rest of us.

Advertisement

"I write about technology and the coming zero emissions revolution."

Advertisement
Comments

News

Tesla teases new market entrance with confusing and cryptic message

Published

on

(Credit: Tesla)

Tesla teased its entrance into a new market with a confusing and what appeared to be cryptic message on the social media platform X.

The company has been teasing its entrance into several markets, including Africa, which would be a first, and South America, where it only operates in Chile.

In September, Tesla started creating active job postings for the Colombian market, hinting it would expand its presence in South America and launch in a new country for the first time in two years.

Tesla job postings seem to show next surprise market entry

The jobs were related to various roles, including Associate Sales Manager, Advisors in Sales and Delivery, and Service Technicians. These are all roles that would indicate Tesla is planning to launch a wide-scale effort to sell, manage, and repair vehicles in the market.

Advertisement

Last night, Tesla posted its latest hint, a cryptic video that seems to show the outline of Colombia, teasing its closer than ever to market entry:

This would be the next expansion into a continent where it does not have much of a presence for Tesla. Currently, there are only two Supercharger locations on the entire continent, and they’re both in Chile.

Tesla will obviously need to expand upon this crucial part of the ownership experience to enable a more confident consumer base in South America as a whole. However, it is not impossible, as many other EV charging infrastructures are available, and home charging is always a suitable option for those who have access to it.

Advertisement

Surprisingly, Tesla seems to be more concerned about these middle-market countries as opposed to the larger markets in South America, but that could be by design.

If Tesla were to launch in Brazil initially, it may not be able to handle the uptick in demand, and infrastructure expansion could be more difficult. Brazil may be on its list in the upcoming years, but not as of right now.

Continue Reading

News

Tesla expands crucial Supercharging feature for easier access

It is a useful tool, especially during hours of congestion. However, it has not been super effective for those who drive non-Tesla EVs, as other OEMs use UI platforms like Google’s Android Auto or Apple’s iOS.

Published

on

tesla supercharger
Credit: Tesla

Tesla has expanded a crucial Supercharging feature that helps owners identify stall availability at nearby locations.

Tesla said on Tuesday night that its “Live Availability” feature, which shows EV owners how many stalls are available at a Supercharger station, to Google Maps, a third-party app:

Already offering it in its own vehicles, the Live Availability feature that Teslas have is a helpful feature that helps you choose an appropriate station with plugs that are immediately available.

Advertisement

A number on an icon where the Supercharger is located lets EV drivers know how many stalls are available.

It is a useful tool, especially during hours of congestion. However, it has not been super effective for those who drive non-Tesla EVs, as other OEMs use UI platforms like Google’s Android Auto or Apple’s iOS.

Essentially, when those drivers needed to charge at a Supercharger that enables non-Tesla EVs to plug in, there was a bit more of a gamble. There was no guarantee that a plug would be available, and with no way to see how many are open, it was a risk.

Tesla adding this feature allows people to have a more convenient and easier-to-use experience if they are in a non-Tesla EV. With the already expansive Supercharger Network being available to so many EV owners, there is more congestion than ever.

This new feature makes the entire experience better for all owners, especially as there is more transparency regarding the availability of plugs at Supercharger stalls.

Advertisement

It will be interesting to see if Tesla is able to expand on this new move, as Apple Maps compatibility is an obvious goal of the company’s in the future, we could imagine. In fact, this is one of the first times an Android Auto feature is available to those owners before it became an option for iOS users.

Apple owners tend to get priority with new features within the Tesla App itself.

Continue Reading

Elon Musk

Elon Musk’s Boring Co goes extra hard in Nashville with first rock-crushing TBM

The Boring Company’s machine for the project is now in final testing.

Published

on

Credit: The Boring Company/X

The Boring Company is gearing up to tackle one of its toughest projects yet, a new tunnel system beneath Nashville’s notoriously tough limestone terrain. Unlike the soft-soil conditions of Las Vegas and Austin, the Music City Loop will require a “hard-rock” boring machine capable of drilling through dense, erosion-resistant bedrock. 

The Boring Company’s machine for the project is now in final testing.

A boring hard-rock tunneling machine

The Boring Company revealed on X that its new hard-rock TBM can generate up to 4 million pounds of grip force and 1.5 million pounds of maximum thrust load. It also features a 15-filter dust removal system designed to keep operations clean and efficient during excavation even in places where hard rock is present.

Previous Boring Co. projects, including its Loop tunnels in Las Vegas, Austin, and Bastrop, were dug primarily through soft soils. Nashville’s geology, however, poses a different challenge. Boring Company CEO and President Steve Davis mentioned this challenge during the project’s announcement in late July.

“It’s a tough place to tunnel, Nashville. If we were optimizing for the easiest places to tunnel, it would not be here. You have extremely hard rock, like way harder than it should be. It’s an engineering problem that’s fairly easy and straightforward to solve,” Davis said.

Advertisement

Nashville’s limestone terrain

Experts have stated that the city’s subsurface conditions make it one of the more complex tunneling environments in the U.S. The Outer Nashville Basin is composed of cherty Mississippian-age limestone, a strong yet soluble rock that can dissolve over time, creating underground voids and caves, as noted in a report from The Tennessean.

Jakob Walter, the founder and principal engineer of Haushepherd, shared his thoughts on these challenges. “Limestone is generally a stable sedimentary bedrock material with strength parameters that are favorable for tunneling. Limestone is however fairly soluble when compared to other rack materials, and can dissolve over long periods of time when exposed to water. 

“Unexpected encounters with these features while tunneling can result in significant construction delays and potential instability of the excavation. In urban locations, structures at the ground surface should also be constantly monitored with robotic total stations or similar surveying equipment to identify any early signs of movement or distress,” he said.

Continue Reading

Trending