Tesla Supercharger Network

[GeekEV]

So, Guy, given that sales map, does their initial supercharger locations make a bit more sense? For the most part, they seem to run through the green states.

 

[GRA]

So, Guy, given that sales map, does their initial supercharger locations make a bit more sense? For the most part, they seem to run through the green states.

Nope. Although that map is less useful than one showing Tesla density by metro area, it does buttress my argument that the initial transcontinental route makes no sense at all - you want to avoid the red states like the plague and as many orange states as you can, also limiting the number of yellow states you have to pass through. Consider that the current route takes you through five yellow, one orange (ignoring DE, which is too small to bother about) and one red state, and is more than 700 miles longer than a better route.

The shortest route is to head west from Chicago on I-80 before taking I-76 into Denver and then I-70/I-15 etc. - that involves two orange and two yellow states. Probably the best (as far as serving the largest # of customers) albeit not the shortest route, assuming you insist on passing by Chicago on your way from NYC-LA, is to cut down to St. Louis on I-55 and then take I-70 west to I-15; three yellow states and one orange. Alternatively, you can keep on to the southwest on I-44 into Oklahoma and then cut west through Texas, New Mexico and Arizona on I-40, also three yellow and one orange. However, that map shows Tesla population by state, and in fact Teslas tend to be clustered around the major urban areas, so while Texas as a whole may have lots of cars, I'd put money on them being clustered at the apices of the 'Texas Triangle', and connecting those points is why Tesla located the Texas SCs where they did (where they make sense at this point, and I've never had any problems with putting them there). There are probably few along I-40 in the Amarillo area.

Another article mentioned that California, New York and Florida ranked #1, 2, and 3 in Tesla sales, and that there had been almost 500 sales in the Atlanta metro area. At the moment, there are just two SCs in New York, both on Long Island, none connecting Atlanta to anywhere (driven with care, 85s can probably make it over to I-95), and I-75 in Florida remains bare north of Ft. Myers. California needs a minimum of 8 more initially to serve most major routes, and has four [Edit: five] underway (not all of which are essential); New York should have SCs at least in Albany and Syracuse (ultimately adding Buffalo, Rochester, and Utica along I-90 so that 60s can make it in winter, plus other routes); Florida should probably have at least three more, in the Tampa, Ocala and Lake City areas, eventually extending west along I-10 to Tallahassee and Pensacola/Mobile, and might need one on U.S. 19/98 in the Chiefland area. Without more granular distribution info it's impossible for me to say.

The 'coming soon' map only shows the known upcoming California SCs, plus one in the Albany area. The '2014' map shows SCs in the Tampa and Lake City areas, but none in Ocala; SCs in Syracuse, Buffalo, and what appears to be Ithaca (no interstates, but a college town as well as hub for state highways) plus one up I-87 at the Canadian border; also one around Springfield MA, completing the Boston-Cleveland I-90 corridor for S-85s. Completing I-90 between Spokane and Rapid City in 2014 remains dumb, although you could argue for completion from Spokane to western Montana (Butte or maybe Bozeman) to access Yellowstone and Glacier from the PNW. But I think I-84 to I-15 makes more sense initially, as (with I-82/I-90) it serves both the Seattle and Portland metros.

 

[Zythryn]

Have to say I love the fact that one of the vehicles in the coast to coast record attempting run broke down in SD.
And it was one of the gasoline powered support vehicles

http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/cross-country-rally-day-three" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[GeekEV]

Personally, I'm kind of disgusted that they took an ICE support van. What a great way to demonstrate faith in your own vehicles. :?

 

[cwerdna]

Per https://twitter.com/TeslaMotors" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, the team arrived in NY about 8 hours ago. There's a group shot of the team and Elon.

 

[Zythryn]

Personally, I'm kind of disgusted that they took an ICE support van. What a great way to demonstrate faith in your own vehicles. :?

Did you know what the support vehicles were for?
They had total faith in their EVs.
They had support vans with a camera crew, the Guinness crew (one in the same?) and a sleeping Van for so the drivers could work in 8 hour shifts.

When shooting for an official record, I don't begrudge a company from having support vehicles along.

 

[Berlino]

So, Guy, given that sales map, does their initial supercharger locations make a bit more sense? For the most part, they seem to run through the green states.

Not really, if you consider the initial SuperChargers planned for Canada.

Quebec is the number one province for EV sales, yet only gets one, whereas Ontario gets five and pro-Oil Alberta will have two. It makes even less sense when you consider that less greenhouse gas per kWh is produced in Quebec than anywhere else in North America.

Quebec also is offering a 20k rebate on EVs to be used as taxis. Naturally, a lot of this money will end up in Tesla's pockets and having Model S taxis on the road will generate publicity for Tesla Motors as well. Meanwhile, Alberta doesn't offer any EV rebate at all.

 

[cwerdna]

I was annoyed that the local news (NBC Bay Area News) mentioned the trip but kept referring to the Supercharger stations has "turbocharger" :roll: stations. And, they didn't bother mentioning that they only used the Superchargers along the way and that they're free, provided your car has Supercharger access.

 

[GeekEV]

Personally, I'm kind of disgusted that they took an ICE support van. What a great way to demonstrate faith in your own vehicles. :?

Did you know what the support vehicles were for?
They had total faith in their EVs.
They had support vans with a camera crew, the Guinness crew (one in the same?) and a sleeping Van for so the drivers could work in 8 hour shifts.

When shooting for an official record, I don't begrudge a company from having support vehicles along.

Sissies. Fold down the back seats and sleep in the car. And why couldn't the camera/Guinness crew have ALSO been in a Model S?

 

[GRA]

Personally, I'm kind of disgusted that they took an ICE support van. What a great way to demonstrate faith in your own vehicles. :?

Did you know what the support vehicles were for?
They had total faith in their EVs.
They had support vans with a camera crew, the Guinness crew (one in the same?) and a sleeping Van for so the drivers could work in 8 hour shifts.

When shooting for an official record, I don't begrudge a company from having support vehicles along.

Sissies. Fold down the back seats and sleep in the car. And why couldn't the camera/Guinness crew have ALSO been in a Model S?

Agreed. I don't remember whether the Glenneys took turns sleeping in the back of the car as they drove, but the couple who drove from Chicago to California a couple of weeks before them certainly did.

 

[palmermd]

Sissies. Fold down the back seats and sleep in the car. And why couldn't the camera/Guinness crew have ALSO been in a Model S?

I agree. If they wanted more people they should have taken more Model S's. I've driven solo across the US in my car...how much support could they have needed? Just a few guys with cameras could fit in a couple of Model S. Have you seen the trunk and frunk space. Given that you all who are posting are owners, I'd say you have.

 

[smkettner]

I think it is time for Broder to do a follow up article.
If he still has a job that is

 

[mitch672]

There where 18 people, including multiple drivers, so they could drive in shifts.
There where always 2 people in each Model S (named "thunder" and "lightning")
There was a blogger or two (who didn't drive), a 3 person film crew, and the drivers who where not driving had full bunks in the support van(s), yes multiple vans. They also had an octocopter aerial platform, for aerial shots, there was also one or too SuperCharger techs along as well.
It was a large team effort, I wouldn't worry about the ICE support vehicles, someday they'll be electric too.

 

[scottf200]

Title: Want a Tesla Supercharger in Your Area? Fill Out This Form
http://insideevs.com/want-a-tesla-supercharger-in-your-area-fill-out-this-form/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[GeekEV]

It was a large team effort, I wouldn't worry about the ICE support vehicles, someday they'll be electric too.

I'm not really WORRIED about it. My comments were meant mostly tongue-in-cheek.

 

[GRA]

Thought I'd present a total of SC stalls at this point and update as necessary, 'cause it's getting way too tedious to type them all in repeatedly. The states are listed in the order they appear on the official web page, alphabetically but divided roughly west of the Mississippi first, then east. I've only included those which appear on the web page, leaving off some that are known to be open but not yet listed.

Tesla Supercharger # of states/locations/stalls as of 2/4/2014: 27/74/478

Arizona
Flagstaff 4
Holbrook 4
Kingman 6
Quartzsite 8
Yuma 8
Total: 5/30

California
Atascadero 8
Barstow 4
Buellton 8
Corning 6
Folsom 4
Fremont 8
Gilroy 10
Harris Rch. 7
Hawthorne 6
Mt. Shasta 4
Tejon Rch. 6
Vacaville 8
Total: 12/79

Colorado
Glenwood Springs 6
Grand Junction 6
Silverthorne 8
Total: 3/20

New Mexico
Farmington 4
Gallup 4
Total: 2/8

Oregon
Detroit Lake 6
Grant's Pass 4
Springfield 8
Woodburn 8
Total: 4/26

South Dakota
Mitchell 6
Murdo 4
Rapid City 4
Total: 3/14

Utah
Blanding 4
Moab 4
Total: 2/8

Washington
Burlington 8
Centralia 10
Ellensburg 5
Total: 3/23

Wyoming
Cheyenne 4
Lusk 4
Total: 2/8

Connecticut
Darien N/S 8
Milford N/S 4
Total: 2/12

Delaware
Newark 4
Total: 1/4

Florida
Fort Myers 8
Port Orange 6
Port St. Lucie 8
St. Augustine 6
Total: 4/28

Georgia
Savannah 6
Total: 1/6

Illinois
Highland Park 4
Normal 4
Rockford 6
Total: 3/14

Indiana
Angola 6
Mishawaka 6
Total: 2/12

Maryland
Bethesda 2
Hagerstown 6
Total: 1/6

Michigan
St. Joseph 8
Total: 1/8

Minnesota
Albert Lea 4
Worthington 6
Total: 2/10

North Carolina
Burlington 8
Lumberton 4
Rocky Mount 8
Total: 3/20

New York
JFK Int. 4
Syosset 4
Total: 2/8

Ohio
Macedonia 6
Maumee 6
Total: 2/12

Pennsylvania
Somerset 6
Total: 1/6

Rhode Island
East Greenwich 8
Total: 1/8

South Carolina
Santee 6
Total: 1/6

Texas
Columbus 6
Corsicana 6
Huntsville 6
San Marcos 5
Waco 8
Total: 5/31

Virginia
Glen Allen 8
Total: 1/8

Wisconsin
Eau Claire 6
La Crosse 6
Madison 3
Mauston 6
Total: 3/15

Edit: Per the 'Tesla Supercharger Confirmed' topic in the TMC forum as well as photos, corrected # of stalls at Hawthorne from 4 (as shown on Tesla's SC page) to 6, and also updated the Ca. and absolute totals from 12/77 to 12/79, and from 460 to 462.

Eau Claire, WI, with 6 stalls, and the temp site at Bethesda, MD, with 2 are now listed, so trips between Chicago-Twin Cities and Glen Allen-Newark are now doable in winter by S-60s.

As of 2/4/14, Yuma, AZ with 8 stalls is officially online. As expected, the rate of new SCs coming online has dropped off considerably since the X-C route was completed. While they don't have to maintain the pace of 23 SCs they brought online in January, Tesla will need to average about 15/month for the rest of the year if they are to meet the 'by 2014' map total.

Totals updated to 27/74/478.

 

[palmermd]

This poor person with a "rental car" got directed to a charger at SpaceX in Hawthorn by the Nissan Leaf navigation system. I hope the photographer decided to help out after taking the photo.

 

[GeekEV]

This poor person with a "rental car" got directed to a charger at SpaceX in Hawthorn by the Nissan Leaf navigation system. I hope the photographer decided to help out after taking the photo.

OMG! Nissan fail... :roll:

 

[palmermd]

Another person commented that that person in the photo is "amazed at this very small frunk".

oh, and I guess there is a L2 charger somewhere else in the lot, so the nav system worked, but the big Supercharger site is what the driver found and not the lonely L2 on the wall in the corner of the lot.

 

[smkettner]

I would think someone with a graphic on the drivers door would be more tuned in with how the world works.