Tesla fires whole Supercharger team [Update: Musk says supercharger growth will continue]

[potato]

I too am highly disappointed with all the hype of the Tesla adapter working for us at Tesla stations. Here in central AZ there is not a Tesla V3/4 station within 100 miles of me and there is only two directions. South to Phoenix or NW to Kingman that I can possibly catch one. There are an abundance of V2 stations but I am under the impression that they will never be compatible. What a let down!

The question to ask is normally whether or not they are available where you will be traveling, not where you live. Assuming you normally charge at home, you only need them on road trips.

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[RickLightning]

I too am highly disappointed with all the hype of the Tesla adapter working for us at Tesla stations. Here in central AZ there is not a Tesla V3/4 station within 100 miles of me and there is only two directions. South to Phoenix or NW to Kingman that I can possibly catch one. There are an abundance of V2 stations but I am under the impression that they will never be compatible. What a let down!

Right, there are none between Kingman and Phoenix. They are 195 miles apart, and you live in between them. Therefore, you don't need another Tesla SuperCharger to go to either.

If you go West, Quartzite has one. They also have EA. If you go East, then Prescott has one. In short, you're totally set.

 

[detansinn]

V2 stations max out at 150kw and aggressively share power, reducing output substantially with multiple users. Even if the communications side could be addressed, the V2s are really not up to the demands of modern EVs.

It's been 5 years since the first V3s went online. Tesla upgraded a number of V2 locations, but their focus was clearly on new V3 locations. Tesla had previously indicated that it was planning to upgrade the V2 locations to V3 and V4. It's a bummer that upgrades are a real question mark now.

The real unfortunate thing is that these older V2 Superchargers occupy so many prime locations, like highway rest stops. From my experience in the northeast, the V3 locations are a little more off of the beaten path where you have to exit the highway/parkway/turnpike to get to them. It's honestly not dissimilar to where you would find EA chargers around here and that's okay.

The real benefit is that Supercharger V3 access effectively doubles your charging options, but there are still plenty of holes on road trips. While it may be difficult to believe, in some rural parts of the country, it's actually easier to find CCS charging station than a NACS plug.

When Rivian opens up their network later this year, it will give us all options in the hinterlands that are currently Rivian only. While it's a relatively small amount of chargers, I am just as excited about Rivian's network opening up as the Superchargers, because it will make places reachable not easily reached today.

 

[RickLightning]

The real benefit is that Supercharger V3 access effectively doubles your charging options, but there are still plenty of holes on road trips. While it may be difficult to believe, in some rural parts of the country, it's actually easier to find CCS charging station than a NACS plug.

EA has under 4,000 chargers. Tesla just opened up 15,500 to us, not counting the Magic Dock locations.

But yes, there is no one brand fits all. We drove MI to CA and back. Came back through Wyoming. EA is new there, like in the last year. Tesla has one location, Casper, not on our route. Nebraska has 3, less than EA. No Tesla from SLC to just west of Reno, Nevada.

CHOICE. OPTIONS. That's why Tesla gave us.

I have seen ONE Rivian charging location in 3 years, and it was not yet open and nowhere that I would likely go again.

 

[moder8tor]

Right, there are none between Kingman and Phoenix. They are 195 miles apart, and you live in between them. Therefore, you don't need another Tesla SuperCharger to go to either.

If you go West, Quartzite has one. They also have EA. If you go East, then Prescott has one. In short, you're totally set.

Thanks,

Going to Vegas I do need one in Kingman. That is the only one before Vegas. Tesla in Blyth and Quartsite are V2 incompatible stations and the EA station is so questionable I Will not go that route again. Nothing in Flagstaff or anything north or east of there until Albuquerque . Nothing in Payson, Sedona, If depending on Tesla, I can go North to Kingman to get to Vegas, or South to Phoenix. I will take my F250 for any other destination except local.

 

[RickLightning]

Thanks,

Going to Vegas I do need one in Kingman. That is the only one before Vegas. Tesla in Blyth and Quartsite are V2 incompatible stations and the EA station is so questionable I Will not go that route again. Nothing in Flagstaff or anything north or east of there until Albuquerque . Nothing in Payson, Sedona, If depending on Tesla, I can go North to Kingman to get to Vegas, or South to Phoenix. I will take my F250 for any other destination except local.

Per Tesla, Quartzsite has 84 250kW chargers. https://www.tesla.com/findus?v=2&bo...arch=Quartzsite, AZ 85346, USA&location=27261

Flagstaff has EA.

 

[moder8tor]

The question to ask is normally whether or not they are available where you will be traveling, not where you live. Assuming you normally charge at home, you only need them on road trips.

That is what I was implying. There has to be stations between me an my destination. I can do that through Kingman to get to Las Vegas. Or through Phoenix to get to Tucson. beyond that i.e. North East West or South. Arizona, Southern CO, western CA, or NM is pretty dry of V3/4 stations. EA is hit and miss. but if I leave enough capacity left I have been able to go out of my way quite a bit to find another EA station. I'm not disapointed with the truck, just had higher expectations of this whole Tesla agreement.

 

[moder8tor]

Thanks,

Going to Vegas I do need one in Kingman. That is the only one before Vegas. Tesla in Blyth and Quartsite are V2 incompatible stations and the EA station is so questionable I Will not go that route again. Nothing in Flagstaff or anything north or east of there until Albuquerque . Nothing in Payson, Sedona, If depending on Tesla, I can go North to Kingman to get to Vegas, or South to Phoenix. I will take my F250 for any other destination except local.

if you look at this map. You can see me 30 miles NW of Prescott. and understand my disappointment. https://www.tesla.com/findus?v=2&se...rcharger,nacs&location=KingmanAZSupercharger2

 

[moder8tor]

Per Tesla, Quartzsite has 84 250kW chargers. https://www.tesla.com/findus?v=2&bounds=33.92496328235396,-113.5806683125,33.399751140612615,-114.8990276875&zoom=11&filters=party,nacs&search=Quartzsite, AZ 85346, USA&location=27261

Flagstaff has EA.

Oops, I didn't see the V3/4 symbol behind the other symbol. I zoom in and see it now. Thanks. That helps!

 

[detansinn]

EA has under 4,000 chargers. Tesla just opened up 15,500 to us, not counting the Magic Dock locations.

But yes, there is no one brand fits all. We drove MI to CA and back. Came back through Wyoming. EA is new there, like in the last year. Tesla has one location, Casper, not on our route. Nebraska has 3, less than EA. No Tesla from SLC to just west of Reno, Nevada.

CHOICE. OPTIONS. That's why Tesla gave us.

I have seen ONE Rivian charging location in 3 years, and it was not yet open and nowhere that I would likely go again.

Yep, the choices are key.

To be clear, there are 1382 Tesla V3 Supercharger locations in the US. There are 900 EA locations. Tesla puts a lot more chargers at a given location.

 

[RickLightning]

Oops, I didn't see the V3/4 symbol behind the other symbol. I zoom in and see it now. Thanks. That helps!

If you use the Tesla website, and select Superchargers Open to Other EVs (Magic Dock) and Superchargers Open to NACS (adapter), you don't need to zoom in.

 

[OtterJohn]

Sandy Munro has his take on the whole thing here; it's a very different perspective than what a lot of other people are saying/feeling.

 

[LazyLightningATX]

Sandy Munro has his take on the whole thing here; it's a very different perspective than what a lot of other people are saying/feeling.

Watched this while ago...for someone who wants emotion out of this, he sure sounds angry the whole time. He's got access (and a bunch of stock) that he can't risk by being critical of daddy...

Maybe everything will be fine, only time will tell. Regardless of Sandy's vast business experience, he fails to get into how the dude did this with NO PLAN for carrying on even the current projects, as evidenced by that insane email they were sending out to everyone. That is not the sign of a well thought out business decision and Sandy knows that, or he doesn't know shit.

 

[OtterJohn]

Regardless of Sandy's vast business experience, he fails to get into how the dude did this with NO PLAN for carrying on even the current projects, as evidenced by that insane email they were sending out to everyone. That is not the sign of a well thought out business decision and Sandy knows that, or he doesn't know shit.

Exactly; I think that's the key point to the whole situation: it appears (to the world outside of Musk's head) that this was a temper tantrum and serves no real purpose. I sure can't see one.

My take on the whole thing: I'm not going to freak out and sell my Lightning and go back to an ICE vehicle...no stinking way. I have yet to use a Tesla charging station (just got my A2Z last week), and have over 8700 miles on my Lightning since November 2023. Yes, it sucks, yes it makes me angry because Musk is a petulant child and doesn't consider his actions. But at the end of the day, I don't think this is a death sentence for the charging industry or EVs. Hurtful, yes, but not the end of the world.

YMMV

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