DC charging at a Tesla station

[zvez]

So in three plus years I've only dc supercharged twice between the two mach es I've owned and it was strictly to make sure I knew what I was doing. I got the tesla adapter a couple months ago, but haven't even looked at it.

Now I've watched the vids of using the adapter so I'm comfortable with the mechanics, but I have questions about positioning. I went to our local tesla station which has two chargers per parking slot (this site is like the pic in that one space in front and one space behind chargers)>

To me it looks like if I pull into a space I should use the one on the left of the space? Do I pull as far forward and far to the left as I can? The station I went to was full so I couldn't really experiment. This pic is the type of charger setup of our local station.

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[Doug&Julie]

My $0.02...looking at your picture, from the perspective of the photographer, the "left" tower in each spot is for Teslas to plug in on the opposite side of the machines, so you would use the "right" tower. Challenge #1 is the cord won't reach, so you have to park one spot over to use the "correct" tower...effectively blocking two spots. (This is the dilemma we all live with now.) Challenge #2 is those bumpers might prevent you from pulling far enough forward to use any of these. Does your location still have these bumpers? ..many Tesla locations are removing them to help, so that may not be an issue.

That said...if the station isn't busy, I wouldn't hesitate to try the "left" tower to not take up two spots on this side. But then again, any Tesla trying to park on the opposite side will be miffed when they realize they can't plug in there...so still technically "taking up two spots". But if you get another Mach-E or Rivian to park in the opposite spot...win-win.

 

[zvez]

My $0.02...looking at your picture, from the perspective of the photographer, the "left" tower in each spot is for Teslas to plug in on the opposite side of the machines, so you would use the "right" tower. Challenge #1 is the cord won't reach, so you have to park one spot over to use the "correct" tower...effectively blocking two spots. (This is the dilemma we all live with now.) Challenge #2 is those bumpers might prevent you from pulling far enough forward to use any of these. Does your location still have these bumpers? ..many Tesla locations are removing them to help, so that may not be an issue.

That said...if the station isn't busy, I wouldn't hesitate to try the "left" tower to not take up two spots on this side. But then again, any Tesla trying to park on the opposite side will be miffed when they realize they can't plug in there...so still technically "taking up two spots". But if you get another Mach-E or Rivian to park in the opposite spot...win-win.

I'm going to go back over at a quieter time, I don't recall if they had the bumpers there. I seem to recall that it's recommended to park at the furthest right station to avoid the two space thing.

Thanks for the tips!

 

[RickMachE]

Unless you are in a space to the right of those, you will be parking and blocking a charger while you use the hose of the charger on your left, yes.

 

[Dear_OP]

Just practise common EV charging courtesy. This applies to all charging stations not just going to the "enemy" station. LOL!

 

[Sikkun]

At most of the superchargers I’ve been to there is a spot to the far right you can take without blocking two, or a trailer spot where you don’t block 2 (might stick out into the road some).

Not all though, and generally I wouldn’t try to go to one that’s actually busy all the time.

 

[Sikkun]

Though I will say, because people around here seem to act like this can’t happen.

Just drove past a Tesla SC, 3 out of 8 spots open, but because of the layout and we need to take 2 spots I can’t stop and charge.

Sitting at an EA (gasp) so I don’t have to wait. Having both options is much nicer.

 

[zvez]

Though I will say, because people around here seem to act like this can’t happen.

Just drove past a Tesla SC, 3/8 spots open, but because of the layout and we need to take 2 spots I can’t stop and charge.

Sitting at an EA (gasp) so I don’t have to wait. Having both options is much nicer.

Yeah that's what I've thought about, if I drive up to a tesla station and take up two spots at a busy terminal, people are going to get obscenely mad. Now I know tesla sent out a letter saying it was ok for fords to use two spots because of the cable /length positioning, but thinking the average tesla isn't going to think or care and will just assume it's poor manners.

 

[Sikkun]

Yeah that's what I've thought about, if I drive up to a tesla station and take up two spots at a busy terminal, people are going to get obscenely mad. Now I know tesla sent out a letter saying it was ok for fords to use two spots because of the cable /length positioning, but thinking the average tesla isn't going to think or care and will just assume it's poor manners.

Luckily most interstate chargers I’ve stopped at have 20+ stations and it’s never been close to an issues.

But chargers in the cities that fill up often I try to avoid completely.

(The one I wanted to use today was in front of were I was going to eat lunch so it would have been more convenient but oh well).

Now the EA and Tesla is full…deff way more EVs out there than there used to be!

 

[Doug&Julie]

Luckily most interstate chargers I’ve stopped at have 20+ stations and it’s never been close to an issues.
...

We're taking a long road trip at the end of September and I'm mapping out Tesla locations that have 12 or more for the reasons y'all have been talking about. Unless it's an emergency, I won't even try a station that "only" has 8. Fortunately I have many options (along I-5 from Portland to Sacramento), including a location that has 44 and another that has 51!

 

[CameraCarl]

I guess I am fortunate. There are three supercharger stations on the routes I drive away from home. All are fairly new and none have bumpers or curbs in front of the chargers, so I can gingerly ease the nose of my MME in between two chargers, still keeping within the lines, to get close enough for the cable to reach.

 

[StromSpeed]

I have been doing a ton of Tesla charging commuting between Phoenix and Vegas.
I usually pick the end spots of the Tesla station line. I line up my driver-side charge door with the station cable side that is permanently connected to the station (not the handle side). This gives me max cable length to work with. Then pull your ME forward using the front camera as far as you can visually go then a touch more. The camera shows obstruction/contact before you actually come in contact with lots of room to spare; there is a buffer.
You will straddle 2 parking spots and will sometimes get some Tesla glares. But usually it’s a bunch of questions from other Tesla drivers of “how do you like it?”

Only issue I’m having are heat related using the non-Ford adapter as I am still waiting for mine. 106F ambient temp with the port directly in the sun fast charging is apparently not a use case that was tested for southwestern owners of Lectron or A2Z adapters.

 

[RickMachE]

I have been doing a ton of Tesla charging commuting between Phoenix and Vegas.
I usually pick the end spots of the Tesla station line. I line up my driver-side charge door with the station cable side that is permanently connected to the station (not the handle side). This gives me max cable length to work with. Then pull your ME forward using the front camera as far as you can visually go then a touch more. The camera shows obstruction/contact before you actually come in contact with lots of room to spare; there is a buffer.
You will straddle 2 parking spots and will sometimes get some Tesla glares. But usually it’s a bunch of questions from other Tesla drivers of “how do you like it?”

Only issue I’m having are heat related using the non-Ford adapter as I am still waiting for mine. 106F ambient temp with the port directly in the sun fast charging is apparently not a use case that was tested for southwestern owners of Lectron or A2Z adapters.

Please clarify. I believe you have the Lectron adapter. If so, why would you say that the A2Z adapter was not tested for hot environments? I haven't seen a single report of it ending a session due to heat.

 

[Snakebitten]

Buc-ee's, in Luling Texas, has the perfect spacing between pedestals. Note that these were recently re-located from a different area on the same property.
Perhaps they are spaced like this because of the agreements between Tesla and other manufacturers?

Edit: as someone way smarter than me pointed out, my Mach-E might be taking up only one parking space, but it's rendering 2 pedestals not available to a Tesla. I should have realized

 

[kindofblue]

We did a road trip in Ca in July and coming back 600 mi uses Tesla SCs in 100+ weather and had no issues until we stopped in kettleman city where it was 120F and couldn't get it a2z adapter to work onthe SCs. But than all the slots in the EA station were only charging at 26kw/hr

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