Tesla not waiting for your charging infrastructure...

[Xist]

Originally Posted by Ryland

Average person spends 11 minutes or more at a gas station so 20 minute to charge an EV while driving a long trip is not bad at all! after a few hours of driving it's a good idea to get out and stretch anyway.
Their web site says they will have regular J1772 charging plugs as well, I wonder what the deal is to use one of them for charging other EV's.
I have't seen any official published cost, but the Tesla web site says that the super chargers are only free automatically to the upper two models of the Model S and that to use it for the lower version there is a one time fee ($2,000 I hear) not sure if that fee also adds hard ware to the vehicle or if the car just has a dead plug in the back.

One of the next phase of super chargers is putting one up about 30 miles from me, right off I-94, so it will be interesting to see where it ends up in that area.

I really wonder what other electric car manufacturers will do if this starts making good progress. I believe that Tesla.com said that a year's worth of gas was almost $5,000, while electricity would be less than $1,000, but that was for 30,000 miles. Halving that to EPA's average means that it would take a little over four years to break even (on the one-time fee), but that does not sound bad at all. Being able to charge non-Tesla cars would slightly remove Tesla's advantage, but they would still take hours to charge.

Do you think there would be taxis waiting around?

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

FWIW, about the "only" drivers these days who drive 55 mph are those who are entering a freeway on-ramp on their way UP to their normal 65-75-80 mph 'jaunt.'

Does anyone else here hit fifty-five on the on-ramp?

I imagine that most people will consider the 55 MPH estimates to be "unreasonable," but people already willingly pay more to drive too fast.

Originally Posted by Daox

The base Model S has 208 miles of range (according to the Tesla site), the higher trims have 265 miles. How often do you really drive that far in one jaunt??? Chances are a Model S owner also probably has another vehicle. If they need to drive 500 miles in a day they can just take that. I'm really not even seeing a problem here.

I try to avoid driving at all, but I honestly do not remember the last time that I drove further than the 165 miles to my parents' house. I have driven to California with my family, but not in my vehicle, and I rarely actually drove.

[MPaulHolmes]

Does anyone know how they will be powered? Is it just the regular old grid?

[wdb]

Originally Posted by MPaulHolmes

Does anyone know how they will be powered? Is it just the regular old grid?

Mostly. The article states that some will use solar also.

[gone-ot]

Tesla would be smart to advertise "potty & power" at those EV stops: pee for free while your EV gets charged for free!

[UltArc]

I usually hit 65-80 on the on ramp.

[DIMS]

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

Tesla would be smart to advertise "potty & power" at those EV stops: pee for free while your EV gets charged for free!

Bammmm! Pee power! African teens create urine-fueled generator | Crave - CNET

[gone-ot]

Darn, out maneuvered (and thought) again!

[oil pan 4]

Originally Posted by wdb

some will use solar also.

120kw? of solar at a car charging station, no I don't think so.

[wdb]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

120kw? of solar at a car charging station, no I don't think so.

I apologize - I was unaware that you suffered from nectuntphobia. Please allow me to provide this quote:

Musk also said there is grid storage – using huge, half-megawatthour batteries – at some of the stations that have solar power, where stationary batteries take energy from the sun and store it until a Model S pulls up. That means these stations can be completely taken off the grid, so that "even if there is a zombie apocalypse," Musk said, "you will still be able to travel throughout the country using Superchargers."

[botsapper]

Originally Posted by wdb

I apologize - I was unaware that you suffered from nectuntphobia. Please allow me to provide this quote:

...the next post-apocalyptic Mad Max would choose a black hi-po extra-range run-flat tired zombie plow bumpered - Tesla Model X - running from one Supercharger to another!