Tesla supercharger question: blocking a stall due to short cable

[codydooddy]

Hi all,

going to road trip up to Seattle tomorrow. Plan on supercharging at tesla charger. But I'm aware of the blocking one stall cause the short cable. any tips on getting over being nervous that tesla ppl will not like when i block a stall when i get there haha.....! thanks.....

Sponsored

 

[schwartz83]

Seriously, don't worry much about it. I've charged 30 plus times at super chargers and have never had so much as a side eye. They understand the issue. Many times you can find a space where you don't need to block an extra spot. Plugshare often will make note of it. To be fair for almost all of my charges there have been multiple open chargers.

 

[codydooddy]

Seriously, don't worry much about it. I've charged 30 plus times at super chargers and have never had so much as a side eye. They understand the issue. Many times you can find a space where you don't need to block an extra spot. Plugshare often will make note of it. To be fair for almost all of my charges there have been multiple open chargers.

Okay thank you! Just don’t want to be that guy you know but I’ll give it a try tmr!

 

[Redmond Chad]

I've also charged many times with the Rivian and with something much bigger (a Chevrolet Brightdrop 600). Of course I always am a little concerned on the approach...but so far I have had zero problems.

If there's room, you could park in a non-charging stall to the right of the chargers, or park sideways to the left of the chargers. Or maybe you can park behind the chargers? I've never had to do any of these.

Assuming (?) you are coming up I5, Ridgefield and Tumwater are some of the cheapest. If you can charge off-hours, some stations are much cheaper than during the day. For example the Supercharger in Wilsonville, and the Portland one along 205. For that matter so are some non-Superchargers, such as the Chargepoint stations at Clark Public Utilities (1200 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver, WA) just across the border in WA. 19 cents 9pm - 6am and on weekends. There's only two chargers there though.

 

[Gen(R3)Xer]

Hi all,

going to road trip up to Seattle tomorrow. Plan on supercharging at tesla charger. But I'm aware of the blocking one stall cause the short cable. any tips on getting over being nervous that tesla ppl will not like when i block a stall when i get there haha.....! thanks.....

Most reasonable people will understand. You should be fine. If you’re lucky you can find one of the V3 pull-through stations, like we have in Worthington, Ohio. This is how all charging stations should be designed. It’s awesome.

 

[Aardvark]

Here's what I always do at Superchargers. Taking up 2 spots is only my last resort option.
- If the left-most charger is open, and it has room to the left, I'll enter perpendicular to the spot, just getting the front of the car close enough to charge.
- If the right-most stall is open, and there is parking to the right of that, I just park to the right of the pedestal.

In one case, I was taking up 2 spots when the left-most stall opened. Almost immediately another Tesla pulled into that spot. I just asked the driver if we could switch so that I wasn't blocking an empty stall.

But if you have no choice, take up the 2 spots. This is the Tesla-approved answer.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[Gurule92]

I've got an extension if you want to borrow it lol jk jk

 

[PaythePiper]

My biggest concern with this is always are there going to be enough stalls to hog. If you roll in with one charger available, as a Rivian owner you are waiting

 

[Aardvark]

One more tip I learned on many trips between Colorado and the east coast. I avoid urban Superchargers in downtown areas like Kansas City and Columbus OH. They are always much busier and you run a greater risk of forcing someone else to wait, or not being able to find 2 open adjacent stalls to charge yourself.

 

[Laserboy1054]

Just got home from a trip to Seattle from near St. Louis plus a side-trip to Vancouver, BC (something like 4500 miles total). Almost entirely used Tesla superchargers. Not a single problem making it work and not so much as a single nasty look from a Tesla driver in the entire trip. In many cases, it loooked as though the chargers had been shifted a bit so that there was no need to block an extra space (not sure if this is true, but it sure looks that way). It was almost always possible to choose an end-of-row slot so that nobody would be inconvenienced. Some of the sites had chargers set up for vehicles towing trailers that are particularly convenient for Rivians (I'd have moved if someone needed the charger, but that never happened). Three weeks on the road and zero problems with Tesla chargers. (One very frustrating incident when we had to use an Electrify America charger that simply would not cooperate, but that's for another thread.) Be courteous (you certainly don't need to be told that since you're decent enough to be asking the question) and it's a total non-issue. (On literally the final charge before home, a Tesla driver drove into the space that the charger I was using would have served. He realized it was being used, smiled, waved at me, and laughed at his error. I rolled down the window and apologized and he said "oh, no, my mistake!" and just moved to a different spot. No fuss, no problem.)

Have a great trip!

 

[SANZC02]

Seriously, don't worry much about it. I've charged 30 plus times at super chargers and have never had so much as a side eye. They understand the issue. Many times you can find a space where you don't need to block an extra spot. Plugshare often will make note of it. To be fair for almost all of my charges there have been multiple open chargers.

I agree with this. I’ve actually moved my Tesla over one spot to make room for a Rivian. I’ve never had an issue with people when charging my Rivian but on the west coast some stations get very full and waiting can be an issue if you need 2 side by side spaces to open.

My suggestion and what I do in California is if the station layout requires 2 spaces and is full I look for an alternative location. Trips in the middle of the country I’ve rarely found stations that were full where it was an issue.

 

[Time2Roll]

If you spot another non-tesla charging taking two spots.... pull in next to them if open so only one spot is wasted.

 

[VandalSibs]

My experiences must be the exception, because all but one of my Tesla charging stops in my R1T, I've never taken up more than one space. Either due to the pedestals having been centered on the space to begin with, or the spots being re-striped to center them.

The only place I can think of that I took up more than one spot was when pulling my travel trailer, and even then it wasn't charging spots that I blocked, but normal parking spots...

 

[Dave Cundiff]

@codydooddy: Consider also the Costco chargers in Ridgefield WA, and the Airport Park & Ride in Centralia WA. Both are reliable, and at $0.37 and $0.35/kWh respectively they may be competitive with Tesla.

We sometimes stop at the EA charger at Chehalis (WA) Commerce District. That and the Tesla Supercharger (open to non-Tesla, unsure if adapter is needed) are next to Panda Express, which we enjoy.

Best wishes!

 

[SANZC02]

My experiences must be the exception, because all but one of my Tesla charging stops in my R1T, I've never taken up more than one space. Either due to the pedestals having been centered on the space to begin with, or the spots being re-striped to center them.

The only place I can think of that I took up more than one spot was when pulling my travel trailer, and even then it wasn't charging spots that I blocked, but normal parking spots...

I’m about 40/60 where 60% of the time the layout was not suitable for non-Tesla vehicles. The V4 stations are great and the centered stations are good as well. Some places the stations are back to back, you can usually make those work.

Sponsored