Tesla supercharger question: blocking a stall due to short cable

[codydooddy]

okayyy hear me out, end up driving to supercharger just now utilizing after 10pm cheap rate. ended up parked at a non tesla stall one spot to the right and charged. worked out!!!!!

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[Joules Burn]

As others have said, stay to right if possible. The Tesla owners at Tesla stations have been helpful and understanding. (The ones at non-Tesla stations have been a different story.)

 

[codydooddy]

As others have said, stay to right if possible. The Tesla owners at Tesla stations have been helpful and understanding. (The ones at non-Tesla stations have been a different story.)

yeah!!! the guy who was charging at the spot was super nice also! i just waited at the far right non tesla spot waited for him to finish. cool experience

 

[Gen(R3)Xer]

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.

Go to the V3 Supercharger north of Columbus, Ohio on Campus View Blvd in Worthington, Ohio. It has pull-through stalls and you can align your vehicle however you like.

 

[2kwik4u]

Go to the V3 Supercharger north of Columbus, Ohio on Campus View Blvd in Worthington, Ohio. It has pull-through stalls and you can align your vehicle however you like.

I go to this one on a semi-regular basis on my trips between Buffalo and Louisville. It's still a bit of a crap shoot on where you park, and how you're supposed to orient yourself. HOWEVER......There are plenty of stalls and I've not had an issue. Even on popular holiday weekends.

Went through Columbus two weekends ago, and Rivian routed my through a different location. I took it since I had a meeting to attend (online), and the boy wanted Chik-Fil-A anyway. Got there, and it was completely full except the far end spot. Ended up parking like this and charging from 7% to 98% and nobody seemed to mind.

I was there for a little over an hour, but I'm not sure I saw any Tesla take more than ~25min to charge and leave. The turnover rate was really quite impressive. If this parking job hadn't worked, I was fully prepared to "Off-Road" myself to the backside of the open charger you see there. I've done that a few times as well with good success.

 

[BCondrey]

Why are you nervous Tesla people wont like it? Its not your problem. Pick the stall on the right if you can, don't take the handicaped marked one, otherwise take two spaces. Ignore them or tell them to talk to Tesla about it.

 

[James Connolly]

Just returned from Maine vacation where there are few choices along coast other than Tesla north of RAN chargers in Freeport (at LL Bean) or Kittery (NH State line) ( Note that I used both RAN chargers, Freeport on way up and Kittery on way home). I used the Tesla chargers at Ellsworth (older model 3 - with shorter cord in central pedestal hole. Adapter required) and Rockland (model 4 identifiable by no center hole in pedestal, longer side-attached cord and built -in CCS adapter). Both were usable by parking normally in the spot in front of the pedestal and the cable reached my charge port. Possible that the parking spots in Ellsworth were painted to facilitate this.

Bottom line, Model 4 pedestal should be no problem. Model 3 may or may not require creative parking and adapter to charge.

 

[Joe Hoffman]

I'm finding more and more Superchargers have longer cords so the parking issue is diminishing.

 

[AAA]

I'm finding more and more Superchargers have longer cords so the parking issue is diminishing.

I’m in Norcal where Tesla chargers are in extremely high demand. Without exception, i’ve been able to use a single slot by not pulling completely in and hugging the right side of the stall. The cable hugs my front bumper but doesn't strain the charge port. Tesla owners typically get the strategy and are appreciative of me only using a single stall.

 

[Jeff B.]

I have charged at 30 or 40 Tesla stations in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana and have not once had an issue. Not even a dirty look from any Tesla owners. I always try to use the stall at the far right or the far left depending on how I can arrange the Rivian. I have charged from the backside of the stall where possible and I have even pulled onto a landscape island to make the charging chord reach without the need to block another stall.

 

[hudesigns]

I’ve always felt awkward to take two spots. But today I drove my R1S to a supercharger V3 to do a test to see if possible to charge without taking two spots. YES it absolutely doable. Just carefully move to top right corner. That’s it. See pictures.

 

[VandalSibs]

In the OP's defense, not all of the V3 spots have the pedestal centered like that. They were initially off to the right side (your truck's passenger side) so that they were right next to a Tesla's charge port:

Some places got re-striped to fix things, others had the pedestal moved (if possible).

 

[emoore]

Saw a few in Montana which were re-striped which was nice. Others aren't and have to take up 2 spots. Never had an issue yet.

 

[SANZC02]

Saw a few in Montana which were re-striped which was nice. Others aren't and have to take up 2 spots. Never had an issue yet.

I have seen a few centered spots as well, between those and the V4 chargers it is getting better.

Never had an issue with the Rivian when I’ve had to block a spot. Stopped at a 12 station SC in my Tesla last week and 2 Ioniq 5s were charging, each were blocking the stall beside them and no one bothered them. I’d say for the most part it is a non-issue being bothered if you block a spot just a pain on busy sites trying to get in.

 

[comtns]

When I had my Tesla, the older Superchargers with the shorter cables also shared power between adjacent chargers, so most Tesla drivers didn't want to park next to another vehicle anyway. As others have said, the locations not in big cities rarely had more than a third of the stalls in use, that I saw (and the online stats seemed consistent with that). (And, more and more trips just happen not to use Superchargers, even tho Tesla was an option I had selected, since there are so many other options now.)

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