Tesla's West Coast Supercharger Corridor now open, drive from San Diego to Vancouver for free

[Shawn Knight]

Tesla Motors just took a big step forward in quelling the fears of electric vehicle critics by opening the West Coast Supercharger Corridor, a network of power stations that enable Model S owners to travel between San Diego, California, and Vancouver, British Columbia, free of charge.

Tesla’s Supercharger stations are significantly more powerful than other charging stations. They deliver up to 120 kW DC directly to the vehicle’s batteries which can provide half a charge in as little as 20 minutes. Stations have been strategically placed along U.S. Highway 101 and Interstate 5 near cafes, roadside diners and shopping centers. This will allow owners to top off their batteries as they eat or shop.

In a press release on the opening, Tesla said more than 99 percent of Californians and 87 percent of Oregon and Washington Model S owners are now within 200 miles of a Supercharger. And to celebrate the occasion, Tesla sent two Model S drivers on a 1,750 mile road trip that will take them through Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Sacramento, Mt. Shasta, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver. Each driver will stop at popular destinations such as the Santa Monica pier, Monterey Bay and the world famous Pike Place Fish Market.

Looking forward, the next phase of the network – the East Coast Corridor – should be finished in a few months. It’ll stretch from Miami, Florida, all the way up to Portland, Maine, and by 2015, Supercharger networks should cover nearly 98 percent of the population in the US and Canada.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/54523-teslas-west-coast-supercharger-corridor-now-open-drive-from-san-diego-to-vancouver-for-free.html

 

[Adhmuz]

Hey I have this great idea everybody, its like a car, but instead of making it to your destination without having to stop you'll have to stop every hour to have a coffee or do some shopping to top up your cars batteries. "Tesla sent two Model S drivers on a 1,750 mile road trip" what they forget to say is you'll have to set aside 2 weeks of your time to get there at which point they'll send you and your car home via air plane, Tesla saving the planet one charging station at a time. Because electricity is an unlimited and free resource to everyone... Also its great when a technology is so exclusive that you only need a half dozen charging outlets per station so only 8 people can be charging they're car for a presumable 30 minutes or more. What happens when you show up and the station is full up? Pitch a tent and hope it doesn't rain?

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

I think each charging station should have a bar and grill attached so owners will have something to do while their car charges.

I wonder if that idea of a quick battery swap will ever come around. Maybe for a future 'cheaper' Tesla car.

 

[mojorisin23]

Hey I have this great idea everybody, its like a car, but instead of making it to your destination without having to stop you'll have to stop every hour to have a coffee or do some shopping to top up your cars batteries. "Tesla sent two Model S drivers on a 1,750 mile road trip" what they forget to say is you'll have to set aside 2 weeks of your time to get there at which point they'll send you and your car home via air plane, Tesla saving the planet one charging station at a time. Because electricity is an unlimited and free resource to everyone... Also its great when a technology is so exclusive that you only need a half dozen charging outlets per station so only 8 people can be charging they're car for a presumable 30 minutes or more. What happens when you show up and the station is full up? Pitch a tent and hope it doesn't rain?

Not sure where you get your info, but the car can go 300 miles on a single charge. That's farther than my SUV! But if you want to pay several hundred dollars for that drive instead of free, go ahead. its your right as an american.

 

[Guest]

Swapping the battery is already on their list:

At 300 mile range, that's about 5 stops from New Jersey to Oklahoma. I'm pretty sure between gas & meals you'd reach that amount of stops anyway.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

Hey I have this great idea everybody, its like a car, but instead of making it to your destination without having to stop you'll have to stop every hour to have a coffee or do some shopping to top up your cars batteries. "Tesla sent two Model S drivers on a 1,750 mile road trip" what they forget to say is you'll have to set aside 2 weeks of your time to get there at which point they'll send you and your car home via air plane, Tesla saving the planet one charging station at a time. Because electricity is an unlimited and free resource to everyone... Also its great when a technology is so exclusive that you only need a half dozen charging outlets per station so only 8 people can be charging they're car for a presumable 30 minutes or more. What happens when you show up and the station is full up? Pitch a tent and hope it doesn't rain?

You left out the part about a Tesla costing about $60,000. I'd make the argument that the savings on gas is more beneficial for the wallet than the planet, but with the cost of the car, it's a tough sell.

Two things to remember though. first off, this is the 1st electric car that gets decent range. The Volt has a gas engine and the Leaf gets like 50 miles a charge. Remember the first PC or the first GPS or your first internet connection speed? Things will improve and they will grow, but it will take time. The fact that they are improving is what's encouraging. We can't wait for millions of electric cars to be on the road before making charging stations, and we can't make the stations without the cars. It'll grow slow.

2nd, of all the new technologies that start off slow and improve slowly Tesla is carving it's own path. They're not some enviro-fad that people are jumping on for 'green-cred'. Their car got the highest marks of ANY car from consumer reports. (http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2013/05/video-the-tesla-model-s-is-our-top-scoring-car/index.htm) It's awesome car in it's own right, electric or not.

They're also confusing investors because Tesla has a very high stock price considering it's profits are negative. There are some very smart people who think Tesla could someday be the size of Toyota or GM AND have a monopoly on the charging stations. They'd be getting residual income from their cars through the stations on top of the profit from sales and financing. They very well might be the next Apple...

or maybe the next DeLorean, we'll wait and see.

 

[cliffordcooley]

or maybe the next DeLorean

Lets hope not. LOL

 

[Burty117]

"They deliver up to 120 kW DC directly to the vehicle?s batteries"

Surely producing that kind of power is worse for the environment than a Petrol (or Diesel) powered car?

 

[gamoniac]

"They deliver up to 120 kW DC directly to the vehicle?s batteries"

Surely producing that kind of power is worse for the environment than a Petrol (or Diesel) powered car?

The premise of electric cars is that the utility company can produce power a lot more efficiently than moving cars with combustion engines. A full charge (300 miles) costs less than 2 dollars in electricity while costing more than $70 in gas. Various battery technologies will improve greatly in coming years to reduce the charge time, capacity, and charge holding time, while making it safer (we hope).

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

I think each charging station should have a bar and grill attached so owners will have something to do while their car charges.

I wonder if that idea of a quick battery swap will ever come around. Maybe for a future 'cheaper' Tesla car.

Or maybe they could just supply a power point for your own bar & grill. I never go anywhere without my bar & grill... It's more important than taking my phone.

 

[chuckmeister]

"They deliver up to 120 kW DC directly to the vehicle?s batteries"

Surely producing that kind of power is worse for the environment than a Petrol (or Diesel) powered car?

The premise of electric cars is that the utility company can produce power a lot more efficiently than moving cars with combustion engines. A full charge (300 miles) costs less than 2 dollars in electricity while costing more than $70 in gas. Various battery technologies will improve greatly in coming years to reduce the charge time, capacity, and charge holding time, while making it safer (we hope).

Plus, Musk also is the chairman of Solar City. Working to have all of the supercharger stations powered via the sun. The amount of drivers that would be stopping there isn't enough to have a constant drain on the charging station.. so energy that isn't being used by consumers will go back to the power grid.

We have to change our idea of the standard "Gas Station" we've all grown up with. An electric fueling station would be built around commerce/lounge/small park/restrooms and not just the standard convenience store anymore. Get out, stretch, read a book and plan road trips around free* fuel.The automotive industry and the government has held back the advance of these vehicles and this technology. We have to see the big picture as this could take over on a much larger scale as the technology develops and becomes cheaper/more efficient.

Musk Introduction a year ago -

Tesla Supercharger site - http://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger
Solar City - http://www.solarcity.com/media-center/elon-musk.aspx
TED Interview - http://www.ted.com/talks/elon_musk_the_mind_behind_tesla_spacex_solarcity.html

 

[Adhmuz]

Not sure where you get your info, but the car can go 300 miles on a single charge. That's farther than my SUV! But if you want to pay several hundred dollars for that drive instead of free, go ahead. its your right as an american.

There's no such thing as free energy, that electricity doesn't just generate itself, which seems to be alluding most people, fossil fuels are used to generate a lot of it and the batteries in the Tesla aren't exactly clean to produce or dispose of. Your fault for driving a gas guzzler, I can go 500 miles to a tank and hate stopping for longer than I would have to when I have somewhere to be. That's the bigger issue to me, it's the down time to charge the stupid vehicle, if batteries can be swapped on the fly in a 5 minute procedure, then we have something worth the price of admission.

 

[Guest]

An automated battery replacement station is in the works. There is a video of it out there some where. It is supposed to replace a battery in the amount of time it takes to fill up a tank of gas. This is all pretty cool stuff, and the cars cost just a little more than 60k, try around 80-90k. They aren't for the general population yet as they are a little pricey, but hopefully in the next few years they will have a less exotic version that is more affordable.