Tesla reveals Supercharger network, Free Fill Ups

Post by 001sky » Tue, Sep 25, 2012, 5:59 AM UTC

jlgreco wrote: post #90

001sky wrote: post #85

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Hydropower is clean and renewable. Dams are already built, etc. Everything has its tradeoffs, though. Remote solar and wind take up lost of room and are eyesores. Grid connects require large-scale duplication/new assets. But, I think we need less sprawl generally, so I find it hard to support, in particular, urban development where better use could be made of the land.

If there is anything this continent (or world, for that matter) is lacking, it is space. That said, I think we should be plastering the land we already use with solar panels. Might as well put all those rooftops to use. I also think there is likely a lot to see in the future of non-panel-type solar. That generally involves a much larger or smaller scope than panels though, "medium" sized doesn't work well.

Post by marcamillion » Tue, Sep 25, 2012, 6:02 AM UTC

sbierwagen wrote: post #80

ricardobeat wrote: post #47

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Only for Model S owners, it will presumably be phased out sometime in the next couple years.

It's also only for 85KWh Model S owners. The ones with 60KWh batteries don't get free charges.

Post by ericd » Tue, Sep 25, 2012, 6:03 AM UTC

lgbr wrote: post #84

ericd wrote: post #62

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The interesting thing is that people will mainly be charging at home, though, and will never need to visit a charging station - the car will be topped up every morning when you leave for work. So the number of fillups needing to be done at a station should be much lower. But an interesting point otherwise! I'd guess that the marginal cost of the plugs is low enough that it's feasible, though.

But the number of people needing to fill up at this station and others just off of major freeways wont change. The people filling up/charging at these stations are in the middle of a trip and probably did charge while they were at home. Furthermore, the range on even the Tesla Model S is half that of your typical car, so fillups are even more frequent. This could mean that highway stops have twice as many people need…

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Sep 25, 2012, 6:06 AM UTC

uvdiv wrote: post #12

jws wrote: post #10

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3. It's solar-powered. I wonder if they have a electricity backup... It's grid electric powered. The canopy doesn't do much. Let's calculate: Guess that the canopy for each bay is 7 by 4 meters, 28m^2 Sunny spots receive about 4kWhr of solar power per square meter per day. Solar panels might be 25% efficient. Total daily power: 28m^2 * 4kWhr/m^2/day * 0.25 = 28kWhr/day Model S has an 85kWhr battery, half charge is 42…

The press release makes a seemingly absurd claim: Each solar power system is designed to generate more energy from the sun over the course of a year than is consumed by Tesla vehicles using the Supercharger. wtf?

Post by lollerpops » Tue, Sep 25, 2012, 6:09 AM UTC

Osiris wrote: post #77

spullara wrote: post #26

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That is actually pretty insightful — pretty easy to get back the $3 that it costs. I can definitely see "free charge with purchase".

At $0.11/kWh, the Roadster at 53kWh would take almost $6 to completely fill. Though if these stations charge using solar power and store the power in a battery pack to discharge when a car hooks up, it could potentially cost them a lot less than $0.11/kWh, depending on the cost of building the station itself.