Tesla Supercharger: An In-Depth Look
 

Free, Solar-Powered Driving

Kim Reynolds - MOTORTREND - September 25, 2012

These should make road trips much more feasible. --Ed.

Shortly after I became interested in battery-electric cars some 20 years ago, I was driving cross-country. Somewhere in Colorado on Interstate 70, I spotted Alan Cocconi headed the other way. Or, rather, the white Honda CRX he'd converted to an electric car pulling an aerodynamic trailer containing a generator running flat-out to keep him going. I had gotten to know Cocconi after his work on the GM Impact, a prototype of the EV1. The purpose of his trip was to show that an electric car could cross the continent -- if it had a generator behind it.

Two decades later, it's still a problem to drive an EV between even Los Angeles and San Francisco -- without Cocconi's generator, that is. Even the long-range, 85-kW-hr battery Tesla Model S with an EPA-certified 265-mile range is 100 miles short of spanning California's two biggest cities.

But come October, we'll see the beginnings of a pretty slick solution courtesy of Tesla via an initial constellation of five, high-power, direct-current chargers called Superchargers, located along several of California's most traveled routes. A Supercharger will be positioned in Lebec (or Tejon Ranch north of the notorious "Grapevine" climb above L.A.), in Harris Ranch in Coalinga (midway between L.A. and San Francisco near Interstate 5), Gilroy (convenient for Silicon Valley types using the Pacheco Pass to dogleg over to the I-5), Folsom (between the Bay Area and Reno/Lake Tahoe), and Barstow between L.A. and Las Vegas (surprise).

Why none smack in the middle of L.A. or San Francisco? Tesla figures the car's considerable range ought to take care of the vast majority of intra-city journeys. The charge stations will be located in shopping malls that include restaurants where you might want to stop and relax anyway -- I'm guessing a Starbucks, for sure.
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Re: Tesla Supercharger: An In-Depth Look
 

I like this. I am jealous of anyone who owns a Model S. I wish I made enough money to buy this car. Oh, well. I suppose I will when its ten years old and the battery has 70-80% of the original capacity left. We shall see. :D

Re: Tesla Supercharger: An In-Depth Look
 

I'm not. That kind of money would pay for gas in a far more practical car for the rest of my life.

Re: Tesla Supercharger: An In-Depth Look
 

Buying the longest range Model S and driving it for 200K miles = buying a $25,000 ~15MPG vehicle and driving it and maintaining it for 200K miles.

These are the same cost to own and drive. And the Model S is gorgeous, seats 5 + 2 and is very high performance.

Now with the Superchargers you can drive long distance *for free*. What's not to like?

Re: Tesla Supercharger: An In-Depth Look
 

85 * 50 / 4 = 1062.5

18 * 40 = 720

Still, I suspect the miles would be more enjoyable than in a Prius.

Re: Tesla Supercharger: An In-Depth Look
 

$65K / 20c/mi gas + maintenance (historically 12.5c/mi, last I checked...but gas now is more than the average) = 325,000 mi / 5,000 mi/yr = 65 years.

That's probably more than one car, but I'd also expect it'd cost less for periodic vehicle replacement in my case than periodic battery pack replacement.

I enjoy taking long trips by bicycle, but my current vehicle also gives me the option of a faster average speed than one.

- Bruce

Re: Tesla Supercharger: An In-Depth Look
 

Where's the $65,000 coming from? Don't you have to count the cost of buying the "other" car? If you only drive 5,000 miles per year, that averages less than 14 miles a day. You could buy a Leaf and drive that far easily each day and only charge once or twice a week.

If you drive a Leaf instead of an average (23mpg) car, you save about $17,000 every 100,000 miles on gas and maintenance. So, for your 325,000 miles of driving, you would save well over $55,000 -- that is at today's gas prices, so 65 years from now it will certainly be *much* more expensive, if it is available at all.

Re: Tesla Supercharger: An In-Depth Look
 

Neil, how's the math work if you buy a cheap $15k 35 mpg car? (say, a Scion xA ;))

Using even the cheap 40 kW model at $49,900 and free electricity and $4/gal gas and 15k miles / year, compared to $1714 /yr in gas, would take 20 years to pay off.

If you compare to a used $10k car and you hypermile it to 60 mpg, you're up to 40 years to pay it back. I'll stay on this track for another few years until something comes along that is truly better and at a lower price.