# Lifestyles & Discussion > Science & Technology >  A Tesla Nightmare: 15 car long queue at Tesla's Tejon CA Supercharger on Saturday afternoon

## Peace Piper

You have been driving for 13 hours straight and there's only 2 hours to go before you get home. You need one last 45 minute charge. Your kids can't stop fighting and your wife wont shut up. You finally get to the only super duper charger for miles and you realize that it will be 3 hours _before you can even plug in for your 45 minute charge_:


_Tesla model S cars waiting in line for a spot at the Tejon Ranch, CA Supercharger, Christmas holiday 2015_




> *russman at Tesla Motors Club forum:*
> 
> Couple comments as I was one of the people in line.
> 
>  - The temp was about 30's, combined with headwind, weight in the car, etc... I used the most rated I've ever used on this drive. Typically, I recommend a 30% cushion, meaning 1.3 miles for ever real mile driven. That's a huge cushion. At multiple stages it was 1.4 miles. This isn't snowy cold weather, it wasn't rainy either, but it was 34-37 degrees outside, combined with the wind. I filled up to 211 rated miles, even though the car told me I could leave at 140 miles. I ended up using 170 rated miles and was warned a number of times to drive slowly...snip
> 
>  - Sadly this line was not a positive site for non-tesla owners. People were laughing at the line. Do they understand that other electric cars like the Leaf can't even make it here and have larger issues? Absolutely not and they don't care. Ignorance is bliss and unfortunately, EV companies like Tesla have a mountain to climb in terms of perception and the perception in this case was, what a pain to own a Tesla. Not, WOW a Leaf can't even get to wait in line here, lucky for these Tesla people they have free charging and get to rest and enjoy a way here in the middle of nowhere.
> 
>  - I'm not entirely sure knowing about this line would have changed anything for me, other then just not leave till late in the evening, but even then, this line was there for at least 6+ hours, as when I got there, I asked how long someone in the front of the line had waited and they were in line for over an hour. And when I left after 3 hours, there were still 14 cars in line, so even if no one lined up after that last person, that's still another 3 hours to go. Not sure I was have delayed my trip 6+ hours.... I think the only solution is more super chargers, like there are more gas stations.
> ...


"You were amped to show off how fast and easy it is to charge but were met with so much resistance"
"Watts the matter?"
"Joule pay for this!"

Tesla fanatics like to say that you can charge everywhere there's an electrical outlet. That's true- you get ~5 Miles of range per hour of charging. So stay on the SuperCharger path- no side trips (unless you want to sleep in the back while you're charging). 8 hours at a standard 110v 15a outlet= 40 miles of range. 

18 page thread at TeslaMotors Club

All of a sudden the Toyota Hydrogen Electric car that can refuel in 5 minutes (for a 300 mile range) doesn't look so stupid.

But what does Toyota know, building ~10 million cars per year. Their engineers are yesterday. Plus, they don't have a smart ass not-so-young-anymore billionaire to please. H2 is going to prove to be superior and Musk will have to eat his "fool cell" words. Because Toyota is way way ahead of the guy that figured out how to link an email address to a bank account (along with at least 10,000 other people that didn't have Silicon Valley Connections).

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## TheNewYorker

Supply and demand or something. I'm sure as the cars become more popular, it will become more profitable to open up a public charging station. Then you will see a lot more charging stations spring up.

With that said, until the grid is completely run off of solar, hydro, and wind, it's not like these cars are really helping the environment or anything, yet. It still costs fossil fuels or nuclear waste to charge them.

PS: this really changes the definition of "supercharger" !

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## GunnyFreedom

Honda has been perfecting a H2 fuel cell car for some time too. Longer than Toyota has if I'm not mistaken. But yeah, H2 is the real future. Musk is still stuck on coal-fired cars, technically.

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## Peace Piper

> Honda has been perfecting a H2 fuel cell car for some time too. Longer than Toyota has if I'm not mistaken. But yeah, H2 is the real future. Musk is still stuck on coal-fired cars, technically.


Even better- Honda has been working on a home solar hydrogen unit. Probably be for sale when their fuel cell car comes to market next year. http://world.honda.com/FuelCell/SolarHydrogenStation/


And Panasonic has solar panels that actually MAKE HYDROGEN- a game changer.



OSAKA -- Panasonic is developing a household fuel cell system using hydrogen that can power homes and vehicles. It is doing so in part to help the government create a "hydrogen society."

 The company aims to have a hydrogen generation system market ready by around 2030 to replace solar batteries.

 "We are committed to developing technology that can play a part in the household hydrogen-based infrastructure," Yoshiyuki Miyabe, Panasonic's senior managing director in charge of technology, said July 3 in Tokyo.

 Water is made of hydrogen and oxygen. The conventional electrolysis method for splitting water costs money as it uses electricity. Hydrogen does not produce carbon dioxide when it is burned, making it a clean source of energy. But when hydrogen is produced from water by using electricity, it is not as clean.

 To lower costs and become greener, Panasonic centers on photocatalytic water splitting. Sunlight helps to trigger a photocatalytic reaction and split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The company plans to install panels on house rooftops for power generation through the process.

 Photocatalytic water splitting has so far worked only under ultraviolet sunlight. Only a slight amount of UV light is contained in the sun's rays...snip
http://asia.nikkei.com/Tech-Science/...r-generator-is

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## VIDEODROME

Just take off a sweater really quick and yer good for a few more miles.

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## Anti Federalist

LOL @ battery cars.

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## Dr.3D

When they finally figure out how to make high capacity capacitors, this problem will be a thing of the past.

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## tod evans

What kind of idiot takes a battery powered car on a road trip?

Lets me know why manufacturers have to polarize plugs or put restrictive necks on diesel rigs...

There is no more dumbing down.........We're there.

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## Dr.3D

> What kind of idiot takes a battery powered car on a road trip?
> 
> Lets me know why manufacturers have to polarize plugs or put restrictive necks on diesel rigs...
> 
> There is no more dumbing down.........We're there.


Saw a lady the other day, who was getting ready to put gasoline in her diesel Mercedes.  I warned her, but she told me I was stupid.  I just walked away.

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## fisharmor

I've said it before... electric transit is a solved problem, and has been since 1879.

And all these $#@!s with more money than sense are the exact people that could implement it.

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## GunnyFreedom

> Saw a lady the other day, who was getting ready to put gasoline in her diesel Mercedes.  I warned her, but she told me I was stupid.  I just walked away.


My oh my I bet she wailed up a storm when the mechanic told her it was going to cost thousands of dollars for a rebuild or new motor...

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## Dr.3D

> My oh my I bet she wailed up a storm when the mechanic told her it was going to cost thousands of dollars for a rebuild or new motor...


I can only hope they made the filler on her tank, idiot proof.   I hope the gasoline nozzle wouldn't fit into her vehicle.

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## GunnyFreedom

> I can only hope they made the filler on her tank, idiot proof.   I hope the gasoline nozzle wouldn't fit into her vehicle.


I've noticed people now more than ever will get extremely offended and go bat shirt insane if someone else even hints they may be doing something wrong.  Too much self absorbed pride in the world anymore.

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## Dr.3D

> I've noticed people now more than ever will get extremely offended and go bat shirt insane if someone else even hints they may be doing something wrong.  Too much self absorbed pride in the world anymore.


Of course, and the more elite they think they are, the worse it is.

I'm not sure if there is an idiot proof nozzle on those yet, but I would suggest that the diesel filler should be D shaped so a round gasoline nozzle won't fit.    Thing is, the lady would then go to the filling station attendant and complain that their stupid equipment doesn't work in her car.

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## puppetmaster

> Honda has been perfecting a H2 fuel cell car for some time too. Longer than Toyota has if I'm not mistaken. But yeah, H2 is the real future. Musk is still stuck on coal-fired cars, technically.


 yep

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## specsaregood

> Of course, and the more elite they think they are, the worse it is.
> 
> I'm not sure if there is an idiot proof nozzle on those yet, but I would suggest that the diesel filler should be D shaped so a round gasoline nozzle won't fit.    Thing is, the lady would then go to the filling station attendant and complain that their stupid equipment doesn't work in her car.


The diesel nozzle wont fit in unleaded but the other way around will fit.  Diesel spouts are bigger, like the old leaded spouts were.  I like that D-shaped idea though!

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## Anti Federalist

> I'm not sure if there is an idiot proof nozzle on those yet, but I would suggest that the diesel filler should be D shaped so a round gasoline nozzle won't fit.    Thing is, the lady would then go to the filling station attendant and complain that their stupid equipment doesn't work in her car.


They are...unless it was an old Merc.

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## Dr.3D

> They are...unless it was an old Merc.


I remember back in the 60s, my dad had a diesel Mercedes and pulled it up to the diesel pump.   The attendant came running out yelling, no... don't fill it up there.   I was laughing pretty hard about that one.

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## Anti Federalist

> The diesel nozzle wont fit in unleaded but the other way around will fit.  Diesel spouts are bigger, like the old leaded spouts were.  I like that D-shaped idea though!


Might be just VW related, but it notes in the manual that they won't, and I checked to be sure.

There is an internal "stop" catch that will not release the filler door in the neck if you use a small diameter nozzle.

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## Seraphim

She probably told the mechanic he was stupid too.




> My oh my I bet she wailed up a storm when the mechanic told her it was going to cost thousands of dollars for a rebuild or new motor...

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## loveshiscountry

Three hours wait and no place nearby to get a decent latte?! Barbaric.

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