Superchargers open to all… or not?
One of the most widespread beliefs among the detractors of electric cars has always been the lack of fast charging points, which are actually a panacea for long journeys.
The situation in general is improving, because for example along the motorway network we are witnessing an ever-increasing number of installations, even if it must be said that the proprietary Tesla charging network, the Superchargers, have been and have always been the most reliable network , widespread and let's even say exclusive almost everywhere, especially in Italy.
Network "envied" by non-Tesla owners, sometimes snubbed by owners due to the cost of recharging which is not the lowest on the market, compared to a shocking simplicity of use and indeed a capillarity such as to allow long and throughout Europe with the certainty, thanks to the integration with the navigator, of always finding a support point for recharging.
Tesla has continued to expand its supercharger network reaching, to date, 62 locations in Italy, intended as a locality, and another 7 under construction for a total of 674 charging points which represent, at the moment, the most extensive network in the world. our territory and with a view to promoting electric mobility and earning from this investment made, not being a non-profit organization, decided a few days ago to include Italy in the experimentation which provides for the opening of the network also to non-Tesla of some the 69 sites present, 20 to be precise at the moment, for a total of 174 points.
The news in itself would also be positive, as 174 express columns along the peninsula and in the islands can only favor the expansion of electric mobility, but as with all medals there is a flip side to take into account.
Let's start by saying that the vast majority of the 674 superchargers present were born for Tesla vehicles, which have the charging socket on the rear left side as standard.
Their positioning, the length of the cable, the software and everything we want to add to the ecosystem are therefore designed to offer the maximum user experience to the owners of the Californian company vehicles who only have to park the vehicle in reverse (or more rarely in forward gear), get off and reach the cable positioned at the height of the flap, driver's side, take the cable from the column, press the button on the connector to automatically open the flap on the vehicle, connect it and wait the necessary time . Finally, just press the button on the connector, disconnect the cable and put it away. That's all.
The opening of superchargers to vehicles that Elon Musk calls "non-Tesla" requires the owners of these cars to create an account on the Tesla app and once the required data has been entered, they activate the charging from the app by simply connecting the cable and choosing the stall based on the number on it.
All nice comfortable and easy then?
Maybe!
The biggest problem in Italy is the arrogance of the average motorist, who always deems due, immediately and free, every service that suits him, without ever questioning whether his behavior harms that of others.
Just think of how many owners of internal combustion vehicles park, sometimes even to spite, in the stalls reserved for recharging, or worse still how many "electric" users who, regardless of the rules, stop for hours and hours in the stalls as if they were parking spaces reserved for them.
Now there will be one more reason to discuss, as surely there will be, as can already be seen on the net, owners of "non-Tesla" who, for the mere fact of paying, deem the possibility of using any supercharger due (but the rule applies everywhere obviously, in any charging stall of any power) by parking the car in the most convenient stall for their vehicle, ignoring that in this way they would prevent other users from using the other stalls.
Let's go in order and try to be all collaborative and proactive.
Let's take as an example a small supercharger like this one in the photo, where the logic is COLUMN 1 goes to STALL 1 and so on, and let's try to reason, bearing in mind that the cable to use if we find two is only the CCS Combo 2 and not the other, and that if there are two cables it does not mean that we can connect 2 cars but simply they are two different types of cable to allow fast charging even for some Tesla models that do not have the CCS Combo 2 and would not work on other vehicles.
There are 3 columns with relative 3 stalls, so there would be 3 cars loading at the same time, simple so far, isn't it? If they were 3 tesla, with the charging port positioned behind the driver's side, if parked in the back like the one present, everything is fine.
Now suppose a vehicle arrives with the charging port:
- front right: could you charge by parking in the center? Probably yes, the cable should go there.
- Center front: it would already become more difficult, depending on the car the cable might not reach.
- Front left: go to load elsewhere, because the cable would not reach.
- Back right: see point 3.
Points 3 and 4 would not allow the cable of column 2 to be used on bay 2 in any way.
I understand that the temptation is to park in stall 3 using the cable from column two but it should be very easy to understand that in this way stall 2 becomes useless, like column 3!
Already so it should turn on the light bulb of common sense to understand that what is suggested above is the logical and sensible behavior to keep, but in doubt Tesla itself, in the instructions for use for "non-Tesla" that you find at the link below, on request
Can the Supercharger cable reach all electric vehicles? writes
Some configurations of the Supercharger site may not be suitable for some cars. Please do not impede other cars by parking above the lines if the wire cannot comfortably reach your vehicle.
https://www.tesla.com/it_IT/support/non-tesla-supercharging
Here instead you will find a small diagram of where the sockets are in the various cars
So, given that regardless, in any stall, of any manager and power, we are guests in other people's houses and not in our own and above all that it would annoy anyone to find someone who, voluntarily or otherwise, prevents access to charging, at least among us electric users we try to avoid paradoxical situations and at the limit of common intelligence just for a mere look of selfishness; if the cable doesn't arrive we can't help but avoid being an impediment to others.
There are some more recently built/updated Superchargers where, foreseeing the start of this pilot project, the columns have been positioned in the center of the stall rather than aligned with the row, to allow everyone (or almost) to be able to park correctly and load and ce there will certainly be more and more, precisely because the spirit of Tesla is to allow everyone to recharge.
As already mentioned, however, since it is not a non-profit organization, it cannot modify such a large pre-existing network only because the manufacturers have not found a standard for positioning the charging socket.
Let's work together and avoid fueling unnecessary controversy and we will all benefit from it.
